Chapter 338: The Complexity of Sound Sect’s Martial Arts!
It was a warm morning, the sun had just risen in the sky, and the entire place was peaceful and calm. The cuckoo sound of chickens, the songs of birds, everything felt soothing.
However, at this very moment, the Martial World, more specifically the Orthodox Faction, was in complete chaos upon hearing the news that two of the top three sects had fallen.
The top three sects were the very pillars of the entire faction. Beneath them were higher-tier sects and clans, but the top three stood as the figureheads. For two of them to be destroyed in a single day was utterly unimaginable to the people.
The news of what had happened spread in countless distorted versions, with people adding their own imaginative perspectives to it.
Some claimed, "A divine beast attacked in fury and annihilated the two sects because they had stolen its offspring."
Others insisted, "It was a conspiracy by another faction, plotting to bring down the Orthodox Faction."
Speculation was endless. But the truth was far from any of these guesses. In reality, it was all orchestrated by a youth from another world, something no one in their wildest imagination would have ever considered.
Sound Sect, Secret Library.
Eryke sat cross-legged on a mattress, his gaze steady as he calmly turned the pages of the book in his hands.
His mind swirled as he tried to comprehend the Martial Art within. The yellow rays of sunlight slipped through the curtains, reflecting off his long golden hair.
When he reached the final pages, he sighed inwardly. "Well, that was exhausting."
"I didn’t expect this Sect’s Martial Arts to be so complex. Compared to them, the techniques of even the Shadow Faction and the Demonic Faction simply pale. Of course, that is only in terms of complexity... but in power..."
Eryke didn’t continue, but his sigh made it clear to everyone just how weak the Martial Arts of the Sound Sect truly were.
It was like using a pulley to lift a spoon just to feed yourself while still being a strong young man. Why would a pulley even be needed for such an easy task? Instead of helping, it only made things more complicated, turning something simple into something unnecessarily difficult.
This was exactly how the Sound Sect’s Martial Arts felt: unreasonable, convoluted, and making even the simplest task harder than it needed to be.
There is a saying: A fool admires complexity because the fool cannot understand it, while a genius admires simplicity because the genius can appreciate the depth of understanding within the simplicity.
Eryke’s blue pupils shifted toward a certain book, its cover adorned with skulls.
"So this is the Martial Art that can take over a body, huh." He rubbed his chin.
He had already read the book and grasped its principle. Like many Martial Arts of this type, both practitioners had to study the same technique and possess the same Qi.
In this sect’s case, it was Sound Qi.
However, this body-snatching Martial Art was taken to an extreme, requiring even the blood type, gender, birthdate, and Martial Will to match before there was even a chance of success.
What surprised him, though, was that despite such harsh conditions, the success rate of body snatching reached nearly 95%, an unbelievable figure!
After all, which Martial Artist has not dreamt of immortality? They endured endless hardship to raise their realm, yet most of them didn’t even live as long as an ordinary person.
This was likely why every faction possessed some form of body-snatching Martial Art. If they couldn’t extend their own lifespan, they clung to the dream of stealing another’s body.
"Unfortunately," Eryke sighed, "this Martial Art can only be used once by a Martial Artist before it becomes completely ineffective. The cost is losing all Martial Arts, forcing them to rebuild everything from scratch."
"Everything in nature is balanced. When there is a positive side, there is also a negative side."
As he pondered this, he could understand the feelings of the Sound Sect. If she didn’t seize a young person’s body, she might not have enough time left to fully grasp such a complex Martial Art.
To maintain their position, the Sound Sect needed a Transcendent Martial Artist at its helm. But with the sheer complexity of their Martial Arts, producing one was nearly impossible, unless through body snatching. It was no wonder the sect would go to such extreme lengths for it.
"Oh well." Eryke closed his eyes. He couldn’t directly use the Sound Sect’s Martial Arts since he lacked Qi, but he could modify them, weaving the principles into his Sword Will and fueling them with his mana instead.
This Martial Art would also help him sharpen his Sword Will further as his understanding of the sword deepened.
Eryke had discovered something strange about his Sword Will: if he could comprehend something to its absolute extreme, he didn’t even need to use the Martial Art, the ability would manifest automatically through his Sword Will.
That was how his sharpened mind came about, allowing him to calculate with extreme precision and even apply vibration to certain things.
But even with Eryke’s comprehension ability, which significantly enhanced this process, such breakthroughs were far from common.
"I wonder if I can achieve it." With that thought, Eryke entered a period of seclusion.
***
"Master, what do you think? Is he really serious about it?" the zither woman asked in a gentle voice.
"It seems so," the veiled woman replied with a tired sigh. "We can’t disobey his orders, so we’ll do as he wishes. Our Sound Sect will declare Eryke the devil of the entire Martial World and proclaim the unity of the entire faction to hunt him down."
The very next day, the Sound Sect announced exactly this to the entire faction, sparking uproar everywhere.
As the only remaining top sect in the faction, the Sound Sect was seen as the figurehead. With such an announcement made, a mass recruitment drive began, and Martial Artists across the faction started uniting to face Eryke.