He had just arrived and was already given the evaluation of a “Drowner.”
Was he really going to die?
Damn it, what gave it the right to assume he would die!
“Shen Ye.”
“Huh? Hmm?”
Xiao Mengyu slowly unfastened the longsword from her back and said, “Let’s set aside the high school exams for now. I’ll give you some guidance.”
“Guidance?” Shen Ye asked curiously.
“I suspect that the Mortal Martial Arts Group will soon tell you about ‘comprehension’ and ‘resonance.’ You don’t need to worry about that.
As for the three elite high schools, they have specialists who will explain everything to you.”
Xiao Mengyu placed her sword on the floor, then began stretching and warming up.
“But before you pass the exam, I’m not sure what kind of techniques they’ll give you. One thing’s for sure—the quality won’t match ours from noble families.”
“—I can give you superior techniques.”
Before she even finished speaking, she suddenly clenched her fists and lunged at Shen Ye like a lightning strike.
Caught off guard, Shen Ye could only stumble backward.
But Xiao Mengyu had no intention of actually hitting him. Instead, she executed all thirty-six moves of a fist technique right in front of him.
“Yizi Punch—thirty-six moves in total. Every strike targets a vital spot, fast and fierce. It’s an exceptionally rare martial art.”
“This is a fist technique passed down in my Luo family. Do you want to learn it?”
Her movements were crisp and precise, each punch slicing through the air with a sharp hiss.
Shen Ye’s heart filled with excitement.
Perfect! The biggest problem he had was his lack of offensive skills.
If he learned this, he would finally have a means to fight back in certain situations.
But—
“Wouldn’t it cause you trouble if you taught me your Luo family’s martial arts?”
He asked hesitantly.
Xiao Mengyu was momentarily stunned. She gazed at him for a while before speaking.
“Our noble families guard our martial arts manuals fiercely. There are people outside who would go crazy trying to steal them, and you’re here worrying about me?”
“It’s about doing things the right way. I don’t like causing problems for others.” Shen Ye shrugged.
Xiao Mengyu’s eyes flickered, concealing a trace of warmth as she softly said, “It’s fine. There won’t be any trouble.”
—If not for you last night, I would have already been devoured.
“I’ll stop the demonstration here. Think about whether you want to learn it.”
She extended her hand and made a slight motion in the air.
With a sharp clang, her longsword unsheathed itself and landed in her grip.
Shen Ye barely registered what happened before—
The longsword slashed through the air with otherworldly speed, its trajectory leaving afterimages. A whirlwind erupted, almost sending him flying.
In the next instant—
The blade was already pressed against his throat.
“You seem to have gotten stronger…” Shen Ye muttered.
“I had a breakthrough,” Xiao Mengyu nodded. “This is my Luo family’s Lingbo Sword Technique. Want to learn it?”
“I do, but I don’t have a sword,” Shen Ye replied.
“Oh, right,” Xiao Mengyu looked slightly regretful. “I should’ve stolen one from home before coming here. But if I go back now, it’ll be too obvious—hard to get my hands on one.”
Shen Ye’s eyebrow twitched.
Steal one?
Sis, stealing is not okay.
What if your family finds out the sword is with me and decides to kill me?
Perhaps sensing the change in his expression, Xiao Mengyu tapped his shoulder with her sword reassuringly.
“Don’t worry, I’ll handle everything.”
She sheathed her sword and continued, “Sword techniques are off the table since you need a good sword to unleash their full power—”
“Next, I’ll demonstrate Hong Kick, Seven Kill Hand, Thunder Palm, and Sixteen Close-Combat Techniques. See if there’s one you’d like to learn.”
“Wait a second!” Shen Ye suddenly interrupted.
“Hm?” Xiao Mengyu had just taken her stance, ready to launch a kick, when she stopped to look at him in confusion.
“Did you just say Thunder Palm?” Shen Ye asked.
“Yeah. Its strikes are as fast as lightning, and its power is as fierce as a thunderstorm—hence the name Thunder Palm. Only seven noble families still have the secret manual, and my Luo family is one of them,” Xiao Mengyu said proudly.
Thunder Palm!
Shen Ye suddenly recalled that voice in his head—
“Next, you need to find a way to obtain the Undead Tribe’s ‘Shadow Step’ and the Beast King Tribe’s ‘Thunder Palm.’”
“Why do I need to obtain those techniques?” he had asked.
“I can’t say. But if you do, and combine them with your ‘Moonlit Deer Steps’ and ‘Frost Wind,’ you’ll understand.”
“You’re watching me all the time?” he had asked.
“No… Most of the time, I’m asleep. You need to hurry and gather them… then you’ll know… the… secret…”
He had already acquired “Moonlit Deer Steps,” “Shadow Step,” and “Frost Wind,” allowing him to perform an incomplete version of “Frost Moon Shocking Heaven Technique.”
All that was left was “Thunder Palm”!
But—
The “Thunder Palm” that voice mentioned was a technique from the Nightmare World!
Xiao Mengyu’s version was probably just a coincidence.
“Where did this Thunder Palm come from?” Shen Ye couldn’t help but ask.
Xiao Mengyu laughed.
“You mean you’ve never heard of Thunder Palm? It’s famous! Over a hundred years ago, when our noble family ancestors excavated the ruins of the Sky Kalpa Temple, they found it inside a crumbling pavilion.”
Sky Kalpa Temple Ruins…
Tch.
Something about this felt off—like a faint, unplaceable unease.
Xiao Mengyu continued, “Actually, without high comprehension, you’ll never unlock Thunder Palm’s true power, no matter how long you practice.”
“I just memorized its forms and key techniques by heart.”
She unclenched her fists and shifted into a palm stance.
“I’ll demonstrate it for you.”
Shen Ye immediately put all other thoughts aside and focused intently.
Yet, a thought still crept into his mind—
What if.
Just in case—
If this Thunder Palm was the same as that Thunder Palm, wouldn’t that mean the secret mentioned by that voice would be complete?
Xiao Mengyu struck out with her palm while speaking aloud:
“—Remember, you must focus completely and observe my palm techniques with absolute concentration. Only then can you activate all of your comprehension.”
Comprehension.
Right, I need comprehension…
Shen Ye didn’t hesitate and allocated all 10 of his attribute points into comprehension.
Lines of faint glowing text appeared:
“Since you have never developed or trained your comprehension, you only have the most basic, initial comprehension points.”
“Your comprehension is 1.”
“You have allocated attribute points.”
“Current comprehension total: 1 + 10 = 11.”
11 comprehension points.
How much could he grasp?
Shen Ye stared unblinkingly at Xiao Mengyu, watching her demonstrate Thunder Palm while explaining its key principles.
Xiao Mengyu withdrew her palm and walked over. “So? Do you have a rough impression of it?”
Shen Ye was silent for a long while before suddenly saying,
“This technique… isn’t that powerful, right?”
“What do you mean not that powerful?” Xiao Mengyu replied. “For an ordinary person, mastering it means they could immediately find employment, buy a house, a car, get married, have kids, and never worry about food and shelter again.”
“Then why did you perform it so casually? You even got one move wrong,” Shen Ye said.
Xiao Mengyu froze, her beautiful eyes widening as she stared at him.
“This is your first time seeing Thunder Palm, right?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“Which move was wrong?”
“You just said, ‘This palm mobilizes the qi and blood of the meridian, Thoroughfare meridian, and Belt Vessel, shifting through the twelve principal meridians, concentrating all intent into the carpal joints of the left palm, using whipping force to invoke the Fifth Evil-Banishing Incantation from the Supreme Thunder Sutra to defeat the enemy.’ But look—”
“You did use whipping force, but the power landed on the radial wrist joint instead of the carpal joints.”
Shen Ye mimicked her, striking out with a palm.
—Their posture, movement, and technique were identical!
Shen Ye then adjusted his stance and said, “Shouldn’t the correct form be like this—”
He shuddered slightly, then whipped out a palm strike into the air, producing a deep, thunderous boom.
Thunder Palm!
Even Xiao Mengyu hadn’t produced this effect just now.
Holding her breath, Xiao Mengyu’s eyes gleamed with admiration before she finally spoke:
“You kept up with my explanation and even noticed mistakes… It seems your comprehension is indeed remarkable—have you trained in insight or meditation before?”
“No.”
“I do have a family-inherited visualization technique, but I can’t teach it to you. Since you’ll be learning the visualization methods of the Three Great High Schools in the future, mixing them together would be a huge hassle.”
“That makes sense,” Shen Ye nodded.
Xiao Mengyu’s tone became livelier as she spoke quickly:
“I specialize in swordsmanship and never formally studied palm techniques. I only skimmed through a few manuals while waiting for you at the airport, just in case your comprehension wasn’t good enough—”
“From now on, you can study on your own.”
She pulled a thin booklet from her pocket and handed it to Shen Ye.
It was the Thunder Palm Manual.
As Shen Ye took the book, faint glowing text appeared beside it:
“Quality: Green.”
Green signified Excellent.
Xiao Mengyu actually gave him an Excellent-quality technique!
What a generous girl.
Overjoyed, Shen Ye accepted the manual and eagerly flipped through it.
Xiao Mengyu, meanwhile, stepped aside, holding her longsword as she stood motionless.
Her eyes were closed, as if lost in deep meditation.
Yet the sword in her arms trembled faintly from time to time.
—Who knew what technique she was practicing?
Shen Ye spared her a glance before focusing entirely on the Thunder Palm Manual.
As he read, several glowing lines of text emerged:
“To comprehend Thunder Palm to the Initiate Stage requires 5 comprehension points.”
“To the Minor Accomplishment Stage, 9 comprehension points.”
“To the Major Accomplishment Stage, 12 comprehension points.”
“To the Mastery Stage, 15 comprehension points.”
So comprehension was used for this…
