"You're most familiar with the Dragon Guard, right?" The man smiled as he adopted the same rising stance of the Shaolin Arhat Fist. "Then, I'll strike you with the fist forms you're most familiar with. Let's see if you can dodge."
Bam!
The man's legs moved like lightning, and his shadow was already before Qin Fen. His shocking speed was suffocating!
Four-star! The man's completely ignored the fact that Qin Fen was at the three-star level. The Tiger Lunge seized the position of Qin Fen's heart in his chest.
The strike was a hair's breadth away. Qin Fen didn't have the time to block. The Dragon Elephant Prajna Art was raised to the peak as he retreated half a step, turned his wrist, and pushed off from the man's head. Qin Fen's waist twisted sharply, bringing his body to flicker to the side.
He used his palm and legs together with the Dragon Guard, a series of moves Qin Fen had researched from aerial combat. This was the first time he truly put it to full use.
Surprised flashed in the mans eyes. Qin Fen had moved outside his calculations. The aura of the man's Tiger Lunge suddenly exploded, and the unwavering power of his fist vibrated apart Qin Fen's series of moves, the man's fist advancing at maximal speed, but then Qin Fen borrowed the power of this vibration to increase the speed of his own dodge.
Both sides were seizing the upper hand in speed, but Qin Fen's three-star level speed was clearly a bit slower than the man's four-star level speed. Were it not for the understanding he gained from researching aerial combat, Qin Fen would have long since been defeated.
The move struck nothing but air, and the man's eyes revealed a bit of admiration. Qin Fen felt quick socked as well. His martial senses were growing stronger and stronger these days. In a situation where a three-star would steadily lose to a four-star, Qin Fen was merely at a disadvantage after the first exchange of moves instead of being defeated.
Another Tiger Lunge was unleashed, exactly the same as the last one save for the increase in speed and fierceness of strength.
Qin Fen's eyes immediately glowed. He treaded forward half a step, planting himself with the Horse Stance. He generated strength from his heel, and that strength conducted to his waist. The strength of his waist and the Dragon Elephant Prajna Art soared to his shoulders as he suddenly swung out with his entire arm. It was the Flowing Whipstrike!
The fierce tiger versus the steel whip. In the instant their arms clashed, the most ear-splitting sound that Qin Fen ever heard in battle rang out. The Dragon Elephant Prajna Art gathered in his arm instantly crumbled apart, and Qin Fen retreated a dozen steps back before he could stand firm again. He had a hint of displeasure on his face at best.
The strike from an apex four-star level had merely shattered the three-star defensive aura surrounding Qin Fen's arm. The strike had been unable to channel true energy into the victim's body. But this was already quite inconceivable from the persepctive of a warrior of three-star strength.
Praise blossomed in the eyes of the man. Even if the fist had been avoided, he completely lost in terms of momentum and decisive opportunity. Though Qin Fen always dodged each time he used his Dragon Guard, he still created gaps to attack the opponent.
To be unable to create a gap meant that one would remain at a disadvantage with the Dragon Guard, making it pointless, but perhaps using the gap to meet force with force could create unexpected results.
"I'm very surprised." The man continued to attack, "You've focused all your power onto your arm, forming a state of four-star strength. There's quite the likelyhood of success if you launch a surprise attack using this against a four-star opponent."
Qin Fen pulled his lips intoo a bitter smile. He had to thank Squad Leader Hao for all of this. Qin Fen had been depressed all night from the spar he had with Squad Leader Hao on the deck of the ship that night.
These days, aside from going all out in increasing his strength, Qin Fen was doing research. He researched how to compress his power to a single point and explosively unleash it.
Such theories were mentioned by all the major martial arts forums. Aside from the neo martial art the Origin Compressing Vajra Art, none of the other martial arts could do this.
Qin Fen had done similar research extensively in the past. It was all for the sake of being able to lift heavier stone slab back then, but he had never been able to achieve success in testing this compression method. This lasted until that night when he lost against Squad Leader Hao. He did more research, and he suddenly realized that the matter wasn't as difficult as he once thought.
Qin Fen discovered something shocking within the Dragon Elephant Prajna Art taught by the figure of light. In its essence was something similar. He had just never discovered it and realized it before.
After the discovery, Qin Fen did a series of tests over the next few days. Though he hadn't truly finished cultivating the skill, he still had some insight.
He originally planned to seek and challenge Squad Leader Hao or someone stronger than him the day when he truly finished cultivating the skill. He would be able to catch his opponent off guard and defeat him.
His consecutive wins in the Sky Martial Battle Network not only didn't extinguish his thirst for victory. Instead, it increased his desire to win. Against Squad Leader Hao, who was more powerful than him, Qin Fen became more dauntless the greater the obstacle. He kept on thinking of ways to reclaim victory!
"Do you know why I'm attaching you with a strength that'sone level higher than yours?" The man pointed out the question indifferently.
Qin Fen thought for a bit, "You're trying to tell me that a real opponent wouldn't fight fairly?"
The man revealed a pleased smile once more, "You're quite smart, but you're not totally correct."
When a few wrinkles of puzzlement appeared on Qin Fen's face, the man continued, "What I want to tell you is, in face of absolute power, moves of finesse aren't really useful."
"Everyone knows this." Qin Fen retorted, not showing a hint of weakness, "However, what is true absolute power? Absolute power is always relative. When faced against absolute power, isn't using combat skills of finesse the best solution?
The man was a bit shocked at first before he smiled very delightedly, "Excellent. Truly excellent! I originally planned to draw you into a trap and then explain it to you. I never thought that you would understand everything first. It looked like not only did your martial senses increase after you fused with the Limit Codex, a portion of your martial senses' latent potential was unexpectedly stimulated forth. You're developing faster than predicted."
"Limit Codex? Fused?" Qin Fen had question mark on his forehead, "Are you talking about... that liquid metal? What is the Limit Codex? And what the hell is this place?"
The man had a bit of a profound smile as he said, "The Limit Codex and its fusion.... It's best for you not to know at your current strength. As for this place? It is a 'super-martial' world created together by the seven strongest great Black Hole Level experts of Atlantis, along with a Heaven-Breaker Level expert."
Black hole level? Heaven-breaker level? Atlantis? The lost civilization of Atlantis? Qin Fen's eyes were full of skepticism. What sort of level were these? Black holes could swallow entire galaxies. Meaning, they were stronger than galaxy level experts?
The man ignored Qin Fen's skepticism. He continued talking, "Our time tonight is limited. I just came to tell you that even though you've found the method of training in the ocean, you at your current strength aren't suited to continue this sort of training. It could be said that there's a one out of ten million chance to do what you did in bringing your true energy back into your dantian region. You will die the next time you attempt this."
Qin Fen really doubted the man's words, yet he had the feeling that the man wouldn't lie to him. In the end, Qin Fen nodded his head.