Chapter 84 Wielding With Yuan Shen
Zhong Yue and the monster ox were both wounded, but the latter’s injuries were decidedly more severe. Their eyes turned red as they lunged towards each other. The black dragon king behind extended its claws in an attempt to grab for Zhong Yue’s head. At the same time, the Great Sun Golden Crow flew out from Zhong Yue’s psyche ocean; the little crow that was less than an inch tall pounced at the dragon claw.
The air around quivered vigorously, but the seemingly equal strength of the two spirits was simply incongruous with the massive disparity between the huge form of the black dragon king and the rather petty and small frame of the Golden Crow. The black dragon king could not advance further and it reached for the broken spear, intending to spike the broken spear fragments into Zhong Yue’s head.
All of a sudden, the Xiang Dragon Sword Qi lunged out from his glabella, the sharp and incisive Sword Qi slashed horizontally and the monster ox cried out a roar of pain as another front hoof was slashed off.
Zhong Yue clenched the blade in his hand and swung it fiercely. As both of his front hooves were slashed away, the monster ox’s heart thumped in fear, he quickly fluttered his wings and landed down to the ground.
Zhong Yue swiftly followed behind, the two Jiao Dragons beneath his feet plummeted down in pursuit of the monster ox.
Just right when the monster ox landed on the ground and was trying to run away, all of a sudden, a little tree emerged from the soils. One after another, the Wooden Sword Qi flitted in the air surrounding him in the middle.
“Mou——”
The monster ox boasted superior defense, he did not die even after getting mangled by the Wooden Sword Qi; he forcefully broke out from the encirclement of Wooden Sword Qi and decisively headed right towards Gu Xia City.
“Brat from the dragon race, I’m not your match, I’ve lost two of my legs to you, let me live!”
The monster ox’s two front legs were sliced away, he was now running with only his rear legs, but he was still swift as the wind; with but a mere few steps, he had broken through the sound barrier, propelling himself away like a flash of lightning. But all of a sudden, he could see a thread of silk standing vertically upright in front of him.
And the next moment, he saw himself getting severed in half, ironically killed by the speed he himself had built up in his efforts of escape.
Even after his death, his body muscles continued to drive him dozens of steps for the next few miles before the residual spasms subsided and the dead body crumpled onto the ground.
Zhong Yue kept the zither string as it coiled around the blade hilt, there were no traces of blood on it. It was Zhong Yue that had placed the zither string in front and sliced the monster ox into halves.
“Killing made easy like mowing grass, I’m afraid Senior Martial Sister Jun’s zither string will turn into a Malefic Soul Weapon in the future!”
Time slipped past them without anyone’s notice. Jun Sixie slowly regained her consciousness to be met with the dark and gloomy ambiance of the sky and the sight of the young Qi Practitioner of the Zhongshan Clan sitting atop the Jiao Dragon’s back. The Jiao Dragon was still slithering backward in the air heading back to Swords Gate, while there was a huge hole on Zhong Yue’s shoulder – a hole bored by the ox’s horn.
His wound was suppressed by his muscles, his psyche sealed the blood veins and stemmed the bleeding.
“Senior martial sister, please do not misunderstand, I’ve only said those words to lull him.” Zhong Yue’s smile was bright and sunny, it was as if he was oblivious to the pain in his shoulder.
Jun Sixie had slowly regained her conscious entirely, she could tell that her wounds continuing to alleviate and the poison in her body diluting and its efficacy getting weaker. She covertly checked her body and heaved a breath of relief, Zhong Yue did not take advantage of her.
He may be lulling the monster ox or he might be true about it … Hmph-hmph, that ox wanted my body, but he wanted my heart….
Just when Jun Sixie was thinking about it, her face blushed red, she lowered her head and even her earlobes reddened. Moments later, the sounds of a stomach growling echoed out, Zhong Yue turned and look at her, Jun Sixie’s face turned shy, right at this moment, she did not look like the successor of Swords Gate but rather, she seemed like a little girl. She whispered, “I’m hungry … I deliberately wanted to be hungry! But if there are any medicinal pellets to restore my energy, then my stomach will not growl anymore….”
Zhong Yue raised his hand, a clump of bloody, raw beef fell into her hands, he said, “Quickly eat.”
Jun Sixie yelled in anger, “It’s raw!”
“I salvaged it from the dead monster ox.”
Zhong Yue cast his gaze into the endless darkness, he then retrieved his sights back and said gravely, “You can only eat raw food for now, I….”
The young man was ashamed, he said, “...I don’t know any fire style visualization art.”
The young lady in green was staring at him in round-eyed disbelieve, she was lost of words; A Qi Practitioner and yet he did not know any fire style visualization art, no one would ever believe such a ridiculous story.
“My prowess increased too rapidly and my training was haphazard, I didn’t have the time to learn a fire style or water style visualization art.” Zhong Yue explained to her.
“Brazen! Self-praising!” Jun Sixie twitched her mouth in disdain.
Zhong Yue ignored her comments, he raised his head up and gazed afar as he whispered, “In addition, behind us, there are hyenas and wolves following our tracks. If we cook the beef, the aroma will get heavier and allow them to catch up to us quicker.”
Upon hearing the words, Jun Sixie quickly turned back and look behind. The darkness blanketed the Savanna Wasteland. Within the endless darkness, the glow of faint and dim flares could be discerned and she could vaguely hear howls of hyenas and wolves.
Those were huge hyenas and wolves, the beasts followed the scent they left behind and traced them all the way here; judging by the glowing flares, the hyenas and wolves came in packs, and their numbers were great!
Jun Sixie furrowed her brows, she clenched her teeth and raised the bloody beef to the side of her mouth; all of a sudden, she opened her mouth and gnawed right at it.
Moments later, Jun Sixie forcefully finished the bloody meat in her hands, she wiped off the blood trickling down her mouth and said, “You still have any? I need to restore my energy, and a piece of beef is not enough, even if it’s from a monster ox. I need more, more so that I can restore my energy faster and recover my wounds quicker!”
Zhong Yue threw another few pieces of raw beef over to her, he was surprised; the young lady was eating ravenously, each and every piece of beef weighed at least a few kilograms. Jun Sixie was the only female disciple among the four successors of Swords Gate, and yet, she could force herself to devour the beef despite their decidedly unappetizing state of raw bloodiness.
“Senior Martial Sister Jun, you are exceptional. Oh right, senior martial sister, you are so strong, how could you have been so severely wounded?” Zhong Yue asked.
Jun Sixie’s eyes dimmed down, she fiercely gnawed at a mouthful of meat and said gravely, “I’ve been set up; Qiu Qingshan, Lian Xin and the other monster cultivators caught me.”
She forced herself to swallow the bloody meat, and her voice was indifferent, “Among the four of us, a traitor emerged. He revealed my location to the monsters, that was how I got set up.”
Zhong Yue’s heart was filled with shock, he shouted out involuntarily, “Feng, Fang, Lei, Jun, the four successors of Swords Gate, the four of you are the exemplars that every Qi Practitioner in Swords Gate looks up to, how can there possibly be a traitor among you? Who is the traitor?”
Jun Sixie continued consuming the beef, she answered, “I don’t know. But among three of them, one has turned his back on Swords Gate. He asked for my death, or else how would I be ambushed and severely wounded? If I die, he will be a step closer to becoming the next Swords Gate headmaster.”
Zhong Yue kept mum, and so did Jun Sixie.
After a period of time, Jun Sixie finally finished her meal, she smiled teasingly, “Junior Martial Brother Zhong, I’m aware that you’ve manifested your own spirit and coalesced it with your soul, but I’ve noticed quite a few flaws, that’s why you always needed to play some little tricks when in combat. You are restrained, your hands and bound, and you can’t fully unleash your prowess; I can see that you haven’t explored the knowledge given by your spirit, and retrieved the totem of your spirit, am I right?”
Zhong Yue nodded, he said, “My prowess increased too rapidly….”
“Stop blowing on your own trumpet!”
Jun Sixie gave a proud grin, she said, “There are a lot of good points in you but you have a shortcoming — you like to blow on your own trumpet too much. Although I’m only a few years older than you, I’ve been a Qi Practitioner far longer than you have, I can’t boast too much, but I sure can teach you a thing or two. Can junior martial brother show me your Yuan Shen?”
Zhong Yue nodded, the Great Sun Golden Crow flew out from his psyche ocean.
Jun Sixie measured it with her eyes, she said, “It’s a sun spirit. It seems like you’ve gotten it somewhere else other than the Ethereal Palace? There are over a hundred spirits in Swords Gate Ethereal Palace but none of them are the sun and moon spirit, mainly because the sun and moon are too far away from us, these two spirits are fairly hard to cultivate. The only sun spirit holder in Swords Gate is Zuo Xiangsheng, but he had his own fortune, he became a Qi Practitioner with a sun spirit when he was having a training trip out of Swords Gate.”
Zhong Yue nodded and said, “Hall Master Zuo’s sun spirit is the fire crow, while I’ve got the golden crow.”
“Great Sun Golden Crow, an innate god of fire, fierce and dreadful. The sun is far away from us, and yet you can acquire the spirit of the Great Sun Golden Crow, even one of such purity... it is very, very rare. Probably only the Sun Innate Spirit holder can be of your match.”
Jun Sixie praised, she said, “Plus, you’ve coalesced your spirit and soul together into the Yuan Shen, your prowess is very strong, way stronger than that wolf Qi Practitioner before, you don’t need to play any tricks to win against him. You’ve restrained yourself when in combat, I suppose it’s because you don’t have a defense skill, the worry of the risks would creep into your heart and inadvertently hinder your movements. When the Qi Practitioners have reached the stage where you are right now, the Yuan Shen will play an important role, and yet, you don’t even know how to use it. If you can properly utilize the prowess of your Yuan Shen, you’ll be free of such constraints when engaged in battle.”
Zhong Yue stiffened up his face and said solemnly, “Senior Martial Sister, teach me.”
“You are still wielding the Sword Qi with your psyche, aren’t you? Wielding with your psyche is what the outer disciples do, but the real Qi Practitioners, wield and control the Sword Qi with their Yuan Shen. The psyche is merely just a power source to move the Sword Qi; by doing so, you can wield it faster and with greater strength, enabling you to cast sword skills quicker.”
Jun Sixie said, “It will be like your Yuan Shen taking your place in fighting, whether you are wielding that red Coral Tree or the two Sword Qis of yours, or even my zither string, you will still be able to control it effortlessly.”
Upon hearing her words, Zhong Yue immediately thought of the monster Qi Practitioners he had fought before, it was true that they had immediately cast their Yuan Shen and consigned their soul weapons to their Yuan Shen!
“So that’s why.”
Zhong Yue pondered deeply, moments later, he attempted to let the Great Sun Golden Crow wield the Coral Tree; the Coral Tree suddenly floated in mid-air, and suddenly, one after another, the Sword Qi erupted out from the Coral Tree’s branches.
He closed his eyes and spread his senses fastidiously, he could feel that it was as if he had acquired eighteen extra arms!
As natural and uninhibited as the arm directing the fingers – like an organic extension of his own body. That was exactly the feeling he was having right now!
With a shift of thought, the zither string flew up, and he could feel like he had added another arm!
Followed by the Xiang Dragon Sword Qi and Wooden Sword Qi, all of a sudden, Zhong Yue felt as if his Yuan Shen was an immortal being with twenty-two arms, it was very natural for him to be able to direct any one of his arms around freely!
Before this, he was consciously and arduously galvanizing his thoughts to maneuver the Sword Qi and soul weapons around, the expenditure on his psyche was immense; but now, everything was so easy!
“This … feels so strong!” Zhong Yue praised deeply.
Jun Sixie smiled and said, “If you’ve practiced a defense skill, it’ll be even more fantastic. For example, we Swords Gate have this defense skill called the【 Xuan Wu Gold Spirit Skill】. Using the Gold Qis, they would be formed into shields and engraved with the totem of the Xuan Wu turtle – its defense capability is incredibly strong. If it is wielded by the Yuan Shen, the defense capability will be even stronger, not even a drop a water can seep through! I’ve practiced the skill myself, but sadly, you can’t possibly fully understand and grasp the quintessence in it, otherwise, I might teach you.”
Zhong Yue’s eyes brightened, he smiled and said, “Senior martial sister please go on and teach me, as for whether if I can fully understand it, that’s up to me.”
Jun Sixie chuckled dismissively as she chortled, “Are you going to keep blowing on your trumpet and say that you can cultivate very quickly again? Alright fine, I’ll teach you two techniques, I would like to see how fast can you cultivate so that you can stop boasting about yourself! If you wish to practice the 【 Xuan Wu Gold Spirit Skill】, you will have to first cultivate the【 Xuan Wu Visualization Art 】, the visualization art comes before the defense skill. But to learn the 【 Xuan Wu Visualization Art】, it’ll probably take you months, I can’t wait to see how are you going to blow the trumpet again.”