Chapter 11 Xia Wei - Five Elements
As the sun rose, Xia Wei slowly woke up.
She sat up and rubbed her sleepy eyes, but heard a familiar voice: "Are you awake?"
Xia Wei raised her eyes and saw her master Ye Jie sitting beside her. It seemed that he had been waiting for a long time. She suddenly panicked and remembered that when she was listening to her master explaining the skills, her eyelids were fighting and she fell asleep as soon as she closed her eyes. When she opened her eyes again, it was already dawn.
She lowered her head, and her delicate fingers grasped the corner of her clothes tightly: "Master, I'm sorry..."
Ye Jie waved his hand: "No need to apologize. Xiaowei, it was me who ignored your tiredness and dragged you along late at night to explain the exercises. Speaking of which, I should be the one apologizing to you."
Hearing this, Xia Wei pursed her lips and smiled, gazing at her master with her sparkling eyes. As long as she was by her master's side, even in a desolate mountain or ancient temple, she felt safe. In that state of complete relaxation, she fell asleep unconsciously. Fortunately, her master did not blame her.
"As the old saying goes: The morning sets the tone for the day. Now that you're awake, let's continue practicing."
Ye Jie took out the book, and Xia Wei sat down beside him obediently. He slowly opened his mouth and recited the part that Xia Wei had not finished yesterday.
After waking up, Xia Wei was full of energy and her eyes were shining. It was the time of the day when her comprehension was the strongest. She carefully savored Ye Jie's narration, shaking her head from time to time, as if thinking about something.
Before they knew it, an hour had passed. Xia Wei, who had been practicing martial arts on the spot, suddenly stood up, clenched her fists, raised her arms high, and let out a delicate cry. The air waves spread out, blowing away countless spider webs.
Even Ye Jie, who had been teaching her so carefully, was moved by this. "...With this, your Elephant Turtle Hand has reached the entry level. Just by practicing this skill, you will have the strength of an ox or a horse during the day, and at night, your arms can block swords and axes. This skill consumes a lot of energy. With your current first-level cultivation, practicing it for a cup of tea is already the limit."
At the end, Ye Jie couldn't help but sigh, "As expected of a True Immortal reincarnation, you can even master a complex and profound low-grade Earth-level technique that would take an ordinary person at least decades to master in just one hour... Xiaowei, your potential is truly astonishing."
After finishing the exercise, Xia Wei stood beside Ye Jie, listening to her master's praise, a joyful smile on her young face. Just as she was about to speak, the rumbling sound from her stomach interrupted her words.
Xia Wei blushed slightly upon hearing this strange sound. Ye Jie simply shook his head and smiled, "The Qi training and body-building that human immortals cultivate requires a large amount of food as a supplement. If you can't even eat enough, how can you make your body strong? Practicing the exercises will also speed up the consumption of the body. It's normal to feel hungry."
Xia Wei rubbed her empty stomach and said, "It's already deep winter, and there's not much food nearby. It looks like I'll be starving until we reach Qingshi Town."
Ye Jie smiled and said, "Who said there's no food nearby? Follow me."
Ye Jie brought Xia Wei to an open space outside the ancient temple. Xia Wei looked around but didn't see any signs of animal activity. She looked to her master for help, but heard him say:
"As a ghost messenger at the early stage of the second-level Soul-Building Realm, I can only sense auras thirty steps away. Regarding the situation below the ground, my sensing range is even more limited, with ten feet being the limit. You must know that ghost cultivators at the fifth-level Sealing Immortal Realm can sense a range of ten miles with just a single thought."
Xia Wei, who was extremely clever, immediately understood what Ye Jie meant: "Master, are you saying that the food is hidden underground?"
Ye Jie nodded, stretched out his hand to sweep away the layer of snow under his feet, revealing a narrow hole in the ground that was as wide as an arm, and there were traces of animals digging nearby.
Ye Jie continued, "Xiao Wei, although you are not cultivating the way of a celestial being, you still need to master the basic operation of the five elements. A first-level celestial cultivator who has cultivated his mind is enough to release the weak power of the five elements and achieve the effect of creating fire, water, wind, and thunder."
Xia Wei was a little surprised: "Doesn't this require any skills?"
Ye Jie shook his head: "That's just the basic manifestation of the five elements in nature. It can be used without any skills. As for the advanced use of the power of the five elements, such as condensing fireballs to bombard the enemy, and condensing ice arrows to shoot the enemy, that requires skills."
"Now, I will teach you how to circulate the power of the five elements. Feel the spiritual power flowing through your body. As the spiritual power circulates through the Qi Sea in your Dantian, it should not flow through the Dantian like the way of the human immortals, but instead flow through the chest and abdomen..."
Under Ye Jie's patient guidance, Xia Wei closed her eyes and gathered her energy, and soon found the way. Spiritual energy gathered around her body, and her face was no longer as rosy as when she practiced the way of immortality. Instead, with the blessing of the power of the five elements, her face looked even more dignified.
After a stick of incense had passed, Xia Wei opened her eyes, the light in them was as bright and dazzling as a sharp blade. She stretched out her index finger, and a small flame suddenly shot up from her fingertip.
Ye Jie sighed, "Don't underestimate the tiny flame, as if a gust of wind could blow it out. But it means you've mastered the basic operation of the Five Elements. Ordinary cultivators on the path of human immortals use the methods of celestial immortals to circulate spiritual energy. At best, they will sever their tendons and veins, and at worst, they will go into a state of demonic possession, which is undoubtedly a dead end. But with your second-grade talent: the unblocked meridians, you can control it with ease."
While Xia Wei was practicing, Ye Jie also picked up some humus fallen leaves and piled them at the entrance of the narrow cave. After having Xia Wei light them, he said:
"In the Five Elements, thunder belongs to metal, and wind belongs to wood. Wood helps fire, and wind also helps fire. You have tried to use spiritual power to create fire, now try to use spiritual power to create wind."
Xia Wei took a step forward, closed her eyes and gathered her energy. In front of her, the cold fallen leaves burned very slowly, and no smoke rose for a long time.
After completing a cycle, Xia Wei focused her expression and pushed forward with both hands, sending a continuous breeze to the front. Gradually, choking thick smoke rose up and was carried by the wind into the narrow cave.
Ye Jie looked around and soon saw a faint smoke rising from the snow twenty steps away.
He stretched out his hand and gathered it, the pitch-black noose ready to go. A dark shadow suddenly leaped out from the rising smoke and fled into the distance. Ye Jie, anticipating this, threw the noose far away, and the shadow was instantly restrained in place, eventually being pulled in front of him.
Seeing this, Xia Wei, who had just finished practicing, also showed a look of surprise.
The thing Ye Jie pulled in front of him was a plump, white hare. Xia Wei grabbed the hare's long ears and lifted it up. It was so heavy, it was enough for her to have several full meals.
Xia Wei reached out her hand and reached towards the hare. Her expression was suddenly startled, but Ye Jie didn't notice her. He just said:
"As the old saying goes, 'A cunning rabbit has three burrows.' It's not surprising that a rabbit hole has three or four openings. If you... Hey, why did you let it escape?"
What puzzled Ye Jie was that Xia Wei actually half-knelt down, put down the hard-earned hare, and let it fly out of sight quickly in the snow. Now it would not be easy to find it again, and the delicious meal that was in his hands just flew away.
Xia Wei stood in the snow, a pair of pigtails fluttering behind her head. She raised her head, a hint of frost on her slightly curled eyelashes, and her innocent face was full of stubbornness. "It's pregnant, so I can't eat it."
"Yeah……"
Listening to the rumbling sound of Xia Wei's stomach and seeing her thin body but determined eyes, Ye Jie sighed with heartache. It seemed that she would have to go hungry for a while during the rest of the journey.