‘So, the Hu Clan is moving in the dark…’

Ikasa surmised, rubbing his chin. After hearing from Chu Kuang, the unlikely suspect had been brought to light.

‘Does that mean the mysterious attackers were from the Hu Clan?’

This thought alarmed him.

‘Chu Kuang and Yin Ying, both had said that the two powers were targeting me. I wonder what brought them together. Are they coveting my manuals?’

He immediately dismissed this thought. The Monstrous Flame Sect was already fighting against the City Lord. It made no sense for them to be greedy for his manuals. The Hu Clan should also be recouping.

‘This means they are dancing to someone else’s tune. Is it the Path Finder? No, he is now an agent of Absolutes. He is forced to remain impartial for the duration of this Battle. Who else could it be?’

Just as he was eliminating suspects one after the other, Xin Ruo knocked on the door of his study.

“The information about the He Family just came in.”

She said, handing the documents to Ikasa.

“That was quick! Well done, Xin Ruo.”

Ikasa exclaimed, taking the documents excitedly. He noticed she looked worn out and tired.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Xin Ruo. Enlist the help of others and get some rest.”

He commented, looking at her haggard appearance. He did not like her current constantly tired state but she was happy to be of use. Hence, he did not make her take a rest.

Still, seeing the overworked girl, he noticed the absence of Yin Ying even more.

Xin Ruo nodded and left the room, feeling a bit warm inside. She was glad to be of use. Most importantly, she knew all the problems Ikasa faced and could do something to find solutions for them. Even if that meant sacrificing her sleep.

Watching her leave with a happy smile, Ikasa shook his head and turned his attention to the papers in hand.

“Located in the tier 2 Maple City, the He Family holds a monopoly over the Cultivation Manual business in this County. Even though they are in a Tier 2 city, their foundation is as solid as any County Class force.”

Ikasa summarized the information they had gathered from the public domain. There were also many rumors and a dubious list of affiliates but it did not matter much.

“Oh damn!”

Putting down the documents, he held his nose bridge. It just hit him that it might be the He Family pulling the strings of Hu Clan and the Monstrous Flame Sect!

At the moment, the He Family was not a power he could contend with a few Sense Realm Experts. That also did not mean he would let third-rate powers like Hu Clan and Monstrous Flame Sect intimidate him.

‘Hu Clan, since you destroyed my store, shouldn’t you receive a payback?’

Ikasa smirked, thinking of his upcoming visit to the Hu Clan. He did not trust City Lord’s excuse, but from what he knew of City Lord, it must be a partial truth.

‘Thus, I should prepare myself before entering that den of bandits. It’s good that I saved a Golden print this week.’

Ikasa thought, heading to his bedroom.

[Welcome back, User]

The familiar greeting of his Printer chimed in his head. He quickly skipped past it and went to the Print option.

Strangely, he had no expectations when he clicked the button. He didn’t even realize it as he watched a new book be printed.

When he picked up the book, he saw a dark brown cover with golden letters. The cover did not attract his attention and nor did the name.

“Ax Kick.”

He looked up the technique in his printer interface and jumped with shock.

“Woah! This is a Top Grade Battle Technique?!”

The way he looked at the book changed within seconds. The shit-colored cover now looked endearing. Gaudy golden letters now seemed cool.

He eagerly spent 5 points to learn this new technique.

In an instant, he was transported to a new setting. This time it was in a forest. He inhabited the body of a slender girl with long legs. Her leg muscles were developed better than most.

Then she did something unthinkable. She sent a vertical kick down at the log sitting on the stump.

Swoosh!

Her leg whipped towards the log. As soon as her heel connected with the log, it was chopped cleanly in half. Ikasa was left flabbergasted by this scene.

That log was twice as thick as the girl and she had chopped it into two as if it was nothing!

‘No wonder this technique is called Ax kick!’

After getting a taste of what this technique could do, Ikasa went through her energy utilization method.

Energy traveled between her thighs and heels when she lifted her leg. When she struck down, the energy gathered at her heel. Basically, she gathered her energy at the point of impact and let the force break the object.

Ikasa rejoiced as he understood the complexity behind this skill.

‘She has spent years to reach this point of perfection and I will inherit her prowess with just a few days of practice!’

For the next few days, he saw her kick a thick tree trunk, with horizontal kicks. Every hit landed on the same spot. After each kick, the dent in the trunk would deepen, as if it was struck with an actual ax.

On the third day, the tree collapsed. It was cut through solely with her legs!

The accomplishment was impressive, but Ikasa focused on learning the skill. He noticed that the way she gathered energy at a particular point was similar to how he used his high-grade technique [Chop]. The only difference was she put the force of her entire body into her strike, multiplying the strike’s power manifolds.

After the tree trunk broke, Ikasa ended the simulation and ran to the ground with the WiFi dongle still in his chest.

“The Ax Kick has two types of kicks, the Vertical kick, and the Horizontal Kick. A vertical one is easier to master but a horizontal ax kick is difficult. But with the experience from the simulation, both are equal for me.”

He chose a large tree and began to perform the motions. His leg whipped with full power and struck the tree. Unfortunately, his gathered energy scattered as soon as his leg connected with the tree.

“Oh bloody fucking hell!”

Ikasa cursed as he grabbed the right leg and fell to the ground. The impact was horrifically painful. He was glad that he had not broken any bones.

‘What went wrong?’

He began to review the actions of the girl and compare them to his own. He had gathered energy but it dispersed upon impact, unlike Chop or the Girl’s technique.

While he analyzed, he had a crazy idea.

‘What If I can combine the techniques? Like [The Forehand] and [The Backhand] could be combined, can the Kicks be performed in combination too?’

Ikasa wondered as he used the breathing techniques of [Around the body in 80 Breaths] to combat the pain.

So far he had only learned the High-Grade martial skill, Chop, and Top Grade Movement skill, Wind the Way. He felt he should not squander his time learning the inferior techniques.

But now, after seeing Chop’s energy utilization method in a top-grade technique, he became curious as to whether other techniques could also help him firm his foundation.

‘This is not the time to be stingy. Anyways, I have about 213 Battle Points. Using 4 of them would not matter.’

He immediately spent 4 BP to learn the Sweeping Kick and Nutcracker Kick.

When he came out of the simulation, he had a look of enlightenment.

The Energy utilization method of the Nutcracker Kick was a very crude imitation of the Vertical Ax Kick. In an attempt to reverse the energy-gathering point from the heel to the ankle, many changes had been made.

The resulting technique was a failure. Still, since its utilization method originated from a top-grade skill, the Nutcracker Kick was one of the best in the Low-Grade Battle Techniques.

In the case of the Sweeping Kick, the energy did not gather at one point during the kick. It instead traveled from the thigh to the foot, building momentum. This momentum would then imbalance the target and cause it to fall.

After learning the technicalities of these inferior skills, he understood where he went wrong.

Ikasa had experienced the Girl’s kicks first hand. But he was unable to understand the intricacies in it.

After learning the Sweeping kick, he understood the correct execution method. It was not just energy that was gathering at her heel when she kicked, it was the energy arriving with momentum.

When her kick landed on the log, it was not just the power of the kick, but also the power of momentum behind it. That’s why her energy did not disperse and she succeeded in breaking the logs and the tree.

“Who knew that even though I had a cheat, I would still need an epiphany to understand how to kick properly.”

He got up shaking his head. Thanks to his top-grade Cultivation Technique, he had recovered and his pain had already subsided.

Taking a proper stance, Ikasa reviewed the energy utilization method of the Girl. Inhaling a deep breath, he kicked horizontally.

“Ha!”

His foot smashed into the trunk and a few splinters broke away from it. He had succeeded in a Horizontal Kick!

Buoyant by the success, he began to try different types of kicks. He succeeded in executing them within one or two tries. The tree he was using for practice now looked like it had been cut by a newbie woodcutter.

“If this kick can chop into the thick trunk of a tree, it should have no problem breaking a few bones.”

An evil grin formed on his lips and his eyes glinted with excitement. He couldn’t wait for his trip to the Hu Clan with the City Lord.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep