Chapter 38 Beyond Perfection
"Please!"
After saying a word of greeting, both of them drew their swords at the same time.
The rank 80 disciple moved first.
He started using perfection stage Huashan Swordplay straight away, attempting a preemptive strike on Lin Yi.
However, Lin Yi was even faster than him, similarly using perfection stage Huashan Swordplay.
The moment the two of them clashed, victory and defeat was instantly revealed.
Using the same perfection stage Huashan Swordplay, Lin Yi was superior!
"How could it be?"
The rank 80 disciple's face was full of disbelief, he completely did not expect to lose so easily.
Defeat in one move.
Using the same skill, why was Lin Yi's swordplay more powerful?
And even by such a large margin?
The spectators surrounding them burst into loud cheers and cries.
"Strong, too strong! This Lin Yi is simply a monster, even the rank 80 isn't a match for him, not to mention he was instantly defeated!"
"I can't even understand what had happened, why is that using the same perfection stage swordplay, Senior Brother Lin is so much stronger?"
"Hehe, this is what you don't know. Even for perfection stage, differences exist. Besides, in a battle of martial arts, a higher stage skill doesn't guarantee a win. The most important factor is still the user."
"Although I still don't really get it, but Senior Brother Lin Yi is so strong."
"As long as you know that that's good enough, just wait, Senior Brother Lin Yi definitely has more surprises in store for us."
"Just thinking about it makes me excited, is Senior Brother Lin Yi going to repeat his feat of crushing the lower courtyard top 100 all by himself just like he did to the top 100 rookies? How many years has it been since something as sensational as this happened in the lower courtyard?
Both the rookies and seniors were full of excitement from seeing Lin Yi defeat the rank 80 disciple in one move.
The feeling of spectating made them feel as if they were the ones fighting, to defeat the once high and mighty rank 80 in one move, and stepping upon him ruthlessly.
Feels too good!
......
"Senior Brother Lin Yi is as strong as we expected. He was right, there were no crappy martial arts, only crappy people. The strong will be strong no matter what skill they use. The weak will be weak no matter what stage they train their skills to! If one doesn't know how to use the sword in the hands, how can one not lose?" Han Bai stood in the crowd watching Lin Yi's figure and muttered: "Senior Brother Lin Yi is giving us a live lesson!"
Even Jiang Xiaoyu at the side nodded and agreed with his words: "Senior Brother Lin Yi's level of understanding regarding swordplay is unfathomable. I used to think that he was only slightly stronger than the seniors, then I realised I was wrong. Just when I thought he was on par with the top 100, I once again realised that I was wrong! Senior Brother Lin Yi is too much stronger than the top 100, it is impossible to discover the limit of Senior Brother Lin Yi's potential, even the ability he has displayed is merely the tip of the iceberg."
"All the more we should practise diligently, to receive the guidance provided by Senior Brother Lin Yi is good fortune that you can't even find in eight lifetimes! You may not know this, but there are innumerable people out there who are envious of our good fortune and can't wait to replace us and follow Senior Brother Lin Yi." Yu Hai patted Jiang Xiaoyu's shoulder and concluded.
Jiang Xiaoyu shook off Yu Hai's hand from his shoulders and glared at him. However, he nodded his head in agreement nonetheless. Even thought he disliked Yu Hai, his words did make sense.
Jiang Xiaoyu was well aware that he only had average talent.
If not for Senior Brother Lin Yi, he wouldn't even make it into the rookies top 100, not to mention the ability to be on par with the seniors currently. He was even contemplating to challenge the lower courtyard top 100 and follow in Senior Brother Lin Yi's footsteps.
This was because Senior Brother Lin Yi had one more person by his side: Han Bai.
He had already made it into the lower courtyard top 100.
Although Jiang Xiaoyu was simpleminded, he was no fool.
He knew very well that the number of people beside Senior Brother Lin Yi would only grow larger.
If he was unable to keep up with the footsteps of Senior Brother Lin Yi, he would inevitably be removed from Senior Brother Lin Yi's side in the future by numerous competitors.
How could Jiang Xiaoyu possibly accept this outcome?
One had to know, he was the very first person to receive guidance from Senior Brother Lin Yi.
However, what demoralised him was the fact that increasingly talented people were appearing beside Senior Brother Lin Yi.
Each and every one of them were stronger than him.
In the heart of the simple youth, there existed his pride as well.
He definitely cannot let himself be left behind!
The 3 youths unflinchingly started at Lin Yi's figure, each of them silently making a decision in their hearts: I definitely have to keep up with Senior Brother Lin Yi's pace!
......
"Defeated again, what is the limit of this Lin Yi?
The top 100 disciples were shocked, all of them sighing in their hearts.
Their gaze towards Lin Yi revealed a hint of ruthlessness.
Lin Yi was giving them too much pressure!
It was so great that they all felt their ranks were unstable.
Among them, the one who felt the most pressure was rank 10 Shangguan Yun.
If he dropped one position, he would be removed from the top 10 ranking.
Within top 10 and outside of top 10 existed 2 different worlds.
Having remained within top 10 for a long time, what Shangguan Yun could not withstand the most was being removed from the familiar world of top 10.
However, no matter how smart or cunning he was, when faced against someone as aggressive and determined as Lin Yi, he was completely stumped.
He was unable to think of any useful idea to deal with Lin Yi.
Once Lin Yi ascended the ranks steadily, Shangguan Yun would eventually face him in battle.
If he was truly strong, he would have no need to worry.
The problem was, ever since he made it to the 10th rank, he thought that doing battle with his wits was the right way.
As a result, he neglected his martial arts for a long time.
Facing a foe as strong as Lin Yi, he had no chance of winning.
His heart fell into a state of anxienty.
Even though he usually appeared unmoving in front of others, right now he was unable to remain calm.
He couldn't help but say: "We need to think of a plan, otherwise nobody will be able to stop Lin Yi. When that happens, none of us will be able to keep our current position."
The top 10 disciples looked at one another in agreement, but what could they still come up with?
The only possible course of action left was to wait silently for their turn.
Being in the top 100 meant that whenever someone challenged you, there was no shying away from a battle!
If you don't fight, that would mean giving up and automatically losing your position.
To fight or not to fight, the result was the same.
The top 10 disciples all remained silent.
......
In contrast to the excited crowd, Lin Yi calmly resumed grinding for experience points.
In his eyes, the lower courtyard top 100 was simply a bunch of experience waiting to be to collected.
Defeating them did not create any ripples in his heart.
The truth was, once he had attained perfection stage in both Huashan Swordplay and Huashan Movement Art, he no longer set his sights on the top 100 ranking.
Instead, he set his aim on practising internal arts, becoming an upper courtyard disciple and then going forth into Jianghu. If he entered the upper courtyard, what would be his first mission in Jianghu be?
Lin Yi was looking forward to it in his heart.
But more than that, was his love for Jianghu.
He was a person of Jianghu right down to the bones inside , the world of grudges and dealings, battles of life and death in Jianghu was where he belonged to.
Because he no longer set his sights on the top 100, he no longer had much patience.
This time, he longer behaved like a kind senior brother at the rookie top 100 residences.
Cold and overbearing!
One came, one would be defeated.
Using the fastest and most efficient way to swiftly defeat each of the top 100 disciples.
Rank 79 defeated.
Rank 78 defeated.
Rank 77 defeated.
......
Rank 60 defeated.
Rank 50 defeated.
Rank 40 defeated.
......
Rank 12 defeated.
Rank 11 defeated.
In just 5 days, Lin Yi defeated the lower top 90 disciples with astonishing speed!
Heading straight for the famous lower courtyard top 10 disciples.
Everyone was getting excited and stunned by Lin Yi's fierce attitude and behavior.
During these 5 days, Lin Yi nearly won every fight with a single move.
There was no opponent who lasted more than 3 moves.
He was strong to the point of suffocating, and his techniques were unreadable and incomprehensible.
Although Lin Yi's techniques looked ordinary and identical to the the techniques his opponents used, but the effect they had were extraordinary.
Nobody was able to withstand his attacks, it gave a feeling of transforming the ordinary into the miraculous.
If there was a stage beyond perfection, it would be this kind of miraculous stage!
So did such a stage exist?
One could say it did, and one could also say it didn't.
The stage of perfection was the highest state of every martial art, the so called state of great success.
But Lin Yi clearly knew, reaching the perfection stage in a silver grade martial art was only the foundation for learning high level martial arts.
The swordplay used by Lin Yi had surpassed the perfect stage of Huashan swordplay.
It belonged in the realm of high level martial arts.
It was secret known by many expert players in the game.
Once one had reached the highest stage of a basic martial art, there was a certain probability of deducing a technique from a higher grade martial art.
It was only a probability due to the fact that it depended on the player's level of understanding and talent.
With Lin Yi's experience as a top expert in the game, the moment his Huashan Swordplay reached the stage of perfection, he was able to deduce techniques that were on par with high level martial arts.
In fact, Huashan high level swordplay originated from deducing killer techniques from Huashan Swordplay when one had reached the intermediate stage.
When the killer techniques were upgraded, they formed the techniques of high level swordplay.
Once one knew this secret, it was easy to understand.
If one didn't know, it would seem extremely confusing, and impossible to figure out.
The majority of people only felt that the techniques used by Lin Yi seemed profound and hard to understand.
But they were unable to understand and only felt that Lin Yi was incredibly strong.
Only a small minority of people with great talent were able to associate the techniques with the words "high level martial arts".
Even then, they couldn't be sure of it since they had no knowledge in this aspect.
Only the three people who had received Lin Yi's personal guidance were able to understand his techniques.
The more they understood, the more they felt Lin Yi was scary when they saw the confused looks all around them.
Lin Yi had explained it to them before, upgrading killer techniques into high level martial art techniques.
At the time of hearing it, they had doubts about it, since they had never heard of something like that.
However, they recalled that before entering Huashan, there were instructors that kept telling them that Huashan Swordplay was the foundation of all Huashan high level swordplay.
Only then were they were able to somewhat understand what Lin Yi was telling them.
But they had never expected their Senior Brother Lin Yi to be able to actually accomplish it!
Using Huashan Swordplay to deduce techniques on par with high level swordplay!