sbdcsierra Chapter 73 The Illusionary Technique of Clouds and Mist
Chapter 73 The Illusionary Technique of Clouds and Mist
Shen Xu slowly walked to the bluestone steps and stepped onto them. Even though he knew that the bluestone steps in front of him were likely a trap, he had no choice but to jump down.
Without any hesitation, Shen Xu stepped onto the steps with his other foot and then steadily walked upwards. Fortunately, this time the misty shadow didn't seem to be deceiving him, and he soon saw the end of the steps.
Filled with immense excitement, he quickened his pace, not only because he was about to receive the inheritance of True Man Qingzhu, but also because he could finally leave.
He didn't know how long he had been in the Cloud Mist Bamboo Realm, only that it must have been a long time. People outside must have assumed he had died inside, and needless to say, all the blame would have been placed on him. But that didn't matter to him.
His only worry now is whether the Shen family will do something to Uncle Wang because of his disappearance, but all he can do now is pray.
Shen Xu took a deep breath, took a firm step, and stepped onto the platform at the end of the stairs. However, what appeared before him was still the thick, impenetrable white mist, as if he had entered a world of fog.
In the center of this white world, a strange sight appeared before his eyes—a colorless ball of light was quietly suspended in mid-air, tightly wrapped by a stream of water flowing like a silver ribbon, like a dazzling pearl inlaid among the clouds.
"It seems that this is the water legacy left behind by Master Qingzhu, which Wuying mentioned."
Shen Xu walked forward cautiously, each step showing extreme care.
As he finally approached the mysterious water sphere, he hesitated for a moment before slowly extending his right hand to gently touch it. The instant his fingertips touched the water sphere, a loud "bang" resounded, and the water sphere exploded like ignited gunpowder! Countless crystalline water droplets scattered and splashed, while the colorless light sphere that had been hidden within was now exposed to the air without reservation.
Freed from the water's restraints, the colorless ball of light did not fall to the ground but continued to float silently in mid-air. Suddenly, it burst forth with dazzling light, like a rising sun, so intense that it was impossible to look directly at it, causing him to instinctively close his eyes.
Just then, Shen Xu suddenly felt a cool sensation on his forehead, as if a drop of ice water had landed on it. Before he could react, an immense flow of information surged into his mind like a raging tide! His brain went blank for a moment, and he completely lost the ability to think.
At the same time, the massive amount of primordial energy in the surrounding mist seemed to be summoned, converging towards him. They formed enormous vortexes, spinning wildly around Shen Xu at high speed. Gradually, this primordial energy began to seep into his body.
As more and more vital energy flowed into his body, Shen Xu discovered that this vital energy was automatically circulating along a very special meridian path. This path was not the meridian route he had used in his previous cultivation techniques, but a completely new and never-before-seen channel.
As this vital energy circulated, it continuously widened the width of his meridians, while ruthlessly expelling the vital energy that Shen Xu had previously absorbed through the "Azure Edge Technique".
In this way, the external energy rapidly and overwhelmingly occupied Shen Xu's entire body, driving out all the other energy that was originally in his body. Subsequently, even more external energy surged in like a tide, filling his empty meridians and dantian.
Shen Xu's cultivation progressed with unstoppable momentum. In a short period of time, he successfully broke through the bottleneck of his original realm and climbed to the peak of the seventh stage!
However, the external energy showed no signs of stopping. Like a wild horse, it surged wildly into Shen Xu's body, helping him to break through his Qi-cultivation level eight meridians.
With the continuous support of the dense, mist-like primordial energy, the speed at which the meridians were opened was astonishing; in no time, one-third of them had already been opened!
However, opening up the meridians often becomes more difficult as you go further, and the vital energy seems to know this as well. As the process progresses, the vital energy that was originally surging in gradually reduces its output.
Even so, Shen Xu's body still couldn't withstand such a powerful impact. His face instantly turned bright red, and then a trickle of bright red blood slowly flowed from the corner of his mouth.
At the same time, the excruciating pain caused by the surge of vital energy into his meridians finally roused Shen Xu from his unconscious state. When he realized his predicament, a wave of panic washed over him. However, he quickly forced himself to calm down, hastily taking control of the external vital energy and focusing all his energy on opening up the meridian before him.
Strands of pure and incomparable primordial energy, like a flood bursting its banks, crashed violently against the blocked meridians. Each impact triggered a powerful tremor, and the primordial energy dissipated, merging into the depths of Shen Xu's body.
Affected by this vital energy, Shen Xu felt his blood and qi surging and churning within his body, as if they were about to break free from his body's constraints and burst forth, causing him extreme pain.
Nevertheless, Shen Xu knew in his heart that he absolutely could not stop. If he stopped, not only would all his previous efforts be in vain, but he might never be able to find a place with such abundant energy again.
Gradually, under the continuous impact of vital energy, that meridian began to be opened up little by little. Time passed quietly, but Shen Xu, immersed in it, was completely unaware of how much time had passed.
At this moment, only a tiny, impediment remained on that meridian, yet it stood like an unbreakable dam, stubbornly blocking the progress of vital energy.
Suddenly, accompanied by a wisp of incomparably pure primordial energy slamming into him, a deafening roar suddenly rang in Shen Xu's ears, like a thunderclap from the heavens crashing down to earth! It seemed to penetrate his soul and shake his mind.
Immediately afterwards, that last bit of resistance crumbled instantly, and the entire meridian was finally completely opened up.
In an instant, countless surging primordial energies flowed into Shen Xu's dantian along the newly opened circulatory system, like rivers rushing into the sea.
Such a massive surge of vital energy brought not only intense physical sensations, but also an unprecedented and enormous impact on his mental state.
Shen Xu felt his consciousness gradually blurring, and an endless sense of exhaustion swept over him like a tide. Finally, everything went black, and he collapsed to the ground.
During the time he was unconscious, the vital energy that kept flowing into his dantian did not stop; instead, it continued to nourish his body, causing his cultivation level to rise steadily.
And so, Shen Xu's cultivation level advanced rapidly, soaring from the early stage of the eighth level of Qi Nourishing to the peak of the eighth level of Qi Nourishing before finally stopping.
At the same time, the external energy seemed to realize that Shen Xu's body could no longer contain any more energy, so it gradually subsided and, like the receding tide, dissipated little by little into the surrounding white mist.
At this moment, Shen Xu was surrounded by a faint, ethereal light, which enveloped him, making him appear mysterious and sacred.
When he slowly regained consciousness, he was shocked to find that he was not on the platform where he had fainted, but in the circular area below the platform.
But before he could figure out what had happened, a slight throbbing pain in his head immediately reminded him of the inheritance that Master Qingzhu had left him: a top-grade Earth-rank cultivation technique—the Cloud Mist Illusion Technique.
This made Shen Xu sigh that this trip was truly worthwhile. He knew that the cultivation technique he had practiced in his previous life was only at the middle level of the Earth Rank. Moreover, he didn't have to dissipate his cultivation and start over; Master Qingzhu had completed this step for him. Feeling the vital energy flowing through his body according to the new circulation route, he had the illusion of being hit on the head by a pie.
The quality of a cultivation technique can be judged by its utilization rate of meridians and the complexity of how it allows vital energy to circulate within them. A person is born with a limited number of open meridians; as cultivation progresses, the remaining blocked meridians will open, making each opened meridian extremely precious.
Excellent and outstanding techniques can bring all the meridians that have been opened up to the highest level.
At the Qi Cultivation stage, if the utilization rate of the Azure Edge Technique is about half, the utilization rate of the Cloud Mist Illusion Technique can even reach 100%. However, as the meridians are opened, even the utilization rate of Heaven-rank techniques will decrease. If one wants to perfectly utilize every meridian in the body, perhaps only the legendary Divine-rank techniques are possible.
Therefore, the value of a good cultivation technique is self-evident. If your meridian utilization rate is only half that of your opponent at the same level, you will be at a disadvantage from the start. Whether it is the speed of absorbing vital energy or the speed of converting and utilizing vital energy, you will be at a disadvantage.
This is just the most common advantage of advanced techniques; the greatest benefit of advanced techniques lies in the special effects they can provide.
The first level of the Cloud Mist Illusion Technique that Shen Xu just obtained has a high bonus to water-attribute and illusion-type attack methods. If the Cloud Mist Illusion Technique is used to perform Mirror Flower Water Moon, the power of the water sword and the degree of indistinguishability between reality and illusion will definitely be a level higher.
Not only that, the Cloud and Mist Illusion Technique also granted him the ability to create a mist body using clouds and mist, which reminded him of the intelligent mist body of True Man Qingzhu, as well as the white-robed youth he had fought before.
It can be said that Master Qingzhu really gave him a great gift. If Master Qingzhu were by his side now, he would definitely kowtow to Master Qingzhu. He has a hundredfold respect for those selfless and dedicated seniors.
after a while.
"But wasn't it said that a passage would appear after receiving the inheritance?" Shen Xu searched the circular area several times but couldn't find anything that looked like a passage. How was he supposed to get out?
"Master, you can let me out now!" Shen Xu shouted to his surroundings, hoping that Wuying could open a passage back for him, but as before, he received no response.
Unwilling to give up, Shen Xu waited in the circular area for quite some time, but the mist shadow still did not appear.
"What does this mean?" Shen Xu couldn't help but feel flustered.
Logically, since he has already received the inheritance, Wuying should let him go. However, Wuying mentioned that after Qingzhu Zhenren left, this Cloud Mist Bamboo Realm became somewhat out of control. It shouldn't be so out of control that those who received the inheritance can't leave, right?
"Could it be that the test is not over yet?" Shen Xu couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
At this moment, Shen Xu suddenly saw the sword "Jiu" that he always carried with him, and said helplessly, "No way!"
So Shen Xu began to retrace his steps and put each sword back in its original place. However, he really didn't know where to put the sword "One", so he just put it by the roadside based on his memory.
Just as Shen Xu put Jian Yi down, a thick, cotton-like white mist rose from nowhere and spread toward him at an extremely fast speed.
In the blink of an eye, the white mist had enveloped him completely, making his figure blurry in the white expanse.
As the thick white fog gradually dissipated, a silver moon quietly appeared in the night sky. The soft moonlight poured down and fell on him, as if draping him in a silver veil.
At this moment, Shen Xu looked up at the bright, flawless full moon and the countless brilliant stars in the night sky, and an extremely complex emotion surged into his heart.
After a brief silence, Shen Xu took a step forward.
With that step, an immense aura erupted from his body like a volcanic eruption.
In an instant, the surrounding air seemed to be stirred up by this powerful force, and the gentle breeze suddenly turned into a gale, howling and sweeping past.
The leaves in the forest were blown up and down and fluttered everywhere. The birds that were sleeping soundly on the branches were also awakened by this sudden change. They flapped their wings in panic and made frightened cries as they quickly fled the place.