Talisman Emperor

One month later, at the peak of Moon’s Embrace Mountain.

Chen Xi held the Seventhgold Swordbamboo in his hand while under the attentive gaze of Ji Yu. He took a breath and his wrist trembled, a Galeflash Shadow splashing out.

Hiss! Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!

Countless sharp sword streaks were like billowing waves that surged out as the sound of wind and lightning howling resounded out with a hum. The heaven and earth seemed to be filled with a cold and dazzling flowing light that was swift like a shadow.

Whoosh!

A sword light flashed, and the scene abruptly changed.

The sword images were fine and lingered in the air continuously, then caused circles of ripples to undulate in the air. The ripples seemed soft and fine, yet they instantly minced the clouds in an area of 30 meters into dust that completely dispersed.

The move was impressively the second move of the Windflow Divination Sword — Breezy Rain!

“This kid is not bad, the Breezy Rain stresses on the word lingering, and it contains hidden killing intent within it. He’s obviously already mastered its essence.” Nearby, Ji Yu nodded unnoticeably.

The third move, Dark Storm — The sword images roared rapidly and swiftly as they advanced, retreated, and circled around. For a time, the sword images were like clouds as they covered the entire sky, and everywhere the sword images swept it was filled with dense and violent sword qi.

The fourth move, Tide Squall — The sword images howled out like a raging tide, the force of the sword was vigorous and unrestrained as it moved about freely and violently, like a myriad of enormous waves that had overlapped on one another to surge in the heaven and the earth, like a tide that had risen from the blue sea.

Whoosh!

Chen Xi stopped and put away his sword after executing the four moves of the sword technique, then he lightly spat out a mouthful of foul air, seeming calm and collected.

“Now bad, you’ve already completely mastered the first four moves.” Ji Yu nodded and evaluated. “But, the unity-stage is not bound by moves, and once you’ve completely comprehended it, then a casual stab of your sword will be able to draw upon the energy of heaven and earth. Only that is considered to be the true unity-stage.”

Chen Xi nodded and accepted Ji Yu’s teachings.

Subsequently, Ji Yu started assessing the Divine Windwing Flight that Chen Xi cultivated.

The two of them arrived at a dense and green sea of bamboo behind Moon’s Embrace Mountain.

“This sea of bamboo is roughly 50km in distance, what you need to do is shuttle back and forth through it. You’re not allowed to touch any of the stems or leaves on the way, and the tip of your foot mustn’t touch the ground.” Ji Yu instructed indifferently. “You must complete it within the time of ten breaths.”

There’s difficulty in completing this task!

As he gazed at the dense and luxuriant sea of bamboo, Chen Xi couldn’t help but frown.

He’d only started to cultivate the Divine Windwing Flight half a month ago, but he’d always cultivated it at the peak of Moon’s Embrace Mountain. It was extremely spacious there and mountain winds whistled past. Thus he was able to willfully fly around in the air and it was extremely satisfying.

However, at this moment, when faced with this sea of bamboo, and wanting to pass through the entire sea of bamboo within the time of ten breaths without touching a single stem or leaf, this was no easy feat.

“Worried that you’re unable to do it?” Ji Yu shook his head and derided. “This test is still the most basic. A battle between cultivators is carried out while flying through the heavens and earth, and would stop at nothing. It isn’t like how you imagine, simple mindedly exchanging blows, but it’s instead the utilization of your ability while using every trick up your sleeve. For example, battling while shifting about like ghosts. If your movement technique is inferior, then not to mention battling, I’m afraid you won’t even be able to dodge your opponent’s attacks.”

The hesitation in Chen Xi’s heart was completely intensified from what Ji Yu said and it transformed into unwillingness that surged out from his heart. He instantly tapped the tip of his foot on the ground, and his figure transformed into a wisp of a ray of light as he charged into the luxuriant bamboo forest in the blink of an eye.

Whoosh!

Piercingly cold wind flashed past from the sides of his body, but Chen Xi maintained his diving posture as he looked concentrated and unblinkingly into the distance.

He couldn’t touch the bamboo stems or leaves, so he changed his direction to circumnavigate the bamboo that were densely gathered together. However, the change of direction was instead wasting time. Even if it was only a mere instant, to Chen Xi who had to travel through the sea of bamboo within the time of ten breaths, it was undoubtedly an enormous waste.

After a short moment, Chen Xi flew out of the sea of bamboo.

“26 breaths of time, not good enough.” Ji Yu shook his head ceaselessly.

Chen Xi had an expressionless face as he flew in once again.

“18 breaths, not good enough.”

“12 breaths, touched three bamboo leaves, not good enough.”

“…Not good enough.”

The words ‘not good enough’ filled Chen Xi’s thoughts throughout the entire afternoon. The voice was calm and indifferent, yet it seemed like nightmare that caused him to not only feel embarrassed, but also completely aroused the stubbornness and unyieldingness in his head. After Ji Yu left, he shuttled back and forth within the sea of bamboos by himself without slacking in the slightest.

Every time when he was exhausted to the point he almost unable to hold on, it seemed as if the words ‘not good enough’ were lightly spat out from Ji Yu’s mouth and resounded by his ear, then he would once again grit his teeth and stand up to once again charge into the sea of bamboo…

Bang!

Sweat flowed down his body like snakes and his heavy breathing resounded in the night sky. Chen Xi was unable to stand up and he fell flat on his back. The True Essence in his body was completely wrung out, to the point he wasn’t even willing to move a finger.

He just lay there like that, staring blankly at the sky above him that was suffused with an array of stars, leaving his sweat to flow down his body like numerous streams.

“Ten breaths of time, I was only a step away…” Chen Xi’s throat was extremely hoarse and his eyes filled with annoyance and unwillingness. He was completely unaware that Ji Yu was standing in the distance silently watching him attentively, and that his experienced eyes revealed a rare trace of admiration.

Ten days later.

Chen Xi vanished before the sea of bamboo with a ‘swoosh.’

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Due to his speed being too swift, everywhere Chen Xi passed the warm breeze in the air would become piercingly cold like knives, and a string of afterimages were left behind in the air. These afterimages only vanished like bubbles after one breath of time, and by that time, Chen Xi was already more than 5km away.

Looking down from mid-air, at this moment, Chen Xi was like an extremely nimble bolt of black lightning within the luxuriant sea of bamboo as he dodged past the clusters of dense bamboo leaves and flashed past the numerous sturdy bamboo stems. His speed was so swift that an ordinary person’s vision was utterly unable to catch up to him!

After a short moment, Chen Xi swiftly flashed out the sea of bamboos.

“Eight breaths of time, not bad. It’s much better than I expected.” Ji Yu nodded as he praised.

A feeling as if he was in another world couldn’t help but arise in Chen Xi’s heart when he heard Ji Yu finally stop saying ‘not good enough,’ yet he wasn’t excited, as the hardships and sweat he’d experienced these past few days had completely transformed into tranquility that was like a still lake.

“Now that your sword technique and movement technique have both attained the unity stage, if you want to continue advancing, then you must go comprehend.” Ji Yu pondered before saying, “Basic, advanced, unity, they are all attainable by relying on diligent and bitter training. The fourth stage, Dao Insight, instead requires you to comprehend the Dao of the Heavens, and when you’re able to comprehend a strand of the meaning of the Dao, you’ll be able to form Sword Insight and Movement Insight.”

Comprehend the Dao of the Heavens…

Chen Xi’s brain hummed and it was as if he was suddenly enlightened.

In the past, he’d always heard people say that the most important thing in the path of cultivation was to comprehend the great meaning behind the Dao of the Heavens, as only then would one be able to walk to the peak of the Dao. But at that time, his cultivation was low and he was ignorant to all this. He kept having the feeling that it was too far away, so he’d never once paid attention to it.

Now that he’d advanced to the Violet Palace Realm to establish his foundation of the Grand Dao and experienced many days of cultivation, he already unconsciously possessed a vague trace of hazy perception of the Grand Dao. Presently, when Ji Yu revealed the truth, it felt as if a new window had been pushed open before him, and he saw a completely new and magnificent world!

Dao Insight!

No wonder it’s only after advancing to the Violet Palace Realm that one is considered to have truly stepped onto the road to immortality! So it turns out that only at the Violet Palace Realm would one possess a completely new perception of the surrounding world.

At this moment, Chen Xi was full of excitement.

But, the Dao of the Heavens is vast and veiled in mystery, how exactly do I comprehend the profound meaning within it?

After a long time, Chen Xi’s mood finally returned to a calm state and he thought of a problem that he must solve now — How to comprehend the Dao?

“Cultivate bitterly and diligently, visualize and meditate, then wait for good luck to arrive.” Ji Yu replied in an extremely succinct, yet vague, manner.

Think about it, if there were methods to comprehend the Grand Dao, then everyone in the world would have stepped on the path to the Grand Dao long ago.

Good luck?

Chen Xi frowned as he pondered, and he still shook his head after quite a long time. These things that could be encountered by luck but not sought after, were things that were impossible for him to have the determination that he would surely obtain it.

Ji Yu couldn’t refrain from reminding him when he saw this. “Slow-witted. Let me ask you, are there any similarities between the Windflow Divination Sword and the Divine Windwing Flight?”

The similarity between the sword technique and movement technique? They seem to both be related to wind… Ah, wind?

Chen Xi’s eyes lit up, as he already had a plan in his heart.

Ji Yu smiled and said, “The Dao of Wind is constantly changing: violent, gentle, sharp, lingering… It’s the most unrestrained and free. If you want to master the essence of the Windflow Divination Sword and the Divine Windwing Flight, then you must first know what exactly wind is.”

——

Wind!

Chen Xi sat cross-legged within the sea of clouds at the side of Moon’s Embrace Mountain’s precipice as he felt the mountain wind whistle past him.

The mountain wind moved swiftly and was difficult to find, but Chen Xi’s sword technique and movement technique had long since attained the unity-stage, and he’d quickly merged his mind with the wind within the world.

When the wind flashed past the billowing sea of clouds and swept past his face, he would be able to clearly feel its speed, trajectory, strength, and even every tiny detail in the subtle changes in the wind appeared within his mind.

“This mountain wind is piercingly cold like a saber and swift like lightning.” Three days later, Chen Xi opened his eyes, seeming as if he’d comprehended something. Without the slightest hesitation, he stood up and flew into the air like a garuda, and in an instant he’d already flashed over 5km away. Compared to before, his movement technique faintly carried within it a strand of an inexplicable aura. It had become even more profound and faster.

After a short moment, before a lake in the area of Moon’s Embrace Mountain.

Chen Xi didn’t delay in the slightest before sitting on the ground to face the vast surface of the lake.

Swish!

The wind stirred the surface of the lake, causing wave after wave of ripples. As it flashed past the lotus flowers on the surface of the lake, it carried along a trace of gentleness, like a person that was deeply in love was stroking the face of their sweetheart.

“This lake wind is gentle and fine, and is continuous like the rain…” Seven days later, Chen Xi opened his eyes once again, and the pondering expression within his eyes had become even stronger. He then got up and flew off to vanish by the lakeside.

Day after day passed by, Chen Xi’s footprints spread all over the peak of the mountain, the lake, the rocky area; during a heavy shower, under the fiercely shining sun… His perception of wind grew deeper and deeper.

“The wind contains a myriad of changes, and its form is constantly changing. Regardless of if it was a gale, a breeze, mountain wind, lake wind, and even the wind after rain; its speed, force, and trajectory were completely different, displaying the Dao of changing to the greatest extent. But what is the source of these changes?”

Another month passed by.

Chen Xi sat alone within the abode as he meditated on every type of wind that he’d comprehended during these past few days.

Change?

Why does it change?

“Freedom! Without freedom, there is no wind!”

Chen Xi’s body trembled. When good fortune comes, the mind becomes clear, and it was like he’d pierced through a piece of paper and he was suddenly enlightened!