29 Trees. (2/2)

Su Min, with wide eyes, stared at the sharp blade of wind as it dissipated in the horizon. It didn't stop until it hit the 50-meter mark, which was extraordinary.

However, this wasn't what made him shocked. It was because of the faint glimmer of gold that enveloped the axe when he swiped it. This gold came from him!

Taking a closer look, he proceeded to swipe again, yet the glimmer didn't come. Pondering, a guess came to his mind. With a strange glint, his eyes blazed as the symbol on his chest hummed, and from the world, a strand of gold was absorbed by it.

He intended to wait a few seconds for the energy to reach the right speed, but it didn't even need a second to complete, and this was due to the sparkling symbol on his spine!

Watching, he saw that whenever the golden strand touched any symbol on his spine, a noticeable push blasted it. It was at least two times more powerful compared the ordinary symbols.

'The more lifeforce the symbol absorbs, the faster it propels the golden energy? Not only this but now that I look at my spine, I seem to be able to see a number...'

Su Min paused with confusion, and with this, an invisible strand seemed to thrum out of his spine and pierce into his head, imprinting a line of information into his sight.

'Spinal Mortal Refinement: 0.5%'

'...0.5%? How terrifying is this race?!'

Realising that he was starting to forget the reason he absorbed the golden energy, Su Min calmed himself down before focusing on the mission at hand. He raised his axe, and watching the golden energy in his body, slashed down.

*SWEEP*

As he examined his body, the golden strand inside of him, with an intense speed, darted into his arm and out into the atmosphere, then into the axe.

The same glimmer of gold glowed from the axe as an intense slash of air swept through the sky, darting into the atmosphere... It was unknown how much power it had, but Su Min felt that it was enough to halve a steel wall.

'Huh. So the Ancient Fist Art isn't just for punching...'

In essence, if Su Min were to follow this, then he could probably do the same thing with his fists. It was just that, in the tournament, he didn't have access to the golden energy, so he wasn't able to show the full potential of a simple punch from his race.

You could say that that the Ancient Fist Art is the main fighting technique, encapsulating the way to handle energy but also the technique that manipulates it.

Ignoring the contradictory name, Su Min scratched his head. He guessed that this would probably be useful for cutting trees, so he went and absorbed 10 more strands of energy into his body.

'Maybe they'll last longer now...'

Hoping that he'll be able to store the golden energy for more than ten minutes, Su Min threw the axe onto his shoulder and strolled into the forest with absent thoughts.

'I never really thought about it, but what would happen if I forced the golden and martial energy to touch...'

...

...

*WACK WACK WACK*

Sweating, a white-robed youth with a sword scabbard thrashed a bronze tree with a cleaving axe. However, a strange metallic shimmer was all that responded as the tree only got inflicted with minute dents.

”I ain't using my sword to chop a tree!”

Call him stupid, but even when he has a sword that is obviously sharper than the axe, he has a devotion to the arts...

*Step WACK WACK Step*

Su Min, holding an axe on his shoulder and with his hand other in his pocket, strolled towards the aggravated youth. The sword youth seemed to notice him, and with a light laugh, wiped the sweat from his brow and smiled at him.

”Aye, Su Min, you finally decided to stop dozing off there! I hope you now understand that swinging an axe at the air doesn't REALLY achieve anything,”

Speaking sarcastically, the youth patted Su Min's back before walking back to the bronze tree. Su Min, not sure what to say, decided that it was best not to think of an excuse and found his own bronze tree to pummel.

”Mhmm, let's try...”

Staring at the tree, Su Min mumbled before gripping his axe tightly and throwing it into the air with an exaggerated motion.

*WOOSH*

A gold glimmer shone from the axe as it hovered above Su Min head, and with a deep breath, Su Min threw the axe right at the tree!

*CRASH*

A resounding, metallic crash reverberated out of the tree as the axe shoved itself into it. A sharp screech like scraping chalk screamed out from the small cut as a solidified streak of air blasted right into it.

*PSSST*

Sparks spewed out of the tree as the blade of air continued to hammer at the tree without end.

”W-what the fuck?”

The sword youth rubbed his eyes as he watched the blade of wind dig itself into the tree, well that was what he was seeing anyway.

*PSSss..st*

After a few horrifying seconds, the air blade finally seemed to lose all its energy as it dissipated with the wind, and what revealed itself a steaming cut.

”Ok, even with all that, the tree only got cut 1/10 the way in?!”

The sword youth, even more shocked, stared at the tree that had somehow dealt with a blow that surpassed the boundary of a mortal. In fact, if a cultivator were to see the move, they would all without a doubt say that strike had the strength of a 1st step Martial Condensation Cultivator!

Looking at the cut, Su Min's eyes blazed with battle intent... At a tree.

'What if I use 2 strands of energy instead?'