Following the river upstream, the mist in the forest grew thicker, creating a peculiar boundary of shattered ice between the snow eroded by the mist and the Hot Spring River.

The terrain beneath Yang Yu and his companions' feet had somehow turned into one patch of pebbles after another.

These Mud Monsters, a kind of demon, do not have a fixed form. They often morph into a puddle of water, hiding among the pebbles near the Hot Spring River to capture small animals or demons to survive the winter.

However, Yang Yu and his companions didn't need to worry about encountering Mud Monsters nearby, as most of them had been hunted nearly to extinction by Qiuye Doreen, leaving only some particularly powerful ones gathered at the source of the hot springs.

There are many strategies to deal with Mud Monsters, but the most important one is to prevent different Mud Monsters from uniting and forming a larger Mud Monster to fend off invaders.

The only way to defeat a Mud Monster is to target an individual Mud Monster, figure out a way to immobilize it, and locate the core where the magic power flows to disable it.

Getting closer to the center of the hot springs, Yang Yu could see some yellow mud pools on the ground.

These mud pools were the remnants left after the Mud Monsters were defeated.

Over time, these remnants would gradually disappear, but it's also possible they might revive and become new Mud Monsters. Most likely, however, these mud remnants would be absorbed by living Mud Monsters, becoming part of their bodies.

Advancing a bit further, Yang Yu noticed distinct traces of a battle.

The traces of battle were still fresh, especially the pebbles that had been neatly sliced in half.

Besides a swordsman like Qiuye Doreen, Yang Yu could hardly imagine anyone else who could so neatly slice pebbles in half.

If it was indeed as Qiuye Doreen described, Yang Yu could preliminarily determine that the man who fought with Qiuye Doreen came from a particularly troublesome ancient martial arts sect.

Suddenly, Lotcar halted and pricked up his ears, capturing something unusual amidst the sound of the flowing spring.

Looking in the direction where Lotcar stood, Yang Yu could vaguely make out a silhouette approaching through the thick mist.

Before he could clearly see what the person looked like, a hearty laugh reached Yang Yu's ears:

"Finally, you've come, hahaha!

So many people have arrived all at once. This truly exceeds my expectations.

Are you adventurers or simply people who want to get stronger?

I want to hear your reasons for wanting to become stronger.

Express it through your fists—"

Before finishing his speech, the white mist surrounding the hot springs split apart like an avalanche, opening a path, and a man with his fist clenched launched at Yang Yu like a bolt of lightning.

"I am a martial artist, and communicating with my fists is much faster than using other means. Let me see your strength."

As these words rang in Yang Yu's ears, a massive fist flew directly at him.

This man's speed was shockingly comparable to the speed of sound.

Before entering the hot springs, Yang Yu had prepared his comrades for battle at any moment.

At this moment, Yang Yu swiftly raised his shield and used [Shield Block], a dull sound echoed as the man's fist slammed fiercely against Yang Yu's Flame Dragon Shield.

Though [Shield Block] blocked the attack's damage, the terrifying force embedded Yang Yu's feet into the pebbles, and in such troublesome terrain, he had no way to use [Climbing] to firmly grasp the ground, being propelled backward several meters.

Worse still, a strange force somehow penetrated through the shield and coursed violently within Yang Yu's body.

This status was reflected in the panel, resulting in the [Shield Counterattack] skill being sealed, with a certain degree of magic power reduction.

As expected, as Yang Yu suspected, this man indeed came from a particularly troublesome ancient martial arts sect—[Silent Stream Disturbance].

In many ancient martial arts sects, there exists the concept of [Qi], and in their view, the world is composed of [Qi].

[Qi] exists mainly in two forms.

One is called [Invisible], surrounding everyone, diffuse, continuously moving, and too subtle to observe with the naked eye, yet undoubtedly present, hence called invisible.

The other is called [Visible], where dispersed Qi condenses together, forming a tangible, perceivable entity.

It's noteworthy that even when condensed into a perceivable entity, [Qi] is constantly in motion.

Extracting [Qi] from oneself to stir the surrounding [Qi] for personal use is the foundation of many ancient martial arts sects, giving birth to numerous ancient martial arts sects.

The most aggressive among them is the [Silent Stream Disturbance], which injects its own [Qi] into the bodies of others to attack or disrupt opponents.

According to related scholars' research, the way ancient martial arts sects use Qi is remarkably similar to how magicians release magic power, and when calling upon Qi, it is very similar to how magicians use magic arrays to gather surrounding magic power.

Thus, the saying that [Qi] is a form of magic power exists.

Just like cherries, no matter how high-end they sound, they are essentially a type of cherry.

Thinking this through, the reason why the skill was sealed is probably due to some internal magic power being disrupted.

Just one exchange, and a skill was sealed, illustrating the troublesome degree of this man.

Recalling the Skill Atlas he'd read before, Yang Yu remembered the skill description that stated it seals skills randomly without specifying how many could be sealed or for how long.

Undeniably, the greater the strength gap, the longer the seal.

Skills that can seal others' skills, [Silent Stream Disturbance] aren't the only ones they have. There are several other rather troublesome skills too.

Activating the Flame Dragon Shield's active skill, a torrent of fire erupted from the shield, and yet, the force on Yang Yu's shield suddenly disappeared.

In the blink of an eye, a gust from Yang Yu's right side engulfed him.

Looking back, that man had already circled to Yang Yu's right side, raising his fist.

Before he could check his panel, Yang Yu concentrated, causing a shadow to lightly leap onto his sword, permeating the blade to turn it black.

You must use ancient martial arts to defeat ancient martial arts.

A swing forward, Yang Yu's sword blade met the man's fist, sparking a burst of black light.

In that moment of deadlock, Yang Yu finally saw the name of this person in front of him clearly.

As expected, this person was House Polpo, the captain of the S-Class adventure group [Immortal Vajra].

In this long-peaceful world, ancient martial arts were gradually declining, and fewer and fewer people were willing to learn them.

Although [Silent Stream Disturbance] is powerful, like other ancient martial arts, it has a fatal flaw: its threshold far exceeds common imagination, requiring not only talent but also long-term accumulation and practice to comprehend thoroughly.

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