“Fuse!”

In a fine house that the Manor of Beasts had built at the highest speed in the Hundred Flowers Valley, Ji Ye sat on the floor and initiated another session of Fusion.

The targets of Fusion this time were naturally his counterfeit Nine Yang Divine Art and the Nine Yin Sutra he recently acquired!

The Fusion took quite some time. It took multiple hours even though he already had a deep understanding of the Nine Yang Divine Art.

In the end, an untitled technique appeared on Ji Ye’s skill bar.

Untitled Art

Level: Special

Rarity: Perfect

Description: This is a Perfect technique with a combination of “Nine Yang Divine Art” and the Nine Yin Sutra (Extraordinary version). While retaining some of the original abilities of the two techniques, it can now allow you to gather any True Qi in the nature of yin and yang. Also, you can adjust their ratio in the True Qi, and you may surpass the limits of regular martial arts if you reach the peak!

“An inner strength art with only one Perfect rating?”

Ji Ye frowned slightly.

Unlike before, Ji Ye didn’t direct the Fusion process at all this time but simply let the two techniques fuse on their own.

As a result, the technique which could’ve been “Triple Perfect” turned out to have only one “Perfect” after the fusion.

Had it been demoted?

“Wait, although it only had one ‘Perfect’, it might be as good as a triple ‘Perfect’, because it has more functions!”

After he carefully read the information after the fusion, Ji Ye’s eyes glittered.

It was because through this Perfect technique, he could alter the nature of the True Qi he released by changing the ratio of the yin and yang proportions in it.

It meant that he could perform the extreme yang and tough “Nine Yang Divine Art” as well as the extremely yin and gentle “Nine Yin Power”.

He could even create the most appropriate inner strength according to the different moves he performed in order to maximize their power!

That was the first benefit.

Besides, probably due to the automatic circulation of yin and yang.

This newly-fused technique retained the auto-training feature of the Nine Yang Divine Art, and it was even faster than the Primordial Chaos Force and the Nine Yang Divine Art.

That was the second benefit.

Lastly, and most importantly, this newly-fused technique could reach the level of “Transcendent” after he fully mastered it!

That was something that none of the techniques he acquired had ever mentioned.

This happened probably because, although the Nine Yin Sutra he acquired was limited to the level of Extraordinary because it was in a Battlefield of Providence, the theories recorded in the preface still contained Transcendent elements after Reverend Yideng’s translation.

It was just like Yan Chixia in the last Battlefield of Providence. His strength was too limited, but his understanding of sword arts was still the best in the world.

“This technique is somewhat similar to the Small Formless Technique. Should I call it that? Wait, no. The Nine Yin and Nine Yang arts are more advanced than the Small Formless technique!”

Ji Ye had trouble giving it a name again.

“Forget it, the name can wait.

“Now that we’ve taken care of the problem of inner strength, I should focus on the moves!”

Since he couldn’t think of an appropriate name for now, Ji Ye simply put it aside and focused his attention on the moves.

Now that his inner strength could turn extremely yin and gentle, it wasn’t a problem anymore for him to use the Hollow Bright Fist!

On the other side, the Nine Yin Sutra was attached with a series of martial arts apart from the inner strength art.

Having been attached to the Nine Yin Sutra, those martial arts were undoubtedly remarkable. Their level was at least Excellent.

On the other hand, Ji Ye also received two Superior techniques, namely the Iron Fist Art and Water Walking!

The person who taught the two techniques to Ji Ye was none other than Master Cien, whom he had cured earlier.

To be honest, the Iron Fist Art was quite unusual. It wasn’t as brutal as Dragon-Subduing Strike, but it was much more sophisticated.

However, the requirements to practice it were rather rigorous, so Ji Ye wouldn’t consider picking it up until his Fusion talent cooled down again.

As for Water Walking, it was literally the first alacrity skill he had learned. Just as its name suggested, he could step on the water when he achieved Greater Mastery on the technique. With this technique, Qiu Qianren was among the three most agile people in The Return of the Condor Heroes.

However, this skill wasn’t of much significance to Ji Ye.

It was because, with his Flood Dragon Bloodline, it was as easy for him to walk the waters as to have food. After fusing the Dragon Aura, not just walking on the waters, he could even walk in the skies.

But of course, this skill was absolutely not pointless.

Apart from everything else, because it was a Superior skill, it was likely to become a Perfect one after a fusion.

If he were to fuse Dragon Aura with the Iron Fist Art, he might get a counterfeit Dragon-Subduing Strike in the end.

“However, a counterfeit version made with Fusion may contain shortcomings, and since I may find the authentic version on this Battlefield of Providence, I should try that first!”

At this moment, he already had an Untitled Technique which was the best inner strength art, and naturally, he had to find a top outer strength art for it!

“Well, it’s much more difficult to obtain the Dragon-Subduing Strike than to get the Nine Yin Sutra. At least, I need to wait until I arrive in Xiangyang.

“In the meantime, I might as well improve my sword techniques to the best first!”

After all, the fist techniques weren’t the only outer strength art; the sword techniques were too!

Also, in the Hundred Flowers Valley, the projection of a hero who had the legacies of Dugu Qiubai, the Sword Fiend, was still here!

…

Half a month later, under the waterfall in the Hundred Flowers Valley, two people were having a match.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Ji Ye was holding a wooden sword, and so was Yang Guo on his opposite side. They pierced at each other right under the turbulent waterfall.

The waterfall was shockingly powerful, yet their wooden swords were absolutely straight as if they weren’t affected at all!

Pew!

After their swords collided, a storm suddenly burst out.

A hole almost three meters in diameter was left on the waterfall, and a high wave was raised in the lake down below!

Chi! Chi! Chi!

Furthermore, the water beads knocked away by the overflowing energy from the wooden swords caused holes on the sand and shook even more petals off from the flowers.

Then, the two men walked out of the lake. Yang Guo, whose right arm had grown to one foot long, had a broken wooden sword in his right hand, whereas Ji Ye’s was only half broken.

“Master Ji, your progress is truly shocking fast.

“You are really a genius in martial arts. I feel that I’m watching Senior Brother Wang!”

Reverend Yideng remarked with mixed feelings as he watched them walking out of the lake, with a head as bald as Lu Zhishen’s.

“I only won with tricks. I must thank Brother Yang for teaching me Hero Dugu’s way of practicing sword arts!”

Ji Ye simply shook his head with a smile and said to Yang Guo.

During these days in the Hundred Flowers Valley, apart from training and collecting strange plants, Ji Ye had spent all his time practicing with Yang Guo!

In different phases of his life, Dugu Qiubai used different swords—sharp swords, soft swords, heavy swords, wooden swords, and no swords!

Of course, different people had different paths in sword training. Their expertise couldn’t be simply decided by the materials of their sword.

For example, before Ji Ye’s systematic sword training, he had killed most of the monsters with the sharpness of the Black Serpent Sword. So, it probably counted as a sharp sword.

However, the Black Serpent Sword was a two-hand longsword, and it was quite heavy. Did it fall into the category of “heavy swords” too?

Another example. Yang Guo was using a wooden sword, which was as powerful as a real sword thanks to his inner strength that was attached to it, and Ji Ye was using a wooden sword too.

However, due to the materials of the sword, it broke into halves in the collision even though Yang Guo had attached inner strength to it.

It was because Ji Ye didn’t attach inner strength to it but the Dragon Aura which was more unstoppable. It was also the “trick” that Ji Ye mentioned earlier.

If Yang Guo were holding the Extraordinary Mystic Iron Heavy Sword, it wouldn’t have broken into halves at all!

Therefore, when Dugu Qiubai was using a wooden sword, it didn’t mean he had to use a wooden sword, but only that he could carry out his sword arts with whatever sword.

After practicing with Yang Guo for half a month, learning his personal tips and understandings and spending thousands of EXP points on the exercises, Ji Ye had finally approached this level too. He almost achieved Greater Mastery in sword arts.

All he needed to do next was keep practicing until he was no longer restricted by external things and could use anything as a sword. Then, he would become Flawless in sword arts.

As for the ultimate level, “no sword”, it was actually beyond the category of an Extraordinary sword art.

Of course, he made such fast progress partly because he was talented in sword arts, partly because he was enlightened by Yan Chixia, who was the Best Swordsman on another Battlefield of Providence, and partly because of his practice with Yang Guo, which helped him a lot.

Yang Guo had practiced his “heavy sword” in surging floods and his “wooden sword” among the tides on the sea, so his moves and his inner strength were all as overwhelming as the sea.

It was also Dugu Qiubai’s way of practicing swords!

However, there were no seas or floods in the Hundred Flowers Valley.

While the waterfall was forceful, it was too simple. It didn’t carry mud, stones, and miscellaneous items like the floods did, and it couldn’t surge overwhelmingly like tides.

But it wasn’t a problem for Ji Ye. Thanks to his Flood Dragon Bloodline, he could easily perceive the different qualities of water and even control the water currents to establish floods and tides.

Actually, Ji Ye had been making such fast progress exactly because he kept practicing in such a way while he spent EXP on the deduction!

Also, there was another pleasant surprise.

The Left and Right Inter-fighting skill, which he had trouble getting the hang of, was already mastered to the basic level!

He was already able to split his attention on certain matters.

However, while Yang Guo taught him sword arts and understandings, they didn’t turn into his “skills”, just like what happened with Yan Chixia.

It was because what Yan Chixia and Yang Guo provided was “philosophies” on the sword arts, not any real moves!

But such philosophies were undoubtedly more valuable to some point!

They could help him establish his own path in sword arts.

“Gua! Gua!”

All of a sudden, everybody heard cackling. Then, they saw the Divine Condor at the entrance of the valley.

“Brother Condor, did the Old Kid piss you off again?”

Yang Guo asked the Divine Condor with a smile.

“Huh? You’re saying that someone is chasing you outside?”

He received a rather surprising answer.