I pa.s.sed the tablets to Sect Leader Zi Shou De and waited nervously as he skimmed through the first one. There was no need for him to look at the others. They were all identical copies of the Celestial Seven Stars Swordsmanship.

After sleeping for twenty-four hours straight (well, it was closer to twenty rather than twenty-four, to be honest), I began the tedious work of inscribing the Spirit Diagrams that I had learned while communing within the Spirit World of the star-motif Spirit Engraved Pillar. Even though I was technically supposed to be on a break, I ended up working through most of it. Of course, I also took the opportunity to train and improve my martial arts.

I wouldn"t say I had gotten very far with combining Nine-Tailed Frost Fox Formula with Heavenly Snow Terminus Body, or Heavenly Draconic Meteor Swordsmanship with Celestial Seven Stars Swordsmanship, but it was early days yet, so I wasn"t worried. I wasn"t a genius, so it would be ridiculous to expect me to succeed in just three days.

"Oh…the Celestial Seven Stars Swordsmanship!"

Sect Leader Zi brightened up. Nearby, Sect Lady Zi Da Ji leaned closer to look at the tablets curiously, her expression a mix of awe and approval.

"Not bad. That"s another long-lost legendary martial arts." She glanced at me. "Is it an incomplete one that needs the learner to already possess knowledge of an existing sword-type martial art, just like the Heavenly Snow Terminus Body and Divine Dragon Flowing Water Formula?"

While I was busily communing with the other two Spirit Engraved Pillars, Sect Lady Da Ji had pa.s.sed the Divine Dragon Flowing Water Formula to the water-based martial artists in Blood Blades to learn it, but they hadn"t had very much success. At first we thought the martial art itself was complicated and required more time to comprehend and learn, but after my revelation regrding the Heavenly Snow Terminus Body, those elite Blood Blades martial artist discovered that the Divine Dragon Flowing Water Formula was another complementary martial art, and they had begun to combine it with the existing water based techniques that Nine-Tailed Fox Sect already possessed.

However, the Celestial Seven Stars Swordsmanship was different.

Shaking my head, I gestured toward the tablets. "No, the Celestial Seven Stars Swordsmanship can be learned on its own. It"s just that…there are only seven techniques for the first step. There are intermediate and advanced stages for the Celestia Seven Stars Swordsmanship, with each of them being more complicated. But obviously, in return for mastering such complexity, your techniques would be more powerful and much more difficult for the opponent to counter."

"That sounds excellent!" Sect Lady Da Ji marveled, delighted. "This will be an excellent addition to our repertoire!"

I could understand her joy. Sword techniques were different from elemental techniques in that anyone could learn them. It didn"t matter if I used ice-based martial arts or Tang Qi Hong used fire-based martial arts or Zhu Jiao used earth-based martial art or Bai Ning Xue used lightning-based martial arts. All of us could perfectly learn Celestial Seven Stars Swordsmanship. The catch, of course, was that we had to specialize in swordsmanship.

This wasn"t a problem for disciples of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, who were frequently taught to master a variety of weapons thanks to the Nine Heavenly Armaments techniques. But for those who had focused on one weapon, such as the spear, or the axe, or a whip, or archery, it would be difficult for them to pick up a new weapon.

On the other hand, that was the strength of the Celestial Seven Stars Swordsmanship. Divided into the basic, intermediate and advanced stages, any martial artist could theoretically just learn the basic stage and proceed from there. They didn"t need to know any prior understanding or mastery of the sword. Of course, having a solid foundation for swordsmanship would make it a lot easier to learn Celestial Seven Stars Swordsmanship, as with everything else, but it wasn"t mandatory.

Too long, didn"t read? Anyone could start learning Celestial Seven Stars Swordsmanship regardless of background or elemental affinity.

While Sect Lady Da Ji was delighted, there were a bunch of old fogeys who weren"t. Instead, they were ma.s.sively disappointed.

"Another martial arts manual?"

"Where are all the Spirit Artifacts" Spirit Diagrams?"

"Just our luck…for the person to have triggered a response in the Spirit Engraved Pillars to be a martial artist instead of a Spirit Engraver…"

"What was that?" Sect Lady Da Ji turned to look sharply at the murmuring Great Elders and the lot of them fell silent immediately.

"Of course it"s great! It"s so awesome!"

"Glory to our Nine-Tailed Fox Sect!"

"We"ll become the mightiest martial arts sect indeed!"

These old men…they really changed their tune quickly. Not that I blamed them. I would definitely start singing a different song if that would save my skin.

Ignoring the Great Elders, I turned my attention back to the plaza. Surprisingly, the technicians were packing up the equipment and disa.s.sembling the hi-tech devices we were using to a.n.a.lyze and research the Spirit Engraved Pillars. The research team were breaking up and leaving the plaza, carrying their laptops and various belongings with them.

That made some sense. From what I had heard, the research team planned to bring everything back to their individual or shared workshops. Now that I was done with communing with the Spirit Engraved Pillars, there was little reason for them to remain on the plaza. We had recorded holo-picts and holographic maps of the Spirit Diagrams and Spirit Engraved Pillars, and they could just work on them in the comfort of their own laboratories.

"Now that we"re done with this…"

Sect Leader Zi turned to me with a broad smile. He bowed exaggeratedly and beckoned me over with a hand.

"Follow me. I will lead you to the back of the mountain to the Blood Blades" training area. Well, I know you know where it is, but hear me out. Lang Xie happens to be there today, so I"ll introduce you to him. He wants to personally teach you."

"Lord Lang Xie?" I repeated, dumbfounded. For one thing, I didn"t need Sect Leader Zi to lead me there. Like he said, I already know where the Blood Blades" training area was. h.e.l.l, I even made use of the place for my own martial arts training regularly, especially the training facility. A month ago, the only place in the training area I (and Tong Xue, Pang Feng and the rest of our batch) was barred from was the Will"O Wisp Forest.

But that restriction had been liftedbefore I started working on the Spirit Engraved Pillars and comprehending the Spirit Diagrams required for the three martial arts manuals. Lang Xie had sent us an email notification officially informing us that we were now "true, authentic" Blood Blades and were allowed into the Will"O Wisp Forest, which even Elder Zhao was not allowed inside.

Pang Feng and Tong Xue had been there while I was communing with the Spirit Engraved Pillars, during the times when they weren"t having their shifts to watch over me. They told me nightmarish stories of their experiences training inside Will"O Wisp Forest, but I had dismissed them as gross exaggerations. If it was that harsh and painful, then how were they still alive?

Looked like I was about to find out for myself today.

"We"ve already discussed this," Sect Lady Da Ji a.s.sured me. "You"ll see what I mean when you get there."

"Uh…okay."

I had a bad feeling about this, but I had little recourse other than to obey. So I followed the Zi couple to the back of the mountain where Will"O Wisp Forest awaited threateningly.

As always, the woods behind the grounds of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect were shrouded in ghostly, flickering flames of spectral qi.

"Where are the pools of blood?" I asked, looking around in astonishment. I wasn"t expecting actual will"o wisps. In my mind, I thought there would be pools of blood of various sizes spread across the forest, blood so thick they bubbled and produced a noxious b.l.o.o.d.y mist. But that was because I had been reading too much Spirit Realm.

"I asked the same question when I came here." Sect Leader Zi chuckled, only for him to be smacked by Sect Lady Da Ji.

"You"re the sect leader! You should know better!" she chided.

Well, there was n.o.body bathing in pools of blood and putting on terrifying experiences, but I could see tormented martial artists writhing and heaving inside the thick miasma of ghostly flames. they were seated inside segments of the forest, absorbing the pure natural qi that was produced by the medicinal herbs and spiritual plants in the forest, and using it to nourish their cultivation.

Even though I could barely see their expressions, I could tell from the clogged, sluggish circulation of their qi that they were in great pain. Natural qi warred with their innate qi, suppressing, conflicting, and raging inside their bodies. And their physical bodies were undergoing pretty drastic changes, being tempered by the ferocious natural qi and strengthened.

In other words…doping. With so-called spiritual steroids.

"Uh…" I muttered, but before I could say anything, a couple of martial artists materialized out of nowhere and bowed their heads reverently.

"Greetings, Sect Leader, Sect Lady."

"Oh, hey, guys." Sect Leader Zi waved at them in a friendly manner. "I"m looking for Lang Xie. Is he around?"

"Sire is inside," one of the two guards replied politely. He then turned and gestured for us to follow, leading the three of us deeper into the ghostly forest.

Along the way, I saw many of my seniors and colleagues and nodded deferentially to greet them. They waved at me, and then returned to their training. There were various training regimens, from sparring to meditation/cultivation, to practicing techniques, to fighting against battle puppets that I would normally only see inside the training facility.

Or at least I thought they were battle puppets and training dummies, but the qi swirling within them was all wrong. On closer inspection, I realized that I was right. These weren"t battle puppets but actual demonic creatures and magical beasts, herded and grown in Will"O Wisp Forest to provide field experience and practical training for the Blood Blades in here. One was a ma.s.sive Chimertype beast, with a lion"s head and a cobra"s tail. It lashed out with a claw, forcing one of the training Blood Blades to jump back as he parried it with a high-grade Spirit Weapon.

Clang!

Even though that was a high-quality Spirit Shield, the poor guy was flung back. His teammates spread out and a.s.saulted the Chimera with their myriad of Spirit Weapons, but they were unable to pierce its armored, scaly hide.

A scuttling sound to my left told me there was a k.u.monga, or Giant Spider, clashing with another group of Blood Blades. A nightmarish howl to my right informed me that another group of Blood Blades were being hunted by a vicious pack of Lunar Wolves, which were deadlier than the Silverbacked Wolves I had faced in the abysmal levels of Sen Lin Forest.

It was a bloodbath.

Many of these magical beasts and demonic creatures lay dead, blood pooling underneath their carca.s.ses. I saw a Lunar Wolf, gutted, as it lay sprawled on the ground, its jaws weakly snapping open and shut. Even though it was dying, it was determined enough to snag an unwary Blood Blades martial artist and bring him down with it.

There were also casualties on the Blood Blades" side, with human martial artists lying unconscious in pools of their own blood, and even some of them had lost their limbs. They could be reattached with the medical facilities that Nine-Tailed Fox Sect had, but I was pretty sure it was a traumatic experience no one wanted to go through.

The guard brought us to a particularly wide area where Lang Xie was fighting on his own against a gigantic Horned Dragon. A few martial artists lay on the ground, bleeding out at an alarming rate, but whether they were dead or alive, I couldn"t tell. Ignoring them, Lang Xie continued to grimly combat against the Horned Dragon.

The roaring, armored beast lunged at him, but a sword flashed out and suddenly the Horned Dragon"s head rolled off, separated from the rest of its body.

You"ve got to be kidding me…

I gaped at Lang Xie, who was calmly wiping the blood off his blade. That middle-aged man cut off the head of a heavily armored Horned Dragon with a single hit?!

"Greetings, Sect Leader and Sect Lady. And…Fei Wu."

The voice startled me. It wasn"t Lang Xie who spoke up, but someone else, and her voice sounded very familiar.

Turning around, I spotted a familiar figure slipping out of the ghostly flames and standing before us. I immediately recognized her as Elder Hai Mo"s wife, Hai Rong.

"Lady Hai," I said as I bowed. She giggled and quickly gestured for me to lift my head.

"Dispense with the niceties," she ordered. Then she turned to Sect Leader Zi and Sect Lady Da Ji. "What can I do for you today?"

"We"re here for Lang Xie," Sect Leader Zi explained, but his wife didn"t care. Taking Hai Rong"s words at face value, she stepped forward and cupped her hands around her mouth.

"Lang Xie! We"ve brought the boy to you!"

Lang Xie placed his sword in his spatial device and turned toward us. After a short nod to acknowledge the Zi couple"s presence, he then turned to look at me.

I immediately sensed a thick, bloodthirsty aura washing over me, almost like a river. Staggering a little, I gritted my teeth and stood my ground defiantly.

For a moment, I had a vision of a ferocious dragon swallowing me whole, its jaws closing in on me and sinking its fangs into my flesh. My mind was rattled by the psychic shock, and I was suffocating, drowning in a sea of blood…

b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l…just from his killing intent alone…Lang Xie was truly formidable. I had always thought the term "if looks could kill" was something that only happened in fiction, but with Lang Xie"s strength, I had no doubt he could really pull it off.

But I was"t so pathetic as to die from him merely looking at me.

Gritting my teeth again, I steeled my resolve and gathered my spiritual strength within me. The basic concept of the Heavenly Snow Terminus Body that I had learned over the last couple of weeks, combined with the resilient Nine-Tailed Frost Fox Formula, allowed me to muster an icy defense that rapidly formed over my mind and spirit.

Knowing that this was a test, I didn"t use Snow Aegis.

Even so, despite the ice forming over my body and my eyes glazing over behind my gla.s.ses, the vicious and malevolent killing intent seemed to penetrate my frosty defenses and strike deep into my mind, and the deepest part of my soul. No matter how desperately I fought to resist the spiritual invasion, I found myself mentally eroded by the draconic waves. My chest constricted as I fought to breathe in the suffocating sea of bloodl.u.s.t that threatened to overwhelm and drown me. Even so I continued to clench my fists and weave more layers of spiritual defenses around my mind, erecting thick walls of frost and constructing a spiritual citadel to keep the invader out.

And just like that, the bloodthirsty aura that had flooded over me suddenly retreated like a tidal wave and instantly vanished.

"Huff…"

I doubled over, coughing and heaving. Squeezing my eyes shut, I struggled to force the qi inside my body to circulate once more, to relax my tensed and locked limbs, and to stand up straight. Exhaustion soaked my mind, but I fought not to collapse on the spot, despite my qi circulation having been clogged up.

Breathing heavily, I raised my head and glanced at Lang Xie.

This guy was extremely powerful. One of the strongest martial artists I had ever met. He was nearly able to overcome me completely with his killing intent alone. Never mind his bloodthirsty aura, if he made an actual, physical move, I most likely would not be able to defend against his attacks.

This single experience told me the vast gulf between our strengths, of how truly formidable someone at the pinnacle of martial arts was.

No wonder the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect made it to the position of the eight major sects! With such battle prowess, we could hold our own even against the Celestial Creature sects!

"Lang Xie, how is he? Am I right?" Hai Rong asked with a smile. The f.u.c.k? Have you been talking about me behind my back, lady?

The vice-commander of the Blood Blades nodded, and his lips twitched a little. That was the closest he ever got to smiling.

"He"s not bad at all."

Uh, dude…those words rang hollow, especially now that I was pathetically trying to catch my breath and desperately doing my best to not topple over.

"He didn"t lose consciousness at all. He has a strong, indomitable spirit."

"I told you so." Hai Rong"s smile widened. "If we train him properly, he"ll be a great a.s.set to the sect and the Blood Blades."

"I believe you." Lang Xie nodded and then pointed at somewhere in the forest. "Strip bare and soak in that blood pool."

"…say what? What blood pool?"

I stared at him blankly. Lang Xie"s expression twitched and he stabbed his finger in the direction he was pointing.

"That blood pool. Are you blind?"

"Stop messing around!" Sect Lady Da Ji smacked him across his head. "There is no blood pool! We"re not the Armament Sect, and you"re Blood Blades! Not Blood Spear!"

"Someone has clearly been reading Spirit Realm too," Sect Leader Zi remarked flippantly. Sect Lady Da Ji turned on him.

"Not you too! Get serious!"

Lang Xie coughed sheepishly and tried to look serious, but he had ruined the effect earlier with his poor imitation of another Lang Xie from Spirit Realm.

"Okay, okay. Um…for starters, cultivate there."

He pointed toward a particularly thin miasma that enveloped a segment of the forest. He turned to me, his expression strict.

"I a.s.sume you know how to absorb natural qi and integrate it into your body?"

Know how to absorb natural qi? Dude…that was pretty much the essence of Heaven and Earth Formula"s Heaven and Earth Absorption. I daresay I could do it better than almost everyone else here, with a few exceptions of course.

But I wasn"t the type to brag. So I merely nodded.

"Then begin right away."

"Yes, sire."

I stepped into the miasma and sat down cross-legged in the middle. Closing my eyes, I began to absorb the natural qi from my surroundings and circulate it around my body, carefully melding it with my own innate qi.

"Ugh…"

The ghostly fog began to sear my flesh and burn aggressively, unleashing an astonishing amount of heat.

"Ouch…!"

I winced, but didn"t budge. The mist seemed to enter the pores on my body, dissipating and seeping inside me. For some reason it felt like a swarm of Fire Ants had just crawled over me and was biting my flesh. My blood churned inside me, disturbed by this invasion, and my mind slowly blanked out as I experienced the sensation of being devoured.

Fortunately, I was not a stranger to pain, and I was able to endure it. h.e.l.l, this was nothing compared to the icy h.e.l.l I had experienced in the Nine Thousand Yin Ice h.e.l.l Formation or the blizzard spirit world conceptualized by the snow-motif Spirit Engraved Pillar.

In fact, I actually benefited more from enduring it. I could feel my body slowly strengthening as it was being nourished by the ghostly fog.

"What is the thickness of the spiritual essence in this fog?" Sect Leader Zi asked after watching me for a moment.

"It"s not that high," Hai Rong a.s.sured him. "It"s meant for newcomers like Pang Feng and Tong Xue."

"Eh?" Sect Leader Zi raised an eyebrow. "So it has not been diluted?"

"No." Hai Rong shook her head. "I didn"t dilute it. Pang Feng and Tong Xue had come here nine days ago. Tong Xue was crying when he tried to absorb the miasma but Pang Feng endured it stoically without a sound."

"Well, Pang Feng comes from Cloud Sky Mountain and practices the Golden Indestructible Body, which emphasizes the durability of one"s body. So I"m not surprised." Sect Lady Da Ji nodded, somewhat impressed.

Lang Xie, who had been watching the whole thing without a single word so far, suddenly spoke up.

"Come out."

My eyes flew open and I stared at him, dumbfounded. "Eh? I haven"t finished absorbing the natural qi yet…"

"It"s fine, just come out." Lang Xie beckoned me over impatiently. Scratching my head, I obeyed and stood up to walk out of the mist. He swept his eyes over me coolly, and then said, "I underestimated you. Will"O Wisp with low spiritual density doesn"t give you many benefits. You should try that Will"O Wisp instead."

He pointed at a miasma that was blazing brighter, the ghostly flames illuminating the trees surrounding it with an eerie glow.

I gulped and glanced at Sect Lady Da Ji. She spread her arms helplessly.

"Don"t look at me. I may be the commander, but that"s in name only. In here, behind Flame Volcano, even I listen to Lang Xie."

"…all right."

Taking a deep breath, I stepped into the fog.

Even though I was mentally prepared, I found myself a.s.sailed by a scorching agony that was several times worse than the last one. Gasping, I forced myself to stagger to the center of the fog and sat down. Closing my eyes, I began to meditate and use the Heaven and Earth Formula breathing methods to control my qi and absorb the searing Will"O Wisp qi.

"Ugh…!"

The terrifying pain felt like I was being boiled alive in a cauldron of superheated sulfur or something. It was literally h.e.l.l.

On the other hand, I could feel vitality, profound power slowly seeping into my body, nourishing me. The ghostly Will"O Wisp pressed in all around me, devouring and burning my flesh and boiling my blood. Dozens of laser knives cut right to the bone, causing me to flinch. I gritted my teeth as I tried not to shriek from the pain.

Fortunately, the human body was pretty adapatable. It took me a while, but I was able to get used to the pain. Closing my mind to the searing heat and stabbing knives, I breathed deeply and drank in the amazing power that the Will"O Wisp provided. Natural qi surged through my veins, merging with my innate qi and strengthening my qi vessels.

I could feel a ma.s.sive amount of power building up inside me, the two tidal waves of qi colliding and merging. It was almost like nuclear fusion, the aggressive collision of hydrogen atoms to combine into helium atoms and unleashing tremendous amounts of heat energy.

"…uh oh…"

Even though my body was slowly adapting to the pain, gradually strengthening and becoming more robust, the rate at which I was absorping the pure natural qi was spiraling out of control. I felt as if there was a caged star inside my dantian, my qi vessels almost rupturing as they were no longer able to contain the power.

My vessels almost cracked as what seemed like molten lava poured through them, and this time I was unable to hold back a scream.

"Not good!"

"What do you mean, "not good"?" Sect Leader Zi demanded as he rounded on Lang Xie. "I hope you didn"t get overzealous and threw him into a Will"O Wisp of utmost spiritual density or something! It"ll be stupid if he ends up losing his life in training!"

"Uh, well…" Hai Rong looked a little uncomfortable. "You"re right, this is a Will"O Wisp that is produced with extremely high spiritual density and is saturated with very pure qi." She glanced at me in concern. "Even Pang Feng couldn"t take more than a few seconds after entering this fog. He was forced to leave. But this boy…"

"Fei Wu is over-diligent and too hardworking. He doesn"t know his limits. It"s possible he"ll end up killing himself if he forces himself to absorb everything."

Sect Lady Da Ji looked grim. Sect Leader Zi paled at that.

"We"ve got to get him out of there!"

"Worse." Lang Xie had a bitter expression on his face. "That"s not the problem. The problem is that he has already absorbed far too much qi…he has really exceeded my expectations. But the thing is that, his body is unable to contain and handle that amount of purified qi. He"s basically like a nuclear bomb about to blow."

"Do something!" Sect Leader Zi hollered. "Help him before he blows himself up!"

Lang Xie took a deep breath and spoke calmly, but even though he appeared to be soft, I could hear him as clearly as if his voice was ringing loudly across the forest.

"Can you hear me, Fei Wu? Right now you"re on the verge of Demonic Possession. The qi you"ve absorbed is rampaging throughout your body, and you"ve absorbed far too much qi that the amount far exceeds the pace of your body strengthening. Your body won"t be able to handle that amount of purified qi and will tear itself apart if you allow this to continue."

Yeah, no s.h.i.t. Even if I didn"t overhear the conversation between the adults, I was aware of what this was, having been a pract.i.tioner of Heaven and Earth Formula. It was my mistake. I got too greedy and absorbed far more natural qi than my body could handle.

They were right when they said greed was a deadly sin. To be fair, this was the first time I was experiencing Demonic Possession and having my qi run wild inside my body. Usually I would be able to control it, so I was taken aback by this.

"The only way for you to survive is for you to discharge all the qi out of your body. Understand? If you have a technique, unleash all that rampaging qi out at once before it destroys you."

"Heh…" perspiration was dripping down my face as I rolled about in agony. Climbing shakily to my feet, I nodded briefly. "I knew that was the answer."

"…eh?" Sect Leader Zi"s eyes widened. Before he could say anything else, I let out a yell and punched the ground with everything I had.

Boom!

In an instant, the entire segment of the forest froze over, the trees entombed in ice and their leaves encrusted in frost. The ground itself turned into a barren tundra, after having caved in.

Rather, there was no ground. When I unleashed the rampaging qi inside my body, I pretty much destroyed the earth and left a freezing crater in the forest.

"This…"

Hai Rong gaped at the misting crater. It was almost three meters deep and ten meters in diameter. I was panting at the center, my fist buried in the dirt.

The Will"O Wisp fog had all frozen over, along with the medicinal plants and spiritual herbs in the vicinity. This was quite the expensive blunder, but fortunately I wouldn"t be the one taking responsibility. Even more fortunately, it didn"t seem like Sect Leader Zi or any of the adults cared about the blatant waste of resources.

"…it seems that this boy is no longer at the level where he needs to absorb natural qi." Lang Xie actually looked impressed. He whirled away while gesturing for me to follow him. "Let"s move on to the next stage of training."