Chapter 19: Secret Art: Thousand Mountains [Volume 1 – Between Daybreak and Evernight]

The young man’s shot also went through the target, leaving a hole about the size of an egg. The shot was a little far from the bullseye, somewhat worse than his usual performance, but the training gun he normally used had a sight equipped.

“Seventy points!” the examiner reported the score on the target as usual.

The young man was a little disappointed, but still felt some pride soon after. After all, this was the best score so far.

“It’s your turn!” he said viciously while staring at Qianye.

Qianye smiled faintly. He raised the origin gun, charged it, and aimed at the same time, effortlessly firing the shot.

The red origin bullet shot toward the target, yet the point of impact was obviously kind of off. It looked like it would be worth around fifty points at most.

The young man’s expression became full of joy, but smile on his face froze immediately afterward.

With a boom, the red origin bullet exploded on the target, actually shattering more than half of it! The bullseye naturally wasn’t spared.

“One hundred points!” Hearing the voice of the examiner report the score, the young man was instantly awestruck.

He couldn’t help but ask, “That works too?”

Of course that worked.

Moving targets were up next. Qianye still shot casually, and even through the origin bullet was somewhat off the mark, it still shattered the entire target. Qianye still ended up with a full points for that round.

In the following exams for close range and long range shooting, as well as action shooting and speed shooting, Qianye shattered the targets with every single shot. He naturally received full points each time.

The young man had long ago become unable to smile.

He already discovered that Qianye’s ability to get a full score definitely wasn’t a fluke. Everything else aside, even if he used the same amount of strength as when he sucked on his mother’s breasts, he was only able create a slightly larger hole than other people with the crappy gun provided for the exam. In the meantime, Qianye was able to blow up the targets with the exact same gun. The difference between them was a matter of origin power!

After the exam was over, the young man candidly placed the necklace into Qianye’s hands. “I am Wei Potian! My Wei family is somewhat famous in the Far East Province. If you later have time to go there, you can make a request to my Wei family.”

Qianye gagged a little when he heard this courageous, domineering name. If he hadn’t forgotten everything he learned back in the literacy class with Zhang Jing, then the young man’s identification plate clearly had Wei Qiyang written on it.

The young man saw Qianye’s expression and immediately patted his chest in a bold manner, loudly saying, “Potian is a name I gave myself. How is it? Not bad, right? Have you been dazzled by my overbearing style? In the future, I, Wei Potian, will become a man capable of shattering the heavens with one punch!”

Qianye accepted the necklace. His impression toward Wei Potian changed slightly. Even though his behavior was little brutish and nothing like an aristocratic heir, at least he was a man who kept his word. His name was also kind of dumb, but other than that, there weren’t too many shortcomings.

On the way to the next examination ground, Qianye finally asked Wei Potian a question he had been holding back for a while, “Why did you cause trouble for me now? Did you do that because of my status?”

Wei Potian immediately scoffed at that statement. “Status? Commoner? Hah! I ain’t one of those dumbasses who thinks they were born noble. After all, commoners who can set foot in this place are all talented people. The only reason why I caused trouble for you was your face!”

Qianye touched his face, and as if coming to some sort of realization, said, “My face? Oh, I understand now. I look similar to an enemy of yours, right?”

Wei Potian immediately shook his head. “Of course not! I just hate pretty boys! Looking at that face of yours gives me the urge to smash a fist onto it! How can you be even prettier than my woman!”

Hearing this, Qianye felt his hands itch. He also felt the urge to smash his fist onto something—like the nose of a certain man who wanted to shatter the heavens.

Wei Potian suddenly smirked and said in a low voice, “Why don’t we have another bet? It’ll be on the results of the next examination. How about it? The stakes are the same as before—if you lose, you’ll return the necklace to me!”

Qianye looked at him and said, “You seem to only have one necklace.”

Wei Potian raised his wrist. “I still have this!”

There was a chain bracelet on his wrist. Its material was exactly the same as the necklace’s, and an engraved plate also hung from it.

Qianye’s brow furrowed slightly. “Why do I feel like this thing isn’t actually that useful. Just look at the birdbr-er, I mean, just look at you. Do you really have any authority in your family?”

Qianye almost said “birdbrain”, but having let that much of it slip, Wei Potian obviously knew what he was originally going to say.

Due to Qianye’s blatant skepticism, Wei Potian’s expression had long since turned ashen.. He angrily said, “During the next round of the exam, I will take back the necklace no matter what, so you don’t need to worry about what kind of authority I have!”

The next exam was for melee combat.

The rules of combat were very simple. They were one on one duels. One could challenge anyone they wanted, but were unable to refuse challenges from others. No matter how many times one lost, the exam would be considered over as long as a total of five matches were won. The exam rankings would then be decided by win rate.

The enormous drill ground was divided into over a hundred arenas. Inside every arena was a captain who served as judge.

Wei Potian stood in front of Qianye the moment he walked into the arena, cracking his knuckles and laughing with malicious intentions.

“Hey, Lin! It’s not too late for you to surrender now so you don’t get miserably beaten later!” Wei Potian had returned to his conceited way of speaking.

A faint smile emerged on Qianye’s face. “But it’s too late for you to surrender.”

Wei Potian’s expression instantly darkened as he sneered, “Then I can only beat you to the point that your head will be swollen like a pig’s! You better not cry and accuse me of bullying you with my family’s status when that happens!”

Wei Potian spread his feet. His arms moved slowly, as if he were carrying a large ball. The aura around him suddenly changed, origin power surging as it became incomparably heavy and grim. It was as though a mountain range had risen before Qianye!

“Let me show you what a secret combat art truly is! Wei Clan Secret Art: Thousand Mountains!” From Wei Potian’s voice, all the way down to his aura, everything about him had completely changed. The air surrounding him was boundless, heavy, and calm, as if he had suddenly become another person.

Qianye immediately felt an invisible pressure assault his face.

Surprisingly enough, things like secret combat arts really existed! When he was in the Yellow Springs Training Camp, Long Hai mentioned that some grand aristocratic households and sects had secret combat arts that used origin power as their foundation. They were usually profound, hard to fathom, and mighty.

However, the Yellow Springs Training Camp had never taught any melee combat arts with formal systems. Long Hai only taught and explained the basic principles of melee combat, the vitals of a live body, and the most efficient method of reducing the injuries that one sustained while increasing the enemy’s.

This was the first time that Qianye had faced an actual melee combat art! He was kind of nervous, but was even more excited! It was an excitement that thirsted for fierce battles!

Wei Potian gestured toward Qianye with a beckoning finger. “Come! Your daddy will let you strike first! If I strike, you wouldn’t get the chance!”

The Yellow Springs Training Camp had taught Qianye many things, but it hadn’t taught him courtesy and etiquette. Without hesitation, before Wei Potian’s speech even finished, he suddenly took a step forward and threw a ferocious roundhouse kick at Wei Potian!

This kick was as fast as lightning, and a faint crackling sound actually echoed through the air!

The moment that Qianye raised his leg, Wei Potian made a sound in surprise, the color of his face immediately changing! His reaction speed was also top-notch, and he instantly changed his hand form and lowered his waist, bringing his arms downward to block Qianye’s roundhouse kick!

With a muffled bang, Qianye’s roundhouse kick actually forced Wei Potian several meters away! The air was still echoing with crackling sounds as though beans were being stir-fried. That was the result of the clash between their origin power.

Qianye let out a hum of approval. His opponent was quick to react, and their defense was also very impeccable and refined. However, the power that Qianye felt after the clash was extremely low—far from what he had expected.

This kick was originally just him feeling Wei Potian out and merely used eighty percent of his strength, yet it had actually knocked Wei Potian away!

One needed to understand that more than half of the students at the Yellow Springs Training Camp could take this roundhouse kick with no trouble at all.

Seeing that Wei Potian’s surprise didn’t seem fake, Qianye moved without thinking. His right leg flew up like lighting, and another roundhouse kick whipped toward Wei Potian. This time, Qianye used his full strength!

Hearing the faint crackling sound caused by origin power, Wei Potian’s expression changed greatly as he let out a yelp. A dim layer of yellow earthy light appeared around his entire body. His arms protecting his body, he smashed his body into Qianye’s roundhouse kick, attacking to defend. At that moment, he had no other choice. If he didn’t try to fight it with an offensive momentum, he would definitely be kicked away once more, directly forcing him out of the arena.

Another muffled bang resembling dense thunder rang out. Wei Potian actually didn’t move backward! This wasn’t a good thing, however, because he had no way to back off and dispel Qianye’s extremely heavy roundhouse kick.

Barely suppressing a mouthful of blood churning in his chest, Wie Potian felt shocked and unlucky. The power of this roundhouse kick was already at the level of a rank three Fighter’s! If Qianye had reached rank three before reaching seventeen years old, what was the point of taking the exam here? He should have been directly recruited by the few top-rated corps.

Just as Wei Potian completed that single complaint in his mind, Qianye had already pounced over. Punches, kicks, knee strikes, and elbow strikes rained down on him like a storm. Every single attack struck at the various vital points, and was extremely heavy!

Wei Potian was like a small raft in a storm. Barely enduring seven or eight strikes, his defense was completely demolished by Qianye. The defensive posture of his arms was broken and his torso was fully exposed. With one hand, Qianye pushed Wei Potian’s arms aside, and lightly struck his abdomen.

This strike was certainly light by Qianye’s standards since he had already held back half his power. However, Wei Potian’s abdomen was unexpectedly soft, and Qianye’s entire fist pushed into it. If Qianye had really used his full power, this punch might’ve obliterated all of Wei Potian’s internal organs.

Qianye was also extremely surprised. The Aura Sea, where the origin power vortex gathered, was in the abdomen. Qianye knew that the strength of his origin power was far denser and heavier than that of ordinary people's and held back as a result. He never expected that one punch would be enough.

If his punch struck the students of the training camp, it would only affect them slightly at most. Qianye had actually prepared seven to eight kinds of follow-up attacks that could beat Wei Potian to the ground without crippling him, yet they currently seemed unnecessary.

Wei Potian, an expert who possessed Wei Clan’s secret combat art, Thousand Mountains, seemed to have already been done in by a single punch.

Qianye suddenly retreated several meters, distancing himself from Wei Potian.

Wei Potian’s face was pale and ashen as his trembling finger pointed at Qianye. With an expression of disbelief, he struggled to say, “That works too?”

Then he knelt to the ground and vomited.

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(OverTheRanbow: Potian = 破天 lit. shatter the heavens)