We wasted no time reading and practicing the techniques in the manual. No, most of the time wasn't spent sitting cross-legged and meditating like in those cultivation novels. You think training is so easy, is it? Just sit around and meditate and suddenly your amount of qi increases and you become stronger? Since when was reality so bloody convenient?
The breathing methods did require us to be stationary for a bit, but they were just the intro. Physical practice was more important. And thus Hong Yao Yao began straying to a corner of the chamber to practice conjuring flaming butterflies that danced around, scorched fragments of rocks and blow boulders into pieces.
As for me, I went out into the corridor and began practicing with my new bow. Raising it, I took aim, coalesced my qi into arrows and fired them. Momentarily blinded by the enormous explosions at the other end of the corridor, I stared at the devastated debris and holes in the wall, amazed.
"Whoa, damned fierce sia."
"What the hell is this bow? Or is it the technique?" Lan Bei Er was accompanying me outside because, well…she was my wife. Who else should she accompany? She looked just as impressed as I was, studying the destruction.
"Well, it is the bow that shot down nine suns, after all…it seems that this technique was the one used to shoot down the nine suns too."
"Wouldn't that mean you'll be invincible if you fully master it?"
"I don't know. There will always be a higher mountain somewhere." I shook my head. "Even if I somehow master this skill and breakthrough to Saint Realm, I still wouldn't be able to defeat my master."
"Your master…he's the leader of the Heaven and Earth Sect, isn't he?"
I nodded. Lan Bei Er already knew my true identity, so there was no point concealing it from her. There was only one possible candidate who could teach a Peak Master of the Heaven and Earth Sect like me. If it wasn't the previous master of the Human Peak, then it could only be the leader of Heaven and Earth Sect, the Supreme Overlord himself.
There was a reason why he was called the Supreme Overlord. Because no one had ever defeated him yet. Not even the heroes from another world…ahem, I mean Long Ao Tian or other reincarnated protagonists with their cultivation cheats. Come to think of it, even a random mob character like me could defeat Long Ao Tian without any cheats, so I didn't hold out much hope for the other reincarnated cheat cultivators.
However, this was reality, so I doubted they actually existed. I was tempted to ask Lan Bei Er if Long Ao Tian was someone who had reincarnated from another world or came back several centuries from the future after a betrayal or something, but she wouldn't know what I was talking about. My wife was concerned about my sanity after I talked about such things, and I didn't want to increase her worries.
"I'll continue practicing then."
Taking a deep breath, using the methods that the manual stated to regulate my inhalation and exhalation, I controlled the flow of qi in my body to coalesce them into black arrows. They swirled around the Hou Yi bow, forming multiple arrows. Right now, I was only able to construct three of them at most, but according to the manual, I should eventually be able to fabricate nine arrows and shoot them all at once.
And each possessed a terrifying degree of firepower, enough to shoot down a sun. It wasn't an exaggeration to claim that such a bow, paired with such a technique, would be enough to overturn the heavens.
Of course, I had to take it one step at a time. I had only been practicing this technique for a few days thus far, so I didn't expect to be able to immediately produce and fire nine arrows at once. What, did you think I was some sort of cheat cultivator protagonist? Stop dreaming. Reality wasn't so convenient.
"Oh? Seems like you're doing fine."
Accompanied by a swarm of blazing butterflies, Hong Yao Yao stepped out of the chamber to speak to me. She nodded a greeting to Lan Bei Er, who lowered her head respectfully and stepped to the side. The specially appointed instructor then turned to my wife.
"Bei Er, how's your progress with the Phoenix Rejuvenation technique?"
After I had picked the Nine Suns Slaying Arrow technique, Hong Yao Yao had gone through the shelf and found a yang type healing technique for Lan Bei Er. She had recommended the manual to my wife, leaving her with a cryptic reminder.
"You can't depend on the White Herb Sect forever," she had warned back then. "There will be a time when you'll have to spread your wings and leave for your own ambitions and journey. It won't hurt to have your own trump card to play."
I wondered if Hong Yao Yao was privy to something we didn't know. She was very mysterious, with an unknown background and suspicious motives. But I couldn't argue against her wisdom. The Phoenix Rejuvenation technique was a near miraculous method that allowed the practitioner to practically bring someone back from the dead. It would be useful for Lan Bei Er and whoever she teamed up with.
Preferably that would be with me, but I wasn't narrow-minded and petty enough to get all possessive. Lan Bei Er was her own person, not an object. She didn't belong to me, she could make her own decisions. If anyone wanted to treat her like a possession, I would probably smash into his sect and turn it upside down. Like the demonic cultivator I was.
"Doing well," Lan Bei Er replied with a nod. She raised her hands and red feathery flames danced around her fingers. "I've managed to progress to the second stage in the last few days, but I think it'll take me a longer time to reach the third."
"That's remarkable progress," Hong Yao Yao assured her, impressed. She turned to me, noting the three black arrows I had just unleashed along the corridor. "And sir Hei Ye, it seems you've already attained the third level of Nine Suns Slaying Arrow in such a short span of time."
It was all thanks to the foundation established by Heaven and Earth Formula, but obviously I wasn't going to tell her that. There were way too many mysteries about Hong Yao Yao for me to trust. So I simply nodded.
"Like my wife, it'll take me much longer to reach the fourth stage. And there are a total of nine stages, so I don't know how long it'll take me to get that far. Years, maybe?"
"But thanks to practicing it, it seems like you've finally broke through to the seventh level of Innate Realm. Congratulations."
How the f did she…never mind. I was already aware that I couldn't underestimate her.
"Unfortunately, we don't have much time left to spend here. Chi Yan will probably breakthrough to the fourth level of Nine Yang Divine Energy soon, and then we'll be departing. He and He Shan Jie will be returning to the Elemental Mountain Sect. And I assume you two will be hunting the Ruby Rhino."
"Yeah," I agreed, pushing my glasses up my nose with the fingers of my right hand and lowering my bow with my other hand. "Are you interested in joining us, lady Yao Yao?"
"I will…if only to watch." She smiled. Then she studied the Hou Yi bow in my left hand, as well as glanced at my spatial pouch where Abyssal Edge dwelled. "You still haven't mastered Man and Sword as One?
"What? Man and Sword as One?" Lan Bei Er asked, glancing from her instructor to me. I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck.
"Oh, I was so focused on studying the new techniques that I hadn't really thought about it." it took me a while to learn Shadow Sword Strike and the other Black Shadow Sect techniques that Hai Ying had taught me, so I had neglected to proceed to the next stage.
"What's Man and Sword as One?" Lan Bei Er asked insistently.
"This," Hong Yao Yao replied, holding up an ordinary-looking sword. Lan Bei Er gaped at her. Her instructor giggled and lowered her sword. "It's something you can achieve easily once you reach Innate Realm, so I'm surprised that your husband hasn't already done it with his weapons."
"But…that looks like a normal sword. I don't sense anything from it."
"That's because it's sealed." Hong Yao Yao took a deep breath and stroked her hand along the blade of the supposedly ordinary sword, whispering, "Dance, Fire Spirit Steel Fan."
In an instant, flames consumed the sword and it instantly transformed into a fan. Hong Yao Yao swung it to disperse the embers that crackled around its frame, expanding it to send blazing butterflies flying from its razor-sharp edge.
"That's…that's…" Lan Bei Er spluttered.
"Basically, when you seal your spirit weapon, it will take the form of an ordinary sword," I explained. "It's usually to conceal your true strength from your opponent, or the fact that you have a treasure weapon so that they will not target you. And it also has the practical aspect of saving on qi consumption because unsealed spirit weapons continually feed on our qi unless we seal it away in a spatial pouch or a specially designed sheath. But in a fight, when you need to use its true power, you unseal it with a technique called Man and Sword as One. But that's a technique you can only learn and use when you reach Innate Realm."
"Oh…I see." Lan Bei Er nodded in understanding. She then stared at the Hou Yi bow. "So you'll need to find a way to seal it to reduce qi consumption."
"Or put it in a spatial pouch, like I did with Abyssal Edge," I agreed. Then I closed my eyes and placed a hand on my Hou Yi bow. "That said, it's a lot cooler to just use Man and Sword as One."
A maelstrom of qi raged around my hand and enveloped the Hou Yi bow. Within an instant, it turned into an ordinary sword. Lan Bei Er's jaw dropped.
"How…how did you just do that?!"
"I told you, Man and Sword as One."
"You could do it almost instantly?" Hong Yao Yao's brow was creased. "I'm pretty sure you'll need to commune with your weapon constantly for a while before you can achieve it."
"Yeah, I've been communing with my weapons every time I practiced with them." I took Abyssal Edge out of my spatial pouch and then sealed it, turning it from a black sword into an ordinary looking katana. Lan Bei Er shook her head.
"Did you really…?"
"Yeah. Watch." I took a deep breath and prepared to do an iai with my katana. "Darken, Abyssal Edge."
Black qi enveloped the curved blade like a fog, and when it dispersed, Abyssal Edge was revealed in its true form.
"So you could have done it anytime, but you just chose to leave it in your spatial pouch," Hong Yao Yao grumbled. I shrugged.
"I mean…yeah." Then I held one hand up sheepishly. "Also, the idea only just occurred to me because the last season of Bleach was announced last week and I wanted to rip off the whole shinigami and zanpakuto thing."
"You still have to wait ten months for the animation to be broadcasted, my dear sir," Hong Yao Yao reminded me. Yeah, that was clear evidence she was in the same world as me. If I had any doubts now, they were blown away by that statement. Not that the pink-haired cultivator appeared to realize her slip. She placed her hands on her hips. "Anyway, the next goal for the two of us is to reach Saint Realm. And then we can try to attain…"
Before she could finish her sentence, Chi Yan strode out of the core chamber with a cheer.
"Ah! After ten thousand years, I'm free! It's time to conquer Earth!"
"Senior, you've only been in there for about a week," He Shan Jie reminded him, following him out of the tomb area. Hong Yao Yao chuckled and shook her head.
"I assume you've attained the fourth stage of Nine Yang Divine Energy then?"
"Correct," Chi Yan confirmed with an ambitious grin and cracked his knuckles, which ignited with flames. "Time to return to Elemental Mountain Sect and pay those old bastards back."