Chapter One Hundred: Training in the Flowing Cloud Steps

“Old Yang? I think I’ll call you Elder Yang instead. After all, the word ‘elder’ already means you’re old...”

After a moment’s thought, Yang Yan spoke with utmost seriousness.

“Hmph! I’d better start eating, or if you keep talking, I’m afraid I’ll be angered to death by you!”

As soon as Old Yang finished speaking, he ignored Yang Yan no further.

At that moment, Yang Yan saw a thread of milky-white, crystalline light suddenly burst forth from his lower abdomen, shooting straight onto the Falling Star Demon Hammer in his palm. In the blink of an eye, to his horrified shock, the crimson hammer began to fade at a terrifying speed. The distinctive energy ripples belonging to a high-grade spirit weapon grew thinner and thinner, until at last they vanished completely.

“Ah, the taste is really awful.”

Old Yang’s somewhat infuriating voice sounded again, almost making Yang Yan want to spit blood.

A high-grade spirit weapon he had struggled so hard to obtain had been reduced in a single instant to a heap of worthless scrap iron, devoid of even the slightest spiritual power, not even comparable to an ordinary weapon. And most infuriating of all, this old fellow even complained that the taste was bad. Yang Yan could scarcely bear it!

“Isn’t it just a broken thing? Boy, I can see your innate soul power is pretty good. If you let that sword be swallowed by me, I might even teach you artifact refining...”

Old Yang’s aged voice drifted out in a bland tone, yet what he said caused Yang Yan’s heart to tremble.

An artifact refiner!

Those simple three words carried a meaning Yang Yan understood all too well. It was the symbol of an incomparably noble status on the Tianyuan Continent, a symbol that countless experts flocked toward with feverish longing, and above all, a symbol of power and wealth!

However, when he thought of the harsh conditions required to become an artifact refiner, the heat that had just risen in Yang Yan’s heart cooled by half. His soul power might indeed be formidable among those of his generation, but he possessed no fire-aspect spiritual power. To become an artifact refiner, he would at least have to wait until his fire-aspect spiritual channel had been opened.

“For ordinary people, that is indeed the case. But you are not ordinary.”

Old Yang’s meaningful words came at that moment, rekindling a trace of hope in Yang Yan’s somewhat discouraged heart.

“Heh heh. For common folk, refining artifacts truly requires the use of fire-aspect spiritual power to form spiritual fire, then using it to temper and smelt the materials. But as the True Lunar Body, you possess within you something several times more ferocious than spiritual fire: Yin Fire. A magical treasure forged with that kind of flame is not only far more powerful than one refined with fire-aspect spiritual power, it can also imbue the treasure with a hint of the power of Great Yin. When used against an enemy, it can produce unexpected effects...”

Before Yang Yan could even ask, Old Yang’s voice had already sounded in his mind.

“By what you’re saying, I can become an artifact refiner now?”

Hearing this, Yang Yan’s heart was also overflowing with wild delight, and he asked with growing excitement.

“If you let me swallow that sword, I can teach you artifact-refining techniques right now!”

Old Yang’s tone carried a quality that made one itch to punch him.

If Yang Yan had not needed him at this moment, he would have long since lost his temper!

“Fine, if that’s the case, then I won’t learn artifact refining after all. Once my spiritual power reaches a certain level, I suppose finding an artifact refiner to take me as a disciple won’t be much trouble. No need to trouble Old Yang.”

The moment Yang Yan said this, it clearly left Old Yang somewhat stunned. He had originally thought that even if this brat refused to hand over the sword, he would still have to find another way to tempt him with something else. After all, he knew very well just how great the temptation of becoming an artifact refiner was to ordinary people. He had never expected Yang Yan to give it up so easily!

“Hmph! You brat, how can you be so unambitious? No, since you’ve followed me, you must learn artifact refining. Otherwise, if you go out there, you’ll embarrass my reputation as Old Yang!”

Old Yang’s abrupt change in attitude did not surprise Yang Yan in the least.

“This old fox really is cunning. Looks like I’ll have to be more careful around him from now on...”

Yang Yan thought with a quiet laugh.

After a brief reflection, Yang Yan understood Old Yang’s clever little plan. Even if Yang Yan did not ask to become an artifact refiner, Old Yang would still force him to learn it. For no other reason than that he intended to have Yang Yan refine magical treasures in the future so that he could devour them and recover his strength.

But then Yang Yan suddenly remembered that Old Yang seemed able to sense what he was thinking, and he quickly moved his mind elsewhere.

“Fine. Since I’m in such a good mood today, I’ll reluctantly agree to it!”

Yang Yan’s voice was very calm, but in his heart he was already overflowing with suppressed excitement.

Naturally, Yang Yan’s emotional fluctuations could not escape Old Yang’s awareness. He was no fool, and clearly knew he had just been played by Yang Yan. Yet he was a man who valued face above all else. When he thought that after living for who knew how many tens of thousands of years, he had actually been bested today by a yellow-haired youth barely over ten, he instantly felt as though he had spent all those countless years living on a dog’s stomach.

Still, to avoid losing face, he forced down the displeasure in his heart and pretended he knew nothing.

“Ahem... well, it’s late today, and I also noticed that your dimensional pouch doesn’t contain a furnace. Buy a furnace tomorrow, and I’ll teach you artifact refining then. I’ve just awakened today, and I’m tired too. Good night...”

Not long after Old Yang’s words fell, a series of snores came from Yang Yan’s abdomen. This left him both amused and helpless. This old fellow, who seemed so seasoned and worldly, was actually rather adorable at times.

Still, though he felt a little regretful, it was also as Old Yang said: a clever woman cannot cook without rice. Without materials or tools, there was no point talking about artifact refining.

In any case, since the old fellow had already agreed to teach him, one day would make no difference.

After understanding this, Yang Yan no longer dwelled on it. With a flip of his hand over the dimensional pouch, a scroll appeared in his palm.

Cloud-Treading Steps...

This was precisely the reward Yang Yan had obtained for placing third at the Hundred Hunt Grounds: a movement technique martial art!

His battle with Leng Yuetian had made Yang Yan keenly aware of his weakness in speed. Now that his strength had improved, the opponents he encountered had become increasingly monstrous. The so-called “Shadow-Flash Steps,” a mere martial-arts technique from the mundane world, was becoming less and less effective. In combat, it was inevitably outclassed. Thus Yang Yan decided to cultivate this Cloud-Treading Steps.

“The walker, by it may traverse the vast through the profound, shrinking earth to an inch, and the boundless miles all lie beneath the feet...”

A line of incantation murmured from Yang Yan’s lips. Though the formula sounded simple and clear enough, actually carrying it out was no easy task. After all, effort and reward were always proportional. It would be unrealistic to expect this profound, mid-grade movement technique to be mastered without difficulty.

The first step in cultivating this art was to open the two special meridians in both feet.

Although, after entering the Spirit-Awakening Realm, Yang Yan would from time to time circulate his spiritual power to nourish the meridians throughout his body, most of that effort had been directed toward the major meridians. The two meridians marked in this technique were extremely obscure. Had the scroll not indicated their location in the body, Yang Yan might never have noticed those thin, inconspicuous channels in his entire life.

Having made up his mind, Yang Yan did not hesitate in the slightest. The surging water-aspect spiritual power within his sea of energy suddenly rose and transformed into a torrent, flowing ceaselessly through the meridians of his body and rushing toward the two meridians in the soles of his feet.

“Hiss...”

The instant that rich water-aspect spiritual power reached those two designated meridians, a needle-like pain suddenly shot up from the bottoms of both feet, causing Yang Yan to suck in a sharp breath.

Yet from childhood to adulthood, Yang Yan’s tenacity had far surpassed that of his peers. Combined with the trials he had faced several times on the edge of life and death, this small amount of pain was far from enough to make him retreat.

As the spiritual power arrived at those two meridians, a ripple also burst from between Yang Yan’s brows. Invisible soul power spread out, carefully controlling those two streams of spiritual power as they slowly advanced toward the two meridians in his feet...

“This speed is still not enough!”

Yang Yan’s eyes were somewhat bloodshot, and fine beads of sweat had already appeared on his forehead. Yet there was no sign of retreat on his face, only a resolve and tenacity that far exceeded that of his age.

He needed to become stronger. That was Yang Yan’s most urgent need at present, because he was burdened with a blood feud. The achievements he had obtained before—champion of the martial contest among the clans, third place at the Hundred Hunt Grounds—were utterly worthless in his eyes now.

His opponents were far beyond the young cultivators of present-day Jinzhou. They were peak Spirit-Linking experts, and perhaps even those at the level of the Spirit Sea!

What Yang Yan needed to do now was seize every second to cultivate with all his might, until he finally surpassed them!

At that moment, Yang Yan’s mind stirred, and two thin threads of pale-blue spiritual power were immediately split off from his sea of energy, surging separately toward the meridians in his feet.

Though those two streams of blue spiritual power were insignificant in quantity compared to the vast water-aspect spiritual power from before, a careful sense of them revealed that the terrifying energy contained within them far surpassed the latter by several times.

The power of Great Yin!

That was also the true name Yang Yan had learned for this kind of spiritual power from Old Yang.

With the addition of those two strands of Great Yin power, like two unstoppable and razor-sharp spears charging ahead as vanguard, Yang Yan’s spiritual power moved through those two special meridians more than twice as fast. Naturally, the pain that followed also doubled.

Droplets of sweat the size of beans kept rolling down Yang Yan’s cheeks, soaking his clothes through and through. The agony from his feet was like convulsions, causing his body to tremble continuously, yet his gaze remained unshakably firm, without the slightest wavering.

...

“Phew...”

Yang Yan wiped the sweat from his face and let out a long breath. Though his feet still throbbed with sharp pain, his face was now filled with delight, for after nearly an hour of bitter persistence, the spiritual power within his body had finally opened the two special meridians once through.

If the Elder Li of Azure Mystical Gate were here at this moment, he would surely be shocked by Yang Yan’s actions. Azure Mystical Gate was not lacking in disciples of very high talent who chose to cultivate this martial art, yet for the very first opening of the meridians alone, even the fastest among them had taken nearly three days. Moreover, the pain of forcing the meridians open had made them howl like ghosts, and at times they even needed to take pain-relieving pills to assist them before they could concentrate fully on controlling the circulation of spiritual power.

Yang Yan, however, had not only completed the first opening in one go, but from the look of it, though it was certainly not easy, he was in no way comparable to those disciples of Azure Mystical Gate. More importantly, he had opened both meridians at the same time!

Such endurance, and such precise soul control, would probably make even some Spirit-Linking experts feel ashamed.

“Again!”

Yet after completing this step, the two meridians in his feet were clearly still extremely fragile. What Yang Yan needed to do next was repeatedly wash through them with spiritual power, making them tougher. Only then could they withstand the spiritual impact involved in using Cloud-Treading Steps.

As time passed slowly, before he knew it, a hint of dawn had already begun to whiten the horizon. And Yang Yan, who had sat cross-legged on the great boulder through the entire night like a monk in deep meditation, finally opened his eyes again at last.

“It should be about enough!”

Yang Yan let out a breath of turbid air and smiled.

After an entire night of cultivation, the two meridians in the soles of his feet had finally begun to adapt to the impact of spiritual power, becoming much tougher and wider. Though a faint sting still remained when he circulated his power now, compared with before, it was better by countless degrees. With Yang Yan’s willpower, he could simply choose to ignore it.

What he needed to do now was execute Cloud-Treading Steps.

Thinking of this, Yang Yan stood up from the boulder. With a thought, the spiritual power in his sea of energy instantly surged, circulating rapidly according to the route recorded in Cloud-Treading Steps.

Feeling the abundant spiritual power within the two special meridians in his feet, Yang Yan drew a deep breath and then stepped forward. His feet began moving in an exceedingly strange gait.

To successfully cultivate Cloud-Treading Steps, widening and nourishing the two special meridians was only one part of it. The second part was mastering and controlling the rhythm and patterns of the steps. Only then, with the aid of spiritual power, could one display movement speed far beyond that of ordinary people...

As the warm morning light descended, the rising red sun scattered its pale crimson radiance generously over all things in the world. In a region of the back mountain of the Zhang family, there was still a slender figure shuttling back and forth without pause. Naturally, it was none other than Yang Yan, who had cultivated through the entire night.

If one looked closely, it was not hard to see that Yang Yan’s steps, though seemingly slow and steady, without any sense of haste, did not resemble cultivation at all. Rather, it looked more like an idle stroll. Yet what was astonishing was that with every step he took, his figure would instantly blur, and in the blink of an eye he would appear two or three zhang away. Moreover, one could faintly make out a light mist like white clouds surrounding his feet. That scene gave Yang Yan an added air of mystery.

“The increase in movement speed from Cloud-Treading Steps really is not something Shadow-Flash Steps can compare to!”

At this moment, Yang Yan’s face was also filled with joy, evidently quite satisfied with the results of his overnight cultivation.

Of course, though he could now be considered to have mastered Cloud-Treading Steps, his control over the technique was still not what one would call effortless, and the faint pain radiating from his feet told him that the opening and clearing of the meridians were not yet entirely complete. But these things clearly could not be accomplished in a single night. To achieve this much was already enough to satisfy Yang Yan, and he believed that with the passage of time, these problems would eventually be resolved.

Slowly collecting his emotions, Yang Yan raised his head to look at the blazing red sun, and a smile also emerged on his face.

Today was the day he had agreed to refine artifacts with that old fellow...