Infinite Star - Chapter 35
“Urgh…” Zayn laid on the edge of the arena. He heavily landed there after his attempt to finish Flint.
The blow, which he received, wasn’t that strong or fast in general, it only connected because he thought that he ended the fight already.
Zayn started to contemplate about his surprise attack, which should have finished the fight. He knew that something was off. He couldn’t remember what happened in the instant, where his fist flew out. ‘Did my punch even connect?’
He rose slowly up and looked over to the smokescreen. Right at this instant, Flint came out of it, charging Zayn again.
Zayn, in a flash, used his Phantom Blade Movement Arts and again “disappeared” in front of Flint’s eyes.
‘His power didn’t increase… I could dodge his charge again. He is neither faster nor stronger than before. How the hell did my attack not connect?’
Flint relentlessly charged Zayn again and again, with Zayn dodging the attacks with ease.
Zayn didn’t use his Phantom Blade Movement Arts for his dodges. He would either use it to launch a surprise attack or in a critical situation to dodge. The first Move of the Movement Arts was really straining on his body. If he used it too much, his body would tear apart. Fortunately, the first move didn’t need any Qi Control at all.
‘I need to try my attack again!’
Zayn continued to dodge Flint’s assaults. He didn’t want to use his attack again right of the bat. It was a surprise attack and should therefore also be used unexpectedly.
The audience was shocked by Zayn’s Movement Arts. Movement Arts wasn’t in general something new to them. They knew of its existence and its practicality.
With Movement Arts, you could enhance your footwork and also learn entirely new movements. Those would grant the cultivator agility and enhanced speed in a fight. These factors shouldn’t be underestimated as it could decide entire fights.
The audience also was aware that there existed Movement Arts for the Body Refinement Realm. But still, no one ever in the audience learned a Movement Art for the Body Refinement Realm. Those Movement Arts were most of the time too rare to find and then too inefficient to use. However, Zayn’s Movement Art didn’t fit into the category of inefficient, it was far faster than many Movement Arts suited for the Qi Gathering Realm.
The fight already proceeded for a while and only had 2 minutes remaining. This pressured Zayn even more, as he had to win the fight no matter what.
While he continued dodging, he noticed that Flint’s increase in speed and strength kept going. If he prolonged his sole dodging, he wouldn’t be able to dodge with his normal footwork anymore. He had to act now.
Zayn feinted a normal dodge and immediately went over to use his Phantom Blade Movement Arts.
*SWISH*
He appeared behind Flint and again used his full power to strike at him.
*BANG*
This time, however, no smokescreen appeared. Zayn felt his fist connecting on Flint’s body and right in the next moment, he felt a dulling pain on his hand.
His right arm was already covered in blood, and now it felt like his arm was broken. He couldn’t use his right arm anymore.
Flint received no backlash to Zayn’s attack. He didn’t seem to be affected at all.
“I feared so!” Infinite Star exclaimed.
“What? Tell me!”
After Zayn’s attack, Flint turned around towards him and didn’t let a second pass to rush at Zayn.
Zayn again dodged, but this time he felt that his speed decreased, because of his broken arm. He couldn’t move that freely like before. Still, his speed was enough to dodge Flint this time. But Zayn was aware that Flint was only getting faster and faster, and without his right arm there was nothing he could do.
“It’s because of his Blood Qi. He most likely consumed the Blood Qi of a defensive beast and gained far higher defense than strength and speed. The first time you launched your full strength strike, should’ve been the time in which his defense spiked and reached the bare minimum to withstand your attack. And now it seems like his defense is far higher than that. He didn’t even flinch after your full strength strike.”
“All right… great! But I need a- Urgh…” Zayn continued to dodge and felt the pain of his broken arm. The pain wasn’t unendurable, but it affected his movements.
“A solution! I need a solution!”
“I told you, no help from me unless it’s a life and death situation! You shouldn’t get comfortable with the idea of me helping you out all the time.”
“I KNOW! I fucking know that! But I have to win this fight!” Zayn was aware that the consequence of losing this fight was not only losing against Flint but more importantly not fulfilling his Quest. He didn’t want to risk receiving a punishment, so he had to win no matter what.
Infinite Star was surprised by Zayn’s powerful desire to win. He was aware that Zayn wanted to win against Flint badly, but he didn’t think that he wanted to win that badly, even asking Infinite Star for help. Infinite Star had mixed feelings about this matter.
He knew that Zayn was young and inexperienced. Most of the time youngsters, especially boys, were only goal-oriented and used everything they had to achieve their goals. It was natural that Zayn wanted to achieve his goal, even asking for help. So, helping him out in reaching his goal would potentially boost his confidence, and paving his way would make him also more obedient to him.
He could constantly remind Zayn that he only won this fight with his help, preventing Zayn from turning arrogant. His future character would be then developed step by step to the highest grade. And with Zayn’s help then, Infinite Star could make his dream come true.
“All right, kid! I’m going to help you out here. But I want to warn you beforehand, there’s a slight risk to my solution. Are you prepared?”
“Yes… I- I am! I want… to win!” Zayn continued dodging Flint’s onslaughts. It became more and more a tiring effort.
“Look, the thing is, you are the first cultivator to cultivate the Infinite Star Arts. It was created by me and for me. I wanted to create a body and then use this cultivation technique as my main one. So, because there weren’t any testing cultivators, many things in my Infinite Star Arts were only theories. That’s where the risk lies! My solution is only a theory, it could go totally wrong! You sure, you don’t want to give up?”
“Are you for real, right now? JUST FUCKING TELL ME!”
“Well, the Infinite Star Arts use also a special kind of Qi. You already heard an example from your teacher. But contrary to those basic special kinds of Qis, the Infinite Star Arts uses a unique one. I call it the Infinite Star Qi.”
“…Your name giving is really-”
“Shut up and listen! It has a special trait. Infinity! It’s endless and formless. And with its trait of formlessness, it can use the surrounding Qi, in the environment, as its own. To ease up Qi Control and allowing Qi Control in the Body Refinement Realm.”
“Wait… does that mean…” An idea sprung out of Zayn’s head.
“Yes, it does! In theory, you should be able to use Martial Skills!” Infinite Star knew that Zayn was excited about using Martial Skills. But unless it was an emergency, he would have never told it Zayn. It was only a theory after all.
“WAIT!!! I CAN FUCKING USE MARTIAL SKILL?!? AND YOU ARE ONLY TELLING IT ME NOW?” Zayn was at the same time enraged as thrilled after hearing that.
The discovery made Zayn even forget about his pain. He was too excited to test the strength of his Martial Skill out.
“Kid, using Martial Skill should be enough to finish Flint off, but remember it’s still not invincible! You can’t delay it! His defense can rise again and overpower your Martial Skill. You’re only in the 3-Star Body Refinement Realm, so the strength of the Martial Skill would still pale in comparison to its original strength.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll deliver fast. And I already know how I’ll end the fight, Infinite Star! I’ll give Flint, what he seeks so much. The Fire Fist!”
