Chapter 227: Insight

After releasing fire mana nearby, Jade's body turns red.

Sensing the fire mana in the surrounding, 'Such a fire mastery, I think even Jayna will not be able to do this.' thought Angus.

In the meantime, feeling the sudden fluctuation of fire mana in the surroundings, the others wake up from their meditation and find Angus facing Jade.

Suddenly, Jade disappears from his spot charge at Angus. Once Angus uses [Domain - Yin Yang Stance], a yin yang diagram appears on the ground. Inside this domain, everything is moving slowly, like being controlled by Angus.

Angus easily catches the approaching Jade and his weak point. He is countering Jade's assault using his own hand from the side. *BAM* At this moment, everyone sees Jade stopping in front of Angus, touching Angus's hand from his side.

Once again, Jade is shocked at this development. All of his momentum and force are gone the moment he touches Angus's hand from the side. It feels like his attack force is redirected and gone at once.

Before Jade could recover from his shock, "You are in my range." said Angus.

[Domain - Starry Night] Jade immediately sees a flurry of bright small stars while feeling the time stopping. He feels like getting hit in various locations at once. All of this hit is very powerful and almost penetrates his defense. *Bam* *Bam* *Bam*

After a while, the attack ends, and time moves again. Jade's body immediately threw a few meters away with a lot of bruises in his body. On the other hand, Angus looked very exhausted and drenched in sweat.

"Ha.. Ha.. I guess my strength is not enough to hurt you, uncle." said Angus while kneeling on the ground.

"What a horrible skill. If it is any other sixth grade, they may get hurt from your skill. How did you do it?" asked Jade.

Angus didn't directly answer and looked at the others, "In the faraway land, there are two plantations. One is a big wooden tree with the age of a hundred years. The other is a three-year-old plantation."

"One day, a horrible hurricane came to this land and hit both plantations. After withstanding the hurricane for a while, the big wooden tree cracked and collapsed under the might of the hurricane. However, the three-year-old plantation keeps surviving."

"Every time it is blown away from the strong wind, its body follows the direction of the wind, but its roots stay on its spot. Every time the wind changes, it also changes direction without fighting back.

In the end, this plantation survives the hurricane and stays on its roots while everything nearby is destroyed. This is why I always said you need to have a good stance when you fight." said Angus while flicking Anna's head, who is already half asleep.

"Ouch.. My head!!" said Anna while rolling on the ground holding her head.

In the meantime, the other three people who are hearing Angus's story have deep contemplation. All of them feel Angus's story has a lot of hidden meaning.

'Wooden tree?? I see I am still too rigid like the big wooden tree and need to be flexible like that plantation.' thought Ilgor.

'Facing the hurricane while staying on the root. I need to have a good foundation before I can fight a strong opponent.' thought Jayna.

In the meantime, Jade immediately recalls his fight with Angus. "The force he redirects it. My attack is like a hurricane, but he could redirect it while staying still like the plantation in the story.'

'But, how did he do it? Have a deep foundation or root? No, there is more than that. Follow the wind!! Yes, that's it. He grasped all my attacks, followed them, and redirected it. But, I think there's more.'

'Wait.. the plantation is changing direction following the hurricane. Did it mean my path was wrong? No, the plantation stays in the root in the end. It should mean it never abandons its foundation. Follow the wind but stay on its roots. I feel like I miss something here.'

'The hurricane came from the world itself, but the plantation managed to survive while the others did not. Because of its ability, skill, technique, mastery, what did I miss? 

'Adaptation.. Yes, that's it. I need to adapt to anything to survive. It is not power that I lack but the ability to adapt. What a marvelous story? I feel it has a lot of deep meaning, be it in life and battle. Wait life..' thought Jade deeply.

Looking at the three other people rooted on the spot having a deep meditation and reflection, especially his uncle Jade, Angus couldn't help but shake his head. He begins to remember when he hears this story from his master in his past life.

At that time, he too got a lot of insight from this story. The story has a lot of deep meaning to him, be it for life and battle. Just from the story, he managed to create many refined skills such as [Yin Yang Balancing], [Domain], [Dynamic Punch], and many more.

All of this is from the story of the three-year-old bamboo plantation facing a strong hurricane.

'If I am not wrong, Master said the more someone experiences the world, the more insight they will get from the story. Well, except for airheads like this one.' thought Angus while looking at Anna, who was recovering from his flick.

"It seems you are pretty recovered. Let's continue our spar without disturbing them." said Angus while dragging Anna and leaving the other three who are gaining some insight.

"Ehh.. No.. I will burst. I have not recovered yet. Help!!" said Anna.

But, Angus ignored Anna's plea and dragged her away before beating Anna. After his short fight with Jade, Angus exhausted almost all his chi, but his mana and stamina are still plenty to handle Anna.

During the past few months, Angus managed to cultivate chi and use Domain in a certain way. He still couldn't freely use the domain as it consumes a lot of chi for its usage. 

He still couldn't stop any living being like when he stopped all the Darkwing Bat before. Not only does it need precise control of his chi, but it also needs a massive amount of chi to do it.

After training using a domain a few times, Angus found the difference between chi and mana. Unlike mana, who comes from the world, chi is energy purely from his body even its source is from the heritage chi.

This makes the two energies have a different concept. One comes from the world itself, while the others come from his body. Based on this concept, chi should be more destructive and intrusive than mana toward the world. It means chi could affect the world more than mana.

Angus speculates that to make the mana has the same effect as his chi. He needs to achieve a higher grade first to increase the quality of his mana.

After beating Anna around like a sandbag without mercy, Angus begins to recover his mana. He found that Anna's body was extraordinary. Actually, his normal physical attack couldn't hurt Anna easily.

Anna's body is remarkably resilient and could even withstand high corrosive slime without feeling anything. However, this body also has weaknesses. The weakness is the mana itself. Foreign mana outside her body could hurt Anna more than any other ordinary person.

By imbuing his hand with mana and injecting it the moment Angus hits Anna, it will cause a lot of pain towards her. This technique needs a very high control of mana. Otherwise, it will destroy his arm or in the worst case kill him.

On the contrary, if Angus injects too much mana into Anna's body, she will also die and explode into pieces. Still, with Angus's superb level of control, this advanced technique is nothing to him. He could even do it while reading a book or doing other things. 

For Anna, foreign active mana is like poison. But, with constant 'training', her body is slowly able to withstand the pain and gain more immunity towards foreign mana. This is also the reason why Angus often beats the airhead Anna.

Recovering his mana, Angus didn't immediately wake up from his meditation but decided to cultivate his chi. From the short spar with Jade, he knows that chi is many times more destructive and useful than mana, especially in battle.

Just by utilizing it for [Domain], Angus could stop Jade's attack. Although there are some limitations, it is still better than nothing.

Cultivating chi is an arduous task. Angus needs total concentration, especially since the source of his energy comes from heritage chi. Drawing too much energy from heritage chi is fatal to his body. Just one mistake could damage his body, cripple him, or worse, kill him. 

Still, he wasn't afraid of any intrusion since this place is a special training ground for the Sur village. Although it is quite far away from the Sur village, many Sur village combatants nearby are also doing their training. 

So, Angus wasn't afraid of some stranded monster coming into this place disturbing him. He also believed Anna would not let the others disturb him. 

Every time he cultivates chi, Anna immediately looks intently at Angus while not letting everyone near him, even Jayna. She feels like if everyone is near him, they will kill Angus and everyone nearby.