The Cage
[The Lunar Water Spear Technique]. The principle behind it was 'Soft and gentle rays ever present like moonlight.'
Its attacks were soft and gentle yet inexhaustible, The omnipresent nature of the moons light, the moon rays falling from the lunar body, making the enemy find it difficult to even dodge. In turn, its defenses were utterly airtight…and at the same time, when tens of millions of rays of light converged on one point, it could form a terrifyingly penetrative force.
"The [Lunar Yin Spear technique] truly is profound and wondrous. Father is it possible to read the abridged versions of the sword techniques manuals too, to gain perspective."
"Of course." Yichaun waved his hand, and five books flew over, landing next to his son.
"Ning while your brother is reading let's train together."
"Okay father"
Yichen picked up the first book of the five [Raindrop Sutra]. The principle behind it was that of the saying, 'dripping water can eventually tunnel through a rock'.
Its attacks were soft yet inexhaustible, seemingly as endless as the raindrops falling from the skies during a rainstorm, making the enemy find it difficult to even dodge. In turn, its defences were utterly airtight…and at the same time, when tens of millions of raindrops converged on one point, it could form a terrifyingly explosive force. Even ordinary drops of water could eventually tunnel through a rock; the sword that had been transformed into 'raindrops' would naturally contain an unshakable, unyielding power.
, [Polaris Secret Manual].
The [Polaris Secret Manual] was part of the legendary [Polaris Sword Manual]. It was divided into seven different sword stances, known as Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar, and Alkaid. These seven major sword stances all contained the power of the stars. They could be as ferocious and savage as the Voracious Alkaid Wolf Sword, or the extremely soft and extremely sinister Melodious Megrez Sword…
The sword technique was unfathomably mysterious and was very hard to defend against.
"What a good sword technique." Yichen sighed in amazement as he read, before picking up the other three books.
[Thunderflame Sword]. This was something which the ancestors of the Ji clan, when roving and training themselves elsewhere in the world, had been lucky enough to find. They had found a half-burned remnant of a book, and the words in it were not very clear. Only two words on the title could be seen: Thunderflame! In addition, they were only able to reclaim three complete sword stances from the book.
All of the stances were used to attack. When the stances were used, it was as though it contained the power of heavenly thunder and hellish flames. There was no question that in terms of attack power, it was the undisputed champion amongst the sword techniques of the Ji clan! For just three stances to allow it to be ranked amongst the Five Major Sword Techniques of the Ji clan, one could imagine how that unnamed complete sword technique…definitely outstripped the other four sword techniques vastly.
However, although its strengths were apparent, its weaknesses were also apparent. This was because these vicious stances…were only three in number. Thus, they didn't perfectly link to each other. In addition, all three stances were purely offensive, without any defensive stances. How could experts, when engaged in battle, have no defensive stances? Thus, very few people would choose to train in this sword technique.
"I really want to see what the complete Thunderflame Sword looks like." Yichen couldn't help but sigh.
Yichen nodded, then picked up the fourth book.
[Illusion Sutra]. Strictly speaking, this wasn't a sword technique, because once one truly understood the meaning of the word 'Illusion', one could execute an 'Illusion Saber' technique, or an 'Illusion Spear' technique, or an 'Illusion Staff' technique…this was an insidious and powerful attacking technique that allowed one to hide one's true abilities and actions. Opponents often would die before even knowing what happened.
This technique was sinister to the extreme.
"This isn't suited to my temperament." Yichen immediately discarded the [Illusion Sutra]. Picking something suited to a person was very important. A technique that was opposite of one's natural instincts, no matter how profound…would be incredibly difficult to train. Naturally, Yichen immediately discarded it.
"Hrm, the last one was originally the greatest strength of the Ji clan." Yichen began to flip through the [Melody of Ten Thousand Swords].
The [Melody of Ten Thousand Swords] was praised as the most complicated of the five sword techniques, far more complicated than the [108 Swords of the Gods and Demons] which Yichaun had previously learned. But although it was complicated, once one truly mastered it, the [Melody of Ten Thousand Swords] could be simplified into three major stances. The 'One Sword, Ten Thousand Shadows' stance, the 'Ten Thousand Swords Become One', and the 'Melody of Ten Thousand Swords'.
...
Yichen closed his eyes, pondering.
In his past life, Yichen had seen many martial arts competitions. All of the champions were experts at dodging and defense. Even in soccer and basketball, there was the saying that 'defense is king'. Although attacks were pretty to look at…it was defense which truly gave the best chances at victory.
The venue was different, but the logic was the same!
In life and death battles, defense was also important. When encountering an expert more powerful than one's self, one might reach the point of only being able to defend and not attack. If one's defense was strong, then perhaps one might still live. But once those attack-focused people encountered those who were even stronger than them, once their attacks were not able to harm the opponent, they were finished.
"Defense is the same thing as preserving my life. First, I have to preserve my life; only then can I take the lives of others.
"In addition, once my [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens mark 2] reaches the Xiantian level, my Divine Sun Tattoo and Divine Moon Tattoo will allow me to control fire and water and the Pangu tattoo allows the fire and water to fuse slightly a strengthen each other. Water is very suited to the [Lunar Water Spear technique] while fire should be suited to the [Solar Fire Spear technique]. I trust they will be of great help to my spearplay."
"In defending, my defense must be so tight that not even a ray of light can get through!"
"In attacking, my attacks must be as explosively powerful as a sun!"
"I only had one spear unlike my brother's twin swords. So I can't have one for defense, one for offense like him, but if I can seamless flow between the styles I will be able to go from rock solid defence to a dominating offence in a flash. Yichen rapidly began to evaluate his future possibilities in battle, and he saw the path with crystal clarity. He knew…only once one had a full understanding as to how one would develop, and progress would one be able to avoid taking a wrong path. This would help one develop faster!
In warfare, strategies were of greater importance than tactics.
In a person's growth, there was a saying that planning counted for more than effort.
If one knew the right way one needed to advance towards, even if one didn't make huge advances every day, after ten or twenty years, one would still reach a high level. But if one didn't have a clear objective, and just blindly worked hard, a person might just be running in-place without improving, or perhaps even going backwards!
….
His careful examination of the books had taken two hours. That huge candle was already half used up. Yichuan and Ning were still training but mother was just waited there quietly.
"Take your time, to thoroughly understand and memorise the technique. No rush." Snow shook her head. "I have some thoughts on the spear technique, but you've never trained it in before. Thus, even if I explained my thoughts to you, you wouldn't be able to comprehend them. You have to first train hard, and even engage in life-and-death battles, before I can successfully guide you."
"Tomorrow at dawn, you will perform them in front of me once. As long as you can get the postures and movements right, that will be enough." Yichen nodded. "Three days later, you will begin to engage in real battles. Those sparring matches you usually do are too simple and soft. You need to fight in real life-and-death battles."
Yichen was puzzled.
"Mother, haven't I already engaged in life-and-death battles?" Yichen couldn't help but ask. "In the past, when you acknowledged that my skill had reached the first level in spear training, the basic level, didn't you have me and Ning fight against and kill some prisoners who had been sentenced to death?"
He still remembered the first time he had killed someone. At that time, his entire body had been trembling, uncontrollably so. Although he rationally knew that he shouldn't be afraid, he still couldn't help but shake. According to what his father had said…aside from a very few people who lived for slaughter, this was the normal reaction of most people the first time they killed someone.
After having killed dozens of people sentenced to death row, he had grown calmer.
"That wasn't a battle. That was just training your courage." Snow shook her head. "Fighting against convicts? All of them were weaker than you. How can that be called a life-and-death battle? Three days from now…I will arrange for you to engage in a true battle with monstrous beasts, powerful ones that have already reached mastery in the Houtian level."
"Monsters?" Yichen's face changed.
"Those captured monsters will turn insane and ferocious for food and for the chance to live. In addition, they won't show you any mercy at all." Snow looked at her son. "In front of a massive cage, you will fight against the monstrous beasts, one on one. This is the battle which all important descendants of the Ji clan must go through; the 'Cage Battle'. Over half of these important descendants will die in that cage.
Half?
Yichen was briefly shocked he had forgotten about this part of the book, but then grew calm again. This was because he knew that the women and the slaves in the various tribes were highly fertile, but the total population here had never changed. Why? Because the savage environment had caused the tribes to need to struggle against the heavens, against the earth, against the Diremonsters hidden within the mountains and valleys, and even against other tribes. Only a few would be able to survive! Even though he was born into the Ji clan, he still needed to face tough, relentless training. Only the elite would survive.
It was precisely because all the clan members of the Ji clan were so strong that the Ji clan was famous and had become a local hegemon!