Chapter 20 - Thunderclap Sword
“Heaven’s Alliance, I’ll be waiting…”
Chen Fan smiled coldly, looking down at Liao Fan’s corpse, its eyes wide open.
With his cultivation steadily increasing, so did his confidence. He would undoubtedly put up a strong fight if anyone dared to bully him.
Liao Fan could never have imagined that his reckless pursuit of Chen Fan would ultimately lead to his demise.
“Right, the Heaven Seizing Art can plunder the talents of recently deceased martial artists. This is the perfect chance to test if this is true.”
Chen Fan endured the pain coursing through him, sat beside Liao Fan’s corpse, and activated the Heaven Seizing Art.
An invisible force enveloped Liao Fan’s corpse. Immediately, wisps of transparent smoke appeared and entered Chen Fan’s seven orifices. [1]
These wisps of smoke were Liao Fan's talents.
Immediately, Chen Fan felt his mind becoming clearer, his brain activity quickening, and his calculating ability sharpening. His talents had indeed received a slight boost.
“So it can. The increase is minor, though. I almost couldn’t notice it,” Chen Fan muttered, shaking his head. He stood up and walked toward Yan Zheng’s corpse, repeating the same process.
Unfortunately, Yan Zheng had been dead for some time now. His corpse had turned cold, and Chen Fan, therefore, couldn’t plunder Yan Zheng’s talents.
Undeterred, he began searching the two corpses for any valuable items.
Yan Zheng’s cultivation level wasn’t high, and he didn’t have an impressive background. Moreover, with the Outer Sect Grand Competition approaching, he had few cultivation resources left. Chen Fan only managed to find two primeval stones and a lower-dirt tier martial skill for archery.
He returned to Liao Fan’s corpse, his gaze fixating on a one-foot long, half-foot wide gray cloth sack fastened to Liao Fan's waist. Chen Fan smacked his lips and said, “Tsk, tsk, it’s actually a storage pouch. There must be something good inside.”
A storage pouch was a low-ranking item used for storage purposes. It had little space; for outer sect disciples like him, it was a luxury item. Very few could afford it because of its steep price: twenty primeval stones at least.
Chen Fan removed the storage pouch and opened it, pouring its contents out. His eyes immediately lit up with excitement.
Inside, he found over twenty primeval stones, a bottle of recovery pills, a martial arts manual, and various daily necessities.
Chen Fan picked up the jade bottle with the recovery pills. It had three one-star middle-grade Muscle Regenerating Pills. Each pill cost three primeval stones in the outer sect.
After he tossed one pill into his mouth, he felt the pill melting away instantly, spreading its effects throughout him. His back, shoulders, chest, and other areas started itching like ants were crawling on him.
Chen Fan knew that was a sign of his flesh and blood regenerating.
“As expected of a one-star, middle-grade pill. Its effects are so obvious and instant. Good stuff indeed.”
He picked up the martial arts manual next and flipped it open. He couldn’t help but exclaim, “It’s actually an upper-dirt tier martial skill!”
The Thunderclap Sword technique, which Liao Fan had previously demonstrated, was incredibly powerful. Each sword strike resembled a thunderous blast, fierce and violent enough to overwhelm even Chen Fan's special physique.
Chen Fan used to think it was a middle-dirt tier martial skill, but it turned out to be at an upper-dirt tier one.
“Looks like Liao Fan only recently advanced to the sixth level. He only learned the basics of the Thunderclap Sword, not even accomplishing minor mastery. Otherwise, the power it displayed would have been even stronger, able to break my bones with a single strike.”
Chen Fan muttered to himself as he delved into the Thunderclap Sword technique.
This sword technique possessed immense power, exuding a fierce and domineering aura. After all, it was related to lightning and thunder—one of the most powerful natural forces, able to strike a martial artist to death easily.
In ancient records and legends, mortals seeking enlightenment and the Dao often faced numerous tribulations, including lightning tribulations. Many on the cusp of becoming immortals met their demise under the terrifying might of lightning and thunder.
"It has benefited me," Chen Fan remarked with a smile.
One could head up to the third floor of the Martial Arts Pavilion to pick out a martial arts manual after reaching the sixth level. After advancing to the sixth level, Liao Fan must have picked out the Thunderclap Sword manual from the Martial Arts Pavilion.
Chen Fan gathered all the useful items, returned them to the storage pouch, and burned the useless things along with the two corpses to destroy the evidence, not leaving any trace behind.
After doing all this, he switched locations. He found a cave and went into seclusion, healing his injuries.
Although the Muscle Regenerating Pill healed all his physical injuries, he still needed to recuperate from his internal injuries slowly.
The severe beating he had endured from Liao Fan before his breakthrough had left him with significant internal trauma, with blood clots accumulating within his body. Even circulating his qi didn’t feel very smooth now.
Five days later, a flash of sword light illuminated the forest, accompanied by faint thunderous explosions. What was surprising was the sound had come from the sword light.
Boom boom boom…
Trees exploded everywhere the sword went. A handsome youth practiced a technique with a precious sword. His moves were graceful, like he was dancing, but his strikes were powerful.
“As expected of an upper-dirt tier martial skill. It’s indeed powerful, even a little stronger than the Chakravarti Seal,” said Chen Fan, practicing his swordplay.
He had fully recovered from his internal injuries three days ago and had spent the last two days practicing the Thunderclap Sword technique. The more he practiced, the more he felt the greatness of this sword technique. It focused on explosive power, making it incredibly formidable.
He had already achieved minor mastery of the technique. With a swing of the sword, lightning-like sword light flashed, accompanied by the resounding echoes of thunder, leaving anyone who witnessed it in awe.
“Luckily, the primeval qi in my dantian is thick and robust, not inferior to any sixth-level Qigong martial artist. Otherwise, I couldn’t display the Thunderclap Sword’s power at all.”
The higher the tier of a martial art, the more powerful it became, but it also required a greater expenditure of primeval qi during execution.
Ordinary fifth-level Qigong martial artists couldn’t successfully practice the Thunderclap Sword because they didn’t have enough primeval qi to support it.
This was why the Spring Autumn Sect restricted access to the various floors of the Martial Arts Pavilion based on disciples' cultivation levels. One should only practice martial arts suitable for one's current cultivation level and not be overly ambitious.
Only individuals like Chen Fan, who had fortuitous encounters and possessed a dantian ten times larger than others and wider and tougher meridians, could withstand the primeval qi consumption and meridian pressure associated with executing higher-tier martial arts.
Chen Fan was covered in sweat, and his clothing was drenched. More than half of the primeval qi in his dantian was also spent. He took a moment to catch his breath, sitting on a stone about half the height of an adult.
“I’ve already been out for more than two months. My cultivation has improved by leaps and bounds, and Liao Fan is also dead. I don’t need to keep hiding in Qingyang Mountain Range anymore.”
“But before I return to the sect, I must make a trip to the Violent Ape’s cave first to see if I can use the pool there to temper myself further and advance the level of my Myriad Elephants Divine Art.”
With his decision made, Chen Fan quickly replenished his exhausted primeval qi and set off toward the Violent Ape's cave.
1. The body orifices are: nostrils, eyes, mouth, ear canals. ☜
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