Book 10, Baruch – Chapter 11, The Order Comes Down
Higginson stood there staring at Linley. Linley had actually immediately begun to train without paying attention to anyone else.
“Amazing, amazing.” Higginson let out a sigh of praise, then flew over to Desri. Desri’s group was staring at Linley with approval in their eyes as well. All of them sat down, and Hayward laughed, “Big brother, this Linley truly is a genius. Even when sparring with Higginson, who uses the Elemental Laws of Light, he will still have some insights.”
Desri’s group of people were all amongst the highest class Saints.
Seeing Linley do this, they knew that Linley must have gained some insight into something important, which was why he had immediately started training.
“Uncle,” Reynolds had immediately run over after seeing Linley’s actions. “What’s wrong with Linley? Is he wounded?”
“Haha…” Desri and the others began to laugh loudly. Miller laughed and said, “Reynolds, Linley is fine. However, it is hard to say how long he will be in training. For those of us at our level, it is very hard and rare for us to suddenly gain an insight.”
Only then did Reynolds relax.
Currently, Linley’s mind was filled with all sorts of movements. A longsword-wielding figure was flashing about in his mind, once again stabbing at him using the technique Higginson had just displayed. Higginson’s sword had seemed like an illusion…
The sword striking out. The flash of light. The distorted space…
Those folded, blurry layers of space…that terrifying penetrative power…it had seemed unstoppable.
“What is it? What exactly is it?” Linley was repeatedly thinking on this matter, and in his mind, he replayed that sword attack over and over. For an instant, upon seeing that sword, Linley seemed to have understood something.
But it was extremely blurry!
Again and again, he replayed the attack in his mind, concentrating on it whole-heartedly.
Suddenly-
It was as though a lightning bolt had suddenly flashed in Linley’s mind. Linley’s heart shook, and that layer of obscuring fog was stripped away. He finally understood that sensation he had felt. “Right. It is the wind. The wind! The ‘Fast’ aspect of the wind!”
Linley’s heart was filled with wild joy.
Previously, when Linley had witnessed Miller using the ‘Slow’ aspect of the Elemental Laws of the Wind, Linley had come to understand the direction in which he should train the ‘Slow’ aspect. Linley had learned that the power of his ‘Tempos of the Wind’ technique could increase.
This was because the ‘Tempos of the Wind’ was similar to the Profound Truths of the Earth. With the Profound Truths of the Earth, the more vibrational waves created, the more powerful the attack was.
By that same logic, the ‘Tempos of the Wind’ utilized the combined forces of the ‘Fast’ and the ‘Slow’ aspects of the wind to create the frictional force that created a spatial edge attack. The deeper his understanding of the ‘Fast’ and the ‘Slow’ aspects of the wind became, the more powerful his combination attack would become in creating a more powerful ‘Tempos of the Wind’.
After having sparred with Miller, Linley’s insight into the ‘Slow’ aspect of the wind was slowly increasing.
But his progression in understanding the ‘Fast’ aspect of the wind had come to a standstill.
Elemental Laws of the Wind – What was the path to training in the ‘Fast’ aspect?
But today, after seeing Higginson’s ‘Illusionary Void Sword’, Linley now clearly understood how he should proceed. “Of the Elemental Laws, in terms of speed, the Elemental Laws of Wind and the Elemental Laws of Light have an advantage. Higginson is fast, so fast that in the instant of his attack, space itself is distorted. But the ‘Slow’ aspect of the Elemental Laws of the Wind can cause space to suddenly freeze. Right…the Elemental Laws of Wind, in their ‘Fast’ aspect, should also be able to instantly cause space itself to distort into multiple layers.”
Linley already had some basic insights into the ‘Fast’ aspect of the Elemental Laws of Wind, and he had been pondering it for some time now.
But now, he knew exactly what his goal was…Linley’s mind began to rapidly ponder how to train. It was as though he now knew the starting point and the endpoint. What he now needed to do was to decide what was the best way to go about on this path, and then actually follow the path to its endpoint.
Linley’s mind played countless scenarios in his mind, and gradually, his insights into the ‘Fast’ aspect of the Elemental Laws of the Wind deepened as well. Whenever he could no longer resolve a question in his mind, Linley would stand up and use the Bloodviolet flexible sword to test out a theory on the spot.
This was the nature of training; tough, pain-staking, and occasionally needing a burst of insight.
It was as though a person had suddenly seen a flash of light and seen the rough picture of the road ahead of him. He now had the general idea of where he should go. All that had to be done next was to continue studying and continue testing. As long as one had enough time, one would definitely be able to reach that goal.
……
To be able to gain insights into the ‘Fast’ aspect of the Elemental Laws of Wind from watching a sword technique based on the Elemental Laws of Light wasn’t something which just anyone could do. Right now, Desri and the others didn’t have any idea what Linley had suddenly understood.
“It’s been over half a month, but Third Bro, he…” Reynolds stared at the meditating Linley with some urgency in his eyes.
The nearby Monica laughed. “Big brother Reynolds, last night, I saw Linley suddenly stand up and then perform what appeared to be a sword technique. However, his sword was so blurry and indistinct. When that violet light flashed, the wind began to blow all around him, and the speed of his sword was very fast as well. I couldn’t see anything clearly.”
“If Third Bro continues like this, who knows how long it will take.” Reynolds said with some agitation.
“Big brother Reynolds, look.” Monica suddenly pointed towards Linley excitedly. Reynolds turned to look…and saw that Linley had already stood up and was smiling towards Reynolds while walking over to them. “Fourth Bro, what’s the matter? Did a flower blossom on my face?”
At this moment, a black blur suddenly streaked out, leaping onto Linley’s shoulders.
“Bebe.” Linley lovingly rubbed Bebe’s head.
Bebe quirked his lips unhappily. “Boss, it’s been half a month. You sure can sleep.”
“Sleep?” An involuntary laugh escaped Linley’s mouth.
He knew that while he was training, Bebe had definitely been extremely bored. However, Linley was in an extremely fine mood today…because he had made progress in the ‘Fast’ aspect of the Elemental Laws of the Wind. Linley understood very well that in order to reach the power of that sword attack of Higginson’s, he would most likely need to spend at least ten or so years.
As for reaching Miller’s level in using the ‘Slow’ aspect of the wind, he would most likely only need three or four years.
Clearly…Miller had a much lower level of understanding than Higginson. Linley was secretly delighted. Indeed, sparring with experts truly did allow one to improve much faster.
If he had been training by himself in the mountain the entire time and training aimlessly, if he was lucky, perhaps in ten years or a hundred years, he would’ve found the correct path. If he was unlucky, he might spend hundreds or even thousands of years before finding the correct path.
This was the nature of training. If you gained insights quickly, you trained quickly. If you gained insights slowly, you would train slowly. After all, not too much time was needed after one reached the Saint-level for one’s battle-qi to reach the limits of the Saint-level. Everyone spent their time on increasing their insights into the Laws…for example, Olivier was able to defeat Dillon as soon as he had reached the Saint-level, precisely because Dillon had virtually no insights into the Elemental Laws. There was nothing for it.
…..
In the northern part of the Anarchic Lands, a large-scale campaign had begun.