I Can See Your Combat Power

Fast as a phantom, excellent single-person fused martial technique, robust physique, and that mysteriously fascinating sword intent.

Tang Luo cannot see a possibility where he might beat his opponent, even though he gave all his might, being a peak martial art practitioner from the Mortal Realm.

Although he can self-soothe using the fact that his opponents come from families of saints, attempting to rationalize or even sanctify his weakness, such as saying, “If I give my all too, I can exchange blows with the other party,” or ” If I reach the age of twenty, I will become a martial artist of the Fierce Realm,” — all these are undoubtedly escapism.

Because even at the same level, you cannot beat Xu Lao Ying – no matter how much you dress up this fact, you cannot change it.

He won’t be jealous, as such strength is not merely Xu Lao Ying’s own, but a manifestation of the family legacy of the Saintly clan. The secret techniques and martial skills they display, including the Divine Sword and Divine Armor, are radiations accumulated by generations. This means, martial artists from families of saints and ordinary martial artists differ as much as a cloud from mud.

However, this gap is not impossible to close, especially for the stubborn Tang Luo.

If a peak martial artist from the Saintly clan can be so strong, then so can I.

Xu Lao Ying’s arrival shattered his pride and made him realize that there are others who have already walked along the path of martial arts before him, turning his imagination into reality—an intriguing event.

Fighting against heaven is a joy. Fighting against the earth is a joy. Fighting against people is a joy!

After discovering the function of storing spiritual power in stardust, the degree of urgency faded, and he veered towards slacking. After experiencing a bottleneck in his martial technique, he sought to understand various martial skills in the Mortal Realm.

Burst Step and Immortal Wind Cloud Body Technique were the fruits of this period.

Especially with the advent of Immortal Wind Cloud Body Technique, he became somewhat complacent. After all, flight is an exclusive power possessed by warriors from the Fierce Realm. He could achieve this, and even exceed in terms of speed—how could he not be proud?

Interacting with others today made him realize a brutal fact — if he encountered Xu Lao Ying, his only option would be to flee.

But the reason why a martial artist is called a martial artist is because of the inevitable battles. If someday he was cornered, could he really protect what he wanted?

The Saintly families are far ahead of potent families like Tang Clan in their research into martial arts. If Xu clan was able to do it, the achievements of Martial Saint Mountain would not be less either.

If one day, Martial Saint Mountain wanted to unite Longzhou and executed those unwilling to comply, which path should Tang Luo tread?

Kneel? After a detailed contemplation, he concluded that he could not do it.

If losing dignity means staying alive and becoming a dog, then what’s the point in practicing martial arts?

Martial Saint Mountain has been the birthplace of the first saint of the Human Race and a shelter for the human race during dark times. But who can guarantee that his descendants would also possess similar enlightenment of concern for all living creatures?

Who can possibly figure out human nature? Would they settle for a quiet life when they possess absolute martial power? With empathy, even Tang Luo found himself hard-pressed to answer.

The present era of martial arts belongs to the Combined Attack Technique. A family nurturing enough Mortal Realm teams, coupled with one or two powerful individuals, could dominate any given area.

However, he always felt somewhat uneasy. The era of Combined Attack Technique has already lasted over a thousand years. Is it even likely that various holy lands have not studied the new martial arts model that could break the current situation?

Initially, he had some doubts, but after witnessing Xu Lao Ying’s demonstration, he became convinced that various sanctuaries had long been pushing martial arts into a new epoch — the era of single-person fusion techniques.

Compared to team-based Combined Attacks, the single-person fusion technique is particularly exceptional in terms of deployment difficulty and effect. The more crucial point is that fusion techniques possess power that transcends boundaries.

The fusion of Mortal Realm exudes power similar to that of Fierce Realm; what about the Fierce Realm?

Holy places have many Fierce Realm martial artists, and it is a recognizable fact that doesn’t need thinking. The Tang Clan alone has nearly a hundred Fierce Realm martial artists, let alone those world-famous sanctuaries.

Since they are already an entire era ahead in martial arts, why are they dormant?

An educated guess is based on two or three reasons: either the single-person fusion technique has too high a requirement and is difficult to grasp.

Or, the single-person fusion technique is a new invention that still needs a lot of improvement.

However, it’s foreseeable that such problems will be solved by the current generation of martial arts researchers not so distantly in the future, completely breaking the currently relatively peaceful situation.

Perhaps all these are his groundless fears. It’s possible that under the consciousness of the masses, the sanctuaries would still not resort to force easily. However, Tang Luo genuinely doesn’t dare to pin all his hopes on humanity’s goodwill.

Fortunately, the holy lands are still hiding their fangs and remain amiable. This gives him time to catch up. Even if he can’t compete for worldly supremacy, at least he would have the strength to protect Xiling once chaos breaks out.

The appearance of Xu Lao Ying not only allowed him to foresee the future but also opened a new way of thinking about fusion techniques.

Fusion techniques of the same origin are too complex. Even absolute spiritual power controllers like Tang Luo feel they’re difficult. But, observing the outer battle of the Fox Fairy Temple, he benefited a lot from Xu Lao Ying’s battle tactics.

A fusion technique doesn’t necessarily have to be a martial technique of the same kind. Everything in the world is born and complemented by yin and yang. There is a natural balance in the world. As long as the law is discovered, a new set of fusion techniques can be formed.

Fire combines with earth to form lava, yin combines with yang to form thunder, water combines with wind to form ice, wood combines with light to form life, and so on.

After just observing Xu Lao Ying’s battle tactics, hundreds of types of spiritual power combinations appeared in Tang Luo’s mind. Some of them he vaguely felt could again enhance him, possibly breaking through the fusion limit of three spirits in one body.

While sitting at the desk, Tang Luo wrote each spiritual power combination flashing in his mind on a piece of white paper. After a while, the table-sized white paper was densely written.

Looking at the hundreds of combinations on the paper, Tang Luo put down the pen with satisfaction, and the surging feeling in his heart made him want to howl at the sky.

The long-stagnant fusion of martial arts finally moved again, and this time, he wanted to do more than just succeed.

January 27th

Inside the Tang Mansion Dining Hall

Tang Xing met his big cousin for the first time when the whole family got together.

“Big cousin!” the familiar looking little boy cheerfully greeted.

Xu Lao Ying also liked looking at the young boy with starry eyes and a sword-like brow and responded to his excitement with a nod.

“Your eyes are so beautiful.” The little boy stared at Xu Lao Ying’s face and muttered star-struck.

Xu Lao Ying’s eyes were long and slightly curved at the corners. His eyes were watery, and a faint red cloud surrounded them. Shaped like a peach blossom, his eyelashes were long and added a gentle upward curve to the corners. His seeming tipsy and fuzzy gaze gave a somewhat hazy, magical feeling.

Tang Xing had never seen such beautiful eyes before and stared unblinkingly..