Chapter 109: Flicking Dart
Wu Bingji, seeing Gu Li's curious gaze, smiled and said, "You should also learn more from Little Tang. His insights into cultivation are quite something. I talked to him a couple of times and I understood a lot more about the ice element. Hmm, but your Chrono Croc Transformation is unique. I don’t know if he can help you, but you could ask anyway."
Gu Li nodded, his appreciation for this new junior brother growing.
Tang San asked, "”Well, let’s see. Eldest senior brother, what do you think about the icicle as an attack method?"
Wu Bingji replied, "It’s a good fit for long-range attacks. It's about speed, penetration, and the number of icicles covering an area."
Tang San nodded. "Yes, it's somewhat similar to my wind blades. The thing is, since the icicles are solid, their power should be greater than the wind blades’ power. The advantage of the wind blade is that it’s very versatile. It rotates and moves around easily thanks to the wind element being so free, so it can attack from any angle. But ice spikes are different, I think. I think their best feature is their piercing ability. So the question is, what do you do to improve that?
“First, I think, should be the density of the icicle. The more compressed it is, the harder it becomes. Then comes the speed. The faster it is, the more energy it carries, which means that its power and its piercing ability are greater. If you work on it enough, you might be able to compress the ice energy so much that you create an ice needle as heavy as a big icicle. This way, you’ll be able to pierce through anything as long as you can launch it at a high enough speed. Then, it won’t matter what kind of defense your enemy has, you can just blast through it."
Gu Li laughed. "Sounds quite chilling, hehehe! But eldest senior brother must have noticed all these things you mentioned as well, right?"
"I did, but I only figured out a good way to compress the ice elemental energy after he showed me a few things, " said Wu Bingji somewhat helplessly. "Little Tang, so you were saying that to make the icicle stronger, one way is to compress its volume as much as possible and make it more solid, and the other is to increase its speed."
Tang San nodded. "If two icicles weigh one jin[1]each, the smaller one will be more powerful. But that’s up to you to work on. The technique I want to teach you is the second kind, a technique that can help your icicles move faster. This technique will let you merge your physical strength with your bloodline power and infuse it into the icicle. Actually, if you practice enough, you can even add your spiritual power to it. That way, the icicle will have even greater piercing power and even if your opponent tries to dodge, they won’t be able to."
Wu Bingji laughed. "Haha, sounds impressive! Can you show me?"
As he spoke, he conjured an icicle in his palm and handed it to Tang San. It was an ordinary icicle, about half a foot long and weighing around half a jin.
The icicle felt cool but showed no signs of melting in Tang San’s hand. This showed that Wu Bingji’s cultivation allowed him a good level of control over the ice element.
"Eldest senior brother, watch closely," Tang San said. The next moment, his eyes suddenly brightened, though not with the green of the Wind Wolf Transformation.
With the energy of the Mysterious Heaven Technique in motion, Tang San's entire demeanor instantly changed.
His gaze was not on Wu Bingji and Gu Li, but both could feel a profound aura emanating from him.
Tang San became immensely focused at that moment. The icicle in his hand gained an ethereal quality—even though the two could see it clearly, it was as if it wasn’t there anymore. It seemed as if it had disappeared or merged completely with Tang San.
In the next instant, Tang San half-turned his body, using his waist to drive his shoulder and his shoulder to drive his arm as he flicked the icicle in his hand like lightning.
The icicle vanished in midair, silently disappearing into thin air. Even with Wu Bingji's cultivation level, he only saw a flicker of light before the icicle was gone. It was over twice as fast as the icicles he usually projected.
When the icicle flew out, Wu Bingji and Gu Li felt their scalps tingle. In that instant, they could sense the surging bloodline power within Tang San.
Amazing... Wu Bingji barely had time to process this when suddenly, about thirty meters away, a small tree slowly tilted and fell, making a rustling sound as its branches and leaves collided with the other trees around it.
Gu Li was left agape. The icicle? Did he snap a tree in half just like that with an icicle?!
Wu Bingji was also shocked beyond measure. How can one single icicle be this powerful?
Tang San turned to Wu Bingji, smiling. "See, if you want to have a good long-range attack, then you need to unify your physique, bloodline energy, and spirit into one. That's the only way you can make it impossible for your opponent to hide. It doesn’t matter how powerful your attacks are, if they don’t hit the target, they’re useless. Fast, accurate, ruthless! Physique, energy, spirit! These six words tell you how long-range attacks should be. Senior brother, you can try it for yourself. This technique of mine is called Flicking Dart. It's not complicated to learn, but it is difficult to master."
"Flicking Dart, what a good name!" Wu Bingji's eyes shone brightly. He felt a sense of eagerness, as if he was about to jump right into action.
Tang San didn't avoid Gu Li as he detailed to Wu Bingji how to use the Flicking Dart technique and control his force skillfully.
Wu Bingji listened attentively, and Gu Li also didn’t miss a word. Unlike his eldest senior brother, he couldn’t produce anything throwable using his bloodline ability, but he still gained some insights from Tang San’s force application methods. It was definitely the right decision to come along!
After Tang San finished explaining, Wu Bingji was raring to give it a go. "You two go up and rest. I'll keep watch for now and I’ll start practicing the Flicking Dart." His body was infused with ice elemental energy; the day's exertions were nothing to him, and his excitement made him feel not the slightest fatigue.
"Alright!" Tang San agreed and was about to go up the tree to rest when Gu Li stopped him.
"Little Tang," Gu Li chuckled, "About that method, you promised to teach me to defeat Zhang Zebin.... When are you planning to teach me?"
Tang San smiled and replied, "No rush, senior brother. Rest first. We need to maintain our best condition for tomorrow. If everything goes as planned, I'll start teaching you tomorrow night."
"Good, then it's a deal." Through the Flicking Dart, Gu Li was wholly convinced by Tang San. If even the eldest senior brother could learn from Tang San, he could too!
Wu Bingji practiced until midnight before calling Tang San to take over, and he even demonstrated to Tang San the progress he had made with the Flicking Dart.
After Tang San offered him some corrections, Wu Bingji contentedly went off to meditate.
Wu Bingji indeed had a remarkable aptitude. The Flicking Dart was one of the more basic techniques in the Hidden Weapon Hundred Separation of the Tang Sect, and it wasn't that difficult to learn. With his profound cultivation, he had grasped the essence of the technique overnight, and all that remained was practice.
The night passed relatively peacefully. When everyone woke up the following day, they found Du Bai had rolled from atop the trunk to the side. Luckily, they had tied him up with a rope beforehand, so he hadn’t fallen to his death.
They continued on their journey.
Based on their progress the day before, it would take two more days to reach the main habitat of the Winged Tigers. As for how long it would take to actually find a Winged Tiger, that would depend on their luck.
The sense of accomplishment was quite satisfying. Wu Bingji was no longer as cautious as he had been on the first day. They still avoided groups of demonic beasts, but whenever they encountered lonely ones, they actively engaged in combat, honing their skills and improving their coordination.
Tang San unquestionably became the core of the group. Wu Bingji delegated authority to Tang San to advise everyone on their coordination.
They moved with intermittent stops, engaging in battles as much as they could. This slowed their progress but allowed them to take down six demonic beasts, the strongest being fifth-order and the weakest fourth-order. Although they were individually less valuable than the Fissure Lizards, the total gain was substantial.
Being the top seedlings of the Redemption Society, none of them was stupid. As they engaged in battles under Tang San's leadership, they gradually developed a tacit understanding.
1. The jin or catty is a unit of weight measurement used in East and South-East Asia. Historically, it varies between 300-600g, and the modern Chinese jin is 500g. ☜
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