Chapter 827

The helmsman's eyes widened instantly.

Fortunately, Fang Yue and the others were at the stern, none able to see his expression at the bow—otherwise, he'd have lost face completely.

But how could that be? That was a Li-level anomaly!

Could that guy's strength have already reached that level?

The helmsman was utterly stunned.

A Li-level anomaly? That's the power of a Yun-level martial artist.

Any martial artist who reaches the Yun level is a rarity across all of Qing Guo; beyond that lies the legendary Yu-level—the peak of the mortal world!

The helmsman's perception of Fang Yue subtly shifted.

A martial artist capable of slaying a Li-level anomaly is a force no one can ignore, anywhere.

In fact, on this ship, only the helmsman and the Special Envoy guard unit were unaware of this; everyone else had already been informed by Fang Yue.

As for the helmsman, Fang Yue had immediately told him the fog had been cleared and they could withdraw—everything else he'd forgotten, since at the time he'd only been focused on activating the turbo jet device to accelerate and escape.

Later, after putting distance between them, he'd explained the situation to Chen Qing and the others, and simply forgotten about the helmsman.

Fang Yue's words confirmed his victory; the helmsman naturally dared not speak further.

The matter was settled.

Fang Yue descended into the cabin, returned to his room, and immediately began his seclusion.

Among the three core methods in Lord Han's legacy, the one least friendly to Fang Yue had always been the final one: Frozen Sword Art.

Because whether it was the Heart Method or the Leg Technique, Fang Yue had prior cultivation experience.

Only sword art—he'd never touched it before.

But since receiving the sword art infusion from Tian Ruichi, the Half Sword Spirit, Fang Yue's understanding of sword art surged forward dramatically.

What had once been an impenetrable scripture to him, the Frozen Sword Art, suddenly became easy to comprehend.

Under the flood of post-heaven and pre-heaven sword techniques, his proficiency in sword art had already caught up to his blade technique.

Thus, learning it now had become vastly easier.

Precisely because of this, once Fang Yue's sword art caught up, he'd already been considering mastering the Frozen Sword Art.

But various incidents kept delaying him, and he'd put it off again and again.

Now, facing the peril-laden Han Jiang, he urgently needed to raise his strength—this sword art had reached the point where it could no longer be delayed.

The core principle of the Frozen Sword Art was actually simple: the word "empty."

"Empty" means the sword art has only a hollow shell, capable of containing all things and all methods; by absorbing other martial arts, it fuses and amplifies them into its own sword technique, enhancing its power!

Of course, this was exaggerated—this was merely how the original text of the Frozen Sword Art phrased it.

According to Lord Han's own cultivation records and instructions:

The Frozen Sword Art could only resonate with the martial arts within Lord Han's legacy, and the highest resonance rates were 100% with the Frozen Heart Method and 95% with the Flowing Ice Step.

Correct—even a step technique, once activated, could resonate with the Frozen Sword Art and amplify its power.

As for other martial arts in the legacy, their resonance rates were low—in short, their conversion efficiency was poor, likely due to poor compatibility.

Martial arts also follow the principles of mutual generation and mutual restraint.

Compatible martial arts, when combined, produce greater power—this is the fundamental principle behind many sects forming sword arrays and other human formations.

The same applies to the Frozen Sword Art.

In a sense, once cultivated, the Frozen Sword Art becomes a super mobile sword array when paired with compatible martial arts—its terrifying power goes without saying!

But achieving this is extremely difficult, because compatibility implies counteraction.

In Lord Han's legacy, all calculations of resonance rates were based on the Frozen Sword Art as the core.

Yet he also mentioned in the legacy that, aside from the three core methods, the other martial arts had mutual antagonisms—if all were learned and used, they would cause Qi Deviation within the body.

Thus, although Lord Han's legacy contained many martial arts, all capable of resonating with the Frozen Sword Art, only one-third or one-fourth were actually usable—the rest had to be abandoned.

This was based on Lord Han's own experience.

He hadn't known this at first, and had tried cultivating every martial art he'd collected, integrating them into the Frozen Sword Art.

The result, of course, was Qi Deviation—combined with the lingering injuries from the former 【Night Cold】 invasion, Lord Han's strength and lifespan had been continuously declining and deteriorating.

Through self-experimentation, he discovered that these conflicting martial arts had permanently lodged within his body, requiring constant cultivation and suppression to control Qi Deviation.

But Lord Han did not choose to give up—he left his hope for the next generation of inheritors…

He chose to continue studying those conflicting martial arts, organizing and summarizing them.

Though his body deteriorated step by step, the martial arts in the legacy were gradually categorized into 2.5 non-conflicting sets.

The reason for "2.5" was that the final half-set had not yet been completed when Lord Han's body gave out and he ceased his research.

Lord Han later discussed this with Chen Qing, but Chen Qing's strength was insufficient, and though he excelled in studying anomalies, he knew nothing about martial arts.

Thus, the matter was abandoned.

Precisely because this legacy contained Lord Han's hard-won research, paid for with his own body, he had been exceedingly cautious in choosing his successor.

This weight filled Fang Yue with both pressure and motivation.

"I will definitely help Lin Ling achieve cultivation and bring you back to life!"

Fang Yue clenched his fist and began to comprehend the Frozen Sword Art.

Which set of legacy martial arts to fuse with the Frozen Sword Art could wait—right now, he hadn't even mastered the Frozen Sword Art itself, so there was no rush to decide.

After all, once a decision was made, the other set could no longer be used, or martial arts conflict would occur.

Also… due to Tian Ruichi, Fang Yue had already learned a vast number of sword techniques at this stage, plus other miscellaneous martial arts—he might already conflict with most techniques in both sets.

Therefore, resolving this required careful planning—it couldn't be rushed.

But the Frozen Sword Art? That needed to be comprehended and mastered now.

Mastering the Frozen Sword Art—hard? Not really. Simple? Also not really.

That "emptiness" is emptiness in the truest sense.

It requires the cultivator to thoroughly and completely learn, comprehend, and master the Empty Ice Sword Art.

Then, they must abandon the core's internal force acupoint coordination and meridian routes entirely, pretend to forget them, and re-cultivate using only the pure external sword moves.

Once the Empty Ice Sword Art of pure sword moves is fully cultivated, the two can merge anew to form a complete Empty Ice Sword Art.

It sounds complicated, but in practice it's just separating the sword moves from the sword art's core and practicing them apart.

(End of chapter)