In the northwest reaches of Zhou Mountain, there was a natural mountain valley. The entrance of the mountain valley faced the north, and spanned a thousand feet. As it extended inwards, it became increasingly narrow. The entire mountain valley was in the shape of a funnel, and it continued into the hillside until the width was only about 10 feet or so.
When gale winds blew from the north of Zhou Mountain, they were blocked by Zhou Mountain and formed a tremendous wind pressure and air current that flowed down the funnel shaped valley. As it went inwards, and the mountain valley became narrower, the speed and pressure of the wind increased with each step!
Before the Seven Profound Martial House was established, this mountain valley had been named Gale Valley. Inside the valley were large rolling stones that blew everywhere, and humans and livestock found it hard to stand firm.
After the Seven Profound Martial House was established, the Xiantian masters, who had decided to use the local environments, set up a large array in this crazy wind valley. Not only did this raise the speed of the wind, but the wind current and direction became unpredictable. Undercurrents were everywhere, and there were even strong heavenly winds that could harm the body.
This was one of the seven major killing arrays of metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, and lightning. This was the Violent Wind Tunnel.
The Violent Wind Tunnel was primarily used by martial artists to practice their stability and footwork. To a martial artist, solid footwork was the most basic, entry-level martial arts. To begin on the path of martial arts, one had to first practice their balance. Even Lin Ming, who had not received a formal martial arts education, had to begin by practicing the basic horse stance.
However, Lin Ming came to the Violent Wind Tunnel today not to practice his stability, but to practice his movement abilities.
To practice one’s movement in the Violent Wind Tunnel was something that a common disciple would be unable to imagine. This was because no matter how fast one was, it was impossible to hide from the wind. No matter how astonishing one’s speed, in the Violent Wind Tunnel, the person would always be pinned down and hindered by the fast wind.
To practice one’s movement, a disciple would usually choose the Boulder Slope array of the seven major killing arrays. The Boulder Slope had innumerable rocks flying around; a martial artist would use these to practice their dodging skills and movement speed. Before, Lin Ming had gone to the Boulder Slope to take a look, and saw that the Boulder Slope truly was a good place to practice one’s movement. However, it was not suited to the ‘Golden Roc Shattering the Void’.
When one practiced movement in the Boulder Slope, the truth was that the main aspect a martial artist trained was their reaction speed, strength, and true essence body coordination.
If these points were practiced well, a martial artist would simultaneously have extremely quick speed and nimble movements.
However, it was hard to find a movement ability that could achieve both extreme speed and flexibility. For instance, ‘Swan Feather Fall’, ‘Heaven Passing Ladder’, ‘Cloud Hanging Rope’, and other such movement abilities stressed speed and light work above all. These skills were fastidious about keeping the body as light as a swallow. Once true essence was revolved, they could leap several dozens of feet high and easily catch a flying bird. This speed was very fast.
But then there were movement abilities like ‘Seven Star Drifting Cloud’, ‘Lost Steps’, ‘Six Foot Step’, and ‘Seven Despairing Steps’. These movement abilities stressed flexibility and dodging. For instance, in ‘Seven Star Drifting Cloud’, one’s feet traced the pattern of the Big Dipper, like treading on clouds, and their footwork was light like treading on clouds. After the Large Success stage was reached, one could take seven steps at once, and it would be impossible to tell which step was first or last. Within these seven steps one’s speed would be able to reach the extreme. These movements focused on dodging; they were very effective in close-range fights.
If a movement ability had a superiority in one movement aspect, then it could be considered a top-grade manual. If a movement ability could be superior in both aspects, then that would be a best-grade manual. However, that kind of movement ability would only be passed down to the core disciples of the Seven Profound Valleys.