The Martial Unity
chapter-2137

Rui began sparring with as many Martial Masters as he could. He overcame the power gaps and most Martial Masters by sealing entire parts of his Martial Art, restricting his power to whatever was necessary and forcing himself to overcome them with sheer Adaptive Evolution.

This way the difficulty allowed him to extract some meaningful experience from the battle. As long as he could restrict enough techniques from the battle, he could essentially recreate a power dynamic similar to that of fighting an equal.

If he didn't do this, the number of Martial Masters that he would be able to fight would be extremely scarce as he was a particularly powerful high-grade Martial Master with the Yin-Yang Spear at his disposal.

Of course, this came with its downsides as well.

The more he held back, the less relevant the experience of that particular battle became. After all, he wouldn't hold back so much in a real fight.

That was why he valued fights where he didn't need to hold back.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH

Master Zentra cleanly evaded a series of Mighty Roar Flash Blasts from Rui as he swerved in and about the battle arena. His sharp eyes focused on Rui as he dodged his attacks one after another.

Yet, it didn't last long.

BAM BAM BAM!!

Several attacks from Rui struck him true and hard.

However, he didn't so much as flinch, blocking them with his hand, which had spontaneously grown thicker, developing what was almost a second layer of flesh that was like armor.

Rui narrowed his eyes at the technique.

It resembled Nemean Blossom in some ways, in both appearance and functionality.

He was not surprised.

The Surgeon was famed for his body control and mastery, a field that was created by his former master, Sir Armstrong.

Yet even Rui couldn't help but realize that he had underestimated the man's mastery over his body when he saw him alter his skeleton structure to increase his proficiency in maneuvering and mobility.

That wasn't all. The tissue in his body radically altered, growing translucent and, eventually, fully transparent.

WHOOSH!

He disappeared, turning into a hazy blur in Rui's senses.

"Clever," Rui muttered under his breath as he stressed his senses to the maximum.

Master Zentra knew that Rui's Martial Mind became extraordinarily powerful, in so far as its impacts on battle, the more information about his opponent he fed to it. Once the SOUL model was complete and the existing predictive model created from the Angel of Laplace was further elevated, he was extremely difficult to defeat.

That was why he had settled for a furtive and clandestine approach to this battle. This strategic approach denied Rui the ability to collect the vital information that he needed to feed his systems of thought to grow more powerful and fleshed out. After all, he wouldn't be able to collect much data on an opponent who could defy even his powerful senses.

BAM BAM BAM!!

Rui gritted his teeth as he barely managed to disperse an incoming barrage of blows. Yet before he could even muster up a counter, Master Zentra had already moved away, reduced to a hazy blur.

Despite not being a stealth-oriented martial artist, he proved remarkably difficult to pin down even by Rui's powerful senses.

BAM BAM BAM!!

Rui narrowly blocked another flurry of attacks before his opponent disappeared once more.

'This isn't just misdirection,' he realized. 'He's also using physical stealth techniques. Misdirection alone cannot explain this level of stealth due to how inherently resistant I am to it. However…'

It was more than just physical stealth techniques, too. Master Zentra was also using his control and mastery over his Martial Body to alter it to aid his stealth, making it so that it didn't reflect light and didn't produce or interfere with sound.

He focused all his misdirection capital on disrupting Rui's Riemannian Echo and the mind sense of his Martial Mind, for these were two senses that he couldn't hide from physically. It was an extremely effective approach for dealing with someone like Rui.

'This must be his Martial Mind,' Rui mused inwardly. 'Finding the most optimal way to apply his body control and mastery to any given opponent in order to maximize their weakness.'

Rui did not miss that this contained elements of Adaptive Evolution, as did most of the Martial Minds. Martial Masters naturally altered their approach and strategy to their opponents, which meant that they were necessarily utilizing the concept of Adaptive Evolution.

Regardless, Master Zentra's strategy was highly effective. Rui's data collection was greatly hampered by his inability to sense Master Zentra very well.

BAM BAM BAM!!

Rui blocked yet another barrage of blows from Master Zentra, who was content playing the long game and slowly chipping away at him.

Slowly, methodically, and systematically. That was how Master Zentra fought. It was one of the reasons that he had earned the moniker of the Surgeon.

But alas, Rui had no intention of allowing him to win so easily.

"Niflheim." A smile cracked at the edge of Rui's mouth.

WHOOOOOSH!

An enormous blizzard descended upon the world as heaven and earth froze over. Temperatures plummeted as Rui began using one of his most powerful domain techniques to freeze over the entire environment.

It was a technique that was designed to make the most of the Tree of Life. Normally, its purpose was to create an environment that was antithetical to flora and fauna species that were unable to tolerate the cold.

It was not a technique that was meant to be used against Martial Artists. However, he knew better than anyone that a technique was only as useful as it was applied.

WHOOSH

A smirk cracked at the edge of his mouth as he spotted Master Zentra in the field of his senses. He had been forced to repurpose a portion of his body control and mastery to generate enough heat to counter Niflheim. Which reduced the amount dedicated towards stealth, thereby allowing Rui to sense him once more.