Chapter 73 - Opening Doors! (1/2)

Deadpan, Ignius stared at Will, yet the glimmer of his eyes belied his serenity. At first, Will assumed it was hesitation, but instinct later told him otherwise. Will gripped his sword, waiting for the spear- wielder to approach. After five years of countless battles, he had produced his own countering-type style of battle. Considering Ignius's imposing aura, Will proceeded with caution.

Ignius desperately wanted to kill Will, but at the same time, part of him was disappointed that earth would lose someone who possessed two Empyrean Intents and that his hands were responsible.

”Are you done?”

Ingius's words resulted in a smirk from his opponent. In response, Ignius snorted and stabbed forth. Will closed his eyes and concentrated on his other senses. He was well aware that his sight was of little help; thus, he delegated his mental power elsewhere. Will was really curious about what gave him an inescapable sense of imminent doom.

As Ignius's spear charged forward, an invisible disturbance in space fluctuated in its path, resulting in most of the spear disappearing into the void. Simultaneously, the spear reappeared behind Will, exiting another spatial disturbance.

'This! This is!'

Will lacked any time to marvel at this overbearing ability. He was far too concerned with defending himself. Will erected a barrier of Bloodlust and Sword Qi, rotating his body to greet the spear.

As if the spear had a mind of its own, it reacted! It accelerated and blasted through the wall like a bullet through a sheet of paper. Will no longer had enough time to react; thus, Ignius was assured of his victory.

”Clang!”

Instead of the screams of a dying man, the sound of two metals clashing resounded in his ears. His pupils dilated as he witnessed Will's acrobatics. Knowing he no longer had enough time to turn, Will swung his sword behind him. The spear's momentum had decimated his defenses; thus, Will held no illusions about stopping the spear with his sword, especially considering he wielded it with only one hand. Instead, his objective was much more efficient. With a well-calculated nudge, the spear's trajectory shifted, missing Will's back by less than a centimeter.

Ignius was impressed, but this feeling only lasted as long as a lightning bolt flashing across stormy skies. Like thunder, Ignius responded, pulling his spear back and swinging it leftward. This time confident that his attack would hit, he was surprised once again.

”Clang!”

History repeated itself, his spear deflected upward by Will who bent backward at the recoil.

'What kind of swordsmanship is this?'

Unlike Will, Ignius had information on forms, knowledge passed down to him through a variety of means. Except for the basic techniques taught to him by the system, Will used his own self-created techniques. One could even argue that his technique was formless, constantly changing and adapting to new situations. Angered, Ignius drew back his spear and aimed at Will who was still bent backward.

'I've got you now!'

Considering his opponent's stance, Ignius was confident that he had this fight in the bag. But Will once again pulled a rabbit out of the martial arts hat. The spear was heading straight for the side of his torso, threatening to end him there when Will gripped the hilt of his sword with two hands. Then Will made his left-hand slide down the side of his sword until it neared the tip while leaping off the ground.

”Clang!”

Using the momentum from the collision, Will flew upwards. Ignius grunted and retracted his spear.

'Fool, now you are stuck in mid-air!'

A new disturbance in space appeared above Will. He didn't waste time and reacted quickly. A spear materialized and descended upon him like the wrath of a furious deity. Ignius's eyes dilated as his spear hit nothing. Will landed a few steps behind, ready for the next attack.

'This bastard formed an ice sheet beneath his feet and rebounded off it! What fast reaction speed. Why is he now so fast?'

Indeed, Will had now increased in speed. He was qualitatively different from before. Ignius refrained from attacking and closely observed his opponent, trying to understand what had just occurred.

....

The 12 Doors were undoubtedly the most important meridians within one's body, particularly because one could only become an immortal once all 12 Doors opened. Before one started upon the path of cultivation their body would have a certain amount of doors already opened. The number of opened doors before cultivating determined one's talent. Will had six doors open; thus, he was far above average in that regard.

The Doors were named 1st Door all the way up to the 12th, in the order they would be opened. According to cultivation laws, one was born with all 12 Doors opened, but exposure to the filth of the world resulted in the Doors clogging up. Some bodies resisted this filth better than others, like Will, resulting in them having quite a few doors open when they began cultivating.

No matter how much of a prodigy one was, cultivation can only begin after childhood finished because one's body needed to handle the strain of world energy.

Having open doors was one thing, but utilizing them was a different story. For one to find and use the doors, one had to have a cultivation manual and an intricate understanding of the human body, including all its meridians and acupoints.

The solitary sword manual was incredibly complex, giving Will quite the headache, but ever since he had gained over 1000 minds, he had been working non-stop on understanding what he could. So far, all he had understood was the most basic of methods such as how to utilize an opened door and how to open others. Each door could be utilized in innumerable ways, with some far-surpassing others. Suffice to say, the SSS manual had high-quality methods for opening and utilizing each door.

Before, Will had circulated his yuan through normal meridians and not utilized any of the 8 Gates or the 12 Doors because he was unaware of how to. Experimenting was out of the question as it could lead to qigong deviation, a scenario in which energy went berserk and destroyed one's meridians, permanently ruining any chance of cultivating. This basic warning was present at the beginning of every manual.

Ignius felt the yuan around Will transform quantitatively and qualitatively. He immediately concluded,

'This brat has utilized a door!'

According to the information he had received from Modus, Will was a fledgling cultivator who knew next to nothing on how to properly cultivate. Thus, it came as a big surprise when Will utilized such an upgrade.

Ignius would be shocked if he knew that Will was even more surprised by the changes in his body!

This was the first time Will had utilized a Door before, and the feeling was nothing like he had expected. The yuan in his body burst forth in billowing waves and surged around his body. If before the yuan traveling his body was like a trickling stream, now it was a raging river. Will knew that utilizing a Door would help, but he didn't expect the change to be this extreme.