Chapter 7: Training in Battle Skills

            POW!

            An extremely loud and resounding slapping echoed rang out, ruthlessly interrupting that black faced fellow's words. The powerful force sent him flying, and over ten teeth tumbled across the floor.

            "I'm sorry, this manual has taken the fancy of this young lord."

            Long Chen looked down at the dark faced fellow with a face seemingly full of regret as he apologized with great flair.

            This one slap was very resounding, and it rang out throughout the entire Battle Skill Pavilion. Everyone who had been busy browsing the Battle Skills immediately put down the manuals in their hand and turned in shock.

"Who dares to be so presumptuous to act violently within the Battle Skill Pavilion?!"

            Suddenly a cold shout rang out, and a black clothed man appeared from the inner part of the Battle Skill Pavilion. His face was cold and strict as he looked at Long Chen and the dark faced fellow.

            When that man appeared his body's blood Qi surged just like a towering mountain, pressuring the others and making it difficult for them to breathe. Long Chen's eyes shrunk….

            "A strong Blood Condensation stage cultivator…."

            It was unexpected that this place would actually have a hidden Blood Condensation stage cultivator, but thinking about it some more, this place was an important part of the Battle Skill Pavilion and having a strong person keep guard would save them some worries.

            It was forbidden to practice martial arts within the Battle Skill Pavilion. This was a rule that everybody knew and breaking this rule meant you would be taken into custody.

            "Speak, what happened here?" The Blood Condensation cultivator angrily shouted.

            "If you want to know then ask him." Long Chen didn't have the slightest amount of fear as he spread out his hands in innocence.

            The dark faced fellow became indignant. It was obviously him who had suffered the blow so why would he still need to ask him? "Senior…."

            "Senior."

            At this moment the distant Zhou Yaoyang had hurriedly run over. He reported to the Blood Condensation cultivator, "Senior, it was like this: w.a.n.g Mang's face suddenly felt a difficult to endure itchiness so he gave himself a slap. There really wasn't any force or battle, you can check for yourself."

            The dark faced fellow who was called w.a.n.g Mang became bewildered, but just as he was about to say something he saw the distant Li Hao doing his best to give him a meaningful face so he swallowed his words back down.

            "You're Man Huanghou's son?"

            "Yes." Zhou Yaoyang hurriedly nodded.

            That person nodded his head, and looking at w.a.n.g Mang on the floor he said, "If you're face is itchy then just scratch it, don't make such a fuss. Clean up after yourself. I don't want to see such a situation a second time."

            After speaking he turned and left, leaving a crowd of astonished people wondering why Zhou Yaoyang would actually help Long Chen.

            "Haha, didn't you hear what he said, hurry up and clean up your s.h.i.+t." Long Chen laughed as if he had totally expected this turn of events, and turning his body around he walked away to continue looking for a Battle Skill.

            "Hateful b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

            Looking at Long Chen who downplayed this event w.a.n.g Mang was angered to the point where his eyes practically spitting flames. This one slap of his caused him to feel extremely vexed.

            "w.a.n.g Mang, endure it. If you were to open your mouth accuse Long Chen of hitting you then he would be taken into custody for one month, but after one month he would be released safe and sound.

            However if you swallow this anger now, then tomorrow Li Hao will help you take back this face. Therefore you absolutely must endure." Zhou Yaoyang informed him.

            w.a.n.g Mang nodded his head. He knew that Li Hao had arranged a battle with Long Chen. But having bullied Long Chen for so long he was already accustomed to it to the point where it was just playing around.

            But today his playing around caused him to receive a huge slap in the face, and he didn't even have a place to complain. The broken pieces of teeth could only be swallowed into his stomach.

            A couple of people were busily picking up the scattered teeth and wiping off the bloodstains when Zhou Yaoyang suddenly asked, "The swelling on your face is very minor so it appears that Long Chen's strength is still not very high. But how is that he managed to knock out so many of your teeth?"

            The other people were also very suspicious. According to common sense only an extremely powerful force could knock out such st.u.r.dy teeth.

            "Who knows? Just bulls.h.i.+*t." w.a.n.g Mang gloomily said. What he didn't know was that Long Chen had used his knowledge as alchemist to do so. Long Chen was already as familiar towards a human body's physiology as he was with the back of his palms.

            His slap had been struck in a skilful so that his gums would loosen and the teeth on that side of his face took the opportunity to tumble out.

            Long Chen's attack had been very vicious. Teeth were not something that could be easily regrown; they were not like other injuries that could be healed with medicines. In the future w.a.n.g Mang could probably only use the other side of his face to eat.

            Having learned from w.a.n.g Mang's mistake everyone became much more well behaved and no one dared to once again provoke Long Chen.

            Long Chen was also happy to leisurely browse through these ancient tomes. The Battle Skill techniques here could only be read in the pavilion and could not be taken outside.

            Spirit of the Bull.

            All Battle Skills could be divided into three categories: Heaven, Earth, and Man. And as for all these Battle Skills and techniques here, all of them were merely the lowest grade of the Man category.

            Although they were the lowest rank, these Battle Skills were still extremely precious existences. Even though they were for the high status n.o.ble heirs, it still required a Blood Condensation cultivator to oversee it. From this one could see just how important Battle Skills were to the Phoenix Cry Empire.

            "Although it's a low grade Battle Skill, but its usage of spiritual energy is clear and direct, making its effect pretty good."

            After completely reading through the Battle Skill in his hand Long Chen nodded. This particular Battle Skill was very suited to him especially since he was extremely familiar with the body's meridians, meaning he could master it very quickly.

            He carefully read through it once again. The current him's Spiritual Strength was extremely formidable compared to a normal person, and it was a great a.s.sistance towards his memory. Essentially he was almost at the point where he could remember anything he saw.

            The Spirit of the Bull technique was completely memorized by him. Placing it back he saw a different support Battle Skill, Chasing Wind Steps.

            Chasing Wind Steps was a kind of footwork technique. Spiritual energy would flow through a set of specific meridians focusing around the feet, increasing one's speed and explosiveness. Whether it was traversing large distances or short evasions, this technique was extremely effective.

            "Excellent, another practical technique I can use."

            Long Chen faintly smiled, and once again busied himself to carefully remember all the routes of the spiritual energy and the details of how to do so.

            "Time's up, all n.o.ble heirs must place back the tomes. If anyone dares to secretly steal some, even death is not harsh enough!"

            At this moment the Blood Condensation cultivator once again appeared. His cold shout was transmitted to everyone's ears, and everyone hurriedly placed back the tomes in their hands.

            A couple people who still wanted to continue sighed and shook their heads. The Phoenix Cry Empire was truly exceedingly strict with Battle Skills. Every month they would only have half a day to study here.

            Many people had to spend several months' time just to learn a single Battle Skill. But although they were discontented no one would dare to complain.

            Long Chen looked up slightly surprised. He hadn't expected that the time would pa.s.s by this quick. But if other people were to learn that Long Chen had used just a short four hours to completely memorize two Battle Skills they might be shocked to the point their jaws would hit the ground.

            Within the recordings of a Battle Skill were extremely cryptic and difficult to understand portions, especially with regards to some of the terms about moving spiritual energy and Qi around specific meridians. And what confounded people even more was how while they were studying it they also had to operate their spiritual energy to test it.

            Leaving the Imperial College Palace, Long Chen said his farewells to the fatty and them before going up to s.h.i.+ Feng and whispering a couple things.

            When s.h.i.+ Feng heard what Long Chen was saying his whole face burst into shock, and although he quickly suppressed it back to his normal expression he was unable to conceal the shock in his eyes.

            Returning to his home Long Chen saw that the room that had been shook and broken by him had already been cleaned up; however at the moment it still wasn't safe for people to live in. Luckily his family had many rooms and they prepared a new one for him.

     First he went to his mother's room in order to a.s.sure her he was alright. Many affairs had consecutively come up during these days causing Madame Long to become agitated and worried.

            Ever since Long Chen woke up it seemed like he had changed and became a completely different person, causing her to feel a trace of unfamiliarity.

            However the good thing was that Long Chen had already adjusted himself, and after accompanying and talking to his mother for a while she calmed down by quite a bit; only he still didn't tell her about the life and death battle he had with Li Hao.

            Leaving his mother's side Long Chen returned to his room and after locking his door he directly swallowed the second FengFu Pill.

            Following the absorption of the second FengFu Pill, the FengFu Star on the bottom of Long Chen's foot once again expanded a bit.

            Along with the expansion, the FengFu Star's ability to store spiritual energy once again increased, just like a Dantian.

            However the current FengFu Star was still in an embryonic form, and in order for it to take its complete form a countless number of FengFu Pills were still required.

            That was also why when Long Chen first acquired and learned the method to train in the Nine Star Hegemon Body Arts that he was so dismayed.

                Currently he had consumed two FengFu Pills that were worth several hundred thousand gold coins and yet his FengFu Star was still in its embryonic form. He was still extremely far off if he wanted it to reach the completely condensed Third Star stage. Furthermore legend had it that there was even a Nine Star level, which was something he still didn't know anything about. The FengFu Star was basically a bottomless pit that required filling.

                But Long Chen knew that the Nine Star Hegemon Body Arts was the only method he could use. If not he could only be mediocre his entire life. In fact he couldn't even match up to an ordinary person, he could only sink down to become a weak person that gets constantly taken advantage of.

                After using four hours to absorb the FengFu Pill, his FengFu Star's embryonic form slightly increased in size, allowing him to control more spiritual energy.

                By now it was already the middle of the night. Long Chen stealthily left his room and entered into the firewood room. Taking a deep breath he began to slowly train in the Spirit of the Bull. Towards Long Chen who was already extremely familiar with his meridians this low grade Battle Skill was something he could master as soon as he started, and there was not even the slightest block.

                He walked over to a stone grinder that was over half a tonne and normally used to crush up rice crops.

                Holding onto it with both hands, he lifted.

                "RISE!"

                The huge stone grinder rose into the air, and Long Chen's impression was that he still had some strength leftover. Nowadays his strength should be enough to lift around 750 kilograms.

            However, his strength before when Zhou Yaoyang beat him was only 75 kilograms. Compared to before it was now increased dramatically by ten times.

            "Excellent, not including other factors, just by relying on my current body strength I can probably match up to people at the fifth Heavenstage of Qi Condensation."

            Long Chen couldn't help but to feel somewhat excited, and at the same time he looked even more forward to training in the Nine Star Hegemon Body Arts. Right now he had only condensed an embryonic form and his power had raised by such an enormous amount; if he were to truly condense the complete FengFu Star then just what kind of level could his power rise to?

            Hesitating for a long while, finally Long Chen couldn't resist the urge to continue testing. Setting himself up, the air near his foot started to slowly fluctuate and a scorching power swept from his foot through his meridians, slowly collecting into his fist.

            Fist of the Bull!

            BANG!

            Long Chen's fist smashed onto the stone grinder, and with an explosive bang the stone grinder was forced into the air and firmly slammed into the wall, causing the entire wall to break down.

            Long Chen couldn't help but to foolishly stare at the powerful force. Originally he had just wanted to experiment a bit with the power; he hadn't expected it would cause such a huge disturbance.

            From outside the room, quite a few rooms lit up lamps. Knowing that he had caused a disturbance that would attract the attention of everyone he quickly slipped out into his room and lied down to sleep.

                However he was simply too excited to sleep, almost to the point of wanting to dance for joy.

                Nine Star Hegemon Body Arts… just what level has this cultivation technique reached? If all nine Stars were all condensed then just what kind of power would be produced?

                Throughout the whole night, Long Chen ended up being far too excited and couldn't fall asleep. When the next day arrived, the sun slowly rose as the first glimpse of light entered into his room. Long Chen slowly opened his eyes.

                "Hehe, want to take parts of my body? Quite a big dream, too bad you're not able to reach it."

                After rising and was.h.i.+ng his face, he heard that the servants were still discussing what happened last night in the firewood room. Welcoming the rising sun, Long Chen couldn't stop a certain thought from emerging from his heart:

                "Today's a good day. Everything I want to achieve is doable."

Translator Notes

Since I only finished three chapters this week there will be two bonus chapters next week, totaling up to 7 chapters.

Enjoy!