Chapter 41: Skills

Meng Yifan's stabbing blade and Wang Lei's Ghost Head Broadsword collided, sparking tiny embers. A massive counter-shock force traveled from the Bird Gun, shaking Meng Yifan's web between thumb and forefinger until it split, nearly causing him to lose his grip on the Bird Gun.

Meng Dayong had also regained his senses by this time; seeing that Meng Yifan was no match for Wang Lei, he grabbed a solid wood table nearby and smashed it toward Wang Lei's head.

Wang Lei did not meet it head-on, but instead retreated two steps, dodging Meng Dayong's solid wood table.

The Meng father and son stood together, while Wang Lei and Shouhou stood together; both sides fell into a brief stalemate.

"What a pity." Wang Lei felt very regretful in his heart. Just now, he had unleashed his ultimate move, which had already disturbed Meng Dayong's state of mind; that was a perfect opportunity to finish the opponent off, but unfortunately, it had been ruined by Meng Yifan.

"Huh! The lightness skill Meng Yifan just displayed was extremely exquisite; to be able to cross a distance of three meters in an instant, it must be at least a Yellow Grade High-Rank lightness skill."

Wang Lei was puzzled in his heart. The intelligence he had obtained stated that Meng Yifan had bought a Yellow Grade High-Rank lightness manual from Wanxiang Tower, and it was even a fragmentary volume of a Mysterious Grade Mid-Rank lightness skill. But only half a day had passed; could he have already mastered the lightness skill? This was too monstrous.

One must know that for an ordinary person, a Yellow Grade High-Rank manual is already considered a very profound manual. Once successfully cultivated, its power is immense, and during battle, one can easily crush opponents of the same level.

However, the higher the level of the manual, the more difficult it is to cultivate, especially when first starting out. If one relies solely on fumbling through it oneself, it is possible to fail to find the way in for months. This requires the guidance of a famous teacher to be able to learn a profound manual.

But people are different; some have extremely high talent. As long as they get the manual, they can practice it casually and become self-taught, quickly mastering profound techniques and martial skills. Such people are one-in-ten-thousand martial arts prodigies. Could Meng Yifan be such a martial arts genius?

"Must kill him." Wang Lei stared at Meng Yifan with a grave expression. If Meng Yifan truly was a one-in-ten-thousand martial arts genius, as long as he was given a little time, his strength would advance by leaps and bounds, turning him into a big shot that Wang Lei would need to look up to. By then, Meng Yifan crushing a Second Grade Middle Stage Martial Artist like Wang Lei would be just like crushing a bedbug.

Wang Lei gripped the Ghost Head Blade in his hand. This blade was a Low-Grade Dharma Artifact. Under normal circumstances, Dharma Artifacts are treasures that only Immortal Cultivators can activate, capable of unleashing unimaginable power. But this Ghost Head Blade was very special; it could be barely activated using True Qi, emitting the sound of ghost crying and wolf howling to disturb the enemy's state of mind.

Much of Wang Lei's resounding fame in the underworld was built using this Ghost Head Blade.

He would not easily unleash this ultimate move because using True Qi to vibrate the Ghost Head Blade, while barely able to activate it to launch a sonic attack, consumed a great deal of True Qi. Even though he was a Second Grade Middle Stage Martial Artist, he could activate it at most three times within a day, and each time it could only target one enemy.

"Shouhou, you go and entangle Meng Dayong; I will kill Meng Yifan," Wang Lei said. He could still unleash Ghost Crying Wolf Howling twice, which should be enough to finish off Meng Yifan.

Shouhou nodded and, brandishing a poison-tipped Dagger, stabbed toward Meng Dayong's chest. Shouhou had cultivated a Yellow Grade Mid-Rank lightness skill; his body was as fast as a wisp of light smoke. Even though three toes on his left foot had been crushed, his speed still exceeded that of Meng Dayong, who did not know any lightness skills.

If it were a head-on confrontation, Meng Dayong was a Second Grade Lower Tier Martial Artist, and Shouhou was no match for Meng Dayong.

However, Shouhou did not intend to go head-to-head with Meng Dayong, but instead used his speed advantage to circle around Meng Dayong, watching for an opportunity. The Dagger in his hand was like a venomous snake emerging from its hole, stabbing toward Meng Dayong.

Meng Dayong was a Second Grade Quenching Skin Realm Martial Artist; his skin had been strengthened by True Qi, but after all, he had only entered the Second Grade Martial Artist level a few hours ago, so his skin had not even completed its initial strengthening, and thus his skin could not yet block Shouhou's Dagger.

Most importantly, Shouhou's Dagger was tipped with potent poison, and Meng Dayong did not dare to test the poison with his own body, so he was struggling greatly to deal with Shouhou's entanglement.

On the other side, Meng Yifan and Wang Lei had engaged in battle. Wang Lei only had two chances left to unleash Ghost Crying Wolf Howling, so he did not use it right from the start, wanting instead to unleash it at a critical moment to complete the kill.

Wang Lei's Ghost Head Blade danced like a giant Wind Turbine, one move faster than the next, each move aimed at Meng Yifan's vital points.

Meng Yifan was struggling to cope, being beaten back step by step, and could only use all his strength to barely block Wang Lei's sharp Ghost Head Blade.

"This won't do. Even if Wang Lei doesn't use his ultimate move, I won't be able to hold out for long." The more Meng Yifan fought, the more alarmed he became. Wang Lei was worthy of being a veteran Second Grade Middle Stage Martial Artist; his combat experience was extremely rich, and his blade technique was very fierce—it was definitely a Yellow Grade High-Rank Blade Technique.

Meng Yifan also discovered that the blade technique Wang Lei was currently using had one move following another; the further it went, the greater the power. It was as if a whirlwind had blown up in the room, causing the doors and windows to make a constant clattering sound.

At this very moment, Meng Yifan was already struggling greatly to cope. If he waited for Wang Lei's blade technique to be fully unleashed, he would definitely be split in two by a single blade.

"Lingbo Microsteps!" Meng Yifan felt somewhat distressed. Just now, in order to save Meng Dayong, in his desperation, he had inexplicably unleashed Lingbo Microsteps. But now, when he wanted to unleash Lingbo Microsteps again, he just couldn't, and even nearly tripped himself up again.

If it were during normal practice, tripping oneself up wouldn't matter; at worst, one would just get back up and continue practicing.

But now it was during a battle; the slightest carelessness would mean being decapitated, even if Meng Yifan were practicing haphazardly.

"I just unleashed Lingbo Microsteps; I wonder if the Lingbo Microsteps skill has appeared on the Game Panel?"

Meng Yifan called out to the Game Panel in his heart. In the void before his eyes, the Game Panel, invisible to others, appeared once again. He was pleasantly surprised to discover that Lingbo Microsteps had indeed appeared in the skill column of the Game Panel, which made him ecstatic.

On the current Game Panel, the skill column displayed:

Skill 1: Shooting Technique Level 2 (200/1000).

Skill 2: Lingbo Microsteps (Fragmentary Volume), lightness skill, Mysterious Grade Mid-Rank lightness skill, Experience Value (1/).

Meng Yifan's heart stirred, and he added all fifty points of Experience Value obtained from killing Pangdun to the Lingbo Microsteps lightness skill. The Experience Value for Lingbo Microsteps on the Game Panel became (51/).

In an instant, a great deal of knowledge regarding Lingbo Microsteps appeared in Meng Yifan's mind, as if he had been painstakingly practicing Lingbo Microsteps for a long time. He knew the eighty-one entry-level steps by heart, and it seemed he had already reached the point where he could walk every step correctly even with his eyes closed.