Free Web NovelChapter 181: Chapter 171: Epiphany (Part 1)
CLANG!
BOOM!
A faint tremor in the ground came from a distance.
Lin Hui’s brow furrowed. ’If these people want to fight, they should at least go farther away,’ he thought. It wasn’t the first time someone had disturbed his sword practice, but a little "persuasion" had always been enough to solve the problem.
After it happened a few times, everyone learned whose territory this was and who was using it, so such trivial matters naturally became less frequent.
But how long had it been quiet? And now someone was already acting so clueless...
He tightened his grip on his sword, intending to go and teach them a lesson, but the commotion suddenly ceased. There was no longer a sound.
He stopped in his tracks, waited for a dozen or so breaths, and only when he was sure it was quiet did he relax and resume his Body Tempering.
He held a Purple Crystal in one hand and his sword in the other, moving slowly through the forms.
The Body Tempering moves of the Typhoon Swordsmanship differed at each stage. Most of them resembled a slow sword dance rather than actual practice. They looked flashy but impractical—filled with a strange beauty, yet seemingly useless in real combat.
Only Lin Hui himself knew that he could summon a massive typhoon at any moment while practicing.
He could now gradually suppress the Special Effects of the typhoon to a minimum, allowing him to achieve the effects of sword practice and Body Tempering without causing a major disturbance.
Slowly, he raised his longsword horizontally. The airflow circling him blew his long black hair, causing it to stream constantly to the left.
After practicing this type of swordsmanship for so long, he now had the faint illusion of merging with the wind, as if he were born from it and would die into it.
All things, all matters, moved with the wind.
This inexplicable state of mind and feeling prompted Lin Hui to slowly close his eyes. His body began to flicker in and out of view within the wind, sometimes visible, sometimes not.
Unconsciously, a notification from the Blood Seal flashed across the bottom of his vision.
’Typhoon Swordsmanship has been upgraded. Current level: Fourth Grade Body Tempering.’
The moment the notification flashed, Lin Hui’s entire body shuddered violently.
An immense, unknown power surged in from the infinite void beyond the "Web," rushing into his body.
The power was as frenzied and violent as the wind, rampaging through Lin Hui’s body, attempting to destroy everything within.
But Lin Hui’s physique, fortified by Purgatory, possessed terrifying regenerative abilities and strength.
Purgatory Transformation itself enhanced strength and recovery. And immense strength required a sufficiently powerful physique to support it. As a result, his current constitution was far, far stronger than it was before the Purgatory Transformation.
Coincidentally, this stage of Body Tempering for Typhoon Swordsmanship, according to the original information infusion, was an extremely perilous one.
Typhoon Swordsmanship did not simply draw upon the planet’s rotational force. Instead, it used some unknown power to indirectly strengthen the Web and the user’s own body. Then, using this special power in conjunction with one’s own, it would leverage the planet’s rotation to summon a typhoon.
Now that Lin Hui had broken through again, his strength and recovery had once more increased substantially.
’The later stages of this Body Tempering bring exponential increases. I can’t even imagine what kind of power I’ll have when I finally reach the Ninth Grade...’ Lin Hui opened his eyes, marveling at the thought.
The power of Typhoon Swordsmanship was even more absurd than he had anticipated. If Typhoon Swordsmanship was this exaggerated, he couldn’t imagine how formidable the subsequent Star Breath Sword Manual would be. Just thinking about it filled him with anticipation.
’In terms of pure destructive power, I can already see the path forward, so there’s no need to worry. What I lack now is refinement in other areas. True power should have no weaknesses,’ Lin Hui thought, organizing his plans.
’I need to raise my resistance to all kinds of damage, and also to poison. I’ll need the Blood Seal to evolve some kind of countermeasure or a Cultivation Technique for it. I also need to pay special attention to my daily diet and see if the Blood Seal can evolve a solution for that. Being too reliant on an external food supply is ultimately a hidden danger... And finally, the most important thing: defenses against the night fog... and the Fog Spirit.’
The Fog Spirit had hit him with that ridiculous debuff that halved his speed, an effect that remained deeply impressed upon Lin Hui’s mind even now.
So, when the opportunity arose, he would definitely have to deal with all of these things.
He closed his eyes, feeling the flow of the wind, his mind constantly pondering how to better evolve the Blood Seal.
*
*
*
「In the Fog Area.」
Most of the right side of Tao Xuehai’s body had vanished. From his shoulder down to his right arm and right leg, including part of his abdomen, it was all gone—as if a giant beast had bitten off half of him, leaving only a gaping void.
But where the flesh should have been, there was no blood, only a dense, churning mist of what looked like tiny black insects.
Despite this, his left hand still gripped his sword tightly, refusing to let go.
"You want to kill me...? Even the Jade Sea disaster couldn’t do it... Who the hell do you think you are?!"
Tao Xuehai’s face was deathly pale as he raised his longsword horizontally.
"Wind!"
WHOOSH!
A fierce wind howled, sweeping up the surrounding fog into a vortex that spiraled around him.
With a PUFF, Tao Xuehai flickered and vanished, dissolving into black Insect Fog and blending into the surrounding mist.
Only his longsword remained, carried by the force of the wind, spinning rapidly as it shot out with explosive speed.
SWISH!
A flash of sword light.
Tao Xuehai’s body reformed behind Black Death. Still holding his longsword, he staggered forward a few steps and fell to one knee with a THUD.
Blegh.
He couldn’t stop himself from lowering his head and spitting out a large mouthful of blood.
His body was trembling, terrified, afraid, crying out in anguish.
But the wind around him continued to howl, as if encouraging him, supporting him, urging him to stand once more.
"Decent speed. Faster than me. But so what?" Black Death’s indifferent voice came from behind.
The voice seemed to come from far away. His opponent was also someone who had fused with the Insect Scripture, capable of directly devouring his body. This was an enemy who could truly kill him.
’His strength is greater than mine, his physique is greater than mine, his Internal Strength is greater than mine, and his Heart and Spirit are greater than mine.’
Only speed!
Only the wind!
Tao Xuehai closed his eyes.
’The only thing I have that surpasses him is my Body Technique—the Body Technique granted by the wind.’
He could hear the aura of Black Death’s cultivation technique shifting rapidly behind him, brewing another earth-shattering, terrifying attack.
He could feel his body’s instincts screaming in terror, desperately trying to flee.
He could feel his consciousness starting to blur, his will weakening, wanting to give up.
But in that instant, for some unknown reason, the memory of his teacher instructing him in the Gale Swordsmanship flashed through his mind.
"Do you know what the wind is?" His teacher’s voice seemed to echo in his ears once more.
"Is it... the blowing air?"
"No... wind is flow. The flow of air. To cultivate Gale Swordsmanship, you must ponder *why* it flows."
Lin Hui’s cool and solemn voice resonated in his ear.
"It does not flow for itself, but for you. Where your heart leads, the airflow follows to its limit."
"The wind is not a dead thing. It is your heart, reflecting upon the atmosphere."
’My heart, reflecting upon the atmosphere...’
At this very moment, Tao Xuehai felt as if time itself was slowing down around him.
The surrounding fog moved with excruciating slowness. The wind seemed to have ceased, vanishing without a trace.
His Gale Swordsmanship, which he had only cultivated to the level of Second-Grade Body Tempering, seemed to undergo a special transformation at this moment.
It forged a slight connection between his Heart and Spirit and the surrounding fog.
Kneeling on the ground, Tao Xuehai unconsciously closed his eyes.
"Wind..." he murmured softly.
The seemingly stagnant air began to stir once more, flowing with difficulty.
It felt like quicksand, sluggish and heavy.
"Wind," Tao Xuehai spoke again.
The surrounding airflow began to accelerate as if answering his call, moving faster and faster.
"WIND!!" he roared, rising to his feet and raising his longsword horizontally.
WHOOSH!!
In that instant, the howling gale answered him.
SWISH!
Black Death’s fist struck empty air behind him, hitting nothing but an afterimage.
Black Death’s expression changed slightly. He spun around at extreme speed and threw a punch.
BOOM! The fist squarely struck a silver longsword that had abruptly appeared behind him.
The longsword flew backward and vanished into the fog. The next instant, it reappeared on his right, slashing at the right side of Black Death’s neck.
Sparks flew with a sharp CLANG.
Black Death’s expression grew serious. He threw another punch with incredible speed, but this time, his fist missed again.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!!!
In the next moment, a blinding shower of sparks, like golden-red fireworks, erupted continuously all over his body.
The longsword was madly striking him from every conceivable angle.
"So much faster than before?! What kind of Cultivation Technique is this?!" Black Death retreated repeatedly, his expression grim.
"The kind that can kill you!" Tao Xuehai snapped, flashing behind him to thrust his sword forward once more.
But this time, Black Death shifted slightly, catching the sword’s tip in his armpit and twisting sharply.
CRACK.
The sword’s blade snapped, the broken piece flying off into the distant fog.
Using the momentum of his spin, Black Death turned and drove a fist straight into Tao Xuehai’s chest.
The latter had lost his balance and had no time to change his move or dodge. He could only struggle to disperse his body into Insect Fog.
PUFF!
Another large chunk of the black Insect Fog was blasted away by the punch.
The remainder quickly coalesced back into Tao Xuehai’s form, leaving him kneeling and panting a short distance away.
"A breakthrough in the middle of a battle, and your speed and Body Technique have improved by a huge margin. Truly worthy of a swordsmanship genius. I’ll give you a chance. Leave the Profound Eagle Sect and join my Qinghe Sect. Your treatment and status will be much higher and better than what you have now. How about it?" Black Death said in a low voice.
"...The grudge for wiping out my clan is a blood feud that cannot be shared under the same sky..." Tao Xuehai struggled to his feet. He had known from the very beginning that the true culprits who had annihilated his family and killed his loved ones were not those small and mid-sized Inner City families, who were no better than stray dogs. It wasn’t even the Qinghe Sect, as they were merely following orders.
There was only one power capable of wiping out so many great families, including the Tao Family, in such a short period of time.
And that was—the Moon Tower.
"Stubborn fool!" Black Death’s face darkened. "You think your pathetic little skills are enough to struggle against me?" freёwebnovel.com
"Wind!" Tao Xuehai called out again.
The surrounding wind accelerated once more, helping him leap up and vanish again.
But the next instant, he was punched out of the airflow and sent flying backward.
This time, it wasn’t that the wind wasn’t fast enough, but that his body could no longer bear the strain, and his speed had dropped.
The violent wind granted him extreme speed, but it also placed an immense burden on his body.
Under normal circumstances, it would have been fine. The body fused with the Insect Scripture could regenerate and recover at high speed, making the strain trivial.
But now, he had already had more than half of his Insect Fog devoured by an opponent of the same kind and was grievously injured.
The massive gap was like a chasm stretching between him and Black Death.
It was not something that a brief moment of enlightenment and a quantum leap could bridge.
After being sent flying by another punch, Tao Xuehai crashed heavily to the ground, still clutching his broken sword. But the next moment, he rolled back to his feet, his face a mask of ferocity.
"Wind!" he roared. The gale howled, answering him tirelessly.
An even faster wind began to blow.
It carried him as he charged toward Black Death.
CLANG!
Once again, he was completely unable to break through the man’s defense, only to be futilely knocked far away, crashing to the ground.
