Battle Through the Heavens

Chapter 509: Comprehension, Ruler Technique

A black-robed, young man sat cross-legged on a mountain peak. His hands formed training seals and his breathing was calm and long. Moreover, there would be a slight fluctuation in his surroundings each time he inhaled and exhaled. Threads of energy that leaned toward a fiery hot form seeped out. Finally, they moved along his breathing and entered the interior of his body.

The silent training continued for nearly two hours. The clothes on the black-robed, young man, which were flapping in the absence of wind finally slowly fell down, and his eyes opened with a slight tremble.

“I have gained quite a lot from training deep within the mountains for two months…” Xiao Yan twisted his neck. He sensed the bubbling spring water like Dou Qi that was flowing unceasingly, and a smile involuntarily spilled from the corner of his mouth as he softly spoke.

During the two months of tough training, Xiao Yan had not only trained his ‘Three Thousand Lightning Movement’ until he reached the level of the first stage, ‘Lightning Flash,’ but the Dou Qi in his body had also increased, combined, and purified deep within the mountains where he ate in the wind and slept outdoors. According to his guess, the current him had already unknowingly reached the peak of the eight star Da Dou Shi class while practicing the ‘Three Thousand Lightning Movement.’ Of course, he took two months in order to enable himself to reach the peak of the eight star Da Dou Shi class. This kind of speed was something that could not be in the same category as training within the ‘Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower.’ However, Xiao Yan already felt quite satisfied with regards to this. Being able to practice the ‘Three Thousand Lightning Movement’ until he reached the first stage had already exceeded his expectations. On top of achieving this aim, he was also able to advance his Dou Qi. This could be considered an additional thing to rejoice. Hence, he did not feel depressed.

Xiao Yan stood up from the green rock. He held his hands behind him as his gaze wandered over the vast sea of trees. A gentle breeze coincidentally blew through the trees at this moment. Immediately, the sea of trees swayed and an enormous tree wave that was nearly a thousand feet long undulated from afar. One wave followed another in an unceasing manner. It was nearly no different than the waves of the ocean. It caused people to sigh at the might of nature, which was vast and majestic…

Xiao Yan was startled as he eyed the monstrous tree wave as he stood on the mountain peak. Perhaps it was because of the calm atmosphere between the heavens and the earth at this moment, but somewhere within his heart was quietly stirred a little. Xiao Yan’s current thoughts were fast and sensitive, and they toughened immediately as a strange feeling flashed past him in a lightning-like manner.

Xiao Yan’s hands started to stretch behind him. His eyes, however, slowly narrowed. A long while later, his back shook and Purple Cloud Wings shot out. As his wings flapped, his body drew an arc across the sky before his feet steadily landed on the vast borderless sea of trees.

The Purple Cloud Wings shrank and returned within. Xiao Yan stood alone within the sea of trees. He overlooked the trees and was greeted with an emerald-green world. His body was an inky-black dot within the emerald-green. He appeared very small but he stood out.

Xiao Yan’s hands slowly parted. The wave of trees whizzed from afar before finally carrying a loud ‘hua hua’ sound, like a thunderbolt in transit, as it swept past Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan’s feet were like eagle claws as they firmly grabbed the top of the tree. His body was like a leaf drifting with the wind within this nearly endless ratling tree wave. It swiftly drifted but was ultimately never torn into pieces by the powerful strength generated by the tree waves.

The thousand foot wave of trees swarmed over, continuing for over ten minutes before it gradually became distant.

The wave of trees swept past, leaving behind a black-robed young man who had a pale face. However, his eyes contained an extremely great excitement. He turned around and eyed the monstrous tree wave that had become distant and was swiftly disappearing from the edge of his sight. A certain part of his heart was violently stirred.

“This kind of artistic conception…”

Xiao Yan slowly raised his right hand. An enormous dark black ruler flashed and appeared. He held it tightly in his hand and muttered, “If I can get my attack to be like the waves that appeared one after another in an endless manner, it would definitely be a kind of exquisite attacking method, no?”

Xiao Yan’s hand held the Heavy Xuan Ruler as he tilted his head slightly. His dark-black eyes were filled with a strange loss and deep thoughts. His body also appeared to be completely stilled at this moment. If there was a sharp-eyed person, he or she would be able to faintly discover that Xiao Yan’s right hand, which held the Heavy Xuan Ruler, appeared to be trembling with a very small arc. That manner was as though it was adjusting something…

The stiffening of Xiao Yan lasted nearly an entire hour. He himself, however, appeared to be totally unconscious of this. The earlier aura that suddenly appeared with the wave of trees was repeatedly replayed within the deep region of his mind. Time appeared to have stopped in this kind of strange condition. Xiao Yan also felt an increasingly large glow suddenly appear, and felt some intriguing trace that swarmed in between the wave of trees.

The tree wave swept past and disappeared before once again sweeping past and disappearing. It repeated in this manner, forming a cycle that did not rest for a long while.

The time in the outside world continued to flow by. Although over an hour had passed, Xiao Yan had already felt the instantaneous strange feeling from the countless number of simulated tree waves passing by within this one hour by borrowing that strange condition.

As he sensed this feeling in this manner a countless number of times, an abrupt understanding began to unknowingly appear within Xiao Yan’s dark-black pupils…

“Huh?”

As Xiao Yan was in this strange condition, an extremely surprised low sound quietly sounded from Yao Lao. This voice may have been soft but it still contained astonishment and shock. From the looks of it, this condition of Xiao Yan had exceeded his expectations.

Yao Lao’s surprise ‘huh’ sound did not break this strange condition that Xiao Yan was in. The extremely experienced Yao Lao naturally knew what kind of opportunity this strange condition meant to people in training. If one were unfortunate enough to have this condition broken due to the outside world, it would undoubtedly cause that person to feel regret for the rest of one’s life.

A powerful Spiritual Strength quietly spread out from the dark-black ancient ring on Xiao Yan’s finger. It embraced all of the nearby space within a dozen of meters. Following this action of the Spiritual Strength, the low roar of a Magical Beast that would occasionally be transmitted over from afar completely disappeared. This region had descended into an absolute calm due to Yao Lao’s Spiritual Strength. There would no longer be any event in the outside world that would force Xiao Yan out of this strange condition.

Time slowly flowed by. Nearly three full hours had already passed from the moment Xiao Yan entered the quiet condition. During these three hours, Xiao Yan’s body appeared to have turned into a rock statue that did not move. If it were not for the arc of the shaking black ruler in his hand becoming a little larger, anyone would have thought that this was a black-colored rock statue that had lost any sign of life. However, this rock statue was a little too life-like.

The black-robed young man, whose body was completely stiffened, suddenly began to tremble gently in the sealed area of the calm sea of trees. Following the shaking of his body, the glow within his dark-black eyes and the deep thoughts also swiftly disappeared. A clear realization came to light…

Xiao Yan’s right hand held the ruler’s hilt. His body was as straight as a spear. A sharp aura quietly spread out and Xiao Yan’s face tightened. The black ruler in his hand was slowly lifted. After which, with an extremely slow motion, it was gently hacked, lifted, swung, and swept…

The foundation attacking method of a heavy ruler was completely displayed by Xiao Yan at this moment. As his hand shook, the speed at which the ruler was wielded also became increasingly faster. In the end, Xiao Yan’s entire body was nearly completely wrapped within a black-colored ball. This kind of exquisite ruler skill was something that Xiao Yan did not possess in the past.

The whirring of the wild wind sounded from the sea of trees as a large black ball was swiftly rolling above it. The leaves would wither wherever this black ball passed. Occasionally, some would fall into the black ball and instantly be shattered into pieces.

The swinging of the heavy ruler became increasingly faster. However, at a certain instant just when Xiao Yan was about to achieve the highest speed, the heavy ruler suddenly became slow. This abrupt change was like butterflies in one’s heart, causing one to feel extremely terrible.

A soft muffled groan was emitted from the human figure that was vaguely visible within the black ball. In an instant, one could see that the expression of the young man had become much paler.

Although Xiao Yan’s expression was pale, he did not immediately stop. The abrupt spark repeatedly flashed within the deep region of his mind. In addition, as the heavy ruler in his hand waved, an extremely subtle change in the trajectory and angle was made without him knowing.

Xiao Yan’s mind was tightly shut as he began to give up taking the initiative to wave the ruler. Instead, he gave the control to the abrupt light, located somewhere in his mind.

The sharp ruler wind gradually became slow. Replacing it was that extremely slow waving ruler’s body… The speed of the heavy ruler was slow. From the point of view of an outsider, this ruler technique was basically filled with openings. If one were to just randomly attack, one would be able to cause the person waving the ruler to be forced back after suffering serious injuries.

As the ruler danced, a strange glow once again swarmed into those dark black eyes. Xiao Yan’s originally somewhat stiff waving speed had suddenly become much smoother. Following this change, the ruler technique, which was originally filled with openings, suddenly changed drastically. As the ruler was waved, the ruler’s body was bounded everywhere from up until down. When it danced, it was actually like a ball that was so firm that it could not be broken. There was nowhere in which one could attack.

This ruler technique was undoubtedly vastly different from the earlier disorderly ruler technique of Xiao Yan, which only relied on his body’s strength and speed to attack!

Ever since Xiao Yan had obtained the Heavy Xuan Ruler, he had never practiced any kind of complete ruler technique. When he fought with an enemy, he would mostly rely on his great strength. Although a strength can break a thousand techniques, this so-called strength must reach a certain powerful level in order to achieve this kind of overbearing effect. If he were to meet a person who had similar strength, how would he break through the latter? At that time, it would undoubtedly be determined by the exquisite techniques of both parties.

If one were to discuss the exquisiteness of one’s technique, the ruler technique that Xiao Yan had used may be a little coarse compared to the lance technique that Bai Shan had used back then but in terms of speed and strength, Xiao Yan was stronger. However, this exquisiteness in techniques had been his weak point. If he were to meet an opponent with a strength that was similar to his in the future, he would definitely suffer some disadvantage. Moreover, this sudden realization appeared to completely remedy this weakness of his.

“Chi!”

The waving of the heavy ruler suddenly became sluggish. A sharp wind shot out explosively from the tip of his ruler. He could hear a ‘ka cha’ sound and a large tree, over ten meters in front of him, had its top completely broken off.

Xiao Yan maintained the stance of the heavy ruler hacking down as the glow within his eyes swiftly withdrew. An instant later, a clear brightness surfaced. His face carried a thread of surprise as he eyed the heavy ruler in his hand. The trajectory and angle on how the heavy ruler was swung earlier actually lingered without being removed from his mind as though it was an imprint.

“This…”

Xiao Yan widened his mouth. He did not really know what to say. In merely a few hours of being in some stance, he had discovered that he had grasped an extremely exquisite ruler attacking technique. Although this ruler technique had merely entered its embryonic stage, its strength had already secretly shown that it was just the tip of an iceberg. If it was to be honed in the future, it was not difficult to imagine just what great help it would be for Xiao Yan!

“There is no need to be surprised. This is not an accidental gain during training but a kind of lucky opportunity. You are lucky to be able to meet it and even more fortunate to grasp hold of it.” Yao Lao’s voice slowly sounded within Xiao Yan’s heart, “This kind of lucky opportunity is something that many people can meet, but are unable to grab hold of. Being able to grab it proves your ability and talent. Gaining things without effort is but a joke.”

Xiao Yan nodded gently when he heard this. The stunned feeling in his heart slowly became fainter…

“This ruler technique had a thread of wave-like unceasing conception to it. I think that it has something to do with the tree waves earlier, no? It may currently be a little weak, but you need not be disheartened. This is only a start. As long as you properly hone it in the future, I think that you might be able to create a new ruler technique Dou Skill that belongs to you.” Yao Lao laughed. His laughter contained some gratification. The start of everything was difficult. Now that Xiao Yan had already started, it was likely that it was only a matter of time before he succeeded. Although creating a Dou Skill was very difficult, Yao Lao had unusual confidence in this little fellow where miracles frequently occurred.

Xiao Yan smiled and nodded. He flipped his hand and placed the heavy ruler onto his back. After which, he took out an ‘Energy Recovery Pill’ from his storage ring and stuffed it into his mouth. He sensed a thread of heat rise in his body, and was just about to search for a spot to rest when a deafening monster roar suddenly sounded from a distant mountain like a thunderclap.

“What a powerful roar. Just from hearing its voice, it should be a Magical Beast that is at least at the Dou Wang class, no?” Xiao Yan was similar shaken by the sudden roar until he was blank. He hurriedly raised his head and eyed the distant mountain as he asked in surprise.

“Yes. It is indeed a Dou Wang class Magical Beast. There are also some similarly quite strong auras in that region. Both parties should be fighting.” Yao Lao said with a faint smile.

“There are actually people who dare to have some intentions toward a Dou Wang class monster?” Surprise flashed across Xiao Yan’s face. His heart was somewhat curious as he smiled and suggested, “Shall we go and take a look?”

“Yes, up to you.” Yao Lao was indifferent at this moment.

Xiao Yan smiled when he heard this. The Purple Cloud Wings on his back shot out. With a gentle flap, his body began to rise before finally flying toward the location where the monster roar came from.