Overlord of the Wilderness

After sending away the short-haired man in yellow and Lee Liang, Zhaang Ye took the Heavy Saber from the weapon rack and examined it closely. The Heavy Saber was pitch-black from end to end, its blade and hilt forged as a single piece. The back of the blade was as thick as a palm, while its edge radiated a chilling aura. A primal heft and unparalleled sharpness—these two qualities were perfectly blended in this saber, leaving Zhaang Ye deeply satisfied.

After carefully inspecting the patterns on the blade, Zhaang Ye flicked it with a finger. Since his Cultivation of the Dragon Elephant Skill, even a casual flick from him carried immense force. However, when he tapped the Thick-Backed Saber, it only produced two faint sounds, and the blade didn’t even budge.

After studying it for a while, Zhaang Ye performed a few practice swings. The saber weighed 698 jin and had been custom-forged to match his strength. When he swung it, it felt neither flimsy nor sluggish, making it incredibly comfortable to wield.

”A fine saber!” Zhaang Ye exclaimed in praise. He promptly paid the remaining balance in Gold, slung the Heavy Saber over his back, and returned to the family compound.

Zhaang Ye remained in his small courtyard for a full seven days. During this time, he once again worked on integrating his new insights into his third saber strike.

The Dissolving Power was proving incredibly difficult to grasp, so for now, Zhaang Ye focused on incorporating the Rotating Power he had already comprehended into his Saber Technique.

Back in the Mammoth Cemetery, Zhaang Ye had already grasped the basics of Rotating Power, understanding how to use its rotational momentum for Borrowing Power and Force-Dissipating Techniques. After refining six strands of Elephant Power from an Ancient Mammoth, his comprehension of Rotating Power deepened even further. These six strands of Elephant Power contained the profound mysteries of force, mysteries that Zhaang Ye could not yet fully understand. But even comprehending a small fraction of it had significantly elevated his understanding of Rotating Power.

After seven days of integration, Zhaang Ye left his courtyard and headed for the Wind Cave. At the administrative office below the Wind Cave, Zhaang Ye made a rather strange request to a Steward.

The Steward didn’t quite understand Zhaang Ye’s request, but since Zhaang Ye was a contestant in the Four Races’ youth tournament, the family generally accommodated his needs. After a moment of thought, the Steward agreed.

Two Hours later, Zhaang Ye stood inside a Wind Chamber. Behind him, dozens of people carried basket after basket of stones into the roaring chamber, placing them near the wind’s source.

Zhaang Ye kept an Outer Disciple named Sunx Mantis behind and instructed him, ”When I start practicing my saber, you will pick up these stones and throw them into the wind’s source, one by one. Remember, start with the large ones. Understand?”

The wind’s source was the very mouth of the gale. Any stone tossed into it would be instantly blasted away by the fierce wind. The consequences of being hit by such a projectile were unthinkable. At this terrifying thought, Sunx Mantis swallowed hard and stammered, ”S-Senior Brother Zhaang, do you really want me to throw stones into the wind’s source like this?”

Zhaang Ye nodded, patted him on the shoulder, and walked to the center of the Wind Chamber. He shouted, ”Begin!”

Sunx Mantis gritted his teeth, picked up the largest rock, and hurled it into the wind’s source.

WHOOSH!

The rock weighed over a hundred jin, but the moment it entered the wind’s source, it was sent flying with an odd shriek. It became a black blur, nearly invisible to the naked eye, as it rocketed toward Zhaang Ye. Watching its trajectory, Sunx Mantis’s heart trembled. ’It’s over, it’s over! Senior Brother Zhaang is going to get hit... He’ll be critically injured, if not killed...’

Just as Sunx Mantis thought Zhaang Ye was doomed to serious injury or worse, Zhaang Ye suddenly slashed out with his Heavy Saber. The strike was launched with a rotational momentum, making the Sword Force incredibly swift yet imbued with a trace of agility. The slash landed perfectly on the rock, and the sharp Heavy Saber silently split it in two.

”This...”

Sunx Mantis was stunned. To catch the rock’s shadow amidst the roaring gale and split it in two with a single strike—such a miraculous Saber Technique was far beyond his imagination.

Zhaang Ye’s deep voice boomed, ”Don’t just stand there! Again!”

Sunx Mantis snapped back to his senses, nodded firmly, and threw another hundred-plus-jin rock into the wind’s source.

With the same slash, Zhaang Ye once again split the rock in two.

From then on, Sunx Mantis no longer needed Zhaang Ye’s orders. He continuously moved stones with both hands, hurling them into the wind’s source. At first, Sunx Mantis had been worried for Zhaang Ye, fearing that a single mistake would lead to him being smashed by a wind-flung rock. But after dozens of throws, Zhaang Ye consistently managed to track the stones and slice them in half.

Realizing how formidable Zhaang Ye was, Sunx Mantis completely set his worries aside. He dutifully played the part of a porter, tossing rock after rock into the wind. Meanwhile, Zhaang Ye stood firm against the gale in the center of the Wind Chamber, splitting the stones one after another.

After more than a hundred rocks had been thrown, only small ones weighing thirty to forty jin remained. Because they were lighter, the wind blew them much faster than the large rocks, making them difficult to track even if one stared intently. In other words, inside the Wind Chamber, the small rocks were harder to deal with than the large ones.

Facing these smaller rocks, Zhaang Ye could no longer remain as composed as before. They came at him incredibly fast; before his eyes could even get a clear look, they were already upon him. A single misstep would result in broken bones and torn tendons. Zhaang Ye was a cautious person. He turned his body into a Tornado, striking down the rocks he was confident he could hit and using his Body Technique to dodge the ones he couldn’t.

After dodging three or four hundred small rocks, Zhaang Ye gradually adapted to their speed. His strikes became faster and faster. The moment his eyes caught a stone, his saber would flash out like lightning, perfectly splitting it in two.

After a full afternoon of Cultivation, they ran out of stones. Zhaang Ye had the Steward fetch another large pile of thirty-to-forty-jin rocks, and the next day, he continued his training with Sunx Mantis throwing them.

After three more days of such Cultivation, Zhaang Ye’s mastery of Rotating Power grew increasingly proficient. His Saber Technique, executed with Rotating Power, was exceptionally sharp with every slash; he could split a stone invisible to the naked eye with a single strike. And yet, amidst this sharpness was an inherent agility. No matter how the flying rocks changed their trajectory, he could always intercept them with his blade.

On the tenth day, the stones Zhaang Ye used for his Cultivation became even smaller, now weighing only a little over ten jin.

A ten-jin rock in the fierce gales of the Wind Chamber was as light as a feather. The moment one entered the wind’s source, it would vanish. Before a person could even react, the rock would have already flown over a hundred feet and slammed into the far wall of the chamber, gouging out a deep pit.

The threat posed by these ten-jin rocks was immense. Getting hit in the torso would leave you half-dead, if not worse. A blow to the head would surely cause it to explode. A hit to a limb would shatter an entire arm or leg in two. Training with such rocks was like playing a game of death. Every time Sunx Mantis threw one, his face paled. His admiration for Zhaang Ye, who was risking his life to train this way, had reached its peak.

Facing rocks that flew as fast as shooting stars, Zhaang Ye pushed his nerves to their limit again and again. He squeezed out every last drop of his latent potential. His eyes grew sharper, and the saber in his hands grew faster.

’Let my body rotate! Let the Sword Force rotate! Let the True Qi in my body rotate! Let the saber become faster! More agile! Sharper!’

Forged between life and death, Zhaang Ye’s Saber Technique improved by leaps and bounds. He slowly mastered the method of coordinating the rotation of his body and Sword Force, and even began to grasp how to accelerate the rotation of his True Qi. Three days later, with every slash Zhaang Ye made, his body and Sword Force would spin in tandem, boosting his speed by a huge margin and allowing him to barely keep up with the flying rocks.

Zhaang Ye didn’t switch to even smaller rocks. In the days that followed, he used Rotating Power to split the rocks over and over again. Through this repeated tempering, his Saber Technique slowly began to take shape.

On the sixteenth day of his Cultivation in the Wind Cave, Zhaang Ye’s Saber Technique had taken its initial form.

This was his third saber strike, following the Gentle Wind Slash and the Reverse Flow Slash. Zhaang Ye gave this move a name: Mountain-Breaking Slash.

The Mountain-Breaking Slash was the second Saber Technique Zhaang Ye had created himself. This technique, executed with rotating power, was exceptionally sharp with every strike, yet it also allowed him to disengage at any moment. If a strike missed, he could transform into a whirlwind and retreat gracefully, perfectly compensating for the Reverse Flow Slash’s overbearing power and lack of agility.

The Mountain-Breaking Slash was currently only in its initial form. To perfect it, he would need to comprehend the Dissolving Power and integrate it into the Saber Technique. This would be a long-term process.

Zhaang Ye was already very satisfied with getting the Saber Technique to its initial form. He felt that if he cultivated his Mountain-Breaking Slash to the Great Success Realm, its power would far exceed that of a Mid-Level Combat Skill. Right now, even though his technique had not yet reached Minor Achievement, its power was still considerable. With this move, he was confident he could even kill a Martial Arts Fifth Layer Middle Stage expert. And against a stronger foe, like a Martial Arts Fifth Layer Late Stage expert, he was confident he could at least put up a fight.

*(Author’s Note: Whew, Madman2073 became a Helmsman just like that, thank you so much! I also want to sincerely thank the generous tips from CC’s father, Santiao, Where to Find Good Books, Book Friend 110506131650701, Netherworld Town, Tang Jun Has No Regrets, and Dandanlong. At the same time, thank you to all the friends who have been quietly recommending this book! Thank you all! I apologize to those who used their update votes, as I’m unable to release extra Chapters right now...)*