41 Western Garrison Liege Lord (1/2)

Martial skills were techniques of martial arts, and it contained mystical power. General martial skills could be activated by the physical body, but its power was much lesser when compared to power generated by essence force. Most of the martial skills even required the essence force to activate it.

The usage of martial skills was to allow the martial artist to gain enhancement in their strength. With the use of special methods, it allowed the body to be circulated with essence force through bizarre circulation routes. By doing so, it could create various array formations to increase the offense, defense, speed, etc.

From a stricter point of view, most of the martial skills could be emulated using a specific road map. The essence force originated from the dantian, it would then pass through the body's complex meridians, producing a special array formation and finally released from a certain part of the body.

What Jiang Yi experienced was a mystical encounter. His mind actually automatically formed a road map that was incomparably explicit, just like a road map of the martial skill's circulation route. Even though the majority of the road map was completed, there was a small portion in the center that was missing.

The reason why Jiang Yi believed he had the hope of comprehending the martial skill was because he had obtained the front and back portion of the road map. He could take reference from the existing portions to deduce the center portion and create a flawless road map, which would help him to comprehend this incomplete martial skill.

It was entirely possible in theory but was extremely difficult to execute. If anything went wrong, Jiang Yi's essence force might go haywire, bursting his meridians and die from the explosion.

But now, Jiang Yi didn't take that into consideration. He immersed himself in the excitement of his new-found ability. He didn't even bother to sit cross-legged before putting his concentration on deciphering the Exploding Essence Palm.

It was late into the night, but Jiang Yi had no intention to sleep. One hour later, he opened his eyes; his black essence force was depleted, and the road map in his mind vanished. His mind wasn't as clear and had exited the bizarre state.

”Continue comprehending!”

He immediately mustered the black essence force to circulate towards his brain. Inside of the Martial Arts Hall, his cultivation speed was increased by a few folds. In addition, the broken runic patterns helped to further increase his cultivation speed. He wasn't afraid that his black essence force would run out as he could cultivate ten wisps of black essence forces within an hour's time.

Jiang Yi stopped cultivating only when the sun rose. He felt no fatigue even after staying awake throughout the night and felt more alert than last night instead.

After he took two hours to stock up fully on his black essence forces, he then walked out and began his daily sparring sessions. He took a look at the name list from Manager Yang and saw a name that made him uncomfortable—Jiang Gushui!

Jiang Gushui was currently at the fifth stage of the Cast Tripod Realm, and it was apparent that Jiang Yunshan wanted to help him increase his strength. Even if Jiang Gushui couldn't enter the Mt. Spirit Beast College, he would at least be able to enter the West Garrison Army.

Jiang Yi couldn't reject this sparring session, or it might attract the suspicions of the Jiang Clan. He entered silently and noticed a weird look in the eyes of Jiang Gushui.

His heart panicked a little, but he put on a cool expression and didn't even utter a single word. Luckily, Jiang Gushui didn't seem to have much of a suspicion. After sparring for an hour, Jiang Gushui yelled in pain after being abused by Jiang Yi, and he then gave a wry smile before bidding farewell.

Could Jiang Gushui have recognized me?

Once Jiang Gushui left, Jiang Yi tried to recall Jiang Gushui's every move and reaction, but he couldn't ascertain whether Jiang Gushui recognized him or not. Since the next sparring partner was on the stage, he couldn't do much about it.

At the current juncture, Jiang Yi couldn't do anything even if Jiang Gushui recognized him. He didn't have any fear within his heart. After all, would the Jiang Clan dare to murder him inside the Martial Arts Hall?

After spending an entire morning for five sparring sessions, Jiang Yi remained spirited as he returned to analyzing the Exploding Essence Palm. It was only at midnight when he did go to sleep.

Next day, Jiang Gushui didn't appear, but it was Jiang Rulang who came instead. Jiang Rulang had this special look in his eyes, but he covered it up rather well. Jiang Yi couldn't be bothered anymore, and he had decided to adopt measures appropriate to the situation.

The next few days went by peacefully. Jiang Gushui reappeared twice and even offered his deepest gratitude, explaining that one of his new martial skills was now at Phenomenal Stage. He even told Jiang Yi to be a guest at the Jiang Clan whenever he was free and would treat him with great hospitality.

Jiang Yi pretended to be cool and didn't say a single word—all while sneering in his heart. Go visit the Jiang Clan? Wouldn't he be walking in and exiting on a stretcher?

Time flew as though a white horse galloping across the plains. As the day of the recruitment ceremony drew nearer, the entire Skyplume City began to bustle with excitement. Many of those small town's minor clan members were already here at Skyplume City, waiting for the recruitment ceremony to begin. Clan members of those huge cities were here, too; they wanted to see if this small city had any elites that they could enlist to their clan. But they were, of course, here for the show.

Two days before the start of the recruitment ceremony, the Martial Arts Hall didn't have much business. It was obvious that the upper echelons of the various clans had given their clansmen a holiday. It allowed them to relax and prepared themselves in the optimal condition for a fight.

Although Jiang Yi didn't need to go for any sparring sessions, he was even more assiduous than before. With the Exploding Essence Palm at the final phase, he took reference of the road map in his mind to constantly deduce and verify. He tried to predict how the essence force condensation technique should be carried out.

For the entire two days, Jiang Yi would only consume some bread if he was hungry. He would fall asleep as soon as he closed his eyes; he acted like a maniac that fully concentrated on comprehending the Exploding Essence Palm.

Finally—

The night before the recruitment ceremony, Jiang Yi finally opened his eyes. There were traces of blood vessels in his excited and fatigued eyes. After spending eight days of comprehending as though there was no day and night, Jiang Yi finally completed the circulation road map of the Exploding Essence Palm with the assistance of his black essence force's mystical abilities.