Shang Xia’s idea of the beast tide was obviously wrong. He thought that the Tongyou Peak was about to start another bloody battle after the one they just experienced with the Four Spiritual Peak.
He didn’t think that the beast tide wouldn’t affect the Tongyou Peak much. It was such a ‘peaceful’ scene.
The beast tide didn’t rush towards the Tongyou Peak entirely. Also, the members of the Tongyou Peak were exhausted from the previous war and didn’t choose to mess with the beast tide.
“Why is the beast tide rushing towards us anyway?” Shang Xia asked.
Shang Xi, who hadn’t recovered fully, laid casually on a mat in her courtyard and replied with an eyebrow raised. “Even if the beasts all go crazy, they won’t rush up the Tongyou Peak for fun. In their eyes, the Tongyou Peak is just a massive mountain. Are they going to smash their heads into a mountain for fun? If they really attacked the Tongyou Peak, things would be different. They would have to be controlled by a certain power or super creature for that to happen.”
“Why are they gathering around our Tongyou Peak without any signs of leaving then?” Shang Xia asked.
Yawning softly, Shang Xi explained, “That’s because of the heaven and earth qi in the air. Due to the operation of our protection formation, we drew in a huge amount of heaven and earth qi! The only place with an equally dense amount of heaven and earth qi would be the Four Spiritual Peak. The beasts might have lost their mind, but their instincts would lead them to the place with the most amount of heaven and earth qi…”
Shang Xia could tell that his aunt was growing tired, but he still wanted to get to the bottom of things. “How… How does a beast tide start?”
Shang Xi pressed her lips together and explained helplessly, “It’s probably because of the appearance of the divine weapons… No one really knows…”
“One last question!” Shang Xia quipped. “Are we planning to do nothing and wait for the beasts to leave on their own?”
He could tell that Shang Xi was too tired to entertain his questions, but he was truly curious.
Shang Xi rolled her eyes and snapped, “How do you know we’re not doing anything?”
“Alright, alright, enough of this. I’m going back to sleep. You’re really annoying! You could have asked anyone else, but you came over to annoy me…” Shang Xi chased him out before he could continue.
When he emerged from her courtyard, he ran into Yan Qi.
“Young… Young master, actually, the Tongyou Peak would open a tiny hole in the protection formation to allow some beasts to charge into our territory. They would take the chance to hunt down all the beasts to obtain precious ingredients and treasures…” Yan Qi explained.
A frown formed on Shang Xia’s face. “Why didn’t I hear of it?”
“That’s because the bridges connecting the Qiling, Kaiyuan, Luohui, Minxiu, and Pinxin peaks have been weakened. To prevent anything unexpected from happening, the gap is opened between the Yuxi and Qiling Peaks. Every time it’s open, two Martial Extermination Realm experts would be paying attention to the region to prevent anything from going wrong.”
“So that’s the case…” Shang Xia gasped. Due to the interference of the Rose Party and Ran Biluo’s attacks, the chains between the few peaks were damaged or cut!
Liu Qinglan wasn’t able to completely prevent Ran Biluo from affecting the protection formation, and if Shang Bo came a little later, things would get ugly. The damage to the protection formation would likely be greater than it already is!
As Shang Xia was taking care of matters on the Kaiyuan Peak when the war went on, he didn’t know what happened to the other regions.
Returning to his room in the Shang Pavilion, Shang Xia saw Yan Ni’er resting comfortably in the nest she made. Seeing as nothing was wrong, he left for the training field.
Picking a random steel sword on the weapon rack, Shang Xia circulated his inner qi. He transformed them into qi that possessed the attribute of softness and strength and started to practice his sword art.
He moved gracefully as he practiced every individual move in the Formless Sword Art.
Before the war started, Shang Xia managed to complete the third stroke of the Formless Sword Art. Due to the battles he had been through both in the war and when escaping from the beast tide, Shang Xia’s comprehension of the Formless Sword Art reached a whole new level.
In just several short days, he comprehended up to the seventh move!
The day before, when he was treating the injured Mutated Rain Swallows on the Pinxin Peak, he gained a sudden inspiration on the eighth move of the Formless Sword Art! That was the reason he ran all the way back to the Shang Pavilion to train himself!
Strictly speaking, the Formess Sword Manual was more like a theory-based sword technique. The only principle behind it was that the moves flowed with the current. One would wield the sword as they pleased and avoid being restricted by the traditional ways of using a sword.
To put it simply, the theory behind it was to focus more on the pair of qi that made up the sword art than the sword itself!
After comprehending it, Shang Xia’s movements didn’t stop when he completed the seventh stroke. In one smooth motion, he completed the eighth move! When he did, he realized that the power he wielded increased, instead of being diminished by the execution of the eighth move!
Shang Xia reached a new understanding. The Formless Sword Manual flashed through his mind, and he felt like he finally understood the meaning behind it! The first eight moves were all for the sake of gathering energy. On the ninth move, all the energy he built up would be released in the form of a formless sword qi! Hence the name, Formless Sword Art!
He thought about the Vigorous Sword Art he completed earlier and recalled the sword qi it produced at the end. It destroyed the entire weapon rack beside the training ground! In order not to cause the scene to replay itself, he sealed off the strand of sword qi he was supposed to send out in the ninth move of the Formless Sword Art! He sealed it off in the sword he was using, but he clearly underestimated its power. Cracks started to appear on the surface of the blade, and it eventually shattered into countless pieces.
Hearing the sound of the shards clattering to the ground, Shang Xia’s expression changed. The blood-red tablet sealed in his sea of consciousness suddenly reappeared and a red glow appeared on its surface. Faint words were starting to form on the surface of the tablet, but they faded away like nothing happened in the first place. Eventually, the blood-red tablet sank into the depths of his sea of consciousness.
“Young master, congratulations on reaching the large completion stage of your sword technique!” Yan Qi’s voice caused Shang Xia to awaken from his daze.
“Oh? Seventh Uncle, when did you come?” Shang Xia tossed the hilt of the sword away and chuckled softly, “I’ll destroy a weapon every time I complete my training in a sword manual… The cost of training is pretty high indeed!”
Yan Qi grinned at the side, “I just arrived! I arranged something for the young lady earlier before heading over to the Mingxiu Peak. Before I returned, I saw someone you might be interested in!”
“Who?” Shang Xia dried his perspiration with the towel Yan Qi handed him and asked.
“Young master, do you remember Dou Zhong?” A mischievous look could be seen in Yan Qi’s eyes.