by <unknown>
The sword rain was obviously a type of sword array technique, perhaps one of the more advanced offensive techniques in the higher ups of Swords Gate. In Zhong Yue’s point of view, he could only see a huge wave of blinding white rays shooting towards him!
This was where the advantage of having a heritage comes in. Although Zhong Yue had achieved the same level of the upper house disciple, he still lacked the proper techniques to retaliate appropriately. Without learning these techniques, the methods he had at his disposal were severely limited to deal with others.
The【Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art】and the【Jiao Dragon Winding Body Totem Art】were both mere cultivation and physique-refining arts, without a combat skill, Zhong Yue couldn’t unleash his strengths to the highest degree.
The heavy sword rain got dangerously close to Zhong Yue in the blink of an eye. However, under the amplification of the Jiao Dragon’s power, Zhong Yue easily evaded and distanced himself from the upper house disciple.
The sword rain continued the pursuit and it rained down at a speed even faster than before. With the sharpness of the swords, one’s body could easily be pierced even if their body was as tough as steel.
“That’s enough! You have crossed my line!”
Zhong Yue clenched his teeth and shouted. His soul then manipulated a pebble slab under his feet and hurled it fiercely towards the upper house disciple kneeling in the Knowledge Teaching Pavilion.
Hu-hu-hu—
Zhong Yue did not stop after hurling a pebble slab, he instead continued on manipulating the other pebble slabs and launched them in the same direction again. All of this happened in a very short time and a shower of pebble slabs flew with lightning speed towards the pavilion in a straight line.
The upper house disciple was stunned and he quickly collected his thoughts. He summoned back his soul weapon and commanded the sword rain, redirecting it towards the direction of the waves of pebble slabs, slicing them into pieces. All of a sudden, the scene was filled with the dust and scraps of the pebble slabs that were flying everywhere.
“Useless piece of garbage! You can’t even deal with a brat who had just entered the upper house!”
The old examiner became so angry as he withdrew his hands into his sleeves. He secretly flicked his finger causing the soul weapon of the upper house disciple to suddenly shoot out at a speed Zhong Yue had never seen before. He hid his despicable action so well that no one noticed it, including Zhong Yue!
What? How could it be so fast? said Zhong Yue in his heart as the sword, which was only a step away from piercing his head, flew closer and closer. All the while, he was helpless to do anything in time at all!
Chapter 9: Breadth of Mind and Spirit |
“Don't worry, with me by your side, not a single soul weapon can hurt you.”
In Zhong Yue’s psyche ocean, Xin Huo suddenly said, “But I can only act using your body as a vessel, which would undoubtedly reveal my existence, the world will then come hunting for me. At that point, we can only run on a desperate path of exile … Eh? Someone is helping!”
It was only a short line distance before the soul weapon would pierce through his forehead; all of a sudden, a palm came out of nowhere, its thumb and index finger gently pinched on the soul weapon, grabbing it between the fingers.
Cold sweat rushed out of Zhong Yue’s forehead, his soul trembled as he could vaguely feel the Sword Qi from the soul weapon.
What just happened was extremely dangerous, causing his mind to teeter on the edge of life and death!
“It's a pity!”
In Zhong Yue’s psyche ocean, Xin Huo was flying around, he sighed, “I was just thinking that after I am exposed, I will channel and detonate the devil souls that were repressed and sealed underneath this land, releasing the devil souls and allowing them to massacre and rampage on the people of Swords Gate, then you and I can both wander around the world in search of a pure-blood Fuxi celestial race….”
A cold shiver was sent down Zhong Yue’s spine as the words fell from Xin Huo mouth, which would bring even more terror than the soul weapon.
The soul weapon was vigorously vibrating, struggling to escape from the fingers that restrained it.
“Second uncle, please stop.”
The owner of the palm was a young man, dressed in purple clothes — a handsome figure with eyes like the shining stars. He smiled at the elder of Tian Feng Clan and said, “You can’t hide your hideous actions from the other Qi Practitioners, even if you had killed him, the others would only laugh at the pettiness of the Tian Feng Clan.”
The elder’s heart skipped a beat, he quickly walked out of the Knowledge Teaching Pavilion and he asked, “Why are you here in the upper house?”
“Zuo Xiangsheng defeated my dear second uncle, stripped the Cloudless Hall from the Tian Feng Clan and trampled on the name of the Tian Feng Clan, how can the Tian Feng Clan tolerate all of it?”
The young man smiled gently and said, “I am here to pay him a visit and to see what he’s got!”
The eyes of the Tian Feng Clan elder shone, “With you here, the Cloudless Hall will definitely be taken back by us!”
However, the young man shook his head, smiled and said, “Zuo Xiangsheng wasn’t at fault, there is indeed a need to give a path to the children of the poor, the Cloudless Hall will be handed over to him. I am here only to claim back the honor of the Tian Feng Clan, to defeat him and to let him know that we, the Tian Feng Clan, are not so helpless so as to be picked on in a fight!”
He then turned to Zhong Yue, bowed and said, “My second uncle is being rude, I apologize to you on his behalf.”
Zhong Yue quickly returned the bow, he could not help but have a favorable impression towards the young man. He asked, “Senior martial brother is … ?”
“Swords Gate Qi Practitioner, Tian Yanzong of Tian Feng Clan.”
Tian Yanzong rose and flew away, he said, “Second uncle, don’t cause him any more troubles. I am here today to challenge Zuo Xiangsheng and reclaim the honor of the Tian Feng Clan, second uncle need not embarrass us anymore!”
The elder’s face was drastically changing; suddenly, he flung his sleeves and left in displeasure back into the Knowledge Teaching Pavilion.
“Hahahaha, is the Senior Martial Brother Zuo Xiangsheng of the Zuo Qiu Clan here?”
Tian Yanzong was in mid-air when he laughed out loud and his laughter reverberated throughout the mountains, “I, Tian Yanzong of Tian Feng Clan, am here to challenge you!”
Zhong Yue watched as Tian Yanzong flew away, he mumbled to himself, This Tian Yanzhong … his breadth of mind and spirit is comparable of that Zuo Xiangsheng, having such a breadth of mind and spirit, he is also a hero….
Whether it’s Tian Yanzong or Zuo Xiangsheng, they are both young men of around twenty years of age, five or six years older than I am, yet they have such an imposing manner. Such an exceptional temperament, they will definitely be someone great in the Great Wilderness in the future!
Qi Practitioners ... they are the Qi Practitioners in my mind — the true Qi Practitioners!
Zhong Yue’s thoughts undulated like a stormy sea, seeing what the elder of Tian Feng Clan did, he wasn’t really fascinated by the Qi Practitioners, but watching Tian Yanzong and Zuo Xiangsheng made him realize and imparted to him a clear impression of the disposition of a true Qi Practitioner!
“This experience has widened and condensed your state of mind, your aura now carries an inkling of a Qi Practitioner's.”
Xin Huo praised him from his psyche ocean, “Maybe you will be a great Qi Practitioner in the future, of course, the Qi Practitioners are still like petty bugs compared to the pure-blood inheritors of Xin Huo.”
Zhong Yue was used to his stingy words, he ignored it and thought to himself, Although Tian Feng Clan will not trouble me anymore, there is still no one willing to take me in and teach me their techniques. Without any combat skills, I still can’t fully unleash my true strength.
Such as before, the upper house disciple wielded his soul weapon and cast his sword skill, Zhong Yue couldn’t fight back and could only continue trying to defend himself using various methods, if only he was also proficient in a combat skill, then he wouldn’t need to doggedly dodge and evade the attacks.
But now, even if the Tian Feng Clan wouldn’t look for trouble again, there still weren’t any Qi Practitioners that would take him in and teach him anything; Zhong Yue couldn’t learn any combat skills and ascertain what his true power was.
Living in this world, without high ambitions one will not strike high even if he is talented! If they don’t absorb me in, then I will go and listen myself, as long as I can learn anything, there is no need to take heed of the reputation.
His eyes brightened, he walked into Knowledge Teaching Pavilion. The Qi Practitioners of Swords Gate would, from time to time, come to the Knowledge Teaching Pavilion and pass down their techniques to the upper house disciples. Today, there were more than ten Qi Practitioners in the pavilion, each teaching tens to hundreds of upper house disciples their ways of cultivation.
Zhong Yue walked into a training room and he stood in the corner. In the room, there were a hundred upper house disciples sitting down crossed-legged, quietly listening to the teachings of an old Qi Practitioner who was on the stage.
The old Qi Practitioner noticed him walking in, he was slightly startled and he gently nodded to Zhong Yue.
The other upper house disciples also looked at him, then the old Qi Practitioner continued on with his teachings, his sound was loud and sonorous, “The mountains have mountain spirits, the rivers have river spirits, the trees have tree spirits, the grasses have grass spirits, the clouds have cloud spirits, the winds have wind spirits, the golds have gold spirits, the earth has earth spirits, the moon has moon spirits, and the sun has sun spirits!”
“Sense and manifest one of the spirits from nature and you can then manifest a related spirit in your psyche ocean!”
“These spirits, are the totem spirits, the spirits of worships!”
“It has been a long time since the residents of the Great Wilderness worshipped the majestic mountains, great waters, godly trees, spirit grasses, clouds and winds, sun and moon. Over time, spirituality emerged within the nature that we worship, people that possess a strong soul could sense and manifest the spirituality of nature within their body!”
“Only with the spirit, can one become a Qi Practitioner! The soul and spirit combine together to form the atman of a human, the Yuan Shen!”
“Have a look, this is my spirit!”
A Swords Gate appeared above his head. When it opened, a foot tall stone man walked out of it, it had a body with four arms and an eye on the middle of each palm, glimmering with strange rays!
“My spirit is the spirit of the mountain, the mountain spirit integrated with my soul and it became my atman, also called the Yuan Shen! The mountain gods have four eyes, closely watching all four directions, thence, my atman also has four eyes!”
His soul dashed out and coalesced with the mountain spirit, one could tell that his spirit was getting bigger and taller, finally becoming a four-armed stone man with the height of a thousand feet, standing behind the old Qi Practitioner. It looked majestic and imposing, the four arms were reaching out, the four eyes gazing in all directions — the upper house disciples were looking at it dumbstruck.
Zhong Yue was also greatly moved in his heart, he had been hearing words about the ‘spirit’; some called it the ‘totem spirit’, but he never knew what the ‘spirit’ was. Today, he finally had a rudimentary understanding of the ‘spirit’.
“In order to manifest the spirit, you must have a strong soul and a strong soul is only obtainable through hard work, penance, and training. While for you to train in the Great Wilderness, you will need to possess great fortitude.”
The old Qi Practitioner slowly explained everything in details, he smiled and said, “While the great strength can only be unleashed by relying on the combat arts. All of you are able to make it to the upper house — your foundations must be robust, your psyches must be firm and your soul must be able to be liberated and your combat awareness must not be bad either. All of you are eligible to learn the combat art I will be teaching today, the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Art】!”
His words were as if enchanted with magic, it brought Zhong Yue, the cultivation layman, into an intriguing state of mind.
“The【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】, it is cultivated by visualizing the spring thunder. The spring thunderbolt is the first thunderbolt in spring ... the first thunderbolt of the year. I need all of you to visualize and construct a totem of a thunderbolt with your psyche. Then turn the thunderbolt totem into Sword Qi, at which point, your【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】 is successfully cultivated.”
“The Sword Qi of the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】moves like a sudden clap of spring thunderbolt, from afar, it could travel vast distances in a blink of an eye, slaying your opponent from a thousand miles away! From near, ten steps every kill, the thunderous lightning force erupts and explodes, destroying and crushing everything in seconds!”
Time flew without anyone realizing it, the old Qi Practitioner fully taught the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】to the disciples. Using his psyche he demonstrated how to carve the totem of thunderbolt to the disciples, his teachings were conducted without holding back the slightest of knowledge.
Zhong Yue was fully immersed in the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】as he listened to the teachings. After the explanations were done, the old Qi Practitioner closed his eyes and stopped teaching, the disciples within the room could then only pull themselves back into their conscious mind.
All of them were enormously excited, they started practicing and cultivating the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】. Some even practiced in groups, closely observing the flaws in each other and then proceeding in perfecting it.
The thunderbolt is swift, in but a second it can crash from the high heavens to the ground. In the ancient times, the livings worshipped the thunderbolts and then birthed the thunderbolt totem, it contained the calamitous power of the thunderbolt.
Zhong Yue didn’t try to carve the thunderbolt totem immediately, instead, he continued on visualizing and thought to himself, The key to the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】lies in the totem of thunder, the old Qi Practitioner carved a perfect and lively thunder totem, but the key wasn’t on the form and linings of the totem, rather, it was whether the thunder totem could fully unleash the mighty and magnificent thunderous force!
The thunderbolt totem is complicated in carvings, it will not be easy to master all the carving permutations of the thunder totem, only by grasping the core of the thunderbolt totem can I quickly learn the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】and apply it in combat, only then, will I slowly perfect the thunder totem and strengthen the power of【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】!
His thoughts ventured deep into his own personal visualization, he recalled back to how it looked like when he used to see the lightning splitting the sky itself in half, it was like a long sword piercing through the heaven and earth, flashing over thousands of millions of miles in the blink an eye.
While the spring thunderbolt was the first thunder of the year, it broke and bombed the cold winter, it caused the hearts of the people to tremble, it was another conception, distinct from the ordinary thunders!
Moments passed, Zhong Yue opened his eyes, he stood up and started practicing the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】.
At this point in time, there were already quite a number of upper house disciples that could cast the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】. When they cast their sword skills, they were nearly replicas of the old Qi Practitioner’s manifestation of the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】.
Meanwhile, Zhong Yue cast a different【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】than the Old Practitioner’s. His【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】seemed to be very stubb
orn and dull, it wasn’t like the ordinary thunderbolts that contained a vigorous and lively force.
The old Qi Practitioner closed his eyes and sat down quietly, behind his back, the four-armed four-eyed mountain god opened its eyes widely, closely observing every movement, every action of the upper house disciples.
After a long time, the old Qi Practitioner heaved a deep sigh, rose and left, in a desolated voice he said, “The ones that could truly grasp the quintessence of my teachings — there is only one….”
Chapter 10: The Demon Ruins of Swords Gate |
The words of the old Qi Practitioner sparked a commotion between the disciples, the disciples gazed at each other, “Only one of us has truly grasped his teachings, who could that be?”
Although they were all disciples of the same teacher, but they were still competitive. The old Qi Practitioner said that only one has truly grasped his teachings, but he did not specify who. This would, of course, make everyone believe that they were that exceptional individual.
“If you want to know, it’s easy!”
Suddenly, a heroic-looking female disciple suggested, “Why don’t we compete using our own【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】, whoever is superior to the others in the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】will surely be the one that had truly grasped the teachings!”
“Good idea!”
In the quiet room, the upper house disciples were excited; immediately, the disciples started competing with each other without casting any other skills, without using any totem god pillars or soul weapons — they all competed with only the【Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill】.
All of a sudden, the quiet room was filled with the color of lightning, flash after flash of lightning bolts was cast in the room. There were indeed talented ones among the disciples, they could bare-handedly cast the sword skill; with their psyche, they envisioned the thunderbolt and as its clapping and rumbling reverberated throughout the room, their opponents began to concede defeat one by one; however, the strengths of their manifestations of the skill still weren’t excessively strong and it ultimately didn’t cause too much damage!