Mystical Journey

The death of the old man, the dispute between the Golden Hoop and Dale Quicksilver, and the mysterious enemy who had used telekinesis had been attracted because of the old man. These matters appeared one after another, causing Garem to be unable to settle down recently to practice his combat techniques.

Compared to these matters, the inheritance issue on his uncle's side, the exchange gathering between dojos, and meeting the chairman of Manuyllton Corporation were just small matters.

The thing that Garen currently wanted to do the most was finding the true murderer of the old man, and at the same time, the ones who threatened his family. Unfortunately, the telekinesis users who appeared to stop him did not leave any clues. Now, he could only count on Dale Quicksilver's side to find out more about them.

"Are you still thinking about that matter?" Fei Baiyun whispered beside him, "Don't think too much about it. From now on, you need to adjust your condition. This exchange gathering is not just an opportunity for you to gain experience, but also a chance for you to know your ranking."

"My ranking?" Garen nodded, "Just as well, I also want to know what level I am currently at."

Wu...

The train whistled once more, and the sound of the wheels moving against the tracks gradually rang out. As the rhythm started to increase in tempo, the train carriage gradually moved forward with an increasing speed.

The train carriage was also slightly livelier after some passengers got on.

Garen recalled the data that his master gave him the day before.

They were going to Hela City, one of the famous exchange gathering spots for Martial Adepts within their province and its surrounding provinces.

This exchange gathering was conducted by a local Secret Martial Art sect—the Celestial Circle Gate. It was also one of the three strongest clans in the confederation.

More importantly, the Celestial Circle Gate had an influential position within the northern part of the confederation. The main reason they hosted the exchanged gathering was not just for creating an opportunity for interaction between disciples, but to establish a ranking between each sect.

And during the previous exchange gatherings, White Cloud Gate's ranking within the Secret Martial Art world was number seventeen.

The two of them were going there earlier to reserve a strategic position during the exchange gathering. Otherwise, if they went late, the students from the dojo might not even have a place to stay.

According to the data, White Cloud Gate was within the ordinary martial arts world. However, it was only an unremarkable sect within Secret Martial Art sects that truly possessed ancient inheritance.

The Mammoth Secret Technique was the foundation of White Cloud Gate. The other techniques: White Cloud Combat Arts, Explosive Fist Arts, or the fundamental wrestling techniques, were all just simplified versions of this Secret Martial Art. It was the most powerful martial art within the entire sect.

However, within the entire Secret Martial Art world, there were many sects with similar Secret Martial Arts. This type of Secret Martial Art was actually just a fundamental martial art for tempering the body. The training requirements were strict, the training speed was extremely slow, and the external prerequisites required were troublesome. It was only considered third-rate within the Secret Martial Art world.

As a result, White Cloud Gate was only considered a third-rate sect within the Secret Martial Art.

Garen recalled the exhortation from his master on the previous day.

"When we get there, you need to remember to listen more, watch more, speak less, and create less trouble. Our White Cloud Gate is situated in a remote location, and we're still quite powerful locally. However, we're only considered insignificant outside, so we can't rashly get into a dispute with others. Of course, there are many sects like us in the exchange gathering, so there's no need for you to draw back when you have to display your strength. We might not be able to win against Martial Adepts from powerful sects, but we can still compete for the ranking against small sects."

For some reason, after recalling this, Garen could not help but think about his senior sister, Rosetta. Garen looked toward his master beside him.

"Master, what happened when Senior Sister came with you previously?"

"Rosetta?" Fei Baiyun was originally recuperating while shutting his eyes. When he heard Garen's question, he slightly opened his eyes. "She was still young when she went with me, around the age of seventeen or eighteen years old… At that time, her foundation was firm, but her talent was ordinary, and I had no intention of teaching her true martial arts. However, Rosetta completely changed after she returned from the exchange gathering and became reticent. Her personality began to change as well, and her talent suddenly improved. In the end, I decided to impart true martial arts to her. It was really strange, but my guess is that she probably received some sort of stimulus during the exchange gathering. Then she started to truly work hard after she went back and exhibited her true talent."

Fei Baiyun patted Garen's shoulder. "You're different. Your talent is much better. You'll definitely receive a huge improvement if I hand the White Cloud Gate's Secret Martial Art to you. This is the true foundation of our White Cloud Gate."

"I will definitely not let you down!" Garen heavily nodded his head. However, he still felt that his senior sister had a weird personality. She always acted mysteriously and was difficult to locate. She would appear from time to time, but no one would not be able to find her when they wanted to look for her.

Fei Baiyun thought for a while and took out a white piece of paper from one of the interior pockets in his black overcoat. The paper was folded into a small square. He carefully handed the squarish paper to Garen.

"Since your Explosive Fist Arts has already reached the level of minor achievement, you've also fulfilled the basic requirement of practicing the Secret Martial Art. This is the chant. Once you've memorized it, swallow the paper. This is the true key to the Mammoth Secret Technique and must not be divulged to others."

Receiving the piece of paper, Garen did not expect his master to give something so important to him on a train.

"Practice it on a train? Should I really do that?" He found it slightly unbelievable. "Shouldn't I find a safe and quiet environment?"

"There's no reason why you shouldn't." Fei Baiyun chuckled. "Various requirements are needed in order for this to work. This piece of paper was specifically soaked in medication. If other people were to practice the chant written on it, they would only become handicapped. Without a sufficiently strong Explosive Fist Arts as the foundation, it's all pointless."

Immediately after, he bitterly laughed again.

"Actually, our martial art is nothing profound in the eyes of other sects. A lot of the larger sects probably have something similar, and the effects would only be much stronger. Only we would act so carefully and think that it is important."

Garen nodded and was slightly able to understand his master's helplessness and sadness.

He looked toward the young people in front and found that they were still sleeping. That was when he softly opened up the paper in his hands.

There was only a line of words written on the white piece of paper. It was a revision of the utilization method of the second level of Explosive Fist Arts, the Vibration technique. After the revision and combined with White Cloud Secret Arts, a fundamental change would appear in the body. That was the so-called essence of the Mammoth Secret Technique.

"It's that simple?" Garen blankly stared at the line of words. He was wondering how difficult and complicated secret it would be.

"It's that simple," Fei Baiyun replied. "Eat it."

Garen was speechless. He looked at the paper once more, then crumbled it into a ball and directly threw it into his mouth.

The ball of paper had a salty and astringent taste and was slightly bitter as well. After chewing it a few times, he swallowed it along with his saliva. Garen smacked his lips.

Just when he was about to speak, Garen suddenly discovered the Skill Pane at the bottom of his field of vision had suddenly changed.

White Cloud Secret Arts and Explosive Fist Arts were gradually blurring. The two skills immediately disappeared, and a new skill gradually appeared. There was a mysterious symbol behind that provided an explanation.

——Mammoth Secret Technique— Greatly increases the toughness of skin and greatly increases explosive force. It is a strength type Secret Martial Art that emulates mammoths. There are two levels in total: White Elephant, Mammoth.

Currently, the state indicated behind the skill was White Elephant level.

"There's only two levels?" Garen was startled. "As the true secret technique of White Cloud Gate, there shouldn't only be two levels..."

"Your feelings are correct; there are only two levels. This is the true inheritance of White Cloud Gate. To put it bluntly, there's a lot of things that are only simple secrets. However, these secrets needed countless trials and errors to finally obtain the best result and combination," Fei Baiyun sighed and softly explained, "actually, Explosive Fist Arts does not have a so-called third level. The third level is actually the first level of Mammoth Secret Technique."

He patted Garen's shoulder. "Properly familiarize yourself with it. This time, go and take a look at other Martial Adepts. Look at their levels and their strengths, and you'll realize your current level. Don't be disappointed when you fail. As long as you don't give up, there's a chance for you to make a comeback!"

Garen solemnly nodded as well. If even Fei Baiyun—who was far stronger than him—was saying such a thing, then it was quite evident that there would definitely be many powerful opponents at this exchange gathering. Even Garen was starting to get worried as well.

"For Master to exhort in such a serious manner, the opponents are evidently not just ordinarily powerful. I definitely need to be careful."

Setting aside his distracting thoughts, Garen looked out of the train's window on his right.

Empty yellow paddy fields continuously flitted across his field of vision. The harvested paddy fields were filled with numerous tiny black dots as if countless wooden sticks were inserted into the paddy fields. Within the center of the open fields, there were bundles of straws stacked into piles. Once in awhile, farmers could also be seen transporting these piles of straws.

The grayish white sky had some dark clouds, and it seemed like it was about to rain. Two swallows flew across the sky as one chased after the other.

Garen felt his emotion was gradually calming down and once again looked toward his Skill Pane.

"I still have three Attribute points. Let's see if I can forcefully increase this martial art."

His line of sight landed on Mammoth Secret Technique.

Three seconds later, Mammoth Secret Technique slowly changed. It suddenly changed from White Elephant to Mammoth.

"It increased!" Garen's heart skipped a beat, and he carefully observed the changes in his body. Strangely, he did not feel anything from his body.

"It definitely increased! Why isn't there any changes?" He looked at his Potential Pane, and his Attribute points had indeed decreased by two.

"Could it be that it can still be increased?"

He looked at the Mammoth Secret Technique and noticed that it did not turn into a gray color, which meant that it could still increase. There was a symbol floating behind it as well, indicating that five Attribute points were needed to forcefully increase it.

Mammoth Secret Technique was actually just a crucial key that combined White Cloud Secret Arts and Explosive Fist Arts together. It was actually an overall harmonious adjustment to the body. This type of adjustment was very strange, and even Garen was not able to understand the theory behind it. However, it was evident that this adjustment had not reached its limit.

With doubts in his mind, he looked toward Fei Baiyun sitting beside him.

"Master, does this martial art really have only two levels? What's next after these two levels? Is there a possibility of continuing to improve?"

"I don't know." Fei Baiyun shook his head. "However, reaching the master level of the Mammoth level is already very troublesome. The glorious period of Martial Adepts is before the age of twenty-five. After we reach twenty-five years old, our body's functions, spirit, and vitality all start to weaken, and we're unable to advance to the next level. Putting aside what's after Mammoth level, no one in the older generations of our White Cloud Gate was unable to reach major achievement before the age of twenty-five. So..."

"So, there's a chance to reach higher levels by reaching master level before our spirit and vitality begin to deteriorate?" Garen thought of something and continued.

"That's correct. The improvement of Mammoth Secret Technique is very difficult, only your senior sister has a chance. Four years ago, she was at the White Elephant level. Now, she has already reached the Mammoth level and is only twenty-four years old. She's our White Cloud Gate's greatest hope..." when Fei Baiyun mentioned Senior Sister Rosetta, a smile subconsciously appeared on his face.