Chapter 18 : Finger Flicking Divine Art & Publishing News
Chapter 18 : Finger Flicking Divine Art & Publishing News
Finger Flicking Divine Art & Publishing News
Among the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, Dragon Appears in the Field is the only purely defensive technique in the move set. It boasted an airtight defense akin to an iron wall or bronze fortress.
Dragon Soars the Sky is a palm strike that descended from heaven itself. Not only is it devastatingly powerful, but it looked absolutely badass too. Talk about combining raw might with pure style.
Add in Proud Dragon Repents and Divine Dragon Swings Its Tail, and Chu Tianxing had already mastered four of the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms.
In conclusion, he had already covered his attack, defense, aerial movement, and even his guard. These four techniques alone were more than enough for low-intensity combat situations.
But the Finger Flicking Divine Skill he'd gotten from the Editor-in-Chief’s Recommendation Gift Package was even more incredible.
This was one of Huang Yaoshi's signature killing moves, one of the trump cards that earned the Eastern Heretic his place among the Five Greats. It could stand toe-to-toe with the Southern Emperor's legendary One Yang Finger technique.
The Finger Flicking Divine Skill worked both ways. You could use it as an acupoints striking technique or chuck your enemies with projectiles with the speed of bullets from a distance.
When Huang Yaoshi used it, he could send pebbles flying a hundred paces and still pack a devastating punch. He could shoot an iron sword through the air with the force of a crossbow bolt, making a weapon weighing several pounds slice through the air like an arrow. He could even flick an invisible finger force to hit pressure points from a distance.
Of course, unleashing that kind of power required Five Greats-level mastery.
In Chu Tianxing's estimation, you'd need to have opened all Twelve Principal Meridians and the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, and reach the pinnacle of the Inner Force Realm to pull off stunts like that.
The Finger Flicking Divine Skill wasn't just incredibly powerful; it was also sneaky.
All you had to do was wiggle your finger and you could take someone down without them having a clue what hit them. The enemy would be dead before they even knew what happened.
Plus, ammunition was ridiculously convenient. Just carry a few marbles or coins in your pocket, and you're locked and loaded.
Chu Tianxing was thrilled with this haul.
Without a second thought, he dove right into learning Dragon Appears in the Field, Dragon Soars the Sky, and The Finger Flicking Divine Skill.
After that, his fingers were practically itching to try flicking something.
He grabbed a coin and set up an empty soda can on the table as a target.
He then held the coin between his thumb and index finger, aimed at the soda can a couple of times, then activated The Finger Flicking Divine Skill. His index finger suddenly snapped forward with a sharp burst of force, sending the coin flying.
As he unleashed the technique, internal energy surged from his dantian and flowed through the already-opened Hand's Yang Supreme Large Intestine Meridian to his index finger's Shangyang Acupoint. It exploded like gunpowder against the coin, giving it incredible momentum.
Whoosh!
With a sharp whistle, the coin became a blur as it shot toward the table.
Crack!
With a crisp sound, the soda can remained completely unscathed.
The coin had landed a foot to the left of the can, leaving a clear dent in the table surface before bouncing off at an angle to hit the wall and clattering to the floor.
Chu Tianxing had missed by a whole foot...
"That’s normal. Although I instantly understood the theory after learning it and even got the muscle memory down, this is still my first time actually using it. Makes perfect sense that my aim would suck. Practice makes perfect. I'll get the hang of it soon."
Chu Tianxing wasn't discouraged. He picked up the coin and kept practicing.
Another whistling sound and the coin hit the coffee table. This time he'd missed to the right, still off by more than a foot.
"Hey, the soda can's pretty small, and I only missed by a foot. If I were aiming at a person, I’m pretty sure I could at least hit a larger target area."
Chu Tianxing stayed positive. He picked up the coin and redoubled his efforts.
Heaven rewards the diligent, and sure enough, practice really did make a difference.
After an entire afternoon of grueling training, his finger was practically swollen from all the flicking, and his already modest internal energy was nearly depleted. Chu Tianxing finally managed perfect accuracy and he could hit the soda can from over three meters away.
The power of his coin projectiles was also pretty impressive. The first time he actually connected, the coin punched clean through the can.
"Technically speaking, coins aren't ideal projectiles for finger flicking. They're better suited for throwing. This isn't some electromagnetic railgun with magnetic fields to guide the trajectory.”
"But if I can nail my target with a coin as ammo, then my aim will surely be even more precise when I use a more suitably shaped projectile.”
Chu Tianxing was very satisfied with the results of his afternoon of cultivation. The only downside was that his finger hurt like hell, and he worried it would affect his writing efficiency in the evening.
Still, he'd been cranking out at least sixty thousand words a day recently. Besides the 120,000 words already published, he'd stockpiled over 400,000 words in drafts.
Even if his writing efficiency was slightly reduced tonight, it wouldn't be a big deal.
He grabbed a bottle of medicinal wine for bruises and rubbed it on his finger, then headed back to his computer to check how the afternoon's recommendation boost was going.
The Editor-in-Chief’s Recommendation was one of only two recommendation slots on Huankong Net's homepage, so obviously, the effect was explosive.
In just one afternoon, his bookmarks had skyrocketed by over three thousand, clicks had blown up by hundreds of thousands, and recommendations had increased by more than ten thousand votes. His rankings on the homepage's click and recommendation charts were climbing steadily. He estimated that by midnight at the latest, he would probably break into the top three.
The comment section was buzzing with activity too.
His hardcore fans who'd been following since the book first went live were all singing his praises.
He could see multiple people being active in the comment section.
Flower of the Eastern Depot was also doing her job diligently, posting daily updates without fail.
Though she kept recycling the same few lines.
"Author, keep it up! Looking forward to your updates every day!"
"Author, keep it up! Still waiting for today's update!"
"Author, keep it up! Can't wait to see what happens next!"
But hey, posting at least five comments daily showed she was genuinely committed.
And the hater representative "EunuchLi," who'd been throwing criticisms at the book since day one was still going strong with his relentless criticism in the comment section.
"Ridiculous! Copper Corpse (Chen Xuanfeng) with body-hardening kung fu, immune to blades and spears, capable of taking on seven opponents and thrashing the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan, gets taken out with one strike by a seven-year-old kid... What happened to a warrior's basic alertness? You are a joke if you think a seven-year-old with no training could move faster than Chen Xuanfeng could react! The author has completely thrown basic logic out the window just to make the protagonist look good."
"Absurd! Although Temüjin might not be as heroic as our Ming Dynasty founder, he was still a great demon king who once made the entire world tremble in fear. Yet he nearly gets assassinated by a bunch of no-name thugs and has to be saved by that dumbass little Guo? Where's the logic in that? If Temüjin was such a scrub, how the hell did he unite the steppes and slaughter countless people?"
"This book's only selling point is fast updates. Other than that, it has no redeeming qualities. I advise everyone not to waste your time…”
By now, EunuchLi was sprinting relentlessly down the path of the dedicated anti-fan and had become a whole circus.
Even the hot-tempered "XiaoHu2215" couldn't be bothered arguing with him anymore.
Instead, whenever EunuchLi posted a review, XiaoHu2215 would add a reply below it with “Everyone, please open your eyes wide. This person is a failed writer who is jealous that the Great Author Skywalker’s book is popular. He’s a lemon reincarnated, a troll incarnate…”
For safety reasons, Chu Tianxing hadn't left his apartment in a week. He spent every day at home writing and training. Besides chatting with Qin Ling when she came over to cook dinner in the evenings, the comment section was one of his few sources of entertainment.
So he made sure to spend some time browsing through it every day.
Today was no different. After spending half an hour scrolling through the comments, he happily opened QQ to chat with his editor, Flower of the Eastern Depot.
But the moment he sent Flower of the Eastern Depot a smiley face emoji, she immediately replied with a message.
"Great news! The Editor-in-Chief recommended your book to a publishing house he knows, and it's already passed the preliminary review. There's a really good chance it'll pass the final review too. My dear Skywalker, your novel might actually get published in print!"
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