The Deity of War

Chapter 34: Initial Success in Battle Technique

“Then why did we let him go...”

The Elders were all quite surprised upon hearing Gu Shiwei’s words.

If Qi Ying really was involved in the matter, then they should have detained him immediately!

Gu Shiwei shook his head. “The important thing is not whether he was involved. Instead, you have to realize that we can’t do anything to him as his backers have the power and courage to kill thirty-seven of our academy disciples! Qi Ying definitely wasn’t the person who killed all those people, so detaining him is pointless at best, and could quite possibly be detrimental. Why do you think I didn’t get Elder Duan to come along this time? “The conflict lies between Qi Ying and the Duan family, so Qi Ying’s backer is not targeting our Celestial River Academy. Hence, there is no need for us to provoke them by taking Qi Ying into custody. Also... I feel like we need to investigate Qi Ying... and that woman. She’s even more mysterious than Qi Ying. I can’t see through her...”

“Hmm?”

The Elders looked at one another in confusion.

That woman was just a blind lady. She was quite beautiful, but no matter how they looked at it, she was just an ordinary person!

Could it be that she was some exceptional warrior who had gone into hiding?

“Remember this.” Gu Shiwei said in a firm voice, “The result of our investigation today is that Qi Ying is unrelated to this matter! The ideal scenario would be for this case to be indefinitely suspended. Even if the Duan family refuses to give up, we are not going to involve ourselves any further! The Duan family can’t do anything to the academy, but I can’t say the same thing about others...”

“But what about all those dead disciples?”

An Elder asked with wide eyes.

All of the dead disciples had families and they weren’t going to give up easily.

Gu Shiwei harrumphed coldly. “A bunch of scum ganging up on a single disciple; do you think they were fit to be disciples of our academy? If one good thing has come out of this situation, it’s that all of that trash was cleared out of the academy!”

...

Qi Ying was still slightly uneasy as he returned to the courtyard. He didn’t know if Mother Yu had heard about what had happened during the day and whether she was concerned for him.

However, Xuan Yu didn’t ask or say anything, as if she were unaware that anything had happened. She prepared some of her usual dishes and said. “Have some food, then go and rest. The Principal seems to hold you in very high regard, seeing that he came to see you in person. He even said that he was going to help us renovate our courtyard, so make sure to cooperate if he asks to see you again.”

“Alright.”

Qi Ying replied absentmindedly.

Regardless of whether the academy believed his account of events, the Duan family definitely wouldn’t be willing to give up. Master Thirteen was certainly ready to offer his support and he was quite a powerful warrior, but he still wouldn’t be able to combat the colossus that was the Duan family by himself. What if he couldn’t protect him... People like Duan Renshan and Duan Gucheng still attended the academy, so what if they continued to pick on him?

Just as all of these concerns were running through his mind, Xuan Yu suddenly said without any premonition. “There’s nothing worth worrying about as you won’t be able to resolve any problem just by thinking about it most of the time. As opposed to fretting about things, it’s much better to forget your concerns and do something constructive. Who knows? Maybe things will work themselves out!”

Qi Ying’s expression stirred upon hearing this.

She was right.

No matter how much he worried about the Duan family coming after him, it would come to no avail.

All he could do was to become more powerful!

“Thank you, Mother Yu!”

Qi Ying turned toward Xuan Yu with a grateful expression, before shoveling a ton of food into his mouth. “Mother Yu, I’m going outside to cultivate. You should go to bed first if you are tired.”

...

The sun hadn’t completely set yet and Qi Ying stood beside the lake near the courtyard. He listened to the flowing water and closed his eyes, as he began to sense the vital energy of heaven and earth. Gradually, the Purple Energy around Qi Ying was absorbed into his body.

At the same time, Qi Ying began to cultivate according to the external section section of the Purple Energy Cultivation Method, transitioning from one pose to another. As he did that, he also activated his internal strength, in order to synchronize the cultivation of his both internal and external strength.

For Yellow Tier cultivation methods, the internal sections consisted of the expiration of vital energy in order to improve one’s cultivation base. In contrast, the external sections consisted of enhancing one’s True Energy circulation to consolidate the cultivation base, thereby making one more proficient in sensing and utilizing True Energy.

Whoosh!

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Qi Ying was like a vortex emanating suction force to guide all of the Purple Energy contained in the vital energy of heaven and earth into his body. The rate at which he absorbed Purple Energy was far superior compared to others, and Purple Energy was also being converted into True Energy at a much faster rate, when compared to a First Energy Martial Stage warrior. If there was anything that was slowing down his rate of cultivation, then it had to be his left arm, which was absorbing most of the Purple Energy that entered his body.

After a while, Qi Ying decided to pull out a jade vial and take a few Energy Containment Pills. He refined the pills while cultivating and managed to accelerate the accumulation of True Energy within his body.

The energy vortex in his dantian was slowly expanding and darkening in color...

“Phew...”

After cultivating for four consecutive hours, Qi Ying exhaled deeply and looked up into the sky. It was already deep into the night and countless stars had appeared overhead.

Progression in the Purple Energy Cultivation Method was faster during morning and dusk, but the rate slowed quite noticeably at night time. Thus, Qi Ying took the opportunity to cultivate his Dark Falcon Illusionary Claw instead, to further familiarize himself with the battle technique.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

A series of claw projections appeared and faded. Qi Ying was able to unleash the claw attacks far quicker than before, and the process during which he materialized his True Energy had also become a lot smoother. Most importantly, the amount of True Energy that he could summon to his fingertips had doubled compared to the day prior, so the claw projections he unleashed were far larger than before.

Whoosh!

A claw projection struck the ground.

Bam!

A large chunk of earth was shoveled into the air, creating five rifts on the ground that were several feet in both length and depth.

Whoosh!

Another claw projection struck a massive rock.

Crack!

The rock instantly shattered, sending countless rocky shards flying in all directions.

Qi Ying stopped what he was doing and looked down at his hand with a hint of elation. His mastery of the Dark Falcon Illusionary Claw had improved from elementary level to initial success level!

The same battle technique could unleash different levels of power when used by warriors of different cultivation bases. However, even if it were the same person, the offensive output could be different due to their level of proficiency and mastery in the technique. There were four levels reflecting one’s mastery of battle techniques; these were, in ascending order, the elementary, initial success, great success, and perfect levels. Some extraordinary battle techniques could even be cultivated to the phenomenal level by warriors with brilliant aptitude.

If reaching the great success level meant that one could unleash a hundred percent of a battle technique’s power, then initial success level equated to about sixty or seventy percent, and elementary level would reflect a pitiful thirty to forty percent.

At the elementary level, Qi Ying’s Dark Falcon Illusionary Claw wasn’t very powerful. The only real benefit of using the battle technique was that it allowed him to attack from a distance. However, after reaching the initial success stage, the power he could unleash through that attack had increased by twofold.