Chapter Forty-One: Rest

“Does it hurt, Brother Yang Yan?”
Inside the room, Zi Ling gently stroked the wound on Yang Yan’s cheek, her face full of concern.
“It’s nothing, just some superficial wounds…”
Yang Yan shook his head with a smile, utterly unconcerned.

As soon as they returned to the Zhang residence, Zhang Tai sent for the best physician in the house to tend to Yang Yan’s injuries. But as he’d said, his wounds were only skin-deep; a few days of medicine and rest would set him right. Fortunately, Elder Li, mindful of Yang Yan’s condition and in the interest of fairness, postponed the final round of the Clan Martial Tournament for five days.

Recalling the day’s battle, Yang Yan’s eyes still shone with exhilaration.
“If I hadn’t, just in case, managed to master the ‘Mark of Destruction’ as my trump card for the tournament, I might have been utterly defeated today…”
Of course, all this was thanks to that pale blue spiritual energy within him. Now, Yang Yan was certain that the power in his body was absolutely not of the ‘ice’ attribute!

Ice and water share the same origin, so it was reasonable that his power could suppress Xu Shaoguang’s fire-based energy. But the fact that it could also devour and refine metal-attribute energy proved it was far from simple ‘ice attribute’ power.

As for the martial technique ‘Mark of Destruction’, it was the Zhang family’s highest-level technique, classified as advanced yellow rank. Zhang Tai himself had used this technique during his duel with Xu Tianlong in Jinhua City.

Long ago, when Yang Yan’s strength first reached the peak of the Body Tempering Realm, Zhang Tai had taught him the cultivation method for the ‘Mark of Destruction’, intending for him to practice it once he entered the Spirit Sensing Realm. At the time, Yang Yan’s two ‘elder brothers’, Zhang Quan and Zhang Sheng, had vehemently opposed this, almost coming to blows with Zhang Tai over it. Yet Zhang Tai’s insistence surprised everyone; no matter how the brothers protested, he would not yield an inch.

This deeply moved Yang Yan, who secretly resolved to train diligently and never disappoint his father’s expectations.

But fate can be capricious. Because of the cold poison in his body, Yang Yan’s strength stagnated. Unable to advance to the Spirit Sensing Realm, he couldn’t cultivate or use even the highest martial techniques. At first, Zhang Quan and Zhang Sheng were displeased with Zhang Tai’s decision, but as they saw Yang Yan unable to condense spiritual energy, the issue lost its urgency and was dropped.

Now, everything was different. With his strength rising to the second level of the Spirit Sensing Realm, Yang Yan was eager to cultivate the ‘Mark of Destruction’. So, after repairing ‘Moonshadow Frost’ to completion, he devoted himself entirely to mastering the technique.

Over two years, Yang Yan had pored over the ‘Mark of Destruction’ countless times. The unique meridian routes and sequence of seals required for cultivation were already imprinted in his mind, giving him full confidence. Thus, it took him only three days to become familiar with manipulating his spiritual energy in his palm as the technique demanded.

Yet when he attempted to channel his water spiritual energy through the prescribed meridians, only a faint white glow formed in his palm—nowhere near enough to create the seal or unleash the technique!

Unwilling to give up, Yang Yan tried again and again for several days, but nothing changed. Just as he was about to abandon hope, by chance, a wisp of pale blue spiritual energy mixed with his water energy during an attempt and flowed to his palm. Suddenly, he noticed the glow in his hand was brighter than before!

Excited by this discovery, he experimented by adding varying amounts of blue energy to the technique. Finally, when he increased it to fifteen strands, he succeeded in casting the Mark of Destruction!

Curiously, when Yang Yan used the blue spiritual energy frequently at that time, he did not fall into the frigid, emotionless state he had experienced during the tournament. The ‘Mark of Destruction’ naturally became his trump card, his greatest asset in the competition.

Of course, the power of his martial technique could not compare to Zhang Tai’s; the difference in their levels was vast. Nevertheless, for Yang Yan to unleash a martial technique at the second level of the Spirit Sensing Realm was, if not unprecedented, at least extremely rare—truly a prodigious feat.

A martial technique is essentially a way to project spiritual energy outside the body, but its power far surpasses simply coating oneself with energy for attack or defense. With the latter, much of the energy dissipates, and only a fraction is truly useful.

Martial techniques, by contrast, act as ‘spiritual energy vessels’, compressing and refining the user’s energy through particular meridians, then releasing it in a focused, explosive burst—far more powerful than raw energy attacks!

To wield a martial technique, a cultivator must possess spiritual energy both abundant and concentrated enough to activate techniques of the corresponding rank. The higher the technique’s rank, the greater its power, and the more energy—both in quantity and concentration—it demands.

This means that, even in equal amounts, the energy contained in Yang Yan’s pale blue spiritual power far exceeded that of his water attribute energy.

Yet now, the cost of using such ‘potent energy’ was becoming clear. During his final clash with Liu Zhengqing that day, Yang Yan drew upon all twenty remaining strands of pale blue energy, pouring them into the Mark of Destruction. Though he succeeded in shattering Liu Zhengqing’s ‘Rampaging Dragon Heart Shatter’, he nearly lost himself in that cold, detached, dreamlike state once again.

Luckily, having learned from his earlier bout with Xu Shaoguang, Yang Yan was mentally prepared. The shockwave from the Mark of Destruction’s detonation left him lightly injured, and the pain pulled him back to his senses.

Of course, it would be far-fetched to suggest Yang Yan should abandon using blue spiritual energy because of this. After all, his current technique, ‘Nine Nether Yin Art’, was only low yellow rank. With just his water attribute energy, reaching this stage in the Clan Martial Tournament would have been a fool’s dream. And in five days, another formidable opponent awaited him—

Sun Zhixin!

Yang Yan had no intention of underestimating her just because she was a girl. Even a lion must use its full strength to catch a rabbit—and Sun Zhixin, in Yang Yan’s eyes, was no gentle rabbit at all. She might well be a tigress!

As these thoughts flitted through his mind, Yang Yan couldn’t suppress a yawn. His eyelids drooped as he glanced at the window; without realizing it, evening had already fallen.

“Brother Yang Yan, get some rest. Don’t go out to train tonight…”
Zi Ling, seeing how weary he was, spoke softly and sensibly. Once Yang Yan lay down, she quietly slipped away.

That night, he slept soundly.