9 Breadth of Mind and Spirit

"Don't worry, with me by your side, not a single soul weapon can hurt you."

In Zhong Yue's psyche ocean, Xin Huo suddenly said, "But I can only act using your body as a vessel, which would undoubtedly reveal my existence, the world will then come hunting for me. At that point, we can only run on a desperate path of exile… Eh? Someone is helping!"

It was only a short distance before the soul weapon would pierce through his forehead. All of a sudden, a palm came out of nowhere. Its thumb and index finger gently pinched onto the soul weapon, grabbing it in between its fingers.

Cold sweat rushed out of Zhong Yue's forehead, and his soul trembled as he could vaguely feel the Sword Qi from the soul weapon.

What just happened was extremely dangerous, his mind was on the verge of caving in entirely and resigning itself to death!

"It's a pity!"

In Zhong Yue's psyche ocean, Xin Huo was flying around, he sighed, "I was just thinking that after I am exposed, I would channel and detonate the devil souls that were sealed underneath this land, releasing the devil souls and allowing them to massacre and rampage on the people of Swords Gate. Then you and I can both wander around the world in search of a pure-blood Fuxi Celestial Race…"

A cold shiver traveled down Zhong Yue's spine as the words that fell from Xin Huo mouth evoked even more terror in him than the soul weapon he almost died to just now.

The soul weapon was vigorously vibrating, struggling to escape from the fingers that restrained it.

"Second uncle, please stop."

The owner of the palm was a young man, dressed in purple clothes—a handsome figure with eyes that shone like stars at midnight. He smiled at the elder of Tian Feng Clan and said, "You can't hide your hideous actions from the other Qi Practitioners.Even if you had killed him, the others would only laugh at the pettiness of the Tian Feng Clan."

The elder's heart skipped a beat, he quickly walked out of the Knowledge Teaching Pavilion, and he asked, "Why are you here in the upper house?"

"Zuo Xiangsheng defeated my dear second uncle, stripped the Cloudless Hall from the Tian Feng Clan and trampled on the name of the Tian Feng Clan. How can the Tian Feng Clan tolerate all of it?"

The young man smiled gently and said, "I am here to pay him a visit and to see what he's got!"

The eyes of the Tian Feng Clan elder shone, "With you here, we will definitely be able to reclaim the Cloudless Hall!"

However, the young man shook his head, smiled and said, "Zuo Xiangsheng wasn't at fault, there is indeed a need to give a path to the children of the poor. The Cloudless Hall will be handed over to him. I am here only to claim back the honor of the Tian Feng Clan, to defeat him and to let him know that the Tian Feng Clan are not so helpless that we can simply be picked on!"

He then turned to Zhong Yue, bowed and said, "My second uncle is being rude, I apologize to you on his behalf."

Zhong Yue quickly returned the bow. He could not help but have a favorable impression of the young man. He asked, "Senior martial brother is…"

"Swords Gate Qi Practitioner, Tian Yanzong of Tian Feng Clan."

Tian Yanzong rose and flew away. He said, "Second uncle, don't cause him any more troubles. I am here today to challenge Zuo Xiangsheng and reclaim the honor of the Tian Feng Clan. Second uncle need not embarrass us anymore!"

The elder's face was drastically changing; suddenly, he flung his sleeves and left in displeasure back into the Knowledge Teaching Pavilion.

"Hahahaha, is the Senior Martial Brother Zuo Xiangsheng of the Zuo Qiu Clan here?"

Tian Yanzong was in mid-air while his laughter reverberated throughout the mountains, "I, Tian Yanzong of Tian Feng Clan, am here to challenge you!"

Zhong Yue watched as Tian Yanzong flew away, he mumbled to himself, This Tian Yanzhong… his breadth of mind and spirit is comparable of that Zuo Xiangsheng, having such a temperament, he is also a proud hero…

Whether it's Tian Yanzong or Zuo Xiangsheng, they are both young men of around twenty years of age – five or six years older than I am, yet they have such an imposing manner. Such an exceptional temperament, they will definitely become significant figures in the Great Wilderness in the future!

Qi Practitioners… they are the Qi Practitioners in my mind—the true Qi Practitioners!

Zhong Yue's thoughts undulated like a stormy sea. Seeing the despicable actions of the Tian Feng Clan elder had put him off of Qi Practitioners. But watching Tian Yanzong and Zuo Xiangsheng had made him realize how a true Qi Practitioners acts and carries themselves!

"This experience has widened and condensed your state of mind; your aura now very slightly resembles that of a Qi Practitioner's."

Xin Huo praised him from his psyche ocean, "Maybe you will be a great Qi Practitioner in the future; of course, the Qi Practitioners are still like petty bugs compared to the pure-blood inheritors of Xin Huo."

Zhong Yue was now accustomed to his stinging words. He ignored it and thought to himself, Although the Tian Feng Clan will not trouble me anymore, there is still no one willing to take me in and teach me their techniques. Without any combat skills, I still can't fully unleash my real strength.

Such as before, the upper house disciple wielded his soul weapon and cast his sword skill, Zhong Yue couldn't fight back and could only continue trying to defend himself using various methods. If only he was also proficient in combat skills, then he wouldn't need to doggedly dodge and evade the attacks.

But now, even if the Tian Feng Clan wouldn't look for trouble again, there still weren't any Qi Practitioners that would take him in and teach him anything; Zhong Yue couldn't learn any combat skills and ascertain what his real power was.

Living in this world... without high ambitions, one will not strike high even if they are talented! If they don't take me in, then I will go and learn what I can myself, as long as I can learn anything, there is no need to pay attention to the reputation of the teacher.

His eyes brightened as he walked into Knowledge Teaching Pavilion. The Qi Practitioners of Swords Gate would, from time to time, come to the Knowledge Teaching Pavilion and pass down their techniques and knowledge to the upper house disciples. Today, there were more than ten Qi Practitioners in the pavilion, each teaching tens to hundreds of upper house disciples their ways of cultivation.

Zhong Yue walked into a training room, and he stood in the corner. In the room, a hundred upper house disciples were sitting down crossed-legged, quietly listening to the teachings of an old Qi Practitioner who was on the stage.

The old Qi Practitioner noticed him walking in, he was slightly startled, and he gently nodded to Zhong Yue.

The other upper house disciples also looked at him. Then the old Qi Practitioner continued with his teachings; his voice was loud and sonorous. "The mountains have mountain spirits. The rivers have river spirits. The trees have tree spirits. The grasses have grass spirits. The clouds have cloud spirits. The winds have wind spirits. The golds have gold spirits. The earth has earth spirits. The moon has moon spirits, and the sun has sun spirits!"

"Sense and manifest one of the spirits from nature and you can then manifest a related spirit in your psyche ocean!"

"These spirits, are the totem spirits, the spirits of worships!"

"It has been a long time since the residents of the Great Wilderness worshipped the majestic mountains, great waters, godly trees, spirit grasses, clouds and winds, sun and moon. Over time, spirituality emerged within the nature that we worship, people that possess a strong soul could sense and manifest the spirituality of nature within their body!"

"Only with the spirit, can one become a Qi Practitioner! The soul and spirit combine to form the atman of a human, the Yuan Shen!"

"Have a look; this is my spirit!"

A Swords Gate appeared above his head. When it opened, a foot tall stone man walked out of it. It had a body with four arms and an eye on the middle of each palm that glimmered with strange rays!

"My spirit is the spirit of the mountain, the mountain spirit integrated with my soul, and it became my atman. The atman is also called the Yuan Shen! The mountain gods have four eyes, closely watching all four directions. Hence, my atman also has four eyes!"

His soul dashed out and fused with the mountain spirit, his spirit was visibly getting bigger and taller, before finally becoming a four-armed stone man that was a thousand feet high. It stood behind the old Qi Practitioner, looking majestic and imposing. The four arms were reaching out, and the four eyes gazed in all directions—the upper house disciples were looking at it in wonder.

Zhong Yue was also greatly moved in his heart; he had heard words about the 'spirit'; some called it the 'totem spirit,' but he never knew what the 'spirit' was. Today, he finally had a basic understanding of the 'spirit.'

"In order to manifest the spirit, you must have a strong soul, and a strong soul is only obtainable through hard work, penance, and training. While for you to train in the Great Wilderness, you will need to possess great fortitude."

The old Qi Practitioner slowly explained everything in details. He smiled and said, "Great strength can only be unleashed through the combat arts. All of you can make it to the upper house—your foundations must be robust, your psyches must be firm, and your soul must be able to be liberated. Your combat awareness must not be bad either. All of you are eligible to learn the combat art I will be teaching today, the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Art]!"

His words were as if enchanted with magic, it brought Zhong Yue, the cultivation layman, into an intriguing state of mind.

"The [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill] – it is cultivated by visualizing the spring thunder. The spring thunderbolt is the first thunderbolt in spring… the first thunderbolt of the year. I need all of you to visualize and construct a totem of a thunderbolt with your psyche. Then turn the thunderbolt totem into Sword Qi. At that point, you would have successfully cultivated the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill]."

"The Sword Qi of the [Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill] moves like a sudden clap of a spring thunderbolt. From afar, it could travel vast distances in a blink of an eye, slaying your opponent from a thousand miles away! From near, ten steps would bring with it a kill. The thunderous lightning force erupts and explodes, destroying and crushing everything in seconds!"

Time flew by without anyone realizing it. The old Qi Practitioner thoroughly taught the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill] to the disciples. Using his psyche, he demonstrated how to carve the totem of thunderbolt to the disciples. He taught them without holding back the slightest bit of knowledge.

Zhong Yue became fully immersed in the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill] as he listened to the teachings. After the explanations were done, the old Qi Practitioner closed his eyes and stopped teaching, the disciples within the room could then only pull themselves back into their conscious mind.

All of them were enormously excited; they started practicing and cultivating the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill]. Some even practiced in groups, carefully observing the flaws in each other and then proceeding in perfecting it.

The thunderbolt is swift, in but a second it can crash from the high heavens to the ground. In the ancient times, the livings worshipped the thunderbolts and then birthed the thunderbolt totem, it contained the calamitous power of lightning.

Zhong Yue didn't try to carve the thunderbolt totem immediately; instead, he continued visualizing and thought to himself, The key to the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill] lies in the totem of thunder. The old Qi Practitioner carved a perfect and lively thunder totem, but the key wasn't on the form and linings of the totem, rather, it was whether the thunder totem could fully unleash the mighty and magnificent thunderous force!

The thunderbolt totem is complicated in carvings; it will not be easy to master all the carving permutations of the thunder totem. Only by grasping the core of the thunderbolt totem can I quickly learn the [Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill] and apply it in combat. Only then, will I slowly perfect the thunder totem and strengthen the power of the art!

His thoughts ventured deep into his visualization. He recalled back to how it looked like when he used to see the lightning splitting the sky itself in half. It was like a long sword piercing through the heaven and earth, flashing over thousands of millions of miles in the blink an eye.

While the spring thunderbolt was the first thunder of the year, it broke and bombed the cold winter. It caused the hearts of the people to tremble; it was another concept, something that transcended ordinary thunder!

Moments passed, Zhong Yue opened his eyes, stood up, and started practicing the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill].

At this point, there were already quite a number of upper house disciples that could cast the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill]. When they cast their sword skills, they were near replicas of the old Qi Practitioner's manifestation of the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill].

Meanwhile, Zhong Yue cast a different [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill] than the Old Practitioner's. His [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill] seemed to be very stubborn and dull, it wasn't like the ordinary thunderbolts that contained a vigorous and lively force.

The old Qi Practitioner closed his eyes and sat down quietly, behind his back, the four-armed four-eyed mountain god opened its eyes widely, carefully observing every movement, every action of the upper house disciples.

After a long time, the old Qi Practitioner heaved a deep sigh, rose and left, in a desolated voice he said, "The ones that could truly grasp the essence of my teachings—there is only one…"