The Science of Cultivation
hapter 309: Leveraging Strengths, Exploiting Weaknesses

“Here I come!” the young Rolling Tide disciple yelled as she charged toward Long Yi.

Reflexively, Long Yi brought out his green broadsword and swung a Terra Moon Slash to dissuade his opponent from closing in further. However, he didn’t have a chance to finish his swing before she arrived right before him. He didn’t even see when she had grasped his wrists, but she did. It made him unable to complete his swing.

Seeing his weapon wouldn't cut it, he quickly tried to front kick her to create some distance, but he was a step too late. Before his leg could kick out, a huge force struck his solar plexus, and he crumpled inward as he was hurled several feet back.

Landing on his rear, he shot to his feet to prepare for the onslaught to come, only to be shocked by what he saw. Instead of the figure of Han Zemei charging toward him for a follow-up attack, a wave of water came crashing down. There was no time to fly away. He was swept off his feet until his back crashed into the partition of the arena. It knocked the wind out of him, releasing a cluster of bubbles into the water.

Foundation Establishment cultivators may no longer be considered mortals, with overwhelming powers that could change the terrain. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean they didn’t need food, water, and air to survive. They had fewer needs for such things, sure, but fighting with no air would drain both their stamina and Qi rapidly.

As Long Yi swam up as fast as he could, his arms suddenly lashed out below and to the left to swing his weapon down. The sword impacted something hard, but with the water in the way, it resulted in the sword pushing the assailant away. That would have been fine, as it would have given him some more breathing room to reach the surface, yet that didn’t happen. Instead, a hand grabbed onto his ankle, pulling him back down with them.

Realizing the futility in trying to swim away, Long Yi calmed his mind and prepared to strike at his foe. His ability to stay calm allowed him to observe. As suspected, his assailant was Han Zemei, but her form had quickly changed. She no longer just wore the baby blue robes of her sect and had gleaming silver armor protecting her body. Only her face was uncovered, allowing her to flash a grin at him.

The Rolling Tide Sect with their water attribute techniques. My earth element techniques are supposed to counter them, but I’ll need to get to dry land or at least surface first.

With awareness of his situation, Long Yi quickly decided on a plan. He pointed the tip of his sword at the woman trying to drag him down and relaxed his body. As a result, their descending speed picked up, confusing Han Zemei. Still, she didn’t let go, though. She had the advantage, so she had no good reason to do so.

It was perhaps a mistake.

The tip of Long Yi’s broadsword shone brightly, as a sizeable amount of Qi congregated.

Han Zemei inwardly scoffed at the telegraphed attack. A powerful attack was coming, but that wasn’t anything special to her. Numerous opponents had tried to do the same thing, utilizing their ranged Qi arts, when caught in her web. Even if it wasn’t so predictable, she was confident she could’ve dodged any Qi art he sent her way.

The excitement she had for this fight swiftly died down as she jerked her body to the side, dodging the sharp stone projectile shooting her way.

She was disappointed.

She expected a lot more coming from someone with such impressive stature, but she had evidently overestimated him. She did remember being told that the so-called Star Gem Academy consisted of only inexperienced Foundation Establishment cultivators. Nevertheless, she couldn’t help but want more of a challenge from Long Yi. His organization was famous for its control of the Crucible, a genuine Spirit-grade artifact. How was it possible for such a legacy, no matter how ancient it was, to be so weak?

After some musing, she quickly shook out the idle thoughts. She could think about it later. For now, the courteous thing to do was to finish the match instead of dragging it on. Now that they were quite deep in the water, her advantage was unquestionable unless Long Yi had trained in underwater combat just as much as she did. From what she saw, it wasn’t likely, so he prepared herself to put the mountain of a man into one of her favored submission holds.

Just as she was about to release her grip on him, she suddenly felt their momentum come to a halt. They had stopped descending!

Han Zemei would’ve cried out in surprise if they weren’t underwater. Especially when she noticed they were abruptly ascending all of a sudden. Somehow, Long Yi had managed to overpower her in the water.

The mind of the Rolling Tide disciple raced quickly as she pondered how that was possible while she redoubled her effect by grasping onto his other ankle with her free hand. It didn’t work.

She didn’t have the time to try anything else as the two of them shot up to the surface. Long Yi breathed in deeply in relief, slashing out in force to vent his frustration. Han Zemei knew there was no longer any point in holding on, letting go, and landed on the surface of the water.

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Long Yi rose into the air, wary of being dragged back into the depths.

“How did you do that?!” Han Zemei asked excitedly.

Instead of responding with words, Long Yi pointed next to her with his chin, toward where a pillar of stone was. It was what remained of his unique application of the Terra Moon Slash, a long and narrow spire.

“You—that attack wasn’t aimed at me! I should’ve realized that! How vexing.” Contrary to her words, the woman let out a burst of laughter. She then began to clap. “Very good. Using your attack to push us up. I’m impressed, but that won’t work a second time!”

Right as she finished, she leaped toward Long Yi, with a cyclone of water surrounding her.

It was clear to all that he couldn’t allow the woman to close the distance again. Her armaments made it clear that she specialized in close-range underwater fighting. Only a fool would fight on their opponent’s terms.

Having sparred with Wei Ping and Li Lang often, Long Yi knew full well about the concept of doing what your opponent liked the least. That’s why his next move wasn’t to counterattack. He simply flew higher while sending out several waves of his signature Terra Moon Slash to keep her at bay.

The funnel of water wrapped around her moved ahead of her to intercept the blows, but it successfully slowed her down. Using that opening, Long Yi channeled even more mana for a more powerful attack.

Like that, the duel quickly became a game of cat and mouse, with Long Yi kiting Han Zemei around. It didn’t last long, though. Both sides had a plan. The latter was biding her time for an explosive rush, but before she could spring her attack, Long Yi succeeded with his scheme first.

He suddenly rushed down toward the Rolling Tide disciples, with an enormous blade of stone still attached to his sword. Using the momentum of gravity to his advantage, Long Yi was like a falling meteorite crashing down toward the young woman.

However, it was exactly what Han Zemei wanted to see. Dealing with such a straightforward use of force was what she did best. She could already foresee plunging the large man into the water again with this impatient move of his.

Just as she was feeling elated at the prospects of victory, a subtle feeling nudged at her. She remembered how Long Yi had just pulled a quick one on her just now, so she took a split second to scour his surroundings for any tricks. Almost immediately, she spotted it.

Down below, there were a few platforms of stone above the pool of water. It was a different application of the same trick, where he used the Terra Moon Slash for a different purpose behind her. This time, it was to create a foothold.

Having noticed this, Han Zemei adjusted accordingly as Long Yi violently plummeted toward her.

The cyclone of water quickly came toward her to form a dome around her. It formed just in time to clash head-on with Long Yi’s blade of stone.

The earth element absorbs water. In this scenario, it allowed Long Yi’s attack to punch through the shield. Once through, he held back a little, as he wasn’t trying to take her life.

Unfortunately for him, his attack didn’t go as planned. As he swung his sword down, he quickly became confused when he didn’t make the contact he expected to. He bisected the dome of water completely, with no signs of his opponent, as he crashed down onto the platform he had made.

Just as he turned up in confusion, the water he had just cut through rained down on him. Before he could react, the water twisted and twirled around him, locking him in place. He was immobilized within a second and found himself being dragged back down into the pool.

Han Zemei went at it with all her might, right from the beginning this time. Without being able to come up with another trick that worked, the duel was then one-sidedly settled.

“Good duel,” both parties proclaimed in unison as they clasped their fists.

“You sure got me there. I thought I had the advantage there, with my attribute countering yours, too,” Long Yi said with a shake of the head.

In response, Han Zeimei beamed. “You almost had me for a second. I didn’t take you as one who relies on tricks and exploiting weaknesses. I’m surprised someone like you doesn’t have something to fall back on, or were you holding back?”

“Give me a break. That was my best just now.”

“No, I’m serious. Should you be leveraging your heaven-gifted build more? You seem to be physically stronger than average, correct?”

“Well, I rarely lost a fight when I was a mortal, but there are plenty of cultivators physically stronger than me now that I’m only in the early stage, right? That’s why I’ve been practicing what my peers do, exploiting weaknesses.”

“Well, that’s a fine way to fight as well, but you’ll need to have more contingencies in case your plans go awry in that case. But with your physique, you should be a lot more powerful than you think. You should take advantage and revolve your fighting style around it, just like you do with that Qi art of yours.”

“Hmm, I’ll think about it.”

Han Zemei seriously contemplated for a moment before coming to a realization that the man before her didn’t receive careful instructions from an elder. He was someone who fumbled through the realm by himself. She couldn’t let such a talent go to waste, so she quickly gathered her words.

“Hear me out. Just because you stepped into the Foundation Establishment Realm now doesn’t mean your gifts from before don’t matter anymore. My teacher describes breaking through as a blessing that strengthens every part of you. If you were strong before, your strength should be even more accentuated now.”

Long Yi blinked blankly as he processed those words.

Maybe that is something I should consider. I’ll need to test out how my strength stands against opponents in this realm first, though. Then think up a way to make use of it.

Nodding to himself, Long Yi looked up at his guide.

“Are there any places where I can find Qi beasts to fight around here?”