"To be a part of the Academy means that, as long as you're a member, you shall stand to neutrality in all the events that come to pass within the Vast Expanse, you will not move to save your own planet if it gets attacked nor will you be able to help your family or friends. It is a world that grows powerful figures, then sends them back to where they came from, any graduates of the Heavenly Academy are powerful, and are required to come to the aid of the Heavenly Academy comes the day it needs to," the old man spoke.
I frowned, "Isn't the Heavenly Academy the most powerful force of the Vast Expanse, who would dare wage war against them? if the Heavenly Academy calls back the alumni wouldn't it speak disaster to anyone that dare try something?" I asked.
"It is a question that has been asked many times before, and the answer shall always be the same no matter who you ask in the Heavenly Academy," the old man said, then looked away in the distance, "Do you honestly think, that we're alone in this world?" he said.
Well, I traveled to other planets and saw several monsters, I know for a fact that we're definitely not alone.
"The Primordial Beings?" I asked.
"Oh, interesting, it is a part, yes, but not all. The one that has plagued your ancestor is an annoying little bugger, but it shouldn't be a bother for the current Heavenly Academy," the old man sipped his tea.
Now this was a surprise, the very creature, the Primordial Dragon Serpent that followed the Poison God all over the universe wasn't something the heavenly academy needed to worry about, then, what the hell could make them worry?
{Sorry for pulling you out of your immersion, but these words are for you too, my dear reader}
"If you keep thinking about it, it'll only bring you despair, don't sweat the things that you can't change, and live your life to the fullest, only when you're able to change matters that would have been impossible to change before, can you begin by actually worrying," the old man's words sounded simple, but truly they held great wisdom.
I nodded at the old man, "Then when are we going to head to the Heavenly Academy?" I asked.
"In due time, I already prepared the transportation, you'll be going along with Liang Yu'er, the two of you should stick together, be friends, and work your way to the top, help each other and I'm sure you'll graduate in less than a hundred years," the old man spoke.
Less than a hundred years, the heck, isn't that way too damn long.
"Alas, there is a problem," the old man spoke.
Here it comes.
"You're too weak, you'll probably be killed on the first day," the old man said.
Huh?
"Say what now?"
"What now?" the old man replied dumbly.
"No, I mean, what do you mean about me dying on the first day," I said.
"Oh, yes, the heavenly academy has no rules against killing other students if it's in a duel, or if it happens away from the sight of administrators, so you need to be careful, don't stand out, and make sure that you hide the fact that you're a Poison cultivator," the old man said.
"But… that's not something easy to achieve," I said.
"No, it isn't, after all, several of the elders from the Heavenly Academy had suffered greatly at the hands of your ancestor and his twelve acolytes,"
"It's like I'm walking into a tiger's den," I spoke shuddering and starting to rethink if I should really join the academy.
"Don't worry too much, I actually have a way for you to help with hiding the fact that you're a Poison Cultivator, since I never expected you to master it, I now think that you can manage," the old man said.
"What do you mean? Could you please explain clearly?" I asked.
"Ah, young people nowadays have so little patience, here," the old man handed me an old rundown manual that looked like someone had picked it up from the trash.
It was so fragile one would think a slightly powerful gust of wind could scatter it away.
"Fist of Roaring Qi, grade… Man tier," I looked at the old man giving him the 'Are you kidding me look'
I had so many cultivation manuals that were far more impressive and dominating than this old rundown cultivation technique, it looked plain, too normal, and not as fancy as the title is held.
However, before I spoke, I knew something from back in my world.
Never judge a book by its cover.
I sighed, not expecting much, and thinking that the old man was doing a practical joke on me, but I still humored him enough to flip the first page.
There was a description of the technique there, it looked old, and had a few letters if not for the context one wouldn't even understand them, some sentences even had grammatical errors, but I still kept reading.
The description was simple, Fist of Roaring Qi, a cultivation technique that allows a person to freely control inner Qi and use it to power one's martial arts.
It was a basic movement, offense, and defensive movement. It wasn't flashy, it didn't have any over the top moves, it was pretty simple, side steps, forward steps, and backsteps for movements, palm thrust, fist thrust, and a few kicks following the schematics of the Qi traveling through the meridians for offensive, and for the defensive moves, it had some that heavily used palm strikes to not block but parry and offset blows, even knees were used to parry.
The whole book took no longer than ten minutes for me reading it to memorize it completely.
It was sadly simple. Most high-tier books have eccentric and extremely complex Meridian to Qi schematics that made them hard to understand and unless one were to train for several years would they be able to even mimic them, but for this book. It only took a glance thanks to my improved Soul Force and I could already replicate all of these moves.
"Looks… simple enough," I said.
"Is that so?" the old man grinned, "Then how about a spar?" the old man grinned.
A spar, against this old fart… the last time he almost killed me.
"I will go easy on you, don't worry," the old man said and stood up, "I won't break too many bones this time," he said.
That meant that he will be breaking some bones. Shit.
The two of us stood up in the middle of the garden, and then the old man said, "You're not allowed to use weapons or your poison arts, the puppet and the toxins included," the old man said.
This clearly meant that I can't use the Poison God's arts, the Plague Palm, the Laughing Slaughterer's technique, or anything from canisters pills or my own guns… shit.
He really is forcing me to use that shabby-looking art.
"Begin!" the old man said and took a step forward, a palm thrust was already on its way to breaking my chest ribs.
As if on autopilot, I remembered the first move of the manual I just read, then I sent a rapid palm thrust right against the old man's forearm. The palm struck his own arm away from me helping me avoid the blow, however, the old man didn't get destabilized even with his strange posture, and followed after his own thrown arm, moving his upper torso lightly to knock me back using a shoulder blow.
"Fluidity of movement," the old man said, "It is how you use the Fist of Roaring Qi, you must make use of every muscle, every fiber of your being, take advantage of every position you're in, even if overexposed, you can still use that as means to continue the assault," the old man said then followed after me.
He sent thrusts, jabs, and kicks my way, and I could do nothing but defend, rather poorly, the problem is, he wasn't using his cultivation and was matching my own cultivation stage, but I was still unable to take control of the fight.
I took a step back, only to get slammed on the ground, "You can't be on the defensive forever, you'll mess up, and die," he said.
Then he continued the assault.
Suddenly, I had a thought and used his own Movement Technique, the one he himself taught me, and as if everything clicked together… the battle took a different turn.
The old man's incoming palm failed to touch me as I had already moved away and in one fluid motion threw a tight fist right into the old man's ribs, making contact.
The blow caused the old man to slide a bit from the sheer force of it.
He looked at me and grinned as he rubbed his sides, "Do you now get it?"
I looked in awe at my fist, it was steaming. The Momentum Movement technique, coupled with the old man's own technique, then add to it, the very simple mundane looking art of Fist of Roaring Qi, allowed for a combination of destructiveness never before seen.
And I say that because the old man winced in pain even if it was for a fraction of a fraction of a second, he felt it. The sting of an ant against the skin of an elephant, but still a person clearly above the Ascendant Stage was actually slightly damaged by my fist.
I could couple this with the Momentum Movement Technique and allow every blow I send to have the momentum of my steps into it… the destructiveness itself of this ability… my god…
