Legend of Ling Tian

Ling Tian let out a laugh as he exclaimed, “Ling Chen, do you know what is experience? An outsider’s experience is merely an explanation or a story. Only when you actually meet with the same situation can the meaning you derive from it be considered yours, and that’s experience! Any experience has to undergo a process, and is not something which can be learned just by me telling you! What I can do is only to point you in the right direction. That’s already overly excessive, and if I were to put it bluntly, the effect is far worse! This is what we call able to grasp but unable to put into words!”

Chuckling, Ling Tian turned his gaze towards the two people duking it out, as he meaningfully continued, “For example take all that I’ve said to you previously. When you actually come across a similar scenario, would you be able to find the opportune timing to utilize it? I doubt so, right? This is because of what I told you before, thus you will not find the best timing to utilize such elements, but rather think of me, before thinking of what I said, then carry it out. However, this would have wasted too much time! When experts clash, life and death are decided in a split second!”

“Experience is about moving purely based on muscle memory. This is called real experience. Just merely relying on explanations without actually going through life and death scenarios will not give you true comprehension.”

“Real skill lays outside the poems,” Ling Tian recited.

Ling Chen assented in an absent-minded manner, her brows slightly furrowed as she tried to digest his words. Ling Tian’s words had opened up a huge new door for her, allowing her to see a new territory yet unexplored in her life.

“As for the theory behind every experience, only when your martial arts have reached a certain stage can I then tell you about it. If your realm is too low, and you chase after such a stage, it might even cause you to regress. Any sort of explanation has to have strength as a foundation. The reason why Li Xue could create such advantageous situations for herself relies on that!” Ling Tian concluded, and no longer spoke.

While the two of them were conversing, the situation inside the arena once again took on a heaven-shaking change!

Upon seeing that the time allocated was ending, Li Xue did not pull any more punches. Her body shot forwards like lightning as she fully revolved her Divine Ice Formula, entrapping the entire area in opaque white fog. Everyone could only see the rolling white fog, not knowing what was happening inside the area.

Only the sounds of fists hitting flesh continuously sounded, and from the corner, Ling Chi and gang’s faces were sporting an ashen color, all their eyebrows continuously twitching. Every time they heard a particularly loud thump, all of them would spasm a bit, as though the actual hit was directed towards them.

Ling Jian’s grunts sounded quite a few times, from soft to loud, until they all combined into one cacophony.

Ling Chen sighed at this and said, “Ah’Jian is really pitiful. Hearing the sounds, it seems like Sister Li Xue is not even thinking of being merciful.”

Following her words, as though in reply to her, an angry cry sounded from Ling Jian, followed by a clank as a longsword flew out of the white fog, embedding itself a hair’s breadth from Ling Chi.

As it turned out, Ling Chi did not wish for Ling Jian to be humiliated, and hence had tried to secretly insert his own pure Yang energy to further heat up the pot. Who would have thought that the moment he inserted it, the sword akin to shooting down from the heavens shocked him so much his soul almost left his body.

The white fog was getting more and more voluminous, the slapping sounds also increasing in intensity until it nearly converted into a continuous stream of sounds. However, the person beating seemed to be extremely in control to the point that there was still no blood on the ground. The control of those punches seemed to have reached the stage of infinitesimal control.

Ling Tian sighed. It seemed that Ling Jian was really down on his luck. Initially, this sparring session could have been conducted with a more peaceful atmosphere, but he just had to be a smart-alec and rouse the ire of Li Xue to the point that this happened. When he came out, Ling Chi and group probably would not be able to recognize who he was anymore…

Suddenly, Ling Chi and group started to jump up excitedly, as though they were cats whose tails had been stepped on. “The water is boiling, boiling!! Stop… hurry and stop!!”

A white blur flashed across, and Li Xue flew out looking exceptionally beautiful. She somersaulted once in the air before gently landing beside Ling Tian. Gently tucking her hair behind her ear, she exhaled for quite a bit before saying a sentence that would cause even Ling Tian’s head to explode. “How exhilarating! So good! I haven’t felt so good for such a long time!”

The other party, Ling Jian, seemed to not have any movement at all…

The white fog was quickly dissipated by Ling Chi and gang, but when they saw the state that Ling Jian was in, everyone, including Ling Tian, was struck dumb, and they all felt a chill up their spines. Suddenly, the gaze everyone gave towards Li Xue was as though she was a demon that had just crawled out from hell. This was especially so for Ling Chi and gang, which included killing intent!

Ling Jian was actually very ‘whole’. By ‘whole’, it meant that there was no broken skin, no muscles exposed, and even his black robes were perfectly clean on his body. One of the reasons why he was so clean would be because of the dust they removed previously!

However, the same cannot be said for his body. The most eye-catching point was that his robes did not conform to his body anymore. One could clearly see that his robes that become too small, in other words, after fighting, Ling Jian had somehow grown fatter…

As for his face, it was a little more difficult to explain. His two eyes were akin to that of a panda, the bruises around them so dark they were almost black. This was accompanied by his skinny face having expanded like Maitreya ¹ . This was especially prominent on his lips, which swelled so much they looked like sausages. On the top of his head, his hair could not hide the seven or eight new lumps formed, making Ling Tian think of the head of Buddha himself.

Li Xue could be considered having propriety even when beating someone up. She only made Ling Jian’s muscles all swell up, to a frightening point, yet caused near zero damage to his tendons and bones, allowing those audiences to be fearful yet in admiration of her. Just this accurate control she had was enough to let people feel far inferior to her abilities. Even Ling Tian had to bow down to her!

“They are all flesh wounds, and will heal in two days.” Li Xue did not even blink as she spoke, “Open up his acupoints, and let his internal energy circulate a bit, this should resolve some swelling. This will not be a hindrance for him to drink all nine bowls of goldthread soup.”

Ling Tian glared at Li Xue, not knowing whether to laugh or scold her. As it turned out, she had already restricted Ling Jian at a certain point, sealing his acupoints and treating him as a pure sandbag. No wonder her control of strength was so good. Hitting a person who could not retaliate, as and when you wish, how could it not be an awesome experience? No wonder that lass had immediately filled up the entire arena with white fog to restrict everyone’s eyesight. She did not want anyone to see what she was trying to do!

This demoness really lived up to her name, and one couldn’t help but be amazed!

However, that Ling Jian was also too silly, even after falling into her trap and not being able to retaliate, he still did not make a single sound! Ling Tian sighed, and tapped out with a finger, freeing his acupoints.

Ling Jian suddenly let out a ferocious howl as he leaped up. Following a sharp intake of breath as he forced open an eye, he glared at Li Xue in anger as he howled, “Li Xue! How dare you humiliate me like this! I’ll not rest until one of us is dead!”

“ENOUGH!” Ling Tian boomed out, “Not resting until one of you is dead? Someone can treat you like a sandbag to beat, so what makes you think that you can fight to the death with them? If you really want to fight to the death then you had better think about how many times you will need to reincarnate! Defeat means defeat, and if you want to bet, then you have to be willing to face the consequences! Instead of carefully pondering about how you lost, you’re actually throwing my face here. Ling Jian, you disappoint me!”

Ling Jian’s red and swollen face miraculously turned pale, and he silently stood on the spot, not daring to whisper a single word.

Still possessing some residual anger, Ling Tian grumbled, “Based on your martial arts level, even though Li Xue is still above you by one entire realm, you still shouldn’t have been so easily defeated. If this was a life and death battle, you should still be able to drag her down with you. However, you lost so embarrassingly and so easily, haven’t you figured something out from this?”

Why did I lose?

The anger from Ling Jian’s face quickly receded, as he frowned and began to recall. The more he thought, the more he began to sweat.

Ling Tian only coldly stared at him. “Realized it yet?”

Ling Jian quivered, straightening his body as he admitted in shame, “Yes, I underestimated my opponent. I never thought that Miss Li’s martial arts would be so profound, almost above all the opponents I’ve faced. I completely neglected this point, and even looked down on her, which resulted in this loss. I believe that’s the reason I lost.”

“That’s right, it is one of the reasons. However, is it just so? Are there any others?” Ling Tian looked at Ling Jian and meaningfully probed.

After remaining silent for a while, Ling Jian continued, “I was also too eager to take revenge and desired instant gratification, thus my mental state was not stable. This should also be a reason.”

The sentence made Ling Tian burst into cold laughter. “It turns out that you only found two reasons. Wrong! You’re deeply mistaken! In this battle, you committed at least seven grave errors! Any one of them would be enough to take your life, or at least affect the final outcome of the battle! As for what you put as ‘main reasons’, those were the most insignificant reasons.”

“Seven?! How… how is this possible?” Ling Jian opened his eyes wide in shock, unable to find words. As a seasoned killer of over a hundred battles, how could he not know what mistakes he made within his fight? Even with only one mistake, it was enough to consign him to eternal damnation, let alone seven!

Ling Tian mercilessly spat, “The first, failing to understand the enemy, failing to probe her secrets, and then taking the initiative to seek battle. I didn’t malign you, right?”

Ling Jian lowered his head, “Yes.”

“The second. You viewed yourself too highly, only clear about your achievements and not others. Right? Thirdly, when Li Xue blew off the dirt to create a trap, not only were you unaware of her intentions, but you even copied her, wholeheartedly dropping into the trap.” Ling Tian’s points were like swords as he indifferently rattled on.

“Trap?” Ling Jian raised his head in surprise.

“That’s right, trap. You should know by now that Li Xue cultivates the Divine Ice Formula, right? And her realm is even above that of Ling Chen’s. You should know the specialty of the Divine Ice Formula, right? If I don’t call it as you jumping wholeheartedly into the trap, then what is it?!”

“Oh…” Ling Jian came to his senses.

“The most serious is actually your fourth mistake. Li Xue had started with clashing head-on with you, fighting you to a draw. At that time, your darned pride couldn’t take it any longer, and you chose to break from the confinement, attacking with your strongest strike first. From that instant, your mental state became unstable, allowing Li Xue to use your anger to lead you by your nose around the battlefield. Which is to say, Li Xue’s anticipation and plans had already completely succeeded. If you had continued to clash head-on, Li Xue would definitely lose out in the long run because of her natural build which makes her weaker physically compared to you. At that time, she would begin to come out with other ideas, and that would be to your advantage. But you didn’t! Am I right?”

Ling Jian was already sweating bullets at this point.

“The fifth, when Li Xue activated her Divine Ice Formula, you would have noticed that it was her true capability, but why did she only activate it after a certain time? This was because her plan had been achieved, and you had foolishly dropped straight down on it, thus she chose to carry out the next phase. But you didn’t consider this point, taking the lead to enter your opponent’s domain and initiate the battle. You fell right into the center of her palm.”

The sixth is that you have experience against fighting Ling Chen, and you do know that the Divine Ice Formula isn’t something easy to deal with. Thus, when Li Xue released the white fog, you should have flown out at the very first second, choosing to attack in long range or use guerilla tactics. But you didn’t! You actually did not know what’s good for you, dashing headlong into the white fog to do battle. Isn’t that placing your head on the chopping board for her? The perfect archetype of seeking one’s own death, how could you not lose?”

“The seventh, which is about your positioning! Even if you’re facing off against someone of the same capabilities as you, you should never face the sun while fighting. Especially when that the opponent is using the Divine Ice Formula! You know very well that the refraction of sunlight from the ice is enough to completely disorientate all your senses, but you didn’t stop to think, dumbly maintaining your current position, to the point that when your opponent had moved with their backs facing the sun, you were still unaware, only wanting to charge forward at her. You were completely led by the nose! With your current standards, you still want to fight for life and death, do you think you have the qualifications?”

Ling Tian took in a deep breath at this time, sweeping his gaze over Ling Jian. “Li Xue’s capabilities and cultivation already outstrip yours. With the addition of so many traps, she can display more than 90% of her overall battle strength, almost like she was in the right place at the right time! The gap between the two of you widened even further. It would be an injustice if you didn’t lose!”

Ling Jian’s back was soaked through with sweat, as he felt like digging a hole to bury himself.

These mistakes, no matter which one, if they had happened in a fight between top-level experts it would make the losing side admit that they deserved to lose. However, he had never thought that he would actually be the offending one this time around!

Today’s loss was really not an injustice.

“In addition, there’s the eighth mistake!” Standing on the side, Li Xue laughed as she said, “Your desire to win was too heavy. Even more so is the desire to prove to Tian’ge how much you’ve improved from the last time. Hence you only had the thought to finish me off in one blow. This sort of attitude is something that I was very happy to take advantage of.

Ling Jian’s face was as swollen as a tomato, and he hung his head low in shame, wanting to simply bury his head in his pants.

Eight mistakes!

At this moment, Ling Jian seemed to have a desire to pull out his sword and commit suicide!

At the side, Ling Chi, Lei and the rest were all staring in shock as well. They did not even catch any of the mistakes that Ling Tian and Li Xue had spoken about, but there were actually eight life-threatening ones! Ling Tian snorted as he continued, “Don’t think you guys are alright standing there. Out of the eight that were mentioned, you guys would have committed at least six of them if anyone of you went up to fight! Based on your current levels, even if it was three against one, you might not necessarily be Li Xue’s match. Understand?!” This few words caused the fellows to duck their heads down in shame. “What First Pavilion, what top assassins? Such an awe-inspiring name, but how did you guys even get it? Being so sloppy and careless, how can I ever leave you to accomplish greater things next time? Our enemies will only get stronger and more vicious. Are you guys going to continue being negligent?”

On the side, Ling Chen warmly smiled in encouragement, “Young Noble’s words are to pinpoint your mistakes so that you guys will not repeat them again. This is so that Sister Li Xue’s efforts today will not be wasted. This is a good lesson for you all.”

Ling Tian angrily snorted, “It WAS supposed to be a good thing!” But he did not continue berating. Ling Jian and company gave grateful looks to Ling Chen in return.

Li Xue also gently laughed, and spoke with some mischievousness, “But, I still have to thank you, Ling Jian, for not using your ultimate one step, one kill technique. You’ve shown mercy to me. However, you had better treat your injuries soon. I was quite heavy handed just now. Oh, since Ling Chi and the rest have just finished boiling the medicine, you should drink it while it’s hot. It will help you with the injuries!”

The faces of that particular group became ugly to behold. Looking at the bubbling pot sitting quietly in the corner, everyone felt the urge to heave…

Li Xue winked at Ling Tian, before turning to walk away, murmuring, “Actually, it doesn’t matter whether you drink it or not. It’s just a random bet anyways. Forget it, it’s up to you, I won’t be there so I’ll take your word that you drank it. I’ll be leaving first, then!”

Ling Tian almost choked. Is this how a person encourages someone? This was practically forcing them down a dead end!

And indeed…

“Stop right there!” Ling Jian rushed over angrily, “One must be prepared for the consequences when they bet! I, Ling Jian, have never been afraid of losing. I’ll drink them right now for you to see. Ling Jian here does not back out of his words. I’m definitely not someone who will not live up to their promises!” This was followed by him walking gallantly towards the pot. Nine bowls were laid out in a flash and were completely filled up with goldthread water. After a moment of hesitation, he closed his eyes and began to drink them one by one…

Moving!

Such a moving sight!

What a tragically moving sight!!

Seeing Ling Jian “valiantly” drink down the pungent goldthread water, everyone had their eyebrows twitching violently. The third bowl had just gone down, but Ling Jian’s face was already in an amazing state. What was bringing trouble on oneself? Reaping what you sow? Lifting up a rock to smash one’s foot?

Ling Jian’s face was the answer to all three questions stated above!

How could the goldthreads he had painstakingly collected be so nice to drink? Those were all top of the line! Ling Jian’s face was so screwed up that the lines on his face seemed to merge into one…

Li Xue let out a sigh, as though bemoaning the state of mankind as she recited, “If Heaven creates a disaster, one can still escape, but if you bring forth disaster, then how can you survive?” Then she walked away.

Ling Jian stared at Li Xue’s retreating back with flames coming out of his eyes, ruthlessly throwing the last bowl of goldthread water into his mouth…

Ling Tian stood by the side with his arms crossed, coldly watching as Ling Jian drank down bowl after bowl, his expression one of icy indifference. The others all stood at the side, not daring to utter a single word. Even when Ling Jian finished the nine bowls and went back to stand in front of Ling Tian, he still remained silent.

Ling Chen carefully looked at Ling Tian, timidly probing, “Young noble…?”

Staring coldly at them, Ling Tian stretched out two fingers, forming the number 8 (八) as he hissed, “From today on, I don’t want to see these eight mistakes appear in any one of you! Today’s battle must be engraved into your heads! Ling Jian’s mistakes must be completely eliminated, and as much as possible, absorb and learn from Li Xue’s calculation as well as her utilization of external elements!”

He swept his gaze over once, before asking, “Do you know why I agreed to this battle, why I did not speak a word even though Li Xue obviously went overboard?”

The four shook their heads in response.

Ling Tian solemnly stressed, “In this world, there are only two who can force Ling Jian to commit those eight mistakes. One is me, the other is Li Xue! No one else can do so, even Justice himself. The most he could do would be to kill you in one move. Against me, you guys will not put in your maximum effort, which will not be able to force out all your bad habits, at least not as thoroughly as Li Xue! What Li Xue showed you was precisely what you are most lacking in. If you guys could utilize the external elements in your own battles, then your killing power would jump up by multiple times! At that time, even if it was against Justice, you would still retain your life! Go back and ruminate.”

“Today’s battle is merely a lesson for you guys. As for what you have picked up, it will serve as the best protective screen in your future battles! Our enemies will not give you any chance, while opportunities will have to be fought for, and grabbed when they come by! This lesson is mainly to teach you how to grasp the opportunities!”

After he finished, he put his arm around Ling Chen’s waist and left.

Behind him, the four of them had expressions of deep thoughts.

To Ling Jian, this battle was like a huge turning point! So long as he could absorb the essence of this battle, he would have truly stepped into the realm of the peak experts!

And as for the pressure Li Xue gave him, as well as the beating and humiliation, they were all catalysts to help Ling Jian achieve this goal. Towards this point, Ling Tian had absolute certainty!