Inside the stone hut, the air hummed with the effort of Hanyuan's concentration. He stood with the Azure Cloud Footwork manual clutched in one hand, tracing the erratic, flowing lines of the meridian diagrams. The Qi flow for this technique was fundamentally different from his spear arts; instead of an explosive burst, it required a constant, fluctuating circulation that moved like drifting vapor.
He channeled his Qi into the secondary meridians of his thighs and ankles.
"Swish"
"CRASH!"
Hanyuan's shoulder slammed into the stone wall with a bone-jarring thud. The speed had been there, but his control had vanished the moment he tried to pivot. He slid to the floor, rubbing his shoulder with a wince. He looked up at the wall that was completely unscathed despite his impact.
"Thankfully, the Sect doesn't skimp on defensive arrays," Hanyuan muttered, his voice echoing in the small room.
He spent the next ten hours of failure and minor adjustments. Every time he pushed his Qi, his legs felt lighter, as if the gravity of the island no longer applied to him, but staying upright was like trying to stand on an oil-slicked marble. By the end of the day, his Dantian was a dry husk and his muscles throbbed with a burning soreness.
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
He emptied his waterskin in one go, the cool water doing little to soothe the internal heat of his over-extended meridians. Without resting his body, he picked up the Cold Cloud Spear.
Thwack! Thwack!
He utilized his recovery time to drill the basics. By the time his Qi had replenished naturally, he dove back into the footwork. For ten days, this was his routine: a constant alternating of the spear and the footwork practice.
With only two days left before the Outer Disciple Competition, Hanyuan stepped out into the golden morning light. His stomach let out a low, mournful growl that broke his focus. He reached into his robes, but his fingers met only empty cloth.
He didn't have a single spirit stone or merit point left. The high-tier food of the cafeteria was unavailabe for him right now.
"The life of a cultivator is truly expensive," Hanyuan thought, a wry smile touching his lips. "If I want to eat before the fight, I'll have to hunt for it."
He didn't walk toward the center of the island. Instead, he turned toward the Light Bridge. As he hit the grass, he activated a sliver of the Azure Cloud Footwork. His steps became blurred, his silhouette flickering as he glided over the uneven terrain. What used to be a long, exhausting run was cut down to a mere forty minutes.
"Truly worth forty-five stones," Hanyuan breathed, not even out of Breath as he reached the outskirts of the Myriad Herb Wilderness.
The forest was vibrant in the early morning light. He moved with stealth, his footsteps leaving barely a Footprint in the damp moss. Near a small, crystalline stream, he spotted a cluster of Yellow Glowberries. They radiated a fierce, warm light, their juice packed with a mild energy.
Perfect for drink, he thought, securing them in his bag.
Then, his ears caught a rhythmic clicking of hooves. From the dense brush emerged a Crystal Deer. It was a beautifulTier 1 Spirit Beast, its hide covered in translucent, armor-like plates of bone. It radiated an aura exactly at the 6th Layer of Qi Refining.
Usually, a beast like that would take minutes of grueling combat to bring down, especially one as agile as a deer.
Hanyuan stayed downwind. He didn't just walk; he became part of the drifting mist. He initiated the Azure Cloud Footwork, his body becoming a blur among the trunks. He closed the distance silently, the deer never even twitching its ears.
Ten paces. Five paces.
Sou!
He lunged. In that single second, he combined the speed of his footwork with the concentrated lethality of the Star-Point Piercer. The Cold Cloud Spear whistled through the air, its blue tip becoming a single, focused ray of ice.
The strike was critical. The spearhead punched through the reinforced crystal plating of the deer's skull as if it were parchment. The beast didn't even have time to cry out; it collapsed instantly, the light fading from its eyes as its brain was frozen and shattered by the Qi.
Hanyuan withdrew his spear, looking at the clean kill satisfied.
He spent the next few hours butchering the deer, roasting the best cuts over a hidden fire, and washing it down with the revitalizing Glowberry juice. As the sun set, his body felt surged with vitality.
Forty minutes, Hanyuan calculated, squinting at the midday sun piercing the canopy. I need to be back in the Sect to continue training.
He vanished into the treeline, his Azure Cloud Footwork leaving nothing but a faint disturbance in the leaves. However, halfway back to the light bridge, the forest suddenly went deathly silent.
The birds stopped singing. The insects went mute.
BOOM!
A distant explosion of energy erupted from the Inner Region of the forest, miles deeper than Hanyuan had ever dared to step. Two terrifying pressures slammed into each other like tectonic plates. One was feral, ancient, and heavy,the unmistakable aura of a Peak Tier 2 Spirit Beast. The other was sharp, cold, and immensely refined—the power of a Mortal Core expert.
Hanyuan's hair stood on end. To him, the shockwave was a physical gale that ruffled his hair and made his skin prickle with cold sweat.
"Mortal Core experts clashing," Hanyuan whispered, his pulse racing. "If that beast loses and retreats, it'll cause a stampede of lower-level monsters. The outskirts are going to be a slaughterhouse in an hour."
He didn't stick around to witness the fight. He pushed his footwork to the absolute limit, his silhouette becoming a blur of blue and white as he raced toward the mountain. His lungs burned.
Thirty minutes later, he came to a halt at the base of the Sect's main peak, his breath coming in ragged bursts of steam.
Sou!
Before he could even wipe the sweat from his eyes, the air in front of him shimmered. A man appeared out of thin air, his movement so fast Hanyuan's senses couldn't even register a blurred line. Before he could raise his spear, two heavy hands clamped onto his shoulders.
"Junior brother! Don't panic," the man said.
He looked to be in his early twenties, with short brown hair and a jagged scar running under his left eye. He wore the charcoal-grey and silver robes of an Inner Disciple. The aura he radiated made Hanyuan feel like a pebble next to a boulder.
"Did you feel it?" the man asked urgently, his eyes searching Hanyuan's. "A commotion in the Inner Region? Any sighting of a blue-robed woman?"
Hanyuan swallowed hard, forcing his heart to slow down. "I... I felt it, Senior. Two Mortal Core auras clashing deep in the woods. I didn't see anyone; I just ran to avoid the potential beast tide."
The man's face went a sharp shade of red, and he bit out a curse, his fingers tightening on Hanyuan's shoulders for a second. "This damned Witch! She's fighting alone again! How many times does the Elders have to scold her...?"
He caught himself, realizing he was venting to a novice. He let go of Hanyuan's shoulders and let out a frustrated sigh. "Thanks for the information, kid. At least I know I'm heading in the right direction."
The man reached into his sleeve, tossed a small, weighted silk bag at Hanyuan, and vanished into a sonic boom of air, heading straight back into the forest.
Hanyuan caught the bag, looking at the place the man had occupied just seconds before. "So that's an Inner Disciple..." he muttered. "The speed is beyond my imagination."
He opened the bag. His eyes widened. Ten low grade spirit stones shimmered inside.
"Are Inner Disciples really this wealthy?" Hanyuan chuckled, a bit dazed. "Ten stones just for pointing at the Direction?".
The extra coins were a godsend, though he wouldn't have time to spend them before the tournament. He walked the remaining distance back up the mountain, crossing the bridge of light as the evening sun dipped below the cloud sea.
He reached his stone hut, the door latch clicking shut with a finality that felt right. He spent thirty minutes washing the mud and beast blood from his body, the cold water revitalizing his tired muscles.
Tomorrow was the day. The Outer Disciple Competition. Hanyuan fell on his bed as his vision darkend.