Chapter 272: Chapter 64: Master is also at his wit’s end!
If Shi Liuli could have another chance, she would definitely bring all the magical treasures she could carry with her before leaving home.
She’d cover herself with the Jade Emperor Bell and whip wildly ahead with the Divine Striking Whip, not caring about any swordsmanship or Daoist magic, and beat everything into a mushy pulp in one breath.
“That won’t do,” the mildly amused Heavenly King said, skillfully manipulating Daoist magic to once again repel the disheveled Shi Liuli, and spoke, “In our time, there was an old saying, ‘Qi refinement is the foundation, spells are the means, and magical treasures are external objects.’”
“What you cultivate through your own breathing is what you can truly control. Whereas magical treasures are handy, they don’t help your growth in the slightest.”
“I know!” Shi Liuli said impatiently.
This was nothing but the same old tune, for Elder Shi Ding had told her this hundreds of times.
Useless.
Miss Shi was so lazy that anything requiring her to cultivate for over a month was preemptively abandoned in her mind.
This time, however, she was trapped in the secret realm with no escape, and so she was forced to diligently cultivate Daoist magic, swordsmanship, and art calculations to meet the standards demanded by the three Daoist apparitions in this place.
She brought her palms together again and shouted, “Chen Xing Water Essence, reflect the Beiming,” and her True Yuan surged within her along a specific route, with a great deal of starlight emerging from the joining of her palms. Cold as icy smoke and bright as the stars, it rushed towards the old Daoist across from her.
The old Daoist chuckled and flicked his finger, summoning a whirlwind of black air to wrestle with the dazzling starlight.
For most Daoist magic, unless there is an encounter with mutually enhancing or countering elements (like the Five Elements Divine Light overpowering anything not covered by the Five Elements), it’s mostly a contest of strength.
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Whose True Yuan is more vigorous, whose Daoist magic is more refined, that person will be able to crush the opponent’s magic ahead of time.
Of course, control skills of True Yuan are also very important. Excellent control can increase the power by up to fifty percent given the same base of True Yuan… and that’s a significant proportion.
Training control skills requires a lot of patience, and patience is precisely what Shi Liuli lacks the most, resulting in her original rudimentary control of True Yuan – barely any finesse whatsoever.
But in this secret realm, out of necessity, she had no choice but to patiently cultivate it.
“Not bad, not bad,” seeing her “Right Six Yuan Chen Xing Essence Talisman” becoming more adept and her control of starlight extraordinarily stable, the old Daoist finally nodded, withdrawing his own Daoist magic, “It’s not easy to cultivate to such a degree. You’ve passed this level.”
“Really?” Shi Liuli let out a sigh of relief, then said with surprise, “Does that mean I can have that very powerful… whatever stardust magical treasure now?”
“Not yet,” the old Daoist said with a smile, seeing through her little ruse, “You have to pass the tests set by all three of us before you can get all the rewards.”
Shi Liuli: ……
“This is so boring,” she murmured dejectedly and turned to leave.
After leaving the residence of Heavenly King, Shi Liuli stood before the other two pavilions, hesitating once more.
What should she tackle next, the swordsmanship challenge or the calculation art challenge?
If you ask Miss Shi, she wouldn’t want to try either.
Swordsmanship was absolutely Shi Liuli’s weak spot.
It’s largely because swordsmanship tests “eyesight” and “reaction speed,” and having almost no actual combat experience from a young age, Shi Liuli had decent eyesight but her reaction speed was painfully slow.
Often, her Flying Sword had reached her neck before she began to scream in terror.
As for art calculations, although not as difficult as swordsmanship, the trouble was several times greater.
This thing is a bit like mathematics, it first requires a great deal of memory, then a great deal of calculation, and finally, a great deal of inference.
Three “great deals”, indicating its troublesome nature, and considering that Miss Shi is the person who hates trouble the most, one can imagine her aversion to learning Art Calculation.
After thinking it over, swordsmanship ultimately could not be beaten, so he had to choose Art Calculation.
Outside the secret realm, Luo Yan had already brought Elder Shi Ding and landed in the midst of Kuocang Mountain, outside Ruan Lang Pavilion.
“It was right here,” Luo Yan pointed to the pavilion and said, “We imitated the old tales of Yang An, drinking here.”
“After my senior sister got drunk, she suddenly disappeared.”
“Hmm, let me try,” Elder Shi Ding nodded and said.
He took out a large number of array flags from his storage bag, waved his hand, and those nearly one hundred array flags scattered and vanished without a trace.
Then, Elder Shi Ding took out a compass Magical Treasure, cradled it in his palm, and silently recited the calculation words.
“Tai Yi Huang Ying Ding Xing Pan?” the Green Duckweed Sword suddenly spoke.
“What is that?” Luo Yan anxiously asked.
“A top-tier Strange Object for measuring geomancy,” the Green Duckweed Sword replied, “I reckon the entrance to the secret realm won’t stay hidden for much longer, and it will soon be discovered by your master.”
“Ah Jing!” Luo Yan urgently said, “Quickly lend me a helping hand!”
With at least a day and a half before the hundred thousand gods and demons attack Penglai, how could he let his master find his senior sister so quickly?
The Kunlun Mirror sighed and then covertly activated its time-space abilities.
Elder Shi Ding had just pinched a few Daoist Formulas, when all of a sudden, he saw the magnetic needle on the Tai Yi Huang Ying Ding Xing Pan spin wildly and crazily like a headless fly.
“Time-space abilities?!” Elder Shi Ding exclaimed, “There are time-space abilities in the restrictions here?”
“Master, are these time-space abilities…very powerful?” Luo Yan pretended not to understand.
“Time and space are the most obscure of the great Daos,” Elder Shi Ding said with a solemn expression, “For example, the highest-tier shuttle Magical Treasures would involve spatial abilities.”
“As for the abilities of time, they are even rarer… Hmm, the complexity of the restrictions here is extraordinary, I don’t have the right equipment on hand to deal with it.” He tossed the compass to Luo Yan and said, “Take this Magical Treasure and return to Yuqing View to exchange it for the ‘Liang Yi Zhou Tian Fen Shui Pan’ from the Master of Xuan Du.”
“Yes, master,” Luo Yan took the Magical Treasure and after a moment’s thought, he added, “There is a Daoist temple down the mountain in that direction. Master can rest there before I return.”
“Hmm,” Elder Shi Ding nodded.
So Luo Yan once again rose on his Flying Sword, and only after flying out of the bounds of Kuocang Mountain did he show a trace of joy on his face.
Coming here on my master’s Meng Chong Magical Treasure and returning on the Sword Control Technique, my Sword Control Technique is not proficient, so it’s normal to be a bit slower, right?
Returning to the East Sea, I’ll just happen to find the hundred thousand gods and demons attacking Penglai; in the midst of panic, I won’t be able to enter Yuqing View and will have to turn back to find my master, that’s very reasonable, right?
The Sect Residence being besieged by a large number of real persons and elders from the Demon Cult, people inside can’t escape at all, my master would naturally rush to seek help from Kunlun, that’s a natural course of action, right?
That way, I’ll perfectly avoid the murky waters of Yuqing View!