"A Divine Soul Master possessing a body against a Martial Arts Grandmaster indeed has to adopt hit-and-run combat skills, slowly draining the opponent with Dao Skill Divine Powers and looking for opportunities."
Xu Qing still had the Three Yin Demon Slaying Saber and other trump cards unplayed, of course, there was no need.
Moreover, the hardest part for a Divine Soul Master when facing a Martial Arts Grandmaster is breaking through the latter’s defenses.
And once a Martial Arts Grandmaster is kept at a distance by a Divine Soul Master, it becomes very difficult to close in.
Especially in more complex terrain environments, a Divine Soul Master has myriad tricks up their sleeve.
Indeed, Divine Soul Experts do take advantage of the environment and their personal configuration; however, Martial Arts Grandmasters are stable in performance, with a very high lower limit. Especially in terms of charging into battle formations, they are far less affected by the Blood Killing influence than Divine Soul Masters.
King Lin regained his composure and smiled at Xu Qing: "Gongming, you refuse to engage me at close quarters, but I insist on closing the distance."
As he spoke, an overwhelming Fist Intent suddenly emerged from his entire body.
Under the clear blue sky, in Xu Qing’s senses, it was as if suddenly plunged into the darkness of night.
The imperial stars faltered, the mountains and rivers shook, and the whole world seemed to revolt.
This was the Fist Intent of a Martial Arts Grandmaster.
Under this Fist Intent, Xu Qing instantly felt an exceedingly heavy shackle on his Divine Soul, making it difficult to use his Dao Skill Divine Power.
Xu Qing exclaimed with approval.
His Qi-Blood condensed and surged towards his brow.
From the Heavenly Court acupoint on his forehead emerged a magnificent azure and purple dragon.
A dragon soaring in the sky!
Under King Lin’s vast and tumultuous Fist Intent that shook mountains and rivers, Xu Qing too displayed the elegance of a Divine Soul Master. As mountains and rivers shake, I transform into a dragon, soaring through the Nine Heavens.
In that instant, Xu Qing’s Divine Soul was like a dragon, as if snapping golden chains and shattering jade locks, ruling the vast land like a deity.
While King Lin’s Fist Intent turned into a colossal whale, thunders and tsunamis rolled. A somber majesty prevailed as if the fall of a whale signaled the birth of all things.
Fist Intent collided with Divine Soul.
The surrounding matter trembled remarkably, and the reverberations in the void continued unabated for a long time, eventually coming to a halt.
Xu Qing and King Lin exchanged smiles, each gleaning their insight.
King Lin said, "Regrettably, my Fist Intent has yet to transform the whale into a peng bird, lacking agility."
His Fist Intent now was grand and mighty but did not possess the agility of a peng bird. One force could overcome tenfold, but it remained difficult to restrain the myriad transformations of a Divine Soul Master.
Xu Qing nodded slightly, he naturally understood King Lin’s implications.
Indeed, in the culture of Central Earth, peng holds a place of paramount importance, reflecting the essence of Central Earth’s culture in some aspects, even more so than the dragon.
For example, Master once said, "Is it not delightful to have friends come from afar?"
Most people would definitely think that ’friends’ is the meaning of ’朋,’ but in fact, it’s linked to ’鹏’ (peng). In Central Earth’s civilization, the peng bird represents wisdom and inspiration. The original meaning of this phrase is: "Is it not delightful to have the great peng bring inspiration from afar, opening up wisdom?"
Another saying by Master, "To learn and at due times to practice what one has learned, is that not a pleasure?"
It has a similar meaning.
The ancient form of ’习’ is "習," symbolizing the high-flying feathers of a bird, linked to wings, referring also to divine birds like the peng. Thus, "To learn and at due times to practice" means "In the pursuit of learning, is it not a pleasure to constantly experience the enlightening inspiration brought by divine birds?"
Of course, Master’s penchant for using divine birds as metaphors for wisdom and inspiration was in fact related to his lineage. The Master was a descendant of the Yin Shang.
Heaven decreed the Divine Bird, thus descended and gave rise to Shang.
The people of Yin Shang took the Divine Bird as their totem, sharing a special historical connection and sentiment with it.
This special historical link and sentiment naturally reflected in the Master’s teachings and behaviors.
Ever since the irreverence of all schools of thought and the exclusive reverence for Confucianism began, Master has indeed become the most influential Saint in later generations, affecting everyone regardless of their literacy.
For local magnates like King Lin, if one traces a few generations up, they inevitably hail from a poor family lineage, which itself had fallen from the elite class.
This kind of circumstance is quite common in this land of Central Earth.
In fact, the likelihood of commoners leaving descendants is actually quite low; it is more so that the nobility falls on hard times, becoming poor families, and then gradually turning into ordinary common folk.
The term ’common people’ itself gives a clue.
Before the Middle Ages, common people did not even have surnames, so people of Fusang also inherited this, their surnames not coming from notable Middle Ages noble names but taken from their place of birth or significant events.
Therefore, in the current era, the ordinary people of the Great Yu Dynasty all have surnames whose origins can be traced back because they inherited them from their ancestors. The decline of nobles from the Middle Ages naturally brought many culturally inherited aspects down to the common people.
Of course, this is just one aspect; another factor is Master initiating the trend of private schooling, breaking the nobility’s monopoly on knowledge...
And then there’s the invention of papermaking, printing, and so forth.
The advance of history rolls forward like a wheel; anyone attempting to stand against this trend will be crushed, and even the most exceptionally talented individuals must conform to the times.
This is also one of Xu Qing’s major advantages. Even in front of figures like the Grand Secretary, who must continue to make mistakes and learn from them, he has already recognized some erroneous examples ahead of time, seeing the outline of the trend.
On this point, he actually resembles the basic quality of keyboard warriors from his past life.
Regrettably, Xu Qing is currently the only one with such an opportunity in the world.
At least Xu Qing has not found anyone else with a similar experience.
This remains his most unique advantage.
Even so, Xu Qing would not overstep; he would only advance and explore within the existing rules, encountering troubles and resolving them.
Xu Qing understood that the progression of civilization is developed, not magically transformed.