I Can See Your Combat Power

Chapter 706: Chapter 702: Seeing Oneself (End of Volume One)

Tang Luo, realizing that the youngster needed time to process, didn’t disturb him and continued to sit cross-legged in calm. The more he practiced martial arts, the more he realized its profound and vast depth.

His ability to shatter the spell’s internal structure with a snap of his fingers was because his eyes could perceive the peculiar way the spiritual power fluctuations were progressing. This straightforward overlapping of the two marks could hardly escape his sight.

The reason the kid was having such a hard time accepting this was because people had grown accustomed to the idea that spells were invisible to the naked eye. Thus, seeing a spell shattered with a snap of his fingers was so shocking.

But what if one couldn’t see the spell? Did that mean it was unbreakable? Not necessarily. Take Xu Lao’s Tongming Sword Body for instance, his extremely keen six senses could easily sense the trace of an approaching spell. Merely a single innate body-penetrating sword qi could strangle the spell in its cradle.

Even the members of the Xu Clan who hadn’t practiced the Tongming Sword Body could initiate hundreds, if not thousands of innate body-penetrating sword qi. As long as any one of them touched the soul mark, wouldn’t that break the spell as well?

Dreaming of dominating the Mortal Realm with an anonymous fire followed by martial techniques was ultimately just the unrealistic fancy of a child. If his misperceptions weren’t corrected swiftly, he would stray further and further off the martial arts path.

So, the villain had to be Tang Luo. It now depended on how long it would take the youngster to rebuild his martial arts understanding.

“Hmm?”

Twin fierce white tornadoes interrupted Tang Luo’s contemplation. Seeing his brother’s determined face through a spirit art that was capable of tearing apart massive rocks brought a smile to his face.

Perhaps the youngster had all sorts of pampered habits due to his family’s protection, but the emotional maturity of a child who has grown up amidst love was exceptional. The shock of having his understanding of martial arts overthrown was just temporary; he adjusted quickly. His subsequent move was the killing technique called Double Dragon, and the firm look in his eyes was fitting of a martial art warrior.

Just like the nameless fire, the power of his martial technique wasn’t the problem, it was the instability of its spiritual power structure. The spiral-shaped spirit art effectively concealed the weaknesses of the internal structure, making this move appear invincible. But Tang Luo was all too familiar with this move. Under the scrutiny of his evolved eyes, there were still a few flaws in his widely-praised spirit art.

A spiral of Wind Attack permeated his index finger and went through an odd arc to penetrate one of the Double Dragons, which twisted abruptly and collided with the other dragon. The two white tornadoes exploded mid-air into a mild breeze, causing Tang Luo’s clothes to flutter.

Tang Xing didn’t have Tang Luo’s vision, he only saw his Double Dragons suddenly collide. When teenagers are faced with perplexing situations, they usually choose to ignore them. Since he messed up, no harm in giving it another try, right?

The Wind Attack circulated amongst his ten fingers, the Double Dragons reemerged. Tang Xing directed two white tornadoes towards his seated elder brother. As expected, they clashed once again and dissolved in thin air.

This time, the observant youngster saw Tang Luo’s extended index finger and the faint Wind Attack force. Tang Xing was a master at this martial technique developed from the Wind Attack, but seeing the overpowering Double Dragons broken by a simple wind attack was very un-martial-arts-like!

“I don’t believe it!”

The kid shrieked, disregarding the sourness in his meridians as he unleashed another Double Dragon. This time, he didn’t let the two tornadoes run parallel. Instead, they attacked Tang Luo from the left and the right along an arched trajectory.

How can you cause the spirit arts to collide now!? The kid thought, out of breath but satisfied, watching Tang Luo without looking away.

But the seated elder brother didn’t even use the Wind Attack this time, he just swung open his wide sleeves, stirring the spiritual power of heaven and earth around him with his physical body, forming a vortex.

The two Double Dragons, which were aiming at Tang Luo, suddenly lost their trajectory when they were about to hit him. Led by the sleeves, they turned their heads and shot straight into the sky, leaving the little guy with his mouth wide open.

“This…is this even possible?” Tang Xing looked up at the two tornadoes that shot into the sky and disappeared, and slumped down in defeat: “I quit, this is too absurd!”

His two most prideful spirit arts were useless against his brother. The youngster felt like he was practicing fake martial arts, the excitement of defeating the students of Qutang City Martial Hall had flown to unknown places. He just wanted to hug his cute little Miao Zhu at this moment, practising martial arts was simply too absurd!

“You still have nearly half your spiritual energy, aren’t you going to try again?” Tang Luo looked at his despondent brother at leisure and egged him on.

“What’s the point in trying again!” Tang Xing said indignantly, “The Nameless Fire and Wulu Finger are useless, no point in trying any more.”

Even though he had long known that he couldn’t beat his elder brother, it was despairing to not even damage his brother’s clothes when so many restrictions were imposed on him.

The characteristic of young people is that either they are full of ambition, thinking they will become the king of the world, or they sink into despair and indifference, like a puddle of mud. Perhaps the blow was too severe, the little kid showed a tendency towards negativity, which caught Tang Luo by surprise, feeling that he had overestimated the little guy’s resilience.

Happiness and vivacity had long since vanished from the little boy’s face, replaced solely by a deep sense of defeat, “Brother, am I very weak?”

The short bouts of battle had completely subverted his understanding of martial arts. Everyone said he was an extraordinary genius rising in the Tang Clan. After defeating a few of his brothers in arms, the ensuing flattery left him feeling on cloud nine. He was for the first time experiencing great accomplishment in martial arts. He should be strong, so why has it turned out like this?

Frustration, doubt, anger, and despair entangled him as he sought advice from his brother in a state of confusion.

“Do you remember the Three Stages of Martial Arts?” Tang Luo sighed inwardly as he asked the dispirited little guy.

“It’s about knowing oneself, knowing the universe, and knowing all beings.” Tang Xing recited the theory nonchalantly.

Tang Luo nodded, carefully choosing his words: “To know oneself is to understand oneself. No one can define martial arts, but one can define oneself. The Nameless Fire and Wulu Finger are both strong spirit arts, but do they really represent all that martial artist Tang Xing is in the Mortal Realm? You may feel you are at the top of the Mortal Realm now, so facing failure sends you into despair. But think about it, is it really the Nameless Fire and Wulu Finger at the top, or is it martial artist Tang Xing?”

“What’s the difference?” Tang Xing asked, puzzled.

“There is a big difference,” Tang Luo responded with a smile. “The Nameless Fire and Wulu Finger are just tools in a martial artist’s hands. Anyone can use these tools, but what matters most is the person using them. You are not trying to defeat me or the students in Qutang City, but yourself. Can you, half a year later, overcome your current self? Can you, a year later, overcome your half-a-year-later self? True martial arts advancement is not judged by how many people you can beat. Defeating a myriad of martial artists weaker than yourself is not as good as transcending your own self once.”

“What you need to understand is, does your strength come from these two spirit art techniques, or are you inherently so strong as a martial artist?”

Tang Luo stood up, stepped over to the little guy, helped him up, and patted his head: “The Nameless Fire and Wulu Finger are just two fairly good tools in the Mortal Realm. Your attacks did not work today not because I am too strong, but because you rely too much on them. In fact, just to tear my hemp garment, there’s no need for such fierce spirit arts.”

When one is on a high, they do not heed any advice, because the wind on the top is too strong, the scenery too beautiful, who would want to bother with these buzzkills? However, when one falls into a trough, these truths become the essential logic supporting their faith.

At that moment, Tang Xing was in a state of indescribable shock, as if he had grasped something more important than winning or losing. If he were to fight again, would he be able to tear his brother’s hemp garment?

When facing a martial artist like his brother who cannot use spirit art or the Undying Battle Body and only sat cross-legged, unable to move, he seemed to have several ways to attack successfully. But why did he become so dispirited, unwilling to think or try just now?

“I think I understand,” Tang Xing looked up at his brother: “Bro, can I try again?”

Ruffling the boy’s hair, Tang Luo smiled: “Of course.”

A day later, Tang Xing left his brother’s seclusion on Aran Mountain. He hadn’t managed to destroy his brother’s hemp garments even in the end, but the myriad of failures gave him a vague feeling.

If today’s version of him were to face yesterday’s Spiritual Fire Pride, he would definitely be victorious.

Without practicing stronger secret arts, or any boost in spiritual power, Tang Xing knew he was stronger today than he had been yesterday, and not just by a small margin!

The young lad, back on North Mountain, didn’t bother listening to clan members’ praise and instead requested several secret arts from Secret Arts Pavilion. He’d suddenly realised that merely possessing the Nameless Fire and Wulu Finger, he was far from strong within the Mortal Realm. He had infinite space to grow, with numerous intriguing plans for improvement waiting for implementation, and he didn’t have time to waste on mutual praising.

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