Battle Through the Heavens

A faint
white-colored fog spread over the swamp that was covered by tiny,
emerald-green grass blades. A gentle wind blew over and the white fog
surged slightly. Finally, it followed the wind as it surged up toward
the sky, causing the swamp to become much clearer.

“Chi!”

A
slight ‘chi chi’ sound suddenly sounded within the calm swamp. Not long
after the sound appeared, a black human figure suddenly flashed over,
carrying a silver-colored, bright glow. Each time his footsteps landed
on the swamp, the lightning that repeatedly stretched out and appeared
would cause the mud within the swamp to begin to boil just like boiling
water. That ‘chi chi’ sound was also emitted from the contact.

The
speed of the black shadow was extremely frightening. As he ran, he
directly gouged out a two foot wide gully within the swamp. It was a
long while later before this long gully was restored to its original
form by the creeping of the swamp. Behind the person, a large group of
closely packed black-colored, poisonous snakes repeatedly broke through
the water. They would widen their savage mouths and numerous
stench-filled water arrows would create a sharp wind that shot viciously
at the person’s back. However, it was obvious that the speed of these
water arrows were far inferior to the quick movement of the human
figure. Therefore, not a single arrow managed to hit the body of the
human figure.

“Boom!”

The swiftly rushing human figure
suddenly came to a stop. His feet twisted slightly and his body was
inclined into a strange arc. After which, he shot explosively into the
sky under a deep sound. His feet immediately shook, and he stayed in
mid-air in this manner without relying on any objects!

Although
the black figure could maintain his act of stopping in mid-air for less
than ten seconds, an outsider would definitely be completely shocked if
he or she were to see this. Staying in mid-air for a short while without
the help of Dou Qi Wings or some other object would require at least
the strength of a Dou Huang. Only if one became an extremely strong Dou
Zong would one possess the ability of staying in mid-air for a long
time.

After the body of the black figure paused for a couple of
seconds in mid-air, a silver glow flashed from under his feet. His body
twisted and he appeared on a large tree over ten meters away from his
original point with a ‘suo’ sound. If part of a vague black line was not
still visible in the air, one would think that this speed had already
broken through the resistance of the air and reached the frightening
stage of teleporting.

“Ha ha, good. It is worthy of being a Di
class Agility Dou Technique. This speed is indeed smooth and fast!” A
surprised laugh sounded as the feet of the black figure landed steadily
on a tree branch.

“This ‘Three Thousand Lightning Movement’ is
divided into three levels. Lightning Flash, Instant Lightning, and Three
Thousand Lightning… When one practices until the final level, the realm
of the ‘Three Thousand Lightning,’ one will be completely silent while
one crosses a certain space. It is basically no different than
teleporting. That kind of speed is something that even an elite Dou Zong
would not dare to underestimate. Just look at you now. You are no
different than a lustful bull plowing the field as he rushes over.
Forget about Three Thousand Lightning, it is likely that you have not
even truly entered the first level of Lightning Flash.” Yao Lao’s figure
slowly drifted on a tree branch as he faintly spoke while glancing at
Xiao Yan, who had an excitement-filled face.

Xiao Yan could not
help but roll his eyes when his enthusiasm was dampened by Yao Lao in
this manner. He himself felt that it was quite good. The speed earlier
was something that the ‘Explosive Steps’ would not be able to reach even
if it was displayed at its peak. After having only practiced the ‘Three
Thousand Lightning Movement’ for only three days and already having
this success, was that not considered not bad?

“You should take a
look under your feet…” Yao Lao involuntarily shook his head when he saw
Xiao Yan’s manner as he helplessly chided.

Xiao Yan lowered his
head when he heard this. The corner of his mouth immediately twitched.
He could see that his feet were actually already covered with mud. The
mud was sticky and thick with some grass stuck to it.

“The ‘Three
Thousand Lightning Movement’ is as quiet as rock and moves as swift as
lightning. It does not request for beauty and only desires surprise,
borrowing it to hurt the enemy.” Yao Lao said faintly, “However, look at
the movement that you have created earlier. Your body is still over a
hundred meters away, but the sound had already been transmitted over. It
clearly does not match the purpose of practicing the ‘Three Thousand
Lightning Movement.’

Xiao Yan rubbed his head and smiled awkwardly
when he saw Yao Lao’s expression, which carried a faint sternness. He
did not dare interrupt.

“Due to your Spiritual Strength being
powerful, your control over the energy in your body is also extremely
outstanding. Therefore, such a mistake, one only made by a beginner, is
considered to be somewhat foolish to be made by you. Remember. Suppress
the wind-lightning strength that is being emitted without any lapse in
control, and let it gather at a single point. Using the explosive
strength that is emitted, it will increase your speed quickly so much so
that you would become the fastest person under the Dou Wang class.
Moreover, if you are able to reach this stage, you would be considered
to have truly stepped into the first level, Lightning Flash, of the
‘Three Thousand Lightning Movement.’” Yao Lao shook his head and said in
a deep voice.

“Of course, the explanation that I have given with
my mouth is indeed very simple. However, there are some things in
between that will require you to grasp by yourself. I can only direct
you to take the most effective path…” Yao Lao gradually relaxed his tone
as he softly spoke.

“Ah.” Xiao Yan nodded his head slightly. His
expression was serious as he cupped his hands toward Yao Lao.
Immediately after, he took a step back and sat cross-legged on the tree
branch. The ‘Three Thousand Lightning Movement’ may be able to cause his
speed to soar greatly, but its consumption of Dou Qi also reached an
amount that was quite frightening. Xiao Yan had quietly gauged the
consumption rate by himself. With his current strength of an eight star
Da Dou Shi, it was likely that he could merely hold out for three to
five minutes if he were to use the ‘Three Thousand Lightning Movement’
without rest. After which, he would have difficulty displaying it
because of the exhaustion of his Dou Qi.

Seeing that Xiao Yan had
closed his eyes to train and recover his Dou Qi, Yao Lao quietly heaved a
sigh of relief within his heart. A faint smile also spilled out from
the corner of his mouth. In merely three days, Xiao Yan was already able
to barely display the ‘Three Thousand Lightning Movement’. Although he
had merely mustered the wind-lightning strength in an extremely crude
manner, the speed which he had displayed could already catch up to the
‘Explosive Steps,’ when the latter was used at its maximum potential.
This kind of training progress was already at a very gratifying speed.
However, in order to not let an arrogance surface within Xiao Yan’s
heart because he had just obtained this kind of rare treasure, Yao Lao
could only be a black-faced individual for a while in order to allow
Xiao Yan to calm his heart and train...

Of course, the effect of
this action of Yao Lao was indeed not bad. After Xiao Yan had finished
recovering his Dou Qi, the wind-lightning strength that had brewed on
his feet when he once again practiced the ‘Three Thousand Lightning
Movement’ was clearly much more restrained compared to before. Moreover,
the damage he created when he rushed over the swamp had also gradually
become smaller.

The black shadow flashed up and down the vast
swamp. The silver-colored lightning was like a lightning snake that
repeatedly shuttled swiftly through his feet.

Following this tough
training of Xiao Yan’s and the flow of time, the rushing ‘chi chi’
sound that was emitted from the swamp also became increasingly weaker.
The sound may have weakened, but the speed of the black shadow above the
swamp became increasingly frightful. In the end, one couldn’t even see a
black line shuttling passed. If it were not for the countless number of
black snakes swimming within the swamp, it would really be difficult to
determine Xiao Yan’s exact position.

Under the gradual flow of
time, the ‘Three Thousand Lightning Movement’ that the black-robed,
young man practiced had clearly advanced from being unsmooth to having
truly entered into basic mastery. When the day he successfully masters
it comes, he would be just like the lightning from far in the sky,
exploding out of nowhere and shocking the continent.

Nearly one
month hurriedly passed by. Time did not leave any trace in that swamp.
However, from the looks of the black-robed, young man, who had his hands
held behind him as his feet walked over the swamp as though it were
flat land, it was easy to tell that there had indeed been something left
behind during this one month.

Xiao Yan’s hands were held behind
his back as his feet stepped on the swamp that was filled with strange
suction force. However, he appeared to be stepping on firm flat ground
and did not show any traces of sinking. This strange scene caused people
to feel surprised. If one were to examine carefully, one would realize
that on his feet there were actually two clusters of silver-colored
light the size of a palm. The clusters of light flickered and numerous
hand-like lightning glows repeatedly extended out. They would
occasionally enter the mud, causing the mud at that spot to seeth.

The
swamp moved slightly. A few black-colored poisonous snakes with bodies
that were entirely dark-black quietly moved and concealed themselves
under where Xiao Yan stood. However, just as they were about to reach
their destination, with savage mouths open, the silver glow under Xiao
Yan’s feet shook slightly. A few silver-colored threads of lighting
exploded out, and inserted themselves into the swamp, easily piercing
through the heads of these few poisonous snakes.

Xiao Yan glanced
at the snake corpse that surfaced from the swamp. The corner of his
mouth curled slightly as he raised his feet slowly. He hesitated for a
moment before he inhaled a deep breath of air and heavily stomped his
feet down.

Following the stomping down of Xiao Yan’s foot, he
could see that the silver-colored cluster of light under his feet
suddenly shrank explosively to less than half its size. It was merely
maintained for less than a second before the shrunken silver-colored
light clusters suddenly surged forth as Xiao Yan’s right leg was placed
down. Immediately, a low and deep wind-lightning sound spread out,
shaking the area a couple of meters around until it fluctuated slightly.

“Chi!”

The
silver light flickered as Xiao Yan’s foot fell. An illusionary feeling
suddenly and strangely appeared on his body. At this moment, a
sharp-eyed person would be able to see that the instant Xiao Yan’s body
became illusionary, a black-colored light flashed past the space...

Around
twenty meters away, the swamp was suddenly depressed, forming two small
swirls. The black human figure appeared like a ghost as he quietly
surfaced.

The first thing that Xiao Yan did after his body
appeared was to hurriedly turn around. His gaze saw that there was an
extremely faint black-colored illusionary shadow twenty meters behind
him. When looked upon carefully, it was actually an afterimage!

“Have I succeeded?”

A
joy involuntarily appeared on Xiao Yan’s pale-white face as he eyed
that extremely faint black-colored shadow. In over fifty days of
training where he forgot to sleep, he had eaten an unknown amount of
black mud and his body had been bitten by poisonous snakes an unknown
amount of time. However, the shocking toughness of the young man did not
allow him to withdraw even a little. Now… it was finally the time for
him to reap the reward.

Yao Lao’s illusionary body was suspended
in mid-air. He lowered his head to eye the black-robed young man whose
face was filled with wild joy. His indifferent face involuntarily
revealed a small smile. In over fifty days, Xiao Yan had managed to
achieve the realm of the first level of the ‘Three Thousand Lightning
Movement,’ Lightning Flash. This speed was something that would place
him among one of the best even within the ‘Wind Lightning Pavilion.’
However, only his heart clearly knew just what kind of tough training
this stubborn little fellow had to undergo…

Possessing talent,
possessing toughness, and possessing a willingness to work hard, Yao Lao
could not think of any paths other than success for Xiao Yan, who
possessed these three qualities.