BXBX NOVEL Chapter 176 176: Telling A Lie
"It was only a fluke. I was only able to do it because I know Uncle Allen is expecting me to follow his teachings. I doubt I would be able to replicate such a deed again." Dylan modestly said.
"Still, to be able to defeat Allen in martial arts at such a young age is astonishing!" Sheldon, who flew from the side of the training ground, landed gracefully and congratulated Dylan for achieving such a feat.
"I was only able to defeat Uncle Allen after a few dozen bouts. I still think that I have a long way to go." Dylan answered humbly once more.
"Hmph, still to be defeated by a kid? How humiliating." Sheldon sneered as he looked at Allen.
"Then, how about fighting with Dylan right now since you\'re so amazing?" Allen frown as he countered.
"Enough of that, you two." Azelmek arrived and the two had quickly shut their mouths. He looked at Dylan with an impressed gaze, "Dylan, you have truly improved in your martial arts by a large margin. It seems like you have already advanced your foundational techniques to the Perfection Stage. When did this happen?"
"This happened yesterday while I was fighting the sect leader\'s alliance. As I immersed myself in true combat, I was able to utilize every skill I had to survive and also, strike my enemies at the same time. During which, I was able to coincidentally gain insights and once I consolidated them, I advanced." Dylan quickly told his experiences to his master.
"Indeed, only the taste of live combat can stimulate a cultivator\'s potential. Regarding the battle at Dreamy Forest, I was quite shocked to hear from Dennis and the others that you actually killed more than half of the Origin Transmutation Realm experts while fighting nearly a hundred of them alone. Your beast companion was actually the descendent of a Demonic Beast God and you teamed up to kill ten spider type spirit beasts which has the strength of a Mortal Moulting Expert. How did you do that?" Azelmek asked inquisitively. Although he understood what kind of talent Dylan was, he knew he has not even realized a quarter of his potential. So, how was he able to fight a group of Mortal Severing Expert?
Even Sheldon and Allen were curious about this. Although they could somehow understand the first matter, but the other two were simply too astonishing to be true!
Dylan was naturally prepared and answered, "Answering Master\'s concerns, for the first matter, I merely used my advantage as a Mystical Magnate and the fact that I could use a skill of the Thundercloud Monarch Art at least three times. By using my skills conservatively and appropriately, I was able to eliminate most of the thugs. I can also attribute it to the training I have recieved from Master and Uncle-masters as you have always taught me how to fight against stronger opponents. For the second matter, although I knew Rian was most likely some type of rare spirit beast because of his ability to speak human tongue, I did not expect him to be a Demonic Beast God because I only found him on the path during my journey to come to Thunder Clouds City. As for the last matter..."
The trio nodded as Dylan described the first two matters and all of which made sense. They could not find any fault of the matter. More importantly, Dylan was speaking in an unhurried and calm manner that it makes it seem that what he is saying is the truth. When faced with this young man, who could remained perfectly composed like this, it was indeed very hard to discern whether or not he was lying or not.
Dylan intentionally pause and made a hesitant look before finally saying, "I was able to fight the Black Arachnids with Rian because of a gift that Master Null left for me."
"Master(Sir) Null left something for you?" The trio immediately exclaimed from shock.
Dylan readily explained, "On the day, you said that Master Null left. I saw a peculiar necklace which emitted a peculiar light on my desk at home. I asked my employees whose item it was but noone seemed to recognize it. So, I temporarily kept it for myself. I soon tried to use my spirit sense to inspect it and I was shocked to find that there was a small space within and it contained some sort of strand of energy which I could not recognize."
Dylan continued, "However... it contained profoundness and power that I could never hope to fathom. At first, I thought it was strand of conciousness of an expert but when Master Null, used his aura and killing intent to scare off Sir Night from afar, I recognized the similarities of the two auras. If I remove the horrifying killing intent out of the picture, the two energy are basically the same thing. Thus, I came into conclusion that it was his strand of energy."
"What?!" His words made them tremble uncontrollably. What kind of expert was Null? When Dylan said that he claimed that he was at least stronger than any expert in this country, it would mean that he was at least at the peak of Immortal Saint! But his vague reply could also mean that he could stronger than that!! A strand of his energy was indeed an effective life saving treasure!
Dylan further narrated, "After experimenting with it, I discovered that I could actually control the energy strand as if it was ownerless! Having a faint outline of Master Null\'s Strength, I estimated that I could use it to execute a fusion skill of the Thundercloud Monarch Art. Thus, I kept it with me at all times as a life saving trump card! When the Spider Tribe appeared and the Spider Queen and her royal Guards came, I knew it was a dead end. However, with Rian\'s awakening that day, I- I took a gamble and tried to fight them with Rian."
"With Rian buying me enough time to control and manipulate the energy strand from the necklace, with difficulty, I was finally able to convert it and use it to execute the fusion of all three techniques! I was even shocked by the degree of damage the energy of that strand held! It completely obliderated the Spider Queen and the nine Black Arachnids without even an ash of the corpse remaining! It even carved out a path until it reached the end of the forest! Only then did I manage to realize the immense power that Master Null actually possessed..." Dylan ended his lie there.
Being a top tycoon on Earth, Dylan was a naturally skilled person in both communication and persuasion. Telling a lie without a fluctuation in his expression was nothing but a walk on the park for him. He even used facial expressions, paused or stuttered and used apropriate body language to support his words.
\'Sir Null actually possessed such power! Hallmaster, you have indeed hit the jackpot for being selected as a student by such a powerful expert! Congratulations!\' Sheldon was suddenly elated and told Azelmek telepathically.
\'Indeed. I don\'t know what kind of good deed I have done in my past life to deserve such good fortune. Not only did I get an X-grade Magna Magnate and cultivation genius as a disciple, I was also accepted as the disciple of a mysterious and overpowered expert named Null!\' Azelmek said emotionally. He was even starting to have thoughts how awesome he would be when he recieves the full inheritance of such a powerful expert.
"Master, are you okay?" Dylan suddenly stepped in and interrupted his daydreaming.
"I am. I was just in awe about how powerful Master Null actually is." Azelmek sincerely described his current feelings.
"Oh." Dylan responded with simplicity. But, inwardly, he could not help but feel guilty for telling them such a lie. Although he knew that pushing the responsibility on the mysterious but fictional Null was the most effictive way to clear up their doubts, their was still a slight guilt in tricking these people who even considered him family. \'Someday, I hope they will understand my actions when I tell them the truth.\'
"Anyways, it\'s time for you to continue training! I cannot disappoint, Master Null when he comes back! He expects to see you become stronger on his return!" Azelmek was thoroughly motivated to teach Dylan now.
Dylan quickly returned to reality and nodded excitedly, "Yes, Master!"
...
Several hours later, Azelmek was once again surprised by how much Dylan improved from his fight yesterday. He noticed that Dylan had more environmental awareness now compared to his lat visit. His thought process is not easily disturbed even when his plans were repeatedly foiled in battle. He had even become more cunning in combat than he ever was.
After his fight with Allen, he had five bouts with Sheldon in martial arts and in their last bout, he managed to beat Sheldon by making him lose balance and fall on his back which was a technical knockout. That defeat actually shook Sheldon because he did not expect to suffer a defeat from this when they had only fought around forty times.
Seeing Sheldon in shock, he confessed, "I was intentionally trying to make Uncle Sheldon lower his guard on the first four fights so that I can manage to surprise him and hopefully win in the last. Thankfully, it all went according to plan."
"Are you saying you were holding back while fighting me?" Sheldon no longer had that usual cheerful smile on him. His lips were arched in a smile but it was twitching subtly. Though he was not prideful in nature, Dylan\'s words actually hurt his pride.
"No, definitely not. Uncle Sheldon, you must have misunderstood my words. How could I hold back when I am fighting Uncle Sheldon? I was merely bidding my time and carefully laying out my plan of attack before finally executing it." Dylan shook his head and apologized humbly.
"..." His words caused the trio to shiver slightly. Because Dylan may not the type of person who would win every battle but by using his wits and schemes, he can even turn the tides and win the entire war. Even now, they could not fathom why a young man like him who should be hotblooded could actuallu be so crafty and devious!
Dylan also fought with Azelmek but even after five bouts, he was still unable to beat him which disappointed him. What he did not know was that Azelmek was actually taking him seriously and carefully received his attacks. Because if he were to lose to his disciple so early on, how could he even have face to call himself Dylan\'s master.
After the martial arts training, Azelmek trained Dylan in his Mystical Techniques for the last half of his training today. He noticed that Dylan\'s skill in his Mystical Techniques have also increased. Although it was still at the Expert Mastery, he noticed that it would only take a few more days before Dylan breaks through the Perfection Mastery.
After he reaches Grand Perfection in these skills, Dylan would be able to move to Duke level Mystical Techniques. On top of this discovery, Dylan actually broke through to Tier 4 in the last moment! To anyone else, they would have fainted from shock but after teaching Dylan for a couple of weeks now, he has at least adapted enough to decrease his shock.
"Woah! I broke through? Master didn\'t you tell me that I would at least take three days or at most a week before I reach Tier 4? Why did I suddenly advance?" Dylan was rather confused about this.
Dylan actually agreed with Azelmek that he would at least take that much time since he read that every three levels is a small realm in Mystical Magnatism. The realms are simply separated to Early, Mid and Late realms. Each would be a minor bottleneck that would be harder to cross than the next. But, he actally crossed it easily and did not even feel that sort of bottleneck!
His Mystic Pond is already eight times bigger than it\'s original size and was already 6400 meters squared. It was not even apt to call it a Mystical Pond anymore because it was more of a large lake already. And, this was still without the transfromation that would happen in Tier 5 to become a Mystical Lake!
"I am not certain as well... Maybe it is because of your X-Grade Talent that the bottleneck of the small realms of Mystical Magnate Realm is barely negligible... I have read records of S-grade Magna Magnate accelerating to Tier 6 in just three months because it was not as shackled as normal Magnates are. I think you are also in a similar case." Azelmek quickly racked his brain for an answer until he was able to remember that record.
"Oh, Master is really knowledgeable! Now, I am even more eager to read in the Premier Library! Hm... Master, it is already late. I shall now get going." Dylan noticed the time and quickly bowed.
"Uh... okay. Take care. Remember to practive even at home!" Azelmek reminded quickly. He waved his hand as he watched Dylan leave the Training Grounds with Sheldon.
\'This kid\'s cultivation is insanely fast! It has only been two weeks since he started yet he is already at Tier 4! Normally, Mystical Magnates take at least two years to reach this rank but he actually did it in a thousandth of the time that most would do it! I seriously think I am going to have a heart attack if this goes on.\' Azelmek anxiously thought to himself but at the same time, he was extremely proud of having such a monster as his last disciple!