Rise of Humanity

Chapter 22 The Lone Ravine and Girl In Red

Right when he landed on the ground, the first Jiao Dragon he materialized reached to the side of Yu Feiyan, it winded around her body and flew across the sky, finally coming to a stop after crashing into a number of towering trees.

But Yu Feiyan was still stunned, her psyche ocean was taken over by her inner evil, causing her to tumble a few rounds even after landing.

Fortunately, even if she didn’t specifically cultivate a physique-refining technique, as a cultivator, her body was still stronger than that of ordinary humans, the tumbles didn’t injure her much, only adding a few livid bruises on her beautiful white skin.

But the soul of the young damsel was still trembling in fear, her eyes were filled with terror, her inner demon still lurked within her psyche ocean.

“Senior martial sister, save me!”

Above them Tao Daier cried for help, Zhong Yue looked up, the girl in red was falling from the sky, but her rate of descent was very slow.

Eh? This visualization art is so unique, the thing she visualizes are the clouds.

Zhong Yue looked carefully, he could see clouds billowing around Tao Daier, slowing her speed of descent. He thought to himself, Elder Pu once said before, there are spirits in the clouds, after a long time of worship, they emerged from the clouds. Senior Martial Sister Tao could be one of those that walked the path of cloud spirit.

The pluriform cloud spirit had no fixed shape, no fixed features - it could blow with the wind, it could precipitate into rain, it could form into thunder, it could fly high up in the skies, it could hover low under around the mountains. The cloud spirit was a unique and wondrous spirit.

Yu Feiyan finally recollected her consciousness, she was, after all, the strongest disciple of the female house. She quickly visualized the fish-dragon and cleared off the inner demon within her; she saw Tao Daier falling from the sky and rushed over to her, she said, “Tao-tao, I will come and get you!”

Putong…

Tao Daier fell to the ground right in front of her, landing unceremoniously with her butt straight on the ground.

“Senior martial sister, you must be deliberately doing this!”

“No, I’m not.”

Yu Feiyan returned the pair of hands that failed to grab Tao Daier back to the side of her body, looking unperturbed she said, “Tao-tao, as much as I would like to save you, but clearly I failed to do so, I missed”

Tao Daier helped herself up from the ground, she rubbed on her butt and said angrily, “This is not a miscalculation, you are deliberately doing it!”

Yu Feiyan peeped at Zhong Yue from afar, she whispered, “I am not, I have failed once just now.”

“Nonsense, you are trying to hide your embarrassment that’s why you dragged me along letting me fall too.” Tao Daier snapped in anger.

While the two young ladies were arguing, they suddenly saw Zhong Yue picking another boulder on his back and start climbing towards the mountain cliff again, the two young ladies gazed at each other and walk towards him.

“Junior Martial Brother Zhong…”

Yu Feiyan kept silent for a moment, “Thank you.”

Zhong Yue visualized the Jiao Dragon, smiled and said, “It’s fine, you too jumped down right after me without hesitation. The two senior martial sisters, I still need to continue my training, I will not accompany the two of you any longer.”

“Who needs you to accompany us?”

Tao Daoer coquettishly said, “We aren’t drinking now!”

Yu Feiyan glared at her, then she turned to Zhong Yue and asked, “Junior martial brother, this is training?”

“That’s right. By delving into the state of extremity between life and death, stimulating the hidden potential within and the desire to survive in order to defeat the inherent terror that would be faced - this is my training method.”

Zhong Yue smiled and said, “Senior martial sister has gone through it too, so you should now understand how feels.”

“Between life and death…”

Yu Feiyan gazed at him deeply, suddenly a pair of black wings spread out from her back and she flew up the to the cliff, she said, “Since you are training, then the fight between you and I shall be postponed to some other time!”

“Senior martial sister, you left me behind again!”

Tao Daier stomped the ground with her feet again, she quickly visualized the cloud and slowly, she was lifted up into the air towards the top of the cliff. She said to Zhong Yue, “Junior Martial Brother Zhong, we will see each other again next time, I will leave now … Oi! Don’t climb so fast! Stupid cloud, idiot cloud, float faster…”

When Zhong Yue hiked to the top of the cliff, Tao Daier was still only midway up the mountain, but the young lady in black, Yu Feiyan, was nowhere to be seen. She must have gone far already.

“The art of flying is indeed incredible.By visualizing the cloud and bird, one could fly, although I can steer on the speedy lightning, the psyche consumption was also very great and it isn’t as agile as having a pair of wings. Wait till the next knowledge imparting day, let’s see whether if I can get my hands on an art of flight.”

He could feel the importance of having a flying art to the upper house disciples or even the Qi Practitioners. A flying art held a significant spot in their arts, whether it be used in combat or in routine footwork.

Hu——

Zhong Yue carried a large stone and once again jumped down the cliff. While on the way down, he plummeted past Tao Daier, it was already at least half an hour but the young lady in red was still making her way up to the cliff.

He displaced a large amount of air while falling down the cliff; the wind disrupted the young lady’s cloud art and she started yelling out loud.

Moments later, Zhong Yue carried another large stone up to the cliff, Tao Daier again yelled at him in exasperation, pleading him to slow down.

“Zhong Shan Clan member, if you dare jump down beside me again, I will not let you off easily!”

However, the next moment, the young lady once again plummeted down thousands of feet deeper into the ravine, she was enraged as she cautioned in anger, “If you dare do it one more time, and I will tell Junior Martial Sister Ting that you took liberties with me, you will not end up well!”

Zhong Yue with another large stone on his back and climbed past her, he solemnly and seriously insisted, “There really isn’t anything going on between Senior Martial Sister Ting and me.”

Tao Daier leaped onto his back, smiling and giggling, “You carry me up, I will then buy your words.”

Zhong Yue couldn’t feel much difference in weight, he knew that the young lady was light, so light as if she didn’t have any bones. Plus, she was also visualizing the cloud to further alleviate her weight so that Zhong Yue could carry her, he thought to himself, Senior Martial Sister Ting is so considerate, she also followed behind me jumping down the cliff just now - having such a good heart … no wonder she has such graceful voice.

“Senior Martial Sister Ting, why don’t you sing a song?” Zhong Yue suggested.

“I refuse.”

Zhong Yue gestured to her that he would drop her down the cliff, shocking the young lady into impulsively clasping onto his neck, she yielded, “I’ll sing, I’ll sing! You are so bad, I don’t understand what part of you Junior Martial Ting is so enamored with!”

Tao Daier's voice began to sound out a capella, humming and singing, her graceful voice resounded throughout the whole ravine. Before a song was finished, Zhong Yue had already carried her back to the top of the cliff.

Tao Daier sat down beside the lake, her legs elegantly paddling in the lake water while her melodic voice continued on.

Zhong Yue jumped into the lake water to wash off the sweat and grime on his body, the mellifluous song from the young lady was like a pair of soft hands that gently massaged away his mental fatigue.

As twilight descended, the sun slowly set betwixt the sky and mountains. The mellow glow of the final vestiges of sunlight scattered from beyond the horizon and shone on the young pair. A few unicorns leisurely trotted towards the lakeside and lapped on the water in the lake.

The graceful voice became even more pleasant to his ears, Tao Daier tread atop the water and walked past Zhong Yue. A few moments later, the sonorous voice slowly faded away as the silence of twilight took over - the young lady in red waved at him before finally disappearing into the woods.

After a long while, by the time Zhong Yue recollected his thoughts back from the mellifluous song the young lady sang, the young lady was already long gone.

“Million Miles The Dragon Soars!”

Zhong Yue leaped into the air, his psyche burst out and the Jiao Dragon coiled around his body, he slid across the surface of the lake as if a ferocious Jiao Dragon had erupted out of the deep sea, agitating waves of tides behind him, he traversed the distance in mid-air and within a few steps, he landed beside the lake, striding his way back to the upper house.

In just one day, his prowess had changed drastically, not only did the Sui Sovereign became more solidified, but his image was also clearer. The psyche ocean of Zhong Yue expanded, now the size of 300 mus!

His body was filled with explosive energy, in but the shortest of moments he could materialize his psyche and unleash a strong and unbridled force from his body!

“Tomorrow, the training continues!”

Xin Huo said in his psyche ocean, “In order to surpass the Tian Myriad Mother, you must not slow down your training progress! What you are doing now is still far from enough, only when you have achieved acceptable heights in swiftness, momentum and strength, can you then be considered as an amateur fit to consummate the spirit!”

Zhong Yue asked, “What is these swiftness, momentum and strength thing about?”

“Your strength must be swift. The moment your fist is delivered, your strength will need to instantly erupt in your opponent’s body, crushing your enemies in an instant!”

“The momentum of your psyche must be unstoppable. Containing the will of an untamed tiger within your heart, like a dragon that had broken free of his chains. Your psyche must gallop like a beast, to be able to achieve a successful visualization in a split second!”

“Your soul must be staunch. The soul must be like the spear - flexible … malleable … but unbreakable. When the soul moves, even objects of a million kilograms must bow towards your will; when the soul is placid, it will be like a Heavenly Monarch in his Heavenly Imperial Court, petrifying all evils so that not a single devil can come near!”

Xin Huo said calmly, “Only by doing these, can your foundation be considered as strong and solid, you will then have the requisite strength to fight against the Tian Myriad Mother.”

Zhong Yue took in a breath of air, with a grave voice he declared, “Alright! Tomorrow the training continues on!”

“Grandfather, I have met with a young man in training today, he said that there were great terror and fear between the precipice of life and death.”

Somewhere below the golden summit of the Swords Gate Mountain, in a basilica that was lifted by a ganoderma-like cliff, the young lady in black, Yu Feiyan respectfully told a white-haired elder who was sitting in a lotus position, she said, “He said that by entering the state of extremity when straddling the boundary between life and death, can one stimulate the potential within their body and mind to ignite the instinct of survival to conquer the great terror and fear . Training like this can allow one to achieve more with less. This state, what is it? Is there really a way to train and cultivate like this?”

The white-haired elder was naturally the clan leader of the You Yu Clan, he enjoyed a high prestige within the Swords Gate, upon hearing her words, he opened his eyes and said curiously, “Between life and death? There are still people training and cultivating in such a way?”

“Is there really something like this?” Yu Feiyan was surprised.

“Yes, but only in rumors.”

The You Yu Clan’s clan leader solemnly answered, “This kind of training is way too extreme - supremely dangerous, consummately radical and has a terrifyingly high death rate. Hence, only a handful of cultivators would resort to training in such a crazed way. Between life and death, one side life and one side death, they stand diametrically opposed to one another; but the demarcation separating the two where the state of extremity can be achieved is extremely elusive. If you make it, you advance at ungodly speeds, but if you can’t, you perish. Of those who trained this way, death was the rule and life was the exception. There were cultivators in Swords Gate that once trained like this, but they’ve all since then returned to dust.”

Yu Feiyan was shocked, “All dead?”

The clan leader nodded, he said, “This training is only good in the foundational phase- during the Soul Liberty and Soul Manipulation level. It is futile in the Qi Practitioner stage as Qi Practitioners are too strong; it isn’t easy for them to enter the state of extremity between life and death. But before becoming a Qi Practitioner, the cultivator will not have so many means to protect oneself, one small careless mistake and you fall into the abyss. That is why this foundation training method received the appellation of extreme, it is not wise to walk on this path. But I hear that our headmaster of Swords Gate was one such individual that succeed in this path, boundlessly augmenting his strong and solid foundation, but it was all hearsay, a wise man would be prudent to not trust these words easily…”

Yu Feiyan’s eyes shined brightly, the clan leader saw the look on her face and his heart turned grimly, he vehemently warned her, “You must not practice it! You are guaranteed to be a Qi Practitioner in the future. If you train with this way, one little mistake and you will die, this is not worth it!”

The following day, Zhong Yue once again came to the lake, from afar he could see the figures of a young lady in red sitting beside the lake and a young lady in black standing beside her.

“Eyey! Zhong Shan Clan member, what is this method you use to entice the little heifers?”

Xin Huo shouted out in surprise, he was excited and said happily, “Teach me, teach me, I can then teach the next Xin Huo inheritor when I find one!”