Chapter 26 The Inherent Desire for Combat
“Shui Tu clan, their reputation is now irrevocably tarnished….”
More and more people came forward, they glanced into the training room of the Shui Tu Clan and they gloated, “This time the Shui Tu Clan met with a strong opponent. They were having fun bullying the disciples of Elder Pu but who knew their actions would provoke a Jiao Dragon physique-refiner.”
“The Zhong Shan Clan member isn’t an ordinary physique-refiner, his arts are far more profound than that of the Shui Tu Clan disciples!”
One of the Li Shan Clan disciples shook his head, he defended Zhong Yue and said, “Although the time period was short, but the physique refining arts the Zhong Shan Clan practiced was mixed with the【Spring Thunder Swords Skill】, fusing the thunderous Sword Qi into the totem pattern of Jiao Dragon, with the fusion of Jiao Dragon totem pattern and thunder totem patterns, he can easily win over the Shui Tu Clan disciples, one could see how profound he is in the art of cultivation!”
As his words entered the ears of those around him, most of the disciples nodded in agreement.
After all, the core disciples of Li Shan Clan were personally trained by their clan’s Qi Practitioners, the scope of their comprehensions and knowledge were far broader than that of the normal upper house disciples. While most of the upper house disciples thought that Zhong Yue could only win the duel because of his physique refining arts, only a handful was able to realize that he had fused the Qi cultivation arts into his physique refining arts.
This spurred reactions of disbelief among the disciples – physique refinement and Qi cultivation were two paradoxical disciplines; progress in one would hinder progression in the other. If one spent too much time on refining his physique, his Qi cultivation would stagnate; conversely, the physique of the cultivator would become enervated once they focus too greatly upon Qi cultivation. If the cultivator decided to work on both simultaneously, it would ultimately impede progress in both physique and Qi cultivation, further detracting from the strength a cultivator could have achieved.
But Zhong Yue’s performance had just subverted this long-held consensus that had hitherto been one of the fundamental tenets that underpinned the current world of cultivation. He was able to synergize the physique refining arts and Qi cultivation arts into something that is greater than the sum of its parts – progressing in them together!
There are so many disciples following under their clan’s Qi Practitioners but it just had to be Junior Martial Sister Shui that was summoned to the mountain to be possessed by Tian Myriad Mother. It was clear that even if the core disciples weren’t involved with the demon race, most of their parents and elders had long since joined forces with the demons!
Zhong Yue wouldn’t lose any sleep for pummelling the Shui Tu Clan core disciples. They were so weak, even if they had been imparted with the true essence of their techniques, even if they had manipulated their soul weapons and their totem pillars, their holistic strength still remained feeble. He could not help but cast his doubt towards the abilities of the disciples that directly cultivate under the Qi Practitioners.
But in actuality, he was wrong about the teachings of the Shui Tu Clan’s Qi Practitioners. The prowess of the Shui Tu Clan disciples could be considered as among the top of the upper house disciples; that was why even Ting Lanyue and He Chengchuan were also defeated by them.
However, no matter how thoroughly the Qi Practitioners imparted their knowledge and arts to the disciples, how could they possibly be compared to Xin Huo?
With the teachings and guidance of Xin Huo, after tens of days of training in the state of extremity between life and death, not only had his prowess increased greatly but the level of his control over the body, psyche, and soul had also reached the peak among the upper house disciples.
But all these facets were not as terrifying as his strength – the dreadful explosive force of his strength was the most fearsome of all!
Maybe Zhong Yue wasn’t the strongest disciple nor the next in line among the upper house disciples; after all, he had only started cultivating not long ago, but the explosive force of his strength was still unmatched by the others!
Xin Huo kept saying that he had not met his expectations yet, but how high exactly are Xin Huo’s expectations?
In Xin Huo’s perspective, the explosive force of his strength seemed inconsequential, but to the Shui Tu Clan disciples, he could be described as a ravenous tiger while the disciples were a helpless flock of little sheep!
When a hungry tiger pounced into the flock of sheep, the sheep could only cry in despair for help while the tiger slaughtered them to death!
In the higher floors of the Knowledge Teaching Pavilion, the Qi Practitioners were casually drinking their hot tea while enjoying themselves watching the little play of the disciples. When Zhong Yue walked out of the training room of Shui Tu Clan, a middle-aged Qi Practitioner suddenly stood up with his face filled with anger, he was a Qi Practitioner of Shui Tu Clan, Shui Anshan.
Just when he was about to walk down the stairs, another gray figure moved, a white-haired elder obstructed his path, Shui Anshan gazed at the figure and sneered, “Elder Pu is so protective over your disciple! Your disciple pummels on my Shui Tu Clan disciples, I’ll let it off, but he really shouldn’t lampoon the Shui Tu Clan, he needs some instruction on etiquette.”
Elder Pu smiled warmly and clarified, “Junior martial brother you are wrong, the Zhong Shan Clan member is not one of my disciples, he made enemies with the Tian Feng Clan, who dares to take him under their wing? He only listened to a class of teachings I once imparted to the disciples and happened to successfully grasped the true quintessence, he has nothing to do with me.”
Shui Anshan laughed, “In that case, since he is not one of your disciples, then Elder Pu wouldn’t stop me if I teach him a lesson, right?”
Elder Pu shook his head and said, “Junior Martial Brother Shui, this is only a small fight between the youngsters, it is not so suitable for the elders to step in and intervene, it will only make a joke of yourself, don’t you think so? Junior Martial Brother Shui”
Shui Anshan glanced around only to find the other Qi Practitioners drinking their tea and having small talks. But he could tell that they are peeking over here with gloated eyes, he faked a laughed and said, “Elder Pu is indeed, right.”
Although he said out words of compromise, his heart was filled with displeasure, This Elder Pu keeps saying that he is not overprotective. If he isn’t then he wouldn’t come out and stop me … Nice! The ‘thousand miles horse’ of our Shui Tu Clan is here, we can now claim back our honor!
Zhong Yue walked over to He Chengchuan and Ting Lanyue, but suddenly a warm voice sounded behind him, “This junior martial brother, wait for a while, do you think you can leave so easily after pummeling the disciples of Shui Tu Clan?”
Zhong Yue stopped, he turned around and saw water currents flowing down from the mountain like a river, an upper house disciple stood on the water surface as if the currents beneath him were lifting him up, he walked towards Zhong Yue with a casual pace.
With every step he took, there would be currents generated beneath his feet, lifting him up, allowing him to elegantly walk over without his feet touching the ground!
Ever since he made his grand appearance, he had attracted the eyes of all of the disciples. Even Zhong Yue had to admit that he was indeed attractive – one of a kind.
“Senior Martial Brother Qinghe!”
In the Shui Tu Clan training room, the disciples struggled to get up from the ground, they looked out and were overjoyed, “Senior Martial Brother Qinghe is here! Senior Martial Brother, this man breaks into the training room of the Shui Tu Clan and dares to hurt us, we implore the senior martial brother to mete out justice!”
Shui Qinghe nodded calmly, with the currents beneath him, he walked over to the Knowledge Teaching Pavilion, the water currents beneath him morphed into the images of fish, dragons, and pythons. There were even ice swords in the river water, these were all formed by the totem carvings!
Cultivation to such a level, it was rarely seen in the upper house!
Shui Qinghe gazed at Zhong Yue with warm sights, he smiled and said, “Zhong Shan Clan member? Junior martial brother, we are all martial siblings, you were a little over the line for having such a heavy hand.”
Zhong Yue shook his head, “The Shui Tu Clan disciples were no different, they injured Senior Martial Brother He and Senior Martial Sister Ting, aren’t they a little over the line too?”
Shui Qinghe turned his sights onto Ting Lanyue and He Chengchuan, he noticed that they were badly wounded, he furrowed his brows, then slowly releasing it, he maintained, “In the battle between the martial siblings, it is natural for some small mistakes to be made. The honorable name of Shui Tu Clan shall not be trampled on. Today I will have to do what I must to reclaim the honor of Shui Tu Clan. Junior Martial Brother Zhong, you practice both physique refinement and Qi cultivation do you? Then, I will not bully you, I will fight with you using solely physique refining arts.”
Hua-la!
Water currents flowed around his body, various totem carvings were formed; the two legs of Shui Qinghe disappeared and transformed into the tail of a fish. He was completely environed by his psyche and his form transmogrified into that of a huge strange-looking man, with a piscine tail, human torso with white hair and silver eyes accompanied by a wild and brutal aura!
Shui Qinghe was initially the size of an ordinary man, but after the transformation, he was now 13-14 feet tall with a heavily built body and veins protruding around his body that were clearly visible – his body was now surging with explosive force!
Shui Qinghe’s appearance had changed drastically, the air turned stagnant and moist as his combat form appeared; it was as though that one could just precipitate water out of thin air.
“God of River, Hebo!”
Zhong Yue’s face turned solemn, he had seen such a transformation before, one of the Shui Tu Clan disciples had visualized the【Hebo Totem Visualization Art】and turned his psyche into the totem of Hebo that aided him in combat.
But the【Hebo Totem Visualization Art】the Shui Tu Clan disciple used was only activated superficially; there was only shape and size but the core vital structures like the blood, fleshes and bone were all missing – it was far less authentic than the one Shui Qinghe formed.
Furthermore, it wasn’t a simple visualization anymore, Shui Qingyan had now transformed himself into Hebo, with his incredible psyche he turned himself into the body of Hebo!
Hebo is the God of the River. The Wei River Tribe, Shui Tu Clan, adopted the God of the River, Hebo, as their totem. The totem was passed down tens of thousands of years ago by the ancestors of Shui Tu Clan; within the clan, there were so many people visualizing Hebo but only a handful managed to reach such heights!
Shui Qinghe had visualized even the blood, flesh and bones of Hebo as if he were the real God of the River!
The【Hebo Totem Visualization Art】performed to such a level would be incredibly strong, not only it could make up for the lack of strong physique, it could even allow the cultivator to be stronger than the physique refiner in close-quarters combat!
Fighting in combat like a god ... the strength and prowess could be clearly seen!
“Brat Yue, this is a formidable foe.”
In Zhong Yue’s psyche ocean, Xin Huo turned serious and solemnly said, “His foundation is solid and strong, as long as he steps foot into the Ethereal Palace, he can immediately become a Qi Practitioner. His psyche is too strong, stronger than yours, he is on the verge of becoming a Qi Practitioner. He can turn the virtual into real, he must be one of the strongest among the upper house disciples!”
“Actualization Of Virtuality?”
Zhong Yue’s heart beat faster, that is the means of the Qi Practitioners!
The Qi Practitioners can imprint their psyches into reality; for example, during the battle between Zuo Xiangsheng and the Tianfeng Elder in the Cloudless Hall, the elder manifested wood as Sword Qi, with the psyche together with the Wood Sword Qi, he could achieve the actualization of wood to form the wooden swords array, this was the Actualization Of Virtuality, materializing the virtual psyche into worldly phenomena.
Of course, the psyche did not really create wood, it was only the materializing of the psyche. Despite this, the wood that is materialized is almost indistinguishable from the genuine article, but once the psyche disperses, the materialized wood would also disappear along with it.
Shui Qinghe was able to achieve such a state, turning his psyche into the God of the River, Hebo – the strength of his psyche was already at the level of Qi Practitioner!
Among all the upper house disciples, this was the first time Zhong Yue had ever met with such a strong opponent!
Actualization Of Virtuality, materializing the Hebo into reality, this allows him to strengthen his body a dozen folds, essentially becoming, for all intents and purposes, a physique refiner that is even stronger than I am, a bona fide physique refiner!
Zhong Yue’s face stiffened up, Shui Qinghe was indeed strong, even stronger than Yu Feiyan to the point that he could terrify the weak, way beyond the levels of the other Shui Tu Clan core disciples!
Yu Feiyan could visualize her fish-dragon replete with the blood, flesh, and bones; moving and swiftly swimming around, but she was a slight step behind turning the virtual psyche into reality. The main reason was her lack of psyche strength – the fish-king she visualized was not real and genuine enough.
Zhong Yue took in a deep breath, his heart was not filled with any terror nor fear, but rather, it was palpitating in excitement, he was exhilarated at the prospect of being able to fight with such a strong opponent!
“Brat Yue, are you getting excited now?”
In his psyche ocean, Xin Huo watched as Zhong Yue’s mind swirled and billowed in frenzied excitement, he was curious and said, “Shui Qinghe is stronger than you, you are supposed to tremble in fear.”
“No!”
An insatiable urge for combat was ignited within his chest as his eyes flashed with a hint of bloodthirsty insanity, “The stronger he is, the more excited I will be! To be able to fight with such a strong opponent, to be able to defeat him, maul him, crush his body, devastate his confidence and trample on his so-called reputation – such a vile satisfaction ... Xin Huo, can you feel it ...?”