Chapter 160: Nine-Styles Weapon Subduing Art
Inventing something new was truly difficult, even for someone with a lot of resources like Sila . Even though he had a strong foundation and possessed several profound arts, it still took him a week to come up with the core concept for his Weapon Subduing Fist Art .
Although, the time he took was, in fact, incredibly short . When it came to anything else, Sila might be dull and stupid, but not when martial arts were involved . Going over what he had learned, practising diligently, mimicking others, and adapting what he had seen were all things he had done since childhood .
After writing the final sentence, Sila put his pen down and closed the book in front of him . On the cover was the title “Weapon Subduing Fist: Sila” . For the record, the content within this book was vastly different from common martial art manuals, as Sila was a bad writer, writing everything that came to mind in the middle of training . As a result, this book ended up being very hard to read . The handwriting was downright ugly, the topic was not properly explained, there was no table of contents, and there were even a lot of symbols that he made up as well as many sentences that had been crossed out . No one would be able to understand this book .
Except for the writer himself, of course . Finally, Sila had finished developing the Weapon Subduing Fist Art that he envisioned, just as both he and his teacher hoped .
The full name of this art was Nine-Styles Weapon Subduing Art . Sila intended to come up with exactly nine styles in honor of Mora’s Nine Sun-Melting-Fists . Nevertheless, even though he said it was a single art that had nine styles, in fact, each style acted like an individual art . It was the result of him combining various arts together .
Sila divided the art into three parts: Lesser Styles, Middle Styles, and Greater Styles . The difficulty in terms of usage increased with every tier, going from easy to insanely difficult .
Leaving the book on the ground, Sila stood up and started demonstrating the first three styles . The first three could be used even without the implementation of inner force .
The first style was called Armament Trampling . It was derived from Twelve Celestial-Traveling-Steps combined with footwork techniques from Nine Sun-Melting-Fists, and further improved by his experience fighting against Montra .
The basic of this style was to attack while evading . Sila took several steps back and forth . Some movements were neat while some looked chaotic .
With Twelve Celestial-Traveling-Steps as its base, he had added bending down, jumping, gliding, and dragging feet into the art . Initially, he had never understood why these kinds of movement weren’t included in the art, though he finally figured out why because of something Mora had said . It turned out these kinds of movement were compensated by utilization of the Star Ocean Sword Art .
Another aspect that was included in the style was offensive moves using feet . Prior to this moment, Sila hardly relied on using his feet to attack opponents since, for him, using his feet was harder than using his hands . However, due to his last fight against Montra, he realized how important kicking was . Seeing Montra skillfully use each part of his body like a separate weapon, Sila decided to develop a kicking technique that aimed to counter the use of weapons . Most of his techniques centered around stopping the opponent’s movements and following up with his own attack, though there were some directly offensive moves . The name of this style was inspired by the idea of enabling himself to walk leisurely, even in the middle of a battlefield .
Sila stopped moving and started utilizing the second style: Bone Claws, which he derived from Death Bridge and Nine Sun-Melting-Fists .
This style emphasized speed, power, and having no mercy . No, rather than being merciless, it was a mercy to let the opponent die without having to feel pain . This style was one of the styles he could use proficiently despite having developed it from an art that he had only practiced for three days .
He suspected that it might be due to the fact that dark arts were easier to practice than ordinary ones .
Both his hands were swiftly striking an imaginary opponent . Each spot that he aimed at was a vital point and would easily result in death . Even if he couldn’t finish the opponent with a single move, he would still possess various methods to gravely injure the opponent, such as crushing their bones, or disabling them by detaching or twisting their joints .
As for the last style among the first three styles, it was called Martial Formless . It was the only style that was solely his idea without relying on others . It wasn’t derived from any arts he learned . Rather, it was developed from his imagination and self-training .
It didn’t have a fixed movement . Rather than calling it an art or a style, it was just a concept . Sila threw a simple, almost ordinary left hook forward, not too fast and not too slow, before stopping . His expression showed that he was very proud of himself .
“For this style, it seems I need to use it against a real opponent before I can be sure of its usefulness,” muttered Sila, before writing more lines into his book .
In the eyes of ordinary people, they wouldn’t see anything in particular with that previous punch . However, true experts would be intrigued . They would even compliment Sila and say that the name Martial Formless was by no means an exaggeration .
This style was birthed from his unorthodox learning process and out of the box thinking . With this concept in his head, his attack would completely defy common sense . It was a style that suited Sila the best, while at the same time, contradicted his nature the most .
It was the ultimate art of deception . Relying on masterful and clever use of inner force, a fierce punch that looked like it could break a mountain might turn out to be a weak tap upon contact . On the contrary, a slow and weak-looking punch might turn out to be almighty . When his opponent see his muscles and center-of-gravity shift, and they think that Sila is about to throw a right punch, it might instead turn out that Sila kicks them using his left leg . The more skilled the opponent, the more confused they would become .
“No problem found in the first three styles . Next are . . . ”
The middle three styles were ones which Sila could execute but not as skillfully, since all of them were delicate styles that required time and experience . He couldn’t practice them well enough secluding himself under the cliff . In addition, from the fourth style onward, inner force was required to utilize them .
The fourth style was called Moon Perishing Yizichan . It was derived from the knowledge regarding acupoints used in Nine Sun-Melting-Fists . However, there were a lot of acupoints within a human body, and they varied from person to person . Since the time he spent learning it was too short, at the moment, Sila could only remember a handful of important ones .
T/N: Yizichan means “finger art” .In his mind, this style would one day become the ultimate art for subduing opponents . If he mastered it, he would be able to defeat an enemy without killing them . Furthermore, he would be able to disturb the opponent’s flow of inner force to weaken them .
The obvious difference between this style and Bone Claws was that Moon Perishing Yizichan focused on damaging opponents from the inside, while Bone Claws aimed to directly injure them .
For this style, there was no fixed movement . The main point was striking at the opponents’ tiny acupoints with precision, using his fingers .
The fifth style, Stellar Wheel, was derived from the defensive techniques of Six Moon-Grabbing-Claws and the borrowing technique of Death Bridge .
Yin Yang Energy was like a revolving wheel within his body . The higher the speed of the rotation, the more powerful his body became .
Despite there being no visible change to his external appearance, the energy was spinning fiercely within his body . Sila slammed his hand into a nearby rock and it immediately cracked through the center as if pierced by a drill .
In theory, this style should be powerful when it came to both offense and defense . However, the problem was, under the cliff, Sila had no targets aside from the lifeless stones and trees for him to attack . Stellar Wheel, in Sila’s imagination, should be able to receive the opponent’s attack and return the force back to them, which he intended to try once he was outside .
The sixth style was now considered the most powerful move in Sila’s possession . The name for it was One Above All . Its name might sound arrogant, but Sila believed it wasn’t over the top . He had combined all of his strongest skills into one; be it Genesis Punch, Dragon's Fist, or Tiger's Claw, not one was left out . Even Tiger-Dragon Fusion was included .
As a result, this style became Sila’s current ultimate offensive skill . Not only could he exert its power using his fists, but he could also unleash it with his palms, feet, elbows, knees, or even forehead . Sila was quite certain that he could mix this style with other styles . If he could just weaken or stop his enemy using his other moves and then follow up with One Above All, he was confident that his opponent would not survive .
Depending on Profound Qi Circulation Art, Sila’s power was constantly regenerating . Even after utilizing all those actions, he still had remaining energy to spare . Nevertheless, the biggest problem he found was with the last three styles’ energy consumption .
In theory, the last three styles weren’t difficult to execute . Each of them were severe, dangerous, and could be used in various situations . Sila believed that just one of them was too much for anyone to cope with . The problem was the energy consumption of the last three styles was insanely enormous, which was logical . Even though Sila’s growth was extraordinary, these styles were too strong for his current inner force capacity . He would need more time and practice to be able to use them in the future .
Exhaling, Sila inspected his body and found that his energy had been fully replenished . His eyelids opened and his eyes under them glowed with mysterious light as if they belonged to an evil spirit . His body floated slightly from the ground as if the concept of gravity no longer work on him .
The seventh style, Lone Soul, enhanced Sila’s speed to surpass his limit, even greater than Zero’s . Moreover, speed wasn’t the only prominent point of Lone Soul . This style was derived from Divine Raiment, elevating his concentration and causing everything around him to become slower . Every detail, despite how small it was, couldn’t escape his eyes and profound sense . Sila’s body flashed once and a big boulder near him disintegrated into dust .
*Thud*
Sila collapsed on the ground . His body was soaked with sweat and fatigue overcame him . He quickly sat cross-legged and focused his mind to regenerate his power .
“Sadly, I can only maintain that state for a minute . It’s a lot shorter than Divine Raiment . Isn’t there a method that will allow me to maintain it for a longer time?”
Regretfully, the truth was as he had expected . There was no shortcut to building up inner force . Considering his age, possessing his current power was already deemed as outstanding .
Sila dismissed false hope and concentrated . Today was the last day he decided to stay in the Slime Kingdom . Now was the time to review all of his styles before going out to try them in real battles . The next destination in his mind right now was the Desert of Death .
Most of his power had regenerated . Though, Sila still sat motionlessly on the ground . The reason for that was because the eighth style didn’t require any movements .
The eighth style was called Psychic Crush . When he named this move, he was too lazy to come up with a cool name, so he simply mimicked the name of his newly acquired skill from the Right Arm of the Sealed One . The principle of this style was an ingenious utilization of energy, sending his power through objects .
Sila tried sending his energy through the ground and damaging a tree three meters away from where he sat . After a moment, a crack began to spread across the width of the tree, and the upper half started tilting . Based on the result, it seemed the power was quite weak . The body of the tree gradually fell to the ground .
If he managed to master this style, it would be very amazing . He wouldn’t even need to lift a finger to attack an enemy, and it would be an invisible attack that they wouldn't notice until it was too late . Well, there were a number of problems . First, the further the target, the harder it would be to control his power . Second, the energy consumption wasn't worth it, considering the small amount of damage . Lastly, it took him a great deal of concentration to send his power through objects without damaging them in the process . Regardless, it was still one of his ultimate moves .
Anyway, in practical combat, the current him should be able to attack the opponent without moving a muscle . For example, he could place his palm on someone and attack them directly, with no further movements required . If there was no distance between him and the target, it became easy for him to send his power to attack them . Thinking about it, this style was the only one among the last three styles that Sila thought he could put into use in real battles .
The last style was called Fist of Reversal . The name of this style was related to Heaven’s Decree Sword Art . As he had yet to practice the sword art, this style was something he couldn’t execute yet . It only existed as an idea for future reference .
Mainly, this style was inspired by the eighth sword style of Heaven’s Decree: Fate’s Reversal . Nevertheless, there was a big difference in executing a move through hands compared to a sword . As such, he would need more time to adapt it before he dared to call it his own profound art .
Overall, Heaven’s Decree Sword Art relied on keen usage of inner force with great delicacy and skillful technique . However, Pumin was well aware that sometimes great strength was required to subdue an opponent . As a result, he invented the last sword style, Fate’s Reversal, in accordance with this fact . The principle behind this move was short and simple .
It was an attack that was so strong, it could change what was almost a loss into a victory, turning the tables in an instant with a single move .
The concept was simple, but the way of utilizing inner force in order to execute this skill was very difficult and complex . Upon reading over the description about it time and time again, Sila couldn’t comprehend even half of it . As expected of a move that his father marked as a very difficult step in mastering his sword art .
Sila prepared to unleash the power of Fist of Reversal . All of the fingers on his right hand connected and pointed toward the sky . The ground trembled slightly before it suddenly stopped . As for Sila, his power was completely spent and he was on the verge of falling unconscious . His face smacked into the ground, his tongue sending him the weird taste of soil . His stamina dropped to the bottom, and he could barely move his fingers .
“Cough . No doubt about it . Unless I can comprehend Fate’s Reversal, I won’t be able to use Fist of Reversal . ”
He heard the sound of footsteps as they approached him . His inner sense told him that Divine was coming, though he couldn’t move to give the man his respect due to his fatigue .
“I noticed the cliff trembling, so I came to take a look . Are you practicing? That pose looks very funny . ”
Divine couldn’t help but show a smile, noticing Sila’s current posture; he was sitting cross-legged, but his upper body bent down and kissed the ground, while both his hands were laid sprawled across it . This was the funniest training pose he had ever seen .
Sila’s face reddened with embarrassment . He quickly circulated his energy to regain sufficient strength to push himself upright, although barely .
“M-Mister Divine, do you have business with me?”
“Oh, nothing . I just came to tell you that Poluk has come back . ”
“I see . ” Sila nodded .
Divine seemed to not want to disturb him, so he left without further delay .
“It’s time for me to get out of here as well . Hopefully, the bounty on my head will be tempting enough that other players come and give me a chance to practice my art . I don’t want to be the first to pick a fight . ”
Once he felt like he could move, Sila stood up . However, upon taking three steps, his body stumbled and collapsed, and he experienced the weird, salty taste of soil again .
“Puh!” Sila spat the taste of soil out of his mouth . “First things first, I need to properly stand up . ”