Chapter 99: Chapter 80: Shadow-Stealing Form

At the will’s command, a rainbow needle shoots through the air, emitting a piercing shriek that could tear one’s eardrums. Its keen edge rips through targeted locks of will, ignoring most energy and physical defenses. Its penetrative power is absolutely terrifying.

This form prioritizes "penetration" and "sharpness." It is the ultimate expression of a "point" attack, designed to break through all obstacles, tangible and intangible, piercing metal and stone as easily as rotten earth. (Focus: Armor-piercing / Point Penetration)

[Flowing Rainbow’s Third Form: Defensive Form]:

The blade moves in dense, continuous circles. The seven-colored streams of light no longer radiate outward, but instead rapidly rotate and interweave around the user, instantly forming a massive, inward-spinning, iridescent vortex of rainbow light.

The core of the vortex is deep and stable. Any attack that touches its edge, be it an energy blast or a physical weapon, is met by the endlessly flowing, ever-changing power of the rainbow light, which either deflects its trajectory, grinds it down layer by layer, or slows and erodes its force.

This form emphasizes "defense" and "rotation." It is a technique of absolute defense, finding sanctuary in motion. It strives to be impenetrable, a world unto itself. (Focus: Absolute Defense)

[Flowing Rainbow’s Fourth Form: Overlapping Waves Form]:

The blade’s momentum abruptly turns heavy! Every slash is not a single flash of light, but seven overlapping images of sledgehammers—each a different color, each containing a different type of force—superimposed in an infinitesimally short span of time and space!

One strike, seven layers of force! It draws upon the rainbow-colored light of the sky, which crashes down like a heavenly waterfall or a collapsing mountain range.

Each overlapping phantom contains tangible, immense force and a condensed, explosive blade aura. The seven layers of force resonate and explode in concert, multiplying the attack’s power exponentially!

This form emphasizes "heaviness" and "explosion." It is the ultimate release of power—unstoppable, capable of shattering armor and demolishing cities. (Focus: Ultimate Power / Burst)

[Flowing Rainbow’s Fifth Form: Shadow-Stealing Form]:

The moment this form appears, it is pure to the extreme! It abandons all variations and colorful illusions, leaving only a single, pale, nearly transparent "light" that tears through space and time!

So fast it freezes thought! The draw of the blade *is* the result!

The instant the will to strike is formed, the cut is already complete. It seems to ignore distance and process, leaving behind only a final, chilling trajectory and a cold, lingering might.

This is the ultimate pinnacle of speed, absolute quickness! It is a tyrannical severing of the temporal dimension itself!

This was the form Li Wen locked onto without a moment’s hesitation. The speed he pursued to his very core resonated powerfully with this aspect of the blade technique.

The virtual instructor’s voice was like a blade carving stone, branding the suffocatingly complex information deep into Li Wen’s consciousness: the core mysteries of each form, the key points for visualization, the secrets of channeling force, the nodes for blood and qi circulation, and more.

Each detail was like a searing brand, becoming scaldingly clear as it intensely consumed the power of his Primordial Spirit.

By the time Li Wen had fully absorbed the complete information model for the *Shadow-Stealing Form*, an entire hour had quietly passed.

He had his Scholar passive to thank for that—once proven, forever known. Otherwise, mastering it all in an hour would have been an impossible fantasy.

A wave of fatigue from the extreme mental exertion washed over him, making his temples throb.

Yet there was no trace of exhaustion in his eyes. Instead, they seemed to have been tempered by the true meaning of pure "speed," now as sharp as stars on a cold winter’s night.

"Haste makes waste. Any powerful technique must be hammered out by flesh and blood before it can become instinct. The virtual world is an ocean of knowledge, not an anvil to forge your blade. Remember this."

The virtual instructor sheathed his blade and stood tall. His figure gradually faded, but the echo of his voice remained.

Li Wen took a deep breath and bowed slightly, thanking the instructor for his guidance.

He understood. The virtual world was only for learning the theory. True practice had to be done with flesh and bone, forged in repeated life-or-death battles.

To be greedy and try for perfection now would be to learn without understanding.

He decisively abandoned the impulse to study the other four forms, engraving only the *Shadow-Stealing Form*, with its ultimate speed, upon his mind.

With a turn of his thoughts, the tranquil world of scrolls quietly faded away.

「Fire Hall, Fourteenth Floor. Li Wen’s Private Martial Arts Room.」

The grandeur of the virtual space and the profound mysteries of the Blade Realm still stirred within him, but that had all been a transfer of knowledge, not a mastery of flesh and blood.

The virtual instructor’s words, "Haste makes waste," rang like an alarm bell in his mind.

"True mastery requires tempering through real combat..." Li Wen muttered to himself, his gaze sweeping over a sign on one side of the Martial Arts Room: [High-Intensity Multifunctional Training Area].

This area took up a considerable portion of the Martial Arts Room. The floor was paved with special deep-gray, energy-absorbing alloy plates, and the walls were embedded with complex energy-containment field generators.

The air here seemed heavier than elsewhere, a unique atmosphere woven from gravity fields of varying frequencies and intensities, mixed with simulated environmental energies.

He walked to the control panel in the center of the area and tapped it a few times with his fingertips.

A pale blue band of light lit up around the perimeter, and the entire space was instantly enveloped by a kind of invisible barrier, isolating it from all external interference and leaving only a pure, stable training environment.

Li Wen slowly drew the Standard Rapier from the weapons rack. Empowered by his Primordial Spirit, however, it now carried the weight of an exploration into the Dao.

He closed his eyes, letting the core principles of the *Flowing Rainbow Shocking Magpie Chapter*—especially the *Shadow-Stealing Form*’s tenets on pure speed and will-preceding-action—flow through his mind.

’When the will arises, the rainbow light is already there... The draw of the blade *is* the result...’

His will stirred his blood and qi!

VMM! Within his sea of consciousness, the jade-like Primordial Spirit pulsed with a faint light. Like an ice-cold core, it instantly focused Li Wen’s will to a razor’s edge.

[Absolute Focus] silently activated.

In his perception, the world instantly slowed down, becoming crystal clear.

The trajectory of falling dust motes, the fine texture of the alloy plates beneath his feet—everything was reflected by his Primordial Spirit with perfect clarity.

He tried to circulate his blood and qi, forcing them along the complex, exquisite, and even counter-intuitive pathways of the *Shadow-Stealing Form*.

At the same time, his wrist moved in a way that was almost imperceptible but contained an extremely high-frequency vibration, attempting to guide the force from every muscle fiber in his body and condense it into a single point on the blade’s edge!

First attempt—his arm muscles spasmed violently!

The blade only let out a short, faint SSS sound, like a hot knife plunged into cold water. It failed to even leave behind a clear trail of light.

The backlash sent a sharp pain through his wrist. His blood and qi stagnated at several key nodes, and a wave of nausea rose in his chest.

’Failure analysis: The Primordial Spirit’s scan gave clear feedback—the force generated by the twisting of my waist and back wasn’t synchronized with my arm and wrist. The instant I initiated the draw, my shoulder stiffened for 0.01 seconds, breaking the chain of force transmission.’

’My will moved first, but my body failed to respond instantly.’

’A hair’s breadth of error leads to a thousand miles of deviation...’

Li Wen took a deep breath. The cold clarity of his Primordial Spirit suppressed the physical pain, allowing him to clearly analyze every minute point of failure.

He adjusted his stance and focused his spirit once more.

Tenth attempt—the flash of the blade was slightly faster than before. A faint white afterimage could be vaguely seen, lingering for a ten-thousandth of a second.

But the blade immediately began to tremble, letting out a mournful HUMMM as if it couldn’t bear the imposed speed and power.

The rebounding force traveled up his arm, leaving his entire right arm slightly numb.

’Failure analysis: The blood and qi burst points were precise, but I used too much Primordial Spirit Power to suppress the blade’s rebound vibrations. This caused a slight lag in my subsequent mental guidance...’

’I couldn’t maintain the mental edge of "extreme-speed penetration." The speed had taken nascent form, but my intent failed to ’follow through to the end.’’

Sweat had already soaked Li Wen’s training clothes, and a vein pulsed at his temple.

Every full-powered attempt at the nascent *Shadow-Stealing Form* placed an immense burden on his body. The backlash of blood and qi, the explosive twisting of muscles, the extreme demands on his nervous system—all of it brought a tearing pain.

More critically, the consumption of Primordial Spirit Power while in [Absolute Focus] was like turning on a pump to drain the lake in his sea of consciousness.

But the sharpness in his eyes only intensified. The closer he got to his limits, the more alluring the ultimate thrill of "the draw of the blade *is* the result" became.

His Primordial Spirit precisely captured, deconstructed, and optimized the results of each failure, bringing him a thread closer to success every time.

He regulated his breathing, letting [Absolute Focus] temper his will like a cold forge.

He no longer pursued the smooth execution of the entire form. Instead, he locked his entire mind onto the "initial instant" of the draw—how to transform thought into an action signal at a speed that transcended limits...

...how his blood and qi could erupt along the optimal path within a hundredth of a breath, and how power could converge to a truly "edgeless" point at the very instant the blade was about to be drawn.

Twenty times... thirty times...

Li Wen’s movements grew faster and faster. The white afterimage left by the blade’s flash grew clearer, lingering for a fraction of a moment longer each time.

But his face also grew paler. The light of the jade-like Primordial Spirit in his sea of consciousness had dimmed by more than half. The world, as seen through [Absolute Focus], seemed to be covered in a thin mist, its clarity beginning to degrade.

’My Spiritual Power is about to bottom out,’ he knew.

’The limit... I’m on the verge of a breakthrough...’ The thought flashed through his mind.

He fought back the dual exhaustion of his mind and body. A fierce light flashed in his eyes as he decided to gamble everything he had left.

VMMMM!!! Deep within his sea of consciousness, the jade-like Primordial Spirit abruptly contracted, burning away nearly its last shred of light, like a star flaring its brightest just before collapsing!

[Absolute Focus], full power!

In that instant, his perception of outside space and time completely froze.

The faint, temperature-controlled airflow in the training room, the subtle trajectory of his own sweat dripping onto the floor, even the microscopic particle fluctuations on the blade’s edge caused by its vibration...

...everything seemed to be frozen in an ultra-high-definition, infinitely slow-motion film reel.

’Now—Shadow-Stealing!!!’

A silent roar erupted in his mind!

His will, his blood and qi, and the extreme vibration of his muscle fibers achieved an unprecedented, perfect synchronization under the absolute dominion of his burning Primordial Spirit.

There was no dazzling, seven-colored brilliance, no earth-shattering explosion of energy.

There was only a streak of pure, absolute white!

This streak of white was detached from the blade itself, seemingly born from thin air just ahead of the extended trajectory of Li Wen’s wrist.

Fast! It surpassed the limits of visual perception!

Before Li Wen’s intent had even fully formed, that pure white mark had already streaked across a foot-thick block of special high-strength alloy placed five meters away as a test target.

SHIICK—!!!

It was as if sound itself had been stolen. Only after the white mark had passed did the air finally have time to issue a muffled boom, the sound of being violently compressed and torn, like fabric stretched to its absolute breaking point.

Sharp! Curt!

Immediately after, a long, straight white line of turbulent air, as if cut by a high-temperature laser, suddenly erupted.

It was the sonic boom created as air rushed back into the vacuum tunnel left in the wake of an object breaking the sound barrier.

Only then did the violent shriek of displaced air slam into the surrounding energy barrier, producing a dull echo.

His gaze shifted to the alloy test block. Amid the lingering echoes of the ear-piercing sonic boom, it seemed to have never been touched, its surface as smooth as before.

DRIP... DRIP...

Two drops of sweat trickled down Li Wen’s clenched jaw and dripped onto the alloy floor, making a faint, crisp sound.