Chapter 169: Chapter 169: Crooked Ways

Lin Shen had heard Bai Shenfei say that recent research by the Bai Family showed that even without dual cultivation, men could still master “Talent Theory,” but it required self-castration.

When Ouyang Yudu said that, Lin Shen was shocked, thinking to himself, “Ouyang Yudu, such a fine young man, couldn’t possibly be considering self-castration to cultivate his skills, could he?”

In his astonishment, Lin Shen’s form became disordered, and he nearly let an Ultra-Burn Warrior seize the opportunity to wound him.

Fortunately, his reflexes were quick enough, and he stabilized the situation, pushing the Ultra-Burn Warrior back.

Ouyang Yudu, too, trembled at Lin Shen’s mention of self-castration. Although his psychological quality was better than Lin Shen’s, he was still somewhat rattled for a moment.

It was only because his strength was strong enough that he forcefully suppressed the disruption and didn’t show any flaws.

Ordinary people couldn’t detect any problems, but Xun Jian and Ouyang Juemiao were somewhat amazed, not expecting that Ouyang Yudu could also make a mistake, which was quite rare.

“Who the hell is thinking about self-castrating? What I mean is, if others can’t break through, I can, just because others can’t, it doesn’t mean I can’t,” Ouyang Yudu said, his tone still somewhat angry, and even the gentle him burst out with a swear word.

“I see, then you just keep at it,” Lin Shen said aloud, but inside he thought, “Tu Xiaodao thought the same, but in the end, he still didn’t master ‘Talent Theory’ either.”

Lin Shen himself never thought about going against the heavens and changing his fate; he preferred to go with the flow, as going against the current was too exhausting.

Getting his answer from Lin Shen, Ouyang Yudu didn’t say anything more and concentrated on battling, repelling the Ultra-Burning Corps’ charges again and again.

Ouyang Yudu truly was a genius; he had learned not only Wei Wufu’s Battle Axe skills but also his precise control techniques for strength.

Ouyang Yudu had already rotated a few times before; last time, he had only lasted a bit over an hour before his Crystal Base Carapace could no longer be maintained.

This time, however, he endured for a full two hours and still seemed to have plenty of energy left.

“There’s a problem with your axe technique, let me teach you the correct way to use an axe,” Ouyang Yudu said while fighting.

“Not interested,” Lin Shen said, his mind not in the mood to ponder axe skills. The survival abilities of Stepping on the Immortal Court were much stronger than an axe.

“Well, you must want something, right? I can’t just take your answer for nothing,” Ouyang Yudu thought for a moment and then said, “How about this, I’ll teach you a skill I created myself.”

“Alright, go ahead,” Lin Shen wanted to stop the back-and-forth, so if Ouyang Yudu wanted to teach, let him. Once he finished teaching, he would shut up and stop talking incessantly.

“The skill I created is called Crooked Path Heresy. First, memorize the mental mantra, and then I’ll demonstrate the technique,” Ouyang Yudu’s voice, like a fine thread, entered Lin Shen’s ears. Even amidst such chaos, the voice was startlingly clear to Lin Shen.

Yet, other bystanders seemed not to hear anything at all, and the spectators didn’t catch any sound either.

“The orthodox and the mainstream all follow the great path, the great path like music, high mountains and flowing rivers, sun setting and moon descending, everything in the world has its rhythm. Between each breath, there’s a change in the world’s melody. Those who observe the changes of heaven and earth, comprehend their rhythms, merge with their own body, every gesture and action conforms secretly with the rationale of nature…” Ouyang Yudu continued as he fought.

“I’m not highly educated, can you put it more simply and understandably?” Lin Shen sighed, Ouyang Yudu’s chanting-like language made his head spin.

“To put it simply, fighting has a rhythm, and most people fight to that rhythm. The Crooked Path Heresy Skill I created is specifically designed to disrupt one’s rhythm, making the opponent extremely uncomfortable. It’s like singing, when others sing on the beat, you can sing completely off the beat, messing up the other person’s rhythm and leading them astray…” Ouyang Yudu explained in simple and easy-to-understand terms.

“You can play like that? I like this.” Lin Shen said, genuinely interested after hearing what Ouyang Yudu had to say.

“Then listen up and memorize the entire mantra, after which I’ll teach you how to disrupt timing,” Ouyang Yudu began to teach Lin Shen the mantra, over and over.

Unfortunately, Lin Shen didn’t possess an extraordinary memory or the ability to multitask. He had to ask Ouyang Yudu to repeat the mantra several times while fighting before he finally managed to memorize it.

Ouyang Yudu showed no signs of impatience, repeating it over and over until Lin Shen had completely memorized it. Even while multitasking, he remained ferociously unstoppable, forcing the Ultra-Burn Warrior to continually retreat.

“Now that you’ve memorized the mantra, I’ll demonstrate how to disrupt timing. This is the foundation of Crooked Path Heresy, and if you can’t learn to disrupt timing, you won’t be able to proceed with the rest,” Ouyang Yudu said as he demonstrated.

His presence changed, and his ax technique no longer resembled Wei Wufu’s broad and expansive style; every swing was timed and angled in a bizarre manner.

Not just the Ultra-Burn Warrior he was fighting but even those watching the battle felt incredibly awkward.

How to put it—it was like watching a film where the audio track and visuals are out of sync, just slightly off, which can make the viewer feel very uncomfortable.

If the viewers felt uncomfortable, the opponents felt even worse. With just a few casual swings of his ax, Ouyang Yudu brought down a Crystal Base Ultra-Burn Warrior.

“Interesting, I really like this thing.” As Lin Shen watched, he found the “Crooked Path Heresy” skill increasingly intriguing.

He truly couldn’t summon any interest in the normal, dry stuff, but with something as intriguing as this skill, Lin Shen was exceptionally focused.

Ouyang Yudu explained as he demonstrated, telling Lin Shen how to disrupt timing effectively and sharing some of his own insights and experiences.

After listening for a while, Lin Shen felt more and more excited, until he couldn’t resist trying it out for himself.

The Ultra-Burn Warrior who was clashing Battle Axes with Lin Shen suddenly found that, just as he had retracted his ax and hadn’t yet gathered the power to strike again, Lin Shen’s ax chopped down. Caught off guard, he became flustered and Lin Shen swiftly beheaded him with a few bewildering swings.

Ouyang Yudu watched in mild surprise.

Having seen that Lin Shen was a slow learner when it came to ax skills, and that his memory wasn’t very good, Ouyang Yudu thought it would take Lin Shen quite some time to learn the “Crooked Path Heresy.”

To his amazement, it hadn’t taken Lin Shen very long to actually use the techniques of “Crooked Path Heresy.”

Although it was only the most basic, entry-level technique, and used rather roughly, it was indeed correct, and the effect was quite significant.

“Fascinating, you are really a fascinating person.” Ouyang Yudu couldn’t help but smile.

“To create such a skill, you too are an extremely interesting person,” Lin Shen also laughed.

“Hey, are those two chatting?” Finally, someone noticed that Lin Shen and Ouyang Yudu seemed to be talking while fighting, though it was unclear what they were saying.