Chapter 160: Behemoth Battle Art
Chapter 160
(Bonus chap thanks to lykana)
Several years ago... Outside the massive library of the Guan Clan, an elder radiating an incredibly powerful aura stood guard before the entrance while waiting for the young disciples he had sent inside to choose combat arts for themselves.
The combat art each of them selected would become the one he would personally guide them through, helping them learn it and become accustomed to it. Hopefully... They wouldn’t choose something that didn’t suit them... Or worse... Something far beyond their ability to comprehend. The elder waited patiently.
A few minutes later, several children ranging from eleven to fourteen years old began walking out one after another. Each of them respectfully handed over the combat art they had chosen.
The elder would glance through it before giving a slight nod whenever he found one that suited the child well enough. If it was something especially difficult or notoriously hard to master, he would honestly tell them they might not be able to learn it and advise them to choose another one instead.
Whether they listened afterward... That was entirely their own problem. The Guan Clan, being one of the strongest clans in the entire Night Region, naturally possessed a vast collection of cultivation techniques and combat arts.
Almost all of them, however, belonged to the Earth Grade. Among those techniques, nearly eighty-nine percent were Bronze Rank or Silver Rank. Only a small number had reached the Gold Rank. Even fewer had reached the Emerald Rank.
And finally... There were the Obsidian Rank techniques. The entire Guan Clan possessed only three of them. They couldn’t really be blamed. The higher a technique’s rank... The harder it became to obtain.
For illustration... An Earth Grade Bronze Rank technique could usually sell for around ten to fifty gold coins depending on its value and contents. A Silver Rank one was far more expensive, ranging from two hundred to one thousand gold coins.
Gold Rank techniques were another leap entirely, often selling anywhere between five thousand and fifty thousand gold coins depending on their quality, uniqueness, and usefulness. Then came the true whales... Emerald Rank techniques.
Their prices started from one hundred thousand gold coins and could easily climb to an astonishing one million gold coins. And finally... The true boss among them all. Obsidian Rank techniques.
Those were even rarer. Their prices ranged from five million gold coins to nearly fifty million, depending on the contents, rarity, and overall value. Just by comparing those prices alone... Anyone could understand the terrifying gap between an Obsidian Rank technique and a mere Bronze Rank one.
Of course... Price wasn’t the only reason why the Guan Clan couldn’t simply purchase them in bulk. There were many other factors to consider. One... Was just how unbelievably rare Obsidian Rank techniques truly were.
Some people even believed they were rarer than Bronze Rank Sky Grade techniques. The second... Was the terrifying difficulty involved in comprehending and mastering one.
Their learning difficulty was staggeringly high. Very high. So high, in fact, that many cultivators would never manage to grasp even the basics before giving up and settling for techniques of lower ranks instead.
The inspection and advising continued as the elder carefully examined each combat art the children brought out from the library, giving every one of them advice that best suited their talents and physiques.
While waiting... He couldn’t help but search for one particularly troublesome little fellow among the younger generation of the Guan Clan. He looked around. She wasn’t here. The elder finally asked,
"Tell me... has anyone seen Guan Xueyi today?"
His gaze swept across the group of young disciples. They all shook their heads.
"No, Elder. We haven’t seen her."
A few seconds later, one of them suddenly spoke. "I saw her this morning. She was dressed as if she was about to head into a serious battle."
The speaker was a kid with chubby cheeks but a surprisingly slim build. The elder looked at him.
"Which direction did she go?"
The young disciple immediately replied, "I saw her heading toward Burnold City."
The elder slowly nodded. "And which clan resides within Burnold City again?"
"The Li Clan."
Without needing another word... The elder immediately understood where Guan Xueyi had gone. She had most likely gone to pick another fight with the little princess of the Li Clan.
The elder helplessly shook his head. Seeing that only a handful of disciples remained inside the library, he was just about to conclude the session and close the entrance... When he suddenly heard footsteps approaching.
Someone was coming. The elder paused. A young boy soon emerged from the library carrying two combat arts. One was in the form of a scroll. The other was a manual.
However... Part of the manual had been completely torn away, leaving barely half of it intact. The boy no older than twelve. Yet his sturdy physique made him resemble a fourteen-year-old instead.
The moment the elder saw the boy’s short dark hair and familiar face... He immediately recognized him.
"Haoran."
"What are you doing? Why are you so late?"
The elder asked calmly, his voice almost gentle enough to make one think he was the boy’s father. And that assumption would have been completely wrong.
Haoran was merely an orphan who had once been sold to the Guan Clan. However... As the boy grew older... The clan soon discovered that he possessed a Heaven Grade Spirit Root alongside a naturally monstrous physique and astonishing mental fortitude that surpassed not only children his age but even quite a number of elders.
Because of that... He had quickly risen from being nothing more than a servant to becoming an official disciple of the Guan Clan. And he hadn’t disappointed them.
In less than a single year... He had already reached the Late Stage of Body Refinement. He could effortlessly defeat opponents within the same cultivation realm as himself. If they were adults... Taking down two of them at once wasn’t difficult.
If they were children around his own age... Defeating five simultaneously was hardly a challenge at all. The boy... Was a genius unlike any other. Unlike anything... The Guan Clan had been fortunate enough to witness in countless years.
So naturally, he was allowed to choose more than one combat art while everyone else only got one. Even Guan Xiu only received one despite being the daughter of the Clan Lord himself.
That alone showed just how much the clan treasured the extraordinarily talented young boy. He was allowed to choose up to three combat arts. Whichever ones he wanted. He was free to learn them all. And with the kid’s monstrous talent... Surely he would learn them quickly.
Too quickly, even. Of course, he would only be able to actually use them once he reached the Qi Gathering Realm, since that was the realm where cultivators could gather qi.
And qi... Was the fuel that every combat art, skill, and technique relied upon to function. So that was perfectly understandable.
The elder smiled warmly as he bent down and gently ruffled the boy’s hair before reaching over to inspect the combat arts Haoran had chosen.
The instant his eyes landed on them... His heartbeat quickened. His lips twitched. His pupils shrank into pinpoints. The scroll contained Iron Skin... An Earth Grade Bronze Rank defensive technique.
Not only was it powerful... It was unbelievably effective once mastered. Only a handful of people within the Guan Clan had ever managed to learn it.
And every single one of them had said the exact same thing. It was simply too difficult to master. Perhaps only the Guan Clan Lord himself had truly mastered Iron Skin to a profound level.
And now... This little kid was already attempting to learn a technique that countless people had abandoned halfway through because of its terrifying difficulty. But... If that had been all... The elder wouldn’t have looked so shocked.
Because the second combat art was far more terrifying. So terrifying... That the elder almost wanted to slap the kid for choosing it. The second manual... Was perhaps the highest-ranked technique in the entire Guan Clan. Perhaps even in the whole Night Region.
It was called... Behemoth Battle Art. A Sky Grade Obsidian Rank combat art. Just thinking about how unbelievably precious and valuable that combat art was made the elder want to immediately snatch the manual away.
*Has this kid lost his mind? Out of the hundreds of techniques inside the library... Why in the world would he choose this one? Crazy... Absolutely crazy.*
Forcing a calm smile onto his face, the elder looked toward Haoran before asking, "And why did you choose these two?"
Haoran blinked once before honestly replying, "Because... I liked them."
The elder’s eyes twitched violently.
*Because you liked them? Liking them? Is that your reason?*
"Do you honestly think you can learn these techniques?"
The elder asked once again, desperately trying to find a way to convince the child that the two combat arts in his hands were probably the worst possible choices for someone who hadn’t even reached the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Even after reaching Foundation Establishment... Perhaps... Just perhaps... The boy could still learn and master Iron Skin. After all... This kid was an abnormal genius.
But... The Behemoth Battle Art... Now that was something the elder doubted Haoran would ever be capable of learning. The strongest person in the Guan Clan... The Clan Lord himself... Had repeatedly attempted to comprehend it. Again. And again. And again. Yet he failed every single time.
He couldn’t even master the very first form... Behemoth Stand. Eventually... He had no choice but to give up, sealing the combat art away inside the library.
And now... It was resting in the hands of a twelve-year-old boy who genuinely believed he could learn it.
The elder spent quite a while trying to persuade Haoran to return the Behemoth Battle Art and choose two different combat arts instead. After all... He truly didn’t believe the child could learn it.
Moreover... It was generally advised that young cultivators focused on learning only one or two combat arts during the early years of cultivation. Trying to comprehend too many techniques at once would only damage their foundation and slow their overall progress.
The best option... Was to return the Behemoth Battle Art. Besides... The combat art wasn’t even complete. Nearly half of it had already been torn away long ago.
The copy currently in Haoran’s hands only contained four and a half forms... Out of who knew how many the original technique had possessed.
"Go back and drop this combat art. Pick another one." The elder tried his best to convince Haoran to leave the manual behind and choose another technique that he could actually learn.
After all... He truly believed the boy wouldn’t be able to learn that one. But the kid refused. He insisted that he loved it. And that he would definitely learn it. After arguing for quite a while, the elder finally decided to make a bet with him.
"If you manage to learn both techniques within two years... even if it’s only the surface level of each combat art... then you can keep them."
Haoran agreed without the slightest hesitation. There wasn’t even a trace of uncertainty on his face. Instead... He seemed oddly confident.
Sometimes... Being too talented could make someone foolish enough to believe they had no limits. Well... The kid would learn that lesson the hard way. Or so the elder believed. He was absolutely certain Haoran would fail.
But... That wasn’t what happened. Instead... What happened completely shocked him.
A year and a half later... News spread that Haoran, who had only just entered the very first stage of the Qi Gathering Realm, had killed more than ten bandits.
Every single one of them was at the Mid or Late Stage of Qi Gathering. And the most unbelievable part... Was that he had accomplished everything using only two combat arts.
They had all been blown apart by his punches. When the elder arrived at the scene, he found the bandits’ corpses scattered everywhere. Most of their upper bodies had been blasted apart as though they had been struck by an unstoppable tidal wave.
Even then... The elder still refused to believe Haoran was the one responsible. It was even harder for him to believe that the boy had killed grown men with higher cultivation realms than himself... With nothing but a single punch.
Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, the elder questioned Haoran about it. The boy simply answered, "I used the second form of the Behemoth Battle Art... Behemoth Punch."
The elder didn’t believe a single word. How was he supposed to believe that? The kid had supposedly not only mastered the first form of the Behemoth Battle Art... But had already mastered the second as well?
That was simply too unbelievable. So... The elder decided to test him himself. He ordered Haoran to use the technique against him. At first, Haoran hesitated.
After all... He had personally witnessed just how terrifying the destructive power of Behemoth Punch truly was. He genuinely feared he might accidentally kill the elder. But the elder immediately scolded him.
"I am at the very peak of the Foundation Realm. No matter how hard you strike... You won’t even be able to scratch me."
That was exactly what the elder said. So... Haoran listened. He slowly raised his fist.
"Second Form... Behemoth Punch."
A deafening thunderclap exploded through the surroundings. Dust and debris flew everywhere. When everything finally settled... Everyone saw the elder still standing exactly where he had been before.
His expression remained calm. One hand was still resting behind his back. It looked as though absolutely nothing had happened.
However... The thin stream of blood that slowly dripped from the corner of his mouth the very next second... And the violent twitch in his eyes... Told a completely different story.
The elder stared silently at Haoran for a very long time before finally speaking. His voice was slightly muffled from the pain spreading through his entire body.
"Listen carefully, kid. Never... Ever... Use the Behemoth Battle Art against an opponent you do not intend to kill. Do you hear me? If you do... There is a one hundred and fifty percent chance... That you will end their life."
The elder said those words with complete seriousness. Haoran quietly looked at the elder for a long moment.
Then... He lowered his gaze toward his own fist. After a few seconds... He slowly nodded.
"I understand."
-------------
🎁 BONUS Chapter — THANKS TO LYKANA!
This bonus Chapter is brought to you thanks to Lykana, our very first Obsidian Reader! 🖤
A hidden quest was completed, and as promised, the reward has been unlocked:
🏆 Hidden Quest: First Obsidian Reader
Reward: 4 Bonus Chapters every Sunday for the rest of this month!
So everyone, give Lykana a round of applause! 👏😂
Without this reader reaching the legendary Obsidian Tier, these four bonus Chapters wouldn’t be here. So yes, you have Lykana to thank for the extra reading today.
And remember...
There are still more Hidden Quests waiting to be discovered. 👀
Who knows?
Maybe the next bonus Chapter will have your name attached to it.
Enjoy the extra Chapter, everyone!
Your gentle author, Ultra