Wulin : Martial Heroes

Chapter 33: Headache

He shakes his head trying to push it all from his mind.

‘It is better to regain back my inner energy’ he thought to himself.

He continues regulating his inner energy and throws out any useless thoughts.

His chest heaved up and down and in fifteen minutes, he had raises a bit of his inner energy.

Li Xin opens his eyes and shakes his head

‘This is too terrible. My inner energy skill is too terrible’ he thought to himself. Of course, he did not expect that five minutes would restore all of his inner skill.

But he could feel that there is only a bit of inner energy that have been restored. He did not even expect one forth.

But it is less than that. He almost drained all thirty years of his inner energy. All he could restore is around five days of inner energy.

‘Haish’ he could only sigh at the effect

‘Still- ‘he said as he looks at the status window of the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palm.

‘- I could not stop. I still have some points. I could rank up a few more strokes. As long I leave enough--‘

He did not finish his words but he had already made a decision in his heart. He once again looks at the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palm and then look at one of the strokes

He looks at the Ram Charges into the Fence [Beginner rank] stroke and while he bit hesitant, he is determined.

He taps the skill and 560 martial skill points were put into it. He closes his eyes. By now, he is quite familiar with how the system would operate.

And the moment he closes his eyes, all kinds of information streamed into his mind

This stroke name is also based on the theories of Zhou Yi.

It is Loosely translated as, "When a ram comes in contact with a fence, it utilizes its horns fully."

In war tactics, this would probably refer to the use of ballista’s in fortress sieges - with similar impact and result.

However, the theory also states that "When a ram comes in contact with a fence, it is unable to retreat and can only go forward."

One hundred percent effort and maximum energy in accomplishing a task is required.

Like a ram, charges forward without doubt, abandon fear and never retreat!

Li Xin did not execute the move this time as there is now stability as he could easily understand the force.

Before, he executed the moves to familiarize himself with the skill. Only after executing it, he could be familiar with the method of the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palm intimately

He understood how the stroke should be executed, so he did not execute it.

The stroke itself require him to believe in his own strength and on himself.

Believing in one's strength is essential in combat, so is pulling off one's most effective blows to injure the opponent.

In using this stroke, the practitioner must be focused and confident, or run the risk of self-injury. Once shot, do not fear, and boldly move forward.

This is the essence of this stroke

In his mind, the move is already simulated.

Li Xin also wanted to save his inner energy so he did not execute the move. He then takes a dep breath and when he exhales a turbid breath comes out from his lung.

Even when he is digesting information from the system, his body is absorbing energy and his inner energy has now risen to a year of inner energy.

If not for the fact his body is also experiencing fatigue, it would not take this long to gather back his inner energy considering that he had already open up all of his twelve meridian.

His eyes shining with brilliance as he digested all the information about this one stroke of the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palm.

He could deduce that this palm stroke is very powerful and a very determined move.

Once Li Xin decided to use this move, he must not be distracted by anything else and he must not care about anything else only him and the obstacle in front of him

Because of that Li Xin believe that if he were to use this skill, he need to think if very carefully and make sure that there is no threat around him that could break his concentration.

Because one he uses this move, he could not change direction or change the skill

If he did, there is a good chance that his qi would deviate, his inner energy would roll back and he would suffer grievous internal injury.

‘This is a great skill to master’ he then looks at the strokes again and he nodded to himself as he decided the stroke that he is about to rank up next.

Looking at the stroke and looking at the remaining martial skill points, he sighed and thought to himself

‘This is the last stroke of Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palm that I would rank up. If I keep ranking up only the strokes, then I’m probably would not have any martial point left. I still have to leave a few for rainy days’ he thought to himself.

There is still that inner energy manual.

Of course, as days passes, his hope of finding that manual become slimmer but it is not over until it is over.

If he could not find that manual, he then just has to fork out some money and buy a more powerful inner energy skill in the system store

It would cost a bit more but he really couldn’t stand the low efficiency of his current internal energy practice.

His attention right now is at the stroke Use Not the Submerged Dragon.

‘The name of the stroke itself is very artistic’ he smiles and he nodded.

Almost immediately he ranks it up to grandmaster level. By now, he is familiar with the routine and he close his eyes and the information enter his mind.

This stroke could also be called the Hidden Dragon is Forbidden, which means a capable person biding his time

According to the I Ching, a dragon submerged in depths is unpredictable in nature, hence its unsuitability for deployment.

 Just as one would not provoke a captive tiger for fear of retaliation, a submerged dragon would be best left undisturbed.

Thus, Use Not the Submerged Dragon. Then as the explanation appears in his mind, there is a diagram showing the stroke.

And there is also an illustration that appear in his mind showing him the correct posture

Li Xin could quickly capture the essence of that stroke.

This stroke emphasizes on the practitioner's reservation of energy for counteroffensive purposes.

It is similar to the 4th stroke, Diving into the Abyss, in that it aims to cripple an opponent's confidence, but while the latter achieves this by physically overwhelming the opponent, The Hidden Dragon Is Forbidden seeks to punish the provocation by releasing conserved force upon the enemy

Li Xin then finally stops. He then looks at his martial skill points. He sighed almost immediately

‘The pain is getting more intense’ he thought to himself.

As the information enter his mind, he began feeling more than just discomfort.

His head began experiencing headache and his eyes felt like someone is pushing it from the back of his head

All in all, it is not exactly a pleasant experience.

‘I guess this is the limit’ he thought to himself. He of course knew why he is experiencing headache.

This is because he had rank up a lot of martial skill.

When he ranks up a skill, the information, the experience all enter his mind. That allowed him to skip years of training and trial and error.

When the system bestowed information in his mind, the system would only impart information and experience that have no flaw.

There is of course a price to this. In the beginning it was worse. At that time, his nose and ears began bleeding

As his power level rises, the effect become minimal.

But Li Xin knows where to stop. He had rank up a lot of skill today and he could slowly feel the effect on him right now

‘It is time for me to stop’ he said to himself. Even if he had more points, he needs to rest at least a day or half a day to make sure that he did not overexert himself.

Now, it would be very dangerous if he falls unconscious. Especially after knowing that he is not alone in this mountain

He then looks again at his martial skill points and just like that once again he sighed

1,780 martial skill points.

That is the only skill points that is left.

It might look a lot of martial skill points but who knows what kind of skill that he had to learn later. Who could predict whether it be enough or not

But, if Li Xin is a betting man, he is quite sure that the skill point is not enough.