Chapter 86 The Five Heavenly Talents Gather
After clearing his fourth meridian, his attack stat reached 200. If he channeled his internal strength, even a move from a basic martial art would have an attack of 600. Lin Yi had learned a superior sword art and upgraded it to perfection stage.
In the aspect of offense, Lin Yi was entirely capable of being on par with the heavenly talents from various major sects who were second-rate experts, even probably even surpassing the majority of them. Offense was his greatest advantage.
However, his speed and defense were seriously lacking in comparison. Putting aside defense, as Lin Yi did not learn any defensive martial arts and was not intending to do so, he was most concerned about his speed. With sufficient speed, it was the best form of defense he could get. Entering the battle and attacking or retreating and defending, coming and going freely, that was the ideal state which he desired. Unfortunately, he only learned Huashan Movement Art. For most people, a silver grade movement art was already considered very good. But for Lin Yi, it was still too inferior.
Huashan Movement Art only had some basic movement skills and did not have any killer techniques like superior martial arts. Without killer techniques, there was no explosive power. It would still suffice for normal battles, but when it came to opponents who were stronger, especially those higher classed than himself, his speed would become his fatal weakness.
"Looks like I have to look for a superior movement art. Unfortunately, Huashan does not possess any famous superior movement art."
Huashan's superior lightness arts were all evolved from Huashan Movement Art. It excelled at close combat movement but fared poorly when it came to long-distance movement and rapid escaping maneuvers.
He was not interested in Huashan's movement and lightness arts.
However, he was currently unable to think of where he could find manuals for other superior lightness arts. In his previous life, he also did not have any wondrous encounters and stumble upon any of these superior arts.
Each method of inheriting rare and powerful skills required harsh and rigorous tests before one could obtain them.
Even though he knew of several of these methods, one of which was the location for inheriting archery skills, there was no time for him to obtain it right now as it was no longer like back in the game. Everything was real, and he had the power, but he no longer had the kind of freedom he enjoyed in the game, and every move he made was under the scrutiny of the public. It was more of an issue of his personal safety.
Although he managed to kill the second-rate expert Old Demon Xu, who knew if there were any first-rate experts watching his every move.
As his reputation spread throughout Jianghu, Lin Yi had most likely become a thorn in the demonic cults' flesh. The demonic faction would always be trying to get rid of him.
If he tried to obtain superior martial arts in a secretive manner, the experts from the demonic faction would be more than happy to try to kill him if they found him alone. This was the disadvantage of being famous. However, if Lin Yi had to choose all over again, he would still choose to be famous.
He had chosen a path of fame and glory.
Obtaining greater fame was for the sake of battle experience and the right to compete for the position of Huashan's chief disciple, so as to eventually obtain Huashan's Nine Swords of Dugu and Violet Mist Divine Skill.
Compared to the potential gains, the danger he exposed himself to was nothing.
Without power, there would be nothing he could do during the era of chaos except to accept his fate.
"It all comes down to power. If I'm even more powerful and become a first-rate expert, I would be able to easily obtain superior skills."
Clenching his fists tightly, he sighed in his heart.
There was no need to think too much about the matter. As long as he continued to strengthen himself, he would eventually obtain a superior movement art and fix his weakness. Right now, he needed to become a second-rate expert as soon as possible! Only then would he become a true heavenly talent and obtain the right to compete for the position of chief disciple with Linghu Feng.
Being the most outstanding disciple of Huashan, Linghu Feng was much stronger than Old Demon Xu, and Lin Yi was currently not a match for Linghu Feng.
Lin Yi was well aware of his own strength. He was not stupid enough to think that just because he possessed the experience of a peak expert in his previous life, he would be able to look down on everyone under the heavens.
There were still plenty of incredible talents in this world.
Putting these thoughts to one side, he shifted his focus back to his current situation.
After clearing the fourth meridian, he still needed vast amounts of battle experience to clear the fifth and sixth meridians.
However, the demonic cult disciples had gone into hiding because of what he did, so he could no longer hunt them down for battle experience currently. Without any alternatives, Lin Yi could only train using his own efforts.
Practicing his internal art was compulsory every night. Internal arts could be considered as the foundation of one's strength, so it was the most important thing to practice.
Other than that, Lin Yi also continued to practice his sword arts.
Although he had already reached the perfection stage for all his sword arts, but he still kept on practicing. Even if he did not gain any experience points, so what?
He could improve his understanding of the sword arts and deduce new killing techniques from it. These techniques could enhance his fighting ability when facing difficult opponents.
Starting from Basic Sword Art, followed by Huashan Sword Art and finally Deadly Chain of Three Celestial Swords. Each move was performed extremely slowly, like the movement of a snail. But as he did so, his sword arts became increasingly tempered.
Once, twice, thrice...
After countless times, every move gradually seemed to possess the laws of heaven and earth, and there were no flaws to be found.
Lin Yi began to immerse himself in the experience, as he had never experienced this in the game. He felt very comfortable and liked it very much.
After sword practice ended and the sky darkened, he would immediately sit in his room and start practicing his internal art. Channeling his internal strength to flow through the meridians in his body, he improved his control and refined his internal strength.
Every step required great effort, but Lin Yi enjoyed the process.
He liked the feeling of slowly and gradually growing and refining his internal strength.
Time passed silently.
Just like that, half a month had gone by.
Although Lin Yi did not make much progress in his internal art, he was satisfied. He felt enriched and also felt the meaning of being alive. His state of mind was strengthened as well.
Whenever he was tired from practice, he liked to go out of Liushanmen to walk around various parts of Lanzhou City and watch all kinds of people go about their daily business. Many people recognized and surrounded him when they saw him approach.
Lin Yi always smiled at them, regardless of whether they were ordinary people or from Jianghu.
His reputation of having a gentle and chivalrous personality quickly spread.
Nearly everyone praised Young Hero Lin for being approachable and chivalrous. After he had made numerous appearances, lesser and lesser people came to disturb him as they knew he preferred peace and quietness.
He liked sitting at a window seat on the second floor of a restaurant and ordering a flask of wine as well as a dish or two. As he ate and drank, he would watch the people downstairs living their busy lives peacefully.
Lin Yi gradually grew to like such a peaceful way of life. These were his most comfortable days since crossing over. There was no danger and no era of chaos constantly driving him forward, making him unable to stop and rest.
He could quietly enjoy the joys of practicing martial arts while watching the lives of all kinds of people.
There was an increasingly refined aura emanating from him, and if any Huashan lower courtyard disciple saw him now, they would be astounded. Was this refined and unassuming youth really the same Senior Brother Lin Yi who was extremely aggressive and a challenge maniac?
Suddenly, a commotion was raised.
Spreading quickly, Lin Yi raised his brows and listened silently.
"The demonic cult disciples are here again, and this time they have arrived with a greater force!"
Everyone gasped in fear, and some even started trembling. The great battle half a month ago between both factions had made them realize the cruelty of war and the sadness of death.
Nobody wanted to return to that time when they could not sleep in peace and felt danger at every moment. A peaceful and comfortable life was what they wanted.
Lin Yi was also jolted awake by the sudden news. Half a month of peaceful days had nearly made him forget that he was in Lanzhou City right now, the most chaotic location in Jianghu before the arrival of the era of chaos.
Shaking his head, he sighed as he gazed towards the sky. If not for the era of chaos, he would never have spent so much effort and energy into improving his strength and to compete for the position of Huashan's chief disciple.
Practicing martial arts in peace and immersing himself in the experience was the kind of life he wanted.
Only, such a life was too much of a luxury right now!
The recent days had been the most luxurious days he had ever spent.
From now on, such peaceful days were over.
Returning to Liushanmen, he quietly awaited the arrival of further news and prepared himself for battle.
On the first day, large numbers of demonic cult disciples appeared.
On the second day, a large army from the demonic faction was gathered, and many talents from various demonic cults and sects arrived, exceeding the numbers from the previous battle.
On the third day, there were signs that the army was about to invade Lanzhou City.
On the fourth day, the demonic faction did not make any moves, but there was news from major sects of the righteous faction. Emei's eldest core disciple Zhou Qian had led a force consisting of more than ten second-rate experts as well as a hundred third-rate experts to Lanzhou City, creating a commotion in Lanzhou City as they arrived.
On the fifth day, Qingcheng's eldest disciple Li Donglin also arrived, similarly leading a force consisting of more than ten second-rate experts and a hundred third-rate experts.
On the sixth day, Wudang's eldest disciple Priest Qiankun also brought along a similar force.
On the seventh day, Shaolin's chief disciple Master Juexing led more than twenty second-rate experts and more than two hundred third-rate experts to Lanzhou City.
On the eighth day, Lin Yi was informed that he needed to go the entrance of the city. On this day, Huashan's Linghu Feng had led more than three hundred Huashan disciples and arrived at Lanzhou City.