14 Cold Wind Trace
The day following the Golden Tail Mall incident, the entire Blue Rose City was in an uproar. Photos of the destruction had been leaked throughout the social media, causing many students and faculty to become enraged at the government's silence at such a blatant act of terrorism. After all, not only was Golden Tail Mall's plaza ruined, the entire sector was in shambles as well, crippling Blue Rose's main source of income.
Blue Rose City's economical development structure divided the city into four regional sectors, each devoted towards a specified result, be it commerce, foreign affairs, governmental processes, or research. Golden Tail Mall was located in the middle of the west sector dedicated towards maximizing economic potential of the city. Crippling the west sector of Blue Rose would result in a massive financial problem for the entire city, for the smaller businesses located in the other sectors simply could not sustain the city's massive expenditure.
To make matters worse, there was no response from Blue Rose City's government, not even an acknowledgement of such an incident. Had it not been for the blockade preventing citizens from entering the western sector, the citizens of Blue Rose City would have assumed the leaked photos to be a manipulative prank. Though the city seemed to not be affected as much from the exterior, there was no predicting how the future would affect the city's function, especially as the research and governmental sectors required massive amounts of funds annually.
In the campus of Blue Rose University, Li Mo Shang sat in his room inside Magnolia Dormitory, clearing his mind of the recent events and attempting to reach a mental state of tranquility. The issue with Professor Wan had been quickly resolved after Su Yuan'er had testified that she too was present at the incident, thus allowing the two to skip the next few lectures to properly recuperate.
To that, Li Mo Shang truly wanted to thank Su Yuan'er, even if she was extremely grating on his nerves with her excessively clingy personality. If she didn't testify before Wan Xue, it was unknown how long that lioness teacher of a beauty would continue to rant for. Taking in a deep breath of air, Li Mo Shang opened the window to look at the bright sky before sitting down on his bed, deep in thought.
He deeply desired to re-attain the state of tranquility he experienced yesterday during the chaotic incident. With a gentle clarity coursing through his mind, his cognitive abilities were raised to unreasonable values, and his control over spiritual qi was much more fluid. If Li Mo Shang could replicate that sensation and instill it to become an automatic process, then his cultivation would leap by bounds, theoretically.
Regarding his cultivation, Li Mo Shang had several conjectures on where to proceed, but could not progress with confidence as he was lacking any reference. Ever since he had formed the spiritual core, the Heretic manual had not displayed any new information, and the only idea Li Mo Shang had decent confidence in was to constantly imbue worldly qi into his spiritual core, until he had generated enough orbiting rings.
The orbiting clusters of coalesced spiritual qi near his spiritual core were very intriguing in Li Mo Shang's opinion. Appearing as grey-colored clouds without a definite form, they revolved around the spiritual core at rapid speeds, with thin streams of purified qi attracted towards the core's engravings. Within each cluster, Li Mo Shang sensed a formidable strength, capable of destroying the entire city if released in a singular burst of pure energy but lacking an outlet or defining channel to give the cluster an identity. If compared to human development, the clusters of spiritual qi were nothing more than an abnormally powerful infant.
Li Mo Shang cleared his mind once more, before willing his spiritual core to relinquish a strand of spiritual qi, before directing it towards his brain. Slowly assimilating the strand into his brain, he didn't absorb it into a single partition of his brain, but rather redirected it towards the surface of his brain, as if giving it a gentle massage. As the assimilation process began, Li Mo Shang suddenly trembled, experiencing an ice-cold sensation throughout his body.
As the spiritual qi continued to permeate the surface of his brain, the icy sensation intensified even further, until Li Mo Shang was barely hanging on to consciousness, his teeth chattering, skin undulating, as his originally slightly tan skin slowly become completely pale. The instant the last of the strand of spiritual qi merged with his brain, Li Mo Shang groaned before falling completely unconscious.
Once his consciousness had fled into the spiritual core, the core suddenly became much more active, beginning its rapid absorption of the surrounding worldly qi. The worldly qi was voraciously devoured by the spiritual core then converted into spiritual qi to then orbit obediently in the second ring, merging with the original mass of qi. Su Yuan'er were to step into his room at this moment, she would see rays of an assortment of colors of light rush into Li Mo Shang's body.
Unbeknownst to Li Mo Shang at that moment, this state of unconsciousness would present himself a divine gift.
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Li Mo Shang woke up suddenly, only to find himself stranded high in the sky. Looking downwards, he could only see white clouds, and the scenery directly upwards and in all directions, was the same. Observing his body, he noticed that although it looked the same, the body lacked a core component that startled Li Mo Shang.
This body had no mass. It was completely solid, and Li Mo Shang could feel that he was falling, as his physical senses were constantly alerting his brain that he was falling downwards at terminal velocity. It was only that he had no visual reference to gauge how much of a distance he had fallen, for the scenery did not change a single bit; only the wind rushing through his ears reminded him to ignore the visual cues.
Gritting his teeth, Li Mo Shang willed the spiritual core to relinquish several strands of qi, projecting them from his feet in an attempt to reduce his falling speed. Caring not for the disturbance it made, spiritual qi blasted out from his soles in the form of shockwaves. Instantly, Li Mo Shang shot upwards at great speeds, much to his surprise.
Was he not falling downwards? How could such a small boost generated by spiritual qi send him careening in the air? Li Mo Shang wondered if he was trapped in a well-crafted illusion, for he could not determine whether his physical senses were able to be trusted or not. If this was truly an illusion, then Li Mo Shang had no idea what to do next.
At some point in time, LI Mo Shang had finally stopped spiraling upwards from that single blast of spiritual qi. Letting out a sigh of relief, he willed his spiritual core to offer a few more strands once more, this time redirecting them towards his hands. Making an awkward grabbing motion with his hand, his fingers clenched into a fist, and to his surprise, grabbed something tangible.
Shocked, Li Mo Shang repeated the motion with his other hand, only to receive the same result. Delighted, he redirected spiritual qi towards his feet, this time projecting them as planks for his feet to gain a steady ground. Immediately, the sensation of falling ceased, and Li Mo Shang could finally stand upright with comfort.
Surveying his surroundings once more, Li Mo Shang truly couldn't understand how it was so strange, existing yet not. His physical senses that once told him that he was falling at terminal velocity were now informing him that he was on solid ground, what trickery was he experiencing? Guided by previous experience, he imbued his eyes with spiritual qi, and was greeted by a marvelous sight.
Opening the eyes imbued with spiritual qi, the originally sky-high scenery changed into a pale blue world. The clouds had disappeared, and everything was rendered into a monochrome light blue, akin to a soft fabric. His hands clenched onto a piece of this monochrome world, and on his feet were two grey rectangular slabs, which Li Mo Shang understood it to be his spiritual qi.
Intrigued, Li Mo Shang willed his spiritual core to relinquish even more qi; this time, he spent his qi without reserve, blasting it from his palms before him.
Instantly, Li Mo Shang saw black streaks arc from his hand following the outline of a conical funnel, expanding from the center of the palm to a location approximately a zhang away. The black streaks remained before him for several seconds before slowly dissipating, and a loud bang akin to a strike of thunder resounded out. If Li Mo Shang's eyes did not deceive him, he noticed a small shockwave emerge from the point the black streaks diverged.
Energized by the result, Li Mo Shang repeated his actions once more, striking his palm out one after another. To his joy, he confirmed that with each strike, a large black streak of spiritual qi would dart out from his palm, before fragmenting to expand the range of interference. Not only that, the black streak of qi was very complex, and Li Mo Shang loved experimenting with it.
Almost instantly from the successive attempts of manipulating qi in this odd monochrome world, Li Mo Shang had realized that the black spiritual qi seemed to be very invasive in this environment, as before it dissipated, it had devoured small portions of the blue before him. Li Mo Shang guessed that this world was condensed completely out of spiritual qi, perhaps in an embryonic stage?
Limiting the strands of spiritual qi's range of interference, Li Mo Shang conjectured that the more concentrated and shorter distance the black strand of qi travelled, the more blue qi it devoured before dissipating. Emboldened by the effect of the black spiritual qi, Li Mo Shang willed his spiritual qi to project before him like a cocoon, then revolving it around his body. Gradually, Li Mo Shang's figure could not be seen, for he was hidden in the growing screen of black qi.
Though Li Mo Shang's figure was hidden from sight, his perspective was quite different, for his vision was unhindered save for some darkening of the scenery, almost like a light filter had been placed before his eyes. The spiritual core suddenly leapt out from within Li Mo Shang, the engravings of the sphere emitting a resplendent light; with a violent tremble, the monochrome world collapsed, before beginning to rush towards Li Mo Shang.
As the blue-colored qi entered the core, Li Mo Shang noticed that a third orbiting ring of qi was beginning to form. Covered in a blue pristine light, he noticed with surprise that within the growing cluster of spiritual qi, there existed a hint of detached coldness, almost like a harsh and biting winter wind yet gentle at the same time.
As the spiritual core devoured the world at increasing speed and vigor, the revolving wind of black spiritual qi increased in radius, causing the monochrome world to deteriorate even further. When Li Mo Shang turned his gaze towards the swirling mass of spiritual qi encompassing him, the first impression that came to mind was of starving locusts ravaging the lush, green life brimming with vitality. As if adhering to his command, the encompassing spiritual qi began to automatically manifest physical form, and within minutes, Li Mo Shang was completely surrounded by manifestations of spiritual qi that held visual similarity with locusts.
With the sudden change, Li Mo Shang reeled in surprise, before gaining a slight enlightenment on the uses of spiritual qi. Thinking on his first idea of manifesting an iron sword of spiritual qi, he visualized an array of swords hovering orderly before him. The clusters of spiritual qi did reorganize themselves to rest before Li Mo Shang, although they still did not obtain the look of a sword.
Li Mo Shang continued to tinker with the spiritual qi, causing it to take the shape of a massive book, then a staircase, flower, even mirroring the external appearance of his spiritual core, before setting on the form of a wind. Experiencing the familiar cold sensation he experienced at the incident at Golden Tail Mall, Li Mo Shang released a happy smile as the spiritual qi gradually became invisible, becoming a cool breeze.
The cold air was manipulated by Li Mo Shang to form a formless, invisible blade, then a shield, a set of clothing, before finally encompassing Li Mo Shang's body. Without a sound, his body seemed to have disappeared rapidly, without even the slightest visual trace remaining. Compared to yesterday's attempt, the wind generated this time was far more refined in concealment.
Interrupting his happy mood, the spiritual core released a light tremor before returning to Li Mo Shang's body. The last vestiges of the monochromic world collapsed completely, and Li Mo Shang regained consciousness in his room, with everything the same except for one thing.
His skin, was abnormally pale and smooth, almost like a baby, the skin texture fanatically pursued by many women. His originally tan, average-looking body had completely changed into an ancient stylized young master, with raven hair, white skin and light red lips, long eyelashes, and with cold black eyes glimmering with an azure light.
Standing up and lightly clenching his palm, a light cold breeze circled his fist, temporarily rendering a hazy appearance around his hand, as if submerged in a dense fog. Smiling thinly, Li Mo Shang looked outside the window and his terminal that during the entire journey to the monochrome world, he had merely spent a few hours for it was reaching the afternoon, just in time for lunch.
Out of habit, he checked the Heretic manual to see of anything had changed, and what he saw next caused him to stiffen.
Body Tempering Realm Methods of Cultivation.
