At a certain serene courtyard within Bloodsin City, a young man was silently listening to the report a deferential Emperor was giving him.
"Seventh young master, the Rat Assassins had failed," said the Emperor.
The young man was dressed blandly, yet that did not affect his heroic and handsome appearance. He had a sense of overbearingness about him, a trait that made it clear he was a young master of a powerful organization.
He looked to be about 26 years old, yet he was already a peak King. This was a talent far surpassing the disciples of the Seven Villains. If Xiang Shaoyun was here, he would know who this young man was. He was none other than the seventh son of Di Batian, Di Tong. Di Batian was the sworn brother of his father, Xiang Yangzhan. However, he was much older than Xiang Yangzhan and had fathered nine children.
There was a saying that when a dragon gave birth to nine children, each of the nine would be different. Some would be strong, and some would be weak. That was not the case for Di Batian. All nine of his sons were akin to dragons among men. Each of them was extremely talented, and Di Tong was ranked in the top three in terms of talent among his nine brothers.
Why had Di Tong appeared here? Obviously, he was also here to become the Yu Clan's son-in-law. Although his Di Clan had seized the leadership of the Ziling Sect, they still did not have full control over some of the older members. On top of that, the enemies of the sect were constantly eying them, awaiting the perfect moment to strike.
The Di Clan desperately needed some help, and the Yu Clan would be the best choice. If he managed to become the son-in-law of the Yu Clan, the internal disobedience would instantly vanish and the enemies of the sect would need to think twice before making a move against them.
Di Tong had not expected that he would hear of Xiang Shaoyun soon after he arrived at Bloodsin City. Unfortunately, he had not come with a lot of people and was forced to hire the Rat Assassins to kill him. Alas, his plan was foiled by Ugly Gambler.
Di Tong did not seem overly bothered. Instead, a smile formed on his face as he said, "So after playing the fool for so many years, you are finally going to start your rise? Fine. Let me see if you have what it takes to retake what you have lost."
Di Tong was a prideful person. Although he wished to see Xiang Shaoyun dead, since even the Rat Assassins had failed, he would wait for an opportunity to arise before personally killing Xiang Shaoyun. After all, Xiang Shaoyun was someone who once addressed him as "big brother". How could a big brother not personally send his little brother off to the afterlife?
...
After Xiang Shaoyun brought Jin Wo back to the Skeleton Gang, he placed all his focus on recuperation and meditating on the 10 battles he had just experienced. During his battle with the devil apeman, he had used the gift of instincts, a talent he had gotten from the Nether Soul Domain, to detect the trajectories and openings of the devil apeman's attacks.
After repeated attempts of doing the same to other opponents, his comprehension in the way of reading his opponent's energy flow had deepened as well. His cultivation level was not high enough, and increasing it in a short time frame wasn't possible. Thus, his only way to grow his strength was to focus on battle techniques.
That was why he wished to properly absorb all he had learned from the 10 battles so that the experience could transform into something he could rely on after entering the Devil Domain. Again and again, he replayed the battles in his mind, and his comprehension of the essence of move prediction increased bit by bit.
To accomplish a feat like move prediction, he needed to know the trajectory of his opponent's attack, which he could find out from his opponent's energy flow. Therefore, how to read energy flow was the essence of move prediction.
This would be something extremely difficult for an ordinary person to accomplish. But Xiang Shaoyun was different since he possessed the Nether Soul Domain, which gave him an incomparably exquisite detection ability far beyond an ordinary person's.
Because of that, he could detect the changes in his opponent's energy flow, figure out the attack's trajectory, and make a move before his opponent could complete the move. That way, he could disrupt his opponent's flow or even downright kill his opponent. This was how wondrous move prediction could be once he perfected it.
As Xiang Shaoyun meditated on his previous combat experiences, he suddenly stood up and started waving his hands around in a completely random manner. At times, he punched. At times, he palmed. At times, he clawed. He moved in no specific pattern, yet his every move seemed to follow an indescribable rhythm.
An odd energy field formed around him the moment he entered this weird state. The energy field was in a state of complete disarray, and it was extremely hard to read.
Xiang Shaoyun remained in this state for a long time. Again and again, he danced about like he had endless stamina. Numerous afterimages appeared around him, each of them only performing a single move, whether it be punching, palming, clawing, kicking, and so on.
After an unknown amount of time, Xiang Shaoyun finally stopped. He took a deep breath and smiled. "Formlessness prevails over form. Move prediction essentially requires me to react differently in accordance to the opponents I am facing. My disorderly set of movements seem to be powerless, but this is a set capable of countering the many moves of various opponents. I shall name it Havoc Dance."
Just like that, the first stance of Xiang Shaoyun's first self-created technique obtained its name. In the future when he created even more stances, he could then combine them all together into a technique and come up with an overall name for the technique. He meditated for a bit more before leaving the cultivation room. He called over Earth Skeleton.
"Master," Earth Skeleton greeted deferentially.
Xiang Shaoyun's survival after Ugly Gambler kidnapped him was in truth one of the greatest miracles to have ever happened in the Bloodsin City. One ought to know that most of the time when the Seven Villains kidnapped someone, the victim rarely returned unharmed.
Xiang Shaoyun had become the exception, giving rise to more wild rumors. Had Ugly Gambler released him or had he escaped? Regardless of the truth, it served to prove how extraordinary Xiang Shaoyun was.
"Do you know where I can find saint antidotes in the Bloodsin City?" asked Xiang Shaoyun.
"This...I'm afraid you can only find something like that in the Devil Domain," replied Earth Skeleton after some hesitation.
"There are saint medicines in the Devil Domain?" Xiang Shaoyun asked in astonishment.
"Yes. The Devil Domain is the territory of the devils, but it is also a place capable of supporting life. It is therefore possible for saint medicines to exist there. But only Sovereigns, or even only Saints, will have a hope of getting one of those saint medicines," said Earth Skeleton.
Xiang Shaoyun was somewhat disheartened. It seemed unlikely he would be able to get a saint medicine.
He changed the topic. "What kind of place is the Yu Moon Pavilion? Bring me there."
Since there was no way to get an antidote, he should just take part in the Yu Clan's banquet before deciding on what to do next.
"The Yu Moon Pavilion is located in the southern part of the city. I'll lead the way," said Earth Skeleton deferentially.
And thus, Earth Skeleton and Xiang Shaoyun set off toward the Yu Moon Pavilion.