The Blade-Wielding Legend
Chapter 35 Divine Drum Thunder Sound

Chapter 35: Chapter 35 Divine Drum Thunder Sound

The movement wasn’t exaggerated; it seemed like merely a flick of the wrist.

Yet, the effect was like a bear rubbing against a tree—the girth of a tree as wide as a sea bowl began to shake, leaves fluttered down, and even broken twigs fell.

"You... you’ve mastered Hidden Energy?!"

Sha Lifei stuttered, his eyes filled with disbelief.

In this world, the hallmark of the peak of overt energy was the trembling of major tendons, the simultaneous rattling of sinew and bone, every move and form able to harness the body’s full strength.

Ordinary people, who don’t know how to properly exert force, lose at least half of their power when they strike, whereas constant martial practitioners can inflict greater damage with the same strength.

The human body has a skeletal frame, connected by tendons and fascia, resembling a wooden mortise and tenon structure; it may seem simple, but it’s intricate and stable, and one can only wield true power once they’ve trained properly and understand how to exert force.

With persistent training, ordinary people can achieve this—it’s only a matter of time.

But at the stage of Hidden Energy, the focus is no longer on the bones, but on the fascia.

Fascia is like a dense network that connects all bodily tissues.

Through breathing and internal-external resonance, causing extremely rapid contraction and oscillation of the tendons, one can elevate their power to the next level.

This is the characteristic of Hidden Energy: the drumming of breath and fascia, wrapping tendons into circles!

Once Hidden Energy is achieved, a small movement can produce astonishing lethal force; some experts can lightly pat someone, and that person may go home to cough up blood and die.

And that’s not the only benefit.

Hidden Energy is multifaceted and intricate, creating a variety of forms. Moreover, with the same lethal force, less energy is used, lifting weight as if it’s light, prolonging the time one can fight.

To master Hidden Energy, in addition to talent, one must also have a master to daily spar and listen to the energy, carefully contemplating its changes, to succeed.

Could this young tiger have such demonic talent without anyone teaching him along the way?

Sha Lifei found it hard to believe, and then excitement surged within him; he murmured quietly, "Before the contest, make sure you hide this, and I’ll place a bet..."

Li Yan nodded slightly, "Place some for me as well."

Watching Sha Lifei’s face flush with excitement, Li Yan remained calm.

This breakthrough into Hidden Energy was purely coincidental.

He had been training daily for years, through cold and heat, without fail.

But in the days following his grandfather’s death, he was utterly disoriented, his spirit lost; how could there have been time for training?

Had it not been for the Daluo Dharma Body, even his barely stored spirit would have dissipated.

On the way to Xianyang, he began training again.

At first, perhaps due to eagerness, he was like a madman; he even damaged his muscles and bones.

But this time, things were different.

After Storing God, he became more sensitive to his body, and with the Daluo Dharma Body’s protection, he could focus on both Storing God and training without distraction.

Originally, he had already reached the peak of overt energy, but with his father gone and his grandfather aged, there was no one to help him spar and feed him moves, which is why he had been stuck at this level.

Storing God simultaneously was just what he needed to break through.

Of course, he had just mastered Hidden Energy and couldn’t use it all the time, nor could he be like those experts of Hidden Energy, who made every move look effortless with versatile and intricate energy.

But combined with the Daluo Dharma Body, he could just resort to swapping injury for injury.

As long as he touched his opponent, he could cripple them!

...

This commotion instantly alerted many.

Wang Daoxuan, upon seeing this, was clearly relieved.

His cooperation with Li Yan wasn’t solely because of the latter’s Divine Skills.

One thing, he hadn’t exaggerated the day before.

The day before Li Yan’s arrival, he had awakened from a nightmare involving being tormented by evil spirits.

In dream divination, this was known as a "Ghost Dream," an inauspicious omen. The oracle bone inscriptions of merchants contain a line: "Divined on the day of Dingwei, by Wang Zhen—many ghost dreams, no upcoming hardships?"

Now, the art of divination is profoundly mysterious, especially when it involves the even more intangible matter of fate; even a master mathematician may not always be accurate.

But for members of the Mystical Sect, after Storing God, the mind is often peaceful, and if there are any signs, they must be peculiar.

It’s somewhat akin to a martial artist sensing the hint of autumn before the cicadas feel the chill.

After waking up, Wang Daoxuan was restless and divined in front of the ancestor’s portrait. Casting several divinations, they all indicated misfortune turned on its head, an omen of great luck.

Yet upon waking in the morning, he saw magpies bringing flowers to his door.

This was iconic divination, a good omen.

But with a thought, he cast several more divinations and found them extremely ominous.

Wang Daoxuan realized that perhaps a turning point was at hand, with fortune and disaster difficult to predict.

That’s why he planned to go out that day but decided to stay at home and wait instead.

Having seen Li Yan with the eyes of a phoenix and the look of a dragon, he had already made his calculations. After a bit of testing during their conversation and finding Li Yan agreeable, he passed on the Magic Method.

Indeed, what followed was a change of events.

First came good fortune, then they encountered bandits; it seemed to confirm the sign that misfortune and happiness are unpredictable.

As for Li Yan’s decision to fight a life-and-death duel on the stage, even though he felt it was not a problem, he couldn’t help feeling uneasy since the opponent was still young.

Only when he saw Li Yan’s breakthrough, did Wang Daoxuan finally breathe a sigh of relief.

The head of the Spring Breeze Class was also somewhat surprised. Looking at Li Yan’s youthful face, he hesitated for a moment, then clenched his teeth, turned around, and returned to his room.

He stepped on a stool and moved an old wooden box from the top of the closet. He blew away the dust on the surface, trembled as he touched it a few times, then carried it outside the door.

"This Brother Yan..."

The head of the Spring Breeze Class spoke, "Do you have the practice method for Hidden Energy?"

Li Yan nodded, "My father passed it on to me."

To cultivate Hidden Energy and make the tendons round, one cannot simply practice martial arts. After all, it’s impossible to reach the fascia, let alone penetrate the internal organs.

To improve, one relies on another method of practice.

Tiger Leopard Thunder Sound, Fishing Toad Skill, Hum and Ha Energy, Crane Sound, Taoist Thunder Sound, Buddhist Lion’s Roar, Great Cloud Thunder Sound... all of these are the same.

Although each family’s heritage is different, the principle is the same throughout the world: using the vibrations of sounds, driving the fascia, penetrating the bone marrow, and the internal organs.

Red Fist also has a Secret Technique that is passed down, known as Silk Sound.

The boxing adage says: With each inhalation and exhalation, the breath moves like a fine silk thread, passing through the guts and weaving through the meridians. It is well suited for Red Fist’s characteristics of being light as a feather, heavy as Taishan, and striking people like pinching fire.

Just as he was wondering why he had asked this, the head of the Spring Breeze Class picked up the wooden box, caressed it reluctantly, and spoke, "You probably can see, Brother Yan, that I’ve trained a few days of boxing and learned the family’s Split-Hang."

"My own martial arts skills are mediocre, but my ancestors have passed down something valuable."

"My ancestor once hailed from Xianyang, learned the Qin Han Drum Rhythm, he was not only the drum king of that time but was also renowned in the pugilistic world. Sadly, he later offended enemies and was forced to take refuge in Huayin."

"My ancestor was taught Great Cloud Thunder Sound by an extraordinary individual, which he combined with the drumming method to create the Divine Drum Thunder Sound, an upper-level practice method. I would like to gift it to you, young brother."

Upon hearing these words, Li Yan was touched, "This... is too precious, Head of the Class..."

Great Cloud Thunder Sound, he had heard from his father, was a secret Buddhist transmission.

The Buddhist term Great Cloud Thunder Sound signifies something greater than ordinary Thunder Sound.

With such a name, it proved that this method was exceptional, rarely seen by ordinary people. The head of the Spring Breeze Class had such an item and was even willing to give it away, which astonished him.

But before he could finish speaking, the head of the Spring Breeze Class interrupted him with a wave of his hand.

He shook his head slightly and sighed, "My talents are average, and that unworthy son also left before me. Keeping this thing hidden is pointless. If I were to carelessly sell it to wicked people, it would dishonor my ancestors."

"Young brother, yesterday you could have walked away, but you chose to fight in the life-and-death ring. Weren’t you also blocking disaster for my Spring Breeze Class? And with your talent, you won’t disgrace this Magic Method."

Having said that, he directly handed over the wooden box.

Upon seeing this, Wang Daoxuan pondered for a moment and helped by saying, "Brother Yan, please accept it. Master Wang, let’s consider the previously discussed fees as settled."

This ritual was not cheap, and it would cost the Spring Breeze Class everything they had to pull it together, and afterwards, they would still be left hungry.

Such an arrangement turned out to be a satisfactory solution for both parties.

Upon hearing this, the head of the Spring Breeze Class also showed a smile and instructed his apprentices to continue listening to Master Wang explain the taboos of the ritual.

Meanwhile, Li Yan sat on one side and opened the wooden box.

Generally, such methods are recorded in a thin volume, some are even passed down by word of mouth from the master, but inside there were three yellowed booklets.

One was the "Split-Hang Boxing Manual," one was "Qin Han Drum Rhythm," and the last one was "Divine Drum Thunder Sound."

Li Yan flipped through it casually and immediately felt amazed.

This method was not just about breathing; it actually required a specially made iron drum as well...

After the rain on an autumn day, the sky appeared even more vast.

The setting sun’s afterglow cast a glow over the sky, indicating that tomorrow would be a clear day.

The official road was muddy and difficult to traverse, a group of more than a dozen people struggled to move forward.

Apart from Li Yan and their party, around a dozen people from the Spring Breeze Class had also come, including shadow artists, musicians, singers, and even a few apprentices.

As for their families, they were left behind in Xianyang City.

Soon, they caught sight of the Chaotic Burial Mound.

Among them was a man, looking somewhat flabby and pale, none other than an acquaintance of Sha Lifei, the band’s suona player known as "Old White Face."

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at the Chaotic Burial Mound in the distance, full of worry, "Master Wang, I heard that the western hills still harbor the dens of the Beggar Gang. Those folks are not easy to deal with. Could they disrupt our affair?"

"It won’t matter."

Wang Daoxuan shook his head, "What we’re looking for is a place where the yin Sha gathers, not suitable for living. The Chaotic Burial Mound is so vast, and since we are performing the ritual at midnight, we won’t disturb them."

Having said that, he took out a Compass and looked left and right for a while, pointing towards a hollow in the western side of the mound, "White Tiger carrying corpses signifies great misfortune, Xuanwu hanging its head, great fortune; who would have thought that the Chaotic Burial Mound had such an ancient and peculiar layout. Let’s ascend from here!"

Even though the rest did not understand the art of geomancy, they firmly remembered Wang Daoxuan’s instructions. When they reached the foot of the mountain, everyone tightly closed their mouths and helped each other, climbing the steep and muddy slope upwards.

In the distance, the last rays of sunlight from the setting sun vanished, and the night veiled the earth...