Chapter 291: Green Lotus Sword Qi - The End of the Competition
Sword artists trained the sword as their one and only weapon for life. If the martial arts and the sword arts compensated each other and were very high ranked, it would increase their attacking power drastically. Before, Ye Chen had trained the Mysterious Great Art, which was a kind of martial art with no specific element assigned. It meant that it was suitable to be used with any martial skills. However, martial arts were relatively more powerful when they were specialized in an area. Therefore, in comparison, the Mysterious Great Art was not as powerful as this Green Lotus Sword Spell, which was indeed designed for sword artists. It would bring out the best of a sword artist.
Turning to the second page, he saw more text:
"The Green Lotus Sword Spell contains fifteen levels. The first six levels are the foundation. Once one reaches the seventh level, the trainer would be able to extract three Greet Lotus Sword Qi. When the sword Qi reaches out of the trainer’s body, it can break through all matter. Once one reaches the tenth level, the trainer would be able to produce six Green Lotus Sword Qi, nine at the thirteenth level and a Lotus Heart Sword Qi at the fourteenth level. On reaching the fifteenth level, the trainer would reach the completion, and the Lotus Heart Sword Qi would be unlimited to use."
Producing sword Qi from the body?
Ye Chen was shocked at his discovery. As a common knowledge, no matter what kinds of martial arts people trained, the attacking Qi power would be named with the martial art. For example, the fist power from the Five Mountain Godly Fist Art would be named the Five Mountain Fist Power, the sword qi from the Sky Cloud Sword Art would be called the Sky Cloud Sword Qi, and so on. So, the sword Qi from the Green Lotus Sword Art would naturally be named the Green Lotus Sword Qi. However, it could only be produced by using zhen Qi, and could not be created out of nothing. But obviously, this Green Lotus Sword Art had reached beyond this limitation. It allowed the Green Lotus Sword Qi and Lotus Heart Sword Qi to be created within the trainer’s body, which meant that once he reached the seventh level, he would be able to create Green Lotus Sword Qi without any sword, with only fingers or any other body parts for that matter. As for its attacking power, it should not be low either, since the Green Lotus Sword Spell was top rank Earth Realm. After all, it was right below the unreachable Astral Realm martial arts.
Carrying on reading, Ye Chen found out that the Green Lotus Sword Qi from the early levels would not be that powerful. However, after training and giving it time, its attacking power would reach an unbelievable level. It could even reach beyond its own attacking power. Plus, with each level, the Green Lotus Sword Qi would reach to a completely different level in terms of power.
"It is indeed a martial art for sword artists. It focuses solely on the attacking power!" Ye Chen thought about it in satisfaction. He had this urge to train it right at this spot. However, he knew it was not the time yet. At the beginning of the process of transferring martial arts, the general power of a warrior would reach the lowest point. Hence, Ye Chen decided to start training when he had fully prepared himself.
The manual had been read through till the half, when the sword movement of the Green Lotus Sword Spell appeared in the book. It was called the "Green Lotus Sword Art".
"The Green Lotus Sword Art contains nine different sword movements. The first to the third movements are basic sword movements while the fourth to the sixth are the exclusive sword movements. The seventh to the ninth are the ace attacks. The trainer who trains the Green Lotus Sword Spell would have an extremely powerful attacking power. If the trainer cannot continue the training, it should be given up as soon as possible to prevent ruining the reputation of the sword spell."
Ye Chen chuckled at that last sentence. The author of this manual must be a sword artist with great pride. It was understandable that the writer would not allow trainers to ruin its reputation. The top rank Earth Realm martial arts were extremely hard to train. Bing Ling, who was ranked ninth in this year’s Hidden Dragon Rank, had only trained one movement in her Ice Break Fist Art, and it was still incomplete. Almost all of the warriors who ranked a bit higher than her had the same problem, they had only completed a little bit more than her.
"Although I had not trained top rank Earth Realm sword arts before, I had combined my Lone Peak Thirteen Swords into one movement, and I had combined the five movements of the Sky Clouds Sword Art into one as well. And that was all my knowledge, my potential. It should not be too hard for me to train the top rank Earth Realm sword arts."
Ye Chen had a great comprehension ability, but without the experience from before, he would not be able to train any faster than people like Sikong Sheng. Everyone would have to start from scratch, and that process would be the hardest for all of them. However, with all the previous experiences, Ye Chen had jumped past the starting-from-nothing part and reached straight to the becoming-stronger-from weak process. The difficulty had definitely been lowered, since his Lone Peak Kill and Sky Shattering Clouds were both at top rank Earth Realm. Comparing only the attacking power, they should not be weaker than the first movement of the top rank Earth Realm sword arts. The Heart Kill Sword attack would be almost as powerful as the second movement, so he had a very advanced starting point.
"The poetic perspectives have not disappeared yet. Let me train the Green Lotus Sword Art first!"
The great opportunity would not come across so easily. Training the Green Lotus Sword Art here would save Ye Chen a lot of time. As for the Green Lotus Sword Spell, it was best to leave it for a while.
The basic sword movements at the beginning of the Green Lotus Sword Art were called the Green Lotus Three Movements. These three basic sword movements were the base of the Green Lotus Sword Art. Only after having a stable foundation could the trainer be able to learn the ace attacks and killing movements. If the foundation were not stable, then there would be fatal flaws in the ace attacks and killing movements.
"Green Lotus Appear!"
After learning for an hour in silence, Ye Chen closed his manual, placed his right hand on the sword and pulled it out.
Shoo!
A green lotus appeared out of nowhere in the air, turning into sword Qi and shooting out into the distance. Leaving a deep mark on the walls of the valley, it spread all the way to the top of the valley.
"What a sharp sword Qi!" Ye Chen was extremely surprised. The Green Lotus Sword Art contained the poetic perspective of the wood and water, so it should be very gentle. However, although the sword Qi was quite gentle, its sharpness was not decreased by that at all. Instead, it had reached even to the next level.
After the second sword movement, the unreal green lotus flashed once before forming into dozens of different sword Qi. They all shot out towards the wall of the valley, leaving countless holes. That last sword Qi had drawn a beautiful unexpected angle in the air, cutting down the rock wall that could no longer hold the weight of the valley.
"Lotus Sword Qi!"
Performing the third movement of the basic sword movements, a lotus-like sword Qi flew through the surface of the lake, bringing up a light cutting mark. It had eventually cut the huge iron rich rock that was right next to the lake in half. The two broken rock pieces shot out in two different directions.
"The basic sword movement is already more powerful than my Sky Cloud Sword Art. Its power was almost as powerful as the Sky Shattering Clouds which had combined three movements from the Sky Cloud Sword Art. However, the Sky Shattering Clouds still looks more spectacular, while the Green Lotus Three Movement looked more controlled. I guess it should be related to the poetic perspectives."
Although he had not figured out the Green Lotus Sword Art yet, he had got a basic understanding of the Green Lotus Three Movement’s power. He knew that once it was trained to perfection, its power would be unimaginable.
There was still a bit time to kill, so Ye Chen kept on trying to figure out the Green Lotus Three Movement.
As Ye Chen was learning the Green Lotus Sword Art, there were less than twenty people left in the Hidden Dragon Secret Realm. All the others were already eliminated while fighting against the poetic perspectives.
All of the warriors who remained had already gotten a martial art. However, they were all quite simple, unlike Ye Chen, who had got a martial art that contained both the art and the sword art.
…
On the seventh day…
Ye Chen, who was sitting right next to the lake, slowly opened his eyes. The surreal sword Qi shot out from his pupils, covering all the emptiness around him.
"Cut!"
The Star Scar Sword was taken out of the scabbard instantly. The sharp sword Qi was almost a hundred meters long, cutting the lake in half. The lake could actually not close up together for a long time after that.
Cutting water with one sword!
The three movements of the Green Lotus sword art had been completed!
Whoo!
Letting out a heavy breath, Ye Chen thought to himself: "The Green Lotus Three Movements have finally been completed, along with the poetic perspective as well. Now, I can start to figure out the sword movements."
"However, let’s leave the Hidden Dragon Secret Realm first!" Looking at that weather in the Hidden Dragon Secret Realm, Ye Chen put away his Star Scar Sword and walked towards the valley.
Ye Chen walked down the beautiful avenue road on the third level.
A mountain nearby suddenly had been punctured through, as a human figure shot right out through it.
It was indeed Sikong Sheng!
Sikong Sheng had noticed Ye Chen, who was standing close by. His expression did not change as he said, "You and I will fight again in half a year."
Ye Chen said lightly: "I will wait for you!"
In the distance, a volcano exploded. Yan Chihuo had appeared out of nowhere, then there were Li Daoxuan, Murong Qingcheng, Tuo Baku, Lin Yun, Mo Yan, Bing Ling and Gu Youyun. The rest of them all arrived gradually. Soon, Xu Jing who also came over, completely clad in white.
"You have made a breakthrough!" Ye Chen noticed that the gold Qi and power inside Xu Jing’s body had increased drastically. It had reached ninety thousand pounds, which had already reached the core disciple level in the Mysterious Realm. Ye Chen could not imagine how powerful the Mysterious Martial School was, but seeing Xu Jing, who had reached so far ahead in the Hidden Dragon Rank yet was only one of the core disciples, it would not be hard to tell.
Xu Jing nodded. She was unlike the others who had mostly made progress in only poetic perspectives. Her general power was exactly the same, but her body training martial art which had been stuck for a while had reached the next level again by figuring out the poetic perspective of power. So, her fighting power had increased drastically.
Body training martial arts were also top-notch martial arts, which were even more powerful than martial arts for sword artists. The fighting power produced by the arts was extremely surprising. Of course, it did not mean that the sword artists were not as powerful as warriors who trained the body training martial arts, since sword intent was the most important thing for a sword artist. Without it, a sword artist would be only a normal warrior among the mass population. Only with the sword intent could one become a powerful sword artist.
In this true spirit continent, sword artists were always a representation of attacking power.
"There is still half a day left. Should we go exploring in the fourth level?" someone suggested.
Ye Chen shook his head, "I was just there. The end of the stairs towards the fourth level is only darkness. I don’t know where it will lead to."
"Yeah, never mind then."
Everyone had more or less gained something already, and they did not plan to risk their lives.
The time flew past extremely fast, after which, the remaining warriors disappeared right where they were standing, being moved out of the Hidden Dragon Secret Realm.
…
In the deep cliffs that were right next to the battling platform, a loud dragon roar was heard. A huge dragon-shaped Qi flew around the stadium twice, then rested its head on the battling platform.
It opened its humongous mouth, slowly forming a tunnel.
Woooo!
Ye Chen was the first one out, then the rest followed suite.
"They are out!"
"I wonder what they had got!"
"They would not tell even if they had got something new. But I am sure they did."
Everyone over at the audience seating had their eyes brightened as they started to discuss.
The head judge let out a breath and said with a loud voice: "Everyone, now, we will announce the ranking of the Hidden Dragon Rank. Quiet, please!"
The judges did not have a break during the past seven days. They had settled the ranking according to the scores. Some of them had gotten the same scores, so the judges had already had them to battle again. The good thing was that the ones who had the same scores were not including the ones in the Hidden Dragon Secret Realm. Otherwise, they would have to have another few battles.
For the Hidden Dragon Ranking, Lin Qi was ranked the fifty-fourth, Xu Jing was nineteenth. Adding Ye Chen, it would mean it was the first time that a martial school had three warriors entering the Hidden Dragon Rank in the whole Wind Nation for centuries.
The top ten were Ye Chen, Sikong Sheng, Yan Chihuo, Li Daoxuan, Murong Qingcheng, Tuo Baku, Lin Yun, Mo Yan, Bing Ling and Gu Youyun. The second disciple of the Sunset Martial School Qian Yun had been ranked the eleventh, while Gu Qing who was ranked the tenth earlier, ranked twelfth this time.
This year’s Hidden Dragon Rank competition had finally reached the end.