The standstill between Noire and Tianshi had lingered for a considerable stick of incense time.
Though, the two didn't pay note at all, until Yue made a small cough that is, and said.
"Excuse me, the breakfast is accumulating cold..."
"Hm?" Both Noire and Tianshi reacted simultaneously. Then, Tianshi nodded lightly as she had nothing else to do in Noire's abode.
She elegantly executed a backflip from the table to gracefully land a few meters from the door.
"I didn't plan to unnerve your breakfast. Hehe, although I can't allow you guys to pass into the sect now, I can do that during the examination period" Tianshi said.
With her arms now crossed underneath her peaks, she proceeded to converse, "But I can allow you into my living quarters as a guest. As a coalition commander, I have my courtyard in the sect, there I have my training grounds."
The second part of her assertion was wholly focused on Noire, as she had a suspicion he won't object.
And she was exact.
With a grin, he said, "Oh? Just happens that I wanted a place for a desolate retreat, I attained enlightenment from my fight two days ago and I'm itching to try."
Tianshi creased her eyebrows... If she recollected correctly, he broke through to medium mastery nigh-instantly, could it be that after a single fight he's progressing to high mastery? Absurd.
"What kind of enlightenment?" She then asked, almost in a demanding tone.
"Oooh, fearsome, I don't feel like answering." Noire faked a disgruntled expression as he replied.
Tianshi could feel her eyebrows constrict, she bit her bottom lip and kneaded her temple with a sigh.
"Are you going to breakthrough in Fire Qi mastery?"
She recounted her question, yet the tone was more gracious than mandating this time.
Noire chuckled lightly and shrugged his shoulders.
"Who knows, maybe~"
"You!... Fine, act your way, shameless rascal!"
Realizing he was teasing her all along, Tianshi smashed a fist into the apartment's door that was barely hanging.
BANG!
Now it was officially obliterated. Her silhouette slowly faded into the cloud of dust as she strode outwards.
"Follow me or stay behind till next month!" Her voice reverberated from a distance, inducing a peal of laughter from Noire who followed after equipping his mask.
"..."
"..."
After a moment of silence, Ning'er turned towards Yue and spoke in a gentle tone, "guess we have some cultivation to do..."
- - - -
Swoosh~
Swoosh~
"Ah!"
"What was that?!"
If one would pay notice, two obscured silhouettes dashed like ghosts throughout the market, their destination the summit at the core of Four Seasons City.
Both Noire and Tianshi relied on their raw bodies in a game of speed.
Although Noire wasn't as fast as Tianshi, he wasn't far off.
Then again, she was rushing in her half-beast form, utilizing her four muscular limbs to propel herself with explosive velocity.
"Ho ho, you're not half bad Noire, you can keep up with me!" Tianshi was exhilarated, this was her first contest of speed in years, and doing it with a sealed cultivation base made it the more enticing!
They emitted no fluctuations whatsoever, wherever they went, the onlookers would notice two shades and a raging tide of wind in their wake.
Rushing full speed in a compact city required extreme flexibility, elastic agility, and a keen perception of one's surroundings.
Tianshi even had some qualms that Noire was endowed with bestial instinct like herself, and she wasn't that far off...
Swoosh~
It took them less than fifteen minutes to cross hundreds of kilometers on flat ground and climb the Four Seasons Peak to the summit.
- - - -
Four Seasons Peak.
The entire sect was established on a mountain that overshadowed the entire city's jurisdiction with its shade. The mountain range was at least three times the span of Becca's, Noire estimated rushing towards the sect with Tianshi.
They spotted many pavilions and altars for disciples the entire mountain range is the sect itself, which surprised Noire.
'Just how many members do they have?'
He could perceive that the mountain range was coordinated into four segments, each probably representing one of the four regions.
Or perhaps each for a respective element.
Noire had a feeling that the latter was more plausible.
- - - -
Thud!
Tianshi landed in front of her courtyard near a crystal clear pound that carried white lotus petals.
Thud!
A short breath later, Noire landed beside her. By now, Tianshi was already back to her usual form and stood proudly.
"Tsk, you weren't that slow in the city, where are you getting distracted?"
She asked with a jesting smug.
"I simply wanted to give you enough time to stand straight, unless you're into fluttering your bottom at my face-"
SLAM!
He didn't even get to finalize before Tianshi banged him with her tail across the face.
The tail was worse than a prick!
And because he was caught off guard, Noire tripped into the pound of water, scattering the golden fish with a splash.
Tianshi laughed out loud, though she was left surprised.
That smack stored her unsealed cultivation base of sixth stage twilight realm, if it was anyone else he'd have long lost his head.
"Ptu!" Noire spat out the water he accidentally gasped as he stood up, completely doused.
Suppressing her laughter, Tianshi went ahead into the courtyard and left the door open for Noire to follow.
"He survived a strike from senior sister Luhei..."
The core and inner court disciples nearby were shocked.
"Hey! That mask! He's the one from Spiral Codex!"
"What?! Damn! One monster was already enough! Flaming Paradox is stacked now!"
News of Noire coming as a 'guest' to Tianshi's abode spread like wildfire, and it progressed to Lady Feng ultimately.
- - - -
"Nice room," Noire complemented Tianshi's cultivation section. The room was enough to accommodate one person, medical herbs were embedded nearly at every intersection to provide a tranquil atmosphere.
The walls were crafted out of mint jade, and Noire could feel the formation that helped to supply and channel Qi essence from the ambient environment towards the center of this room.
Noire was genuinely impressed, although it's the same city, the density, and quality of Qi in Tianshi's room is at least three times better than that in his apartment. No wonder she could reach the 6th stage in the twilight realm with these lackluster cultivation techniques.
"Will this room do?" Tianshi asked him as she stood by the door, genuinely bored.
"Yes, it'll do," Noire asked as he approached the convergence point of the array while relinquishing both his robes and mask, maintaining only the pants.
"What?! Are you sure? There is no Fire Qi in this room, what about your enlightenment?"
Noire couldn't help but chuckle at this.
"So you brought me here because you're anxious I'd reach high elemental mastery? Don't worry, I'm not in a rush to reach that point yet."
"Don't kid yourself, as if I care." Tianshi was quick to retort, though she was still curious about what type of enlightenment he spoke of.
'No wonder he could withstand my tail...'
Tianshi thought as she surveyed Noire's physique.
His back muscles were meticulously symmetrical, not a single notch resided unrefined.
She could even speculate that his body had more explosive raw power, is his physical body too fragile to withstand drawing that power?
Tianshi was lost in thought, she didn't notice that Noire gave her an awkward look due to her pensive expression.
"Is there anything wrong with my body?" Noire asked, in a somewhat teasing manner.
"Hm? Oh, no, you may start."
"..." Noire looked at her with a blank expression, his face suddenly had black lines.
"You certainly don't plan to stick around me do you?"
"Hm? Why? You're shy? Hehe, our agreement doesn't stop me from watching you practice, as long I don't pressure you for answers." Tianshi remarked with a victorious grin.
She now felt like it's possible to unveil some of his mysteries.
How can Noire chase her away now? He could only sigh and allow her to stay before taking a seat in a lotus position, she then stood a fair distance in front of him with scrutinizing gazes.
"Don't say I didn't warn you, curiosity killed the cat, little kitten."
'Little kitten?!' Tianshi was about to smack him with her tail and shatter his bones, but she noticed he already entered a meditative state, she can only suppress it for now and wait... 'Just wait, you shameless rascal.'
"..."
"..."
After adjusting his breath, Noire began to digest his gains from the enlightenment.
'If I could fuse my Fire Qi and Qi essence, I should be able to similarly fuse my dragon force from my bloodline into Qi essence...'
'If I could do that, I can extract the negligible dragon force that accompanied me through the incarnation and temper my flesh and dantian...'
'I couldn't use the offensive traits of my special physique due to its insufficient tempering, but if I could use it to refine my dragon force like Qi essence and Blessing of Eclipse then...'