Chapter 92: Drawing The Saber
Fatty Jin knew about the origins of this zither and did not dare to come up against it head on. He evaded toward the side, revealing a speed that did not match with his body.
“Hu!”
The zither attacked incessantly, and with a boom, it created a hole the size of a bowl in the wooden walls of Liushang Pavilion. The walls of Liushang Pavilion were made from Peak Grade sandalwood. An entire wooden plank of it would cost thousands of taels of gold.
When the fatty saw such a big hole, his heart bled. He ran to the front of the hole and measured the size of it with his hands, trying to calculate how much money he had lost.
“Damn! I lost at least half the money I just picked up,” the fatty cried out in agony after he measured the size of the hole.
“Boom!”
The zither, which had already flown out earlier, flew back in with a ‘shua’ sound. This time, it did so with a larger force, creating another hole in the wall.
The fatty was incredibly heartbroken; he said in a hoarse voice, “Crap! There goes the other half… Seems like I did not earn anything today in the end.”
The zither returned to Xiaoxiao’s hands once again before she took a seat on a bench. Her eyes were closed and a drunk expression could be seen on her pure white face as she caressed the strings of the zither gently.
“Ding!”
She suddenly opened her eyes and both her hands rapidly plucked the zither strings. An impassioned melody of a powerful army struggling in a battlefield suddenly rang out. Its volume slowly became louder, and very soon it pulled everyone into a fired up state, as if they were in a battlefield.
“Tong! Tong! Tong!”
Streams of sound waves spread out in all directions as the zither string rang out. The fatty thought silently in his heart, Crap! My mouth created trouble for me again.
Just as he thought that, all the antique porcelain used as decoration on the fourth floor began shattering. Not a single piece managed to escape.
At the end, the zither sounds gradually grew even louder as the killing intent got heavier. Aside from the table that Su Xiaoxiao sat at, everything on the fourth floor soared up into the air.
“Bang!”
Su Xiaoxiao finished the melody on a heavy note, causing all the table and chairs in the air to shatter. Countless amounts of sawdust were scattered in the air, settling down only after a long time.
The fatty’s face, which usually had a smile on it, was currently drained of blood, looking very pale. It seemed as though he might collapse at any time; it was extremely funny.
A manservant at the side hurried over to support him. He said in a soft voice, “Young Master, don’t be too upset. When the manager knew that Miss Su Xiaoxiao would be coming, he guessed that you would definitely anger her. So he replaced all the antiques with counterfeits in advance.”
The fatty’s eyes opened wide as he said, “Really? The manager understands me really well.”
“Really.”
When Fatty Jin heard this, his spirits lifted up and the smile returned to his face. However, he still had a bitter expression, “The others are fake, but the two holes are definitely very real. There is no way for that to be fake. In the end, I still made a loss!”
“Damn Fatty! Still not coming over?” Su Xiaoxiao put aside the zither and scolded him. Her mood had only improved after causing all this destruction.
Fatty Jin did not dare to throw any tantrums and hurriedly rushed over. His face was full of smiles as he said, “Miss Xiaoxiao, what orders do you have for me? This Fat Brother will guarantee your satisfaction.”
Su Xiaoxiao frowned slightly and glared at him, “That youth from earlier, how is he related to you?”
The fatty did not dare to run his mouth this time and replied honestly, “I just met him today and wanted to do some business with him. I only know his name is Xiao Chen and do not know any other details.”
Xiao Chen? When Su Xiaoxiao heard this name, she thought of a certain possibility. A smile immediately appeared on her face; this careless smile was like flowers blossoming; nothing more beautiful can be imagined. When the fatty at her side saw this, he was dumbstruck.
When Su Xiaoxiao saw the fatty’s foolish appearance, she could not help but feel disdain in her heart. She asked, “How much do you know about the ancient remains that the Bai Clan talked about?”
Jin Dabao recovered his wits and replied, “I know a little about it. The Bai Clan’s people obtained a map of an ancient treasure site, but they did not have the strength to enter. So they invited the three great powers of Dongming Province to explore the ancient remains together.”
“However, someone in the Bai Clan leaked the information. So this news was spread to everyone. The great powers of Xihe Province and Nanling Province also sent people to rush over. Even the Imperial Court sent someone to come over.”
Su Xiaoxiao was astonished in her heart. The allure of the remains left by the ancient powers was too great. It seemed like it would be difficult for her to attempt to benefit from this.
West of White Water City, In a Small Isolated Courtyard:
A sturdy wooden pole stood upright in the courtyard. Xiao Chen grasped his Lunar Shadow Saber tightly and focused on looking at the wooden pole, raising his aura to the extreme.
“Chi!” “Drawing the Saber!”
Xiao Chen’s expression changed, and he suddenly unsheathed the Lunar Shadow Saber. He struck the wooden pole at an inclined angle, and a section of the wooden pole that was as thick as his arm was sliced off.
“Shua! Shua! Shua!”
Xiao Chen quickly hacked out three more times. When the fourth strike landed, the wooden pole wobbled for a little before it went crashing to the ground.
It was just four simple saber strikes, but Xiao Chen’s forehead was covered in sweat. He wiped the sweat off and muttered to himself, “It’s still insufficient. It has already been half a month, yet there is no progress.”
This small isolated courtyard was purchased by Xiao Chen after he came to White Water City. After he settled down, he immediately started to review all the Martial Techniques and Immortal Spells that he had learned. He realized that the things he had learned were too varied and messy.
He decided to retrain himself and not rush to restore his cultivation back to Inferior Grade Martial Master from Superior Grade Martial Disciple. He figured that he might as well use this opportunity to strengthen his foundations.
All the Martial Techniques he developed using the Battle Sage Origin’s Changing Character Formula were temporarily pushed to the side, focusing on the truths that were contained in the Battle Sage Origin’s Changing Character Formula.
He now saw that he had not even begun to understand the essence of it and had only scratched its surface. He was not able to use it as though it was a part of himself.
After using those techniques for a long period of time, with his current cultivation, he found that it was doing more harm than good to him. In the long run, it would cause him to thoroughly lose himself, lost in these Martial Techniques that came from foreign sources.
Thus, he wanted to focus on the Rushing Thunder Saber Technique and Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art. He cultivated the Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art in a quiet place in the Savage Forest.
As for the cultivation of the Rushing Thunder Saber Technique, there were no major requirements for it. Thus, whenever he came back to rest, he would go into the yard to practice.
The Rushing Thunder Saber Technique was about doing everything in one breath, to raise the aura to the extreme, and use the Rushing Thunder Chop as the initiating move. The accumulated energy would be released out explosively.
This was an extremely bold and powerful Martial Technique. If he could execute it all the way up to the Rushing Thunder Third Chain Chop, the explosive energy would be raised to the peak and then increased by many folds before finally exceeding a regular Earth Rank Martial Technique.
However, he discovered that this Saber Technique had a fatal flaw—the first strike. If it was unable to cause the opponent to retreat, then the techniques that followed could not be executed anymore.
The aura would be used up and could not be used to form the following techniques.
Xiao Chen thought of the swordsmen of Ancient China from his previous life. He felt that their methods of training Saber Techniques made sense, so he decided to follow their methods to practice in this world.
This wooden pole that stood upright may be as thick as an arm, but it was actually very light. It was a special wood of the Tianwu Continent. With just the strength required to move a feather, it was possible to move it.
Within this extremely short period of time, what Xiao Chen wanted to do was to be able to rapidly cut the wooden pole, but the wooden pole had to still remain standing. What appeared to be a simple saber strike actually exhausted a large amount of his concentration.
Of the slightly more than one month’s time that he spent in White Water City, Xiao Chen spent most of it practicing the first move of the Rushing Thunder Saber Technique—Drawing the Saber. Every day, the number of times he brandished his saber numbered at least a thousand.
Initially, the moment he touched the wooden pole, it would fall. Slowly, he became able to hack at it once. Then he was able to continuously execute four saber strikes. From that point on, his progress became stagnant.
Shaking his head, Xiao Chen erected the wooden pole once again and continued to practice the first move of the Rushing Thunder Saber Technique. Unwittingly, the sun above his head had sank to the west.
The sunset dyed the clouds that filled the sky red, turning the entire sky a fiery color. Xiao Chen continued to repeat the same action tirelessly; he did not even notice as time flowed by.
Only after the sky turned completely dark did Xiao Chen stop what he was doing. His shirt was completely wet with sweat, and the soreness of his arms was all he felt.
Without resting immediately, Xiao Chen sat down on the ground cross-legged and entered into a state of cultivation. When the body reached its limits, if one cultivated then, they would often experience an unexpected result.
After an hour, the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation had circulated for many cycles in Xiao Chen’s body. Suddenly, he opened his eyes. The sweat in his body had already entirely evaporated into steam, the blood in his body was boiling, and the soreness in his arms completely vanished.
“Hu!”
Xiao Chen got up, took a long breath out, and stretched his arm out. In a split second, all the bones in his body gave off crackling sounds. After all these, he felt a very comfortable and invigorating feeling.
“Pu!”
Xiao Bai, who had been standing on the stone table all the while, quickly jumped down when it saw that Xiao Chen had completed his cultivation. Its eyes were filled with intelligence and gave off a gleam in the night, as it rushed towards Xiao Chen’s embrace.
Xiao Chen smiled faintly and picked it up. After he teased it for a bit, he put it away in the Spirit Blood Jade.
Just as Xiao Chen prepared to go to sleep, a faint killing intent came from the distance. Xiao Chen frowned and extended out his Spiritual Sense in the direction of the killing intent.
In the dark of night, a human shadow holding a broad saber leaped from roof to roof, heading towards Xiao Chen’s courtyard rapidly.
When Xiao Chen saw the person’s face clearly, he smiled coldly to himself. This person was Jiang Muheng’s other servant, the person who claimed he could kill Xiao Chen with one palm.
The power of the Jaing Clan was indeed great in White Water City. Before even half a day had passed, they had actually managed to find the place where he stayed. It seemed like he would not be able to stay here long term.
Seeing that human figure come closer, Xiao Chen slowly moved to a corner of the wall close to the door. He withdrew the aura of his body completely, and the black Lunar Shadow Saber could not be seen in the dark of night.
“Dong!”
The human figure jumped from the roof and landed firmly on Xiao Chen’s courtyard wall. He did not come down in a rush, and released his perception.
He felt that it was strange he could not sense anyone in the courtyard. He muttered to himself, “Could it be that the information was wrong? No, that can’t be right. It perhaps this kid has not returned yet. I will go down and hide myself.”
“Drawing The Sword!”
In the instant he jumped down, a resplendent electrical light suddenly lit up in the darkness of night. A saber light carrying a peerless aura moved quickly and gracefully. Before the man could react to it, his body was chopped in two halves.
This saber strike was strangely incredibly fast, and even though the man’s body was cut into two halves, it did not separate in the air immediately; he did not even feel any pain.