Book 1: Chapter 29, Preparation

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After Tengfei, looking really exhausted, made the little pink snake disappear. He made his way towards Lihua who was sitting down and meditating.

He sat down as he felt his soar legs were about to give in any moment. His body was sweating a lot.

By the time he relaxed, Lihua already finished inspecting her mana source.

She then gave out a sigh before asking Tengfei,"So, are you going to explain about that small snake? Or not?"

Tengfei didn't reply immediately, as he couldn't help but settle his heart.

He then said, "While I was fishing, I encountered that thing which kept on messing with me. It's normally friendly when I offer it drake fish."

Lihua raised one eyebrow before asking, "A small creature like that... You allowed it to mess iwth you without fighting back?"

Hearing her words caused Tengfei's expression to change as here replies back, "You'll never understand how dangerous that creature is!"

"I will never indeed if you don't explain!" Rebuked Lihua.

Tengfei became silent. He then said, "Fair point. Hmm, what is the best way to describe its deadliness? I know! I'll just mention about that one moment when I was fishing."

He then recalled his memories before saying, "It was an afternoon with me just sitting near the pond, waiting for my bait to get bitten. But then I saw a weird occurance. A small bear with an inflated neck, similar to a frog came and was about to attack me. Though before her did, the pink came out the pond and spat a ball of black goop on to the bear. The bear's eyes got hindered. Afterwords caused my whole body to shiver as the small snake threw a small fire ball at the black spot! It caused an explosion which engulfed the whole bear and fried it!"

Lihua was not only shocked by the snake's power, but also how long the story was!

She then asked, "What happened next?"

Tengfei gave out a terrified look before replying, "The snake then proceeded on dragging the bear into the forest! Coming back a little while later with a bulge on its body!"

Lihua placed her hand on her mouth before exclaiming, "That's..."

"Freaky right?" Tengfei trying to complete her sentence.

"No, it's... Amazing! A cute small snake being able to defeat the swallowing river bear and eat it!"

Tengfei observed the princess who had eyes filled with amazement and expression of a new fan.

She then said out loud, "You should tame this beast! It'll be your new beast companion!"

"Tame? I can barely out run it..."

Lihua didn't say anything but smile afterwords.

Tengfei looked at her and asked, "What were you doing? Meditating?"

"No, just checking my mana source since... Thank's to you, I was able to gain my wind cultivation back." She said before showing slight hints of sadness after recalling what Tengfei had to go through.

Tengfei noticed her slight change of tone but didn't question it before asking, "Isn't wind an affinity?"

"I thought I mentioned that everyone that were capable of elemental cultivation... Were born with affinity on their mana. Though people who do have the affinity but can't fill their mana source don't count as one. They instead become afinnity physical cultivators or in other terms... Elemental Enhancers!" Lihua then fixed her imaginiary glasses after giving that small lecture.

Tengfei thought that her small act was quite cute but heed no attention to it but instead asked a question, "You said born? But do you think that I gained my affinity from the pill?"

"Gain affinity? That's preposterous! Impossible! That's like defying the heavens itself!" She then crossed her arms.

"So... I was born with light affinity?" Tengfei asked curiosly.

Lihua nodded before replying, "That's highly likely."

Tengfei ondered about it before asking, "Then what about people with dual affinity?"

Lihua thought that he knew about her question, but that propability is near zero, so she replied, "Well, it's actually quite simple as half the body would have an element affinity while the other half resides a different one. Once you want to activate a certain inscription of the element, then you would need to concentrate and release the condensed liquid mana from another pool. As dual affinity cultivators are born with two pools."

The expression of Tengfei was filled with eagerness as he carefully listened, not even allowing a word to be forgotten.

Lihua felt quite proud as teacher being looked at with awe.

"Aside from that, I would like to know if I can enter my mana pool."

Lihua struggled on finding a right answer, "That's..." before continuin, "Quite difficult prior to stepping into the actual cultivation. Other than finding a foundation scroll... There's not other way, unless you spent half your life time meditating."

Tengfei felt quite dejected.

Lihua seeing this made her sigh before saying, "After that contest, you should be able to cultivate."

Hearing this made him spirited once more as he nods.

The princess then heard her master ask to start meditating. She didn't question and did as told.

Tengfei was puzzled but didn't ponder about it.

As she was meditating, a strange thing occured. Her consciouse faded as she entered a garden filled with greenary and flora. Birds could be heard chirping and mixed with the sound of the flowing waterfall nearby.

There was a glass table and chair beside it. A shadowy figure stood nearby.

Lihua knew that this was her master and this place was a dimension pocket.

The shadowy figure gave a sword to Lihua before saying, "Since you're my servant and deciple, I need you to properly learn how to use a sword. I don't want my proud name to be stained when you can't even defeat a thug."

Lihua bitterly smiled after recalling what occured before.

"If you knew how to control your sword, then that then that event were that man pushed you don't wouldn't ever have happened."

The shadowy figure then snapped her fingers which caused a skeletal figure to emerge from the ground, wielding a stick. An undead.

"You're going to practice with this minion of mine."

Lihua prepared her stance and waited patiently.

The skeleton swang the swing stick aiming for he head, Lihhua blocked in response. Though the force of the swing was too dreadful and caused her blade to fall off. Lihua was then smacked on her cheeks by the stick which caused her to fall down from the unbelievable force.

Before the skeleton could swing again, Lihua's master gestured with her hands which stopped it.

Lihua felt a ringing sound, the pain was real, and she felt dizzy. Her right cheek was red entirely.

Her master then told her to stand up.

She did as told, though her legs were still shaking.

"There's so many things wrong with your stance and way of dealing with strength."

Lihua looked at her master with slight hint of anger forming. She couldn't believe that her sword stance was taking lightly. Not to mention her pride once again been torn apart as she remembers that the way the skeleton beated her was the same as before. She didn't learn.

Lihua picked up the blade and held onto it tightly before saying, "Once more!"

They then assumed the same stance as before, as the skeleton swings its stick... Lihua didn't block but instead sidestepped. Though this was futil as, the skeletal didn't use all its force but instead it was a feint. The skeleton then swang its stick horizontally before hitting Lihua on the stomach area.

She felt the blunt force before being knocked to the ground once again. Somehow this world was too realistic that she could feel like vomitting what she ate earlier.

Lihua didn't give up as she recall how everyone took her lightly. She knew that this was her chance. The chance to become strong.

After she stood up, her master then told her, "I think by now you understand the gap between your strength and others. Not only that but the skill of people. I made it so that the skeleton always swings with feints and only hit hard when it knows that blow will land."

The shadoy figure then gone close to Lihua before continuing, " So, I'm going to fix your stance to fit the foundation to wield my inheritance. Now listen carefully." Lihua nodded.

"First, tuck in the hilt of your weapon near your chest as you face your blade towards your opponent. Make it so that your opponent could only see the side of your body, hense hiding any vitals. Make it so that your dominant hand is on top of your other as they clutch the hilt tightly."

Lihua did as told and then asked, "Like this?"

"No, spread your legs a little more and bend your knee which in front. Your eyes must not be focused on your sword but instead the opponent's. Loosen your shoulders, don't make them stiff. Grip the hilt more tightly."

Lihua fixed her stance which then her master complimented, "This will do for now."

The master then stood in front of the skeleton before saying, "Watch how I fight against brute force."

Lihua looked carefully at her master who was striking the same pose which she was taught.

The skeleton figure swang its blade. Her master waited until the stick was close to her before slanting her blade and leading the stick to slide down to the ground as she steps slightly to the side. She then without losing momentum, aimed to behead the skeleton who was bending down, raising his stick.

The master then told Lihua, "Copy my movement."

Lihua was left sspeechless as to how fluid her movements were. Fast and agile, and it felt like no strength was needed.

She questioned herself if she could mimic what she saw.

Her master then told her, "Now you're going to be here until you can't feel your body anymore."

Hearing those words caused her to feel despair entirely.

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Some time later

Lihua was finally done with her inner conscious training as she breaths out roughly and her body sweating non-stop.

It felt like she was actually physically training.

She looked around to find that it was already turning dark. She also found that a blanket was wrapped around her with an earthenware mug beside her.

The princess was wondering about it before her answer popped up when she saw Tengfei sleepin beside her.

Lihua couldn't help but smile, revealing her pearly white teeth. She thought it was quite sweet for him. Too sweet.

She removed the cloth around her neck which acted as a sweat absorbant. Before placing the blanket around her upon Tengfei. Lihua picked up the earthenware mug before sniffing the aroma on it. Ginseng tea.

Pondering about this caused her once bright smile to turn into a frown. It was due to recalling how she mistreated him in the past everytime he serves the tea. Sometimes she would spill the tea on his face and tell a lie that it tastes horrible; Faking that she accidentaly dropped the tea and many more mischieves.

After taking a sip on the tea, a bitter smile formed. She thought, 'What was I doing wasting all those tea back then?'

She then sighed before continuing her trail of thoughts, 'Did I change? I recalled it would normally take so much time for people change... I wonder if I did? Even if not, I'll try my best to compensate for my behavior towards him.'

Her eyes then wandered towards Tengfei's face. After thinking of something... She slapped both of her cheeks and banished those previous thoughts!

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In a place near a flowing river

Zhou Huan stood there, breathing in the fresh air.

He then showed a hideous smile before rubbing his hands together as he watched a Swallowing river bear.

The bear was currently taking a nap underneath a large Iron flosk tree. (Iron flosk were uncommon types of trees with strong bark similar to that of iron. Containing sap which helps in inscription making for stage one techniques.)

Zhou Huan was craving for this bear's beast core as he starts warming up his body. Jumping around and flapping his arms.

He then stretched his arms before running towards the bear.

His eyes filled with bloodlust, his hands gripped into the spear tightly, and his breathing resembled like someone desperate for power.

When his pressence was near, the bear awoken. It knew danger was right in the corner.

The bear stood, showing off it's enormous body, towering with the height of seven feet. Claws the length of daggers. A large sac on it neck similar to that of a croaking toad. Fur color of dark blue with some shine on it. A terrying existance.

The moment Zhou Huan was about four meters near, the bear oppened its wide mouth and a long pink tongue emerged out of it. Zhou Huan couldn't react due to its terrifying speed. His whole body aside his head was coiled by the tongue, preventing his movement. He even dropped his shield due to the force.

He gritted his teeth from the tongue squeezing his body entirely.

Zhou Huan knew that he didn't have enough time before he would be killed from dedusing the approaching bear.

He mustered his strength to forcefully traverse through the thick strong tongue and grab hold of his carving knife. Without sparring a second, he wield the knife and stabbed it into the tongue.

This caused the bear to retract its tongue and showed a wimpering noise. The bear closed its mouth before spitting out his dagger.

Zhou huan finally could breath once again as he stares into his foe. He then rushed in once again. Though he found that something was wrong as he sees the bear's belly trembling. The bear then, as if finished breathing, opened its mouth before a fast ball of water came towards Huan.

Though after fighting so many beasts before, his reaction time was better than before. So, he dodged with ease before picking up his shield and blocking the next blow. The force of the shot was great enough for Huan to be pushed back as his feet caves the ground.

Another shot came, this time pushing away his shield and tripping his body backwards. He fell on his behind before fearing that another shot would launch upon his defenseless self.

This was not the case though. As if heaven gave wonderful luck to this young man ever since escaping his destiny of being a slave forever.

Swallowing river bears could only shoot out three shots after waking up from a deep rest.

That's why the bear's face looks a bit worried as it starts fleeing away.

Seeing this act, ignited the fiery blood of Zhou Huan as he stood and followed the bear with revenge filled in his eyes.

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In a room inside the inn

Li Meixiu was sitted down on the ground with a spreaded out scroll in front of her. Around the room were countless inscription papers which were activated, creating a defensive dome around her.

This scroll was the same one that Zhou Huan won for her at the auction. It had various designs on it, like the bamboo wood had characters written on it which can't be deciphered. All the strokes seemed to take so much time and patience at the same time... All connected. If you could feel the ink with your hands, you'll find it quite rough as if made of sand.

A total of nine bamboo boards with runic words written vertically downwards on them. Though the middle, fifth was missing those characters. Instead a spiral circle with an ink portrait that resembled a drake's head was seens.

Li Meixiu pricked her finger and let the blood land on the center of the spiral. She then held the scroll with both her hands and braced herself.

Words then entered her sea of conscious that explained the use of the scroll.

Telling her that there was four stages to this secret technique. Though the most important part that it was soul bound. Meaning that it can eternally be used and no one can steal it.

A mark appeared on her collar bone, depicting that she successfully made the technique hers. The mark was black as the void and resembled a drake chasing its tail. The burning sensation could be felt on her skin, but she didn't mind the pain.

Her face was pale and as she was left with haggard breathing. She eyed the mark on her collar bone before her eyes shows traces of joy.

Li Meixiu then organized the new information she got before recalling it.

She then thought, 'This eternal soul technique has a possible growth of reaching stage four! Though at the moment, it's nothing more than an early stage two. Nevertheless, it's definetely a technique that I sought after for a long time. I better first try it out.'

Meixiu then guided her mana from the source into the mark on her collar bone. There's no place where an apprentice elemental cultivator(Second Stratum) could lead their mana in their body.

Once the mark was activated, her heart beat started pounding a lot. She could hear a ring on her head as her sight diminished. two horns grew out from her forehead, completely gold and white in color.

Her eyes seems like emitting a gleem of fiery radiance resembling the horn in color.

Electricity could be seen buzzing on the horns, flaying around as if alive.

She felt like her body lightened, her strength enhanced and her speed dramatically doubled!

And the most important part... Her mana pool increased in size and the gather rate of her thunder mana around the body increased!

Though immediately afterwords, blood could be seen on the corners of her mouth, before the horn retract and enter back inside the forehead.

She covered her mouth before coughing out blood. Meixiu knew that without practising religiously, then she can't wield this technique.

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