The servant saw Ryan Bennett looking confused and immediately whispered, “Martial arts techniques are divided into four ranks: Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow. Heaven-rank techniques are the strongest, Yellow-rank the weakest. In a place like Wufeng Workshop, only low-level Yellow-rank techniques are available for sale, and many of them are just useless tricks, written by people who mislead others!”

Ryan Bennett nodded, his gaze falling on two of the Yellow-rank techniques—

“Wind-Slaying Technique”: Mid Yellow-rank

“Steel Wall”: Lower Yellow-rank

……

Ryan Bennett bent down, picked up the two martial arts manuals, and asked, “Boss, how much for each?”

The boss held up two fingers. “Fixed price, 10 taels of silver each!”

Ryan Bennett looked to the servant for confirmation. The servant nodded, indicating the price was fair, so Ryan Bennett paid and took the manuals.

After leaving Wufeng Workshop, Ryan Bennett rushed home, took his lunch, and went straight into the secret chamber to begin training.

He started with Steel Wall, a basic technique that channels one’s own true energy to form a protective aura outside the body to resist attacks—a fundamental defensive move.

Ryan Bennett was exceptionally gifted; in just three days, he had mastered Steel Wall. With a light shout, he could form a wall of flame aura ten centimeters from his body. However, Ryan Bennett was still not satisfied with this level of strength. As his understanding of fire energy deepened, he gradually increased the distance of the Steel Wall from his body to about one meter.

Nathan Bennett was quite puzzled and asked, “Ziyu, Steel Wall is a defensive technique. Why are you pushing it away from your body?”

Ryan Bennett smiled and said, “No one ever said it must be a defensive technique. That’s just a misconception.”

“Oh?”

Nathan Bennett was still confused, but didn’t say more. He had great faith in his son’s talent.

……

Ryan Bennett’s thinking was actually very simple. Steel Wall was for defense and escape, while Wind-Slaying Technique was for attack. With both, he could attack and defend, and would no longer be at the mercy of others.

He began practicing Wind-Slaying Technique, a martial art that works with weapons—infusing true energy into the blade, slashing fiercely, and forcing the energy out as sword aura to strike the target ahead.

It sounded simple, but was extremely difficult to execute. Ryan Bennett spent a full ten days before he could force his true energy out of the weapon and form sword aura.

Chapter 4: The Art of Forging

The Bennett Family, Martial Hall.

Nathan Bennett lifted a thousand-jin boulder with one hand and laughed heartily, “Is this heavy enough?”

Dressed in tight blue clothes, Ryan Bennett nodded, holding an iron sword and smiling, “Come on, Dad!”

“Alright!”

With a loud shout, Nathan Bennett suddenly hurled the giant stone, which shot toward Ryan Bennett like a meteor.

“Shhh…”

Ryan Bennett stepped back half a step, his body sinking slightly. The iron sword in his hand buzzed as he poured a large amount of fire energy into it. At the critical moment, Ryan Bennett raised his brows and swung the sword heavily. A fiery red sword light shot toward the boulder!

“Crack!”

The boulder split in two with a single slash—Wind-Slaying Technique truly lived up to its name!

Looking at the two pieces of stone on the ground, Nathan Bennett couldn’t help but laugh, “Very good, Ziyu, your strength has improved again! But your control over force is still a bit lacking—the cut on this stone is too uneven!”

Ryan Bennett smiled lightly and said, “Dad, let’s try again, shall we?”

“Alright!”

Nathan Bennett picked up another boulder and said, “Here it comes!”

Ryan Bennett held his iron sword, head held high, full of confidence. Waves of fire energy swirled around him, making him look like a youth walking on flames. He opened his left palm—the prelude to using Steel Wall!

“Hm, Steel Wall?”

Nathan Bennett frowned, unsure what his son was planning, but quickly threw the boulder. He knew that with Ryan Bennett’s current cultivation, a single stone couldn’t hurt him.

“Boom!”

The boulder shot toward Ryan Bennett. In a flash, Ryan Bennett reacted, leaping up and kicking the boulder with one foot, using soft force to send it flying back.

Before the stone could fly far, it collided in midair with a blazing Steel Wall. In a flash, Ryan Bennett unleashed Wind-Slaying Technique again!

“Bang!”

In an instant, the boulder was reduced to dust by the sword aura, scattering in midair as smoke and dust billowed.

……

Nathan Bennett stood there in a daze, hardly able to believe what he’d just seen. This greenstone was mined from deep mountains and was extremely hard—anyone below level three could barely scratch it. Yet under Ryan Bennett’s sword, this incredibly tough stone was completely shattered. What kind of power was this?

“Son, you… you’ve reached Earth Level Four?”

“No.”

Ryan Bennett smiled faintly, knowing full well that he couldn’t achieve such power with brute force alone. He had simply pushed the aura three meters from his body to form a Steel Wall, then used it to press from behind while Wind-Slaying Technique attacked from the front—the combined force tore the stone apart.

Nathan Bennett said, “That move wasn’t Wind-Slaying Technique, was it? What was it?”

Ryan Bennett smiled and uttered four words: “Void-Splitting Wood Sever!”