Top-tier Unruly Master-Chapter 1646 - 1683: Deep Schemer
After all, all cultivators understand the importance of knowing oneself and one’s opponent. This is crucial in combat between the two, and the same goes for Ding Fan. However, if the "Sorcery" includes spells that most cultivators have never seen, even for Ding Fan, fighting against such an opponent would be difficult. It’s hard for him to capture the opponent’s weaknesses, as they are ever-changing.
Then Ding Fan continued listening to the elderly village chief’s voice:
"I’ve been fortunate enough to obtain this ’Sorcery,’ but defeating that outer space expert was truly challenging. After acquiring this ’Sorcery,’ I’ve spent nearly two hundred years researching it. I’ve finally understood this magical martial arts completely, and it has greatly enhanced my strength. Of course, I mean combat strength. I found that having these spells as combat aids often catches the opponent off guard! Hence, the success I’ve achieved couldn’t have been realized without this ’Sorcery,’ representing a significant turning point in my combat career. Therefore, I absolutely cannot take such a treasure with me to the grave; it must be passed down to the future generation."
Ding Fan, upon hearing this, realized it aligned with his estimation. This "Sorcery" indeed was important to the village chief and significantly enhanced his combat prowess. The village chief mentioned this "Sorcery" could catch opponents off guard, confirming Ding Fan’s assumptions.
However, Ding Fan felt a bit surprised to learn that the village chief had spent an entire two hundred years cultivating this "Sorcery." This seemed excessively long. Ding Fan knew the village chief was decidedly not an ordinary individual; he must be an extraordinary talent in cultivation, which is why he reached an unmatched level of skill in his later life, becoming unbeatable.
Yet, for the village chief, with such cultivation talent, to spend two hundred years on just this one "Sorcery" martial arts is noteworthy. It’s known that the lifespan in the Cultivation World is generally around two hundred years, meaning only if someone starts cultivating this "Sorcery" from birth can they possibly achieve mastery before death. Clearly, this presents a difficult challenge.
This "Sorcery," indeed, is exceedingly difficult to master. But Ding Fan quickly realized that this "Sorcery" encompasses the Ninth Level spells from the village chief’s time and world. Apparently, there were numerous types of spells, probably thousands.
Even if not that many, Ding Fan knew it wouldn’t be few either. Though this appears to be a single martial arts manual, it contains various spells, akin to a comprehensive collection of diverse magical martial arts. Thus, for the village chief to master all spells within this "Sorcery," two hundred years doesn’t seem as long.
Considering this, Ding Fan couldn’t help but worry about Guo Linn. The village chief’s talent was undoubtedly much higher than Guo Linn’s. Even the village chief took two hundred years to fully learn the "Sorcery." It’s conceivable that ordinary cultivators may need at least three to four hundred years to master it.
Most cultivators in the Cultivation World now live up to two hundred years, already considered long-lived. Even if someone started cultivating this "Sorcery" from birth, they still might not fully master it before death, let alone Guo Linn.
It’s evident that Guo Linn wishes to master this "Sorcery," but it seems unlikely to be achieved in this lifetime. Ding Fan couldn’t help feeling a slight regret for Guo Linn. Such precious martial arts, if left unmastered, would certainly be regrettable for any cultivator, and the same goes for Ding Fan.
Even without the chance to cultivate that "Sorcery," Ding Fan would feel some regret. This "Sorcery" cannot be compared to the "Sword Drawing Technique"; the village chief could integrate his cultivation insights into the "Sword Drawing Technique," enhancing cultivators’ speeds.
However, Ding Fan knows this "Sorcery" originates from an outer world, and even the village chief wouldn’t dare casually comment or modify this magical martial art. After all, the village chief spent two hundred years cultivating it to completion. It suggests that, despite the village chief’s mastery, dealing with the "Sorcery" wasn’t easy.
Now, Ding Fan understood the difficulty of cultivating this "Sorcery." Although it’s the most precious martial art, it’s also the hardest to cultivate, leaving Ding Fan concerned for Guo Linn over there, uncertain if he can successfully cultivate it or persist.
Such martial arts are exceptionally difficult to cultivate. Even the village chief practiced it intermittently. Ding Fan understood, given the village chief’s cultivation talent, if it were ordinary martial arts, he would have completed it in one go. This demonstrates the difficulty of cultivating the "Sorcery."
However, Ding Fan also knows this "Sorcery" brings significant changes even for a strong figure like the village chief, greatly enhancing combat power. Therefore, if Guo Linn persists, even partial mastery of the "Sorcery" would substantially aid his combat skill, undoubtedly boosting it.
"Although this ’Sorcery’ greatly aided me and is an extremely precious peerless martial art, bringing it forth, I can’t know if those choosing it will persist in cultivating it. But they must be a scheming cultivator. Such cultivators appear harmless, but are quite calculated with comprehensive thoughts. To be blunt, they’re rather cunning and wouldn’t select the seemingly mighty ’Sword Drawing Technique,’ surely opting for this ’Sorcery.’ Hence, I hope this individual takes this precious peerless martial art and shares it with the world, considered as my small contribution to the world."
Ding Fan looked at the "Basic Martial Arts" book in front of him, which was flipping pages automatically. He heard the words of the village elder in his heart and greatly admired the elder’s grasp of human emotions and worldly affairs. After all, the elder was someone who had lived for nearly a thousand years, had seen too many people, and had encountered too many events. Therefore, the elder was very good at understanding people’s psychology and accurately guessing the mindset of those selecting each martial art book.
Ding Fan knew that the elder’s statements were quite accurate. He understood that Guo Linn seemed to have no particular interest or thoughts. Ding Fan knew that was because Guo Linn hadn’t encountered a treasure that truly moved him. Take this time when the three of them were selecting martial arts; Guo Linn hesitated little before choosing the "Sorcery" book, which showed that he was very decisive.
Ding Fan realized that although among the three, Ah Du was the first to choose and picked the "Sword Drawing Technique," it didn’t bother him much at the time. However, Ding Fan secretly observed Guo Linn’s reaction. When Guo Linn saw Ah Du choose the "Sword Drawing Technique," he didn’t show much intense reaction and only made some subtle complaints and criticism as a symbolic gesture of respect.
At that moment, Ding Fan knew from Guo Linn’s nonchalant words that he wasn’t interested in the "Sword Drawing Technique." Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so calm. Ding Fan believed that if the "Sword Drawing Technique" was the martial art Guo Linn wanted most, he would definitely try to stir up discord between him and Ah Du.
After all, Ah Du’s actions were not perfect, and comparatively, Guo Linn, who always seemed on the weaker side, handled himself with significant restraint toward both Ding Fan and Ah Du. He appeared to be firmly on Ding Fan’s side without offending Ah Du. He always had a reasonable stance, making it hard for anyone to criticize him.
This made Ding Fan aware that Guo Linn was certainly not an empty-minded person but rather very discreet. Therefore, Ding Fan knew that Guo Linn had originally set his heart on the "Sorcery" book, which was why he was so tolerant of Ah Du choosing the "Sword Drawing Technique."
Ding Fan believed that if Ah Du had initially chosen the "Sorcery," Guo Linn would have found a way to stop him. Even if Guo Linn’s strength was not as great as Ah Du’s and he couldn’t stop him, Guo Linn would have said something to make Ah Du feel ashamed. After all, among the three, his own status was undoubtedly the highest, and both Guo Linn and Ah Du were well aware of this.
Moreover, Ding Fan had the most contributions. He knew that if he chose a martial art from the three first, neither Guo Linn nor Ah Du would complain. Even if Ah Du was dissatisfied, Ding Fan knew that Guo Linn would immediately side with him, and even if it came to eliminating Ah Du, Guo Linn would do it.
After all, with the treasure already in the possession of the three, removing one person would mean more for the rest.
However, Guo Linn did not do that, indicating that the martial art he chose was not the one he truly wanted, so it was unnecessary to make things rigid between them all. After all, they still had to stay another half month in the Xuantian Secret Realm, and losing one person meant one less source of strength.
The dangers within the Xuantian Secret Realm, Ding Fan knew, Guo Linn was well aware of them in his heart.
Thus, Ding Fan realized that the village elder’s prediction was indeed accurate. Nevertheless, despite Guo Linn’s deep scheming, he was a person who knew to reciprocate and is still very grateful to him, knowing Ding Fan had saved him more than once.
Furthermore, to survive the upcoming trials in the Xuantian Secret Realm, Guo Linn would surely seek to get closer to him, so Ding Fan had no concerns about him.
At the same time, Ding Fan deeply admired the village elder’s magnanimity; despite having perished so long ago, he still wanted to do something for this world. Ding Fan knew this village elder had a heart full of great kindness!
However, what made Ding Fan curious at the moment was that the village elder had already finished introducing the first two martial arts, "Sword Drawing Technique" and "Sorcery," both of which are precious Peerless Martial Arts. But what about this "Basic Martial Arts" of his, what might it be like? Furthermore, when introducing those two martial arts, the elder didn’t seem particularly optimistic about those who chose them.
What then would the village elder think of his choice, the "Basic Martial Arts"? What kind of evaluation would he give?
This made Ding Fan all the more curious. He continued to watch the "Basic Martial Arts" auto-flipping in front of him, and once again, the words of the village elder echoed in his ears.
