The Martial Master - 30 Memory.

Facing the defenceless tree, Su Min’s eyes started to blaze as a new idea came to mind. The Sword Youth stepped back as he watched the tense exchange, leaning against his own tree.

‘Use two strands!’

Su Min, with his axe up high, commanded two golden strands to enter the axe. Moving like fantasmal whips, those two strands, at a near instantaneous speed, pierced right into the axe!

*SHINNNG*

A golden light enveloped the axe as a tremble shook the tree it faced, swivelling in primal fear. Su Min, with trembling eyes, tensed his inhuman biceps and thrashed right at it!

*SWIPE*… *BOOOM*

A deafening smash rang around Su Min as all the trees within a 5-meter radius bristled against a rush of wind. Yet, this was only the beginning…

*WOOOSH*

A blade of wind that surpassed the one before formed around the axe and, with a sonic boom, propelled itself right into it!

*SCREEEEEECH*

“Su Min, S~STOP!”

The sword youth clenched his ears as a dense shockwave force him backwards. Following this, a near thick, materialised layer of dust formed an oval shape around Su Min, and with a muffled bang, it threw itself out in every known direction.

*PSSSST*

“W-wha~!!”

The sword youth coughed as his eyes closed, where a layer of dirt started to form on his pristine white robes. Whilst this was going on, an ever-present screech continued to resound on the tree; as if it was wailing with pain.

Su Min, standing with his axe firmly in the tree, breathed deep gulps as the blade of wind continued to thrash itself.

*PSSsst-tt–st…*

It was unknown how long it lasted, and for some, it was like hell, but finally, the blade of wind diminished into nothing. Yet, just afterwards, a scraping noise soon supplanted it as a looming tree capsized onto Su Min’s head.

“Ah…”

Su Min, watching the tree fall onto him, found that he was unable to move at all.

He had wounded himself…

*SNAP*

Reaching breaking point, the remaining piece of wood that held it snapped under the intense torque, and with a intense speed, it tore through the air and towards Su Min.

*CRASH* *Flutter*

A painful crack echoed across the forest as a few birds, whether intentionally or not, scampered into the horizon with a light flutter. Su Min, still standing straight, now supported a tree on his head…

“Uh… Su Min?”

Looking puzzled, the sword youth spoke. Su Min, remaining motionless under the tree, realized that he may have pushed his body a bit too much…

‘I think I dislocated something…’

Su Min, standing straight because he felt that he’d break something if he didn’t, could only wait for the tree to remove itself. However, the tree remained right on his head, stubborn as hell.

“PFFT!”

The sword youth didn’t seem to be able to hold himself back as he laughed at the absurdness of everything. Su Min, staring at him, could only stay in the same position.

“Ok ok. One second!”

The sword youth after a while remembered the bloodthirsty scenes of the past. He shivered at the thought of Su Min going crazy, so without delay, he went up to Su Min and pushed the log off his head.

*THUD*

Su Min, able to now somewhat move, bent his back in a weird angle.

*POP*

“W-what the fuck?”

Breathing a sigh, Su Min could finally move. However, a droplet of sweat formed on his face as he thought about what just happened.

‘If it wasn’t for me reinforcing my spine, I probably would’ve killed myself here…’

Su Min found that his spine was aching even more profusely than before, and although it didn’t affect him, he still needs a working spine. Not only this, but as he gazed at his right arm, he found that it was drenched in blood.

Taking a closer inspection, he saw that almost all of his muscle fibres had split right in half, even causing some of his skin to rupture. He couldn’t move it, so it just flailed on him like a lifeless limb. Not only this but everywhere, in general, had taken some damage, though his right arm took the brunt of it.

*Drip*

“Uh…”

Su Min, recognising that his body has a limit, could only sigh at the whole ordeal. His right arm no longer works and his spine had nearly split in half, so he needs to take it easy for a while…

“Your arm…”

The sword youth had a blank look as he stared at the mangled arm. Su Min just nodded, and with a shaky walk, went up to the tree. He could probably only use 50% of his strength right now, otherwise, he would dislocate his spine again.

‘I didn’t realize that my spine is so vital…’

Su Min felt that reinforcing his spine was the right choice, as although it didn’t increase his strength, his endurance had taken a leap. At least, he can somewhat handle two strands of energy because of it; ignoring the fact that it would destroy one of his arms in exchange.

*WOOSH*

Using his left hand, Su Min grabbed the tree and tossed it on his back like it was an easy thing to do. Though, it was still heavy.

*Thud* *Thud* *…Thud*

Stepping with thuds, Su Min left the dumbfounded sword youth and strode towards the collection area. His arm, as limp as a corpse, swung back and forth as it wriggled; healing at a rate that was nearly visible to the eye.

…

…

…

*THUD*

“The collection area?”

Staring straight on, Su Min saw a bronze wooden temple not too far away. It was similar to the ones of ancient China; it had 4 floors that towered atop each other; where the higher you go, the smaller they were.

Carrying the bronze tree, Su Min proceeded to walk the last one hundred meters in no time.

*DING*

As the entrance of the temple enveloped him, a strange ding erupted out of the temple. With no delay, a white-robed middle-aged man sauntered out with a dignified look, staring at Su Min.

“Uh-”

“Welcome, Outer Disciple, to the bronze collection temple! Please, come this way so we can deposit that tree of yours.”

Announcing himself, the robed man with a rather rude demeanour ushered Su Min into the temple, not giving him time to retort.

What displayed itself was a large room with two floating tables. Each table was a complete bronze and the size of a 5-meter square, glowing with a hover.

Su Min, hurdling the tree into the room, looked at everything with no emotion.

‘Why are the tables floating…’

The man, with a look, swished his finger, causing the tree on Su Min’s back to buzz before floating out of his grasp. Su Min didn’t stop him though, as holding the tree was tiresome.

“Now, one second please…”

The man, pointing his finger once more, made the tree shiver before throwing itself at one of the bronze tables.

*SHHHMPH*

Contrary to the expecting bang, the tree, with a tremble, disappeared out of thin air as it went right through the bronze table; although it didn’t come back out.

Even though this was strange, Su Min was more enamoured at the technique the man just used. Even though it was too fast for him to perceive it all, he saw what seemed like hundreds of thin black threads twist around each other to form a sort of rope.

With this energy rope, the man wrapped it around the log and pulled it into the air.

‘Lots of small threads…’

Of course, if you used just one thread then it would snap before even pulling the tree; however, with hundreds of strung together, it’s a different story.It was more efficient than just using a large amount of martial energy and forming a thick strand, as it would nowhere near as strong.

Considering this, Su Min was also confused. If he could just copy the technique the man was using, then what was even the point in manuals?

Not realising that Su Min was in the process of doing something shocking, the man grunted and walked up to the table, and as if it was responding to him, the table trembled before spewing out a token.

Not even picking the token up, the man threw it towards Su Min with his finger before speaking.

“Now that you understand how it works, do it yourself next time. To use it just go to the shop over there.”

Gazing at the token, Su Min nodded before imprinting the method the man used to manipulate the martial energy for later use. It was strange, but it was beyond easy to remember it. In fact, he felt that he could replay it in his mind like a movie, and see every single detail he saw right now.

‘Weird…’

Throwing himself out of his daze, Su Min turned his head to find the shop he was looking for. However, just as he was about to stroll forward, a collection of thuds similar to his rang outside as laughing chatter spewed into the temple.

“Hahaha! Getting the Manipulation Technique should be possible with this harvest!”

Resounding with a hearty roar, 6 men walked in. They had inhuman figures, in fact, even Su Min looked small in front of them…

“Eh? A rookie?”

The largest man in front, looming at 7 foot, paused as he saw Su Min. Su Min didn’t seem to care, though, as he just walked up the shop to see what he could get.

“Hey, shouldn’t you let us go first? We are your seniors after all… Isn’t that right, Li Zhi?’”

One of the men behind the burly man shouted nonchalantly as he patted a figure next to him, however, it was anything but that to Su Min.

“… Li. Zhi?”