To be more precise, what Bastian could see was the heel of the footprint.
Mother-F.....of my future children! What the heck is this?!
Bastian had reached the maximum height he could, so he started to fall. As he fell, he felt very comfortable. He never did have a fear of heights, and in this situation, he knew V would catch him, or do something, so he was relaxed.
The image of the giant footprint only lingered in his mind for a little bit, before it was replaced by a feeling of Deja vu. Bastian had never free fallen before in his previous life, nor had he done anything similar to this one.
Yet, there was something about the wind brushing against his skin, the incredible force of air resistance, and the bird's eye view that felt so familiar to him. This sense of familiarity brought Bastian into a trance like state. He was semi-conscious of his actions, but he let the feeling take over him, because it felt good. Because it felt right!
Time seemed to slow down; Bastian's senses tuned themselves to the max. His mind and body started working at a much faster rate than usual in most aspects, including his brain.
For the first time, an energy Bastian had never felt before coursed through his body, this was not world energy, no, this energy was produced by his own body. It felt like an extension of him, like he was basking in an illusory sea of his own making.
The energy was little at first, but the longer he fell, the more energy he got. At some point in time, World Energy started rushing into his body, as if some sort of a dam had collapsed. This World Energy was in perfect harmony, in the form of the taijitu. It entered his body, circulated once according to the path that it had first chosen before, and then it was absorbed by Bastian's body, becoming that new energy.
This new energy was also in perfect harmony. It was a balance of 2 affinities and two energies. The four forces split into their two groups. One group was a balance between fire and water. The other was a balance between two diametrically opposing but complimentary energies.
Although Bastian was semi-conscious, he was well aware of what was occurring in his body. He was also surprised to find that every time world energy passed through his brain, new information would become accessible to him. The first batch of knowledge was of the energies that were in his body.
These energies were both mana and qi! Together, in his body, Bastian had managed to harmonize the two!
Such a thing was ridiculous, yet here it was, in his body!
It must be known that mana and qi were different. They were energies that could never mix. Just as how water and oil can't mix, even if they are both liquids.
There is always a boundary between them, isolating one from the other. Yet in Bastian's body, upended the influence of the principle of yin and yang, they had fused!
That's when Bastian had a sudden realization.
All mana has a bit of qi, and all qi had a bit of mana. They were never meant to be separate, but were two parts of a whole!
This enlightenment hit Bastian like lightning from the ninth heaven. Fusing the two wasn't possible in the past because of many reasons but at that moment, due to Bastian's new unique constitution and his knowledge of the taijitu, he had understood what the origins of the energies were!
This new energy was neither qi, nor was it mana. Its name was deep in Bastian's mind, so he had to pull it out of the back of his mind.
This energy was called yuan!
Yes, Bastian's newly discovered energy was called yuan. It was a combination of both qi and mana, and was far more powerful and useful than both.
Knowledge on how to use yuan had already flowed into Bastian's body. He simply had to use it. There were, at that moment, plenty of things he could do to prevent himself from dying from his fall. Even without V's assistance.
Bastian chose a rather unique method to land. Using his new super powered lungs, Bastian shouted to V, telling her not to catch him. V was reluctant, but Bastian asked her to trust him, so she did. This was a big gamble on her part. For if Bastian died, she would suffer dire consequences due to the oath she had made to protect him but she still decided to trust him. So she let him fall.
This trust warmed Bastian's heart. V had no idea that at that particular moment, she had won his approval. This would change her life forever.
This entire process may seem long, but it only took a few moments to occur.
As he neared the ground, Bastian was able to adjust his body, allowing him to fall in an upright manner. Such a complex movement that should normally take quite a lot of effort and experience to try seemed as effortless as walking to Bastian.
It's as if I've done this before...
The moment his feet touched the ground, Bastian moved his body at an astonishing speed. Using his left foot as a pivot, he rotated his body one hundred and eighty degrees. His left hand stretched outwards, in a posture that made it seem as if he was attempting to pitch a baseball. Then, using the force of his impact, he somehow collected all of the kinetic energy onto his right fist and struck the ground.
*Bang!*
The shockwave from his strike caused the ground directly in front of him to explode into a mini pyroclastic flow. As if a mini volcano had erupted. A wave of fire rose up with the earth, creating a shocking display of martial might. Once the damage had subsided, Bastian stood there, observing the results of his endeavor. Like an artist proud of his work.
V looked at this with astonishment. To be honest, the moment Bastian was about to land, she panicked and was about to catch him, but she stopped dead in her tracks. Something in her body told her to stop. It was an instinctive fear, one that permeated as deep as the marrow in her bones.
Then she saw Bastian's flashy landing. The spin, the strike, the technique, executed so well one would think Bastian had used it a thousand times before. Yet she knew very well that a few hours ago, he was not even a cultivator.
First, the ridiculous soul, then the massive dragon, then this! What is he???
Her body shivered at this thought.
She walked up to Bastian, with some suspicion in her eyes.
"What the heck was that?"
Bastian turned around when he heard her question, a cheeky grin was plastered on his face.
"The Empyrean Equilibrium Void Shattering Fist!"
V was surprised. This sounded like a martial technique! Mages had spells and warriors had martial techniques. These were specialized techniques that had a much bigger effect than normal moves.
For example, some martial techniques can make your punch ten times stronger than normal. All they require is one to move and mold his qi in certain ways to produce results.
The unfortunate thing was that martial techniques were not easy to find. The cheapest martial technique was around 3 gold, so only well paid warriors could learn them.
Not only that, martial techniques were very difficult to learn and even more difficult to master, it can take one 5 years to learn just one technique if one's aptitude was average. In addition, one could only learn martial techniques once they started cultivation. A bird without wings cannot learn how to fly.
Some martial techniques had many levels called chapters. In extremely powerful martial techniques, each chapter could count as a martial technique on its own.
For example, what Bastian just did was the first chapter of a very powerful technique. V did not for one second doubt Bastian's words. Since, with her own eyes she could see the entire area 500 meters in front of Bastian was upheaved and burned to a crisp. Some sand had even fused together, forming impure glass. Yet the most remarkable thing was not the damage, but the fact that Bastian had created art with it.
For in front of the two was a massive image of a taijitu, made from normal and burned sand.
To have this much of an incredible degree of control on his first try, not to mention that he was not taught by anyone. Wait...was not taught?
That was when V realized it. Bastian did not know any martial techniques beforehand. So how did he know one now? One that was not only so powerful but one he executed with incredible familiarity.
This technique, his body change, and that massive dragon! There was only one explanation... But it is impossible. One needs many tools to do that. Doing so without tools is pointless. Even the tools could only increase the odds of success slightly. He only cultivated normally, so the odds of him doing this were harder than if one tried to ascend to the heavens.... Unless...
V came to a very frightening conclusion. Her master had once told her of an old legend. Of people who had done deeds so incredible in their past lives, that karma would bless them with incredible luck in their new ones.
These beings were called Karmic Kings. It is said that they were blessed so much by karma that they would never fail in any endeavor. It was also said that if one allied himself with such a person, it was possible for one to experience good karma himself, however, if one become the enemy of a Karmic King, then one's fate would only be to enter the underworld.
Luck that could defy reason itself. Such was the existence of Karmic Kings! V refused to believe such fairy tales but Bastian's next words brought her fears into reality.
Bastian saw that she was lost in contemplation. So he decided to push her along.
"V, I don't know how, and I don't know why, but I just had a Bloodline Awakening!"