Combat Technique... A mere tool?

"Ao Longyu… what is the meaning of this…?"

Inner sect leader hollowed in rage towards old man Ao. battle techniques were essential items for the sect. Therefore, before one reached body tempering the fourth stage, no one was allowed to learn it. Inner sect leader was enraged because old man Ao taught Zhu Shen a battle technique.

Old man Ao did not pay attention to the inner sect leader. He got on stage, picked his disciple and got ready to leave the arena.

Inner sect leader got really furious at old man Ao's behaviour. He angrily bellowed,

"Ao Longyu, you will regret this…!"

He knew that with Zhu Shen's last punch, it was very difficult for Lin Fan to recover within a month even with him feeding Lin Fan a healing medicine.

Old man Ao just looked at the inner sect leader. He didn't say any word but a violent aura was released with him in the centre. Old man Ao's eyes turned crimson as he looked at the inner sect leader.

The inner sect leader took a step back subconsciously.

"Gulp…"

He could not help but take a big gulp. He knew that old man Ao has reached the limit of his patience. He picked his disciple up and left the arena.

Seeing that the inner sect leader leave the arena, old man Ao picked Zhu Shen up as he left for his courtyard.

---

Back inside Old man Ao's courtyard,

Zhu Shen finally opened his eyes. His body felt dry like there was no moisture inside his body.

"Water…"

Zhu Shen looked sound for some water. At that time he heard a voice coming from his side.

"Drink this… it will be much more effective than water."

Old man Ao handed him brown medicine liquid.

Zhu Shen took the medicine bowl from old man Ao's hands. He looked at the liquid inside the bowl and said sadly,

"Master… sorry… this disciple has failed to reach the top 10…"

The last thing he remembered was his inner voice telling him that he could not wield his power yet.

"Who said you did not reach the top 10…?"

Old man Ao looked at Zhu Shen with strange eyes.

'Did this kid lose his memories…?'

Zhu Shen looked at old man Ao with surprise. He knew that he was not the one who won that match.

'Did that voice help me..?'

Zhu Shen was now more certain that the voice inside him helped him.

'But why..?'

As Zhu Shen was pondering over this issue, old man Ao finally spoke.

"I did not know what happened, everyone has their secrets so I won't ask you how you have learned the combat technique."

Old man Ao knew that his disciple did not have any combat technique. Looking at his disciple's strange face, old man Ao was now certain that Zhu Shen did not know where that technique came from.

"Combat Technique…?"

Zhu Shen looked at old man Ao with questioning eyes.

"Yes, combat technique… you used to defeat Lin Fan."

Old man Ao nodded at Zhu Shen while explaining.

"In early stages, we cannot fully control the Qi inside our body. For that, we need to learn techniques like breathing techniques, combat techniques etc. With higher tier techniques, you can control more Qi inside your body to increase your power."

Zhu Shen got shocked as he listened to old man Ao's explanation.

"So we need to use techniques every time to control Qi inside our body..?"

Zhu Shen asked. He was a little sceptical about combat techniques. He was able to defeat a draconified disciple with just a single punch.

Looking at Zhu Shen's sceptical look, old man Ao sighed as he explained further.

"Firstly you have to understand that combat techniques are tools to control your Qi, not a method."

Saying this old man Ao stopped as he let Zhu Shen ponder over the statement. Combat techniques were powerful tools to fight in the arena but they came with a serious drawback.

Combat techniques consumed the user's concentration. The higher the level of combat technique the higher the consumption of user's concentration.

If a user used a lot of concentration, he/she will have to rest for at least 3 days before they can use certain techniques.

"If combat techniques are tools then what is the method to control your Qi..?"

After pondering for a moment Zhu Shen asked old man Ao.

"The answer to that question is visualization… looking into yourself…!"

"Looking into myself..?"

Zhu Shen was confused at old man Ao's remark. He mainly had two questions about visualization. How to visualize and what to visualize.

"Yes. but we are not there yet. First, you need to perfect your body tempering."

Old man Ao said. He knew that he needs to guide Zhu Shen at the foundational level so that he can remove early defects from his body.

"Is perfecting body tempering that important…?"

Zhu Shen asked after he saw old man Ao giving extra importance to perfecting his body.

"Let's put it this way… you have your blood vessels that carry blood through your body. What will happen if one of the blood vessels was blocked..?"

Old man Ao asked Zhu Shen.

"Of course, the blood flow in through that blood vessel will stop."

"Correct. The blood vessels are similar to one's meridians. While blood vessels carry blood, meridians carry Qi inside your body. If you don't unlock them fully, they will stop providing that part of the body with Qi. which will result in leaving a flaw in your foundation."

"There are 100 meridians plus 8 extraordinary meridians inside your body. They are all connected to 108 points in your body. These points are called mana centres."

Old man Ao explained very carefully.

"In simpler terms, if you want to minimize various flaws you need to perfect your body tempering."