Chapter 18 – Choosing A New Martial Art

After a night of rest, Ye Chen went to the Pavilion of Martial Arts in the morning.

Besides most of the inner disciples and all of the core disciples, the pavilion master knew only a few other disciples such as Zhang Haoran and Wu Zongming. But surprisingly, the pavilion master recognized Ye Chen and smiled the minute he entered the pavilion.

Ye Chen felt flattered, but still politely greeted the elder, “Pavilion Master.”

The pavilion master nodded, as an elder in the martial art world, he said: “It is not necessarily a good thing to have too many martial skills. Don’t bite off more than you can not chew, you know what I mean?”

Ye Chen obviously understood him perfectly and forced a smile. “Master, I am going to the second floor, here is the access permit.” He said and handed over the permit.

“Permit? What? You won the third place?!” The pavilion master forgot his position and exclaimed surprisingly.

“Yes.”

The pavilion master hesitated to ask: “You really mastered the Lone Peak of Thirteen Swords?”

Ye Chen nodded, the pavilion master still could not really believe him: With an unfinished martial art – the Lone Peak of Thirteen Swords, he won third place? Isn’t that a little bit too easy? Not to mention Ye Chen was only a Middle Mortal Realm Stage 6.

As the pavilion master, it was inappropriate for him to ask more so he warned Ye Chen: “Only inner and core disciples can access the second floor, so when they see outer disciples, they may be a little harsh. Try not to be bothered by it. Also, since you are not a formal outer apprentice yet, you will only have fifteen minutes to make a selection, so make up your mind quickly.”

“Yes, elder.”

Ye Chen understood the rules, although the inner disciples and outer disciples were all just disciples, status was very important. It would not end well for him if he got in trouble with an inner disciple. As for the fifteen minutes rule, it was probably used to prevent the outer disciples trying to memorize other martial arts.

The stairs were on the left-hand side deep within the pavilion, Ye Chen walked calmly towards it.

Once he was on the second floor, he could feel invisible pressure from all over the place. Scanning the place, the whole second floor was filled with about twenty people, some of them were reading the manuals carefully, some of them were chatting quietly, some of them were in the process of making the difficult decision of choosing between manuals. All of those people were under twenty and the youngest was probably the same age as Ye Chen. They all had an unmeasurable aura that only inner disciples radiated.

The inner apprentice who was the closest to Ye Chen subconsciously turned his head and scrunched up his face in confusion, then he seemed to recall something as he mumbled: “I almost forgot, yesterday was the Mu Ren Gang, this guy was probably in the top ten.”

After the comment, he looked back at his manual.

Walking forward, Ye Chen examined the place and found it was similar to the first floor, but was much more classy and fancy. The rows of bookshelves were made of valuable sandalwood which had a relaxing aroma.

There were five rows of shelves on each bookcase, the bottom three were stacked with High Rank Mortal Realm manuals while the top two were stacked with Top Rank Mortal Realm manuals. Each row had about three to seven manuals. On the side of each roll, there would a label such as “Mastering Martial Arts”, “Assisting Arts”, “Body Boosting Arts”, “Attacking Skills”, “Guarding Skills”, and so on.

There was no time for Ye Chen to waste! He only had fifteen minutes!

He first arrived in the area of martial art manuals, he randomly took out a manual off the shelf and browsing the content, then he put it back and picked up another one, putting it down, …

After scanning tons of manuals, Ye Chen had only liked nine of them which were –

“Burning Fire Fist, Attack Skill!”

“Inching Steps, Body Movement Skill!”

“Chasing Cicada: Eight Steps, Body Movement Skill!”

“The Power of Yuan, Defense Skill!”

“The Reflection, Defense and Attack Skill!”

“Golden Swallow Art, Attack Skill!”

“Disintegration Fist, Attack Skill!”

“Sword Draw Art, Attack Skill!”

“The Withered Wood Seal, Attack Skill!”

These nine martial skills probably were not the best High Rank Mortal Realm skills, but they were definitely the best fit for Ye Chen which was why he was torn to make up his mind.

The Burning Fire Fist was Wu Zongming’s primary martial skill, its prowess was already proven by Wu Zongming. When a warrior mastered it, their fist could produce an actual fire and execute a deadly attack. Inching Steps was what Zhang Haoran used before. A warrior could move extremely quickly, seemingly causing the ground to shorten into inches which were also very powerful and practical for movement. The Chasing Cicada: Eight Steps detailed how to use the explosive force within the eight steps a warrior took, it could raise the user’s speed by at least fifty percent. No matter how fast the opponent was, no one could escape from the person using this technique, it was the best choice for hunting enemies. The power of Yuan was a little bit different, a warrior drew Qi out then transformed it into out a unique Yuan Qi, which was the same as Qi but was stored inside the user’s body. It would automatically activate when the user faced an enemy, causing it to swell over the user’s body in defense. However, it was not recyclable. Once it was used, the user had to create more Yuan Qi to replace it.

The first four martial arts were one of the best options, if Ye Chen did not have the other five options, he would have already picked one from the four. However, with the other five, Ye Chen decided to give them up.

Comparing to its defense, the Reflection Skill was actually more of an Attack skill. It allowed users to not only protect themselves but also reflect the opponent’s’ attack. The skill’s strength solely depended on the opponent, if the opponent was very powerful then the reflected attack would be powerful as well. It could only be activated when the user was under attack. The best part was that a user could bounce back an attack without even noticing they were under attack! Therefore, once mastered, it would not be necessary for the user to master another defensive martial art.

The Golden Swallow Art was a movement art, once mastered, the warrior not only could walk on water but when mastered to its extreme, the warrior could also walk in the air for hundreds of meters like a flying swallow.

When Ye Chen saw the introduction of the Disintegration Fist, he could not help but made a face. How could this martial skill be so powerful? It did not have any stage other than just mastering the punch. However, with one punch, the target would definitely break into pieces. In other words, it helped a warrior display their power to the utmost.

Sadly, this extreme power would not last long. According to Tai Qi, everything is about the balance of Ying and Yang, powerful and gentle. Especially in a battle, if I could not beat the opponent in that punch, then I would be beaten, this art is way too extreme. Ye Chen shook his head and gave up the Disintegration Fist.

As for the Sword Draw Art, it focused on the moment of drawing the from its scabbard and its explosive force, its power and speed was much faster than simply waving the sword. This kind of art was extremely advantageous during the beginning of a fight. It allowed the user to beat the opponent in the first attack, killing in one attack.

Ye Chen had mastered the Lone Peak of Thirteen Swords, if he could master the Sword Draw Art as a supplement, he would be invincible in every case except opponents that were stronger or had much better skills.

However, nothing would be that easy. The Sword Draw Art was great but it was not a wise choice for a warrior learning the way of the sword. Similar to the Disintegration Fist, it was too extreme, aiming for an instant kill. If it failed in that moment, then it was useless.

Hence, the Sword Draw Art was not suitable for sword artists. It was an art for assassins.

The last one art was the Withered Wood Seal Art. It specialized in hiding the user’s fighting intent, it allowed the user to be almost invisible when attacking. Most of the time, the opponent was killed because of such an unexpected attack. Although the name ‘Withered Wood Seal Art’ sounded quite lifeless, it was actually the opposite. The user could accumulate and lock his Qi on his opponent, then suddenly release it at the moment of attack. Like an old tree dead during the winter that suddenly bloomed to life in the spring, his calm attack would suddenly burst full of horrifying explosive power.