“The divine sword appeared, and the field was littered with corpses. The Ling Clan will prosper, and Heavenly Peak City will change hands!”
A day later, such rumors spread through Heavenly Peak City.
Allegedly, the Li and Shi Clans had allied with the Ren Race’s Ren guards to wipe out the Ling Clan.
The Ling Clan had fought until only 100 people had remained when a divine sword had suddenly descended from the heavens, directly obliterating all the enemy martial artists besides Shi Long, Li Yunsheng, and the other Martial Master realm experts.
Shi Long, Li Yunsheng, and the others had hastily fled in confusion to White Cloud Province’s Ren Clan.
“That was a truly shocking sight. The divine sword appeared, and sword light covered the entire Ling Clan and everything within several thousand meters!”
Along the way, a martial artist walked while dramatically explaining the scene to his companion.
“You boast as if you saw it with your own eyes.”
The other person scolded in jest.
Many young martial artists with cultivation bases ranging from Rank Three to Rank Five Martial Vein had come.
They had heard that the Ling Clan’s power was equivalent to the Ren Race and other scums’, so they greatly admired the Ling Clan.
Therefore, they had come to pledge loyalty to the Ling Clan, hoping that it would expand once more by recruiting external disciples.
Although the Ling Clan had suffered heavy losses, if all these people were recruited, their strength would actually increase.
However, people hostile to the Ling Clan were naturally unwilling to see this matter.
As these two people approached the Ling Clan, a group of thieves wearing black scarves jumped out of the thickets by the roadside. Needless to say, they were Black Scarf Thieves who were active in the vicinity of Heavenly Peak City.
“Those who seek refuge with the Ling Clan will die! Either scram or die!”
This group of people announced.
“We want to join Ling Clan! Who can stop us?”
The two young martial artists who greatly admired the Ling Clan suddenly took out their weapons.
However, countless hidden weapons flew over, and even though their strength was not bad at roughly Rank Four Martial Vein, they were unable to withstand this attack.
They died tragic deaths on the spot.
Similar scenes happened almost continuously around Heavenly Peak City.
Merely, some people were killed, some chose to join the Black Scarf Thieves, and some chose to leave.
However, the Ling Clan didn’t know of these matters since they were too short in manpower. Now, they were focusing on cleaning up, so they had no resources to care about matters outside.
Ling Xiao, Ling Yihang, Ling Yixue, Ling Shuang, Ling Zhan, Ling Fei, Ling Wuhen, and other loyal Ling Clan disciples were all permitted to enter the fourth floor of the Library Pavilion to comprehend the fragments of Transcendent Martial Arts.
In the past, only the Patriarch and Supreme Elders had been qualified to enter the fourth floor. Among the younger generation, only Ling Chen and Ling Feifan had entered.
But after some discussion between Ling Xiaotian and the three Supreme Elders, they had decided to open all four floors of the Library Pavilion so that all the loyal disciples who had participated in the battle had a chance to grow stronger.
These remaining 100 or so people were truly loyal and had passed the test of a life and death battle.
There was no reason to doubt their loyalty or character.
All the disciples carefully studied the martial arts without interfering with each other.
The Library Pavilion’s fourth floor greatly differed from Ling Xiao’s expectations.
There were no books here, only stone tablets.
Some were cracked, some were incomplete, and some were in broken pieces.
There were some intact stone tablets, but the words carved on them had been artificially damaged and couldn’t be clearly discerned.
“Everyone has different Transcendent Martial Arts in their heart. It can be said that a Transcendent Martial Art is a kind of state, not a fixed move. If you can comprehend even a move or half a style, not only will your combat power make a substantial breakthrough, but your cultivation base will also rise.”
Ling Xiaotian had broken through to Rank Seven Martial Vein because he had carefully observed and studied these stone tablets, but he had been unable to succeed in mastering even one.
Not only were these stone tablets incomplete, but they were also obscure. He could only comprehend a bit of meaning, not one’s true essence.
In fact, the so-called profound meaning comprehended by people like Ling Chen and Shi Yulian from Transcendent Martial Art Fragments was just a big joke.
Because what they had comprehended was not any profound meaning, only some superficial knowledge.
Listening to Ling Xiaotian, Ling Xiao examined those stone tablets. Vaguely, he saw people practicing all kinds of moves in front of the stone tablets.
Some were like heavenly thunder descended to earth, instantly destroying mountains;
some were like the outbreak of an earthquake, instantly destroying cities and towns;
some were like fierce winds wreaking havoc, instantly overturning countless living beings;
some were only a person with a sword, rending the sky and changing sun and moon with a casual swing.
……
Almost every stone tablet had a terrifying Transcendent Martial Art.
Unfortunately, none of them were completely intact.
Otherwise, that would have been a terrifying matter.
If the Ling Clan had had so many complete Transcendent Martial Arts, not to mention ruling Heavenly Peak City, even ruling White Cloud Province would have been easy.
However, fragments were just fragments.
Transcendent Martial Arts were already obscure and difficult to comprehend, so very few people would ever master one. Split into fragments, the difficulty of comprehending them had increased by a thousand times, no, ten thousand times.
“Everyone, listen! These Transcendent Martial Arts are very powerful. You all must not fall into their illusions for too long. Once it exceeds two hours, we will forcibly stop your cultivation; otherwise, you will either have a qi deviation or go crazy. The unluckiest ones might even die tragic deaths!”
Ling Xiao didn’t dare to ignore Ling Xiaotian’s warning.
Since the situation had reached this point, Ling Xiaotian wouldn’t play mysterious anymore. In the past, various problems must have occurred after someone had cultivated over two hours.
Moreover, it must have been more than one person, prompting the Ling Clan to make such a rule.
Ling Xiao didn’t want to waste any more time. Two hours was absolutely not enough to completely grasp the Transcendent Martial Art Fragments here.
Therefore, Ling Xiao identified one that was more suitable for him to cultivate and relatively intact. He then concentrated on studying it.
Enter Soul!
Ling Xiao instantly entered the Enter Soul state, and everything in front of him changed.
A figure appeared on the stone tablet he had chosen.
That person was actually his own shadow!
According to Ling Xiaotian, Transcendent Martial Arts didn’t have a fixed style, only a core profound meaning. As long as you grasped the profound meaning, you could create your own style.
This was why it was very difficult to learn a Transcendent Martial Art.
After all, before becoming a martial arts master or entering the Transcendent Realm, one’s understanding of a martial art would be very low. It was a dream to create one’s own martial arts.
However, Ling Xiao’s situation was slightly different.
His personal understanding of a martial art might not be sufficient, but his Landscape Martial Soul’s understanding of martial arts was absolutely comparable to even a Transcendent Realm martial artist’s.
In fact, it might even exceed those in the Transcendent Realm.
As he circulated his Landscape Martial Soul at full power, the figure dispersed before making various movements again and again, seemingly refining the true essence of this Transcendent Martial Art Fragment.
In the end, these figures condensed into one, and a clear movement formed in Ling Xiao’s mind.
“First Style——Flying Snow!”
Ling Xiao comprehended the first sword move from the stone tablet. Although this sword move was not perfect and merely in an embryonic form, it had already condensed the profound meaning of this Transcendent Martial Art Fragment. As long as he continued to refine and improve it, it would eventually reach perfection.
He had successfully comprehended the first style!
