Abyssal Awakening

Slowly opening her eyes, Jinghua felt pain all over her body. She couldn't move a single limb and could only look around with her eyes.

The last thing she could remember was the attack on the sect as her throat tightened up.

Maybe it was a miracle that she was still alive. But the others…

"Stupid girl… I told you to run but you chose to fight instead. Look at what happened to your body." A gentle voice rang out next to her as her eyes widened in shock.

Glancing over, she could see her father figure injured but still alive.

He sat next to her bed, gently patting her head. His hands were coarse and wrinkled but Jinghua felt warm.

"Sorry…" She apologised but Elder Shen simply shook his head.

"It's alright. Next time don't do something so foolish okay? The old shouldn't have to bury the young."

"What happened?" Jinghua asked.

She wasn't sure why they were still alive but she could vividly remember the killing intent released by the intruder.

Even now, when she closes her eyes, that intent has imprinted itself deep into her mind.

"After you passed out, the intruder didn't do anything else. She simply broke the sect sign and left." Elder Shen sighed.

Their prestige has already taken a hit after the gathering. But now that one person stormed into their sect and destroyed everything before leaving without so much as a scratch, it was clear that the consequences of this would be long lasting.

However, compared to the prestige of the sect, he was far more relieved that Jinghua and the disciples lived. None of them took major injuries that couldn't be healed.

"She was strong…" Jinghua muttered, feeling bitter. But the gap of strength was simply too wide.

"Indeed. Neither I nor the sect leader could do anything to her." Elder Shen nodded.

In addition to her strength, the intruder had also blatantly stolen their martial arts in their face. No prior knowledge, just the short period of demonstration and she took it all. The secrets of the Swallow Tail Sect are now taken by an outsider.

Thinking about this, Elder Shen couldn't help but sigh.

What kind of monster attacked the sect? In less than an hour, she had already gained mastery far greater than most of the disciples and could even defeat the sect master through brute strength and technique.

Then there was also the Instant Draw.

The martial art belonged to Qiu Qiu, one of the captains of the Demon Extermination Squad. Renowned genius of the next generation.

If the intruder could perform the Instant Draw, it was clear that she had already beaten Qiu Qiu and stolen her martial arts.

Elder Shen couldn't help but think that a calamity was about to sweep through the entire eastern nation.

"But you did well Jinghua. You managed to awaken and even push your weapon domain to the next level, a bottleneck that has troubled you for so long." He praised her as he saw her final struggle against the intruder. The barrage of martial techniques, her mindset and decision making at that moment was perfect. It was a shame that the gap of power was beyond what technique could make up for but regardless, it was something to be proud of.

###

A few days later. . .

"Wake up." Jin nudged as Alice grumbled while waving her hands dismissively.

There was a stack of empty alcohol gourds around her as she had gone a little crazy last night from drinking.

Letting out a sigh, Jin was now familiar enough with Alice to understand that once she gets like this, there's no waking her up in the morning.

Finding a spot to meditate for now, Jin reflected on everything he saw.

During the fight against the Swallow Tail sect, he was watching the fight from a safe distance, making sure he memorised everything that happened.

The way that Alyss employed her domains, how she would react to people and how the disciples, elders and sect leader would try to stop her. He made sure to memorise as much as possible since it's not like he was going to fight them himself.

During the final exchange, he saw a genius of the next generation, Jinghua put up a decent fight.

Halfway through, it felt like he could visualise the boundaries of their domains clashing against one another.

Jinghua trying to exert her control and offensive nature while Alyss focused on evasion through the supposed Passive Zone.

Maybe it was just a hallucination but he felt like he could see it.

Then after the Swallow Tail sect, they attacked the Poison Sect. A sect that handles countless poisons and hidden weapons.

When it comes to martial arts, they were on the weaker side but for some reason, none of the poisons was working on Alyss. She simply shrugged it off and stormed through the sect through a mixture of the Skybound Swallow and Instant Draw martial arts.

There wasn't much to learn in the poison sect compared to the Swallow Tail but regardless, Jin still made sure to keep watch.

'I shouldn't focus on the poisons they use but rather the hidden tools. None of them could hit Alyss. Needles, spikes, daggers, she dodged everything.'

Her explanation of this when asked about it was simple.

"The Swallow Tail sect has an evasion based movement art. I think one of them called it Drift or something. Basically, it's just a case of heightening your focus on external attacks and choosing the right steps to dodge. If you use Absolute Zone with it to concentrate on everything within your range, it's much easier to plan things out."

In the end, it was about the state of unity again.

Scratching his head, Jin let out a sigh. Alice wasn't… the best teacher he had to admit. Her explanations were lacking but her demonstrations were insightful.

Pulling out his chain blades one more, he twirled it in his hands before narrowing his gaze.

Alice's movements were too fast for him to observe at times.

"Be fluid with your movements. The chain isn't something you can achieve great things with by using rigid thinking. Consider how it wraps around certain objects, how you use your body as the object and so on." Alice's groggy voice rang out.

Feeling the lack of effort to sit up, she waved her finger and some blood converged near Jin, turning into a silhouette of herself with the shard of Kara hovering next to her.

"That'll be your training dummy, have fun." Alice yawned.

Nodding his head, Jin glanced at the dummy before entering an offensive posture. Seeing that Jin was ready, Alice sneakily curved her mouth up into a grin.

How dare this brat wake her up from her sleep.

Shift!

"!!!" Widening his eyes, Jin didn't expect the blood clone to suddenly disappear from his sight and enter his range.

Swallow's Rain – Soaring Tail Sweep!

Before Jin could even think about countering, the blood clone released two devastating kicks into a leg sweep, knocking him off balance.

Adjusting the martial arts so it wasn't as lethal as it could be, the clone began to unleash a barrage of attacks similar to Jinghua's final stand. Each technique linked to the next with fluid motion.

Whatever action Jin tried to do to counter would be parried and countered back with a snap, disorientating him.

The sound of Jin's cries along with the melodic attacks brought a smile to Alice's face as she decided to do a little bit of day drinking.

'Drinking again? Aren't you going a bit crazy?' Alyss folded her arms.

'Of course not. The alcohol that I bought is a bit on the weaker side so I can drink more without worry.' Alice waved her hand with a smile.

Seeing this, Alyss could only shake her head with a helpless smile.

Ignoring the drinking, she was rather surprised by Alice's demonstration of the Skybound Swallow martial arts.

While it lacked the proper decision making and judgement to make full use of the arts, it was still impressive nevertheless.

To put it into perspective, the difference between them is that Alice mimics and replicates what is done. If the sequence was ABCD, she'll perform ABCD.

But Alyss on the other hand, would judge the most effective sequence to destroy her opponents.

One opponent might be weak against the sequence of ACDB, or BDAC and so on. She'll make the changes necessary.

One prints and repeats what she sees, and the other studies and comprehends. Your adventure continues at My Virtual Library Empire

Naturally, this was the same when it came to casting. Alice understood casting on a deeper level while she could only replicate it to some extent. Enough to help her fight but not enough to make changes like she does.

Therefore, Alyss had an idea. A new goal that she wanted to achieve.

If Alice was going to make a skill based on all of her experience on knowledge when it came to casting, she'd do the opposite. With all her knowledge and martial arts that she'll steal from now on, she'll make the best martial art unique to her.

A set of attacks, evasive footwork and counters that complement everything she does. Her instincts, her fighting talent and her desire to destroy her opponent. She'll take advantage of it all and create a form for this desire.

'So obvious.' Alice let out a small giggle while thinking to herself. Her twin was so obvious when it came to her desires. That burning passion in her eyes as she stepped away to practice the martial arts, it was clear what she wanted to do and Alice supported it all the way.

Nothing will change the fact that they were sharing one body so why not take advantage of it? There's also more to duality than what they know. Depending on how she develops this skill, there might be a chance for the two of them to fight at the same time.

###

"That's four sects down now and it doesn't seem like this demoness will stop her attacks. I believe a bounty should be placed on her. To track her movements and deal with her when she reveals herself."