Boundless Illusion Steps

Bai Jingshen entered the training grounds Lorell had shown them before. As he walked further in, he could already hear youngsters talking to each other and the sound of punches and kicks flying through the air. He took a look around after he arrived in the main room. Groups of young cultivators gathered together in front of chambers to the side. Opposite of Bai Jingshen young men and woman were fighting in training rings against each other or training robots. To his right more hallways could be seen, leading to different training grounds.

As Bai Jingshen was observing this room, the young elites also mustered the newcomer. A second later a rather ordinary looking guy with dark skin and short, black hair separated from one the groups. He walked over towards Bai Jingshen with a light smile on his lips. Once he stood in front of Bai Jingshen, he held his hand out as he introduced himself.

"Glad to meet you. You can call me Stormspear. I heard that we got two newcomers from Instructor Hord. You can ask me if you need something. I'm the boss here."

While Listening to the chuckles of Stromspear's friends, Bai Jingshen took the latter's hand as he introduced himself.

"Yes, I just arrived a week ago. My name is Bai Jingshen."

"Bai Jingshen? That's not a name you hear every day, bro. Haha, I'm sure you will have your own nickname soon."

"Then I hope I will get a good one."

"I will do my best to make sure yours doesn't suck. Most of time we get nicknames based on our fighting style. Anyways, want me to show you around?"

"Thank you for the offer, but I'm ok for now."

"Well, suit yourself. I have to go back in line then. See you around."

After Stormspear went back to his group of friends, Bai Jingshen asked his AI for a map of this place. He looked through the different training grounds provided while he thought about a suitable one for him. The former emperor finally wanted to unearth some potential of his White Illusion Arts. So far, he had used the Illusionary Attack with great success, but naturally his sects' techniques had way more to offer.

Therefore, he decided to train the Boundless Illusion Steps now. At the early stages those were perfect to hide your angle of attack, but were also useful if he had to escape. Their only weakness was in high-speed travel, but Bai Jingshen figured this wouldn't hurt him for now.

After studying the different options, Bai Jingshen decided on a training ground. He followed a walkway to his right until he arrived before a door with the label 'Bullet Avoidance'. The young man looked at the display next to it, gladly noticing that no one was using this room right now. If possible, he still wanted less people to know about his techniques. This was a simple rule of self-preservation.

Bai Jingshen grit his teeth as he directly paid three hundred contribution points to rent the room for a month. This used up all of his points in one go. He knew he received one hundred after joining the elite program and would furthermore get two hundred per month. Therefore, if he wanted to do anything else this month, he would have to do some missions soon. Bai Jingshen however had another idea to get some points. Only Elena could help him with this however, as she could prove that they discovered the elven spirit water because of him and Sam. It was only fair that they get some points for this.

Pushing all the unnecessary thoughts to the back of his mind, Bai Jingshen entered the 'Bullet Avoidance' room. Just like described by his AI this was a long, narrow corridor. Small turrets were sticking out all over the walls. To the side was a small meditation chamber of slightly higher quality than in the private rooms. This one however could be powered by Immortal Spirit Stones to increase its effectiveness. Unfortunately, Bai Jingshen was simply broke safe for a few credits he got as salary. Those weren't completely useless in the city outside, but sadly they held no worth in the elite program.

Before Bai Jingshen trained in his movement technique, he decided to give the lowest level of this training a try first. From his understanding he should have a decent chance even without any movement technique. After all, the 30th floor was designed for cultivators at the Qi Gathering Realm. Since he was already at the 3rd stage now, and his body had strength equivalent to the 5th stage, this training should still be doable.

Full of confidence the former emperor told his AI to start the lowest level of training. A red circle started to blink on the floor, signaling Bai Jingshen's starting position. The young man prepared himself, before entering the circle. A countdown echoed in the room, while Bai Jingshen gathered his power in his legs.

As soon as the mechanical voice counted to zero, the circle underneath his feet turned green. Bai Jingshen began to run. He didn't sprint at full speed, but rather tried to stay light on his feet as the two furthest towers began to shoot at him. Their bullets were still flying at a speed he could avoid, as he nimbly jumped to the side. Soon after another wave of bullets came at him, as four turrets suddenly opened fire. They didn't stop at one bullet however, but each shot a small burst. Bai Jingshen had a bit more trouble with this wave as he narrowly dodged to the side.

Like this Bai Jingshen was able to run down the corridor halfway, dodging ever increasing waves of bullets. However just as he passed the halfway point, Bai Jingshen felt a sensation from behind him. A waver of bullets was rapidly approaching form a short distance, leaving him little space. He hastily dodged to the side only to finally be hit by a shot from his front. The bullet pushed him back by a meter, as all air was pressed out of his lungs. The young man hadn't thought there was such a power behind those bullets.

After taking several deep breaths Bai Jingshen walked back towards the meditation chamber with a wry smile. He really hadn't expected to not be able to clear the first level here. On the other hand, however, this spoke for the elite program if their standard were this high. It seems like he shouldn't try the 'Bullet Avoidance' without his movement technique again. Therefore, Bai Jingshen sat down in the meditation chamber, focusing his mind again. The room turned quiet as the former emperor recalled the Boundless Illusion Steps.

A lot of information he unconsciously remembered came to the front of his mind again. A complicated Qi path was necessary to activate his Illusionary Core and let it influence the outside world. Weaker illusion arts might only be able to deceive one's eyes, but the White Illusion Arts were always able to throw off all kinds of perception. Just like other high-level techniques the skillful movements and intricate Qi paths had to conform to the world's laws to achieve extraordinary effects. At higher cultivation realms they would start to wield the laws themselves to become even stronger.

However, just like the White Illusion Cultivation Technique his Boundless Illusion Steps will be hard to train in. Bai Jingshen would already be pleasantly surprised if he reached the first-step-stage after this one month of training.

After half an hour, Bai Jingshen finally fully recalled his movement art. He stood up with a sigh, reading himself for a month of catching bullets with his body. He once again started the first level of this training, pushing all distracting thoughts out of his mind. At this point only he and the Boundless Illusion Steps mattered.

After the first few tries Bai Jingshen already understood that he had a hard training regime to absolve. As he concentrated on getting used to his movement again, he wasn't even able to reach the same length as during his earlier try. However, the experienced veteran quickly fell into a single-minded state, pushing himself to become better and better.

Day after day the turrets in this corridor spewed out bullets. Bai Jingshen was able to dodge more and more, as he finally found the right feeling again. Form an outside observer's perspective it looked like Bai Jingshen was avoiding the bullets, while from time to time getting hit. But in the blink of an eye the bullet, which should clearly strike the young man's chest, suddenly didn't hit at all, as Bai Jingshen miraculously stood next to it.

Only Bai Jingshen knew that this was a good sign of his training finally bearing fruit. In his view every time he managed to use the Boundless Illusion Technique correctly, the turrets weren't able to locate his real position and fired at where they thought he stood. If he was able to continuously achieve this effect, he would have reached the first-step-stage. Not knowing how much time had passed, Bai Jingshen came closer and closer to his goal. He was already able to smoothly use his movement technique, almost able to completely deceive the turrets in this training ground.

Finally, the young man felt he was close to a breakthrough. He knew he only needed one last push. Therefore, Bai Jingshen focused his mind again, relaxing in the meditation chamber, before becoming serious. He prepared himself for one last run, in which he would clear the first level once and for all.