"this is definitely a stupid idea"
I said to myself as I stood on the edge of a cliff with a contraption made of SnowClaw Eagle feathers on my back
I had hunted over 10 eagles and reached lvl 5 in the weightless technique, combined with the strength of an Apprentice Jin I was sure I could fly effectively
I had already tried flapping my wings and gaining a small amount of lift successfully and all I needed was a boost of speed to take off
When I looked down I saw the ground about 10 meters below, I purposefully chose a small ledge to try this so I don't die if I fail and slam against the ground
With a step forward I spread my wings out in a 'Y' shape and jumped, with a flap I propelled myself forward and managed to glide, after a wobbly start I got the hang of balancing in mid air
I never expected that I would be able to fly freely in such a short period of time, even Xin artists needed to reach the Adept rank before they could lift themselves up using Li
The rankings as far as I knew were Novice, Apprentice, Adept, Expert, and Master
A Xin artist's ability to lift something remotely was limited as they had to use their mental strength to do it, instead they usually fought by transforming Li into different elements such as fire or water
They would attack by throwing balls of fire or summoning lightning, these attacks were hard to defend against and did a lot of damage but they themselves were very vulnerable to physical attacks
The gentle breeze woke me from my thoughts as I spotted a beast below as I was flying overhead
/Shadow Leopard
Talent: stealth lvl 6/
The moment I saw this I wasn't sure if should attack or not, a Shadow Leopard was at the peak of Apprentice rank and I'd have trouble fighting it especially if it got a chance to hide
Currently it was sleeping on a branch of a tree so I decided to strike first, I folded the flying contraption and placed it in my storage ring as I fell from the sky and took out my sword
*swish*
As I was falling I came in contact with a branch which startled the beast and he attempted to leap forward
Unfortunately for the leopard it was too late and I stabbed my sword in it's back, the leopard roared and counter attacked which I barely defended with my sword
Man and beast locked in a death hold, I held it's neck while it struggled to break free, the leopard was twice my size so it's strength was higher than any Apprentice Jin Rank martial artist
But because of all my strength, stamina and agility talents I was stronger and faster than the Shadow Leopard
Eventually the leopard could no longer struggle as I strangled it to death, unfortunately I had damaged the pelt by stabbing it in the back, if it had not bolted last minute I would have got a clean shot to the head
After skinning the beast I placed the hide in my storage ring, by this time I was running out of space in my two rings and decided to fly back to the Qianli sect