Coiling Dragon (Pan Long)

Linley looked at the man standing on the tree crown.

His short silver hair made him look very energetic and intrepid. That wavy blue robe fluttered in the wind, making him seem agile and graceful.

“An expert!” Linley had the feeling that this silver-haired man’s power was no less than his own.

“I am Linley.” Linley didn’t try to hide his identity.

“Linley? The O’Brien Empire’s Linley?” Miller said with surprise, but then he laughed. “I’ve long heard that the O’Brien Empire has a twenty seven year old genius, who has reached a high level of achievement as a sculptor, as a magus, and as a warrior. I didn’t expect that today, I’d be able to encounter you. You were on par with Haydson. I, Miller, would like to spar with you, brother.”

Linley had a very good impression of Miller as well.

Miller was open and direct, just the type of person Linley liked.

“Very well. Then I will have a good sparring match with you, brother Miller.” Having spent such a long period of time in training, Linley also desired to have a good sparring match against an expert. Perhaps he would gain a sudden insight.

Linley removed the deep blue robe covering his upper body, letting it be bare. And then, black scales quickly began to cover Linley’s body, and those ferocious spikes emerged from his forehead, spine, elbows, and knees. Seeing this, Miller’s eyes lit up. “Dragonblood Warrior. Haha, I’ve heard of this for some time now…”

Linley’s body began to be covered with that roiling, swirling layer of azurish-black battle-qi.

Wielding Bloodviolet in his hands, Linley looked at Miller. “Come.”

With a flip of his hand, Miller withdrew a silvery-white longsword from out of nowhere. Laughing loudly, he said, “Linley, you must be careful. The power of my sword technique isn’t much weaker than Haydson’s attack.” Miller spoke with total confidence. Linley was secretly startled. Linley knew very well how powerful Haydson’s “Worldbreaker” attack was.

“Careful!” Miller shouted loudly, then his body slashed through the air, immediately appearing next to Linley.

With a kick of his feet, Linley leapt backwards at high speed, but Miller’s longsword still brushed against Linley’s Pulseguard Defense. In the blink of an eye, Linley appeared atop a large tree several hundred meters away. “Such incredible speed. It seems I have to use the Windshadow spell.”

From this exchange, Linley immediately understood that in terms of understanding the ‘Speed’ aspect of the wind, he was inferior to this man.

Linley began to chant the words to the Windshadow magic spell. As for Miller, he paused for a while, still wielding that silver longsword as he waited for Linley to complete his Windshadow spell. Only when Linley did so did Miller charge towards Linley at high speed again. “Linley, show me your ultimate attack.”

“Whoosh!” “Whoosh!”

Linley’s body moved at a similarly high speed. Right now, the two were on par as far as speed went, and they dodged and attacked at high speed. Towards the attacking Miller, with a flip of his hand, Linley utilized the ‘Rippling Wind’ technique, and in an instant, countless violet sword tips slashed down, covering Miller’s entire body.

“Excellent!” Miller laughed loudly, and suddenly, the silvery-white longsword seemed to slowly draw a circle in front of him.

Although it seemed to be slow, in actuality, before Linley’s ‘Rippling Wind’ attacks managed to land on Miller, they were all destroyed by that ‘circle’. Linley was secretly delighted. “Has Miller trained in a type of extremely ‘Slow’ aspect of the wind?”

Slow. Fast!

The so called ‘slow’ and ‘fast’ weren’t purely about ‘speed’; it was about a higher level of understanding. For example, although Miller’s attack seemed to be slow, in actuality, it wasn’t the slightest bit slower than Linley’s ‘Rippling Wind’ technique.

“Miller, take another one of my attacks.” Linley shouted loudly.

Linley and Miller were constantly dodging. With each light tap against the tree leaves, the two could instantly change direction at high speed. Suddenly, the two once again clashed in the air above Mt. Blackraven. Linley’s dreamlike Bloodviolet longsword seemed to encompass both an extremely fast speed as well as an extremely slow tempo, combining these two polar opposites into a single seemingly perfect whole.

“Excellent.” Miller let out a loud shout of surprised joy.

Miller’s longsword suddenly reduced in speed to an extremely low level, as though it weighed ten trillion pounds and could barely move. Linley could sense how extremely slothful the movements of the opponent’s sword had become!

But his Bloodviolet sword remained unable to break through this sword.

“Boom!” The two swords collided.

Linley felt as though he had suddenly been hit at high speed by something weighing ten trillion pounds. His body shuddered and was sent flying against the nearby mountain cliffs, smashing into the heart of the mountain. On the cliffs, a human-shaped tunnel could now be seen.

“Whoosh.” A while later, Linley came flying back out.

Miller was extremely excited. “Linley, your sword art…‘Slow’ and ‘Fast’? Two totally opposite aspects. This…this…” Miller felt as though a light had gone off inside his mind, as though he had suddenly realized something. Linley was also extremely shocked and delighted as well.

Linley didn’t even care about that line of blood trailing down from the corner of his lips. The only thing he was thinking about was that sword technique his opponent had just used. “Miller defended against my ‘Rippling Wind’ attack using a technique which was gentle as a breeze. But this technique he just used was extremely powerful, not one whit inferior than Haydson’s ‘Worldbreaker’ technique. If it wasn’t for the fact that I have gained some additional insights into the ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’, I probably would’ve been severely injured.”

“That sword technique was derived from a variation of the ‘Slow’ aspect of the Laws of the Wind. During that moment, it seemed as though space itself had frozen.” Linley could still clearly remember how he had felt when facing that sword.

That sword had moved so slowly, as though it weighed ten trillion pounds, but space itself seemed to have frozen as well. Linley had clearly sensed that his opponent’s sword was extremely slow, but despite the fact that his own sword was extremely fast, in that moment, it somehow wasn’t faster than his opponent’s.

Miller and Linley both had looks of surprised delight on their face. They smiled, standing there in mid-air.

Recovering from their ponderings, the two looked at each other and grinned. Clearly, both had gained certain insights.

“Linley, I had never imagined that two opposite aspects could actually be used to aid each other…you truly have helped me out.” Miller was a little bit excited. Indeed, in that mysterious mountain village, none of his friends trained in the Laws of the Wind, and thus they were unable to help him.

Linley spoke words of thanks as well. “Miller, I’ve been pondering how to continue analyzing the ‘Slow’ and ‘Fast’ aspect and how to train them. You’ve helped me clearly see how I should go about it as well.”

“As far as my insights into the Laws of the Wind go, I don’t have any deeper insights to show you. Let’s just call a stop to it for now. What do you say?” Linley advised.

Miller pursed his lips. “Linley, don’t be modest. I know…that your true, most powerful attack is with a heavy sword. Supposedly, despite Haydson’s ridiculously strong defense, he was still heavily injured by you. Come. Let me have a try.” Miller said expectantly.

Linley hesitated slightly.

Once the ‘Profound Truths of the Earth’ was used, it would be very dangerous. It might kill him.

“It’s fine. Linley, just come. Let me have a taste of your most powerful attack. My defense is extremely formidable.” Miller laughed confidently.

Seeing how confident the man was and how he had requested Linley repeatedly to attack, Linley nodded. At the same time, Linley had made up his mind that he would executed the Hundred Layered Waves attack of the Profound Truths of the Earth. He wouldn’t go all the way to his limits of 138 Layered Waves. Given the power his opponent had displayed, he should be able to withstand the Hundred Layered Waves.

In the air above Mt. Blackraven, Linley and Miller stood, facing each other. Linley was now wielding the adamantine heavy sword.

“Come.” Miller said with a bit of excitement.

“Miller, be careful.” As he spoke, Linley suddenly charged towards Miller, creating a terrifying sonic boom. Miller just stood there, casually wielding his silvery longsword and slowly waving it in front of himself.

Space once again froze.

Linley’s adamantine heavy sword agilely and lightly smashed downwards. A silvery longsword that was very light, but seemingly weighed ten trillion pounds. An adamantine heavy sword that was very heavy, yet seemed to move very agilely and gracefully. As soon as the adamantine heavy sword drew near that silver longsword, it was caught within the ‘frozen space’.

The two swords intersected!

“Boom!”

Profound Truths of the Earth – Hundred Layered Waves!

What shocked Linley was that when those vibrational waves passed through that ‘frozen space’, it quickly began to weaken in power. By the time it passed through and entered Miller’s body, it had lost more than half of its power.

But despite that…

Miller’s eyes lit up. His entire body suddenly was surrounded by waves of energy, but despite that, a hint of blood still came out from the corner of his lips. He stared at Linley in astonishment. “Linley, your attack truly is bizarre. My defense can be considered a very special one, but your attack…”

When experts did battle, they had to be proficient in speed, defense, and attack. If they were weak in a single area, then they would find themselves in danger.

Miller’s defense was very special as well.

As he circulated the Dragonblood battle-qi in his body, Linley’s wounds rapidly began to heal, but he stared at Miller in astonishment. “Miller, that sword of yours…I keep on having the feeling that it seems to have caused space itself to change.” It was precisely because space had changed that Linley’s vibrational attacks would weaken so much when passing through it.

Miller laughed. “It does indeed cause space to change. I can’t clearly explain it. When you gain insight on this aspect, you will naturally understand it.”

Linley nodded slightly as he returned to his human form.

“Alright, then. Linley, I’m very glad to have met you today and made friends with you. If you ever want to come looking for me, you can come to the southern reaches of the Anarchic Lands. There’s a relatively well-known city there known as ‘Southmount City’. Roughly a hundred kilometers south of Southmount City is a large mountain, and within that mountain there is a small mountain village. I live there.” Miller laughed.

Linley nodded in appreciation. “When I am free, I will definitely go.”

“Several of my good friends, as well as my Lord, live there as well. If you come there and spar, you will improve more quickly as well.” Miller said warmly. “I have some business in the Forest of Darkness. I’ll have to bid you farewell for now.”

After saying his goodbyes to Miller, Linley watched as Miller rapidly flew towards the north, into the endless Forest of Darkness. Then Linley chuckled and, with a leap, flew to a nearby flat stone. He sat down atop of it into the meditative posture, quietly reflecting on the insights he had gained on various profound mysteries during that sparring match…

….

To the north of the Yulan continent was the boundless Northern Sea. North of the Northern Sea was the Arctic Icecap. The Arctic Icecap was extremely vast, several times larger than the entire Yulan continent. However, aside from some powerful magical beasts who lived there, there were virtually no inhabitants. The Arctic Icecap was formed from nothing more than extremely hard ice.

“Whoooooosh.”

Cold wind slashed past the glaciers like icy knives, shearing pieces of ice off. The Arctic Icecap was an extremely cold place, and extremely dangerous. Even powerful warriors would find it very hard to live here. However, this bitter, desolate environment did have a few experts who lived here quietly.

Beneath an iceberg that was tens of thousands of meters high, two experts engaged in battle at high speed. One of them was Olivier, with his opponent being a very well muscled, yet skinny, cruel looking man with short jade hair. The cruel-looking man was using nothing more than a pair of dark golden boxing gloves.

“Whoosh!” Lightshadow flashing, Olivier appeared in the air above the cruel-looking man, then chopped downwards with his sword.

The cruel-looking man dodged this attack, and then immediately viciously kicked out with his leg against Olivier. On the surface of the leg was a clearly visible edge of air, and it chopped against Olivier like a warblade. The blade of air was far more distinct and visible than the one produced by Linley’s ‘Tempos of the Wind’ technique.

“Boom!”

Olivier and his sword were both sent flying by this kick, landing and smashing viciously against the tough, frozen ground. “Boom!” The icy ground split apart, and dozens of enormous cracks appeared. Olivier vomited a mouthful of fresh blood onto the ground.

“Hmph. Olivier, you dare challenge Lord Rutherford [La’si’fu’de]? You can’t even beat me. In the Arctic Icecap, you are nothing more than the bottom rung. Train hard.” The cruel-looking man said coldly, and then he flew into the skies at high speed, disappearing into that enormous iceberg that was tens of thousands of meters high.

Olivier coughed once, then stood up. Staring upwards at the iceberg, he said, “Next time, I will definitely defeat you.” And then, Olivier’s body flickered, then disappeared from the snowy land.