บท 56: Movement Technique

"Haah...haah..." The synchronized pants of the participants could be heard throughout the center stage as the 10 clan members that were given preferential treatment by Shi Xingtai started to join in on the run.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

One by one, the clan members that showed great strength in the first test zoomed past the large group of participants that were already running for 5 laps. The other participants could not help but look at these clan members with anger as they knew that these clan members still had a lot of energy, but not long after, a series of sighs could be heard.

"Who am I kidding? The reason why we ran for 5 laps before they started was because we're still weak," a participant who ran for 5 laps could not take it anymore and said it loudly so everyone could hear it. This made the other participants looked at this participant with an understanding gaze.

"If we don't want to run for 5 laps next time, we must pursue strength! We must grow stronger!"

"Yeah! Yeah! That's right! We should cultivate assiduously and aim for strength!"

"After this tournament, I'm going to use the cultivation pill I get and try to reach the peak of the 2nd Martial Novice stage!"

"I'm going to use my cultivation pill to break through to the 3rd Martial Novice stage!"

Not long after the participant's realization, the other participants knew that this was the truth and couldn't help but wryly smile as they said to themselves that they would cultivate with more effort, aiming to become just like the 10 clan members that were given preferential treatment.

While this was occurring, Shi Li, who had already gone through 3 laps while the other participants had only gone through 1, had overheard this discussion and decided to slow his steps as he tried to keep his pace to a level that he was beside the other participants.

'This is an endurance test anyway, not a clear it at the shortest time possible test,' Shi Li said to himself inwardly as he looked at the other participants with a smile. "That's the spirit! We must all assiduously cultivate to become helpful to the clan!"

Hearing a voice all of a sudden, the other participants tried to find who was talking, only to gasp in shock as they simultaneously shouted, "Young Master Shi Li!"

Shi Li heard this and nodded with a smile still on his face. Ever since he was transmigrated into this world of cultivation, although he didn't get a lot of resources from the clan, he was thankful for having a caring father and being able to obtain decent techniques from the clan library. He decided that it was time to pay back, although in a way that didn't really suit Shi Li's personality.

"Un. Keep cultivating hard and who knows, you might be the next clan members to be given preferential treatment in the next Novice Tournament." Shi Li said a few more words after that and started to speed up his pace, before maintaining a pace that was faster than the other participants, but slightly slower than the fastest of the other 9 clan members that were given preferential treatment.

The other participants couldn't help but look at Shi Li in a new light. All of them knew Shi Li's previous attitude and personality, which was definitely at the level of scum to say the least. But once he started to cultivate, he became chivalrous and brave, not to mention caring of others. This inspired some of the other participants to truly cultivate harder and aim for stronger power.

...

While Shi Li had already passed through 15 laps, another participant suddenly showed up beside him and slightly shocked him at the abruptness of his arrival.

"Hello, Big Brother Shi Li!" the participant said.

"Ah." Shi Li only noticed that someone was beside him after the participant greeted him. He then turned his head around to look at the participant and said with a smile, "Junior Brother Shi Chunxi, hello as well. How many laps have you done already?"

"24!" Shi Chunxi, one of the clan members that was at the raised platform a while ago, including Shi Li, said with a cheeky smile. "How about you?"

Shi Li was slightly shocked at Shi Chunxi's speed but hastily concealed it as he gave a wry smile. "24? That's a lot. I'm only at my 16th lap right now."

"16?" This time, it was Shi Chunxi's turn to be shocked. "Why so little? Big Brother Shi Li here showed a great amount of strength in the first test, but only staying low-key in this round?"

"Haha." Shi Li let out a self-depreciating laugh. "The strength I showed was only through the sword technique I mastered. As for my legs, it can only show around half of that."

"Ah." At this point, Shi Chunxi understood why Shi Li was slower than the other 8 clan members. With a smile, he asked, "Big Brother Shi Li, have you heard of movement techniques?"

Shi Li was slightly surprised as to why this question was asked, but nodded his head nonetheless. "Yes. It is a category of auxiliary techniques. What about it?"

"Well you see Big Brother Shi Li..." While still maintaining the same pace as Shi Li, Shi Chunxi pointed at the other 8 clan members that were with them at the raised platform and calmly said, "All of them have movement techniques."

"What?!" Shi Li was shocked. Although he already saw their strength in the first round, he didn't know the depth of their strength, with speed being a part of strength as well. To think that all of them had movement techniques was crazy to Shi Li.

"But...aren't movement techniques, well auxiliary techniques hard to get?" Shi Li couldn't help but ask. The only time where he could get a movement technique was after the tournament where if he placed at the top rankings, he would get a chance to pick an auxiliary movement technique, alongside another auxiliary technique.

Shi Chunxi nodded at Shi Li's question. "Yes, they are definitely hard to get. That's why..."

"They made their own movement techniques."

"Create their own?" Shi Li was surprised that the movement techniques the other 8 clan members showed were actually their own creations. Slapping himself in the face, he knew that he was stupid for not thinking of this possibility, even though the multiple novels he had read in his past life had this portion.

"Yes. Their movement techniques are either inspired by the techniques they obtained from the clan library, or from the environment, or even from a spark of inspiration. Nonetheless, they are still lacking when compared to true movement techniques, but they still help us unleash the strength we can unleash through attacks while still conserving energy." Shi Chunxi ignored Shi Li slapping himself and smiled as he replied.

"Gah. We've only passed through 2 laps these past few minutes when we could've passed through 4." Realizing the speed that they were moving at, Shi Chunxi couldn't help but shout. Looking at Shi Li one last time, he then waved goodbye as he said, "Anyways, that's that Big Brother Shi Li. If you're planning to make a movement technique while this test is happening, I wish you good luck!" After that, Shi Chunxi sped off in the distance, turning into a small silhouette that could barely be seen by Shi Li.

"Hmm..." Shi Li took Shi Chunxi's words to heart and pondered for a bit as he slightly sped his pace up. Not long after, a gaze of determination appeared on Shi Li's face.

"You know what? I'll try to make my own movement technique."