It was fortunate that they were inside the Grand Desolate World, where there was ample time for Yang Kai to squander. Before finding suitable Heaven and Earth treasures, he couldn't condense the power of yin, yang, and the five elements — otherwise, he'd never have had time to practice these techniques.
"Can you tell me more about the specific cultivation path your old friend followed?" Yang Kai asked with curiosity.
Lu Xue said, "His approach was identical to yours, sir. He collected over a hundred different spear techniques and practiced them tirelessly every day. I remember he once said during his cultivation that the moment he forgot all hundred spear techniques and was left with only a single spear, his work would be complete. Decades later, when I saw him again, he had succeeded."
"Forget a hundred spear techniques, left with only one spear!" Yang Kai murmured, a look of contemplation on his face as he vaguely grasped the man's intent.
But saying it was one thing — doing it was infinitely harder.
Spear techniques were the kind of skill that grew more familiar the more one practiced them. At the very least, that had been Yang Kai's experience over these past two or three months. Once a technique had been performed enough times and its essence grasped, it became a memory seared into the body's very instinct. Forgetting something like that was harder than reaching the heavens.
Yet those words had opened a new door for him. His eyes lit up. "Your old friend — remarkable, truly remarkable!"
Lu Xue smiled faintly. "Perhaps you could try it yourself, sir."
Yang Kai chuckled. "He has his Dao, and I have my path. His Dao may not suit me, but it's certainly worth drawing inspiration from. You may go."
With that, he resumed practicing the thousand spear techniques.
In the mountains there was no sense of time; in cultivation, days and months blurred together.
On Wolong Mountain, Yang Kai practiced with tireless dedication. Never since he had begun cultivating had he thrown himself so passionately and single-mindedly into any one endeavor.
Each day, those thousand-plus spear techniques bloomed with brilliant radiance in his hands.
Every two months, he would return to Star City — partly to show his face and keep certain petty troublemakers in check, and partly to check on the progress of those under him.
Things were going well. The dozen or so who hadn't yet condensed Dao Seals were gradually forming their own, and all of them had surpassed the limits they'd originally been capable of, meeting Yang Kai's prior requirements. They had each gone to Moon Lotus to obtain fourth-grade or even fifth-grade Heaven and Earth treasures to condense their yin, yang, and five-element powers.
Those who had already condensed their Dao Seals and laid their foundations were pushing to obtain the strongest power they could bear.
Lang Qingshan had Yang Kai particularly excited. The man could indeed withstand the impact of fifth-grade Heaven and Earth treasures on his Dao Seal and had already condensed the power of wood. When Yang Kai returned, he bestowed upon him a portion of True Solar Fire, and Lang Qingshan was now in seclusion condensing the power of fire. That speed and talent, even among the great Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands, would be considered impressive.
Star City brought in considerable income, and with Yang Kai taking a seventy-percent share, he was naturally raking in a fortune. But these things were ultimately external trappings — his own strength was the true foundation of his standing. So each time he returned, he never stayed long, at most a day or two, before heading back to Wolong Mountain to continue his cultivation.
The thing he had worried about never materialized. The Heavenly Moon Demonic Spider had not been seen again after razing the Sword Pavilion's Star City. However, across the Grand Desolate World, cultivator strongholds were periodically overrun and destroyed by beast tides, with some wiped out entirely — not a single survivor.
Half a year passed in the blink of an eye.
On Wolong Mountain, Yang Kai's figure darted and wove, spear light flashing freely. When he finally reined in his spear, his aura settled rapidly, and he stood in place, lost in thought.
Not far away, Lu Xue's expression froze slightly. She murmured, "One thousand and thirty-five!"
When she had first observed Yang Kai demonstrating spear techniques, he had performed a total of one thousand one hundred and thirty-four. Now only one thousand and thirty-five remained — nearly a hundred techniques had vanished, and this transformation had emerged gradually over the past six months.
In other words, Yang Kai had been slowly forgetting the techniques he practiced, walking the same path as her old friend.
Lu Xue secretly chuckled. Youthful stubbornness after all — all that talk of "he has his Dao, I have my path" was just lip service. In the end, he was imitating someone else.
Still, managing to forget a hundred techniques in such a short time genuinely shocked Lu Xue. Her old friend had spent decades on it.
The talent and comprehension of the young man before her were things her old friend could never have matched, not in a lifetime. And when one thought about it, that made perfect sense — this was someone who had comprehended a Divine Ability Manifestation while still in the Emperor Realm. Across the entire Three Thousand Worlds, among the countless billions of living beings, how many could claim that?
What followed shocked Lu Xue even more profoundly.
It had taken Yang Kai half a year to forget a hundred spear techniques. After another half year, the number of forgotten techniques had reached six hundred, and the remaining five hundred-plus showed signs of merging together as well.
Almost every day, several techniques — sometimes more than a dozen — vanished from Yang Kai's practice, and the pace of their disappearance only accelerated.
Two months later, when Yang Kai thrust his spear, not a single trace of any specific spear technique remained. There were only the most basic moves — thrust, sweep, hack, slash — like someone who had just picked up a spear for the first time, clumsily waving a long pole without the slightest hint of power.
And every strike appeared agonizingly difficult. The muscles on his arms bulged, his entire aura surging and boiling, as though some invisible, enormous resistance was pressing against the spear in his hands, preventing him from moving smoothly or freely.
Attacks like that, anyone could dodge without breaking a sweat.
Lu Xue couldn't make sense of it anymore.