In the distance, the wave Yu Xian had blasted through stood nearly five meters tall, yet it was more than fifty meters thick.
Anyone who had seen Katsushika Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa could picture the shape of that wave.
It was common knowledge that the lower the temperature, the harder the ice.
Because Yu Xian had directly drained the ocean of its thermal energy, the ice formed across this stretch of sea was exceptionally hard—even harder than steel.
This was also why the ice sheet had not suffered catastrophic damage during his clash with Xiong Da.
In fact, the moment Xiong Da stepped onto the ice, he had already noticed its extraordinary durability. He was therefore all too aware of just how much weight Yu Xian's breath packed, even suspecting that Yu Xian had been fitted with superalloy iron lungs.
"Come on, let's keep going!" Yu Xian called out with a smile, waving to Xiong Da.
Yet Xiong Da lost his nerve, throwing his paws up and murmuring, "Proprietor, how about I just surrender? I've already unleashed my ultimate move, so there's no point in dragging this out."
"How about this—I won't use any ranged attacks from here on out. Good enough?" Yu Xian said, exasperated. He had only just finished warming up and had no desire to end things so quickly.
Xiong Da knew that refusing any further would be plain impolite, so he could only nod. "Fine, then... let's continue."
The instant the word "continue" left his mouth, he scooped up a block of ice from the ground and hurled it straight at Yu Xian. But Yu Xian had anticipated the move all along, tilting his head slightly to dodge the flying ice.
Yu Xian then darted straight for Xiong Da. Xiong Da, on the other hand, sought to put distance between them, and the two launched into a pursuit across the frozen sea.
As he fled, Xiong Da waved his paws back at the approaching Yu Xian, finally bringing out his divine ability, Black Wind. This sort of black wind was by no means something flesh and blood could withstand, and being a demonic gale, black smoke was plainly visible swirling within the gust.
Faced with the Black Wind, Yu Xian's countermeasure was delightfully simple. He kicked down against the ice sheet, skillfully scooping up a massive chunk of ice from the surface.
Hoisting the slab of ice, he charged headlong, relying on sheer immense momentum to blast straight through Xiong Da's Black Wind.
This was overcoming all arts with brute force.
Xiong Da had never imagined his divine ability could be countered in such a manner, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. By the time he realized the Black Wind was useless against Yu Xian, Yu Xian had already charged right into his face with the slab of ice.
"Holy crap!"
With a pitiful yelp, Xiong Da took the block of ice square in the face.
The instant the ice shattered, Yu Xian burst through from behind it and drove a kick straight into his belly.
Pain!
A gut-wrenching, agonizing pain.
Xiong Da instinctively doubled over, clutching his stomach as his body slid backward across the ice. But Yu Xian charged ahead in great strides, catching up and planting an uppercut firmly onto Xiong Da's chin. Xiong Da's blubber shuddered wildly as his massive frame was knocked backward, crashing heavily onto the frozen surface.
Boom!
A web of deep cracks splintered across the ice, leaving Xiong Da's head buzzing.
He possessed his own competitive spirit. If he wasn't going to fight, that was one thing, but if he did, he wanted to win. Though his head was spinning, he knew he had to keep moving.
Without hesitation, he rolled instinctively to the right. Sure enough, Yu Xian dropped from above in the very next instant, a kick slamming into the spot where he had just been lying, blowing the ice apart and sending countless shards flying.
Black Wind!
Knowing Yu Xian was on his left, Xiong Da instantly raised his left paw and swept it across, unleashing Black Wind to engulf the ice sheet to his left.
"No sound?"
Xiong Da gathered his wits and opened his eyes toward the left, only to find that the Black Wind had swept far into the distance, yet Yu Xian was nowhere to be seen.
He snapped his head forward, and there Yu Xian was, standing right before him, the muscles in his right arm bulging to an exaggerated degree.
"Proprietor, I give up!" Xiong Da hastily yelled.
Yu Xian smiled amiably. "Too late. Back you go!"
With that, he drove a fist forward. Howling in agony, Xiong Da skidded all the way across the ice until his head knocked against the sandy beach, his eyes rolling back as he passed out cold.
"That felt good!"
Yu Xian loosened his limbs, feeling invigorated from head to toe.
Frequent exercise truly was necessary. While abilities like mutated Blood Energy were convenient, nothing beat the raw satisfaction of flesh-to-flesh combat.
He strolled back to the beach, where Zhang Shou had already finished treating Xiong Da. In truth, Xiong Da's injuries were very minor, easily healing by tomorrow even without treatment.
However, Zhang Shou figured that since he was here, there was no reason to let anyone's wounds linger until the next day.
"Salty Fish, is it my turn?"
Seeing Yu Xian return, Gong Qian eagerly stepped forward once more to ask.
She was deeply curious about how strong Yu Xian truly was. After all, she had always been the foremost talent of Qilin's new generation, yet her accomplishments paled in comparison to Yu Xian's.
Under relentless media digging, Yu Xian's past deeds had all been laid bare in broad daylight: saving Silver City, subduing the Xingtian zombie king, uncovering the perfect creature factory hidden within Silver City...
One dazzling feat after another, far too radiant to ignore.
This had thoroughly stoked Gong Qian's competitive drive; she wanted to accomplish great things as well.
Naturally, she first had to figure out where the gap between herself and Yu Xian lay.
Yu Xian settled into a beach chair and smiled. "Give me a moment. Once I've rested, we can start."
"Fair point. Rest up properly, and we'll spar once you've caught your breath," Gong Qian agreed, nodding repeatedly.
She wanted to spar against Yu Xian at his peak. Having just fought Xiong Da, his stamina was bound to have dipped, so she wanted him to recover fully first.
Once Gong Qian sat back down, Yu Xian turned and asked, "Auntie, could you check if the impurities inside me have decreased?"
"See for yourself." Zhenwo Changjing once again tapped Yu Xian's forehead with her finger.
Yu Xian examined his body, his brow quickly furrowing. The impurities were virtually unchanged from before; evidently, the spar just now had done nothing for him.
"Auntie, is there any way for me to master this ability to see impurities?" Yu Xian pondered before asking.
If he could observe his internal impurities in real time, he could receive direct feedback during combat, allowing him to pinpoint the direction of his training.
Having to ask Zhenwo Changjing for help every time he wanted to check the impurities in his abilities was far too inconvenient.
"You won't be able to learn my method. However, I do possess a legacy that can grant you this ability. The trouble is, taking it will invite mortal peril upon yourself in the future." Zhenwo Changjing looked at Yu Xian with a faint smile.
Mortal peril?
Yu Xian swallowed hard. If Zhenwo Changjing called it mortal peril, it was bound to be extraordinarily dangerous.
After a moment's hesitation, he said, "Auntie, how about you tell me about it first, and I'll decide whether to learn it after listening?"
"The Tree Universe holds many cultivation methods passed down from ancient times. Regrettably, most have become fragmented and incomplete, but a few legacies have been preserved intact.
"Among the most famous of these are the Five Supremes Legacies, which comprise five distinct arts: Mister Eye, Mister Hand, Mister Foot, Mister Key, and Mister Strange.
"As chance would have it, through a stroke of luck, I obtained the legacy of Mister Eye.
"This is a discipline devoted entirely to cultivating the eyes. At the same time, it requires collecting all manner of eyes, in the hope that one day, using countless eyes as stepping stones, one can forge the All-Knowing Eye and become an omniscient being," Zhenwo Changjing explained.
Yu Xian's interest was piqued. "Can this legacy truly make someone omniscient?"
"Theoretically, yes, but putting it into practice is extraordinarily difficult. This legacy requires you to gather the eyeballs of every creature that possesses them, as well as collect every manner of special eye. There are tens of millions of distinct eyes throughout the Tree Universe; even I would find it difficult to assemble a complete collection," Zhenwo Changjing answered.
Yu Xian instantly caught on and deduced, "Auntie, that mortal peril you mentioned—it comes from other practitioners of Mister Eye's legacy, doesn't it?"
"Correct. Once you collect eyes up to a certain threshold, other inheritors of Mister Eye who wish to take shortcuts will inevitably make a move against you. So long as they kill you, all the eyes you've gathered will naturally become theirs," Zhenwo Changjing said with a nod.
Yu Xian broke into a smile. "Auntie, I'll take this legacy."
His reasoning was simple: all he wanted was the ability to see internal impurities.
As for being targeted by other inheritors, so long as he refrained from collecting eyes, what was there to fear? It wasn't as though exotic eyes would come knocking on his door of their own accord.
Chapter 174