Shackles of Humanity

Luo Kai followed the presence of flowing water to a small lake. The water was crystal clear, and a small waterfall cascaded down from the mountains. The trees by the shore were lush and vibrant—a truly marvelous sight.

Many small animals were grazing on the grass by the lake. One of them, a large, white-furred deer with antlers, spotted him and immediately raised its head in a threatening gesture. It snorted heavily, HUFF, HUFF, its breath shockingly frosty. The temperature plummeted, and a thin layer of ice formed on the water near the shore.

This large deer was undoubtedly a Fierce Beast. A Fierce Beast living at Shangjing University had to be someone’s War Beast. It seemed quite a few students at this school raised them.

Luo Kai couldn’t be bothered with it. He gazed at the beautiful scenery and took a deep breath. The gloom weighing on his heart vanished, and his mind grew calm once more.

The large deer watched him warily for a while. After judging that the human posed no threat, it cautiously trotted to the other side of the lake and resumed grazing.

Luo Kai walked to the edge of the lake and manipulated the water, exploring the Dharma Gate for wielding Water’s Soft Power. In an instant, the lake’s surface roiled with surging waves and tides. All the small animals on the shore fled in terror, and the large deer backed away again and again.

He would throw a few palm strikes, then pause to contemplate. Afterward, he jumped directly under the waterfall beside the lake, guiding the current to bombard him. When his body became like the sea, he could propel his force in layered waves; likewise, he could dissipate an incoming force through layered diffusion, neutralizing it completely.

The Round Extreme Body Technique that Liu Hou had used in the past was a Dharma Gate that dissipated force by vibrating one’s own body fat. Luo Kai’s control over his body, however, was even more astonishing. When attacked, he could make his muscles and bones ripple in layers like mercury, evenly distributing a sharp impact before shedding it layer by layer.

Much later, Luo Kai returned to the shore. He lay on the soft grass, closing his eyes to enjoy the tranquility. In his hands, the Azure Wave Force was becoming increasingly perfect. On the offense, it propelled force in layered waves with unparalleled ferocity. On the defense, it dissipated force in layered waves. The softest thing under heaven can triumph over the hardest!

Just as he was drifting off to sleep, an ethereal, lingering Xiao Sheng reached his ears. At first, it was nothing, but gradually his Heart Spirit was captivated by the sound. His emotions began to fluctuate with its frequency. When the frequency was high, he felt incredibly agitated. When it was low, his mood plummeted, and a sense of gloom knotted within his heart.

Only then did Luo Kai sense that something was wrong. He bit the tip of his tongue, grabbed the Severing Blade beside him, and flicked a finger against its edge. CLANG! An explosive ring echoed out, like a clap of thunder in a clear sky, throwing the melodious Xiao Sheng into chaos.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! He flicked it three times in quick succession. Endless thunder seemed to roll across the sky, heralding the coming of a violent storm.

The Xiao Sheng paused for a moment. When it resumed, its tone became mournful and plaintive, stirring up memories Luo Kai had buried deep in his heart.

His Spiritual Will was already as solid as steel, and he snapped out of it in an instant. He continuously flicked his finger against the Severing Blade. The blade vibrated violently, producing a resonant and forceful sound that transported one’s mind to a battlefield of clashing weapons and armored horses, a scene of bloody rivers and fields of corpses.

The Xiao Sheng, in contrast, was melodious and graceful, full of heart-wrenching sorrow and the deep melancholy of romantic longing.

An unknown amount of time passed before the Xiao Sheng finally ceased. Luo Kai stood up, blade in hand, and looked toward a large tree not far away. Standing on one of its branches was a woman in flowing white robes. Her skin was fairer than snow, and her black hair cascaded down like a waterfall. In her hand, she held a brilliant green Jade Flute. She looked like a Fairy who had stepped out of a painting.

Their gazes met, and a hint of surprise showed in both their eyes.

”Hmph!” The woman suddenly let out a cold snort, then sprang from the branch and vanished into the woods. The large deer darted out from nowhere and followed closely behind her.

Luo Kai couldn’t help but snort in response. ’You’re the one who came looking for trouble, and I haven’t even gotten mad yet, but you’re copping an attitude? It seems Tuoba Ye was right—beautiful women all have terrible tempers and need to be taught a lesson.’

Through that formless confrontation, he had gained some understanding of the Sound Wave Technique. Sound Waves were also a form of frequency vibration. The infrasound used by the insect swarm he had encountered previously was a purely physical attack. The Sound Wave Technique used by this woman and the lama from before, however, attacked on the Spirit level. The human body and consciousness both have their own vibrational frequencies. All one needed to do to harm an enemy was disrupt those frequencies with an external force.

Sound was an area-of-effect attack. This method of combat was far more formidable than a melee with real blades and spears!

...

By the time he returned to the valley, the moon was high in the sky. Tuoba Yong was squatting eagerly by the door. Upon seeing Luo Kai, he exclaimed with delight, ”Master!”

Luo Kai replied with a sigh, ”Didn’t I tell you not to come looking for me for a couple of days?”

Tuoba Yong counted on his fingers. ”You did! You said two days. Today is the second day. After midnight, it’ll be three days.”

’Tuoba Ye really sent me a handful,’ Luo Kai thought, rubbing his aching head as he walked into the house.

Tuoba Yong hurried after him and squatted by his bed as usual, a goofy grin on his face. ”Master, you haven’t told me a story in a long time.”

”No story tonight. Go to sleep. And no snoring.”

”Oh.” Tuoba Yong didn’t dare say anything more. He nodded his large head in disappointment and returned to his own little bed. He had been crashing here so often these past few days that he had made one for himself.

The next day, Luo Kai sat on a ridge between the paddies, watching Tuoba Yong chase butterflies in the fields. He mulled over teaching him some Body Techniques. ’The Cultivation of Body Techniques isn’t something achieved overnight. It’ll give him something to do and stop him from pestering me all day.’

’Tuoba Yong is slow-witted, so he’d never be able to learn overly complex Body Techniques. Even if he did, he’d only be able to scratch the surface. His own Tuoba Family’s Celestial Net Force is one example, and outsiders can’t learn my Azure Wave Force. For now, the Mighty Dragon Fist seems like a good option. It’s simple, direct, and a good fit for him. However, the Mighty Dragon Fist must be learned from the very beginning, as it requires a complete change in one’s lifelong habits of exerting force. The body of someone who has already cultivated advanced Body Techniques is already set, so it’s not easy to master.’

Over the next few days, Luo Kai began to teach Tuoba Yong the Mighty Dragon Fist, starting with the most fundamental force-exertion habits. He lied and told him it was the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms, which immediately fired Tuoba Yong up. Although slow-witted, he was single-minded. Once he set a goal, nothing else mattered. Following the habits Luo Kai taught him, he began to walk around swinging his arms and legs, head held high and chest puffed out, like a fighting cock.

Body Techniques need to align with one’s disposition. Tuoba Yong’s simple mind was a perfect match for the Mighty Dragon Fist’s core principle of shattering cunning with straightforwardness. Combined with his innate Giant Power, his Cultivation progress was no slower than Luo Kai’s had been in the beginning. Furthermore, he hadn’t lost his instinct for generating rotational force, using it from time to time. It was hard to say whether combining the two Body Techniques would make him stronger or weaker.

Luo Kai had thought finding something for Tuoba Yong to do would grant him some peace, but unfortunately for him, his quiet days had come to an end.

One day, Ou Ning came to find him. The university had finally assigned him to a class: First Rank, Year One, Class One—which happened to be Ou Ning’s class. He had come full circle, right back to where he started.

Luo Kai hadn’t planned on attending classes; with his level of strength, any assessments would be like child’s play. However, he changed his mind after attending a single lecture. Ou Ning taught human anatomy and meridians. To unleash the true power of a Body Technique, one first had to understand the structure of the human body, and the body’s meridians were inextricably linked to the next step: Energy Infusion.

Furthermore, Luo Kai was lacking in many other foundational subjects. He had never received a formal education in Body Techniques, relying entirely on his own trial and error. Although he had already blazed a unique path and established his own way of Cultivation, Body Techniques, like any other discipline, achieved greatness through inclusiveness. One needed to draw from the strengths of many schools in order to discard the dross and retain the essence.