Chapter 366. Killing Two Birds With One Stone (2)

Leng Yuefei decided to lend a personal training hall to Zhou Xuchuan.

Given the five-day deadline, Zhou Xuchuan asked Luo Xiaoyue for her understanding and then began training. He was planning on mastering his new martial arts.

The first thing he did upon arriving at the personal training ground was to sit down, read, and memorize the secret manuals. As his realm improved, his memory followed, which meant that it wouldn't take too long for him to memorize the manuals.

Once he had memorized them, he immediately began his training.

Power Strike Fist...

The first of the four secret manuals was definitely a fist technique.

He had the Mount Hua Sect's Plum Blossom Fist, but to be honest, the Plum Blossom Fist was more of a preparatory exercise meant to hone the basics of martial arts than to teach him a secret technique.

Depending on the situation, he was forced to discard or throw away his sword to use his hands and feet. Thus, being forced to use a preparatory art had been something he regretted.

Add strength according to the moment of impact.

The direct translation was to hit

hard.

The principle of Power Strike Fist was simple. As the name suggested, it was all about using brute force to create power. At first glance, it looked similar to what he had been doing before, but at the same time, it was markedly different.

If one injected a ridiculous amount of qi like he used to do, it would overflow over his fists, and there were even cases where the qi had leaked into the air, making it inefficient.

However, if he were to use a well-established martial art like the Power Strike Fist, he would be able to prevent unnecessary overconsumption thanks to proper qi control. As a result, he would be able to maximize his power.

If an analogy using a river were to be made, then it could be said that Zhou Xuchuan was simply flipping over an entire river. With the Power Strike Fist, however, he would be able to wield the cascading waterfall part of the river.

The first stage is the use of qi strikes.

After injecting qi into a specific area, one would collide it with something.

Since he knew the basics, it wasn't difficult.

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

However, it felt different from handling a sword, so Zhou Xuchuan didn't gloss over it as an unnecessary process. Instead, he invested time in it. Of course, it only took a short while thanks to Imitation.

The next stage is to learn how to strike with one's fists, elbows, shoulders, and forearms, each corresponding to the 2nd up to the 5th Stage.

Fist Arts weren't truly limited to one's fists. They were known as bare-handed martial arts, but they also had ways of how one could make use of one's arms.

Is half mastery at the Sixth Stage?

Half of the Twelfth Stage, which was complete mastery of the Power Strike Fist, was the Sixth Stage.

This was something he always thought, but being limited to only half mastery of an art was truly regrettable.

I also have to use it in harmony with its footwork technique.

There was a footwork technique that paired with the Power Strike Fist, the Heavy Plain Step. Practicing the Heavy Plain Step wasn't that difficult. This was because it had a commonality with the concepts of the Ten-Thousand Jin Sword.

Emphasizing simplicity instead of flashiness, walking forward at a single pace with heaviness.

It was the opposite of the Hundred Divine Transformations of the Mount Hua Sect.

The Hundred Divine Transformations, as its name suggested, was infinitely varied, with a hundred basic steps. It was a specialized technique that could allow one to respond to any situation, making it suitable for Mount Hua's transformation sword techniques.

On the other hand, the Heavy Plain Step was simple and concise, to put it nicely, and outright simple, putting it bluntly. It was easy to predict due to its wide stride and large movements. In return for its simplicity, it amplified the fierceness of the Power Strike Fist.

It was a bit slow, but it was stable and powerful, as each step carried weight. It was a suitable technique to combine with the Ten-Thousand Jin Sword.

When it came to footwork techniques, Zhou Xuchuan now had three of them.

The transformation footwork technique, Hundred Divine Transformations.

The Phantom Steps for lightness and speed.

The Heavy Plain Step for heaviness and stability.

It was a perfect spread as each could be used to respond to a different situation.

After laying the foundation for the Heavy Plain Step, Zhou Xuchuan moved on to the next martial art.

After the fist technique and the footwork technique, he moved on to a palm technique.

Resonant Palm.

The Resonant Palm!

If a martial artist, especially an Evil Faction member, heard that name, their eyes would turn red, and they would be overcome with greed.

To think that the Gui Thunder's palm technique was actually with the North Sea.

Zhou Xuchuan was also surprised when he saw the words, "Resonant Palm."

The exact period of the Gui Thunder's activities was unknown, but he was a famous peerless master of the Evil Faction at the time.

The Gui Thunder's unique martial art was the Resonant Palm. According to legends, the Gui Thunder's Resonant Palm shook both a person and their afterlife.

Zhou Xuchuan recalled the Resonant Palm's sutra in his mind and began to uncover what kind of martial art it was.

It's a flow-based martial art.

Zhou Xuchuan's eyes narrowed.

Using the palm as a medium to make contact with the enemy's body, an opponent's meridians are vibrated through a resonance and left in ruins.

It was a technique of striking the enemy's exterior and damaging the interior, a penetration technique.

But could it truly just be manipulating the flow of a person's qi through a mysterious technique?

Just as the flow of a river was different for each river, the human body had different flows as well.

If that flow was changed by an attack, the body wouldn't be able to adapt, and problems would arise as a result of it. The Resonant Palm was an external attack method that targeted this very point.

It's similar in principle to sound arts or the Qingcheng Sect's Seventy-Two Waves Sword.

Sound arts used the vibration of the air and sound to destroy a target physically, while the Seventy-Two Waves Sword used the vibration of a sword instead of the air.

One could see that the common factor was vibration, which was a

shaking

force. The Resonant Palm was the same. Its principle was to manipulate the flow using the shock wave coming from one's palm.

It was similar but different; different but similar.

"The Resonant Palm is a bit tricky."

The Power Strike Fist and the Heavy Plain Step were easy to learn thanks to his experience with the Plum Blossom Fist and a similar qi manipulation pathway, like the sutra of the Ten-Thousand Jin Sword.

However, the Resonant Palm was an unfamiliar technique.

The details of the method were unfamiliar to him, so he had to put in effort.

Thanks to the Manifestation of One's Path, Imitation, his speed of assimilation was ridiculously fast, but he still wanted to do things thoroughly.

Perhaps it was because he was having fun learning a new martial art, but Zhou Xuchuan concentrated on the martial arts, forgetting the passage of time.

***

Five days later, Zhou Xuchuan opened the door to the personal training hall.

"You've worked hard, Senior Brother."

Luo Xiaoyue and Little Ghost greeted him as soon as he opened the ice door.

"Thank you for your hard work."

Their guide from the North Sea, Hawar, was standing behind the two.

"I apologize for saying this to you as soon as you came out, but we're ready to go to battle, and I'm here to guide you."

"I already heard about it from the Palace Master even before I entered the training hall, so don't worry about it. Let's head out right away."

Under Hawar's lead, Zhou Xuchuan went to meet Leng Yuefei.

"Come in."

The North Sea Ice Palace Master's office was extremely bleak. There were no decorations that showed off the Palace Master's dignity, and the fact that it was filled with only the necessary items seemed to reflect her personality.

There were only desks, tables, and bookshelves.

The office was large, so it looked unusually desolate.

"You don't seem to want to waste any time either, so I'll get right to the point."

Zhou Xuchuan had no objections, so he simply nodded.

"The Ten Thousand Year Ice Essence is located in Yishan Ice Valley, north of the Ice Palace. The problem is that there are forces from the North Sea outside of the Ice Palace stationed all around it, so the journey will not be easy."

Zhou Xuchuan was already feeling a headache. An arduous journey was unfolding before his eyes.

"Indeed, that's why the power of an Empyrean Overlord is needed."

The Six Empyrean Overlords were the pinnacle of the

murim

and were weapons of divine power.

Palace Master Leng Yuefei was the reason the Ice Palace could reign supreme in the North Sea

murim

.

Even with just one Empyrean Overlord, their power was already overwhelming, and if there were two of them, there would be no doubt about their strength. It was an opportunity to push forward in one breath.

"The Ice Palace's warriors number around three thousand. Five hundred will stay behind to guard the Palace, and the other two thousand five hundred will be divided into a rearguard and a vanguard."

Their numbers were small compared to the Martial Alliance, Evil Valley, and Demonic Path's Two Lineages, but their average cultivation was high, so they couldn't be looked down on.

When he asked later, he was told that if the North Sea were to unite all of its powers, they would number around ten to fifteen thousand.

"The advance party will consist of about five hundred elite soldiers, and I will appoint you, Sword God, as the co-commander."

"Co-commander?"

Zhou Xuchuan furrowed his brows.

"I know what you are worried about. Even if you're an Empyrean Overlord, you're probably in doubt whether they would listen to the command of an outsider. We're in a matriarchal society, so they might even look down on you, much less listen to you."

"So you already understand that point."

"Don't worry. This frigid land is still the

murim.

After all, isn't power the law in the

murim

?"

"By that, you mean..."

"If they disobey an order, don't worry about being a bit

rough

to teach them to obey."

"Understood."

"I will assign you a guide, Hawar. She is the best guide in the North Sea, so you won't get lost."

***

The advance party of five hundred people left the ice palace. They headed north across the frozen river.

"The sky has gone crazy."

Woosh!!

A snowstorm—no, an ice storm engulfed the advance party.

It wasn't a good start. However, the weather in the North Sea was so crazy that the sudden change in weather wasn't really surprising.

Although they had prayed the day before that it wouldn't be cold, it was to the whim of Amitabha Buddha once again. Their hopes were betrayed.

The wind grew stronger instead of dying down. It became as sharp as a blade and even carried with it pieces of ice. The snow piles were so high that they were deep enough to make walls around everyone's legs.

It was hard to tell whether they were walking on an icy road or on snow-covered ground.

"Uuuuu..."

"It's cold."

It was so cold that even the people of the North Sea shivered. The temperature was

that

low. It seemed that there was indeed a reason why all the plants and the animals perished.

If it hadn't been for their Ice Desolation Art, they would have frozen to death long ago. Their first layer of defense, their qi, ensured that their body temperature wouldn't drop rapidly. Their winter clothes also kept them away from the cold.

In addition, the people of the North Sea were used to the cold, so they could endure it. If they had been from the Central Plains, they would have died a long time ago.

"It's a little breezy, huh?"

However, Zhou Xuchuan, the man from the Central Plains, was acting nonchalantly. At first, the warriors of the Ice Palace laughed at Zhou Xuchuan as if he were incredulous.

Even if he's an Empyrean Overlord, isn't he still just a Central Plains man who hasn't mastered the Ice Desolation Art?

He must be bragging about being one of the Six Empyrean Overlords, huh?

That kind of talk won't last long.

They thought that the Central Plains man was just bragging to protect his pride because of his reputation as an Empyrean Overlord. As time passed, that thought gradually turned into suspicion and shock.

"Is he really cold at all?"

"No. That can't be."

"I heard from Hawar that the Central Plains man only wore one winter coat when they set out for the Palace."

"That can't be..."

Zhou Xuchuan wasn't cold, and he even had an expression that said, "What's wrong?"

He looked calm as if he had come out for a walk in the neighborhood.

Occasionally, whenever ice or snow blocked his vision, he would use a defensive qi barrier to deflect it away.

He wasn't bragging; he really wasn't cold at all. Even the strange weather wasn't working against the almighty Extreme Temperature Immunity.

"There's a cave where we can rest, and it's just an hour away. It's a little early, but the storm is strong, so I think we should take a break."

Zhou Xuchuan also gave an order in accordance with Hawar's advice.

"Just hold on for an hour! We'll reach a cave where we can escape the storm!"

A sigh of relief escaped the mouths of the advance party.

Although there was a margin of error and it took a little longer than an hour, they were able to cross the river and step onto land again. Soon, a cave large enough to accommodate a thousand people appeared before them, and they were able to catch their breath inside.

"Junior Sister, are you okay?" Zhou Xuchuan asked softly.

Luo Xiaoyue didn't have the Extreme Temperature Immunity like he did, and she was using her qi reserves to block the bone-chilling cold. Thus, he was worried about her physical condition.

"It's a little cold, but it's okay. Thank you for your concern."

A comparison was difficult to make, as Zhou Xuchuan's qi reserves were exceptional, but Luo Xiaoyue's qi reserves couldn't be considered ordinary as well.

After becoming a candidate, Plum Blossom Swordsmen would receive various support, including but not limited to elixirs.

With Zhou Xuchuan's help, Luo Xiaoyue even consumed the neidan of a Human-Faced Spider, surpassing the level of a Plum Blossom Swordsman.

"If you're having a hard time, just tell me."

He was grateful and sorry to his Junior Sister, who had willingly accompanied him all the way to the North Sea. Luo Xiaoyue said that she had come here, as she liked it, so it was okay not to worry, but even so, he couldn't help but worry.

"Even if she tells you that it's hard, what difference will it make?" A sharp voice interrupted.

Zhou Xuchuan and Luo Xiaoyue's gazes also turned on their own.

It happened faster than I thought.

The unusual climate was bizarre even in the history of the North Sea.

The people of the North Sea were accustomed to the cold, but there was no way they would be satisfied with the extreme environment.

They were quiet because of the Palace Master's orders, but they weren't happy about the fact that an outsider was leading them, especially someone from the Central Plains.

Eventually, the dissatisfaction they had been holding back finally exploded.

She said it's okay to be a bit rough. Hmm, good. I need an opponent to test the new techniques, anyway.