In terms of spiritual sense, Shen Lian was not beneath most of the Huandan cultivators. Naturally, the feeling did not just simply come from nowhere, and he had sensed something.
Moreover, the established practices of the cultivators were indescribable most of the time. They fought against destiny, and yet they acted in accordance with the way of the heavens. Occasionally, they would claim to become an immortal celestial against the natural course of things. It looked all too contradicting, but yet there was some sense behind it – everything in this world was ever-changing.
The lady boss was an impressive individual, and yet she chose to leave Shendu.
Shen Lian was no ordinary man either, yet he wanted to be involved in it. He had a feeling that the opportunity lay within the battle.
Ever since he had unblocked his entry point, he could use any of his points as the Qihai to condense his mana, but the biggest Qihai of all would be the one at the cinnabar fields. Within the cinnabar fields, eight types of mana with different colors were all mixed up together, including red, orange, yellow, white, green, blue, purple, and black. However, they were not even; as though they were a slab of mud, the colors were all intertwined with each other and had no uniformity. The mana that he originally had in him was always absorbed by this slab of mud. Due to his deliberate oppression, the speed of absorption was extremely slow.
However, if Shen Lian tried to move these eight types of mana, the moment they left his body, they would correspond to the natural elements of the external world – Tian, Di, Shan, Ze, Shui, Huo, Feng, Lei, which were, sky, earth, mountains, swamp, water, fire, wind, thunder. The resonance would create an unimaginable powerful force that was hard to control even by him, and led to injuries being inflicted on him.
If one thinks about it, if uncontrolled, the harmonization of the eight Qi of Taixu and the eight forces of nature was akin to the creation of stone missiles and wooden beams outside of one’s body. Water, fire, wind, and thunder, all sorts of strange occurrences would take place. What more as Shen Lian had not attained Celestialism and did not have an indestructible body yet, he would not be able to withstand the conflict.
The Taixu Mana was deeply rooted within him and yet was insulated by him. It was not extremely powerful yet, but the conflict remained. Anything that was segregated for long would always re-join each other, and everything that was joined together for too long would segregate from each other.
It was unlike the kind of intense conflict he faced when he first started introducing the eight Qi to combine with his mana.
After all, his body had gotten used to the conflict of the eight mana throughout the years. The gradual modification and the natural course of things had reduced the danger significantly.
However, as this sort of seeds of mana grew, he could not be sure what would happen, as they would be completely out of his control then.
Obviously, the Taixu Mana was unlike normal martial exercises, the Taixu Mana had a spirituality of its own.
He recalled back when Gu Caiwei demonstrated the Taixu Strategy to him for the first time, the Qi of heaven and earth was indeed not called upon. With that, she undid his Talismans. In hindsight, it seemed like the Taixu Strategy Mana within was auto-cruising, and had directly absolved the power of his Talisman, or rather, absorbed them.
Young Ruoxi was breathing evenly, and it seemed that she had fallen asleep. Shen Lian covered her up with the blanket before leaving. At the same time, he used Dao techniques to seal off the room door.
Today was the seventh of July, and double seven was the number of perfection. The ancient people had made abacus for the sake of calculation, and the number of beads on every row was seven. This was no coincidence, and there was some ingenious sense of the universe hiding beneath it.
There were seven stars on the Big Dipper, and there were seven planets in the vast world. One would feel troubled if one were to go into the mechanics of these ingenious occurrences.
Outside the Daming Palace, there was a lake spanning for ten miles. It just rained in the evening, and the gloominess that persisted for several days was swept away, the sky was clear like water, and the pale moon shone like silver. Similarly, the surface of the lake was sparkly.
The occasional sound of the frogs and the wind blew at the lotus leaf; they were a sight to behold as they stood alone in this vast wide world.
The Anping Canal was right outside of the lake, and the water level was high from the accumulation of the rain from the past few days. The sound of the flowing water signified the thriving of life. Just one man-made canal could not fully illustrate the great achievements of the Empress, but it gave a good glimpse into it.
There was no one else around the Shui Liang Hall tonight. The Empress appeared on the highest point of the hall, and she let the wind blow against her crown. She was slightly taller than the average woman, and the crown added a few inches to it, giving her the flair of the ruler who ruled the mountains and the water.
The water surface was clear and round; the lotus blossoms danced with ease in the morning breeze. They carried water droplets that looked like pearls that shook against the wind, one could not help but to have one’s attention caught by the scene.
Shen Lian appeared on a willow tree at the side of the pond, and he was stepping on a willow branch. Floating and sinking, he looked like an immortal celestial and had an interesting flair to him.
When he appeared, the Empress’ gaze fell on him; it was detached and emotionless.
The Big Dipper was the brightest out of all of the stars, and one of them shone brightly as though it was the ruler of all stars.
A small ark appeared like an arrow, and it came from Anping Canal to the lake. Pushing the lotus leaf aside, the person on the ark was revealed – she was clothed in white and had long hair, the scenery complemented her beauty. That would be Zhao Xiaoyu.
Zhao Xiaoyu was clothed in white, and she fitted in with her surroundings. She looked like a white lotus blossom that belonged amidst the lotus leaves; she was clean and without even a speck of dust.
The ark did not have a paddle, and yet it moved naturally under Zhao Xiaoyu’s feet. The direction and speed it was traveling at was very precise as though a ruler was used to measure; it was impeccable. When Zhao Xiaoyu lifted her head to face the Empress’ gaze, the ark stopped immediately. There were waves on the lake, and the rise and fall of them unveiled Zhao Xiaoyu’s porcelain white calves and her bare feet from underneath her clothes.
The Empress gazed at Zhao Xiaoyu, and this was the first time that she saw her; this Nine Lotus witch that had the guts to do all these things under her eyelids. Unlike the chiefs of the cults previously, this witch was daring, cold, and calculative. More importantly, she was not burdened by any emotions. Her rationality was scary.
After rounds of effort, she still could not eliminate all of Zhao Xiaoyu’s influence.
The Empress moved, and it was as though there was an engine, the air cracked. The booming sound fell onto Shen Lian’s ears, and his Qi and blood vibrated. A normal person would have fainted from the move.
She had conveniently tapped into the Earth’s gravity to gain her speed, and when she broke through, she used the air current as a blade. With a mysterious energy mixed it, it served as a blade that came from the sky and broke through the air, slashing at Zhao Xiaoyu right away.
The massive aura enveloped Zhao Xiaoyu without reserve, and the sun, the moon, and the stars were merely complementing it.
Since Shen Lian had entered into Dao, he relied mainly on spells and techniques during a battle as they have supernatural powers. Then, he drew on the power of the heaven and earth to easily defeat the martial artists in the mortal world. He could see traces of martial arts on the Empress, but she was beyond the conventional martial art and was on a whole new level of her own.
The air current was akin to a blade, and it was as cold and sharp as a real blade was.
Zhao Xiaoyu smiled and was not frightened at all. She rode on the wind and rose to mid-air; the small ark that was standing initially split into two and fell apart. Many broken loti leaves then surfaced on the surface of the lake.