Chapter 26 The Dao of the Spear

At the start of this final, Xu Jingming had yearned to seize the world's number one title! His relatives and friends' expectations, even the hopes of the entire Xia country, along with his own childhood aspirations for the 'Martial Arts Competition'… all fueled this desire. But now, as the battle reached this point, Xu Jingming no longer cared about winning first place.

He was immensely satisfied with this duel. He had gained a great deal from it, experiencing a flash of enlightenment from Tiano's secret techniques and achieving the Great Accomplishment of the Hua Guang stance!

Tiano was a super genius who could suppress him.

Fighting against such a super genius, he could simply enjoy the battle!

"Boom!"

Tiano smashed down with his staff, and Xu Jingming dodged to the side to block. He was instantly sent flying backward, crashing through countless rocks and into a section of the intact city wall, causing it to collapse further.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Tiano pursued relentlessly. Each time, Xu Jingming had nowhere to escape, and he was either sent flying backward, retreated dozens of meters, or staggered a few steps…

"Hmm?"

After using his forbidden technique, Tiano launched more than a dozen consecutive attacks, only to find that Xu Jingming was retreating less and less as he defended.

"Water is formless, yielding to the enemy's momentum, seeking their weakness, and overcoming them." Xu Jingming's spearmanship became increasingly unpredictable. At this moment, his heart was filled with endless joy. He finally understood the true core of the Water Stance, one of the five ultimate techniques.

"The flow of water goes towards the place with the greatest attraction and the least resistance."

"The changes in spearmanship should be the same. There is no fixed form! As long as I grasp the core of 'yielding to the enemy's momentum and seeking their weakness,' the spearmanship has a foundation. I've read it countless times in the inheritance, but it doesn't compare to understanding it in actual combat." Xu Jingming grew more excited. As the ancient saying goes, 'If I hear the Dao in the morning, I can die content in the evening.'

The joy of comprehending the Dao far surpassed the victory of a competition.

Under Tiano's terrifying pressure, Xu Jingming continuously defended and deflected, gaining an increasingly profound understanding of the Water Stance. Among the five ultimate techniques, the Hua Guang stance had the highest achievement, and the Water Stance was second only to it. Xu Jingming also had a high talent in the Water Stance, having already thoroughly integrated the essence of the Water Stance into ordinary spear moves.

Because of his previous deep accumulation, he had long reached the bottleneck before reaching 'Great Accomplishment,' and now he finally had a sudden breakthrough.

Tiano's staff techniques were fierce and violent, with terrifying power and speed! But Xu Jingming's spearmanship followed the momentum, seeking the weak points in his opponent's staff movements. Then, the spear and the staff shadow touched, deflecting and guiding the force, each time only needing to retreat two or three steps to dissipate the impact.

"The Water Stance is not only a spear technique, but also a spear philosophy." Xu Jingming understood. "The transformation of spear philosophy is a transformation of the level of thinking."

Some top experts can easily defeat younger generations' ultimate moves with some very ordinary and simple moves.

Why?

It was the difference in the level of thinking.

When should you use what move? When to retreat and when to advance? From which aspect should you deflect force? And where should you attack?

"The five ultimate techniques in the upper篇 (pian - section) of *Hua Guang*, the Water Stance contains the philosophy of spearmanship. Until today, I finally understood it, I have attained the Dao!" Xu Jingming was overjoyed. His spearmanship looked like the same moves. But Tiano's terrifying power and speed always felt like hitting cotton.

"What's going on?" Tiano couldn't believe it.

He vaguely felt that Xu Jingming was like flowing water, constantly changing! Always turning into the most 'restraining' way to respond to him.

…

"This Xu Jingming?" Countless people around the world were watching the battle, including some cosmic lifeforms, but only Pang Ze understood Xu Jingming's state at this moment.

"His spearmanship is no longer just a technique." Pang Ze watched. "But it has a soul, an inner core, and should be called—the Dao of the Spear! He has attained the Dao!"

There was a strange brilliance in Pang Ze's eyes.

Any dazzling technique, no matter how powerful, was only within the scope of skill (术 - shu).

Only by comprehending the philosophy of spearmanship would there be a qualitative change. Even ordinary moves could turn decay into magic!

"Having comprehended his own Dao of the Spear, he should be able to master 'Transcendent' level moves soon." Pang Ze looked forward to it.

Comprehending the Dao of the Spear meant that ordinary moves could turn decay into magic. It didn't mean that they only knew ordinary moves. They would even have a deeper understanding of the moves and comprehend even more terrifying moves. This kind of move was called a 'Transcendent' level move.

What was a Transcendent level? It meant 'exceeding the normal limits,' a level that normal planetary life geniuses could not reach.

"Is my Blue Star about to produce a Transcendent genius?" Pang Ze thought.

…

Xu Jingming and Tiano exchanged blows. No matter how much stronger, faster, and more agile Tiano was, Xu Jingming was slightly at a disadvantage, but he had obviously stabilized the situation.

"What the hell?"

Xu Jingming was enjoying the battle, but Tiano couldn't accept it. "I used a forbidden technique, and he still blocked it?"

"Die!" Tiano's staff techniques changed, and in an instant, they were like giant pythons streaking across the sky, enveloping Xu Jingming.

It was the Heavenly Python Sequence, one of the three secret techniques!

Using a secret technique while in a forbidden state! Tiano felt that he was shameless, bullying this new civilization's top genius too much. But he felt that losing was even more shameful! He couldn't care about anything else at this moment.

"Hmm?" Xu Jingming's spear moved, he had blocked all three secret techniques before, and he had a good idea of what to do.

Seeing the 'Heavenly Python Sequence' move, Xu Jingming's spear naturally turned and touched the staff shadow.

He was clearly using the Hua Guang stance, but it was as gentle as water.

Pfft! Bang! Boom!

Each time it was a spear thrust! But sometimes it was as gentle as water, sometimes it was fiery, sometimes it was fierce, and sometimes it was as swift as a viper… Different spear techniques, but with the same spear philosophy. After Xu Jingming's 'water flow' philosophy was integrated into the Hua Guang stance, the Hua Guang stance completely transformed.

The other four stances could be appropriately integrated into the Hua Guang stance.

When should you use what spearmanship? Everything was in his mind.

The Hua Guang stance's borrowing and accumulating power became even more effortless.

"What?" Tiano had encountered the Hua Guang Thirty-Six Strikes before, but after the 'water flow' spearmanship philosophy was integrated into the Hua Guang stance this time, the feeling was completely different. The interval between each spear strike was no longer about being as short as possible, but sometimes extremely short, sometimes slower, everything followed the momentum of Tiano's moves.

In this way, the borrowing of power in the moves was even smoother.

Move after move, like a monstrous wave! The power became more and more terrifying.

The thirty-sixth strike! It was already more terrifying than before, Tiano maintained his forbidden state, using the Heavenly Python Sequence, and was still able to block it.

But the thirty-seventh, thirty-eighth, and thirty-ninth strikes!

The subsequent three strikes became more and more terrifying.

The final thirty-ninth strike, the momentum of the explosion, also carried the charm of the Fire Stance. At this moment, Xu Jingming understood that it was the final explosive momentum, borrowing and accumulating all the force, completely erupting at this moment, one strike like firelight! The air exploded!

The firelight had already pierced through Tiano's chest.

A huge hole appeared in Tiano's chest, and his body began to turn illusory.

He looked at Xu Jingming, his eyes complex, with a look of disbelief: "Transcendent? I encountered a Transcendent level?"

"Thank you." Xu Jingming looked at the gradually illusory Tiano and said his thanks.

Yes.

Transcendent level!

The upper篇 (pian - section) inheritance of *Hua Guang* also had a 'Transcendent level' record.

The Hua Guang Thirty-Six Strikes were the normal limit for planetary life, so reaching this step meant being almost invincible at the same level. To break this limit was ten or a hundred times more difficult! One must have their own martial arts philosophy, carry it out, and then hope to break this limit. The moves they unleashed were also called 'Transcendent level' moves.

Such geniuses were also called Transcendent level geniuses in many civilizations in the universe!

He was able to break through because he had to thank Tiano! Tiano's three secret techniques had given him a lot of gains, and the extreme pressure Tiano brought had allowed him to comprehend the Dao of the Spear and unleash Transcendent level moves!

At this moment—

Xu Jingming heard the virtual world prompt in his ear—

"Xu Jingming, your Hua Hong spearmanship has broken through 50% of the fifth level, automatically obtaining the evolutionary method for the cosmic life stage."