That ‘Concealing the Infinity’ skill sounded really cool. However, as I opened my mouth, I could feel my mind going blank. Them goddamn gods were interfering again!

 

I tried. I struggled as hard as I could against my fate…however, everything didn’t go as I had hoped. I opened my mouth and tried to say the name of the skill that I wanted to do.

 

“C…C…Dr-Drawing…th…the-through…I-I-I-In-In-Worlds!”

 

FUCK!

 

“Oh? Drawing through Worlds? G-Good choice. This is a decent offensive move. Drawing through Worlds – drawing a path through the realms. This move focuses on generating and unleashing killing intent mixed with Qi in order to cut through everything and anything.” Hou Jingtan explained.

 

“R-Really?” I exclaimed, thinking that for once, I had lucked out.

 

“Of course! However, don’t expect it to be so powerful right of the bat. This ability needs to be honed to perfection until it reaches such effects. All that is up to you and fate.”

 

“Fate again? C-Can I choose something else?” I asked hopefully.

 

“No. I did not know you were such a fickle person. Take it or leave it.” The elder frowned.

 

With somewhat of a dejected expression, I accepted the skill. Hou Jingtan quickly transferred the knowledge as well as the cultivation steps to me. At first, I thought it was going to take a while…but, now I knew why the elderly man stuttered earlier when ‘I’ made my decision.

 

The skill only had six moves – each move as simply described as possible. The first move of Drawing through Worlds was Unwavering Stroke. This move was literally just a simple, one-direction slash whether it be horizontal, diagonal, or vertical.

 

The second move of Drawing through Worlds was Entrapping Web. This move was a series of cross-slashes that had a chance of stunning an enemy if executed correctly.

 

The third move of Drawing through Worlds was Distortion. The move was basically a curving slash that changed directions mid-strike. Don’t know who named this curving slash ‘Distortion’ but either there was more to the move or that person’s naming sense was…unique.

 

The fourth move was kind of like a parry move. Scratch that…it was more like a deflecting move. Basically, the user of this skill would use a flat surface of a weapon to block and redirect the enemy’s attack path. The move’s name was Dispersion.

 

The fifth move was called Revolving to Nothingness. The user rotates his or her weapon in a circular fashion in order to decrease the intensity and power of an attack. This move was best used to diminish the potency of Qi attacks.

 

Lastly, the sixth move of Drawing through Worlds was known as the Void Point. Void Point was a sharp and swift thrust, focusing only on piercing through everything. That’s right…this was basically a stab.

 

Don’t know why it was the final move of the skill. Shouldn’t the last move be the strongest? Wasn’t this just a regular thrust attack?

 

Nevertheless, I couldn’t ask Hou Jingtan or I might get on his bad side again. After the moves were imparted into my mind, I started practicing the skills in front of the elder in order to fix any flaws or mistakes.

 

“Hmm…good. At least you have the form down correctly. All that’s left is to focus on increasing your strength and attack power.” Hou Jingtan chuckled as he surveyed my demonstration.

 

“Hahaha!” An Silang roared amusingly. “Why are you lying to the kid? With his talent, he’s not going to master this skill anytime soon.”

 

“Quiet! No one can master a skill as soon as they learn it!” Hou Jingtan snapped back with a humph.

 

“Haha, even if the boy practices it for ten years, he still won’t be able to get even a small success in that. Having good form doesn’t produce results.” The bloodsucker cackled as he joined in the conversation only to be kicked out once again.

 

“Jiu Xuezhen, do you think I won’t pry out all our teeth one by one?”

 

“Trash! You can try but don’t forget, you’re the weakest one among us!”

 

Finding that he could not deny that fact, the elder humphed and turned his attention back to Lin Tian. “Boy, don’t listen to those old fools. It’s true that good form doesn’t always produce results. That’s why you need to train hard to increase your overall attack power.”

 

“How should I do that?” I asked as I thought about the weightlifting exercises from my past life. Do they have those here? Maybe I should just make some?

 

“Well, you need to either increase the amount of Qi in your body or increase the purity of your Qi.” Hou Jingtan explained with gutso.

 

“Um….” I raised my hand and interrupted the elder’s detailed explanation on how I should go about increasing or improving my Qi.

 

“Yes?”

 

“W-What if I do not have the talent to produce or purify Qi?”

 

“You don’t have the talent?” Hou Jingtan repeated my words, a slight discomfort emerged from his expression. “I-I forgot to ask. What’s your talent like?”

 

“L-Lower medium talent – yellow rank.”

 

“L-Lower medium!”

 

“Hahaha!” Hua Mutian snickered with ridicule. “To think you would have this day, Jingtan! The kid you thought so highly of is only worth a piece of shit! Hahaha!”

 

“Is it really that bad?” I asked dejectedly.

 

Hou Jingtan sighed while he stroked his beard. “With your talent, it would take years if not decades to master this skill. Unless, of course, you experience a once-in-a-lifetime chance encounter, but the odds of that happening is as low as your talent.”

 

“Then, isn’t it a waste of time for me to learn this?” I couldn’t help but blurt out.

 

Hou Jingtan frowned a bit but dismissed the rudeness. “You should still practice it. Though you won’t master it anytime soon, it is still a skill that could help you when you are in trouble.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Haha, don’t feel so down, boy. Why don’t I teach you a skill as well?” An Silang suggested, his ulterior motive clear as day. “All you got to do is humiliate that bloodsucker somehow. I haven’t had a good laugh in a long time. We’ll use this as an exchange. What do you think?”

 

“Bastard! Kid, don’t listen to him.” Jiu Xuezhen retorted as he turned towards Lin Tian. “Instead, you humiliate that muscle-brained idiot and I’ll teach you a skill you could use even with your poor talent. How about that?”