Chapter 25 - The Pride of The Kingdom

Bam!

The saber came crushing down, missing its target and raising dust all around. Sayri swiftly avoided the strike, retreating and then charging again.

She was using the 9 Revolution Steps, a movement technique an ancestor of the sect had derived by the 3 Primordial Steps. She quickly advanced, generating slaying chi sowrds which pursued her opponent.

Falven waited for the chi swords to get close, when they started slashing down he dodged them using three consecutive 1st steps, frustrating the attack of the princess. In the meantime the princess got to his back with her quick movements, performing a slaying slash.

Falven smoothly connected the 2nd and 3rd steps to perform the slaying technique of the Dao Slaying Manual.

Booom!

An explosion ensued the clash of their attacks, pushing the two opponents back for several steps.

“Your movements are perfect, each of your attack is powerful, congratulations Fate Destroyer”.

“Thank you princess, your flexibility on the battlefield is truly enviable”.

The two core disciples stopped the spar, exploiting the formations of Soaring Hill to replenish their chi. They had made an agreement, every three days they would meet to spar all day, in order to polish their fighting skillsand laws.

The days passed, Falven continued cultivating and trying the techniques of the Dao Slaying Manual duringthe spar time.

Thanks to the Slaying Dao Core Cultivation Art that elder Erudite Slayer was studying and discussing with the other elders, the Architecht had gained new insights regarding the formations of the sect, which were based on the slaying laws. Thus, he finally managed to restore an ancient formation of the Soaring Hill.

This formation provided an arena where disciples could spar without risking to suffer grievous injuries. The arena would also suppress the force of the attacks depending on the cultivation level of the disciples, additionally it was permeated by slaying laws.

Fighting in an environment charged of slaying laws helped the understanding of the slaying techniques and the slaying laws themselves. This arena was a perfect incubator for quickly polishing fighting skills while increasing the comprehension of the slaying Dao.

Many natural crystals were needed to supply the arena formation, so both Sayri and Falven provided conspicuous amount of crystals to keep it working during their spars. Luckily the elder council increased the amount of resources allocated to core disciples, Falven guessed that Sayri and him were being treated particularly generously. The discovery about the future war urged to elders to use their reserves.

With the higher amounts of crystals the two core disciples further empowered the formation which garnered chi on the hill, obtaining a perfect environment where replenishing their chi after each spar.

This process of consumption and quick replenishment was a boost to their cultivation, slightly increasing cycle after cycle the total amount of chi their bodies could accumulate.

The two made costant advancements in their cultivation, under the strict surveillance of the Royal Lord, who never lost sight of his princess.

He didn’t have a favorable opinion of Fate Destroyer at the beginning, but noticing his earnest efforts during the training and his firm resolve he started to appreciate the youth more and more.

The Royal Lord would eventually give some advice to the youths, not concerning the laws they practiced but regarding their fighting styles. Usually he would give pointers to the princess, she was by far the one with less combat experience. Although her cultivation was at the late Knight stage, because her lack of actual battle experience and the suppression of the arena formation, she and Falven would usually seem to be well matched.

The truth was different though, Falven could fight as her peer just for a few moves, after that he would start lacking chi.

“Junior, I have observed you these days, you’re a prodigy indeed. Your combat prowess is sky-high, your techniques profound and brilliant, each one of your move is close to perfection. But this is your limit, your moves are designed to maximise the power and this leads to a high consumption of energies. That incredible saber of yours is very taxing on your body and drains much chi, you need to adapt your fighting style to increase your stamina. Try to perform less powerful versions of your attacks, erupting your full power only at the right time”.

The Royal Lord was right, Falven understood that. In the past he had higher grade talents and a much higher cultivation, he didn't need to worry about stamina. Now he needed to deal with this issue, he had yet to adapt to his constrained body. The most performing software was in an average hardware.

The days continued to pass and Falven invited Roaring Lion and Gentle Waters to join their sparring sessions. He had high hopes for the two youngsters, he was sure their potential could make them powerful allies in the future.

Until one day “Very well, why don’t the four of you take me on? Let’s see the level of your cooperation”. The Royal Lord entered the arena formation, brandishing his new spear.

The four juniors swiftly spread, Falven charged directly against his opponent, while Sayri was converging from the side, ready to back him up. The two youngsters had run at the back of the Royal Lord, attacking him in a specular way to their senior brothers.

The Royal Lord smirked and kicked out the ground, closing on Falven and thrusting his spear. The spear resembled an incoming dragon whose invisible wings were generating turbulent chi winds.

Falven dodged the spear by performing his steps who smoothly linked to boost his next attack, joined to Sayri’s assail. At the same time Roaring Lion had dashed to intercept the Royal Lord who had moved far away from him, followed by Gentle Waters.

The Royal Lord rotated the spear, moving the tip towards the sky and using the back of the handle to kick the ground and quickly retreat, leveraging the initial power of the thrust. The backward movement was linked to a rotation of his body on the left side followed by a sweeping movement of the now horizontal spear performed with the right hand.

Smoothly connecting the various movements and the right posture allowed the spear to be extremely heavy. The sweeping motion overwhelmed Roaring Lion, surprised by the sudden reversal, while the attacks of the two core disciples were deluded thanks to the abrupt backward movement.

Gentle Waters activated her chi and swinging her soft sword created many weaving chi swords which converged on the Ryoal Lord from different direction, while her senior brothers started another assault.

The surrounded expert fiercely rotated his spear in the air. Many wyrms seemed to spread everywhere from the spear, biting the incoming chi attack and neutralising them. The spear was then thrusted against Falven again and its shaped changed. From a tough pole it became a flexible snake, unpredictable movements made both Sayri and Falven retreat.

Gentle waters who was trying to join her senior brothers was intercepted by a kick of the Royal Lord. The kick was charged with spear potential, it seemed a true spear. This surprising move knocked down Gentle Waters, leaving only two opponents for the spear wielder.

Falven didn’t miss this chance and attacked with his most powerful technique. Following the Dao Slaying Manual instructions he projected a chi sword formed by thousands of slaying chi swords drenched in the Asura Law. Sayri mobilised all the chi she could and flying slaying chi swords flew in the air, blocking any retreat path.

This was an all out attack, even if the difference in cultivation levels was less significative under the suppression of the arena and the slaying laws of the formation penalised cultivators who didn’t cultivate them, the Royal Lord was still a powerful Commander. He smirked at the incoming swords and raised the spear high.

"Void Crossing Dragon!" The royal lord shouted, while the spear came crushing down. Its speed was astonishing, but a peculiar sight amazed the onlookers. The spear gave the impression of crossing different worlds, separate spaces, the sweeping motion from top to bottom acquired a terrific momentum. As a dragon who breaks the void to move regardless of the distance, the tip of the spear broke the void to visit unknown realms.

In a rotating motion the furthest a point is from the centre the fastest it will move. That was the reason why a slashing sword is faster than a slashing dagger. The longer the tool the more space its tip need to cross in the same time unit.

Leveraging this principle the signature technique of the Royal Lord, which broke the void to make the tip of the spear travel in far lands, allowed the spear to accumulate a tremendous momentum.

BOOOOM!

An earth shattering explosion ensued, the attaks of the disciples were annihilated and a chi storm engulfed the two juniors, ending the fight.

"This old man is still the pride of the kingdom!" The Royal Lord laughed heartily.