Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
The entire hall was covered in silverish ice. It was as though it was made entirely of special metals. In this place, a chilling wind was howling and glittering crystals were falling. It was as cold as the two polar caps.
In the middle of the mountain, a location that was isolated from the world, there actually were frightening snowstorms raging that seemed intent to bury all living things!
Lou Cheng subconsciously started circulating his flame force to warm his body. Looking around him, he realised the source of the raging snowstorms were nine separate drawings hanging in different places. They were made of a special material and looked just like cloth or silk and each had a different charm. Some were dark and cold, some were in the form of snow and ice, some were crystal clear while others were a patch of snow white. Together they formed a mystical ice field covered in snow.
With so many items of mysterious and long-lasting charm in the same place, it was indeed easy to cause implications, resulting in leakage and forming a cycle. This was different from having only one item where one could only feel the changes by making direct contact with it... Lou Cheng continued pondering as his vision swept across the area.
At the corresponding locations of the nine drawings, there was an adjacent stone platform with various items placed on it. Some were pages of golden books, some were “Crystal items”, some looked ordinary and some were oozing charm. As for the nine stone platforms, they were like the stars surrounding the transparent cabinet in the middle. In it was the “Ice Essence Beads” that were formed from the congregated dull blue rays. It was also the real original source of the strange phenomenon of this place!
“Different drawings correspond to the visualization of the different unique skills. The stone platforms below them had the word description of its training method, the explanatory diagrams of the moves and the “Charm Experiences” left behind by several past physical invulnerability grandmasters. You could combine them for your own understanding. Don’t blindly follow the visualization diagram. You might as well not have books if you are going to follow it blindly. Martial arts are accumulated slowly over time.” He Yu explained in a simplified manner. He smiled faintly and continued, “You can come to this place for three hours a day. Don’t push yourself too hard. Don’t think that just because you have “Emperor Yan Force” that you could withstand the severely harsh environment. Be careful of the chilling charm entering your core as you could get arthritis. These might affect your chances of leaping over the dragon gate and achieving physical invulnerability.”
“Thank you, Senior Uncle, for your advice. Your disciple has understood. In that case, I’ll train here from one thirty to four thirty each day.” Lou Cheng knew what he should do and responded with sincerity and respect.
“Great. When it comes to understanding, it’s a personal thing. I’ll be heading out first.” He Yi pointed to the shimmering drawings and said, “That is the Enemy Heart Freezing Move. Ice Mirror was a simplified derivative of it... That is Ice Spirit Holy Light, the ancestor of Ice Burning. It also had a matching set of knife moves and sword techniques. You can take a look and try to understand. Even if you have no intention of picking up a weapon, you could also work in your fists and kicks... That is “Eternal Ice Wall”, a purely defensive skill. However teenagers like you have an open mind. Perhaps there are other uses that you might be able to come up with. That is “Titanic Starlit Skies. Absolute Frost”, one of the two major killer moves of Ice Sect...”
Among the “Unique Skills of Five Sects” under Taoism, “Thunder” sect, “Fire” sect, “Fighting” sect and “Plague” sect had compressed their related physical invulnerability moves into nine different styles. The later generations had since imitated this system for classification. The first through seventh styles were various physical invulnerability moves for different uses while the eighth and ninth style were the strongest killing move. They were named differently for differentiation. For example, the eighth move of Thunder sect was “Thunder from a Clear Sky. Cloudless Thunder Blade”, the ninth move of Fire Sect was “Nine Rotations of Five Flames, Descend Of The Sun”, the ninth move of Fighting Sect was “Doom’s Outrage, Punishment Of The Star Palace”, the eighth move of Plague Sect was “Demon Spirits Devil, Road To Hell” and the ninth move of Dark Sect was “Darkness Devouring The Day, Eternal Nightfall Descends”.
The eighth and ninth moves of the unique Ice Sect’s Ice Magical Kung Fu were “Frozen World, Eternal Freeze” and “Titanic Starlit Skies, Absolute Frost” respectively.
After giving him some directions, He Yi did not delay Lou Cheng’s time further. He walked out slowly from this place and closed the heavy door to isolate him from the outside world.
Lou Cheng did some balancing in his mind and took steps towards where the “Enemy Heart Freezing Move” was at.
Ice Mirror had become the core of all his martial arts now. It would definitely be the best if he could gain a new understanding and improvement on this skill!
That drawing looked like an engraving of a mirror formed from ice crystals. However upon careful examination, one would realize it was more like a fully functional crystal heart. With the surrounding cold fog contracting and relaxing, it appeared to have come alive and was beating.
Lou Cheng attempted to gain a direct understanding initially. However after not getting anything, he began to carefully read through the descriptions on the stone platform, the explanatory diagrams and the notes made by his grandmasters on their experiences one by one.
After getting an overall sense of the move and gaining a certain level of confidence, he returned to the visualization diagram again. He attempted to enter Solemn Silence again and try to experience it with a calm mind.
Three hours flew by quickly. Lou Cheng, who had his flame force circulating instinctively, woke up from the cold. His body was shivering uncontrollably.
“It’s been a long time since I have had such feelings. No wonder master only gives me three days. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to take it even if I was here for three hours a day. I probably have to wait for ten days to half a month before I can enter this place again...” Lou Cheng turned his flame force into “Emperor Yan” to stop shivering and acted like he was okay until He Yi opened the door.
With regard to the Enemy Heart Freezing Move, he was limited by his current level and could understand only an extremely small amount. He could only vaguely understand that it was not only applicable to himself but was also the nemesis of negative emotions. It could even connect with the heavens and the earth and help him to peek at his enemy’s emotions and changes in their muscles to predict their next move in advance. In other words, this could be used to look over his spirit but could also be used to reflect his opponents’ status.
Based on this, Lou Cheng had initial thoughts about his future training on Ice Mirror.
On the second day, he took a look at Ice Spirit Holy Light. This was a unique skill that could increase the release of Ice Spirit Force. In addition, it could be released without scattering, forming knives and swords. It also had a matching set of moves.
Lou Cheng could not even scratch the surface and wasn’t able to increase his force. However he still managed to understand a little about the application techniques with the support of “Encountering Gods In The Void, Self Reflection”. As for the knife and sword technique, he had seriously read through them. Combined with the notes from those who came before him, he had some new understandings about the simple changes in it.
On the third day, he found a possible way of improving Ice Armor from the performance of compressed and thickened “Eternal Ice Wall”. As this was purely a defensive move, the relevant details weren’t as many. After Lou Cheng had finished his experiences, he still had one and a half hour left.
Since he was free, he walked to the front of the incomplete “Titanic Starlit Skies. Absolute Frost”. Its background was deep and dark but had several small dots of light in the distance. Juxtaposed to the stars, it brought out the quietness and chill of the starlit skies even more. It was as though there was no longer any temperature and all civilization had become graveyards.
Concentrating his mind and looking at it in details, Lou Cheng discovered that there seemed to be another palm in the visualization palm. It was enveloped in darkness and brought out the feel of eternal silence. It seemed real but also illusory at the same time, making it hard for others to be sure.
After studying for a while, he still did not get anything. Lou Cheng decided to try to understand it from different viewpoints.
“Disregarding that palm, how was the “Absolute Frost” in “Titanic Starlit Skies” formed? For the boundaryless universe, after moving away from stars, the temperature would drop by a frightening level without a need for other procedures. For me to imitate its martial arts, would I have to completely isolate the heat of the sun from spreading?” Lou Cheng thought aimlessly. He started circulating Ice Spirit force without delay in the name of experimentation.
First, he applied the principles of insulation. Overlapping his force, The external layer would keep some space from the inner layer to stop the heat flow and creating more layers above the core where the temperature was kept low. However, he failed miserably.
Following which, he extended his “Force” to attempt to lower the temperature. He failed again.
Round after round, the fire pile that Lou Cheng used to get warmth wouldn’t exist over a minute. Just like his attempts, it always ended up in failure.
Seeing that there were about ten minutes left, he gave up on trying and stared at the visualization diagram again. The more he looked at it, the more he felt that this was similar to the “Sky” when he formed his Dan in balance.
“They looked quite alike...” A thought flashed passed Lou Cheng’s mind, and he suddenly got a bold conjecture.
I might not be able to understand the charm of the drawing but I can imitate its state directly!
Let’s see if I can understand something from that!
He immediately attempted it after thinking of it. Lou Cheng gathered his breathing and blood and started to spin the ice and fire within him to achieve a balance. The former was dark and cold while the other was heavy and hot. Together, they maintained the existence of the “Starlit Universe”.
For others at the Dan Stage, they would have to let it expand at this point to release the Dan Force. However Lou Cheng allowed his consciousness to remain high in the skies to control the contraction of the flame force. His breathing and blood went towards the core and away from the dark edges to create a scene similar to the visualization diagram.
This process was extremely difficult. When he contracted to a certain degree, Lou Cheng would lack the necessary strength to continue maintaining the Dan state that was in balance. He tried it again and again and was met with failure after failure.
Soon his time was up. He suddenly recalled that he could borrow strength from the outside. Therefore he did another Force concentration, contracting his flame force, breathing and mind again.
In the instance when he was closed to his limits, Lou Cheng triggered the Jindan located at his lower abdomen and mobilized some powers from it. The “rays” collapsed instantly and sunk into the core, away from the darkness and making the “Sky” just like what was on the visualization diagram.
In this state, the balance was disrupted and could no longer be maintained. Lou Cheng forcibly did a force concentration to make his temperature return to his body while throwing out a cannon punch forward with all the darkness.
There wasn’t a loud boom or movement. The space in front of his fist had quietly formed large pieces of light blue ice crystals. It was as though all the air had solidified within it.
Such a strange phenomenon only lasted for a second before disappearing. Lou Cheng’s entire body went sore and had no strength left in his legs and arms. Panting profusely while looking at the effects of the previous punch, he felt some sense of happiness arising in his heart.
This strength exceeded the normal “Ice Spirit Force” by a lot...
I wondered if I could progress slowly and have thirty to forty percent of the effects if I don’t borrow strength from the Jindan?
What should I call this move that I have self-created?
At this moment, the heavy metal door moved outwards and opened. He Yi walked in and saw Lou Cheng who was clearly in a bad state. He shook his head and laughed,
“You don’t have to push so hard. This place could be considered yours as well. There will be other opportunities in the future to return. It’s just a matter of time before you gain something from this place.”
I already gained something... Lou Cheng mumbled to himself. He smiled and replied,
“Clan Leader uncle you are right.”
I’m keeping this a secret first. I’ll try to be able to master the simplified version without relying on Jindan. Then I could let Priest and Ren Li experience it a little in April!