Chapter 345: Chapter 345 Martial Arts is a Circle
Yang Xiao, when not using his Soul Skill, mainly derived his combat power from the enhancement of his Genetic Attributes. For instance, his strength solely depended on the enhancement of his Strength Attribute, speed on the Agility Attribute, and defense likewise.
However, the martial monks from the Shaolin Temple were different. With the same strength, they could produce far greater power through their ancient martial arts.
This was somewhat similar to Yang Xiao’s previous practice of Golden Bee Swordsmanship and Feather Arrow Skill, as well as his later Longquan Spear Technique.
Cultivating such skills often provided higher combat power. For instance, his current Golden Bee Swordsmanship, with one stab producing ten sword shadows, could increase base combat damage tenfold.
But such swordsmanship also had a downside—it was rather monotonous, always the same move with little variation and lacking in feints. When your overall combat power exceeds that of your opponent, you could often crush them, but if not, it was much more difficult.
Of course, now that Yang Xiao could use a full set of Soul Skills, it was not something ordinary people could withstand. He was confident that with his Soul Skill and future Beast Soul, he could definitely dominate. He didn’t really want to learn ancient martial arts; he came along with Monk Ben Yin and others just to collect Monster corpses.
He was not far from reaching the Enhanced Gene Intermediate Stage now. If he followed these monks and collected Monster corpses for a month, he guessed it would be about sufficient.
Yang Xiao thought of another point—Nanmu City and Shanyun City together had over forty thousand people. Resources were limited, and not everyone had the same talent. It was not possible for everyone to evolve to Enhanced Gene level. If these people could learn ancient martial arts, it might directly boost everyone’s combat power several times, which would be an additional strength when dealing with Mutated Creatures in the future.
However, how to get Monk Ben Yin to agree to go to Nanmu City to teach everyone martial arts was something he hadn’t figured out yet. For now, he planned to just get acquainted with them and find an opportunity later.
In the evening, a group of people came from a distance, eight youngsters in green robes and armor, each carrying a longsword.
The leader walked up to Monk Ben Yin and others and greeted:
"Monk Ben Yin."
"Hey, Brother Zhang Hai, welcome back!"
Zhang Hai nodded, glanced at Yang Xiao, who was a stranger to him, and didn’t recognize him.
Monk Ben Yin spoke to Zhang Hai:
"This is a benefactor we met in the desert today, Yang Xiao from Nanmu City. Mr. Yang, this is Brother Zhang Hai from the Wudang Sect."
Yang Xiao quickly stood up, cupping his fists:
"So, it’s Brother Zhang Hai from the Wudang Sect, I’ve long heard of you."
Zhang Hai smiled faintly and said:
"Brother Yang doesn’t seem to be a martial artist, right?"
"Yes, I’m just an ordinary person, not trained in martial arts, I hope Brother Zhang Hai can give me more guidance."
Yang Xiao was very humble, trying to keep a low profile among these martial artists.
A young man behind Zhang Hai then said:
"This is deep in the desert, where Mutant Monsters are high level; it’s hard for someone who doesn’t know martial arts to survive here, you should leave early."
Yang Xiao was stunned and laughed:
"I’m mainly following Monk Ben Yin and others in a group, with Monk Ben Yin, I think it should not be a big problem."
He calmly glanced at that young man after speaking.
Zhang Hai immediately said:
"Young Brother, don’t talk nonsense, Brother Yang Xiao’s genetic level is probably above ours."
"So what? Having a high gene level doesn’t mean you can fight or have high combat power," retorted Zhang Hai’s younger brother Zhang Jian, who had been quite arrogant recently.
Actually, Yang Xiao could understand not only Zhang Hai, Zhang Jian, but also Monk Ben Yin and others were quite inflated.
These practitioners of ancient martial arts, experiencing a genetic mutation overnight, had an experience that overturned their understanding of the world; all kinds of Divine Skills and ancient martial arts from wuxia novels had been proven on them, how could their hearts not be inflated?
Monk Ben Yin then smiled and said:
"This Mr. Yang is also quite powerful, he can serve as our support on the battlefield."
Yang Xiao explained:
"We lack food in Nanmu City, and I was hoping to pick up some unwanted monster corpses here as food. If Brother Zhang Hai has hunted a Mutant Monster and can’t finish it, could you possibly let me have it?"
Zhang Hai waved his hand and said:
"No problem. Just today we killed more than ten monsters, and we discarded the corpses in the wild, too lazy to pick them up. Next time we come across you, just let us know."
"Thank you very much."
Zhang Hai and the others then entered the Genetic Store to appraise items, exchange Crystal Coins, and acquire Genetic Potions.
Monk Ben Yin and others also got up and went over.
Yang Xiao didn’t want them to think he was coveting their equipment and weapons, so he stayed in place alone, discreetly operating his Space Ring. He stored the giant camel in the Black Bottle and also put the other few monsters they encountered on the way inside, leaving only a ten-meter-long leopard on the grass, preparing it for dinner.
Yang Xiao now decided not to rely on the raw flesh of the Mutated Creatures to promote Genetic Evolution, deciding instead to barbecue it before eating.
He looked around, and about 2 kilometers away there seemed to be a forest, so he mounted the Flame Horse and galloped towards it.
Upon reaching near the forest, Yang Xiao chopped down a big tree and dragged it back.
This tree was ten meters long, lush and leafy, perfect for burning in a bonfire.
Yang Xiao’s strength had grown, and he effortlessly dragged the several-hundred-kilogram tree.
When he was several hundred meters from the Genetic Store, a group of women in white robes floated over from afar. Each woman’s long hair flowed, covering distances of forty to fifty meters in a single leap. As they were about to land, they lightly tapped the ground with their toes and leapt forth again, repeating the process multiple times until they swiftly entered the orange light protection ring of the Genetic Store.
Yang Xiao was quite astonished by this sight; it must be the legendary Qinggong. Though it wasn’t flying, leaping such distances of forty to fifty meters was still incredibly striking.
Without the Flame Horse, Yang Xiao felt he couldn’t match them.
It seems ancient martial arts must not be underestimated!
Since they were women, they might be disciples of the Emei Sect?
Yang Xiao dragged the tree into the orange light and dropped it down.
At this moment, Monk Ben Yin and others from the Shaolin Temple, along with people from the Wudang Sect like Zhang Hai, had just come out of the Genetic Store. They noticed the women in white robes and immediately greeted them:
"Sister Lan Xin, welcome back."
Yang Xiao was keen to get acquainted with these beauties and approached Monk Ben Yin, asking:
"Master Ben Yin, who are these beauties?"
"Heh heh, let me introduce them. These beauties are Sister Lan Xin and others from the Shenming Mountain Sect."
"Shenming Mountain Sect?"
Yang Xiao was stunned, recalling reading wuxia novels like "Seven Swords Under Divine Mountain" and "Iceberg Heavenly Maiden" in his past, but in real life, there didn’t seem to be a martial arts sect called Shenming Mountain Sect.
Yang Xiao looked at the six beauties opposite him, each with skin fairer than snow and a naturally beautiful, cold demeanor.
Yang Xiao chuckled and greeted with a fist and palm salute:
"So you are sisters from the Shenming Mountain Sect, I’ve long admired you!"
The beauties glanced at Yang Xiao, one of them sarcastically said:
"Which sect’s disciple are you?"
Monk Ben Yin answered:
"This is Yang Xiao, a layman. I met him in the desert, and he comes from Nanmu City."
"If you’re not from our martial arts circle, don’t casually address us as sisters."
Yang Xiao paused for a moment, wondering, should he be calling them Miss instead?