Chapter 70: The Forbidden Art
In the virtual world.
“1940 points after just the first four rounds?” Night Walker smiled and said, “A perfect score on the pressure exam is 4000 and usually as long as your score is close to 2800, you will be qualified to attend the final. Seems like after training under a monster like you, Han won’t have any problems making it into the finals.”
The atmosphere suddenly changed, Night Walker stared at Pathless Origin, who was sitting beside him, and asked in curiosity, “Although I don’t know too much about martial arts, but what you taught Han is significantly different from the others. He’s like an unbreakable bamboo stick. Extremely flexible, the more pressure he receives from the enemy, the stronger he bounces back.”
“And Han’s attacks are extremely reckless, it doesn’t seem like a formal martial art, but rather a natural force. What did you really teach Han? Could it be….”
Pathless said carelessly, “I’m not crazy like you, how could I pa.s.s my treasured martial art to Han, he’s not my student nor my son, why should I? What I taught him was just the Star Break Fist. Although it’s already one of the top level martial arts in the Milky Way, it’s nothing special.”
Night Walker laughed, and said, “Why are you still so tough with your words? I’m in pharmacology and in our industry, if a drug can be made as if it came from a balanced nature, then it has already reached the peak level. It’s the same with martial arts, the highest type of martial arts is the one that people can’t read, born out of nature, but also an existence that surpa.s.ses nature.”
“If you dare to fool me because I don’t know martial arts, I will stop supplying you drugs and let you feel like you would rather die.”
“Humph!” Although Pathless was still quite tough with his words, his att.i.tude obviously softened up a bit. He rubbed his hands and said, “I didn’t lie to you because Han really thinks that I taught him the Star Break Fist.”
“But in fact?” Night Walker asked curiously.
“In fact it’s the Six Paths of the Void.”
Ceng~
Night Walker was suddenly shocked, and couldn’t believe it, “Capable of destroying 9 Layers of h.e.l.l! Easily able to annihilate the 6 paths of reincarnation! Known as the strongest demonic strike style, the Six Paths of the Void?”
Pathless didn’t reply, but lightly nodded his head.
Night Walker’s eyes opened wide, “You are crazy! The Six Paths of the Void is forbidden! You actually taught Han a forbidden martial art? If someone one knew, he could be killed because of it!”
Pathless disagreed and sneered, “Well, those so-called forbidden martial arts are only forbidden because they are too powerful, capable of causing too much death! But those so-called warlords or G.o.ds of war, which one of them didn’t learn some forbidden arts? How come they can, but Han can’t?”
“I just want Han to skip those useless conventional fighting techniques, and let him go directly to the strongest and most ruthless style. Why are you so surprised man?”
Night Walker was speechless for a while, but then he lightly shook his head, “Old monster, warlords can learn forbidden art because they are already above everyone. No one can do much to bring them down. But Han didn’t even become an esper for a year and you are already teaching him forbidden arts?”
Pathless still stubbornly said, “That year, we were all fooled by those stupid rules of the Milky Way, and after so many years I realized that those so-called top level martial arts are completely incomparable to the forbidden techniques. If I had started learning forbidden art since the very beginning, then my achievements would be a lot higher than now! And we won’t be in this kind of stupid situation where we can’t even show our faces in order to hide from those that want to kill us.”
“In short, if I have gone through that detour, I won’t let Han go through the same thing. What r.e.t.a.r.ded conventional martial art, no need to learn it! If he’s going to learn, then he’s going to learn the best!”
“Aren’t you people in pharmacology the same? After so many years studying and researching, what are you working on right now? Isn’t it still something forbidden?!”
“The so-called forbidden martial art or forbidden drugs, they are just above the conventional ways which most people can’t accept. And that’s not the fault of the forbidden art or drugs, but the fault of those people!”
Pathless Origin was really unreasonable, and Night Walker sighed and muttered, “It’s not the same, it’s not the same… Those warlords and drug grandmasters are learning forbidden stuff because they have reached the end of the conventional path, but Han just stepped into the conventional path and you already pushed him onto the evil path…”
“Others are just walking and walking and they ultimately walked into the evil path, but for Han, he had never walked on the normal road and can only be on the forbidden path from the start to the end.”
“But for real though, you didn’t teach all 6 paths to Han in one go right?”
Pathless shook his head, “Nope, I just taught him the basics and didn’t get to the 6 paths yet, so it’s not too obvious, and he won’t be caught in the Milky Way Meet.”
Night Walker thought about it, laughed and said, “I was just thinking how Han got so strong. Now he has Void End, a physique capable of resisting poisons, the dark fist, and also the forbidden arts taught by you, you old monster. With these 4 ultimate level techniques guarding him, those 4-star espers are obviously not his opponent.”
Pathless arrogantly laughed, “After all he’s someone I mentored. I will be honest with you, the present Han can kill all 4-star espers! As long as the espers are still 4-stars, none of them will be Han’s opponent!”
Then, the tone of voice suddenly changed, and Pathless looked at Night Walker with an obviously not-good intention and said, “Old Black, you are actually not mad because I taught Han the forbidden martial art right? You are mad because you didn’t even teach Han how to work with forbidden drugs and I already taught Han, so you are jealous of me!”
Night Walker hesitated. He forcefully waved his sleeves, and righteously said, “I’m obviously not crazy like you. You fighters can take short cuts but what people like me do is science, and there are no short cuts in science.”
Sigh~
Soon, Night Walker sighed and said, “But having said that, Han seems to be more interested in you. My pharmacological way doesn’t seem to be his type.”
Pathless slapped his thigh and braggingly said, “See? Now you said the truth, I just knew that you were jealous of me!”
……
In the Pressure Exam.
The time was a lot shorter than estimated. According to the rules, the 4th stage Medal game could take up to 12 hours, but since Han’s opponents decided to group up against him, they actually all got swept clean quickly by Han. From beginning to end, Han only took 11 minutes for his Medal game.
Shua~
Han returned to the familiar square, raised his head and looked at his score. He had gotten 940 from the first three stages, and a perfect score of 1000 points during the fourth stage, so now his overall score was already 1940.
Recalling the memory of his last battle, Han felt a sense of fulfillment that couldn’t be described. Looks like there was a big gap between those opponents and him.
Even if the factors like his special dark power were excluded and they were compared solely on martial arts, there was still a big gap. For some reasons that couldn’t be described, Han just felt that the enemies’ martial arts were all too rigid. Their moves were just moves and they lacked efficiency and flexibility.
But there was a big difference between Han and those opponents. Han seemed like he didn’t know any martial arts, and all his attacks were casual and based on instinct. Many times, it was just an idea that popped up in his head and Han was able to unleash a move that other people couldn’t understand.
It was just like reading book. After Han read a book, he wouldn’t remember the content of the book but instead, understood the meaning behind the book.
Han obviously didn’t know that the so-called Star Break Fist was actually a forbidden art called the Six Paths of the Void. To let a novice that had just awakened his power in the past year to directly learn the top level forbidden martial art, this bold attempt might be the only instance of this in the entire Milky Way history.
What can be sure was, Han already embarked on this difficult path that no one has ever tried before, and he will never be able to turn back.
There was still some time left. Han didn’t hurry to attend the 5th stage, but stayed still and wondered about that last fight to see what he could improve.
Pathless was very clear when he taught Han. He told Han to let him experience and improve through battle, and Han obviously was never that type of muscular yet simple-minded fighter. He was very good at thinking and making conclusions.
After about an hour, Han stood up, and chose to enter the 5th stage from the system menu.
The same square and portal, and the same situation of many eyes focused on Han wanting to take his head to exchange for reward.
Shua~
Han didn’t pay attention to others. He went straight into the portal and entered the 5th stage, the Meteor Shower.
Appearing in front of his eyes was two islands, and in between was a narrow strip of shallow water. Contestants needed to cross the shallow river and get to the other side,
Rumble~
The Earth was tremoring. The dark sky gave an oppressing dooms-day like atmosphere. Meteors started to fall from the sky one after another, and in the air floated a type of moving fire ball, flying back and forth, threatening the contestants that were trying to cross the shallow river.
And that was the so-called Meteor Shower stage. In fact, it was a lot like the previous stages, but just with a harsher environment and people were also allowed to kill each other.
It wouldn’t be easy to pa.s.s the shallow river as one needed to avoid the falling meteorites, dodge the flying fire, and also withstand the malicious opponents.
In a swarm not far away, the contestants were like dogs jumping and chickens flying, jumping all over the places after being chased by the meteorites and flying fire, and suddenly there were also other soldiers jumping out to give unsuspecting contestants a stab in the back.
Han observed for a few seconds and went straight down the shallow water. The river water covered Han’s waist which undoubtedly increased the difficulty of dodging threats, and the resisting force of water also slowed down the movement of the contestants.
Han was obviously not scared of the flying fire. These attacks all mimicked the ranged attacks from Fire descent espers, but Han had void end, and the fire b.a.l.l.s flying in the air disappeared the moment it came close to Han, so he doesn’t even need to dodge them.
The larger threat was the meteorite. A rock that was the size of a man’s head fell down at an incredible speed and smashed into the ground next to the river. If anyone was struck by it, they will get killed right on the spot.
As for the surprise attacks from any opponents, it actually became a relatively minor threat. After all, everyone was busy dodging the flying fire and falling meteorites, there really wasn’t too much energy left over for them to attack others.
Everyone’s advancing direction was not the same, some tried to get from this island to that island, and others tried to get from that island to this island. After several successive waves of fighters encountering Han, they all thought for a bit and decided to not attack Han.
After all, the fact that Han wasn’t afraid of the flying fire was quite strange. Those crimson red fire b.a.l.l.s kept on hitting Han but didn’t even leave a mark. This made the contestants around him wary about Han’s abilities.
Faced with the double attack of the meteorites and flying fire b.a.l.l.s, everyone naturally chose to protect themselves first. As to whether they could kill Han and claim the bounty, it became something secondary.
Shua~
A figure from behind Han pa.s.sed him. He was thin, tall, and familiar, like someone he saw before.
The way he handled flying fire was shocking. When the crimson red ball flew towards him, this man actually reached out his hands to take it. Then his wrist gently turned and the flying fire accelerated out of his hand like a bullet, hitting the soldiers around him.
“HEY!”
“d.a.m.n! This guy is sneaky!”
“Don’t go near him! He’s a devil!”
In the blink of an eye, a dozen contestants were already shot down by the tall thin fighter in front of him and got eliminated from the race. Han was behind him, and he could see that the man’s mouth gently raised to a certain angle. He was smiling. It seemed that this person was only doing this for fun, and he had no other objectives.
What’s strange was, that tall thin guy would target everyone around him, but only not Han who was behind him.
“Oh, it’s him!” Han carefully observed the back figure of that man, and suddenly understood why.