Cheng Ying never could have expected that the Chaotic Wind Hammer Technique would originate like this. Come to think of it, in the original story, Tang Chen had never studied physics so how exactly did he comprehend this technique?
Cheng Ying speculated that Tang Chen had probably already formed the concept in his mind, and what he taught him merely served as a catalyst, triggering the inspiration that led to Tang Chen's enlightenment.
Cheng Ying was honestly curious to see how powerful this newly comprehended version of the Chaotic Wind Hammer Technique would be. However, given Tang Chen's body was still recovering from the intense month-long epiphany, he decided to hold off.
One week later...
Fully recovered, Tang Chen stood in Cheng Ying's backyard, wielding the Clear Sky Hammer as he faced off against the Ice Empress.
"Careful, Master!" he called out, swinging the Clear Sky Hammer in a perfect arc, aiming directly at her.
The Ice Empress simply raised her hand. Though she looked like a petite little girl, the power she released was massively disproportionate to her size.
The first hammer strike landed on her small hand but didn't move her in the slightest—not even the ground beneath her feet was disturbed.
Tang Chen was well aware of how terrifyingly strong his master's wife was. A single hand could effortlessly crush a Titled Douluo. So he didn't hold back. As the hammer rebounded, he reversed its direction and accelerated the swing once more.
The second strike again landed on her palm, and while she still wasn't moved, the Ice Empress clearly sensed it the blow was significantly stronger than the first.
Then came the third strike. The fourth...
As he continued, Tang Chen grew increasingly shocked by her strength. Blow after blow grew heavier, but not once did the Ice Empress take a step back. The ground wasn't even indented; only some dust was blown into the air from the hammer's momentum.
"How interesting. It really does get stronger with every strike," the Ice Empress finally said by the thirty-sixth blow, showing a flicker of interest. She could no longer absorb the hammer's impact without some tremble in her hands—an impossible feat for a four-ring Soul Master under normal circumstances.
On the sidelines, Cheng Ying had begun to pick up on the subtle mechanics at play. In the original canon, the Chaotic Wind Hammer Technique had no dedicated footwork. It wasn't until Tang San used it against Qian Renxue and combined it with the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track that it became the Chaotic Wind Dance.
But Tang Chen's version clearly incorporated a matching movement technique. Cheng Ying noticed that each swing of Tang Chen's hammer wasn't tracing a perfect circle, but an eccentric one. As the hammer neared the Ice Empress, the radius of the circle would abruptly contract, increasing the hammer's speed.
By the thirty-sixth strike, Tang Chen's footwork became much more noticeable. The hammer's arc was now so large that his arm alone couldn't maintain it; his steps had to support and sustain the motion.
Cheng Ying did some mental calculations and realized that increasing the radius of the circular motion reduced the centripetal force needed from the arm—resulting in faster hammer velocity.
He suspected that in the original story, Tang Chen had likely used the technique instinctively, without fully understanding its principles. He knew he was leveraging the momentum of the previous strike but didn't question why it worked, which was why he never developed a matching footwork style.
But the current Tang Chen not only understood how the technique worked, but also why it worked—and he had the time and conditions for a full month of uninterrupted enlightenment, something the original Tang Chen never had. As a result, this new version of the Chaotic Wind Hammer Technique was far more refined than what was described in canon.
By the forty-eighth strike, cracks had begun to spread beneath the Ice Empress's feet. Her hand had even been slightly forced backward as she diverted the force.
Tang Chen, wielding the Clear Sky Hammer, was now dashing around the courtyard in an arc that spanned over three meters in radius, moving so quickly it was hard to follow him with the naked eye.
Sixty-fourth strike—the hammer now emitted a piercing sonic screech, and the Ice Empress had to take a full step back.
Cheng Ying was stunned. That shrill screech was the telltale sign of the hammer nearing sonic speed. With every strike stronger than the last, Tang Chen's flesh-and-blood body was actually breaking the sound barrier!
By the seventy-second strike, Tang Chen's footwork was extremely pronounced, and the hammer's arc radius was nearing five meters.
As the hammer approached the Ice Empress's palm, a white vapor ring exploded from the hammerhead—a sonic boom cloud, created by breaking the sound barrier. Now taking things seriously, the Ice Empress planted both feet and assumed a proper horse stance. She switched from a one-handed block to both hands.
Even then, her feet sank slightly into the ground as she finally absorbed the impact.
The final eight strikes each forced the Ice Empress back a step. On the eighty-first strike, a jet-black dragon coiled around the Clear Sky Hammer. Tang Chen changed his form—from swinging sideways to a vertical overhead smash.
The dragon, claws bared and maw wide open, descended from the heavens. Even the skies above Heaven Dou City dimmed in its shadow.
As the hammer fell, the Ice Empress grew solemn. She retracted her hands, and behind her appeared the projection of her true form—the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion. Her green, venomous tail pointed toward the hammer as massive emerald ice pillars erupted from the ground, condensing into a giant ice spear aimed directly at the descending blow.
The impact triggered a shockwave that rippled outward in rings, ripping a layer of tiles off Cheng Ying's rooftop. The black dragon bit down on the ice spear, shattering it to dust from the tip onward.
Shards of ice flew everywhere, but they barely slowed the hammer down. Only when it struck a thumb-thick, dome-shaped barrier of ice surrounding the Ice Empress did it finally stop.
The dome remained intact—but Cheng Ying's backyard looked as if a meteor had struck it. A thirty-meter-wide crater, five meters deep, took its place. Even buildings one street over had deep cracks etched into their walls.
At the center of the crater stood the Ice Empress, completely unscathed. Tang Chen, meanwhile, was collapsed on the ground from exhaustion.
Cheng Ying stared at his now-destroyed two-story home, on the verge of screaming. He had made his assessments based on the original version of the Chaotic Wind Hammer Technique.
Back in canon, when Tang San used the eighty-first strike at Rank 50, it only reversed a waterfall's flow. But this? This felt like being struck head-on by a damn orbital weapon!
Fortunately, Cheng Ying had the foresight to store all important research materials and lab equipment in antique soul tool storage devices. Even if the shop collapsed, the data would survive.
Compared to the original, this version of the Chaotic Wind Hammer Technique… might actually deserve to be called the strongest self-created soul skill in the entire continent