Bar, darkness, outdoor: in the blink of an eye, Cheng Hao's field of view had suddenly changed those three times. Next thing he knew, he found himself thousands of feet off the ground, atop a familiar set of gargantuan walls...
Off in the distance the lingering sunlight fell behind the tall mountains, tinting the sky pink, red, orange and purple. A night breeze ruffled his clothes as the golden-eyed youth stared curiously at the gray robed figure whose arm was around his neck as one would with a dear friend, while the other hand was holding a tall glass of damasked chrysanthemum.
Her droopy, grey eyes had a playful and intrigued look in them as she would occasionally take a sip from the glass. Still lingering around her were what appeared to be flickering fireflies, occasionally letting out silver glints, and at other times making the space surrounding them ripple slightly before disappearing from sight themselves.
Cheng Hao's lips were arranged into a bitter smile while his eyes held a hint of disbelief as well as helplessness. He still had yet to come to terms with the fact that an Advanced Stage kid could discover the source of his consciousness strand so decisively. Had it been under different circumstances, he would have been elated to discover such a talent!
As a matter of fact, he was inwardly screaming to test her some more in terms of cultivation base and fighting power.
Unfortunately, given her higher cultivation base and unknown methods, it was highly unlikely he would be able to deal with her unless he were to reveal at least the lotus hairpin. By that time, knowing such a secret, if she did not join his side she could not possibly be left alive!
As he did not wish to take the head of such an intriguing genius without so much as an explanation, he had held himself back and had let stuff happen back at the bar, eventually leading to his current situation.
Now however, he was finding himself at a loss: who was the grey-robed girl? How was her sensitivity to Will so sharp? And when was she going to let him go or… at least, SAY something?
"…" Cheng Hao could see out of the corner of his peripheral vision that his beautiful companion was still intent in enjoying her beer and peering into the horizon, the dying rays of sunlight reflecting off her droopy eyes. Following her gaze, the child also admired the scenery of the intersecting colors, like multiple skies colliding…
…I guess it wouldn't hurt too much if I enjoyed the moment too, would it?
Cheng Hao brought his own tall glass to his mouth with both hands and happily took a big gulp. As he let out a loud, satisfied sigh, he let his own gaze wander onto the horizon.
"Mmm…" Noticing the child's actions, the girl nodded as if she were agreeing with something he said, "This breeze gently caressing our bodies and sending our hair aflutter, such a beautiful view blessed upon us and something refreshing to drink in hand… it truly is a dreamlike state." the gray robed beauty chuckled, her droopy eyes narrowing in bliss. With a 'hup', she sat down on the edge of the wall and patted beside her, inviting him to sit with her. Cheng Hao quietly sat down next to her and did not say anything, waiting for his unusual companion to speak first.
"Hello again little junior. I am called Rin." Rin smiled, her droopy eyes narrowing with a sigh, "I was born special, you see? I was destined to great things, to see the world from the eyes of a paragon! And yet, as you have probably guessed by now, that fate was snatched from me! And even after all that, I still have to suppress myself to the point my talent has been maimed, nipped at the bud!"
"Had it not been for that old man… I would have long since become this world's peak being!" she chuckled bitterly. "And now look at me… trapped, my wings cut, my path threaded by another!"
"My view as a paragon stolen and violated… by the hands of that bastard!"
Crash! The empty glass shattered in countless fragments under her tight grip. Her slender shoulders moved up and down as the gray-robed girl breathed erratically, her white teeth gnashing and grinding.
Only the sound of the wind could be heard for a period of a few breaths as neither party spoke a word.
"We are very alike, little brother…" Rin started after those few moments of silence. "We both carry huge secrets on our shoulders and within us. We both are so young and yet so talented, blessed with incredible intelligence and cunning for our age… and we both carry a feeling of resentment, a devouring sense of anger we thought that no one could ever understand…"
Rin turned to look at him, her ashen hair fluttering in the wind, "Until today."
As soon as the girl had began her monologue, Cheng Hao's eyes had silently gleamed with understanding.
By the end, his eyes were filled with pity as he looked back, gazing into her dull gray irises and pitch black pupils: he had finally confirmed his suspicions regarding her identity, and her situation was one that saddened him greatly.
This poor child… was a Treasured Avifauna Sensed Qi cultivator.
The first clue had been her apparent invisibility: the flickering at the edge of her figure had betrayed the presence of a countless amount of crystal shards. Once put together seamlessly in a certain shape akin to that of a cylinder, the light would be distorted and never reach her figure, instead curving along with the edges to show what was behind her. Essentially, it was an invisibility cloak of sorts, capable of concealing her figure to the onlooker. Although it sounded easy in theory, to actually pull it out however would require one to have perfect control over some reflective material that would then need to be broken down into countless shards before seamlessly joining them together again into the cylinder.
At the Reverend Stage, cultivators' demand of Qi and Spiritual Energy would decrease greatly thanks to the ability to amass and store both in great amounts.
Before then however, the few Sensed Qi that would allow the cultivator to use a technique so precise and at the same time so demanding below the Reverend Stage were the ones belonging to the 'Treasured Avifauna' series.
A few examples of Qi belonging to the Treasured Avifauna series would be ones such as the 'Snowy Owl Qi' that could control ice shards, the 'Hardbeak Crane Qi' that could command metal, the 'Emperor Kingfisher Qi' that had authority over seawater droplets and vapor, or even the 'Ethereal Swan Qi' that could bend the beams of sunlight to some degree.
However, the firefly-like flickering of the small shards he had noticed earlier were clearly those of the highest grade Treasure Avifauna Qi, the 'Crystalline Featherdrake Qi', King among Avifauna Beasts, who could call onto and then maneuver every kind of mineral in existence!
The crystals would turn into countless small crystal phoenixes that would follow the will of the cultivator with negligible mental strain compared to the degree of freedom and precision it granted over them. Although each phoenix would have abysmal battle power, together they could seamlessly arrange into formations such as the stealth cylinder that would enhance their power many times over.
As for how much power the cultivator would be able to draw out, it would rely heavily on another aspect of the Crystalline Featherdrake Sensed Qi, and that is the Eggs of the Featherdrake.
The Qi Apparition, the pillar that is manifested as the cultivator reaches the Inferior Stage, varies in height depending on how much affinity one has for their Sensed Qi.
If one had, say, a 1-foot pillar then they would have exactly 10% affinity: to properly utilize one unit of Spiritual Energy for a technique it would require ten units of Qi to manipulate it.
With a 100-foot pillar then they would have just about 15% affinity, barely any difference, one unit of Spiritual Energy would need just below seven units of Qi to show its full potential.
A 1,000-foot pillar would mean roughly 30% affinity: two times that of a 100-foot tall, and roughly three units of Qi to control one of Spiritual Energy.
And finally, a 10,000-feet pillar would be the perfect 100% affinity, one unit of Qi would only need one unit of Spiritual Energy to be controlled!
And, since to use the skills and techniques of a cultivator meant manipulating Spiritual Energy through Qi, the efficiency of a greater affinity could be several times higher than that of lower affinity!
Let's say a 10,000-foot pillar cultivator was fighting a 100-foot pillar cultivator and both had the same Sensed Qi and used the same skills. Now, the moment the latter attacked, the first would only have to use 15% of the Qi of his opponent to face the other's all-out effort: he'd be able to control the same amount of Spiritual Energy with a seventh of the Qi while activating the same skill as his opponent. At the same time this meant that, if the 10,000-feet cultivator were to use the same amount of Qi as the 100-feet one, he would be able to power his ability with seven times the Spiritual Energy!
This meant that, to two cultivators with the same Sensed Qi and at the same level of cultivation bases, a 10,000-foot pillar one would have almost seven times the 100-foot one's available output at any given moment as well as having a pool of Qi available that might as well be seven times bigger, able to outlast the other many times over!
Furthermore, it must be noted that the most common height of a pillar was the 1-foot one, so small that if one was not standing upright the moment they broke through to the Inferior Stage but were instead sitting down, the Pillar Apparition would remain hidden within their bodies and barely manifest as a glow!
At different levels of cultivation, the difference between polar opposite talents would be more than enough to close the gap between whole stages!
Horrifyingly enough, this meant that due to sheer talent alone, some cultivators might never be able to surpass others no matter how hard they tried: at that time, the only way to close that kind of gap would be through the usage of forbidden skills or mysterious items! However, just as an untalented person can get his hands on those kinds of heavenly treasures, so can a talented one!
In this world where cultivation bases dictate life from death, the inborn talent over the manipulation of the Qi and the Spiritual Energy through it is just as important as one's cultivation base!