Chapter 34 - The Amendment of A Martial Technique (2/2)
‘If Chen managed to win against a formidable foe such as Yun Laoliu,’ Ye Zhantian mused quietly, ‘then he should be more than capable of protecting himself, especially if he stayed away from peak-Eighth Stage and Ninth Stage fighters in general.’
With one of his greatest concerns greatly pacified, Ye Zhantian’s fixation on Ye Chen’s cultivation progress lessened as well.
Ye Chen ruminated on his decision for a while before finally starting, “I didn’t just meet Yun Laoliu while outside. I also saw Ye Moyang.”
“Ye Moyang?!” Just the mention of the former Elder darkened the seniors’ faces. “Where is he?!”
If there was one kind of scum that irate them the most, it would be the kind who betrayed their own kin!
“He’s dead. I killed him,” Ye Chen replied.
“Excellent! You’ve helped us cull the clan!” Ye Zhantian and the rest of the upper-echelon exclaimed in elation. “Ye Moyang deserves to die!”
“I also took this from him, Father.” Ye Chen quickly took out the Shadow Storm Talon Discourse to Ye Zhantian.
“Isn’t that… Shadow Storm Talon?!” Ye Zhantian face paled. Then, in a snap, he growled in a severe tone, “Did you try to practice it?”
Sensing the storm in his father’s expression, Ye Chen hung his head and muttered, “I… turned a few pages.”
“Calm down, Big Brother. You’re too high-strung! Chen’er only got this book for a night, you know. I doubt he could’ve learned beyond a superficial level in that short period of time even if he tried,” Ye Zhanlong said with a carefree smile.
Those words softened Ye Zhantian’s expression. “Sorry, I guess I could get carried away with my paranoia,” he said apologetically. “You see, when one practices Shadow Storm Talon, they become susceptible to a slew of troubles, such as uncontrollable rage and even madness and deliriums. It’s something you should never touch, Chen’er. Do you understand?”
When it came to Ye Chen’s welfare, Ye Zhantian would become a lot more worried. After all, not only was the young man the most gifted martial art prodigy the House of Ye had ever raised throughout centuries, he was also Ye Zhantian’s very own flesh and blood. It was only natural that a concerned father would always fear the worst for his son.
Ye Chen wished he could tell them that he had made his revision on some parts of the cultivation method, such that practicing Shadow Storm Talon would no longer yield these aforementioned banes. Yet, he was struggling with his words. Ye Chen had always regarded his father with a mix of respect and fear, possibly because Ye Zhantian had exuded a mighty and domineering countenance as the Chief.
“I say, we destroy this Shadow Storm Talon for the sake of our clan,” Ye Zhantian remarked as his fingers clutched on the edge of the book — a sign of tearing the book into pieces.
“N-not so fast, Father!” Ye Chen blurted out frantically. Since he had made revisions, the martial technique had been upgraded to at least the third rank or above. It would be a tremendous waste for the clan to destroy it now!
“What is it?” Ye Zhantian fixed his son a questioning look.
“I read a little on the discourse,” Ye Chen eyed his father’s expression worriedly. Seeing that Ye Zhantian did not immediately launch into a fit of rage, he continued, “There were some faults in the cultivation method of Shadow Storm Talon, you see. For example, in one part, it says to revolve your Celestial Chi in the opposite direction through the Taiyang. But doing that for a long period of time ferments both tempestuous tantrums and bloodlust in the practitioner. So, I made some changes to it so that it would no longer bear those harms.”
Ye Changxuan, Ye Zhantian and the rest shot glances at each other. If Ye Chen was right, then the Ye clan could stand to preserve a third rank family martial technique like the Shadow Storm Talon after all. Though more pressingly, did Ye Chen just admit to amending martial techniques?
For centuries, only the most gifted member of the family could ever do that. Even so, all of them had only attempted so after they had attained the Ninth Stage or even the Tenth Stage!
Had these words came out from someone else in the younger cohorts, not only would they dismiss the veracity of his claim, they would even treat it as complete hogwash. However, they would not do so on Ye Chen’s case, simply because the child had done so while being guided by the Ye clan’s ancestral spirits!
Ye Zhantian flipped the book open and immediately noticed that there were, indeed, marks all over the pages. All of them were in his son’s handwriting.
“I’m going to study this with your uncles and granduncle at my place. So before we make any definitive conclusion, please do not learn this technique on your own, understood?” Ye Zhantian warned.
“Understood, Father.”
Ye Chen wished he could boast to his father that not only had he mastered the technique, he even changed its elemental effect and turned it into Gale Storm Talon instead. However, the words never left his lips. No one in their right mind would have believed that one could possibly master a third-ranked martial technique in a single night. That very suggestion would stump everyone!