Hours upon hours, days even, or even months had gone by while I was fully immersed in a fugue state of enlightenment. It was so fascinating, to see all the variable applications of my spells and skills, and how I could improve upon them and apply them to do various things.
Take the Poison Tiger Claw, for example, the Poison God had used Saint Qi to create rippling waves that were bigger than god damned planet to strike a creature that eats planets as side dishes. Now, the sheer size is almost impossible to fully gouge, because a normal person wouldn't have a full grasp of how big a planet is.
But let's take it down a notch and see if we can make a comparison. Earth had a bit over seven billion people living in it. And if you take them and align them in a row of two, they will make a full circle around the Earth, now take all those seven billion people and line them up in a single file in space, that will make the circumference of Earth, now imagine one person, striking down the air and creating arcs of power that has seven billion people worth of length. How big is that? Fregging huge it is, also on a side note just to make clear how huge seven billion is, if I were to greet every single one of the seven billion people on earth, saying just hello, and go to the next one, with each greeting only taking one second, that would roughly take 288 years, 2 months, 8 hours, 32 minutes and 40 seconds to finish. That's how mind-bogglingly big the size is.
And the Poison God was shooting spells of that magnitude like they were nothing!
Never mind Superman, a cultivator of the caliber of the Poison God would crap on any of Earth's fictional superheroes with a sneeze. This magnitude of strength is so far beyond what humans can possibly even gouge or even imagine, and it's awe-inspiring and frightening at the same time. The power these Cultivators can amass can only be godly. And even they die and are found wanting against even greater odds. Like the Poison God facing that planet-eating serpent.
While I could hope to achieve such godly strength, I am in no condition to even waver or stop, as for the primordial Serpent is after me, and my only path is to grow stronger, so while I was in my fugue state, I managed to uncover more of the Poison Tiger Claw attack. For it can not only be released by one's hands but also a weapon, only in a less imposing manner but rather more precise.
Creeping Demise, a fourth Tier weapon, a powerful one and definitely holds secrets I have yet to gain the authority to understand is a great tool at making precise cuts and slashes, especially when I combined Poison Tiger Claw with the Sanguine Blade Arts.
The first slash in the manual was an extended thrust that left every single part of the user's body exposed and overextended to retaliation, but the application of the thrust was disgustingly fast. So fast that the first time I tried it in this Qi infused area I flashed forward in speed so staggering that I felt my eyes were about to be stuck to the back of my brain. My clothes ripped as I moved forward delivering a piercing blow to the empty air.
The possibility of dodging such a fast attack was nigh impossible. And if one were to dodge it, I'll be dead as there was no way for me to retaliate, that is of course if my attack would stop then and there. The first tome of the Sanguine Blade focused solely on this move and said "This is the base of all of the Sanguine Blade art style, and without perfect comprehension of the Sanguine Thrust, none of the follow-up attacks can connect leaving you with a single attack that has to connect, if not, then the user is bound to die due to the overextension."
So, I continued reading through the first tome and it only went about the application of the first thrust attack. Nothing more nothing less, the book was so adamant on teaching the user to perfect the thrust, enough that it even mentioned the power needed to apply to one toe, yes, the book was so exhaustive that it mentioned how the toes must move, the rotation of the ankles, the knees and which height and how bent they should be, the extended arm, and even the shape of the weapon, the information was so detailed that my head hurts trying to read them, not to mention actually trying to apply every single twist, turn and move.
The Sanguine Thrust, the base of all of the Sanguine Blade arts was a nightmare to apply, and within this inexhaustive Qi filled world, I had only one way to master it, practice it like there is no tomorrow, and I did, attempt after attempt, without even feeling tired or exhausted. I practiced the skill until my robes were fully torn, I practiced it until my joints and muscles tore and repaired themselves, I practiced it until I was able to fully control Creeping Demise to actually keep pointed straight as I dashed forward.
And I still didn't feel satisfied, with every single thrust I made, though I managed to fully apply all the details within the book, I always felt that something was missing, the movement felt…lacking.
And there was no way for me to understand what was missing from the move, even after reading the second book, there were other applications of the Sanguine Thrust, but I strongly believed unless I uncovered the missing bit about the Sanguine Thrust, all the subsequent moves will have a missing element.
The author of the manual was satisfied with his skill, but I highly believe that he 'hid' or didn't wish to fully develop on the Sanguine Thrust, otherwise others will know of its secret, and will have the ability to replicate it like him. Perhaps the writer left a flaw in the manual lest he would face one who learned from his manual and ends up actually defeating him using his own skill. These are all speculations but they are not without basis.
I sat down and began meditating, trying to figure out what was missing from the Sanguine Thrust, but to no avail, and thus, I went back to practice again, until I dared try and mix two things in one.
The Sanguine Thrust and the Tiger's claw, to which I created a new Skill, rather than created it would be I improved upon two skills because skill creation is not as simple as mixing two already existing skills, but making something out of thin air, and that's not something someone like me is currently capable off.
I applied the same move set of the Sanguine Thrust and rotated my poison Qi as if I was about to release the Poison Tiger Claw, only there was a slight misshape, the Poison Tiger Claw is a slash, while the Sanguine Thrust, well, it's a thrust. And how to infuse the two? Simple, a Slashing Pierce attack.
And I tried it, fully believing that it will fail spectacularly until I was dumbstruck by what happened next.
I sent Qi down my feet to initiate the lunge, knees bent, and arm ready to slash up, the moment enough energy was bottled up in my feet, I crunched forward, then kicked, dashing with the speed of sound, my sword raising from a low slash to abruptly stop when my arm was fully extended and Creeping Demise was pointed at a horizontal angle. My body stopped the moment the Dash ended, but then, an explosion of powerful poison Qi followed up almost a fraction of a second after the sword stopped.
The Qi looked like it was lagging, but this in itself is a dangerous effect on its own, and I shuddered as comprehension dawned on me, what was missing, it was so simple yet so obvious that no one would have expected it.
The follow-up, as for the Sanguine Thrust only missed one thing, the motion that will follow it into the second spell. As the moment the Sanguine Thrust was applied, that's it, you cannot use it in a combo with another attack simply put because the Sanguine Thrust was a complete singular attack, but adding the Poison Tiger Claw gave it a secondary side effect, the unanticipated Qi Lag would cause anyone brave enough to block the first deadly blow to stagger, giving the Sanguine Thrust user a small minuscule time window to apply a second spell in case of the first being blocked. So simple, so obvious, yet at the same time so inconspicuous that most would fail to realize it. The Sanguine Thrust would be considered as a finishing blow, but with this small addition, it could be applied as a normal setup for a follow-up attack.
I began practicing the 'improved' skill, and to my surprise, the more I practiced the more I realized how much I could control the 'lag' behind the poison Qi. I could even cause it to lag longer or shorter, enough that it would apply two blows in one exchange if I increased my Qi rotation to release the poison Qi faster, or slow down the rotation and apply a late explosive Qi burst that would come in unexpectedly.
This didn't seem like a great find at first until I realized a huge misconception I had. The slower my Qi would release, the more powerful it comes out, and the faster it is, the more 'jabby' it is, fast and precise, slow and pounding.
It was like two different spells all in one, the faster strike along the thrust felt like a sword and a tiger struck at the enemy, causing him to receive two attacks with deadly precision, as for the second, the first Thrust, even if blocked or parried, the lagged blow and slower one, would hit like a bull on steroids and fully catch the enemy off guard.
I was so excited to actually try these skills instead of just fighting empty air, so I asked X to come out.
"X, block my attack," I ordered and X stood in a defensive stance, there was no better practice partner than X and I was going to use him until I fully master the skill.
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