Chapter 10

Chapter 10 – Hard and softTranslated by Monkillu

The thunder boy, having not appeared for a while, once again emerged amidst the silver space .

He still retained the appearance of Zi Chen, but when he appeared this time, his body did not have the same domineering aura that belonged to a king . Instead, he gave off an illusory, almost unreal feeling full of indistinction .

Zi Chen stood across from the thunder boy, staring at the opposite party unblinkingly .

The thunder and lightning around the thunder boy’s body suddenly surged as he moved like passing clouds and flowing water . His footsteps flashed time and time again, seeming unreal and making others unable to discern where he would appear next .

Rank three movement technique, Flowing Cloud Step .

Zi Chen had already seen it before: the style, the movement, he had memorized it all . The moment he saw the thunder boy use it, however, he finally understood the gap between them .

He had already seen this move many times, but every time he observed it, he still couldn’t comprehend it . Unexpectedly, a trivial rank three movement technique made Zi Chen feel such mysterious profoundness .

It had already been several days, yet he still had not reached the threshold .

Even after careful observation and painstaking attempts to understand the move, Zi Chen still could not reach that threshold of comprehension .

In the meantime, Zi Chen finished eating a third of the enormous ice bear . He had stayed in the valley for more than 10 days before he was able to locate the presence of the other bear .

“Let’s try again . ”

Zi Chen stood up and walked towards a valley several miles away .

“Roar!”

In the valley, the ice bear immediately spotted Zi Chen . As if it had seen a great enemy, its eyes were burning with fury . Amidst the bear’s fervent roaring, its paws struck out toward Zi Chen, accompanied by a strong wind .

Zi Chen didn’t take the initiative to attack this time, choosing to dodge using Flowing Cloud Step instead .

…

“Puff!”

A faint sound came from Zi Chen’s clothes and a scratch mark appeared .

…

“Bang!”

In a moment of carelessness, Zi Chen was hit by the Ice Bear’s paw, causing his body to be blown away .

All that painstaking time he spent learning and comprehending the Flowing Cloud Step empowered the current Zi Chen and allowed him to gain further insight . Not only did using this skill require a certain proficiency, it also involved strenuous effort .

That day, after ending up empty handed yet again, Zi Chen finally chose to retreat .

The Ice Bear was unable to catch Zi Chen and could only utter howls of anger . It had no choice but to return to the valley .

Time passed, and another five days had flown by .

Within the silver space, Zi Chen stared with wide eyes, observing as the thunder boy executed Flowing Cloud Step . But after all this time, he hadn’t progressed at all . His skill with the Flowing Cloud Step had instead regressed, getting increasingly harder to use .

A feeling of anxiety surfaced in his heart; Zi Chen was in a very bad mood . He was angry as well, especially after seeing the thunder boy’s footwork unceasingly shift and transform . That kind of speed only worsened Zi Chen’s mood as he became incredibly frustrated .

“Roar!”

An angry feeling boiled up within Zi Chen’s unsettled heart . He issued a tiger roar as he sent out a fist toward the thunder boy, the strongest move of the Fierce Tiger Fist . It was the very same move Zi Chen used that day – the one that had killed the first ice bear .

In his imagination, the thunder boy would certainly be blown apart by this fist . However, the moment the attack reached the opposite party, the thunder boy’s figure suddenly flashed, unexpectedly avoiding his fist by a hair’s breadth .

Zi Chen attempted another strike after his attack missed, the fierce tiger’s roar rousing the wind and stirring a large amount of silver energy .

“Swish”

However, the thunder boy evaded his strike by a hair’s breadth once again .

Zi Chen continued to send out four to five punches in succession, yet they never even scratched the opponent’s clothing, always missing by a hair’s breadth . Despite his attacks, the thunder boy seemed exceptionally relaxed when evading them, making it seem as if he still had more energy to spare .

“This is……”

Zi Chen’s eyes brightened as he continued his onslaught . He had already woken up from the previous bout of anger and, although he was still attacking, could actually sense the thunder boy’s shifting footwork .

He discovered that between each and every one of his opponent’s steps, the distance was especially small and there was always some strength to spare . Whenever Zi Chen’s attacks changed, the opposite party would also alter its footwork, all while maintaining small movements . With that excess energy, the thunder boy’s movements become more flexible as well .

“That’s right . Each step I took before, although they were able to evade attacks, were always quite large and so left no spare energy . Once the energy is used up, I am unable to quickly face the second attack, and therefore would have to take an extra step . The consumption is wastefully large and disjointed this way . That’s the reason why I got the feeling that the more I practiced, the harder it got . ”

After understanding all of this, Zi Chen’s Flowing Cloud Step naturally made some progress .

This could be considered as crossing the threshold .

“Although the attacks of that big bear are powerful, its speed is considerably slower . It’s perfect to be used in a test . ”

Thus, Zi Chen went out to harass the ice bear once again .

“Roar!”

The roaring sound of the ice bear resounded throughout the valley . Its paws were creating strong winds as it struck out at him, but Zi Chen had already predicted the attack of the opposite party . His figure flashed slightly, evading the ice bear’s strikes .

After evading the attacks, Zi Chen still had energy to spare . In his perspective, the ice bear’s entire body was exposed, allowing him to launch an attack anytime he felt like it .

“Roar!”

The Ice Bear’s bellow was quickly followed by another attack . Zi Chen remained on the defensive, simply dodging over and over .

“Not good, this time I made half a step more than necessary . ”

In Zi Chen’s heart, there was a dark and ominous feeling . After using up his strength, he was knocked down by the bear’s paw . Luckily, his physique was strong enough to withstand the ice bear’s attack .

Time continued to pass; the snow and ice within the valley showed signs of melting . It had been a long time since there were snow storms within this icy expanse . Meanwhile, the attacks of the Ice Bear were becoming increasingly swift and fierce . In the midst of this mountain, several beasts’ roars occasionally emerged .

Spring was coming .

The entire valley, aside from several special places that remained cold, was beginning to show signs of the coming spring .

“Spring is coming?”

In front of Zi Chen, all that was left of the first giant ice bear was a large pile of bones . There wasn’t much meat left as he had stayed here for quite a few months .

“Spring has arrived . The assessment of the inner sect disciples is starting . It seems that the time to leave has come . ”

Zi Chen said while muttering .

Time had flown quickly within the valley . Unexpectedly, Zi Chen had actually come to like this sort of carefree living . In his heart, he really did not want to go back .

But there was no food left and no more resources with which he could train, so Zi Chen must return .

Hence, Zi Chen left the valley, arriving at another one .

In this valley, he saw the angry ice bear once again .

“Come on, last battle . ”

Zi Chen’s eyes burned with the intent to fight . He turned towards the ice bear and made a provocative gesture .

“Roar . ”

The ice bear was infuriated, roaring and rushing towards Zi Chen . This time, its speed was faster, as was the howling of the wind . The ice bear was not so slow anymore, it had become agile .

Although it was obvious why, as the mountain valleys had signs of spring, there was another reason: the ice bear’s frequent battles with Zi Chen . Zi Chen had constantly sought the opposite party out as a sparring partner, therefore as his strength increased, his opponent’s strength similarly progressed .

The attacks of the Ice Bear were very swift and fierce, its power and momentum incredibly strong . However, Zi Chen appeared to be very relaxed . With every step he took, there was a feeling of passing clouds and flowing water . Every time Zi Cheng’s feet moved, the distance in between was very small, yet he could always evade the attacks of the ice bear by a hair’s breadth .

The Ice Bear was having doubts . Usually, it could still scratch the other party, but today, it could not even touch its opponent . The opposite party was obviously in front of its eyes, just a short distance away from itself, yet it failed to even come into contact .

“Today, I will leave . But before I do, I will let you have a look at the strongest attack that I have just comprehended recently . ”

Zi Chen lightly smiled, his whole body spontaneously exuding the majestic aura of a king . Zi Chen was going to use the Fierce Tiger Fist .

“Roar!”

The ice bear felt an imminent crisis . Roaring, the bear brought its giant paws down in the direction of Zi Chen’s head . At this moment, the majestic aura around Zi Chen’s body changed once more, unexpectedly moving like passing clouds and flowing water, it was unreal and indistinct .

“Swish”

Zi Chen’s leg moved as he dodged the ice bear’s attack . He looked like an agile, fierce tiger – one with the majestic aura of a king . Surprisingly, there was also a feeling that his body was as light as a feather .

In the past few months, Zi Chen had already fused the Fierce Tiger Fist and the Flowing Cloud Step into one . This new achievement allowed him to combine both strength and gentleness, causing the rough Fierce Tiger Fist to actually have a slight nimble flexibility to it .

With the agility of a tiger, Zi Chen sent out a fatal move after dodging the bear’s attacks . The majestic aura around Zi Chen’s body instantly erupted as he sent out the indomitable attack with his fist .

“Bang”

The ice bear instantly fell backwards, completely defeated by Zi Chen in a single strike . In fact, Zi Chen had actually restrained his strength at the critical moment . Otherwise his attack would have inevitably killed it .

Zi Chen chose not to kill the beast . No matter what, his opponent had been his sparring partner for several months . His success was naturally attributed to this ice bear .

Thus, Zi Chen left without regrets, bringing along the meat from the other ice bear’s body, although there wasn’t very much left .

The ice bear fell to the ground, its ice cold eyes locked on the human that was leaving . It was suddenly filled with traces of doubt, it did not understand why the human had let it off .

With the arrival of spring, a warm breeze swept the earth . This was a season of hope .

As he returned from his not so peaceful journey, Zi Chen was able to handle the several fierce beasts he encountered easily .

The beasts that dwelled here had very low ranks and could not pose any threats to the current Zi Chen . He had mostly taken care of each one with just one blow .

After that, Zi Chen brought some animal skins with him as he returned to the sect .

Though the sect provided food, lodging, and clothing, they were in no way free . Naturally, the daily expenses of these necessities were enormous, these things didn’t simply drop from heaven or come with the wind . Each outer sect disciple must work in the sect for these commodities . If you were to go out to train, then you must bring back some valuable things . It could be materials for refining or the fur and pelt of some beasts .

For the inner sect disciples, resources that were submitted by them could earn them a corresponding amount of contribution points . Those points could then be exchanged for cultivation pills .

However, this rule was only applied to inner sect disciples . Even if outer sect disciples were to hand over a thousand year old spirit medicine, they still would not receive any contribution points . Hence, they would have to exchange it with the inner sect disciples .

This was also the main reason why Zhao Can teamed up with Wang Xiong .

The Ling Wu sect was very big, occupying plenty of hills . Numerous structures stood in great numbers at the hilltop, stretching continuously without end .

Having been gone for several months, the Ling Wu sect did not change much . A dozen days later, Zi Chen returned to the sect and walked towards the exchange center, the place to hand over resources .

He did not cause any disturbance, even some outer sect disciples were rarely seen .

“Everyone should be practicing in order to strive for entering the inner sect . ”

Now was currently the time during which the outer sect disciples were most anxious .

Because it happened only once every two years, if one missed the examination, one had to wait again for another two years . No one was willing to miss it .

“Why, Zi Chen, it’s you . You’re back . ”

Having entered the Management Hall, Zi Chen was greeted with a sound of surprise .