All-Class Anti-Mage - Chapter 52 - Guli

The singing and dancing Orcs stopped, and Pipi, who was chatting with Babala, turned to look. Countless heads of Orcs emerged from the jungle, all gazing curiously at Yang Zhen and the elder, who was bowing continuously.

It wasn’t until the elder shouted “Guli” again that all the Orcs immediately knelt on both knees and echoed his call!

“Guli! Guli! Guli! Guli…”

The shouting startled countless resting birds and drew numerous magical beasts toward them. The Orcs understood what “Guli” represented, and the jungle beasts knew the significance as well. This was the leader of the Orcs!

Amid the powerful cheer, Yang Zhen felt his bloodline surge but remained puzzled. How did the second thought connect to Guli? Could it be that the second thought, which the Orcs had lost, was actually the cultivation principles of Guli?

Yang Zhen quickly raised his hand to stop the Orcs’ chanting. Even if I were to lead you in a counterattack against Borge Gorge, we have to do it stealthily. If you shout like this, they’ll know your intentions before you even make a move.

The Orcs were in perfect harmony; almost as soon as Yang Zhen waved his hand, there was an immediate silence. If he closed his eyes, it felt as if no one existed at all, not even a sound of breathing.

Drawing a circle to represent Guli seemed a bit too childish to Yang Zhen. He pulled the elder aside and asked, “Tell me, what exactly is the second thought?”

“The second thought is the cultivation principles of Guli.”

The elder’s response made Yang Zhen feel like banging his head against a wall.

“I know it’s the cultivation principles of Guli. What I mean is, what does he cultivate?”

“Of course, it’s the sword.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes.”

Yang Zhen thought the elder hadn’t finished speaking and waited for a moment, but that was the answer he got. Frustrated, he ran his fingers through his hair. The Sword Saint Guli must be practicing his sword; what else could it be? I wanted to ask how to cultivate… Wait, the Sword Saint Guli practices two-handed sword techniques!

When he used a one-handed sword and recalled his sword techniques from memory, another thought would suddenly interrupt him. What if I used a two-handed sword to perform the remembered techniques… Could the issue really be that simple?

“Babala, toss me your sword!” The Orcs at the bonfire banquet were weaponless out of courtesy, so Yang Zhen had no choice but to ask the barbarian for a sword.

“Oh.” As soon as Babala heard Yang Zhen call his name, he snapped back from the excitement of the earlier shouts and threw his greatsword, which he always kept at his waist, to Yang Zhen.

Yang Zhen caught Babala’s greatsword with one hand while gripping the jagged greatsword he had pulled from his space ring with the other. The stark contrast between the two swords was striking, but no one in the vicinity laughed; everyone knew that Guli was about to unleash his sword technique!

Yang Zhen swiftly executed a series of ultimate skills and dashed out of the tribe’s camp, plunging into the forest to demonstrate the sword techniques he had memorized. The two swords in his hands moved as if controlled by two different people, giving the impression of a duet. The chaotic thoughts that had previously interrupted him vanished, and in the flow of his swordplay, he felt no trace of the second thought!

“The… ultimate realm of the second thought… No-Self No-Thought!” The elder muttered to himself, his gaze blank. Just the emergence of Guli was enough to excite him, but now the revelation that Guli had reached the ultimate realm of the second thought nearly left him breathless!

All the frustration he had felt about his ineffective sword techniques melted away, making him feel almost invisible. All that remained were the two swords dancing together, and in this state, there was hardly any air in the space they occupied. Yet in the No-Self No-Thought state, Yang Zhen didn’t even need to breathe!

“Blade Storm!” Yang Zhen howled, looking up at the sky. He unleashed the final move from his complete sword technique. His entire body spun rapidly, and the airflow generated by the two swords formed a towering tornado!

This wasn’t battle qi; it was a storm created entirely by sheer force. Yang Zhen propelled himself forward three or four meters, while two massive trees around him were ground to dust in the cyclone. As he drove his double swords into the ground, the lingering storm and the dust together dissipated!

Yang Zhen panted heavily. With his current strength at the fifth tier, he couldn’t fully unleash the Blade Storm’s maximum power, which left him feeling a bit disappointed. What he didn’t realize was that through the generations of Guli within the Orc tribe, the highest recorded level for casting the Blade Storm was the seventh tier!

It was amusing that the solution to his chaotic swordplay issues lay simply in wielding two swords to execute sword techniques; he only discovered this after traveling all the way to the Beast Language Forest. Yang Zhen understood that everything was destined, just as he knew among all his teachers, there was one, the Sword Saint Guli. He was certain that he had come to remedy the regrets of the Sword Saint.

“Your teacher hopes you live your life well and not concern yourself with the grudges they left on the Firmament Continent. Furthermore, they are living well there and have no desire to return to the Firmament Continent.” Remembering what Hale had relayed from the teacher, Yang Zhen felt his eyes moisten.

The teachers understood how complicated the grudges left on the Firmament Continent were, which is why they didn’t want him to be involved. They not only passed on their skills to him but also cared for his safety. How could he think only of himself? No way! That place would absolutely not be as good as they claimed; otherwise, they wouldn’t have sent him away!

“Teachers, I, Yang Zhen, vow to the heavens that no matter the troubles and grudges you left on the Firmament Continent, I will face them without hesitation! Moreover, I will definitely rescue you!” Yang Zhen knelt on the ground and shouted skyward.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning streaked across the night sky, as if the heavens had borne witness to Yang Zhen’s oath. For the first time, this man with no faith knocked his head three times heavily on the ground. Lightning flashed once more, illuminating a large area of the Beast Language Forest.

After this flash of lightning, a young man dressed like an eastern scholar, holding a folding fan, suddenly appeared in the air. All magical beasts in the forest, regardless of their level, immediately prostrated themselves on the ground, trembling in fear. However, those around remained unresponsive, wide-eyed and motionless; they were all… trapped in space!

“What a show-off! So boring!”

As the thought from the piglet flickered through Yang Zhen’s mind again, he understood that the eastern scholar before him was one of the four divine beasts!

It seemed the scholar sensed the piglet’s consciousness as well. After a slightly awkward cough, he descended. Like the flamingo, he bowed slightly toward Yang Zhen, specifically acknowledging the piglet’s position on his left chest.

“Someone has already informed you that I come here because of your Theory of Rune Consciousness.” The eastern scholar snapped open his fan with a flourish, but after a moment’s thought, he closed it again without fanning himself. The night was cool, and he might even get scolded by some pig if he tried to show off.

“But my Theory of Rune Consciousness isn’t as perfect as I had hoped,” Yang Zhen said, shaking his head slightly. The cooperation between the fallen Orcs and the Blue Moon Legion likely stemmed from the Theory of Rune Consciousness.

“Identifying the problem is one thing; solving it is another. Therefore, until you address this issue, I will not give you my recognition,” the scholar replied blandly, his expression neither arrogant nor particularly polite.

“Then what brings you here?” Yang Zhen asked bluntly. Regardless of anyone’s power, he wouldn’t feel respect unless they were his teachers. Even if a true deity stood before him, he felt the same way. Those three knocks he made earlier were actually for his teachers.

“I’m here to correct an incorrect perspective of yours.” The scholar circled around Yang Zhen.

“What incorrect perspective?” Yang Zhen asked, perplexed.

“Rescuing your teachers and resolving the grievances they left on the Firmament Continent is not simply because you are their student. Strictly speaking, it should be…” The scholar paused slightly, looking directly into Yang Zhen’s eyes. In that moment, Yang Zhen felt as if his soul were being penetrated. The scholar continued, “This is your journey of atonement!”

“This is my journey of atonement?” Yang Zhen felt a sense of absurdity wash over him. He was still young; when his teachers had done those things, he might not even have existed yet. Why would he say that? Yang Zhen asked solemnly, “Atonement for whom?”

“The secrets of heaven cannot be revealed!” The scholar replied evasively and turned to walk deeper into the forest without looking back. “More than four hundred years ago, Guli abandoned his tribe in pursuit of immortality. He attained his goal, but his tribe suffered in dire straits. First, you need to atone for him!”

Guli is not dead? Could he have already become a thirteenth-tier sword god? Yang Zhen was shocked, but then it struck him-if Guli was dead, who would pass on the “second thought” to him?

The scholar’s figure slowly faded into the forest, and the surrounding magical beasts dispersed one by one. The group of people who had been confined in space regained their normal state. The orcs continued to kneel on the ground, worshipping Yang Zhen, while Babala rushed over with an excited expression.

“Your sword technique just now was amazing! Can you teach Babala?”

Yang Zhen smiled and gently patted his cheek. He felt a sense of guilt in front of the straightforward and innocent Babala. If the second thought were genuinely easy to learn, he would certainly teach it. However… in the process of comprehending the sword technique earlier, Yang Zhen realized that the second thought was not simple. The elder’s instruction for him to draw a square with his left hand and a circle with his right was just a prerequisite.

It wasn’t that Yang Zhen looked down on Babala; the cultivation principles of such divided thinking were not something a barbarian could easily grasp. Indeed, even after Yang Zhen explained it, Babala couldn’t complete the task. A large group of orcs tried as well, but only three succeeded.

The elder was momentarily stunned. If he hadn’t kept this secret all along and had revealed it sooner, and then three people completed it at once, would he really have to call all three of them Guli? Among the three successful individuals was Pipi. Yang Zhen instructed them to return to the cave, as he wanted to personally impart the “second thought” to these three; they represented the future of the orcs. Meanwhile, Yang Zhen would always be a human.

“I promise you, I will find a cultivation principle suitable for you in the future,” Yang Zhen vowed to the barbarian.

“Babala believes you because you are Babala’s best friend!” the barbarian said, his expression still filled with joy.

“What type of cultivation principle do you want to learn?” Yang Zhen asked with a faint smile.

“Actually, Babala likes using an axe; the greatsword feels too light. Too bad this is the standard issue equipment of the legion,” the barbarian said, a hint of regret flashing across his face.

Yang Zhen made a mental note of Babala’s preference. He was determined to help the barbarian find a set of axe technique cultivation principles. However, apart from the black iron dwarf race, there were very few races renowned for their axe techniques.

As Yang Zhen walked toward the cave, he suddenly remembered something. He directed his psychic consciousness to the piglet in his arms. “You called the flamingo a little broken bird; what about that divine beast just now?”

“Little broken bug! Don’t ask such boring questions!”