Though spoken in a low, gentle tone, the words "sword momentum" seemed to echo along the city wall, causing everyone atop it to freeze and turn toward Yanga with shocked expressions.
The sword moment caught Yanga completely off guard. It was a rare feat, one that few could pull off, especially at Yanga's early stage of cultivation.
Most people focused so much on speeding up their progress that they didn't bother with other aspects of cultivation, leaving such achievements out of reach.
That's why many people are stunned to witness the Sword of Momentum radiating from Yanga. Beyond cultivating techniques and striving to perfect them, cultivators must also focus on another crucial aspect of their journey: mastery in a specific field.
One such field is weapon mastery, though others include harnessing elements like fire, ice, or water.
Sword momentum marks the beginning of mastering the Sword. Rather than simply wielding it, achieving sword momentum transforms every strike and slash from a basic attack into something akin to a technique.
Sword momentum progresses from minor completion to major completion, and finally to perfect completion. From there, the path advances to the next stage: sword force, followed by sword intent, and ultimately culminating in Sword Qi.
While sword momentum is the first step in mastering the Sword, it's not something to take lightly, as it's a true benchmark for geniuses.
Many cultivators believe that the earlier one grasps momentum, the greater their talent. Most don't achieve it until the Golden Core stage, and only the rarest manage it during Foundation Establishment.
Those who attain momentum in the spirit gathering stage are truly the elite of the elite.
After taking down his prey, Yanga leaped back onto the wall. The fight was far from over. Though he was the first in the Vanguard team to score a kill, plenty of spirit beasts were still clashing with his teammates, and some were even stronger than the four-armed gorilla. On top of that, countless wild beasts still needed to be handled.
Those on the city wall had little to worry about. Fighting from such a high vantage point gave them an unbeatable edge over the wild beast horde charging below.
All they had to do was pull back their bows and loose an arrow almost every shot found its mark on a wild beast, unless luck truly turned against them.
Yanga joined their ranks, but he didn't use his own bow; even with his current strength, he wasn't sure he could draw it.
Instead, he picked up one of the bows issued to the wall's defenders. With it in hand, he began sending arrow after arrow into the swarm of wild beasts threatening the wall.
It was Yanga's first time using a bow, and surprisingly, it worked. His initial shots missed the target entirely, but he wasn't bothered.
Having already played a big role in the battle, a few misses didn't shake his confidence. He kept firing, steadily honing his aim.
The battle raged on for hours as Yanga fired arrow after arrow. He lost count after more than a thousand shots, but all that practice sharpened his aim.
By the time the fight was winding down, his accuracy was nearly unbelievable every arrow landed exactly where he intended. Facing all sorts of beasts, he kept his efficiency high, always aiming for their eyes.
Twelve hours of nonstop fighting leaves its mark. Yanga noticed the cultivators on the wall slowing with each passing hour, their shots becoming less frequent.
By the twelfth hour, some had already given up, taking ages to fire and missing their targets most of the time. Somehow, Yanga remained unaffected by the fatigue that claimed the others.
One perk of the boundless saint physique was unmatched stamina that none could match, even after clashing in fierce battles, cutting his way through hordes of wild beasts, and taking on a spirit beast.
Yanga still had plenty left in the tank. Even after more than 12 hours of fighting, he'd only tapped into about 30% of his reserves. This was despite his reckless style, always throwing as much spirit Qi as he could into every move without a hint of efficiency.
A roar echoed from the direction of the infinite basin, catching the attention of both the beasts and those on the battlefield. The beast quickly turned and headed back toward the basin.
Noticing this, the elder in charge of the village defenses allowed them to leave and forbade anyone from giving chase.
Knowing this was a battle of attrition, he saw no reason to waste unnecessary effort and also called for a retreat, hoping to give the cultivators as much time as possible to recover.
This signaled the end of the first wave of the beast stampede. After more than 12 hours of relentless fighting, the battle was finally over.
Some defenders cheered loudly, celebrating their hard-earned victory. Though casualties were significant and the defenders' losses were evident, cultivators were accustomed to battle and death, so some hardly noticed. They kept cheering, eager to head down and recover.
Yanga stood atop the wall, watching the beast retreat, and suddenly it all made sense.
This was his life now, and he couldn't change it. From here on out, until his last breath, he would live in a world where the strong roamed free. In this place, if he wanted something, he could simply take it.
If anyone stood in his way, he could remove them and claim what he desired. It was a way of living completely unlike the one he had been raised to know.
The other members of the Vanguard were still out on the battlefield, and Yanga watched them from the city wall. Most had sustained various injuries, but none were dead.
The Vanguard had started with 30 members, and Yanga was shocked to see that none died; this proved the Vanguard team was truly made up of the finest.
It seemed that the vision of the elder charged with defense was truly the best, the fact that all members of the Vanguard team survived was proof of his vision, truly given the task assigned to the Vanguard team.
Losing a few members of the Vanguard team was expected, but now they weren't any deaths, which showed that all the members chosen for the Vanguard were truly the best among their pairs.
The survival of all members of the Vanguard team was not the only proof of their strength, but that, even amongst the chaotic battle, they still managed to take down seven spiritual beasts, which was an accomplishment worth celebrating.
With the battle over, it was time to clear the battlefield. Yanga really wanted to help, but that wasn't his role. A small team, about a hundred strong, handled the task.
They emerged from the city wall, moving with the steady rhythm of an old machine. Before long, every corpse had been removed, and the field was clean once more.
That was when the elder in charge of the defenses did something that YAnga couldn't quite understand it, but soon the blood and gore covering the battlefield vanished, as if by magic.