Chapter 941: A Well-Tempered Saber Technique!
As Ice Storm expected, Leaf did not cut any wounds on his body.
He walked steadily for fifty arms and accurately threw the rock to the designated area outside the track, just enough for it to go over the line. He did not waste a single bit of strength, even if it just amounted to half an arm.
There was a fishing net full of sharp blades in front of him.
It was placed horizontally above the runway, at about half an arm’s height.
Countless sharp blades hung down. One had to crawl forward and be careful before they could pa.s.s through.
For a skinny agility-type warrior like Leaf, that was his strong point.
However, he still did not use his full strength. Instead, he crawled slowly and meticulously, ensuring that no part of the sharp blades and hooks would touch his flesh and blood.
His speed did not appear fast either.
Despite that, because he did not get entangled with the other rat people, after crawling through the sharp-edged fishing net, he had already arrived behind the first group.
The first group was made up of fourteen to fifteen of the strongest rat people.
They filled the entire runway, eyeing each other covetously while also being highly alert of the pursuers behind them.
Whoever wanted to surpa.s.s them would inevitably be struck mercilessly by their hammer-like elbows.
Leaf did not have the slightest intention of being the leader of the pack.
He hung behind the first group at a leisurely pace, maintaining a distance of three to five arms.
A sandbag formation was before them.
Hundreds of sandbags filled with iron sand were wrapped in totem beast leather. There were also huge steel nails embedded in the leather.
They resembled upside down mace sticks, blocking the entire runway.
If one wanted to pa.s.s through the sandbag formation, one had to push all the sandbags that were like spiked clubs out of the way and create a path.
However, the sandbags that were pushed away would swing back again.
The harder they were pushed, the harder they would swing back, and the harder they would hit.
The collision between the sandbags would also set off a chain reaction.
When hundreds of sandbags shook violently together, they could really squeeze the partic.i.p.ants into a meat patty.
While the strong men of the first group pa.s.sed through the sandbag formation, they were all smashed by the sandbags, which were embedded with steel nails.
Many of them were badly bruised, and some of them had cuts on their bodies. Some of them even gained internal injuries from the impact, causing blood to spurt out.
After being pushed by more than a dozen strong men, the hundreds of sandbags seemed to be injected with strong vitality. They moved irregularly in different directions and collided with each other. The chain reaction made it impossible for those who came later to figure out the direction of their movements.
Many of the burly rat men who had fallen behind could just grit their teeth and wait in front of the sandbag formation.
They could only break in after the sandbags calmed down slightly.
Leaf did not hesitate at all and dashed into the violently shaking sandbag formation.
Amidst the exclamations of onlookers, he was no different from a loach, nimbly finding cracks in between the colliding sandbags.
It seemed that the sandbags were about to knock him away, but he spun like a top, narrowly brushing past them.
At one point, he was almost knocked away by a sandbag when two sandbags at his feet collided fiercely, but they bounced back at the same time, just enough to open a path for him.
His dazzling movements made the onlookers click their tongues in wonder.
“This kid’s luck is too good!”
“Is it possible that he shifted all his luck from the previous two days of the trial to today’s match?”
It was killing the spectators. They did not believe that Leaf’s actions were due to his precise calculations and clever use of force.
After thinking about it, they could only attribute it to luck.
However, Ice storm’s expression became more and more solemn.
She could see that the young man’s four limbs were streamlined. His muscles, which did not seem to be exaggerated, were pulsating in a wavy manner.
His endless power was akin to endless waves that helped him to dodge and borrow strength from time to time.
Ice Storm had never seen such a unique way of exerting strength.
Whether it was the members of Gold Clan or the Blood Hoof Clan…
Whether it was the tiger people, panthers, lion people, Turan, wild boar people, and barbarian elephant people, their military n.o.bles’ way of exerting strength did not seem to be as simple, precise, and effective as the young rat man in front of them.
“This youth possesses a hidden treasure!”
Ice Storm was becoming even more certain with every pa.s.sing minute.
She closed her eyes and imagined herself using a similar method to exert her strength.
To her surprise, she realized that the same technique could really be applied to her body. Furthermore, it could raise her combat strength by a large margin!
Suddenly, there were loud cheers that sounded like explosions.
Ice Storm opened her eyes abruptly and found that the rat youth had already conquered the sandbag formation. He was flying at lightning speed across the smoldering road that was filled with burning charcoal.
If one wanted to step on the burning charcoal and pa.s.s through the thirty-arm-long road of flames, they would need to have thick skin or feet that were not stained with dust.
The rat youth, who had chosen the latter, finally unleashed his full strength. Like an arrow that was released from a bow, the tip of his feet barely stepped on the charcoal. Instead, he stepped on the flames and rushed to the safe zone in the blink of an eye.
Such an outstanding performance captivated all the onlookers.
Their cold ridicule turned into a wave of admiration.
Some people even cast an admiring gaze at Ice Storm, as if to say, “As expected of Lady Ice Storm. She can see the potential hidden in his body with one glance!”
Just like that, Leaf was now close behind the first group. He pa.s.sed through all the obstacles and arrived before the last checkpoint.
This checkpoint looked very simple.
They were only required to cut down a piece of wood.
However, the piece of wood, which was as tall as thirty arms, was the strongest core of a mandrake tree.
Moreover, it had been smeared with the fat of totem beasts, making it shiny. There was no place to borrow strength from, and the slightest carelessness would cause it to slide down.
Their cutting tools were not battle sabers or sharp axes made of metal but just stone axes. They were extremely heavy even though they had a hole.
Most importantly, what they had to cut down was not the root of a mandrake core, but the top, which was about twenty-five arms high. They had to cut down the five-arm-long top part.
Other than a heavy and rough stone ax, the only tool they could use was a bunch of mandrake tree branches.
First, they cut a gap in the root of the core.
After that, they inserted a branch into the tree core and used it as a stepping board to stand on. They cut a second gap and inserted a second branch into it. Then, they climbed up and cut even higher.
They continued this and ascended the core step by step. They had to cut dozens of gaps and insert dozens of branches before they could reach the height of twenty-five arms.
It was obvious that the branches inserted into the gaps could not be fixed firmly.
Moreover, the mandrake branches were very elastic and wobbly, to begin with.
Standing on the branches that had been inserted into the gaps was like standing on waves. It was impossible to stand stably, much less lift the heavy and rough stone ax and cut out new gaps with one’s full strength.
This was the most difficult hurdle.
Not only did it test the their strength and stability, but it also tested the their spirit and judgment.
Since the length, thickness, hardness, and softness of the branches were all different, and they might not be enough, the partic.i.p.ants had to make accurate calculations and allocate their physical strength to the distance between the branches. That way, they could climb all the way to the highest point of the mandrake tree core.
In the first group, the strong men who had rushed forward came to the front of the mandrake tree core. They looked up at the five-arm-tall top, which needed to be cut down. It had been smeared with red paint. All of them had solemn expressions and were deep in thought with furrowed brows.
After silently calculating for a long time, they spat a few mouthfuls of saliva into their palms. Carrying their branches on their backs, they swung their stone axes and hacked with great force.
Even the most reckless among them was being cautious at that moment. They would rather chop the mandrake tree core a few more times with their axes and make the gap deeper so that they could stabilize the branch and step on it more firmly.
However, among the brawny men in the first group, the fastest one had only inserted seven or eight branches and climbed to a height of twelve or thirteen arms. When he reached that height, a wave of shocked exclamations broke out among the onlookers.
“He-He actually rushed to the first place!”
Looking at where they were pointing, a figure that was more agile than all the other brawny men was not hesitating or stopping. He climbed up the slippery mandrake tree core in one breath.
The seemingly heavy stone ax in his hand drew a perfect arc. From that clever angle, it cut deeply into the hard and slippery tree core. On average, two axes could cut a triangular gap.
The gap was not deep, and the tree branches that were inserted into it were like dog’s-tail gra.s.s in the fierce wind. They always seemed to be on the verge of collapse.
When the youth stepped on it, it was like stepping on a lonely boat in the middle of a stormy sea. Sometimes he would go up and sometimes he would go down, sometimes he would go left and sometimes he would go right. He could fall at any moment.
However, no matter how dangerous his movements were, his toes were like the barbs of the Thunder Clan. They pierced deep into the tree branches and merged with the entire mandrake tree core.
He even used the flexibility of the branches to speed up his swinging and climbing speed. In a short while, he had climbed to the height of twenty-five arms.
The entire training camp was completely silent.
No one dared to believe their eyes.
There were many strong partic.i.p.ants in the compet.i.tion who had been felled together. They were deeply shocked by the young man’s fluid movements and explosive strength. Without looking, they fell from the branches.
However, the rat youth was not affected at all.
In his mind, he silently recalled the secret technique that the Reaper had taught him.
He imagined that the mandrake tree core, which had been smeared with red paint in front of him, was the neck of a broken-horned Minotaur warrior.
Then, with his eyes wide open, he used all his strength and ruthlessly chopped it down!
“This is…”
Ice Storm’s pupils suddenly contracted.
She was shocked by the sudden burst of killing intent from the youth.
She was even more shocked by the force that his four limbs exerted, the way he held the stone ax, and the speed, arc, as well as angle, of his powerful hacking.
“This is some kind of saber technique that has been tempered thousands of times!
“Although it is not a very complicated technique and can even be mastered by the rat militia, it can make these random soldiers explode with astonishing lethality!
“It is absolutely impossible for the five clans to create such a powerful saber technique for the rat militia. Who exactly created it? How is this possible?”
Ka-chow!
Ka-chow!
Ka-chow!
Before Ice Storm and all the shocked and bewildered stares, Leaf used only three axes to cut the iron-like mandrake core, which was twenty-five arms high.
He carried a five-arm-long piece of broken wood and gently floated to the ground like a real leaf.
With excitement in his heart and crystal clearness in his eye sockets, Leaf took two steps forward. He smashed the heavy wood toward the end.
He did it.
For the first time in his life, a rat boy from a remote village who carried a blood feud had crossed the Path of Glory!