Chapter 6. The Soaring Dragon Spearmanship
Lin Yang took a large breath as he read the red jade slip. The author of Soaring Dragon Spearmanship didn't even include his name, but this manual's origin was actually Mount Potala!
Lin Yang remembered from the novel that Mount Potala is a low-key buddhist sect of the Divine Realm. Even though it is low-key, it's actually an Empyrean-level influence with countless masters and the longest history in the entire Divine Realm! It existed for at least 3.6 billion years, ever since the previous Great Calamity leveled the world.
In the entire divine realm, the accumulation and legacy of Mount Potala is at the absolute peak! Lin Yang did not remember this detail perfectly, but it might even be that while countless human influences were destroyed 3.6 billion years ago, Mount Potala's inheritances from the previous era remained fully intact and were continuously developed. Within their library pavilions they certainly collected numerous ancient texts on martial arts.
Any techniques that originated from that place are bound to be extremely high-level, combining the knowledge on spare combat of countless experts and from millions and even billions of years of history!
As for the Soaring Dragon Spearmanship being about fundamentals, Lin Yang didn't care about it. He needed to build strong fundamentals first.
However, as Lin Yang continued browsing he felt a little bit disappointed. The name of Soaring Dragon Spearmanship Fundamentals sounded somewhat grand, but it was really all about fundamentals! It only contained the most ordinary spear moves like the thrust and the sweep that he had mostly already learned, and no martial skills at all!
After having this thought, Lin Yang suppressed his disappointment. Although the spear moves described were all basic movements, they were broken down to perfection and contained very detailed descriptions, notes and personal experiences of the anonymous author.
This fundamental spear manual was written by a true spearmaster who experienced countless life and death battles, pouring all of his experiences and knowledge onto this jade slip! It was amazing!
The Foundation Spear Technique that Lin Yang practiced spear moves from in the past was only a manual created by the Sky Fortune Kingdom's military for foot-soldiers to practice in the army. The generals that wrote it would at best only have Pulse Condensation or Houtian cultivation and mediocre strength, basing it on their experiences. While it was good enough to help a beginner martial artist to build their weapon wielding foundation, it could naturally not at all compare to the Soaring Dragon Spearmanship that was created by a peak master of martial arts.
This spearmanship manual might not be very valuable to others because it only contained ordinary moves, but it would help Lin Yang to build a great foundation of spear skills from the start.
After skimming through the jade slip, Lin Yang glanced at Littlefox to see if she's getting impatient, but she seemed to be patiently waiting for him with an innocent and curious look.
Upon seeing this, Lin Yang focused on the second jade slip.
The second jade slip - Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians.
Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians? Lin Yang's face revealed a strange color.
He felt very strange and felt that it was a waste because he had just learned the Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians from the Magic Cube! He did not need a duplicate.
Lin Yang sighed inwardly and continued skimming through the Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians.
As it turned out, the manual on the jade slip included Body Transformation starting from the 1st Stage, the Strength Training, leading all the way to the Pulse Condensation Stage.
At that time the manual ended. It didn't include any information on the Eight Inner Hidden Gates or the Nine Stars of the Dao Palace, so it really was only about the fundamentals.
'There's no Tempering Marrow either?' Lin Yang thought inwardly.
After thinking for a while he realized that while this jade slip might not be very useful to him, he could give it to others to practice with, for example to Lin Lu!
As Lin Yang pulled out his sense from the jade slip, Littlefox smiled and clapped her hands once again.
At that time the scenery abruptly changed and transformed into an incredibly spacious training hall with a smooth wooden floor, with various kinds of dummies, piles of training equipment and a row of sparring weapons resting against the wall. It looked similar to a gymnasium back on Earth, but in a Chinese martial arts style. As for the sparring weapons, they were countless!
Littlefox snapped her finger and a middle-aged man that looked like a monk appeared inside the gymnasium.
The monk seemed to be in his fifties and his head was perfectly bald, with six ring marks on top of his head. He had a medium build and average height, wearing a modest orange buddhist robe. His face seemed to be marred with the vicissitudes of life and he seemed like an experienced warrior, but his aura was completely restrained.
"This guy here will be your instructor. You can learn spearmanship from him and spar with him before you attempt the tutorial," Littlefox said.
Lin Yang's eyes widened. He would actually even have a martial arts master as an instructor?! There was such a good thing in the world?
What Lin Yang just thought might seem absurd because every accomplished martial arts genius in this world would have a great master or even several high-level masters meticulously teaching and guiding them. It was only natural and not something that could be considered much of a 'cheat'.
However, Lin Ming in the novel mostly stumbled about, so Lin Yang felt that he would also be in the same situation.
Of course, having an instructor would be great! Especially if it's a martial arts master!
"I see. Thank you very much, this is great!" Lin Yang smiled.
Littlefox gently nodded and said, "The instructor here is only a projection, but it has its own divine sense, so he's just like a real person. If you want to learn another weapon or hand-to-hand combat, call for me and I'll change the Instructor."
"Thank you, Littlefox," Lin Yang solemnly said. He still felt overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of all the possibilities that the Magic Sphere might represent to his future.
Littlefox smiled and continued, "You are probably curious about a few things, so let me explain! Firstly, the body that you possess right now is not your real body, but a spirit body. Even if you die while trying to pass the tutorial, your body in the outside world will not be harmed. Of course, the pain that you will experience is the exact same as in the real world."
Lin Yang slightly raised his eyebrows. This indeed answered one of his questions. This meant that there was no real danger in attempting the tutorial, which was a relief. Hopefully this also applied to the higher floors.
Littlefox continued: "Secondly, the time inside the Magic Sphere flows one thousand times faster than on the outside, practically 999 times faster. This means that while you might have been training inside the Magic Sphere's space for 24 hours, only about 90 seconds would pass in the outside world! Isn't this amazing?"
Lin Yang was shocked. This really was amazing!
"Of course, since your real body is not here, it's impossible for you to advance your cultivation inside the Magic Sphere," Littlefox added as she noticed Lin Yang's enthusiasm.
"I see. Well, it makes sense." Lin Yang plainly smiled.
Littlefox nodded her little head. "At this moment you can only enter the Magic Sphere once a day! The maximum amount of time that you can stay inside is 24 hours. As long as you manage to conquer further floors, this limit will increase."
"I see." Lin Yang was slightly disappointed, but he already expected this kind of limit. He wasn't too disappointed because additional 24 hours of training inside the Magic Sphere's space every day was already something great, especially when he had access to a top-tier manual and an instructor.
Littlefox placed her finger on her cherry lips, thought for a moment and said, "Other things that you might need to know is that at this moment you can only access this tutorial floor. You can spar with an instructor or attempt to fight the tutorial boss. However, if you die, you will be kicked out and won't be able to enter the Magic Sphere for the rest of the day."
Lin Yang slightly nodded.
Littlefox continued her explanation, "In the outside world you can also use the Magic Sphere's dimension as a storage treasure, but with your strength you need to be careful to not allow anyone to see you use it. The green jade slips will be stored inside the storage space and you will be able to retrieve them in the outside world to study them."
Lin Yang slightly raised his eyebrows. "I see. What about the red jade slips?"
Littlefox shook her head. "Red jade slips can only be studied inside the Magic Sphere."
"I see…" It was a strange rule, but he flet that there should be a reason behind it.
Following that Littlefox taught Lin Yang the method to store items inside the Magic Sphere's storage space. As it appeared, there was now a storage space in his forehead… He was also able to use it to get a vague view of the situation in the outside world and what's happening with his body.
"Alright, you will have to figure out the rest yourself. If you wish to rest there are beds inside a building next door, if you need to drink or eat, you can take a look around. Do you want to begin training?" Littlefox said, smiling.
Lin Yang nodded. "Okay, let's begin!"
Littlefox smiled and then disappeared. The only people in the room now were Lin Yang and the middle-aged monk.
All this time the middle-aged monk remained quiet and his eyes seemed dull as he simply stood there with a gentle and dignified expression. But when Littlefox left, the monk's eyes suddenly glimmered with intelligence as if it was a real person.
The monk solemnly cupped his fists as he looked toward Lin Yang and said, "Amithaba, junior. You may call this old monk Instructor Long. While my strength and talent is lacking, I have spent countless years practicing the spear and teaching the juniors. From now on I will teach you the Soaring Dragon Spearmanship."
Lin Yang respectfully cupped his fists, lightly bowing his head. "This junior's name is Lin Yang. Thank you, senior."
He thought that even though the old monk said that his strength and talent is lacking, during his life he should have still reached a boundary unimaginable for the so-called Emperor-level powerhouses of the Sky Spill Continent. He might be able to level down half of the Sky Spill Continent with a single palm strike.
Instructor Long slowly nodded. He asked Lin Yang if he knew anything about the Soaring Dragon Spearmanship, but Lin Yang answered that he was a newbie and only learned some basic spear moves from a mortal-level spear manual; he wanted to learn everything from scratch.
After hearing Lin Yang's reply, Instructor Long walked toward the wall and picked up a wooden practice spear. He flourished it and then shook it, causing the flexible shaft to wiggle in the air in the aftermath. He looked at Lin Yang and said, "Saber like tiger, spear like dragon. Since ancient times it is said that the movements of a spear are like the floating dragon. Do you know why? It's because a trained spearman would make the spear's shaft wiggle and bounce while practicing or fighting, and it looks like a dragon is floating around."
The dragon that Instructor Long was talking about was naturally not the western winged dragon, but a Chinese dragon that is similar to a snake or a flood dragon.
The old monk continued talking about the characteristics of a spear, its strong and weak points.
The essence of a dragon perfectly supplemented the spear. Even Instructor Long's name meant 'the dragon'.
In this world the qiang, which is the Chinese spear, would usually have a flexible shaft, be slightly tip-heavy while the spearhead would be flat like a sword.
Unlike the European spears that are only good at thrusts and that most people on Earth think of when they hear of a spear, spears in this world are much better cutters and choppers. Because special magical and heavy metals exist in this world, the small and thin spearhead can be as front-heavy as one wants it to be and its striking power can be just as devastating as a halberd or a battle ax!
As the saying goes, one inch longer is one inch stronger. Because of its length and leverage, the striking power of a spear is devastating.
In addition, with the superhuman levels of strength of martial artists, the spears in this world would usually be quite heavy and also extremely durable. Even if a spear was made from wood, in practice it would be no different from a metal rod once one swung it with his strength and the heavy shaft fell on the opponent's body, breaking his bones to bits.
One more thing is that for martial artists static blocks with a sword are mostly pointless, so the fact that the spear doesn't have a cross-guard also isn't much of a disadvantage compared to other types of weapons.
And finally, because of the nature of the way that martial artists who cultivate true essence fight, shields and other kinds of dual-wielding are not practical in this world, and most martial artists use two-handed longswords. Since shields are never used, it is even more of a reason to use a polearm rather than a sword!
Because of all of these reasons Lin Yang liked the spear in this world so much. He also liked other kinds of weapons and wished to have a chance to learn or fight with them, but he was unable to ignore the great advantages of a spear.
And especially if one were to train in the body transformation system that increased their physical strength and striking power to the limit, it was very clear that Lin Ming making a heavy spear his main weapon in the novel was a good choice.
After lecturing for an hour, Instructor Long said, "Alright, junior, choose a spear. We will first practice your technique and basic stances."
Lin Yang nodded, jogged to the wall and began to enthusiastically pick up a spear that he liked. After picking up a spear that suited his strength, he walked back.
In the past because of economical reasons Lin Yang was only able to purchase and practice with an iron overlord spear that would suit his level of strength, which is a spear that's completely rigid. Now he was finally able with a rather heavy spear that's both flexible and heavy, and it caused him to feel quite excited.
Then Lin Yang sunk his consciousness into the red jade slip and studied the beginning sections of the Soaring Dragon Spearmanship Fundamentals manual. Information engraved by a martial arts master on a jade slip is not only text, but also ideas and concepts that are not possible to be described with words.
What came first was not even the most basic thrust. It was the primary grips and stances. But Lin Yang was not bored and was instead very enthusiastic about having a chance to perfect his basics.
The fact that there was a daily time limit to how long he can stay inside the special dimension was also a motivator for him to make the best use of this time.