Chapter 19 – Pure Yuan Art
Which skill should I learn?
Ye Chen stood there quietly before he made up his mind. He grabbed the manual of the Golden Swallow Skill.
He made a very reasonable decision, compared to an attack skill or a guard skill, a movement skill would be much more helpful for his survival. While there were hundreds of “unbeatable” and strong arts in the world, Ye Chen could only protect himself and hurt his opponent when he had speed, when his speed reached a certain level, it would be more powerful than any attack skill. In the end, even if he failed to hit his opponent, Ye Chen still could escape. Comparatively a guard skill could also protect him, but he would be a turtle, forced to defend until he no longer had the strength to.
As for why did he choose the Golden Swallow Skill instead of the Inching Steps or the Chasing Cicada: Eight Steps? It was nothing more than a hunch of Ye Chen’s.
After choosing his martial skill, it was now time to choose a martial art.
“What are you doing? I called dibs on this Iron Shirt Art first!” All of the sudden, someone started arguing down the third row.
Ye Chen recognized the voice the second he heard it. Out of curiosity, he walked between the shelves towards the sound, searching for that familiar face.
There were two people standing ten steps away, one of them was quite handsome and seemed to be only thirteen years old. Just like Ye Chen thought, it was the one and only Zhang Haoran. The other guy was about seventeen years old and wore yellow gear. He was physically quite impressive, his arms were thicker than Zhang Haoran’s thighs. He had a square face, square chin, and his long, narrow eyes shone with a cold light. He looked like a combination between a tiger and a poisonous snake.
They were arguing about the High Rank Mortal Realm Martial Skill – the Iron Shirt. Although it was not the highest rank skill, it was extremely effective and practical in a battle which even made it more popular than some of the top rank skills. Zhang Haoran wanted to practice it to supplement his weak defense, and had just taken it off the shelf when the other guy appeared and took it out of his hand unexpectedly. He even rolled his eye in a manner that seemed to say “piss off”. Zhang Haoran did not expect this kind of treatment at all, and quickly became furious.
The young man in yellow laughed: “Outer disciple? Where do you think you are? Piss off now, go back to your mama on the first floor!”
Zhang Haoran had an extremely ugly look on his face, “Don’t think I don’t know who you are. Huang Bingwen, seventeen years old, Early Condensing Reality Stage, the second child of the Windy Town mayor.”
“Good! Now beat it kid.” Huang Bingwen’s proud face had a wide smile.
“Hmph. You are weak! At the age of seventeen, you have only reached the Early Condensing Reality Stage? You’re a joke! To come out here and brag about it…you are not qualified to stand in front of me and do so.” Zhang Haoran’s word surprised everyone in the room.
The room suddenly filled with the sound of quiet murmurs as interest built up.
“Is that guy Zhang Haoran? No wonder he dared to confront Huang Bingwen! But honestly, that was way too brutal though, he might offend some disciples by not giving us face.”
“The Peak of Mortal Realm Stage by the age of thirteen…if he can reach the Condensing Reality Stage by the end of this year, he would be one of the top five genius in the Sky Cloud Martial School!”
“Doesn’t look to good for Huang Bingwen. I heard that Zhang Haoran was greatly favored by by the Inner Court Elder Liu, he even made an exception for Zhang Haoran to practice the Top Rank Mortal Realm Skill – Tiger Roar, Dragon Fist!”
As Huang Bingran heard the discussions, his face soured as he said ghastly: “You little brat. Good job to make it here because of your little connections.”
“Good job? I, Zhang Haoran, need connection? Please, don’t make me laugh at your ‘insults’. Do you dare to make a bet? A battle, in two months, on the Martial Arts Plaza! The loser has to apologize to the winner!” Once again, Zhang Haoran threw out a big “bomb”.
Huang Bingwen and the other inner disciples in the room were all shocked. They couldn’t believe their ears that an outer disciple wanted to challenge an inner disciple.
“As you wish, young master. I will crush you in now, and I will crush you in two months.” Competing with a junior apprentice was below his status, but as long as he could beat him effortlessly then it would be fine. People would even turn against Zhang Haoran and call him unrespectful and would not blame him for taking such a bet.
As Zhang Haoran grabbed the Iron Shirt manual out of Huang Bingwen’s hand, he left without looking back.
Huang Bingwen’s face tinted purple as he felt a burning anger smolder him with no place to release. He soon discovered Ye Chen, the only other outer disciple in the crowd and yelled with a low voice: “Fuck! What are you looking at?!”
Ye Chen froze. He had never expected that he would suddenly become Huang Bingwen’s emotional punching bag. Masking his anxiety, he said emotionlessly: “My eyes… are on my head, do I need your permission to see from them?”
Upon hearing this, the crowd was shocked again. They were all wondering what was going on, the outer disciples this year were the most arrogant bunch they have ever seen. At least the other disciple had reached the peak of Mortal Realm Stage 10 and had the backing of a senior master, but this guy had only reached the Middle Mortal Realm Stage 6 and had zero reputation. However, he was as arrogant as Zhang Haoran.
Huang Bingwen felt like he was about to explode. His clothing began to whip up even though there was no wind. A dark brown colored light began to emit from his body along with an invisible pressure in preparation to attack Ye Chen.
“Huang Bingwen, what are you doing?! Remember where we are!” A dark hair senior apprentice in black rebuked.
Huang Bingwen shivered as he remembered that he was in the Pavilion of Martial Arts where fighting was strictly forbidden. There was a huge punishment plus a six-month ban from the Pavilion of Martial Arts if you were caught.
After taking a deep, calming breath, Huang Bingwen dissipated his Qi and stared at Ye Chen murderously. He threatened: “Once we are outside, I will finish you!”
Ye Chen frowned, the guy standing in front of him was like a mad dog, biting whoever came close. Ye Chen knew his power level was still quite low and definitely would not be able to beat him at this time. If he did not come up with something quickly, this might not end well for him.
Making up his mind, Ye Chen lifted up his head, “I will also make a bet with you. Battle me in two months on the same Martial Art Plaza as Zhang Haoran. Whoever loses has to apologize to the winner. Do you dare?”
It was like a lightning in a sunny day, Huang Bingwen froze.
“Haha!” He looked like he just heard the funniest joke ever, Huang Bingwen pointed at Ye Chen with his finger, said: “You? You think you can beat me in two months? Did you lost your mind?”
“What? You afraid?”
“Fuck I knew it, you are just baiting me into a fight. But brat, why would I be afraid? I will teach you and Zhang Haoran both a lesson in two months.” Huang Bingwen was actually patient, he knew the longer he waited, the better he would feel when it actually happened. Plus, this two months would pass in no time at all.
“In that case, I will take my leave. Excuse me.” Fifteen minutes was about to end and Ye Chen had yet to choose a martial art. He did not want to waste another minute.
Watching Ye Chen leaving, the rest of the inner disciples began conversing animatedly. They desperately wanted the next two months to go by quickly so that they could watch those interesting battles.
Standing next to the book shelf, Ye Chen was trying to make a decision.
“Six Sun Art, Extreme Power with Extreme Yang!”
“Withered Wood Spell, Hidden Tracks and Concealed Intent!”
“Sinking Cloud Force, Supreme Qi Manipulation, Invoking Flames!”
“Little Star Art, Qi Purification, Destroying those who stand above!”
…
There were not many training arts, but Ye Chen was torn with all the different kind of arts. There were even some random arts that he had never heard of.
Tick tock. Time slipped by.
Ye Chen began to become anxious. He knew if he did not hurry, time would run out.
Losing his patience, he randomly picked up a manual. However, his eyes caught sight of something. There was another manual under the one he was holding, it seemed to be hidden on purpose.
On the cover of that manual was three black-inked characters,
“Pure Yuan Art”!
...
Editor’s Corner: Don’t confuse this chapter’s “Pure Yuan Art” with last chapter’s “The Power of Yuan”. Last chapter was a defensive skill, and compared to this chapter’s offensive art.