210 Chapter 187 Confrontation
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"Tao Yu's talent is truly outstanding..."
Five days later, Guo Jing looked at Tao Yu, who had fully mastered the basic moves of the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms, with a very surprised expression on his face.
In the past, it took Guo Jing a month to learn the first fifteen palm strikes of the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms. Although he was always said to be slow-witted, his martial arts aptitude was actually not bad, especially with the reinforcement of the Quanzhen Sect's inner strength.
Hong Qi Gong even praised him, "This is it; otherwise, how could you have trained my 'Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms' to such a level in just over a month?"
The last three palm strikes were taught to Guo Jing overnight after he had a foundation, and he could use them in combat right away!
But for Tao Yu, starting from scratch with the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms and having just over half a month of systematic martial arts training, it took only five days to fully master every move of the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms. Not only Guo Jing but also Huang Rong and Huang Yaoshi were somewhat astonished.
"Although previously Yu'er had a preset mindset, with the brand of Myriad Streams Breathing Technique's thinking, and his inner cultivation methods started slowly, his learning of these external martial arts moves is truly beyond his teacher's expectations," said Huang Yaoshi.
"Not at all, my previous training focused most on Qi-Blood and physical body, so I have some insight into controlling movements," Tao Yu replied.
Tao Yu was quite surprised that he could learn the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms so quickly.
His mastery of stance skill after the second deification unlocked certain posture complexities in his body; all that was needed was to supplement the methods of inner strength circulation.
After the deification of the 'Northern Dipper,' the pure True Qi from the Nine Yin True Scripture, aided by the 'Meditation Technique,' truly moved as easily as an arm does; naturally, he picked it up quickly.
The reason it took five days was because he was not able to grasp the key points of the move "Regret of the Overreaching Dragon" with stability.
Even before learning it himself, Tao Yu knew that the characteristic of "Regret of the Overreaching Dragon" was its inexhaustibility.
Once inner strength is struck through the air, it cannot be retracted, not even by top experts. It cannot be used recklessly. The most enduring mode of fighting is still close-quarters combat, keeping inner strength within the meridians.
The way Cheng Lixue used weapons was actually a display of the awkwardness of insufficient inner strength.
"Regret of the Overreaching Dragon," however, allows inner strength to be exerted three feet away from the body yet still be controlled by the palm; when necessary, part of it can even be withdrawn and stacked onto the next attack. Clearly able to strike through the air, yet also able to reduce consumption.
No wonder it's the most frequently used move of the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms, because it's indeed handy.
But similarly, to grasp its essence is also correspondingly difficult, and Tao Yu had to ask for guidance several times.
Once he mastered this move, the path ahead was smooth sailing!
Overall, each palm strike of the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms is calculated separately, with Yuan Force ranging from four hundred to eight hundred, which is actually similar to each standalone form of the Myriad Streams Five Forms, mainly emphasizing the technique of the strike.
In terms of cost-effectiveness of a single deification, it's certainly possible to deify all of them once; different moves can deal with different scenarios, to be used as the situation demands, off-the-cuff.
However, a second deification definitely requires a question mark, only the eight hundred value "Regret of the Overreaching Dragon" and "Seeing the Dragon in the Field," which can produce a defensive qi wall, can barely begin to be ranked, and still fairly towards the back of the line.
When I'm truly affluent, I might try them, while others are certainly capped at a single deification.
They'd even be prioritized after "Crane Form."
Even if both had just begun to grasp the new skills, due to their well-established foundations, just taking their starting postures conveyed an intense atmosphere of impending violence.
Even Huang Yaoshi, who had been provoking the fight, couldn't help but add,
"One is preparing for the Martial World tournament, the other is preparing to lead people northward, take care to exercise restraint and stop at the first touch of contact."
"I didn't expect the Junior Brother to be so strong even before acquiring Inner Strength. Then let your brother see how far Junior Brother has come."
19:38
Hearing Huang Yaoshi speak thus, Huang Rong was jolted, and then she turned back to her father in some surprise and said,
"Dad, do you truly believe Junior Brother can go head-to-head with Brother Jing?"
Otherwise, there would have been no need for such a specific reminder, because Brother Jing, with his kind and generous heart, would certainly control his strength well.
The emphasis, on the other hand, suggested a concern that the Junior Brother's power was too strong for Brother Jing to merely touch and stop.
"Before the cultivation of Inner Strength, there was indeed a gap, but after having acquired the Inner Strength of the Nine Yin True Scripture, I don't know how fast he can accelerate his cultivation speed. If he can fill his channels, then even if Jing'er breaks through, he needs to remain cautious."
Huang Yaoshi raised his hand and looked at his palm, recalling that strike he faced against Tao Yu with the Empty Sky Palm Strike.
At that time, his disciple had not mastered Inner Strength, and because his own spirit was momentarily distracted, he failed to hold back and was forcibly blocked by the disciple.
While the backlash he experienced was relatively inconsequential, his hand had really hurt at the time, nearly causing a fracture.
Thinking about it, Huang Yaoshi shook his head, realizing that he was getting old after all...
Clearly, Huang Yaoshi and Huang Rong's conversation had not escaped Guo Jing's ears, and he too appeared somewhat surprised.
"I didn't expect the Junior Brother to be so strong even before acquiring Inner Strength. Then let your brother see how far Junior Brother has come."
As he spoke, he took the initiative to step forward, switching between the Tiger and Ape Forms of Myriad Streams with great fluidity.
Though still to produce any real strength, his substantial Inner Strength could nevertheless fill the gaps, with each strike stirring up gusts of wind.
"Well received!"
Tao Yu, withholding his force, immediately launched Seeing the Dragon in the Field, a wall of energy that was firm yet flexible, blocking all of Guo Jing's airborne Inner Strength assaults.
Before Guo Jing's airborne Inner Strength could even hit the energy wall, it began to rapidly weaken and dissolve inexplicably.
Upon impact, it hardly caused a ripple!
Just one move had already caused a change in expression for Huang Yaoshi, Huang Rong, and Guo Jing.
All three had extraordinarily discerning eyes, and how could they not perceive the level of Internal Cultivation required for Tao Yu's strike.
He had indeed acquired such profound Inner Strength in such a short time.
The boost from Pioneer's Yuan Force was simply beyond imagination!