Chpater 28: The World Within The Stone (3)

"Is that it?"

The man's mouth gaped when he saw Ulquiorra unharmed. He was planning to only deal some superficial wounds, but the fact that he couldn't even damage a Qi Condensation realm cultivator was surprising to him. Back in the days, his intent aura could easily shred through foundation realm cultivators like butter. He was so surprised he couldn't even muster up any sort of words as a response to Ulquiorra.

"Not talking?" Ulquiorra said as he saw the man staying silent.

Ulquiorra sent a kick towards the man's stomach. The man was flung away towards a nearby boulder causing it to break. It was thanks to this that the man was able to snap out of his daze. The man looked at his current state and jumped up with an angry expression.

"Oi! Why would you kick someone like that all of a sudden!? Don't you have any tact?" The man shamelessly said.

"Is that so? In that case, I'll tell you where I'll kick so you'll know." Ulquiorra said with an indifferent tone.

"Huh? What do you-" The man said before seeing Ulquiorra disappear.

The man's eyes widened, and immediately looked around while grasping his sword to ready himself. After a quick look, he couldn't see Ulquiorra. He was perplexed when he heard a voice above him.

"Left cheek."

The man swung his sword, but was too late as his left cheek got kicked by a strong force. His phantasmal body flickered slightly as he got flung away again. The man rolled on the floor, and immediately shouted.

"Stop! Please stop!" The man said, and Ulquiorra reappeared above him.

"In that case, teach me how to materialize my aura properly this time unless you want to disappear." Ulquiorra said.

"Fine! Like I said before, the best thing to do is to experience it in person. Unfortunately, that didn't bode well for me. Instead, I'll just teach it step-by-step. First, revolve your qi inside your body along with your intent." The man said as he did it.

Ulquiorra could feel the sharp feeling from the man again, but much more restrained. The next moment, Ulquiorra could sense that the qi of the man slowly oozing out from his body like a thin veil around him. The man then spoke up.

"The next step is to slowly learn how to expel the qi and intent outwards your body while still revolving it inside. The final step is the trickiest part." The man said.

The man's qi then expanded around him making it appear as some sort of aura that was able to expand away from his body. It moved in a way similar to how a fire would burn albeit much slower. Ulquiorra could see that everything about the man was covered once more by the intent aura.

"The last step is somewhat hard to explain, but I'll try what I can. You have to be able to manipulate your intent and qi in a way that it's as if you're moving another part of your body. The way you visualize it is up to you. There are three levels in intent aura, and so far I'm still in the initial stage which is why my aura intent is formless like this." The man said before he continued as he pointed a finger at Ulquiorra.

"Don't be fooled! Intent aura is very complex! Doing it means that you have achieved mastery near the apex! Another thing is that the requirement to do it is to master true intent first! Most people would focus more on their cultivation techniques and moves, but would not be able to master intent! The other two stages after initial stage intent aura would be the profound stage and completion stage! Even within the elders, most of them have only had initial stage intent auras!" The man said.

The man wanted Ulquiorra to look perplexed as he demonstrated it. He wanted to see Ulquiorra's stone cold expression wrinkle as he struggled to figure out how to do it. Unfortunately for the man, fate had a another plan. Suddenly, the man felt Ulquiorra's small body emit a sense akin to that of the void.

The man already sensed it vaguely before as newly learned users of true intent would unconsciously emit their intents a bit unless they really try to hide it, but it was way more saturated now. The man realized that Ulquiorra was now able to do the first step of intent aura materialization. The next moment, Ulquiorra could now be seen with a thin veil of his intent and qi around his body. The man was now beyond surprised when suddenly the veil disappeared.

"Hmm, expanding it is more troublesome than I expected. It seems that it would take awhile for me to have that step mastered." Ulquiorra said.

"Wait! How were you able to do up to step two immediately!? This is absurd!!" The man shouted out.

Ulquiorra looked condescendingly at the man.

"It would have been more efficient for you to have taught it like this from the start. To answer your question, I can do it like this as I've already learned a similar technique." Ulquiorra said as he turned around to walk away. He was planning on practicing the intent aura in a more quiet place.

The man was left speechless. He watched as Ulquiorra move away. The only thing he could do was mumble out some words to showcase his disbelief.

"Learned....similar technique?....my countless years.... wasted." The man's phantasmal body dimmed.

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Once Ulquiorra walked a fair distance, he pondered about how he could actually extend his aura intent like some another part of his body. Truth be told, he could try visualizing it as his wings or a tail during his resurrección state, but he wanted to go past that. The reason he could directly do step two was that he realized that the concepts for step one shared similarities with how to use hierro. This time, instead of using spirit power, he used his qi and intent. The mastery he attained through many trials last stage was not wasted. The second step was merely him trying out exactly what the man said, and it worked. Suddenly, an idea popped up in Ulquiorra's head.

"Hmmm, what if I tried this."

(AN: Didn't reread this one for errors. Please point out the ones you see 😅😅😅 Thank you!)