Luo did not have enough money to hire a horse so he ran, to cover the distance from Xian town to the Dai Shan forest.
His Soul tier body allowed him to move at high speeds comparable to that of the middle layer of Qi condensation realm. He enjoyed his run and did so with vigor, running with huge bursts of energy and stopping to recover when he lost his breath. After running like this for the whole day, he came across a village the next morning.
He saw from afar that nobody was outside even though it was daytime.
He slowly sauntered into the village when he made out some guttural noises and growls. He hid behind one of the walls and peeked to check what was making these noises. He could make out 10 blood wolves and a poison wolf leading them, all of them gorging on human dead bodies, viscera ripped out into shreds with their powerful jaws. These were all Tier 1 beasts and the alpha was a peak Tier 1 demon beast, equivalent to someone in lower layers of Qi Condensation realms, something that disciples in the Gathering Qi realm avoid fighting.
The Alpha suddenly pricked its ears at something. Luo hoped it wasn't because of him. Then with a quick jump the Alpha broke the door of a nearby house with one swipe of its muscular paws. Luo could hear some object being dragged with a lot of noise and just then the wolf dragged out a big wooden chest outside. Then with a couple more swipes and bashes he broke the lid of the chest.
There was a small girl terrified, shaking uncontrollably inside the chest. She was so frightened that no noise came out of her throat and she was too shocked to even move. Before the Alpha made a move to rip her head off, Luo made wolf noises which got the attention of all the wolves, the alpha included. Luo then made himself bigger and walked into the middle of the street.
'I have to get all their attention and try to divide them. I will have no chance if they fight in a group.'
In a shocking turn of events for the wolves, instead of running he charged into them and suddenly swerved to left, where the Alpha was and jumped into the air and kicked the wolf with a downward swipe of his leg on its snout. The Alpha suddenly crashed into the ground and then in a moment rubbed its snout with its paws in pain.
Next, moved to anger, it flashed all its teeth, growling bloody murder against this puny human , but when it looked up, he was gone. 'I'm here you stupid donkey', Luo shouted even as he ran with all his might trying to spread them out amidst the houses in the village.
He could see two wolves coming for him , even after he had hid himself inside a house. Just as they broke the door with their legs, he broke out of an adjacent window and assumed the punching posture that he had used for his body refinement test a few days ago. He separated his Qi into Yang and Yin Qi and coated his left hand with Yin and the right with Yang Qi.
He threw a mighty right punch, right into the belly of one of the wolves. His body was like a Soul Tier weapon and far superior in hardiness than the wolves' bodies and instantly it's ribs broke and probably pierced its lungs, evidenced by its painful death throes for a few moments.
Even before the first wolf died, he punched the other wolf which had yet to turn back from entering the door of the house. The wolf was a male and Luo knew where males hurt the most, so he threw his Yin punch to devastate the wolf's nuts.
The entire pelvis broke and guts slipped out into the open, tearing the back and front into separate pieces, as the wolf, with its front two legs, dragged its front half for a few steps and died inside the house.
'Whoaa.... That was overkill. Aren't these beasts supposed to be dangerous to Gathering Qi disciples? Why are they so weak, even when I'm not using any special technique?'
Luo was surprised by his own power and started thinking up more bold traps to confuse the remaining wolves.
He immediately got out of the house and moved a couple of houses down. He hid inside the house, which had a similar window and door positioning as the earlier one he had been in. He separated his Qi into Yin and Yang Qi again.
They had to be used at the same time or the Qi in his body would shift towards Yin or Yang based on which Qi was in deficit in his body and that would cause troubles for his meridians, according to his master.
He smeared himself with dust to remove any immediate smells of dead wolves on him to help in concealing his presence. He then leaned outside the window and released his Yin Qi in a punching motion. The Qi was like a beam and after a few hundred feet it exploded. He could only propel it for a few hundred feet now.
The wolves' attention was captured by the explosion and they started running towards it. Luo ducked beneath the windowsill and saw as the wolves ran towards the source of the explosion. After the first four wolves had passed, he had already separated thrice the amount of Yin and Yang Qi, with Yang Qi amount being more as he hadn't used it before.
His right hand felt like it was burning up and he felt cold burns in his left hand but he endured the feeling. Just as the last four wolves were passing by, he released both Qi, with his palms outstretched in a swift movement.
Another huge explosion of Qi from the shockwave caused because of Luo's palms and the wolves lay down barely able to move, two scarred by the flames of Yang Qi and one frozen by the cold of the Yin Qi. But for the last wolf, only far flung chunks of meat and hide were its remains.
'So that's what happens if they are exposed to both Qi at the same time. Whoaa. Now four more to go'
The wolves which had headed to the initial explosion, following the Alpha only a moment ago, turned back and bared their teeth in fury. Their bristles were raised, making them look that much more aggressive.
This time the Alpha ran and then took a huge leap with his fangs bared, trying to bite into his neck. He was ready for it. He had seen its poisonous effects and knew he shouldn't come into contact with it. He had compressed the Yin and Yang Qi into his palms in a balled shape unlike before. It was stable as he hadn't used it yet, but like before he had accumulated it in a concentrated way.
As soon as the wolf was only a foot away, he struck both his palms together, each palm striking the wolf on each side of its face. The attack had a huge momentum for a while but when his hands finally clapped together[1], the Qi went berserk and out of control. The Yin and Yang Qi mixed uncontrollably and it resulted in a huge explosion. The wolf's head was obliterated, only his body from neck down was remaining.
A sharp sensation passed through his palms and as Luo looked down at his palms pressed together after the attack, a wave of excruciating pain ran through him. He let out a beastly sound, unable to bear with the pain.
The wolves, seeing their leader get squished like a bug and with the loud shout from Luo, ran back to the forest with their tails between their legs.
After a while, he tried to suppress his pain and looked down at his palms. When he tried to separate them, skin layers on his palm started to fall down in a slimy and bloody way.
Finally he took a huge shaky breath and pulled them apart in a swift motion. This peeled away the skin on his palms and both of them looked red, with damaged capillaries visible. It looked as if he had suffered 3rd degree burns.
He lost consciousness from the pain.
As he opened his eyes again, he saw a roof and was able to make out some sounds of pots and pans being rattled around in what was presumably the kitchen of this house. He was on a bed, under a blanket. He sat up and immediately checked his palms. They were bandaged and from what he gathered, there were a lot of poultices applied as well. Other than a constant numbing and pricking sensation, he didn't feel anything else if he didn't move his hands. 'Just clapping my palms as they are covered in Yin and Yang Qi, caused this, to my body? And that wolf was obliterated even though it was a peak Tier 1 monster. No , it was even more powerful as his middle layer Soul Tier body had huge damage because of it. This probably does not happen to others as they usually use only one type of Qi. I don't think 'Layers of Chaos' technique was supposed to be used like this, or maybe it is. But it seems like the beginnings of a different technique. I'll name it
"Ta da. This is my home. Well now it is our home" Luo said as he pointed towards his wooden shack with just one bed. Xun had a peculiar expression on her face, as she struggled between showing thanks to him and showing disgust at the condition the room was in. She finally settled on a forced smile "Great. It looks gr-great brother." After settling down and having some food, Xun changed his bandages again. "It's getting late, we should sleep." Luo said to Xun. "Who gets the bed?" "Who? Me of course. HAHAHA" "You know if you weren't hurt trying to protect me, I would've made you sleep on the floor. Hmph." " Made me? Did you say MADE ME? How would you have done that?" "You will find out." Luo was surprised at this little girl's stubbornness, but this kind of a silly fight made him feel warm as well. He never had anyone to fight with in silly ways. He smiled as he looked at her when she said "What?" " Nothing. Of co
A month passed and Luo reached the peak of the 3rd layer in Gather Qi and Xun reached the 6th layer. Luo's hands healed but scar tissue formed over his palms and obscured all the lines on his hand."Xun, it has been a month now and my hands have also healed. We have one more month for the summer competition and I should go to the Dai Shan forest like I originally planned to increase my cultivation.""Okay brother. I will meet you at the competition directly.""En. Sounds good. You can come there with Master Fu Lin. Don't forget to get the jade slip of the Ancient Zither Abode before the competition." Xun nodded to this and Luo departed towards the Dai Shan forest.After running for three days, taking breaks when he could, the scenery slowly changed around him. He could tell that he was nearing the Dai Shan forest by the increase in the density of Spiritual Qi in the surroundings.As he made his way inside he started to s
Just as they were congratulating themselves, a Tier 2 lord Naga monster, which was double their size and had blood red scales appeared in front of them from the mist. It looked at its dead brethren and let out a shrilling scream filled with hate. It was also a mental attack and all the half step cultivators except Luo passed out.Luo was guarded from the attack by Master Yin 'I'll guard against its mental attacks. You can take care of it without any worries.''Thanks master. I won't let you down.'Luo went alongside Ma Jiande as he prepared to attack it. The Qi condensation cultivators had not passed out but it was a strong mental attack and only Ma Jiande was unaffected. "Luo, it seems it's just you and me. Don't piss your pants now.""In your dreams brother."Luo asked him if he had a finisher attack with his machete and Jiande said "I do but that thing's defense is very hard. It won't pierce through.""You let me worry about that and prep
He came out from cultivation and saw that the Tier 3 monster outside had been killed by someone and he could see the signs of a bloody battle. He packed the remaining Blood essence fruits to give Xun and came out of the hollow in the branch.'My body is as strong as peak True foundation disciples now, so I should be good in battles. But I should probably focus on a movement technique for use in battle. My current moves are strong but predictable.''Good thinking Brat. Good movement techniques are a must. I will not help you explicitly by giving you a technique, but I can let you view how I use them and come to your own deductions.''That would help as well master. Your movement techniques must be very profound.'' HAHAHA, of course, they are. They are the profoundest of them all. HAHAHAHA!'Luo rolled his eyes at master Yin's smugness but was excited to learn the techniques. 'This one should do. This is one of the most exciting battles of my life.
Luo now decided to start for the summer competition. Xian town was to his east now and headed Northeast towards Kumji town, north of Xian town, where the Summer competition would be held.He just started running out of the forest, all the while practicing the 'Wave' portion of the Iron and Wave steps as he zipped past the Dai Shan forest at high speeds.After running like that for 2 days, he reached Kumji town with the competition being hosted in 3 more days. The city was already bustling with people coming in from different sects to attend the competition. Lamps were hung in the streets and the shops were decorated gaily.There was a kind of festive mood everywhere. Most of the inns were already occupied, so Luo had to search for a while until he found some boarding for a few nights and paid the rent. He slept through the night and woke up late, getting all the travel tiredness out of him.He washed up, had some breakfast and with the blood essence
Ignoring Cai MingZhu, two disciples who were twins, suddenly went near Luo and as they surrounded him, constantly looking at him from various angels they introduced each other. "We are the nightingale twins of the Ancient Zither Abode. This is Zhong Bai, my brother.""And this is Zhong Gui, my brother. Now, you should introduce yourself."Luo was amused at this and introduced himself "I am Luo LianHao, nice to meet you."The other apprentice, a scrawny girl with a flat chest and short,wild brown hair looked at Luo with disinterest. As their eyes met, Luo smiled "Hello sister, I am Luo LianHao, what would your name be?""Hmm. My name is Hao Qi". She looked at him up and down and carried on with her business.Luo also introduced himself to Cai Mingzhu but she did not grace him with a reply, so he shrugged and moved to the registration counter with Xun.After entering their names for the competition, master Fu Lin bi
As everyone, about 500 who passed out of the 5000 applicants, shuffled into the next building for the test, they were allotted different rooms based on their token numbers. Luo and Xun found their room and started walking into it. Cao Mingzhu , Zhong Bai and Gui and Hao Qi were also in the same room as them.The test began after the instructors explained the rules and gave out written tests with questions that checked their approaches to different problems. Cao and Luo at once began to tear into it and started answering their questions.Xun looked at all the questions and she didn't recognize half of them. The other half were as master Fu Lin had made her practise. The Zhong brothers started meditating and listening to the tempo of the brush strokes of Luo and Cao who were answering the questions vigorously.They found the rhythm in it and started using their own brushes to replicate that rhythm and answers started flowing from their hands as well.Hao Qi
Luo had made amazing progress with the short scythes and in extending Qi to his weapons. But his most valuable progress was to his soul cultivation because of painting 10000 runes in the room. Now both Luo and Hua, with just a month left to leave from the secluded cultivation, sat down to circulate and refine their Qi. **** With it having been a month and a half since everyone went into secluded cultivation, Pan Hua was guarding the entire sect and taking care of administrative business of the sect without any major incidents happening other than arguments with a few merchants. He had even gotten new trade deals by being more shameless than the sect master usually is. With a couple of weeks left before the sect master and everyone came out, Pan hua got word of summons to open at the sect gate. Pan Hua greeted the messenger and bade him to follow to a guest house. Once inside he offered hospitality for the messenger in the form of tea and some snacks. “Well, what is your name and w
“Alright let's go.” Luo said as he got into a soft stance of Iron and wave steps. Hua immediately started with a few probing attacks and started attacking Luo in predictable patterns. “Let’s first get you accustomed to using the short scythes. We can slowly scale up after that.” “Alright. Sounds like a plan” Luo and Hua clashed again and again as Hua broke Luo’s attempts one by one. But Luo used this feedback to remove his faults one by one by trying out new things each time when one attempt failed. He would tweak the attack a little until it could be at least successfully parried. He tweaked all of his attack patterns like this in a slow, persistent spar with Hua. After a week of sparring, Luo got the basics of the schort scythe down. WIth excellent feedback from Hua and his revision of the memory where Yama and master Yin fought, he could improve by leaps and bounds. He had a basic framework down from watching the memory play in his mind again and again. He got to practice these
Luo continued his work and he was done with completing the ten thousand runes on each tile of the room by the ninth day itself. He was exhausted but it didn't really show because of the Heaven and Earth Qi he was absorbing. He looked over at Hua who had been alternating between meditating and then practicing the Clap and Thundering slash according to the manual. Now that he had a couple of days till sparring started, Luo sat down to collect and refine his Qi.His soul cultivation had a surprising benefit by him painting thousands of runes. He could see wisps of world formations inside his mind. When he asked master Yin what it was he got the answer “This is the benefit of soul cultivation. As you cultivate your soul, your senses become sharper, you will get resistance against mental cultivation techniques and if you learn those techniques on the Phantasmal spirit crystal you got from the library then it will give you a much better repertoire of techniques.”“Master, what techniques do
Although everyone was shocked that Hua had regressed , they understood the logic in his acceptance of it. Fu Rah bid Master Yin a farewell and prepared for an immediate set of instructions for everyone gathered there.“All of you who have reviewed blessings from the great master Yin, you will all have to focus on closed door cultivation, even us teachers have to do it. I want us to be in great shape before we receive any unwelcome guests, of which believe me there are soon going to be plenty.Luo and Hua, I believe it is best for the both of you to temper your cultivation levels by listening to Master Yin and practicing the techniques you have received from the Royal Library. I believe progress there will not be wasted. Both of you are to train in battle tactics with each other's company under Master Yin’s guidance.Everyone else, please go into secluded cultivation and start practicing the techniques the master has given you. The time limit for now is 2 months. At least for me and m
After he opened his eyes, Master Yin asked him “What is your answer to my question?” Hua replied “I know that the physique and the techniques of cultivation that Luo practices may be much better than mine, but still, if I doubt my ability to reach a stage in the future in the present moment, then why even cultivate, why even aim to attain the heights of martial dao? What gifts he has gotten, the universe has given him, and it is not unthinkable that I will have fortuitous encounters of my own in the future either, right? That is my answer to your question Master Yin.” “Whoa..that is a very good insight into the way of the Dao or the mindset one needs to pursue it. Good to see that my test did not break your spirit. Worthy of your name ..Geming. And this master has a good reward for you as well. You see I showed Luo a couple of memories so that he can pick up a technique by seeing it, but he picked up the technique of my rival…can you believe it? My useless disciple did not pick up
Master Fu Rah came to Luo and then asked him “So, what do you want our help with in training? We will help you with whatever you need, no holds barred.” Luo looked at his friends and then at Hua and Xun’er and smiled “Master, I don’t want to be the only one who is favored. These are all my friends and I want to grow alongside them. I don’t want to just be singled out for getting help. I have received help from all of them when needed and would like for nothing more than to grow along with them.” Fu Rah was brought to tears which she held back barely. She nodded and then gave everyone a bear hug at once. “Yes, yes, you are all kids I have had my eyes on. Did you know that our sect does not even have proper core disciples, as not many would join it and all the applicants would just go
Fu Rah, followed by Fu Lin and Ren Cho, entered his residence. Master Ren Cho went to get some tea for everyone while Luo, Hua, Xun’er and the others followed and entered the hall as well. Hua and Xun’er were the only ones standing beside Luo, looking back to back at him and then at the others. Cai MingZhu, Hao Qi and the Zhong twins went and stood beside master Fu Lin. Fu Rah had a serious expression but she waited for Ren Cho to pour some tea for everyone. Luo refused the tea, to which master Ren Cho said “Kid, no one is going to punish you or cause you any harm. We just want to know so that we can give you the treatment that can foster your growth and think of handling any unwanted outside interest in your powers.” Luo sighed and took the tea that was served t
Ren Cho was at the middle layers of Core formation and had not advanced in a very long time. But he had a flash of inspiration from the drawings that Luo had drawn and went into secluded cultivation for the day. He could feel the intent of movement , of balance between soft defense and hard defense and the flow of offense in the movements. Although it was more natural with scythes and Ren Cho did not use scythes, but a staff, the profundity of the movement still allowed him to take his own insights and use it for his staff techniques. He was burning his Qi at an amazing rate. It could be sensed by master Fu Rah and Fu Lin and other masters of the sect, even from afar. Fu Rah rushed into the scene thinking something had happened only to see that Ren Cho was in closed cultivation. She intimated the same to the masters that had followed and ordered them to quietly sit outside in the premises and not make any disturbances. She inquired about
"So have you figured out how to use the Phantasmal spirit crystal yet? I don't think your Qi will be enough to actually use it now, will it? And what do you think the training in store for us will be?" Hua asked Luo. "I haven't figured that out Hua. And as for training, I suppose we'll see in a couple of days. For now, I just want to eat like a pig and sleep." "How about this, how about we spar tomorrow? Huh? Huhh?" "What brought this on? And I don't want to fight you until I have a proper melee weapon. My long range attacks won't work on you and my other techniques are too lethal to be used in sparring." Luo responded. "Ehhhhh~~~. Well alright. We should go on an adventure to get you a named weapon after our training ends. Short scythes huh. Well, we can go ask master Ren Cho about it. He might know more." Hua said. Luo raised his eyebrow and said "Well, who knows how long the training will be for? To master your technique and