novelraw Chapter 38 : Chapter 38
Chapter 38 : Chapter 38
Chapter 38: Sparring with Wang Yu
The next morning, Lin Bai walked out feeling thoroughly “revived.” After breaking through to the Tiger-Bone Stage, his qi and blood were overflowing with vigor.
Today, Lin Bai had risen early, so it was his turn to wait for Wang Yu. The two of them had never once agreed that one should wait for the other, yet for some reason, over these past ten-odd days, they had always ended up waiting for each other.
Lin Bai felt that it was a little like when he used to wait for his childhood friend on the way to school in his previous life.
On the walk to class every day, Wang Yu would share interesting bits of cultivation gossip from Yunmeng City with him. Those little stories kept Lin Bai, who was still only an insignificant figure, thoroughly engrossed, and also made him more familiar with Yunmeng City.
Because they went to and from class together every day, their relationship had grown closer and closer.
Lin Bai and Wang Yu usually left at about the same time. About seven or eight minutes later, the gate to Wang Yu’s courtyard creaked open.
Today, Wang Yu wore a pale blue-green dress, which lent an even more ethereal air to her already cool and aloof temperament.
Yet unlike usual, she did not speak at once. Instead, she stopped in front of him and examined him carefully, her delicate brows slightly furrowed.
Lin Bai found this somewhat baffling. Seeing that her cool little face had regained some of the aloofness from when they had first met, he could not help smiling as he asked, “What is it? Do I have flowers growing on my face?”
Wang Yu ignored the joke. Instead, she stepped closer, tilted her head slightly, and looked at Lin Bai with utter certainty in her voice.
“You broke through.”
“How did you see that?”
Lin Bai was genuinely astonished. After all, his Aura Concealment Art had already reached Minor Mastery. By rights, that should not have happened.
“Hmph. My protective treasure told me.”
“Then that’s not strange at all.”
Lin Bai accepted Wang Yu’s explanation with perfect smoothness, then inwardly sighed that people who could spend lavishly truly had it good.
She even had an investigative treasure.
“The protective treasure on me says that you’re stronger than many people in the Extraordinary Realm, and more dangerous too.”
“Oh, nothing much. Last night a divine being entered my dream and imparted martial insights to me, and somehow or other I just broke through.”
The moment Lin Bai realized Wang Yu had already seen through his breakthrough, he stopped pretending and instead began describing the process in an exaggerated, boastful way.
After hearing Lin Bai’s “little story,” Wang Yu still looked at him with her head slightly tilted. Then, all of a sudden, she made a request that seemed to come out of nowhere.
“Lin Bai, let’s spar.”
This time, Lin Bai was not surprised at all. Given the way people in this world were almost universally obsessed with martial cultivation, it was a perfectly normal request.
“I don’t mind, but there’s no time right now. Let’s do it after class.”
Lin Bai agreed. He could hardly refuse such a small request from the person who fed him all his daily information. He understood human relationships well enough.
Besides, Lin Bai also wanted to know how strong he really was. He had hardly fought any real battles at all.
When Wang Yu heard that Lin Bai had agreed, her eyes lit up at once, and she immediately settled the matter.
“Good. Then after we come back from the Testing Palace today.”
Their agreement to spar did not disrupt the day’s schedule at all. The two still went to talisman class as usual.
The Martial Academy’s teaching of the basic runes moved quickly. By now, it had already finished the two major categories of earth and water.
Now it was teaching wood. At this rate, in about another month, they would finish all the Fixed Runes and begin learning true talismans.
Every day, Lin Bai earned a few Merit Points through practice and testing, almost as though he were clearing routine daily tasks. At the very least, it was a small, steady return.
Looking at the dense mass of vine-like Wood-within-Wood runes within the Yellow Willow Talisman Paper, Lin Bai could not help sighing at how wondrous talismans truly were.
“Still second place.”
When the classroom test results were announced, Lin Bai once again held firm in second place. The top rank still belonged to that disciple from the Talisman Masters’ Association who had come to the Martial Academy for further study.
The usual tempering of Martial Skill in the Testing Palace also proceeded as normal. But on the way back, their footsteps were clearly a little quicker than usual.
They also spoke less than they normally did. Both of them were taking the coming spar seriously.
This time, they did not each return to their own homes. It was also Lin Bai’s first time entering Wang Yu’s courtyard.
Wang Yu’s courtyard had blue-tiled eaves, and two verdant trees stood in the front yard, with several green fruits hanging from their branches. Lin Bai’s own courtyard had green tea trees planted in the front yard instead. Other than that, there was not much difference between the two.
The two of them came to the open space in the rear courtyard and stood facing each other. As the breeze brushed past their hair, the atmosphere between them gradually turned solemn.
Lin Bai’s own blood began to stir as well. How could a Martial Artist not yearn for battle in his heart? It was only that he normally had no one to fight.
Wang Yu spoke first.
“Lin Bai, my Dao Path belongs to the Qi Practitioner side. Be ready. I’m attacking.”
“My Dao Path is that of a Martial Artist.”
Lin Bai introduced his Dao Path in the briefest terms. Then he sank slightly, tensed his body, and drove forward. A faint muffled sound came from the ground beneath his feet as his entire figure shot toward Wang Yu like an arrow released from the bowstring.
Wang Yu reacted with equal speed. With a flick of her pale hand, three exquisitely cut paper figures drifted out, each wrapped in the qi of a Qi Practitioner.
With a soft puff, the paper figures expanded in the wind and instantly turned into three generals over two meters tall, armored and armed.
One held a long spear, one gripped a curved saber, and the last carried a rope tipped with a clawed hook. Their eyes were lively, and their movements agile. There was not the slightest stiffness to mark them as mere paper figures.
As a member of the Shenxiu Wang Family, Wang Yu was naturally skilled in the family’s wondrous trait—Animation.
“Animation” was a family trait. Any family recognized by Human Order and Human Destiny would see the trait abilities of its characteristic Dao Path grow stronger over time, and sometimes even undergo sublimation.
To put it plainly, it was like a form of continual enhancement.
A strengthened family trait allowed even those clan members whose natural talent was insufficient to grasp at least a little of such methods. Techniques that ordinarily could only be used in the Extraordinary Realm could now be used already in the Transcendent Realm.
That, in turn, greatly raised both the lower and upper limits of the family.
A family Dao Path was the very foundation upon which a family stood. If a family lacked its own distinctive Dao Path and never gave rise to a family trait, then at best it was only a collection of unaffiliated cultivators, or else a clan of wealthy local landowners.
The Wang Family of Yunmeng City had already stood for nearly five thousand years. And beyond them, there was still the main Shenxiu Wang Family branch in Yunzhou.
Who knew how many times the power of their foundational Dao Path trait had been strengthened under the nourishment of Human Order and Human Destiny?
On top of that, Wang Yu herself possessed exceptionally high talent. The Animated Paper Figures she now displayed had already drawn so close in spirit and might to the methods of an Extraordinary-Realm Daoist that the difference was nearly negligible.
The three paper figures formed a triangular battle formation and closed in around Lin Bai.
Lin Bai did not dodge. He had come precisely because he wanted to weigh the methods of this genius young lady of the Wang Family.
The paper figure holding the rope struck first, its clawed hook whistling through the air toward Lin Bai’s limbs. Yet Lin Bai simply reached out and seized the incoming hook firmly in one hand.
The two paper figures at his sides quickly pressed in, and the spear and curved saber attacked him at the same time.
Lin Bai remained as still as a mountain. But across the surface of his skin, lines of black Divine Sigils emerged, and a faint layer of black mist formed around his body, blocking the incoming weapons.
For a moment, the scene became rather strange.
One paper figure desperately tried to yank back the rope Lin Bai had seized barehanded, while the other two frantically battered that thin veil of black mist with blade and spear, all to no avail.
At the center of the storm, however, Lin Bai frowned slightly, as though he were thinking something through.
“They can’t even break the prototype of my black Heavy Armor?”
The layer of black mist around Lin Bai at this moment was one of the marvels of the 【Beast-Taming Martial Artist】 Dao Path.
Heavy Armor.
Heavy Armor did not merely strengthen Lin Bai’s defense. It enhanced him across the board, including strength, speed, reflexes, and more. It was equivalent to entering a state of explosive empowerment.
Of course, this thin layer of black mist was only an armor prototype. It was not true armor.
When Lin Bai had first entered the Bear-Hide Stage of the Transcendent Realm, he had already tried to condense this suit of armor. At the time, however, his physique and force had not been sufficient, so the attempt had failed.
Yesterday, Lin Bai had entered the Tiger-Bone Stage and fulfilled the basic conditions. He could now already form a foundational version of the armor.
Lin Bai felt a little disappointed.
The reason he had so readily agreed to Wang Yu’s request was because he wanted to test his current strength.
Wang Yu’s first display of Animation had indeed made his eyes light up, but her raw strength was clearly too low. She could not even break the prototype of his Heavy Armor, let alone its complete form.
From a distance, Wang Yu saw the thoughtful expression on Lin Bai’s face, one that even seemed to carry a faint trace of “That’s all?” She felt her face begin to heat up.
Not with shyness, but with frustration.
After all, she had been the one to initiate the spar, and yet he had stood there and let her attack him while she could not even break his most basic defense.
At first, Wang Yu had thought that since Lin Bai had only cultivated for a short time, she could start by using half her strength.
She had not expected to overturn her own carriage like this.
At once, Wang Yu hardened her resolve. In the next exchange, she would bring out her full strength and let Lin Bai see what she was really capable of.
So Wang Yu took out a red-and-white jade seal, then tossed it into the air above her head.
The jade seal first released an almost transparent white barrier that covered Wang Yu, and then three red beams shot out toward the paper figures attacking Lin Bai.
Once the paper figures received the red light, eerie smiles appeared on their faces. Rust spread across their weapons, bloodstains appeared on their clothing, and drops of blood gathered at the hems without quite falling. A baleful aura surged toward the sky.
Lin Bai merely watched quietly as Wang Yu cast again, and a trace of interest returned to his face.
Because he could feel the clawed hook in his hand seeming to come alive, the hooked rope twisting like a venomous snake as it struggled to escape his grasp.
Yet even so, it remained firmly clamped between his fingers.
“So this is Animation. It’s truly interesting.”
But then he gave a small sigh.
“Still not enough. The strength is still too weak.”
Wang Yu’s second enhancement had made the paper figures far stronger, but compared to Lin Bai’s own strength, it was still too little.
Seeing that Wang Yu had already shown all she had, Lin Bai decided it was time to bring the spar to an end.
His arm shook violently, and he whipped the hooked rope he held in his hand together with the trailing line behind it. Like a giant lash, it swept sideways with a shriek of wind toward the spear- and saber-wielding paper figures.
Wang Yu’s expression changed, and with a swift turn of thought, she tried to pull the paper figures back and avoid the blow.
But Lin Bai was too fast.
Two muffled thuds sounded, and the two paper figures seemed to have been struck by a giant hammer. They exploded at once into a storm of paper fragments that flew everywhere.
Those scattered scraps of paper became perfect cover. Ignoring the last rope-bearing paper figure, now left holding only a useless handle, Lin Bai shot through them like a ghost and charged straight at Wang Yu.
Wang Yu wanted to take out more paper figures, but Lin Bai’s figure had already swept before her like a gale.
Without the slightest hesitation, Lin Bai drew back his right arm, clenched his fist, and slammed it hard into the barrier before Wang Yu.
Crack. Boom.
The barrier shattered at once into motes of light. Wang Yu’s face turned pale, and her body swayed.
Lin Bai’s fist, however, stopped steadily just a fraction of an inch before the tip of her nose after smashing the barrier. The fierce wind of the punch sent several strands of hair fluttering across her forehead.
Lin Bai slowly withdrew his fist and asked with concern, “Are you all right?”
Wang Yu shook her head, drew in a deep breath, and looked at Lin Bai with complicated emotions in her eyes. In the end, she let out a long, faint sigh.
“You really are a monster...”
She directed the lone remaining paper figure to clean up the mess, then pulled Lin Bai over to sit at the stone table in the front courtyard. After washing a plate of green fruit, she pushed it toward him.
“Did I fail even to force out your full strength?”
Biting her lip, she asked the question with a trace of reluctance.
Lin Bai nodded while crunching on a piece of fruit.
In this world, false modesty during a martial exchange was one of the greatest taboos. It was regarded as a profound sign of disrespect toward one’s opponent.
That was why Lin Bai had shattered Wang Yu’s barrier completely. Only in that way could he let her truly understand that she had lost.
“I really don’t understand how you cultivate. I’ve been cultivating for almost a full year longer than you.”
Wang Yu muttered in a low voice, clearly a little dispirited.
Lin Bai gave no response. He knew that Wang Yu was only sighing for the moment, so there was no need to bother with it. With that much time to spare, he might as well eat a few more fruits instead.
These green fruits were quite sweet, and rather tasty too.
The two of them then spent another long while discussing the details of the spar they had just had.
About half a shichen later, Lin Bai finally got up to take his leave and head home. Before leaving, he did not forget to pocket a few more of the green fruits.
After Lin Bai had gone, Wang Yu put away the look of sighing admiration on her face and began to think about other matters.
“The Golden Age... just as expected. Lin Bai, will you be one of the trailblazers of this era?”
But then Wang Yu was amused by her own thoughts and let out a soft laugh.
“Heh. I really must have lost my mind.”
Wang Yu’s status within the Wang Family was not low, so she knew certain pieces of high-level information.
About a hundred thousand years ago, cultivators in this world had already reached a complete standstill. The very highest any of them could rise was the Dao Ancestor realm.
Heaven and earth were unwilling to accept that, and so the flourishing age of cultivation of today had been brought forth.
More and more geniuses were now emerging, because the world itself was hoping that someone would appear who could break past the Dao Ancestor realm and allow the world to advance.
Thus, the one and only goal of the Golden Age was the birth of an existence above Dao Ancestor.
As for that realm above Dao Ancestor, even to call it unimaginably distant for people like them would already be putting it mildly.
“Still...”
Wang Yu lightly tapped the stone table with her fingertips as she thought.
“There can be no harm in investing early. Even if the family later chooses to back Lin Bai, that will be the family’s favor. But if Wang Yu herself invests in him, that will be a reflection of my own judgment.”
The terrifying battle strength and unfathomable talent Lin Bai had displayed today, together with the relationship she already had with him, made Wang Yu feel that this private investment was all but guaranteed to pay off.