Two weeks after my fight with the Silver Crowned Gorilla, Varja, I stood at the edge of the bone-chilling brisk white land where the golden sands of the scorching land met, wearing a large white hide skinned from a wild arctic bear.
Looking over the firey land, its vastness was intimidating but luckily, my target was somewhere along the border of the two lands. Pulling my hide closed, I made my way from the most northern point of the border down south.
A few days followed when I finally found it. The most terrifying sight ever, daemon beasts convening at the edge of an energy storm. The hot and cold clashed and natural storms ran rampant.
Even after countless years spent to achieve immortality, such phenomenons were rarely seen due to the delicate requirements. Once the requirements are met, a simple area becomes a treasure trove. It's this reason that beasts of all walks of life sit in the outer area of the cave that held the pool of extreme Yin and Yang Qi.
Storms clashed with wind and lightning. Scorching Yang and chilling Yin. From simple observation, there were two definite levels. The storm itself was thick and vast, like the storms of Jupiters, the colorful swirl and chaotic flashes of lightning exuded a domineering presence. Just before that storm wall was where many beasts cultivated absorbing the energy peacefully as if there was some sort of armistice between them. My body then shivered at two possibilities that could have made such a coexistence possible.
Then out of the corner of my eye, I caught the shift of my shadow and noticed another day was coming to an end.
'Nim...' I thought of my sister. My mind then thought of Situ Qing, Shane, Wu Zexi, and Alessia.
"I should finish up my business" I spoke to myself.
After the time I spent alone, the group should be ascending the tower. Though I didn't care for the legacies within the higher floors, the entry-level, the hunter's forest, is rich and deadly. Just imaging the higher levels made my protective instincts flare.
Calling my double-bladed polearm from my Interspatial ring, I dropped the artic bear hide and walked towards the crowd of beasts.
I was so nervous that sweat-drenched my body and my heart pounded. When I was close enough, I used my movement skill to slip through the beasts but, surprisingly, they all ignored me.
Who am I to turn away a blessing? I ignored them in turn, but as I stepped into the second into the storm wall. My body tensed and I fell to the ground. I gritted my teeth under the pressure of the rampaging elements.
I was first hit by torrents of wind followed by Yin and Yang Qi in the form of heatwaves and blizzards and finally, bolts of lightning. My body seemed to have resonated with the three energies, while the last was a result of being within the storm.
As I lay face down and immobilize, I could hear the few chuckled from the surrounding beasts who I would later learn are beings who sat in a meditative state for decades comprehending the elemental energies that resonated with them. And before that, they spent decades outside of the storm.
They found my underestimation of the serious situation amusing and I couldn't blame them. Even with all of my books and talent, I'm a product of the mortal world. Even my achievements in war amount to nothing in the cultivation world. Stepping on ants could never be compared to wrestling a bull.
A tired voice was the last thing I heard before my martial intent exploded.
"Take it one element at a time, boy. We old ones have been here for decades, don't bit off more than you can chew, and don't swallow more than you digest. The key is moderation." The weary voice spoke before I was pulled into my soul realm illuminated by six bright shards reflecting off the calm watery surface that was my sea of consciousness.
Directly in front of me was a gold man, absolutely my clone. His legs spread and he struck the stance that he once taught me. It was the movement technique complied from my various knowledge, heavily centered around the Dancing Pixie Technique.
My clone moved in flashes, executing the movements over and over again. I eventually joined him and my sense of time eroded. Eventually, the cyan element filled my soul realm as the wind element merged with the technique and deepened my understanding.
'This is it, this is how I tame the energies.' I thought.
I held three techniques that wrestle the raging elements and help my cultivation. The first was the Dancing Pixie that wrestled the wind. The next is the Ecliptic Battle Body that could suppress the extreme cold and hot. Finally, the Lightning Fire and Metal technique that I had begun to practice before coming to the Lunar Temple. It's a skill to awaken my bloodline but the lightning element was the only thing I was lacking. With these techniques, I planned to tear through this cataclysmic storm.
I had occasionally used the element born from the Dancing Pixie before, but this was different. Instead of the movements conjuring the wind, the wind seemed to be perfecting my movements. For ages, I danced around my soul realm like a fairy. My hair fluttered and my steps were light. But none of this could be seen because I was invisible as a gust of wind. Only the ripples on the surface of my sea of consciousness marked my location.
At some point, every step was followed by a second more visible step. And then a third. My mastery of the technique had reached Perfection and the half-formed ethereal afterimages were coming into existence.
Then it felt like something had snapped as the jabs, cuts, and flash steps touched on something different than the glides, pivots, and acrobats.
'This is it I thought. ' I shall finally name you, Storm Dancer'
I felt that the wind was just beginning. My clone finally stopped. My eyes snapped open it and the inside of the storm seemed less chaotic as the energies appeared separate yet intermingled like the aurora borealis. Pushing myself up, I gained a lot of attention.
"Hahaha! Boy, after months, we thoughts you were dead. But seems that your own to something." The tired voice spoke again. This time I could see through the storm and identified the beast speaking a Lightning Qilin in a humanoid form, a signifying that he was half step Rank 6.
The lightning energy that crackled around him was blinding and soul-shaking. His level of comprehension over the lightning element was harrowing but still lacked the impact of the Young Miss of Faye Clan's comprehension of Sound.
I turned towards the old Qilin and paid my respects. The old Qilin chuckled then fell silent. Looking around many old daemons had similar levels of comprehension over their elements. All of the half-step or full-blown Rank 6 existences. Without my parents or Fei Rong, I planned to be nothing but respectful to them all as Rank 6 was was the initial Earth Realm for daemon beast.
Dropping to the lotus position, I entered my soul realm and continued to understand the concept of wind and its relation to my movement technique.
Time moved like a river and months accumulated. My essence then erupted and a cyan vortex formed around me. I had finally earned respect as I achieved Lower attainment in the concept of wind.
Form a dozen hands signs in a flash, a second golden clone formed in my soul realm, It immediately pulled the scorching Yang heat and Lightning qi. Like the wind element in the beginning it was chaotic. Many beasts scattered and looked at me like a made man.
Lightning and fire didn't mix. At least not in practitioners with low comprehension. Thankfully, I had the Lightning Fore and Metal technique to assist.
In my soul realm, needles and lightning fire orbited one clone while wind saturated another.
More months passed. In a blink of an eye, a year and a half passed. The heat of Yang qi burst into flames as lightning broke apart into hot and cold particles, consenting it liquid, solid, gas, plasma. Recreating the four-stage of matter to reproduce lightning by manipulating essence, my earth knowledge had finally transferred into advanced comprehension in cultivation terms.
My cultivation skyrocketed as the flames and lightning joined the wind cyclone that surrounded me. With all my effort, I suppressed my cultivation to the Second stage of Martial Foundation. I had still had a bloodline to awaken, two physiques to construct. I couldn't step into the Houtian realm until it was achieved.
When this calmed, my clone practicing the Lightning Fire and Metal technique manipulated 2,000 needles saturated in Lightning Fire, completing the second part of the Lightning Fire and Metal technique.
This was the beauty of Intermediate attainment nearing the Higher threshold in Martial Intent. Combined with a well-trained soul. I learned early how to split my mind by training the leaf bath technique. Along with the benefits of Martial Intent that allow correction and merging of martial techniques, training multiple skills at once was becoming less burdensome and more efficient.
In the middle of a simple motion, my Lightning Fore clone was destroyed and was replaced by two clones. I watched as one clone practiced on the other, beginning the third and final segment of the Lightning Fire and Metal technique.
It had been two years in total since I entered the Storm. And finally, I was ready to take on the fourth and final element, Yin Qi, expressed as Ice. But I also had to progress, I didn't have decades to spare and two years was a long time already.
The dragon and phoenix tattoo wakened as Yin and Yang Qi flooded my soul realm bombarding my fourth and final clone. My Wind clone intensified his training, my lightning fire clones followed suit, and my fourth clone then moved and executed One Style. His body moved and the two energies were wielded in harmony with the soft and hard forms of the combat style.
Like a soulless vessel, I rose to my feet performed one style, and steadily progressed as the Yin and Yang Qi nourished my body.
My Dragon and Phoenix tattoos roared, swirling around my body in glee. The sun had risen and set as I slowly inched deeper into the storm. All four elements raged around me as Martial Intent destroyed my wind clone. It had transcended its dancing pixie foundation, completely leaving it behind.
An arch of lightning then struck the replacement clone as it trained the flash step. The clone shifted between elements looking for a new understanding and seeking the perfect balance.
Meanwhile, The Cold Water Palm and Bone Destruction Fist had stepped into perfection, chasing the transcendent level of mastery.
"Foundation is all," I muttered.
Another year passed. I had achieved lower attainment of Ice. Meanwhile, my comprehension of Lightning, Fire, and Wind deepened.
In the fourth year, my mastery of Flash Step reached transcendence causing my Storm Dance mastery to touch the Intermediate level. Months passed, my Cold Water Palm and Bone Destruction Fist mastery had reached transcendence allowing my mastery of One Style to step into Lower Mastery.
In the fifth year, I took a single step, breaking the minds of the old beast as I entered the cave. Halfway in, an audible pop sound I was forced to a seated position. Behind me, two avatars appeared. One of a dragon and another of Phoenix. Each chasing the other tails devouring the Yin and Yang qi in the cave. But the intake was still too slow. Stretching my mind to the inscription that my father carved in me all those years ago, the Heaven Swallowing Body Inscription activate and the intake of Yin Yang Qi doubled.
As the Qi penetrated my 2,000 open acupoints, my clones within my soul realm stopped and began to follow the circulation of the Ecliptic Battle Body technique. All of my attention was then on the construction of my new physique.
Pah! Pah! Boom!
It was like my body was ripped in half. The Dragon and Phoenix roared to the heavens before they both turned into pure unformed energy. The pools of energy formed my new physique.
Half a year passed and the construction finished.
In the sixth year, my body finally completed its changes, and my cultivation foundation solidified with the power of my new physique.
I was taller, my hair touched the back of my knees and its thickness was bold with a glossy sheen, an ode to its strong vitality. My skin and bone are like metal. My blood is thick as tar with organs and veins strong enough to survive it. This was a battle body meant to fight against heaven and tear open the boundary. I was anxious to test mettle.
With a heavy exhale, the dust below my feet kicked up.
"This is the strength of dual physiques. Not to mention the quality of both physiques." I chuckled, "Varja Monkey, your dead this time."
Looking towards the heart of the cave, I figured there was no better time than now to awaken my bloodline and claim my bloodline physique.
Walking deeper into the cave, I notice that much of the Yin Yang Qi had thinned and only grew dense again once I reached the heart of the cave.
Before eyes were two veins spread across the cave walls like spider webs. One was molten read while the other was cold white blue. in the center of each, a singled vine grew from the veins as thick as an oak trunk bearing a single fruit each.
"That damn monkey was telling the truth. Good!"
My qi burst for and my clothes were reduced to shreds. In an instant, 2,000 needles appeared emitting lightning fire.
No matter how deep or stubborn my bloodline trigger was, I was determined to awaken my bloodline with help of the overflowing energy with the Yin Yang Cave.