HSSB34: Ye Jing Reappears
Xiao Shen having been defeated and sent packing by Yan Zhaoge, the crowd of Broad Creed Mountain disciples by the side were all looking at him with a yearning expression on their faces.
Within a short period of time, Yan Zhaoge had first defeated Chao Yuanlong, then frustrated Xiao Shen; amongst the young generation of martial practitioners, he was destined to stand unopposed in the limelight for the following period of time.
If it was said that his earlier victory over Chao Yuanlong had been a fight between martial practitioners of the same cultivation realm, the opponent that he had faced this time was Xiao Shen, whose cultivation had not only been a single stage above him.
Even though for the purposes of the competition, Xiao Shen had suppressed his cultivation base down to a similar level as Yan Zhaoge, a late outer aura Martial Scholar was a late outer aura Martial Scholar; their experience and understanding towards the martial arts they cultivated in were destined to be much deeper and more abundant than that of early outer aura Martial Scholars.
Some early outer aura Martial Scholars had barely started getting into touch with the variations and mysteries their martial arts had contained within, while others had yet to even begin doing so; late outer aura Martial Scholars, though, had long since clearly understood these within their hearts.
In actual combat, this large gap was all the more obvious.
The same amount of power that could exert a single unit of force when placed into the hands of an early outer aura Martial Scholar, when being released by a late outer aura Martial Scholar, could exert perhaps
five to six units of force, or maybe even eight, nine, ten units of it, in the case of supreme geniuses.
However, in the competition earlier, the result had been that Yan Zhaoge had been the superior party, such that Xiao Shen had even been forced to renege on his own promise, only then managing to salvage an inglorious draw.
If it had been Yan Zhaoge from the Sacred Ground Broad Creed Mountain clashing against a rather average late outer aura Martial Scholar from outside, the result might still be somewhat easier for the world to accept.
However, with the opponent in question being the Sacred Sun Clan’s Xiao Shen, the significance of the matter had completely changed.
After all, Xiao Shen himself was a well-known genius who had crossed levels to beat someone in the mid outer aura stage when he had only been in the early outer aura stage.
A wooden puppet that had been carved out, which was fragile beyond compare in comparison to a martial practitioner’s aura-qi, had, under his control, actually resembled a real, living person, and even one who was a strong martial practitioner proficient in the martial arts.
Even the controlled Sacred Sun God puppet’s strike was something that Sikong Qing aside, none of the other Broad Creed Mountain disciples, who were all still in the Body Refinement Realm, could claim to be able to receive.
However, such a genius of the same generation had actually, like Chao Yuanlong, been reduced to nothing in front of Yan Zhaoge.
How could this not cause peoples’ minds to race till the point of dizziness?
Sikong Qing looked at the shattered pieces of wooden puppet lying on the ground, her gaze flickering slightly as she seemed to be trying to grasp something.
“This girl does really have a martial-focused heart,” As he glanced at her, Yan Zhaoge couldn’t help but laugh while shaking his head, as he instructed her, “You have already been at the peak Body Refinement stage for quite some time; at your current level, you can already be considered a half-step Martial Scholar.”
“Transforming your inner qi into aura-qi; the method is to reverse the flow of your inner qi’s usual circulatory cycle, tempering it till the aura is formed. The senior members of our clan should have advised you on that already.”
“Still, while attempting to reverse the flow of your inner qi, you could try using ‘false, real, false, real, false, false, false, real’, such a tempo.”
Hearing his words, Sikong Qing’s eyes instantly brightened, as the other disciples behind her also pricked up their ears hurriedly.
At this moment, Yan Zhaoge’s position and prestige within their hearts even surpassed that of some of the Elders back at the clan.
Whether it was to hear Yan Zhaoge’s pointers on cultivation or the important things to take note of when breaking through from the Body Refinement to the Martial Scholar realm, everyone especially treasured this chance.
Between the Body Refinement and Martial Scholar realms, to the majority of martial practitioners within the vast Eight Extremities World, was a natural, incomparably wide gulf.
The difficulty of making this breakthrough was far higher than rising from the mid to late qi-conducting stage, and also rising from the late qi-conducting stage to reach the peak of the Body Refinement realm.
It was, perhaps, also even more difficult than going from the mid to late inner aura stage for Martial Scholars, or rising from the late inner aura Martial Scholar realm to the early outer aura Martial Scholar realm.
And correspondingly, becoming a Martial Scholar, there would be a heaven-defying, earth-shaking increase in one’s power.
All this was premised on the fact that the Martial Artist could temper their qi into aura and transform their inner qi into aura-qi, thus successfully reaching the Martial Scholar realm.
Aura-qi was far more condensed and refined than inner qi. If one said that inner qi was a gaseous body, aura-qi would then be a liquid substance. In a clash between the two, only the use of a miniscule amount of aura-qi would be required to cause the other side to be instantly dissipated.
While fighting with a Martial Scholar, a Martial Artist would find it very hard to make a countermove. Against absolute power, even the strongest techniques were hard to be of use. Most of the time, the Martial Scholar would be able to deal with all possible moves based on pure strength alone.
In most situations, this was a gap that could never be remedied, even through numbers.
As Yan Zhaoge just said whatever came to mind, Sikong Qing looked as though she had suddenly seen the light.
The gaze with which she looked at Yan Zhaoge was now filled with a little bit of respect; it was respect that had not surfaced even when Yan Zhaoge had made a move to cause Ma Yue to be punished.
Yan Zhaoge said to the others, “Everyone’s situation is different; the method that is suited to junior
apprentice-sister Sikong may not be suitable for you. As you are now all still far from the Martial Scholar realm, you do not need to be impatient; just focus of walking stably step by step down your own path of cultivation.”
Truly convinced by Yan Zhaoge’s words, the group of Broad Creed Mountain disciples bowed towards Yan Zhaoge in unison, “Thank you senior apprentice-brother Yan for the pointers, we will definitely cultivate with the utmost diligence.”
Looking at Yan Zhaoge, Sikong Qing also bowed, different from her previous conciliatory gestures, a real, rather serious bow this time, “Thank you senior apprentice-brother Yan for the pointers.”
She stopped for a moment, then, looking at the other disciples, said, “I have gained a lot from senior apprentice-brother Yan’s pointers, and am preparing to go into secluded cultivation immediately. Thus, I cannot be going with you to the Luliao Mountains.”
While they could all empathise with her words, the disciples were all struck by a little bit of worry, thus unconsciously turning to look at Yan Zhaoge.
Yan Zhaoge said mildly, “I don’t mind if I take you along this time, but does everyone want to count on me leading you for the rest of your lives?”
“Moreover, the place I’m going; it would actually be even more dangerous for you.”
The Broad Creed Mountain disciples looked slightly guilty at his words. As talents whom the clan usually spent a lot of resources on training, they did not lack independent people who liked to acted on their own.
It was only that these past few days, Yan Zhaoge’s halo had really been too dazzling, radiating brilliant light to the point where everyone had been unconsciously brainwashed, coming to look at him as soldiers would their general.
The lot of them all exclaimed, “It is us who have grown reliant and lazy; thank you senior apprentice-brother Yan for the reminder. We are ashamed indeed.”
Yan Zhaoge smiled, waving his hands dismissively, “It’s fine. Since it’s like this; let us part ways here.”
Having said this, he turned and strode out of the city, heading outside of it.
The group of Broad Creed Mountain disciples also took their leave from Sikong Qing, leaving the city for the Luliao Mountains.
On the path, there was no longer any sign of Yan Zhaoge and Ah Hu; the two were long gone.
The Luliao Mountains, located just at the side of the Sealing Dragon Abyss, covered a vast area. While quite a large amount of precious resources was available there, the surrounding area was also rather dangerous. With their current cultivation base, travelling there was not easy in the least.
“We should really reflect on ourselves. Senior apprentice-brother Yan leading us is actually really like him carrying a load of burdens around; and we were all still so delighted at the prospect.” Said the young female disciple who carried a small Light Spirit Cat, a rather dejected expression on her face.
The Lan Wenyan beside her said, “The way we are now, we are indeed a great distance away from senior apprentice-brother Yan. Still, we should not be despondent over this; cultivating even more diligently as a result is the right path.”
Someone else muttered, “Could it be that you are also like that Ye Jing, eagerly looking forward to the day where you can fight senior apprentice-brother Yan head-on?”
Lan Wenyan said honestly, “At the very least, we have to strive for that; otherwise, while travelling alongside senior apprentice-brother Yan, wouldn’t we become a burden to him?”
Hearing his words, the group of Broad Creed Mountain disciples nodded their heads as they agreed, “It is as senior apprentice-brother Yan said. Securing a position in the present, and looking towards the future; that, is the true path.”
Amidst the multiple mountains, having reached their destination, the disciples separated to act on their own.
Lan Wenyan walked alone for a short time, before his eyes suddenly stared ahead dazedly, his gaze slack, “The junior apprentice-brother Ye Jing whom we had just mentioned earlier, this……”
Not far in front of him, a lone figure stood.
