Ling Aotian stood toe to toe with a giant ragal spider. The giant regal spider was a king beast among copper ranked beasts. It's combat power equivalent to the ninth heavenstage of Spiritual Qi awakening. But that was not what made it monstrous. What made it monstrous was the fact that it's natural talent was known as regal armor. A scaled plate that covered it's whole body with dark scales making it truly impregnable.
Aotian attacked with savage ferocity, using explosiveness and adaptability to deal damage and retreat effortlessly. He was trying to make it accumulate damage before dealing the final blow.
Aotian dashed, putting on a talisman of his leg as he moved. Reaching the spider, he took out five more talismans and embedded them in his arms.
Boom!!
Aotian slammed his fist onto the spider's side, a talisman in his fist igniting. The immortal rune for power could be seen at a frontal angle, making the Giant regal spider retreat a few steps. Each making the earth tremble and crack.
The giant regal spider tummbled, getting dizzy, though it's armor was still undamaged.Seeing this Ling Luo and Cui Long were dumbfounded. They were at a huge tree five hundred meters away from Ling Aotian. From this distance, Aotian was almost comically small compared to the huge spider.
While Cui Long had a bit of a worried expression, Ling Luo was filled with reverence. He could understand what was happening, which made him question even more.." Just who is the actual monster..?"
Ling Luo, being a sword cultivator had more keen observation abilities compared to Cui Long who wasn't even at the 1st heaven stage of spiritual Qi awakening. Ling Luo could see things more clearly, making him even doubt his own capabilities. His whole life he had been learning, given the best reasoses the family could offer but what was he seeing...? Was Ling Aotian actually inventing his own combat style.
A combat style is an accumulation of movements schynchronized to make the body perform in a certain way. To be more clear, a combat style is a cohesive system of battle, composed of synchronized movements, strategic flow, and personalized tactics designed to maximize a cultivator's effectiveness in real combat.Unlike random techniques or brute strength, a combat style weaves together footwork, attack sequences, defense patterns, and rhythm into a seamless martial framework.
Creating a combat style is considered a monumental feat in the cuktivation world, often taking decades of experience, experimentation, and life-or-death battles. It demands not only an intimate understanding of one's own strengths, weaknesses, and resources; whether it be Qi, talismans, or raw physical ability,but also deep insight into the nature of conflict itself.
Most cultivators in the Martial Grotto continent may spend their lives mastering the styles of others,but only a rare few possess the vision and genius to forge their own. Yet Ling Aotian here was just cassualy using talismans and his body to make an explosive evasive combat style like it was a regular Monday.
Ling Luo found this inconsiverbal. Although he had come to respect Aotian, he had still thought that he would still be able to contend in the future. Now however, he was completely won over by his prowess.
If only he knew that Aotian merely took his original combat style from the future and integrated it to talismans to make his body stronger.
Ling Luo continued to observe the battle.The tremors from the spider's retreat hadn't even settled when Aotian shot forward again, his body blurring like a shadow tearing across reality. Dust exploded under each footfall. He wasn't giving the beast a moment to recover.
The spider screeched,a sound like grinding stone and rusted metal—as it lunged, its front legs stabbing forward like spears. Aotian twisted mid-dash, narrowly avoiding a jab that split a massive boulder behind him in two.
Ssskkkkttt!
"Too slow," Aotian muttered, his voice cold and calm.
He flicked another talisman onto his spine, the surface immediately glowing red with the symbol for "Burst." The talisman fused into his skin, and a ripple of power surged through his limbs. He dropped low, then leapt up like a bolt, spinning in mid-air as he slammed both fists onto the spider's head.
BOOM!
Two talismans in his fists ignited at the same time. The impact drove the spider's massive body half a meter into the cracked earth, a crater forming underneath it. But again, the Regal Armor glinted, unharmed. It hissed in anger, reeling and slashing blindly.
This time, one leg clipped Aotian's side.
CRACK!
He was thrown like a cannonball, crashing through three trees before skidding to a halt. Blood trailed from the edge of his mouth. His ribs screamed in protest.
Cui Long tensed, clenching the bark of the tree they hid behind.
"He's injured!"
But Ling Luo didn't flinch. "No… he's still controlling the tempo."
Back in the field, Aotian stood up, body shaking. He took out a scroll from within his robes and hurled it to the ground. A circular formation spread out instantly with glowing runes — "Resonant Locking Formation."
Lines of force tethered the spider's legs for a brief moment.
In that instant, Aotian vanished,no! , he erupted forward.
He chained talismans to his chest and thighs mid-sprint, making his silhouette glow with crimson light.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
He struck once,twice,thrice! Each blow enhanced by talismans, each strike cracking the earth beneath the spider. And now… hairline fractures began to appear on the scales of its underbelly.
The spider wailed and unleashed a burst of soundwaves, forcing Aotian back. He flipped twice and landed on one knee.
His arms were bruised and bleeding. Every movement hurt. But his eyes… glowed with clarity.
"I've almost got you," he whispered.
He retrieved one final talisman,a triple-layered rune; black and red interwoven, pulsing faintly.
"This one… is for your heart."
He charged again,one last time.
The battle wasn't over. But for the first time, the monstrous spider stepped back.
The giant regal spider reared up, its eight legs thrashing against the formation runes on the ground. With a shriek, it slammed its body down, shattering the Resonant Locking Formation into flickering embers. Cracks spiderwebbed across the battlefield. But just as it did...
SHHHWAK!
Aotian surged upward from beneath it, launching himself like a bolt of thunder. The triple-layered talisman had been affixed to his shoulder, and now it flared,three immortal runes pulsing in perfect synchronicity: Burst, Pierce, and Break.
The moment he was directly beneath the spider's thorax, its only weak point, an opening that was not fully plated, he twisted his entire body like a coiled spring, then released all his force into a single uppercut.
"Break!"
The triple-layered talisman combusted. A pulse of raw, destructive force surged into his fist, and the shockwave cracked the air itself.
CRRRRRACK!! BOOOM!
The impact sounded like a thunderclap trapped in a coffin. The spider convulsed violently, its entire body lifting off the ground by a meter before crashing down again.
Its underbelly was crushed.
Fragments of dark scale scattered. Black ichor sprayed in all directions.
But Aotian wasn't unscathed.
The recoil shattered bones in his forearm. He flew backward again, smashing into a jagged rock pillar. He coughed blood, face pale, body trembling.
The spider rose, wobbling… and lunged. One last desperate strike,its fangs aimed straight for his heart.
Aotian's eyes narrowed. He twisted, barely dodging the lunge. The fang tore into his shoulder, but he gritted his teeth and wrapped both arms around the spider's exposed fang.
From within his robes, he activated his last talisman, hidden as a last precission, a life saving trump card. It was a containment rune,etched with the symbol for "Collapse."
Ling Aotian slammed it onto the fang. The moment it made contact, the rune pulsed vigorously and imploded, dragging a portion of the fang into itself, shattering it from within.
The spider screamed,then collapsed.
The light in its many eyes dimmed.
It was finally dead.