Chapter 50: Linley and Olivier
Linley looked at the person standing atop the tree canopy.
Silver-white short hair made the man before him appear very sharp and capable. The light cyan robe he wore fluttered noisily in the wind, giving him an extraordinarily ethereal bearing.
"A master!" Linley had a feeling that this silver-haired, middle-aged man's strength was not much weaker than his own.
"I am Linley." Linley did not conceal his identity.
"Linley? The Linley from the O'Brien Empire?" Miller was surprised, then smiled. "I've long heard that the O'Brien Empire has a twenty-seven-year-old genius who has achieved great success in sculpture, magic, and warrior arts. I never thought I'd run into you today. Since you can fight Hederson to a standstill, I, Miller, definitely want to spar with you, brother."
Linley also felt a good impression of Miller.
This straightforwardness suited Linley's temperament well.
"Alright, then I'll have a good spar with you, Brother Miller." Linley had been training hard recently and also wanted to exchange blows with some experts of similar level to gain some insights.
Linley took off his dark cyan robe, baring his upper body directly. Then, quickly, black dragon scales emerged across Linley's entire body, and ferocious spikes sprouted from his forehead, back, and elbows... Seeing this, Miller's eyes lit up. "Dragonblood Warrior, haha, I've heard of that."
The cyan-black battle qi on Linley's body surface began to churn and vibrate in a special rhythm.
Holding the Violet Blood Soft Sword, Linley looked at Miller. "Come on."
Miller flipped his hand, and a silver-white longsword appeared in his palm out of thin air. He laughed loudly, "Linley, you'd better be careful. The power of my sword techniques isn't much weaker than Hederson's attacks." Miller said this with great confidence. Linley was secretly alarmed. He knew how terrifying Hederson's 'Earth Split' was.
"Watch out!" Miller gave a loud shout, and his entire figure suddenly tore through the air, appearing right next to Linley.
Linley tapped his foot, leaning back sharply and shooting diagonally backward at extreme speed. But Miller's longsword still grazed Linley's 'Pulsating Defense.' In an instant, Linley reached the top of a large tree several hundred meters away. "Such speed... it seems I have no choice but to use Windshadow."
After one exchange, Linley understood that his comprehension of the 'Speed' aspect of the Wind Elemental Laws was inferior to his opponent's.
Linley chanted the 'Windshadow' magic incantation, while Miller paused for a moment, holding his silver longsword, waiting for Linley to finish chanting the 'Windshadow' spell. Only then did Miller charge at Linley at extreme speed. "Linley, show me your ultimate move."
"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!"
Linley's figure also moved at extreme speed. Now that their speeds were nearly equal, while dodging at high speed, Linley flipped his hand and unleashed 'Wind Ripple' against the attacking Miller. In an instant, countless violet sword tips covered Miller's entire body.
"Excellent!" Miller's laughter rang out. A silver-white sword shadow seemed to trace a circle very slowly in front of him.
It looked slow, but in reality, Linley's 'Wind Ripple' hadn't even reached Miller before it was completely broken by that 'circle.' Linley was delighted. "Is this the extreme realm of slowness that Miller cultivates in the Wind Element?"
Slow, Fast!
The 'slow' and 'fast' mentioned here don't refer to mere speed, but to a kind of artistic conception. For example, Miller's attack looked slow, but in reality, it was no slower than Linley's 'Wind Ripple.'
"Miller, take this move!" Linley shouted loudly.
Linley and Miller kept moving, changing direction instantly with just a touch on a leaf. In the blink of an eye, they clashed again high above Black Crow Mountain. Linley's dreamlike 'violet sword shadow' seemed to be the extreme of slowness, yet also the extreme of swiftness. The two artistic conceptions actually had a special, continuous, unbroken feeling.
"Good." Miller shouted in pleasant surprise.
The speed of Miller's silver longsword suddenly dropped to an extremely slow level, as if the sword weighed billions of pounds, moving with difficulty and slowness. Linley could feel the opponent's sword moving with 'difficulty and slowness'!
Yet his own Violet Blood Soft Sword couldn't avoid the opponent's sword.
"Bang!" The two swords collided.
Linley felt as if he had been struck at extreme speed by a weight of billions of pounds. His entire body trembled, and he was sent crashing into the distant mountain wall behind him. He was smashed directly into the mountain's interior, leaving a human-shaped hole on the mountain's surface.
"Whoosh." Linley emerged into the air again after a moment.
Miller was also very excited now. "Linley, your sword intent... slow, fast? Two opposite artistic conceptions? This, this..." Miller felt a flash of inspiration in his mind, as if he had thought of something. Linley was also pleasantly surprised at this moment.
He didn't even care about the trace of blood at the corner of his mouth. His mind was filled with the opponent's sword strike from just now. "The sword Miller used to defend against my 'Wind Ripple' was gentle as a breeze. But this sword strike was no less powerful than Hederson's 'Earth Split.' If I hadn't recently gained some insight into the 'Earth Pulse,' I would probably have been injured more severely."
"This sword strike was a manifestation of the 'Slow' aspect of the Wind Elemental Laws. At that moment, it felt like space itself had frozen." Linley clearly remembered the feeling that opponent's sword gave him.
Slow, like a heavy sword weighing billions of pounds moving slowly, as if space itself had frozen because of it. He felt the opponent seemed extremely slow, but although his own sword was fast, over that short distance, his sword wasn't any faster than the opponent's.
Miller and Linley both had faint smiles of surprise on their faces as they stood in mid-air.
When they recovered from their contemplation, they smiled at each other. Clearly, both had gained some insights.
"Linley, I never thought these two opposite realms could complement each other... You've really helped me a lot." Miller was a bit excited. Indeed, among his friends in the Mystic Valley, except for himself, none of the others cultivated the Wind Elemental Laws. They couldn't give him any help.
Linley also thanked him. "Miller, I've been pondering how to continue developing the two extreme realms of 'Slow' and 'Fast.' You've shown me the path."
"I don't have any deeper insights into the Wind Elemental Laws either. Shall we stop here?" Linley suggested.
Miller curled his lip. "Linley, don't be modest. I know... your real specialty is a heavy sword. I heard it even seriously injured a freak with defenses like Hederson's. Come on, let me try it." Miller said expectantly.
Linley hesitated a bit.
Once the 'Earthly Mystery' was unleashed, it was very dangerous, potentially fatal.
"It's fine. Linley, just come at me. Let me feel your strongest attack. My defense is very strong." Miller said with a confident smile.
Seeing the other's confidence and insistence, Linley nodded. At the same time, he decided in his heart to use the Earthly Mystery with a hundred vibration waves, not his current limit of one hundred and thirty-eight. Given the strength the opponent had shown, he should be able to withstand a hundred.
High above Black Crow Mountain, Linley and Miller stood facing each other in mid-air. Linley held the Black Heavy Sword.
"Come on." Miller said expectantly.
"Miller, be careful." As he spoke, Linley charged at Miller, causing a terrifying sonic boom. Miller just stood there, seemingly casually holding his silver longsword. The silver longsword began to move slowly in front of him.
Space froze once again.
Linley's Black Heavy Sword smashed over lightly. A very light sword that seemed to weigh billions of pounds, and a very heavy sword that seemed light as a feather. As soon as the Black Heavy Sword approached the silver longsword, it became trapped in that 'frozen space.'
The two swords touched!
"Bang!"
Earthly Mystery: Hundredfold Wave!
What surprised Linley was that when the vibration waves passed through that 'frozen space,' they weakened at a relatively fast rate. After crossing that space, by the time the attack entered Miller's body, the vibration waves had already been weakened by more than half.
But even so—
Miller's eyes lit up, and surging air waves erupted from his entire body. Yet even so, a trace of blood still seeped from the corner of his mouth. He looked at Linley in surprise. "Linley, this attack of yours is really strange. My defense is also a very special kind, but your attack still..."
In a battle of experts, speed, defense, and attack all had to have their strong points. If any aspect was too deficient, it would be quite dangerous.
Miller's defense was also very special.
Dragonblood battle qi surged within his body, quickly healing his injuries. Linley, however, looked at Miller in surprise. "Miller, that sword of yours... I always feel like it causes some kind of change in space." It was precisely this change in space that had caused Linley's vibration waves to weaken so much during transmission.
Miller laughed. "It does cause a change in space. I can't explain it clearly. Once you comprehend this realm, you'll understand."
Linley nodded slightly, and at the same time, he reverted to his human form.
"Alright, Linley. I'm very happy to have met you today and to make you my friend. If you ever want to find me, you can go to the southern part of the Chaos Territory. There's a fairly famous city there called 'Nanshan City.' About a hundred miles southeast of Nanshan City, inside a large mountain, there's a small mountain village. That's where I live." Miller laughed.
Linley nodded happily. "I'll definitely visit when I have time."
"A few of my good friends, and my lord, also live there. If you go, sparring with them will help you improve quickly." Miller said warmly. "I still have important business in the Dark Forest, so I'll take my leave now."
After bidding farewell to Miller, Linley watched as Miller flew at extreme speed toward the boundless Dark Forest to the north. Then, smiling, he immediately tapped his toe, flew up to a flat rock above, sat down cross-legged, and quietly comprehended the mysteries he had discovered during this sparring session...
××××××
To the north of the Yulan Continent lay the boundless North Sea. Beyond the North Sea was the Arctic Icefield. The Arctic Icefield was vast, several times larger than the Yulan Continent. However, apart from some powerful magical beasts, there were very, very few humans in the entire Arctic Icefield. The ground of the Arctic Icefield was made of ice, and it was extremely hard.
"Whoosh~~ whoosh~~"
The cold wind scraped against the icebergs like knives, even sending ice shavings flying. The Arctic Icefield was extremely cold, with a very harsh environment. Even powerful warriors found it difficult to live there. However, this harsh, tranquil environment attracted some reclusive cultivators to live here.
At the base of an iceberg tens of thousands of meters high, two experts were fighting at extreme speed. One of them was Olivier. His opponent was a cold, ruthless man with short, blue-green hair, a lean, tall build, but well-developed muscles. This cold man wore only a pair of dark metal gauntlets.
"Whoosh!" With a flicker of light, Olivier appeared above the cold man and slashed down with his sword.
The cold man swayed to dodge the sword strike, then his right leg, like a battle blade, fiercely chopped toward Olivier. On the surface of his right leg, a clear air blade, as sharp as a knife's edge, was formed. This was much clearer than Linley's 'Rhythm of the Wind' air blades.
"Bang!"
Olivier, along with his sword, was sent flying, crashing heavily into the hard ice ground in the distance. "Bang!" The ice ground cracked, creating dozens of huge fissures. Olivier also spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground.
"Hmph, Olivier, you still want to challenge Lord Rutherford? You can't even beat me. You're just at the bottom of the ladder here in the Arctic Icefield. Go train properly." The cold man said coldly, then his entire figure shot straight up into the sky, finally disappearing into the interior of the tens of thousands of meters high iceberg.
Olivier coughed a few times, then stood up. He looked up at the iceberg. "Next time, I will definitely defeat you." Then, with a flicker of his form, Olivier also disappeared into the snow and ice.