Even though Wang Chong had disappeared, most of the eyes of the examinees were still fixated to Wang Chong’s original spot due to the ringing of the sword.
“Hehe, interesting!”
The instructor smiled lightly on top of the rock. Even though Wang Chong’s Single Character Consecutive Slash was extraordinarily swift, taking many by surprise, it was still insufficient to fool his eyes.
Weng!
The instructor raised his right hand, and at the very moment that Wang Chong’s sword was just about to reach him, he sent a palm straight toward him.
This palm strike was no different from that which he used to deal with the other examinees—simple, but swift like a bolt of lightning and heavy as though a mountain. It felt like nothing in the world could withstand it.
But in the very next moment, something unexpected occurred.
Peng!
Without any signs, just as Wang Chong was just a few steps away from the instructor, a sword flashed past, and in that short instant of blindness, Wang Chong disappeared once more.
And almost instantaneously, klang! The crisp sound of a sword’s call echoed and a sword came horizontally from the side behind the instructor. The sword was close to the ground, aiming for the lower body of the instructor. By that moment, the sword was only several cun away from the instructor’s right leg.
(~10cm)
The abrupt change caused even the instructor’s composed face to warp in astonishment. To be able to change his movement so abruptly despite the exceedingly swift movement, Wang Chong’s skills were clearly far above all of the previous examinees.
Peng!
With a slight flick of his arm, his sleeve struck Wang Chong’s sword. Surprisingly, the clash between the soft sleeve and hard sword resulted in a metallic reverberation, as if the sleeve was made of steel.
At the same time, reminiscent of an eagle’s talon, a callus-filled palm darted forward. Complemented with a movement technique, what the hand grabbed for wasn’t Wang Chong’s sword but the hand holding the sword, which was beyond his range from the rock.
——In the long period of time since the examination started, this was the first time he was forced to step away from the rock.
Wang Chong’s attack was aimed for his feet. If he didn’t want to be crippled, he could only step away from the rock.
Klang!
Wang Chong’s body moved alongside the sword. Executing the Celestial Steps, his sword swam around as though a nimble snake, treading around the instructor’s sleeves and slashing upward right at the instructor.
Peng!
A grim expression finally appeared on the instructor’s face. With another jolt of his arm, his sleeve struck out with immense force, knocking Wang Chong into the sky.
“AH!”
Shocked exclaims sounded in the area. Everyone knew that it was nearly impossible to move with agility in the sky. In the end, the gap between instructors and examinees was simply too great. With just raw strength, an instructor could easily subdue a student.
Just the fact that Wang Chong was knocked into the sky had sealed his defeat.
“Young master!”
Zhao Jingdian, who was looking at the sight from afar, couldn’t help but feel nervous. The situation was overwhelmingly against Wang Chong’s odds.
But something astonishing happened. Just as Wang Chong’s body was knocked into the air, his body defied the law of the world and, of all impossibility, descended vertically downward. Making use of the momentum of the descend, a sword as swift as lightning slashed downward with immense force toward the hands of the instructor.
“Hahaha, great! No wonder you insist on clearing my test. Your cultivation has already reached Origin Energy Tier 7!”
The instructor burst into laughter. The fact that Wang Chong could make use of his strength against him under such abrupt circumstance left him delighted.
In the entire day, he was the first examinee who could cross blows with him like that.
Peng!
Facing Wang Chong’s incomparably sharp sword, the instructor’s aura gushed out. His robe fluttered along with the wind, and astonishingly, he didn’t choose to retract his fingers before the trajectory of the blade. Instead, he maneuvered his fingers to avoid the sharp edge, and with his ten fingers, he struck ceaselessly on the body of the sword.
His fingers struck heavily on the sword. Even though each blow seemed light on the surface, it carried the weight of a mountain. And no matter what Wang Chong did, be it a slash or a cut, he was unable to chop off the other party’s fingers, needless to say, strike the other party’s body.
It was almost magical for one’s fingers to be dexterous to this extent.
“Inconceivable!”
A spectating examinee from afar muttered, dumbfounded by the sight before him. He was only passing through here to look for another instructor to try his luck. He didn’t expect to see such a sight here.
The instructor’s fingers were as though a fortress. No matter how swift Wang Chong’s swordsmanship was, no matter how he moved, he was unable to overcome the wall created by the fingers of the instructor.
This was the first time he was seeing such a peculiar battle technique.
There were also many examinees around him who were equally shocked by the sight before them. In this instant, they suddenly had a feeling that the unkempt but amiable middle-aged man who had been standing on the rock for the entire day was probably the most formidable person of all of the instructors who appeared in Kunwu Training camp today.
“How can a student fight with an instructor like that?!”
“What is that swordsmanship? To be able to turn the opponent’s strength against him and follow the opponent relentlessly, making it impossible for the opponent to shake off the sword, incredible!”
Amidst the shock, many people turned their eyes onto Wang Chong. On this mountain, most of the recruitment tests involved fights against other students, and the strongest ones would be given priority for recruitment.
But this youth was challenging the instructor straight, and on top of that, he seemed to be crossing blows with the instructor on equal footing.
Wang Chong’s positioning changed swiftly; for an instant, he was in front, in the next, he was behind. For a moment, he would be on the left, and the next, he would be on the right. Most of the strength from the strikes of the ten fingers of the instructor seemed to have been neutralized by his movements.
To most here, this was an unimaginable feat.
“To think that gongzi would have achieved such incredible mastery in his martial arts!”
Zhao Jingdian’s heart beat wildly. This was his first time seeing Wang Chong execute ‘Single Character Consecutive Slash’.
That ceaseless barrage of attack was reminiscent of the endless waves of the ocean. Anyone who witnessed this swordsmanship would surely be left with a deep impression of it.
“However, it’ll difficult for gongzi to win with just this!”
Zhao Jingdian frowned. Inheriting his clan’s deep knowledge in the field of martial arts, he swiftly discerned that even though Wang Chong seemed to be doing well on the surface, his slashes were slightly shaky, as though he couldn’t control them well. On top of that, his pulse was also gradually becoming erratic. Clearly, Wang Chong was under great pressure from facing the instructor.
“Go!”
Suddenly, a deafening voice sounded. The instructor bellowed and his aura surged. A torrent of Origin Energy burst forth from his body as though a massive tsunami.
In the air, Wang Chong was washed away by that burst of Origin Energy. Unable to redirect that massive force, his body shuddered and he was sent flying.
Weng! Even so, Wang Chong reacted swiftly. While he was being knocked a dozen zhang away in the air, he swiftly executed the Origin Energy Tier 7’s ‘Thousand Jin Descension’ and forcefully pulled himself to the ground. Even so, he still staggered several steps backward before he was able to maintain
his balance.
“Lad, your fighting prowess isn’t bad! Having been in the capital for dozens of years, I have seen all kinds of martial arts but I’ve never seen your swordsmanship before. Did you create it yourself?”
The instructor stepped forward and glanced downward at Wang Chong, who was a dozen zhang away, with gleaming eyes. His long hair fluttered along with the wind.
“That’s right!”
Grabbing onto his chest with his left hand, Wang Chong chuckled. The instructor was truly formidable. His ‘Single Character Consecutive Slash’ could take down even the foreign invaders in his previous life easily, but yet, it was still insufficient to deal with this instructor.
In that clash, not only was Wang Chong unable to break the other party’s defense, his pulse was even jolted to an erratic state. A significant amount of his stamina had been sapped as well.
“Interesting!”
Upon hearing Wang Chong’s reply, the instructor’s eyes glowed even brighter. To be able to create such a formidable sword technique at his age, that lad was an incredible genius!
“Your talent is indeed astonishing. If possible, I would really want to take you in as my disciple. However, given your current strength, it’ll impossible for you to pass my test. In the end, rules are rules; even I can’t break them. If you can’t defeat me, you won’t be able to pass the test. The first test is over, do you still wish to continue on?”
“Of course! Why shouldn’t I continue on?”
Upon hearing those words, Wang Chong chuckled confidently. It didn’t seem as though he was affected by his loss at all.
“Oh?”
The instructor’s eyebrows shot up in intrigue.
“Don’t blame me for not warning you then. Just now, you were the one on the offense, I haven’t even started attacking it. Besides… I haven’t used my full strength yet!”
“I know.”
Wang Chong smiled. It wasn’t out of a whim that he chose to wield his sword. Under the frighteningly sharp Wootz steel sword, the other party would have no choice but to hold back his movement. In this way, he could compensate for the massive gap between the two of them.
More importantly, in the previous clash, even though Wang Chong had ended in defeat, he had also obtained what he wanted.
“Ten Directional Lightning Fingers! Eight Directional Deflection Might!”
Wang Chong thought.
If he wasn’t mistaken, the finger technique that the instructor executed was ‘Ten Directional Lightning Fingers’ whereas the palm technique was ‘Eight Directional Deflection Might’.
These two were extremely profound martial arts, and they were the top-notch ultimate techniques of the military. These techniques were open to the generals to cultivate but very few of those who attempted manage to successfully cultivate them.
The ‘Ten Directional Lightning Fingers’ wasn’t just a finger technique; more than that, it was a method to channel one’s inner might.
The purpose of this martial art wasn’t to train one’s finger but the inner might throughout one’s body. The finger technique was just a physical manifestation of one’s inner might when one reaches a certain mastery in the technique.
The ‘Ten Directional Lightning Fingers’ was suited for both offense and defense, and once one mastered the technique, one’s fingers would become as resilient as steel. On the battlefield, even when bare-handed, one could easily stab through an opponent’s steel plate and tear them apart.
The ten fingers would become equivalent to ten sharp and indestructible swords, allowing one to stab through metal and shatter rocks. Furthermore, with inner might augmenting one’s movements, one’s fingers would be able to move with astonishing dexterity.
Thus, those who successfully cultivated this technique need not fear others dodging their offense.
On the battlefield, those who successfully cultivated this ultimate art were no different from indestructible human-shaped killing machines.
As for the ‘Eight Directional Deflection Might’, it was the simple palm strike that the instructor executed previously. Even though it looked light, it possessed unimaginable force!
Those who mastered these two ultimate arts would become a feared demon on the battlefield to the enemies, and the most valiant and reliable general to the allies.
Where one went would be where blood would flow!
Even though the instructor had tried his best to hide it, Wang Chong still managed to recognize the two techniques.
“This person isn’t simple at all!”
Thinking so, Wang Chong raised his sword once more.
Eight Directional Deflection Might
I probably didn’t do a good job coming up with the name. In any case, this technique is referenced from from Ban Lan Chui, which is one of the Five (Main) Fists of Taichi.
The primary concept of the technique is built on ‘’moving something’ and ‘obstructing something’.
The main idea is to deflect one’s incoming attacks by redirecting their attacks such as pushing their hand slightly off the mark (idea of moving something) and thus obstructing their offense.
If you have watched Ip Man, it’s somewhat similar to how he fights.
As for Eight Directional, I can’t confirm anything but it’s probably another concept behind Taichi (If you know of Zhang Sanfeng, he created a fist known as the Eight Trigram Fist, or perhaps you might better recognize it as the fist that Neji from Naruto used.)
I think what that I just typed might probably be irrelevant to the details of the story but I’m a little unwilling to delete them. Thus, I’ll leave it here.
Chapter 196: Passed!
Wang Chong had a far greater understanding of the ultimate techniques in the military as compared to the others. Since he knew that the technique the other party was executing was the ‘Ten Directional Lightning Fingers’, the rest would be simple.
Boom!
Wang Chong’s feet swept below, causing a cloud of dust to rise up and conceal his own figure.
This move was abrupt and it caused the instructor to frown in astonishment.
Peng! In the next moment, a gleam of light flashed and a figure wielding a sword dashed forward.
“This again?”
The instructor chuckled lightly. Instead of dodging, he allowed Wang Chong to come straight toward him.
But the situation was a little different this time. Instead of maneuvering to the instructor’s back, he attacked right from the front.
Hong! Hong! Hong!
The sword and finger clashed, producing deafening reverberations. Wang Chong’s sword qi couldn’t break the instructor’s ‘Ten Directional Lightning Fingers’ at all.
But this time, his movements were considerably different from before. Center, up, down, left, right, lower sweep… Wang Chong’s offense seemed to follow some kind of rule.
Klang!
The metallic call of a sword echoed, and Wang Chong’s sword technique abruptly changed. Gathering all of his strength, he slashed at the instructor’s back waist.
“Haha, it’s useless.”
The instructor chuckled lightly. He turned around, and while one hand worked to keep Wang Chong’s sword at bay, the other stretched forward to grab his wrist.
The disparity in their strength was simply too great. Wang Chong’s offense didn’t pose a threat at all.
Weng!
Just as the instructor was about to lock Wang Chong’s movements, an abrupt change occurred. Without any apparent reason, the instructor’s fingers suddenly slowed. It was a completely impossible situation, but his movement speed abruptly slowed by innumerable folds, as though he had run low of Origin Energy.
This slight change caused the instructor’s face to darken.
On the other hand, Wang Chong seemed to have known this would happen. Chi! Making use of this opportunity, he raised his sword and it swept through a radius of three chi in front of him.
Hong long!
An immen
se might suddenly burst from the instructor’s body, knocking Wang Chong along with his sword away.
The cloud of dust slowly settled and tranquility was restored to the mountain. A small piece of cloth fell from the instructor’s waist.
“Lad, how did you do it?”
That instructor stared at Wang Chong with an incomparably awful expression. He had always been a composed and casual person, but when Wang Chong managed to cut off a piece of cloth from his waist, he couldn’t maintain his calm any longer.
“Intuition!”
Wang Chong chuckled as he uttered out a single word.
He knew what the other party was trying to say. In truth, the ‘Ten Directional Lightning Fingers’ had its flaws as well. Or rather, to be more exact, the nature of this ultimate art made it extremely difficult to cultivate; one had to open up a net-like meridian connections throughout one’s body to operate this technique, and before one fully masters this technique, this ultimate art would have a fatal flaw.
From the first collision, Wang Chong had already deduced that the instructor hadn’t fully mastered the ‘Ten Directional Lightning Fingers’ yet. He hadn’t cultivated the meridians at the right of his back waist yet and so, the meridians weren’t knocked open yet.
Usually, such a flaw wouldn’t pose as much of a problem. However, if one were to use a special method and guide the Origin Energy in his body along a specific meridian toward the right of his back waist, it could cause a jam in his flow of Origin Energy. The other party would face a sudden deficiency in his Origin Energy, and this could prove to be a fatal flaw in the midst of a battle.
However, this matter was way too astounding and inconceivable so Wang Chong wasn’t willing to reveal it.
“Intuition?”
The instructor fell into deep thoughts, but he slowly loosened his tightly knitted eyebrows, as though accepting his explanation. In the path of martial arts, there were indeed some exceptionally talented individuals who possessed intuition far beyond others. They could instinctively sense flaws in the movements of their opponents.
If Wang Chong possessed such talent as well, that would explain the previous situation.
“To be able to cut off a part of my robe through intuition, you’re indeed impressive. You pass.”
The Human Emperor c1-2382 Page 151