Opening Doors!

Deadpan, Ignius stared at Will, yet the glimmer of his eyes belied his serenity. At first, Will assumed it was hesitation, but instinct later told him otherwise. Will gripped his sword, waiting for the spear- wielder to approach. After five years of countless battles, he had produced his own countering-type style of battle. Considering Ignius's imposing aura, Will proceeded with caution.

Ignius desperately wanted to kill Will, but at the same time, part of him was disappointed that earth would lose someone who possessed two Empyrean Intents and that his hands were responsible.

"Are you done?"

Ingius's words resulted in a smirk from his opponent. In response, Ignius snorted and stabbed forth. Will closed his eyes and concentrated on his other senses. He was well aware that his sight was of little help; thus, he delegated his mental power elsewhere. Will was really curious about what gave him an inescapable sense of imminent doom.

As Ignius's spear charged forward, an invisible disturbance in space fluctuated in its path, resulting in most of the spear disappearing into the void. Simultaneously, the spear reappeared behind Will, exiting another spatial disturbance.

'This! This is!'

Will lacked any time to marvel at this overbearing ability. He was far too concerned with defending himself. Will erected a barrier of Bloodlust and Sword Qi, rotating his body to greet the spear.

As if the spear had a mind of its own, it reacted! It accelerated and blasted through the wall like a bullet through a sheet of paper. Will no longer had enough time to react; thus, Ignius was assured of his victory.

"Clang!"

Instead of the screams of a dying man, the sound of two metals clashing resounded in his ears. His pupils dilated as he witnessed Will's acrobatics. Knowing he no longer had enough time to turn, Will swung his sword behind him. The spear's momentum had decimated his defenses; thus, Will held no illusions about stopping the spear with his sword, especially considering he wielded it with only one hand. Instead, his objective was much more efficient. With a well-calculated nudge, the spear's trajectory shifted, missing Will's back by less than a centimeter.

Ignius was impressed, but this feeling only lasted as long as a lightning bolt flashing across stormy skies. Like thunder, Ignius responded, pulling his spear back and swinging it leftward. This time confident that his attack would hit, he was surprised once again.

"Clang!"

History repeated itself, his spear deflected upward by Will who bent backward at the recoil.

'What kind of swordsmanship is this?'

Unlike Will, Ignius had information on forms, knowledge passed down to him through a variety of means. Except for the basic techniques taught to him by the system, Will used his own self-created techniques. One could even argue that his technique was formless, constantly changing and adapting to new situations. Angered, Ignius drew back his spear and aimed at Will who was still bent backward.

'I've got you now!'

Considering his opponent's stance, Ignius was confident that he had this fight in the bag. But Will once again pulled a rabbit out of the martial arts hat. The spear was heading straight for the side of his torso, threatening to end him there when Will gripped the hilt of his sword with two hands. Then Will made his left-hand slide down the side of his sword until it neared the tip while leaping off the ground.

"Clang!"

Using the momentum from the collision, Will flew upwards. Ignius grunted and retracted his spear.

'Fool, now you are stuck in mid-air!'

A new disturbance in space appeared above Will. He didn't waste time and reacted quickly. A spear materialized and descended upon him like the wrath of a furious deity. Ignius's eyes dilated as his spear hit nothing. Will landed a few steps behind, ready for the next attack.

'This bastard formed an ice sheet beneath his feet and rebounded off it! What fast reaction speed. Why is he now so fast?'

Indeed, Will had now increased in speed. He was qualitatively different from before. Ignius refrained from attacking and closely observed his opponent, trying to understand what had just occurred.

....

The 12 Doors were undoubtedly the most important meridians within one's body, particularly because one could only become an immortal once all 12 Doors opened. Before one started upon the path of cultivation their body would have a certain amount of doors already opened. The number of opened doors before cultivating determined one's talent. Will had six doors open; thus, he was far above average in that regard.

The Doors were named 1st Door all the way up to the 12th, in the order they would be opened. According to cultivation laws, one was born with all 12 Doors opened, but exposure to the filth of the world resulted in the Doors clogging up. Some bodies resisted this filth better than others, like Will, resulting in them having quite a few doors open when they began cultivating.

No matter how much of a prodigy one was, cultivation can only begin after childhood finished because one's body needed to handle the strain of world energy.

Having open doors was one thing, but utilizing them was a different story. For one to find and use the doors, one had to have a cultivation manual and an intricate understanding of the human body, including all its meridians and acupoints.

The solitary sword manual was incredibly complex, giving Will quite the headache, but ever since he had gained over 1000 minds, he had been working non-stop on understanding what he could. So far, all he had understood was the most basic of methods such as how to utilize an opened door and how to open others. Each door could be utilized in innumerable ways, with some far-surpassing others. Suffice to say, the SSS manual had high-quality methods for opening and utilizing each door.

Before, Will had circulated his yuan through normal meridians and not utilized any of the 8 Gates or the 12 Doors because he was unaware of how to. Experimenting was out of the question as it could lead to qigong deviation, a scenario in which energy went berserk and destroyed one's meridians, permanently ruining any chance of cultivating. This basic warning was present at the beginning of every manual.

Ignius felt the yuan around Will transform quantitatively and qualitatively. He immediately concluded,

'This brat has utilized a door!'

According to the information he had received from Modus, Will was a fledgling cultivator who knew next to nothing on how to properly cultivate. Thus, it came as a big surprise when Will utilized such an upgrade.

Ignius would be shocked if he knew that Will was even more surprised by the changes in his body!

This was the first time Will had utilized a Door before, and the feeling was nothing like he had expected. The yuan in his body burst forth in billowing waves and surged around his body. If before the yuan traveling his body was like a trickling stream, now it was a raging river. Will knew that utilizing a Door would help, but he didn't expect the change to be this extreme.

Utilizing Doors could be likened to traveling. The moment one utilized a Door was like running for the first time. Running was much faster than walking; unfortunately, humans couldn't run their entire lives: they usually walked. The same principle applied to the Doors. Once opened, they offered immense strength- at a price. The energy in one's body would run out at a much faster rate.

Will had understood how to use the Doors a few days ago, but in order to avoid qigong deviation, he wanted to make sure he understood everything thoroughly before attempting to open a Door. The current situation had forced his hand, but fortune favored him.

Will immediately felt invigorated because opening the Door also awoke his mind. His concentration doubled, and his senses sharpened. Will took a deep breath as he quickly shifted a large portion of his brainpower into controlling his body. His yuan scrutinized each and every muscle fiber, molding them into an incredible harmony with the rest of his body.

Ignius was no longer as impressed as he had been a few moments ago after finally remembering who he was dealing with. Stabbing forth with incredible speed, a spear blurred at Will from an awkward angle.

"Clang!"

Ignius gasped because Will had barely moved an inch. Will merely sidestepped, deflecting the spear with minimum force. After realizing his plan worked, Will smirked and sprinted forward.

"Impudent!"

Shua!

Ignius stabbed forth multiple times, targeting the approaching Will from all sides, only to be met by incredibly concise movements from Will followed by deflections using only minimal force. The waves of strikes that had seemed to inundate Will began to fall apart.

No matter what Ignius did, the same result occurred. In fact, as time went on, Will's reaction speed actually increased!

'This bastard has achieved Martial Harmony!'

Ignius shivered.

Martial artists trained for countless years in order to gain control over their entire body. For example, most people were more familiar with the use of one hand than the other. This example continued across the human body as there were many muscles not used at their full potential. Martial Harmony was when a martial artist controlled their entire body perfectly. Ambidexterity, faster reflexes, increased flexibility were only some of the boons of achieving Martial Harmony. Even Ignius, an incredibly talented Martial Artist, was barely able to touch this threshold. As far as he knew, there was only one mortal who had achieved such a state.

Genesis!

By the time Ignius snapped back into the fight, Will was only a few steps away. Instinct told Will to cautiously halt, so he stood, quietly observing Ignius.

'I refuse! I refuse to believe he has achieved it!'

Ignius stepped forward, infuriated by the sudden turn of events. Since Will was now in reach, he did not need to employ his space-warping ability. Will had even dissipated his bloodlust aura. He simply felt that it would be unnecessary because his senses were now sharper.

Clang!

A resounding cacophony echoed in the empty hall. Ignius attacked from a myriad of angles, seeking an opening, but a well-timed counter from Will always met him.

'He is only around level 50! Since he opened a Door, he won't last for long! I only need to hold 'til then!'

Such were Ignius's thoughts. Unfortunately, Will displayed no signs of tiring. To the contrary, he quickened.

Imagine two puppets. Two strings controlled one puppet while ten strings controlled the other. Which one would have better movements when each and every string was fully utilized? Such was the state of Martial Harmony.

It normally required years of specialized training and monstrous talent in cultivation, none of which Will had. Will was a monster when it came to intent, the soul, and the Dao of water/sword, but he was only above average everywhere else. Innately having 6 open doors was far from being talented enough to achieve Martial Harmony; however, he had unique circumstances.

Yuan had the qualities of both mana and qi. Mana strengthened the mind and qi strengthened the body. Dual mind propagation coupled with synergy from having both his body and mind nourished by the 1st Door led to this situation.

In addition to one's body-movements, Martial Harmony also made one's usage of energy more efficient. Thus, even though opening the 1st Door was taxing, it was not as bad as Ignius thought. After exchanging a few more rounds with Will, Ignius finally reached this conclusion once his head cleared. He finally begrudgingly accepted what Will had achieved.

He jumped back a few steps and surprised Will by bowing slightly with clasped hands.

"You are indeed an impressive warrior. I was wrong for assuming you were only a pampered child under Modus." Will scratched his head in surprise and didn't know what to say. He could sense Ignius's sincerity and was caught in the mood.

Suddenly, an overbearing qi oozed from Ignius' body. The qi was as heavy as a mountain and as brutal as a tsunami. It almost made Will retreat in fright.

"I will now use 5% of my qi. Peerless Dao Master, prepare yourself! I am the Dragon of the West, Ignius Skye!" Ignius settled into a stance, his face showing a severity the likes of which Will had not seen before.

Will nodded and took his stance. He also decided to kick things up a notch for the upcoming battle by utilizing the 2nd Door!

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