BoW: Martial World c23

Xiao Tian Long looked around. He couldn’t see Zhu Yan.

Though he quickly noticed the serious-looking Lin Ming, the guy was so focused that he didn’t notice Lin Fengyuan holding one of his hands.

Or honestly, the guy didn’t care at all.

“Brother Long, I heard that after this ranking assessment, we will be allowed to learn techniques, but it depends on our rankings how many we can take.” Lin Ming said to him.

“Yes. I am thinking of studying swordsmanship essentials.” The outworlder said while looking around for more, there wasn’t much he wanted to learn from this place, as he wanted to make techniques later himself.

His eyes eventually settled on a pair of flowers. One of them was slender, with long, lush black hair and a mischievous disposition, which reminded him a bit of Tsunderes.

The other was a well-endowed beauty with considerable breasts, a willow waist, and long legs. She reminded him of a Beach Goddess, and she would look stunning in a bikini.

He didn’t need a system to know who these two were.

“Essentials? I see, so you want to master the basics before moving to something more complex. I was thinking the same thing.” Lin Ming understood what Xiao Tian Long was thinking.

“Indeed. You understand well enough. Basics are essential; they are the foundations for everything, especially when it comes to a weapon.

“Umm, should we do the same?” Lin Fengyuan asked him, as she was feeling like an idiot. She had decent, difficult sword skills before, but she struggles to understand some of the routines.

But now, what Xiao Tian Long said made sense to her. She should learn the fundamentals first; maybe then, she could understand the more complex ones.

The girl was not the only one; Qin Xingxuan was no different. They all went for flashy moves, which are beautiful to watch. 

Not just the girls, but pretty much everyone went for the best-looking, best-sounding, and highest-ranked moves.

And it’s not just because of ranks or looks, but because there is a limit to what one can study. Why would you take fundamentals that are ranked low in human rank if you can take something like the Great Yang Sword that is Medium Human Rank? 

But that’s the thing, one needs foundations if one wants to build a house. 

“Yes, you should, Yuan’er. Same with you, Xuan’er. You two will practise basics, and as you progress, you can start learning more advanced ones.”

“...Umm.. okay…” Lin Fengyuan didn’t argue. Whatever he said, she would follow. Same with Qin Xingxuan, she will leave such judgment to him.

“Hmm…Cousin Fengyuan, you are here too?” Lin Ming finally noticed the delicate girl next to Xiao Tian Long. He was a bit confused to see her holding his hand.

Are they a couple now? Well, whatever, the Restaurant boy only cares about Martial Arts anyway.

As they were discussing foundation skills, the deacon responsible for the Ten Thousand Killer Array arrived and declared the beginning of Ranking Wars.

The first twelve stepped in and…

‘That’s it? We're just going to wait for them to finish? Holy shit this boring…’

Internally, Xiao Tian Long immediately became bored. He watched as random ‘no-name’ guys and girls entered and left, the deacon announced the changes, and names appeared and disappeared from the stone tablets.

“Look! Those two—”

And so the peanut gallery reacted to two burly men talking shit about about walflowers students from big families, as they were have mercenary experience.

A pair of experienced youngsters who fought on the frontlines, flexing their combat experience.

However, soon enough, they left the Killer Array and only got placed in 160’s… 

“Is that supposed to be impressive?” Xiao Tian Long casually commented, making the pair blush as they quickly left the bamboo forest.

The rest of the peanut gallery laughed alongside Xiao Tian Long’s troll.

“I am going next,” Lin Ming said as he got a general idea of how this array works.

As the Restaurant Boy went to the array, the rest watched closely. After all, they are aware that Lin Ming is Xiao Tian Long’s ‘follower’. Now, they want to see how well he trained him.

Bit by bit, the peanut gallery began to whisper that the amount of time this guy was unreal in the array was unreal.

“No way, the amount of time it takes for 140’s has passed! Just how good is this Lin Ming!?” One of Heaven’s Abode said with disbelief written all over his face.

Xiao Tian Long looked at the dweb. ‘How on Earth can he tell that? Should I get him those nerd glasses?’ For a second, he wondered how this guy would look with them.

“How can he tell that?” He asked his girls. 

“They count time.” Lin Fengyuan said to him as she watched closely. She wanted to know how well her Junior cousin would do.

“What is your rank?” He asked her curiously. The girl blushed for a second. Compared to Xiao Tian Long and Qin Xingxuan, it was an embarrassing theme of conversation.

“I am 194…” She said in a mosquito voice.

“I see. No worries, darling. I will help you reach a much higher rank.” He winked at her, making her blush even more.

As he was flirting with his girls, a voice shouted from the side.

“No way!”

‘Bloody hell! This isn't the World Cup, why are you that excited?’ Internally, Xiao Tian Long rolled his eyes as he looked at the stone platform.

At that moment, Lin Ming came out, and his rank was 131!

‘Ho… higher than in books, I suppose my resources accelerated his growth to some extent.’

The Outworlder nodded after seeing this. 

“I guess it’s time for me to do mine.” With that said, the girl let go of him and let him walk towards the platform.

People immediately began to whisper when they saw Xiao Tian Long walk towards one of the inscribed circles.

Gathered crowds' eyes were on him. Everyone wanted to know how good he was. After all, the gambling duel was sudden, and not many saw it. All they saw was what he left of Zhang Cang.

‘That reminds me, I still haven’t received his stuff.’

Honestly, he kind of forgot about him after Lin Fengyuan took his attention away.

As he entered the array, he needed to sit down, and then a mist-like thing surrounded him. 

He was transported into a different world, reminding him of a dream. 

First, he needed to choose his weapon.

“Jian Sword.”

A sheathed sword appeared in his hand, and the next moment, he called forth his Sword Intent as a small group of enemies appeared before him.

These were shades of some sort that radiated the First Stage of Body Transformation.

First, the weakest enemies will appear, and then more enemies will appear until there are hordes of all sorts of opponents, from Fierce Beasts to armoured soldiers with different cultivations.

The stronger the opponents, the more points he will get, and the higher the rank.

“Well~.”

Xiao Tian Long unsheathed the blade, and his golden sword intent gathered around it before a sword light rushed towards the group of enemies.

With a single stroke, he killed all of them, but afterwards, they were replaced by an even bigger horde, now including even stronger beings.

“Interesting, it feels like tower defence…” With that said, he moved in as his golden aura surged, releasing sharp winds that shredded the Stage One enemies; the Stage Two enemies were cut horizontally in single strokes.

He continued to slice and dice until Stage Four enemies began to appear. 

This is where it became a bit harder as they could resist his sword strokes…

But all this meant that he only needed to cut them harder…

As he was getting cornered, Xiao Tian Long began to experiment. He knew that in this world, there is an infinite number of laws, intents, and all those things, as long as he tried hard enough and wanted DEEP enough.

Miracles could happen.

At that very moment, something clicked inside him, and the blade was able to cut through an enemy in Stage Four of Body Transformation.

The cut was clean, as he felt this strange state of mind.

‘Oh…’

He knew what this was…

It was martial intent. It's like a mental state or ‘mode’, a Zen state mode. They come in all sorts of abilities. Lin Ming had something called ‘Ethereal’, where he would enter a zen state and cultivate things rapidly. Ling Sen had a martial intent called ‘Ashura’, where he would slaughter enemies and sharpen his Slaughter Path.

Some of them are better than others…

What Xiao Tian Long just created is ‘Sharpening’. He can tell that it's a martial intent that is strengthening and improving his Sword Intent.

“Well, well…” 

With that said, he closed his eyes and fell into something like a trance. The golden aura around him got sharper and sharper, almost turning into a solid metal.

Small particles of gold began to condense around his sword as he once again swung in a horizontal slash, causing an arc of energy to rush into advancing enemies.

The golden particles followed the sword light and caused extra cuts on the enemies.

‘It’s like bits of sharp glass that are accelerating at insane speed.’ Xiao Tian Long was shocked by this as he always had this strange fascination that swords' energy would be like glass, as shards of glass are extremely sharp. As someone who cut himself with glass on several occasions, it left an impression on him.

Now that manifested in such a form.

After killing these guys, another spawned, and soon enough, he began to struggle.

Eventually…

~~~

“Rank 61! Congratulations, Junior Apprentice Tian Long.” The Deacon declared loudly, he was in utter disbelief as he, alongside the rest, looked at him in shock and needed to look at the ranking stone a couple more times! This was monumental! A fifteen-year-old in Heaven’s Abode!?

No one in the history of Seven Profound Valley Martial House has achieved this! Heaven’s Abode in First Ranking War!?

That is ridiculous!

The spies who observed this from a distance scrambled to send the message to their princes. However, some of them were in shock and needed a couple of moments to snap out of it.

The shock lasted for a couple of moments as they quickly got excited!

But then they stopped as they saw a figure walk over to the stone platform!

It was Martial House Master! Qin Ziya! They didn’t expect to see such a figure in a Ranking War!

His appearance caused a huge commotion, as people stopped breathing for a second. How could they not!? To see their House Master is a rare sight! 

This man only appears on special occasions! 

“Xiao Tian Long. Here is a Seven Profound degree from Martial House.” The old man pulled out a scroll and opened it.

That moment everyone sucked in cold air, Seven Profound Decree!? Already!? But he only joined! Two days ago!

“Your requirement to become a core member of Seven Profound Valley Martial House is to reach the Late Bone Forging Stage by age seventeen.” He read it and then closed it.

“That’s it!? He only needs to reach Bone Forging stage!?” Some of Heaven’s Abode people could not easily accept this! Usually, there is a string of requirements!

“Are you judging my Martial House?” The man asked the one from the peanut gallery.

“N-No, House Master!” The student shook his head. He wouldn’t dare!

“Seven Profound Valley Martial House has… made a mistake while evaluating Junior Apprentice Xiao Tian Long’s talent.

His martial talent is only medium grade three.

We didn’t include his Sword Intent, which we only learned after the assessment,” Qin Ziya explained before looking at the Sword Intent user standing up.

“By all counts, your Martial Talent Grade is close to Grade Seventh if not higher.” The House Master dropped the bomb shell, making everyone gasp.

Sharp Gasp

The peanut gallery felt like they would pass out! Grade Seventh!?

Is that even possible!?

Only Xiao Tian Long grimaced! He has messed up! Goddamn it! He didn’t think that such a thing could be included in their arbitrary grading!

Yet, here he was! Messing up his talent grade! He wanted to be a mid to troll those proud sons and daughters of heaven!

‘Well, I can flex my talent for real instead of being a joke.’ Internally, he rubbed his chin, thinking about alternatives for his trolling.