Chapter 32: A Style of Punching!
“It’s destroyed…”
Inside the room, Nie Tian stared blankly at the dagger, which was already dark, lifeless, and drained of spirit. He suddenly felt somewhat depressed.
There were only a few spiritual tools of Medium grade in the entire Nie clan. His grandfather used to have one, but he sold it at a low price several years ago, and used the money to try to find a cure for his disease.
Nie Tian also understood that the only reason An Shiyi had generously gifted him this Medium grade spiritual tool was that Jiang Zhisu had been present at that time.
It was such a precious item, and he had lost it to the animal bone before he could properly explore its secrets.
Glaring at the animal bone with intense hatred, he couldn’t hold back from cursing. “What a waste! What a waste!”
BZZZ!
Little fragmented flames started to spark in the animal bone, swiftly gathering in its center, and then rushing towards the drop of crimson blood.
“Yee?!” He exclaimed as he pressed his finger on the animal bone, which had become scalding hot again. He quickly discovered that the shrunken drop of blood was now growing larger again.
He immediately understood that he had just replenished the energy of the animal bone, which had been consumed when it split space and brought him to that mysterious land.
“It won’t trigger another spatial disorder, will it?” he thought nervously.
Li Fan had spent three whole months waiting for another spatial rift to open up. Now, even though Li Fan was gone, there were still numerous unidentified Qi warriors wandering about outside of the Nie clan.
All of them had gathered there because of the unusual spatial fluctuations that emerged in the Nie clan.
If another spatial rift reappeared in the Nie clan now that Li Fan had returned to the Cloudsoaring Mountain, those Qi warriors would probably rush into the Nie clan and explore the secrets of the spatial disorder, regardless of the price they might end up paying.
As powerful as they were, the Nie clan would be totally incapable of stopping them, and the secrets to his animal bone might also be exposed in the process.
He pressed his finger closely on the animal bone, calling out in his heart and praying for nothing to happen. “Don’t! Please don’t!”
Although he wished to visit that mysterious land again to explore its profound secrets, this wasn’t the time. Once the animal bone caused a spatial disorder, he would immediately fall into a maelstrom of huge troubles.
As the animal bone grew hotter and hotter, it almost seemed as if it could hear his inner cries.
The change he feared might happen didn’t occur. After converging all the flame power from the Crimson Sun Dagger into the drop of blood, the animal bone once again became quiet.
As anxious as he was, Nie Tian didn’t dare to probe the drop of blood with his spiritual awareness, therefore he quickly put it back into his waist pocket.
After a while, when not a single bit of heat was emanating from the animal bone, and no change had occurred, he felt a bit of relief.
Then he frowned deeply. “This won’t do,” he thought. “As long as I’m in the Nie clan, I won’t be able to freely explore the wonders of the animal bone. I have to think of an alternative.”
However, after thinking long and hard, he failed to come up with a good solution.
He was still too young, and his cultivation base was merely in the sixth level of Qi Refining. Between Black Cloud City and the Cloudsoaring Mountain was a vast and dense forest, and Qi warriors from the Cloudsoaring sect or Black Cloud City constantly roamed it. If he triggered an unusual spatial disorder, those powerful Qi warriors would very likely notice.
If he were then found by the Qi warriors from the Cloudsoaring sect, he would probably be safe; however the mysterious item on him would undoubtedly be hard to keep concealed.
If it were Qi warriors from the An clan or the Yun clan that found him, he doubted that he would return to the Nie clan alive.
Furthermore, there were spirit beasts constantly foraging in the wild lands to the north of Black Cloud City. Exploring the secrets of the animal bone there would ensure that his chances of getting killed would be even higher.
“After all, I’m not strong enough…” After pondering for awhile, he decided that leaving Black Cloud City and entering the desolate and uninhabited land would not be a wise idea. Hence, he had to give it up for the time being.
“For now, I’ll try to grasp the essence of that fist strike. I’ll wait until I’m powerful enough, then I’ll go out of Black Cloud City to explore the miracles of the animal bone.”
With these thoughts, he adjusted his breathing and tossed any thoughts of the animal bone out of his head. After calming down, he tried to fill his heart with rage.
All of a sudden, a force of anger and frenzy, as well as a begrudging mood, started to build up in his heart.
As he recalled the gesture of the giant hand reaching into the heavens, he gradually lifted his arm and pointed to the ceiling, imitating the gesture.
After his wrath was accumulated to a certain degree and his eyes seemed to be filled with burning flame of rage, he suddenly felt the spiritual power in his dantian’s spiritual sea flowing uncontrollably towards his own raised arm.
ROOOAARRRR!!
He couldn’t help but howling out loud as a force of rage poured into his meridians and converged into his spiritual power.
A wild and ancient aura was released from his body. As of this moment, it seemed as if he had suddenly become the reincarnation of an ancient giant spirit, full of the courage to battle against the heaven and earth.
The spiritual power violently rushed into his fist. An intense urge to unleash the wild and uncontrollable power spurred him to explode into action!
He sensed that he had to let off the furious spiritual power fluctuations gathered in his fist!
His clenched fist violently smashed down on the stone table in front of him, and all of the suppressed power instantly found an outlet.
CRACKLE!
All of a sudden, the door-sized table was shattered into small pieces, and the fragmented stones shot out in every direction, filling the entire room.
After the blow, he was surprised to discover that he was completely drained of spiritual power!
The spiritual power in his spiritual sea appeared to be emptied, not leaving a slightest bit!
Totally depleted of strength, he collapsed to the ground and his face grew pale due to overexertion.
He was surrounded by countless shattered stones. After his strike was complete, the larger stones continued the process of fracturing, breaking up up into even smaller pieces.
The room was filled with the intense emotion of rage which he had attached to his fist!
It wasn’t until some time had passed that the rage finally dissipated into the heaven and earth.
Looking at stone fragments falling to the floor and the gravel-filled room, Nie Tian let out a bellow of rage. “What a violent power!”
The stone table had been crafted from an extremely solid slab of green rock!
Even though green rocks were not considered spiritual materials, the formidable clans in Black Cloud City all used it as a construction material, due to its toughness.
A rock was a rock, and was definitely tougher than the body of a Qi warrior with a low cultivation base.
According to Nie Qian, Qi warriors who had just entered Lesser Heaven stage would need to use spiritual power to strengthen their body, so as to match the hardness of the green rock.
Strengthened by their spiritual power, Qi warriors with a mid-stage or late-stage of Lesser Heaven cultivation base could be tougher than the green rock.
However, before reaching the Lesser Heaven stage, even if they wrapped himself in spiritual power, a Qi warrior wouldn’t be able to match the toughness of the green rock.
Since his rage-filled fist strike could shatter a piece of green rock, in the event that he struck a Qi warrior’s body, that Qi warrior would only be able to survive if his cultivation base had reached or surpassed Lesser Heaven.
Qi warriors who had just entered the Lesser Heaven stage might be killed instantly by a single blow.
And those with a similar cultivation base to his own, Qi warriors of the ninth level of Qi Refining or lower, would die beyond the shadow of a doubt!
“The explosive power is terrifying. However, it is also terrifying to have consumed all my spiritual power with one punch! With a single strike using up all my spiritual power, I would have no more strength to fight back afterwards, leaving me at the complete mercy of my enemy.
“This style must be used with extreme caution!”
After the initial ecstasy, he gradually came to realize this style of punch was a double-edged sword by nature. If he couldn’t kill his opponent with a single strike, he could only wait to be killed.
However, he also had the feeling that the power of this fist strike hadn’t been displayed to its full extent.
At present, with his poor cultivation base, a single punch managed to completely drain the spiritual power in his dantian’s spiritual sea. Obviously, that wasn’t its ultimate limit.
He was sure that with a better cultivation base and a larger amount of spiritual power, the power of this fist strike may possibly rise to a whole new level!
“In the mysterious world, there were a total of 32 giant hands reaching into the heavens. Every one of them was the embodiment of a style of striking that was as domineering as this one! If I manage to comprehend the essence of all those 32 styles, then…”
With these thoughts, Nie Tian’s eyes emanated a feverish light of excitement.
As of this moment, he firmly believed that resisting Li Fan’s temptation and not revealing the secrets of the animal bone was the smartest choice of his entire life!
By this point, Nie Donghai walked in, looked at the messy floor, and asked, “What happened here?!”
“I was trying to comprehend a fist strike,” Nie Tian smiled joyfully.
“A fist strike?” Staring at the floor full of rubble, Nie Donghai’s eyes flashed a hint of astonishment. In the next moment, he nodded his head and said, “That woman from the An clan has tried every means to get the secrets of the spatial rift from you. The offer she made this time… was too hard to reject. I’ve already accepted it on your behalf.”