Chapter 3: Capturing the Dragon's Hand

  Ye Chen slowly stood up, his hands tightly clenched, a determined look on his face, muttering to himself: "Right! Start again! I want to start again! Since heaven let me survive the heavenly thunder, it must be giving me another chance to start anew. I will seize this opportunity!"

  Thinking of this, Ye Chen couldn't wait to return to the empty space and start cultivating again!

  "Boom!"

  Suddenly, Ye Chen felt the ground beneath him give way and before he could react, he fell directly into a pit. All that was heard was Ye Chen's angry voice echoing in the original location: Ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

  After falling in, Ye Chen felt as if he had entered an underground slide, circling around and sliding straight down to the very bottom.

  "bump"

  Ye Chen was thrown directly to the ground by the inertia of the slide, and his buttocks came into close contact with the ground.

  Ye Chen rubbed his sore butt, looking helpless as he muttered to himself: "Damn it, not again! How can I be so unlucky? First, I got struck by lightning, then I fell into a hole, and it's an extremely deep one, damn it!"

  Ye Chen calmed down and looked carefully towards the great hall.

  The hall was as big as three mu of land, with eighteen night pearls inlaid on it, each as big as a fist. The light emitted by the night pearls made the hall, although underground, not dark at all.

  Ye Chen furrowed his brow and walked into the hall, looking at the eighteen night-glowing pearls inlaid on the wall. Ye Chen was filled with doubts: What is this place? Why have I never been here before? It seems that it must have been built by someone else, rather than being formed naturally.

  Ye Chen walked along the wall in the hall, with the help of the night pearl's glow, looking up at the wall, suddenly Ye Chen was shocked to see some patterns appearing on the wall.

  "Isn't this Zong Yunyan?"

  Ye Chen looked at the pattern on the wall in surprise, exclaimed, and then quickly looked at other patterns, becoming more and more surprised.

  "This is Tongbi Boxing, this is Fengjuan Palm, this is Po Yun Zong... These are all the martial arts of Lianyun Sect! However, why were these originally first-rate martial arts now written as second-rate martial arts here?"

  Immediately, Ye Chen quickly walked to the other side, looking at the patterns and texts on the wall. Ye Chen was thoroughly stunned, just as Ye Chen had thought, all four walls were filled with patterns and texts, including one wall that depicted the cultivation method of Lianyun Sect.

  "Three-Part Yuan Qi, Eight-Directional Gathering Qi, Purple Mist True Qi....!"

  Looking at these kung fu moves, some of which he had seen before and others that he hadn't, Ye Chen's face, which had initially been shocked, now revealed an excited expression: "Great disaster brings great fortune! It seems what they said is true after all!"

  Ye Chen quickly turned to look at those martial skills, not that these skills had no temptation for Ye Chen. Cultivating skills must wait until one's own cultivation reaches the Gathering Qi stage before they can be cultivated. During the Fragmented Body stage, only continuous strengthening of one's physical body is possible.

  Ye Chen gazed at the martial skills on the wall, falling into deep thought: "I need a martial skill, a powerful one! Right now I only know one attacking skill, now I must learn more skills with attacking capabilities. As for movement skills, I don't need them yet."

  Ye Chen furrowed his brow and carefully examined each pattern and the text next to it.

  "Tongbi Boxing Second-Class Martial Arts, Fengjuan Palm Second-Class Martial Arts, Boshan Boxing Second-Class Martial Arts..."

  Martial arts is a fighting skill, after millions of years of countless predecessors' hard work, creating countless martial arts, generally divided into one to nine products, and then there is the heavenly product, and above that is the divine product.

  However, apart from martial arts, there are some more exquisite skills, but with the passage of time, they have gradually exited the stage.

  Generally speaking, a small sect like Lianyun Zong having a third-grade martial skill is already quite good. Even for some large sects, the martial skills they generally possess are absolutely no higher than seventh grade. Those eighth and ninth grade martial skills can only be found in families or sacred places with thousands of years of heritage. As for the so-called heavenly and divine grades, they have only appeared in ancient times and have long since been lost.

  As for the sects, they are generally divided into third-rate sects, second-rate sects, first-rate sects, and sacred places. A sect like Lianyun Sect where Ye Chen is located can only be considered as a lower-level third-rate sect, or even not qualified as a third-rate sect at all.

  However, nothing is absolute. Some powerful warriors who are about to reach the end of their lifespan but cannot break through will often retreat into the mountains and forests. In order not to let their martial skills be lost, they will leave them behind for future generations, waiting for someone with a predestined affinity to arrive.

  There is a saying that has been circulating on the mainland: Go to the deep mountains and forests to take a stroll! Maybe, you might become a generation of strong people.

  However, the secret room where Ye Chen is currently in might be the essence left behind by the seniors of Lianyun Sect back then. Otherwise, it wouldn't be possible that some original first-rate martial skills and techniques became more comprehensive here and turned into second-rate martial skills and techniques.

  Ye Chen stopped in front of each martial skill, looked at it for a while, then shook his head in dissatisfaction and continued to look down.

  "Dragon Capturing Hand ~ 4th rank martial skill, comes with the Dragon Shadow Body Method, is a 4th rank peak that rivals 5th rank martial skills! There are seven forms in total. During the Fragmented Body stage, one can cultivate the first three forms; during the Gathering Qi stage, one can cultivate the next three forms; and during the Yuan Dan stage, one can cultivate the final form."

  Ye Chen's face lit up with joy, gazing at the introduction on the wall, he excitedly stopped in his tracks, his eyes fixed tightly on the diagram and the heart method.

  Dragon Claw Hand

  The first move captures the dragon and gazes at the moon, with a single heavy blow that can refine the body.

  The second formula is dragon and tiger fighting, five heavy bodies can be practiced.

  The third formula releases the dragon into the sea, and the fragmented body can be practiced nine times.

  The fourth form of Penetrating Fist, Double Dragon, can be practiced with one breath.

  The fifth formula flips clouds and pours rain, gathering energy five times can be practiced.

  The sixth style: Phoenix goes crazy and Dragon becomes restless, gathering energy nine times can be practiced.

  The Seventh Formula: The Ascending Dragon Has Regret; The Original Elixir Can Be Cultivated Once More

  Ye Chen took a rough look at the Dragon Capturing Hand and didn't have excessive greed, he just focused all his attention on the first move of the Dragon Capturing Hand - "Dragon Capturing Moon". As for Ye Chen, now that he had no cultivation base, he couldn't learn anything else, not even the first move. Now, he could only memorize it, but he still couldn't cultivate it.

  Time passed minute by minute, second by second. Ye Chen stood still on the spot, his mind constantly demonstrating this martial skill, one side and another...

  "Gurgle~~~~"

  Feeling the discontent emanating from his stomach, Ye Chen suddenly remembered that he hadn't eaten anything since morning and couldn't see outside or tell what time it was now.

  Ye Chen looked at the martial skills on the wall, relaxed his body, and sighed: "Let's go back! Anyway, this place has been running away, in that case, the first move of the Dragon Subduing Hand, I have already memorized it all, and it won't be late to practice when I get back!"

  Thinking of this, Ye Chen hurriedly walked towards the downward tunnel, looking at the extremely steep and curved slide, a helpless smile, then with both hands and feet supporting the two sides of the slide, started climbing up.

  There was no light in the tunnel, but there were no forks in the road either. Ye Chen relied on his physical strength to keep moving forward in the slide, advancing with difficulty.

  "Wow!"

  Ye Chen exhausted himself to climb up, and lay down on one side, panting heavily. Looking at the sky that was already filled with countless stars, he softly exclaimed: "I'm dead tired! Why is this tunnel so long!"

  Not long after, Ye Chen let out an excited laugh: "Haha! Haha! Fourth-grade martial skill! Fourth-grade martial skill!"

  ;