“Flames are usually yellow or blue. It depends on whether the combustion is complete or not. The Fire Whip is blue. It’s an ordinary flame. However, it contains much more energy than the kind of flame the Fireball Skill can produce. It’s more destructive, and its range of attack is larger. If you use different cultivation methods to cast this skill, the strength it displays is also different. This is an offensive method designed to deal with multiple enemies, which you will find handy in the current situation.”
Zhang Han pulled the yacht to a stop and began to teach Mengmeng the second move. After he taught Mengmeng the way of running the secret skill, he began to tell her some points for attention.
“Don’t be rash when casting the Fire Whip. The first step is to form the fire whip. After the whip takes shape, all you need to learn is how to use it. You can brandish the Fire Whip at will. For example, you can swing it horizontally to tackle ordinary enemies. But since you’re learning this secret skill, I’ve prepared a set of whip-using method for you, which encompasses about a dozen moves. You take time to learn all the moves after we get home. Now, the first thing you need to master is to form the Fire Whip. Let’s start with the set of methods I’ve told you.”
“Yes.” Mengmeng nodded obediently. She didn’t have much time to think about other things, for she was absorbed in thinking about the formation of the Fire Whip.
As soon as she closed her eyes, Mengmeng quickly opened them again.
“Daddy, I want a nice-looking whip.”
“Well… the whip can be whatever kind you like. Just focus and picture it in your head. Think about it in the way you want it to be,” Zhang Han said with a smile.
“Okay.”
Mengmeng closed her eyes again and began to run the Cultivation Method with the method of the secret skill.
“Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle…”
Suddenly, there was a faint sound coming from her palm, and a cluster of flames appeared.
It was crimson.
But a second later, it went out.
Mengmeng opened her eyes, looking a little confused.
“You got the order wrong. Let the Fire Whip take shape first, and then you can picture what it looks like.” Zhang Han encouraged her, “As long as you follow the correct order, I believe you can do it at one go.”
“But I don’t know what I want it to look like.”
“Actually, you don’t have many choices. The Fire Whip is just a weapon that functions as a whip. For example, some have made the whip look like a chain, some have made it look like snakes, and others have shaped it like bones. You can’t change the appearance of the whole whip yet. You can only change the handle.”
“Well, I see. I’m sure I’ll make it this time.”
Mengmeng did a pep talk to herself.
She closed her eyes again.
After she adjusted her breathing for five seconds, the sizzling sound was heard in Mengmeng’s right hand again.
It was as if something horrible was about to appear.
Two seconds later.
“Swoosh!”
A cluster of flames popped up. This time, the flames were light blue.
The shape of the cluster of flames was constantly changing. At first, it looked like a caterpillar, but then, it turned into a palm-sized ball.
“Is it because Mengmeng has tossed too many fireballs?”
Zhang Han found it quite funny. However, he was more or less stunned by what he saw next, and a look of admiration appeared in his eyes.
The caterpillar had broken through the cocoon and become a butterfly!
The cluster of flames, which had been shaped like a blue butterfly, came into being, followed by a half-meter long whip.
“It’s done!” Zhang Han said with excitement.
“Wow.” Mengmeng opened her eyes and was a little surprised. “It’s really the same as I pictured it.”
“No, no! Why is the whip so short? I pictured it as several meters long.”
Mengmeng was overjoyed to see the butterfly-shaped flames. But when she saw the length of the whip, she was somewhat baffled.
“You think it can be as long as you want it to be?” Zhang Han couldn’t help laughing. “This is the same as the Fireball Skill. You need continuous practice. And the higher the level of comprehension you have, the bigger the fireball is, and the longer the whip is.”
“But with such a short whip, it’s not powerful at all,” Mengmeng muttered.
“Who said it’s not powerful? You’ll know when you try it.” Zhang Han cast a light golden protective cover around Mengmeng and then said, “Go ahead. With the energy left in your body, this whip can’t last for more than a few minutes.”
“Shall I go look for those frogs?”
Mengmeng blinked and quickly jumped off from the yacht. The running water still influenced her balanced. As if she was walking on a balance beam, she staggered to the forest where the water was calm.
“Crack!”
As soon as Mengmeng flung the Fire Whip, she saw a one-meter-wide wave of fire, which was light blue and looked like the gathering of countless petals, dash forward.
“Croak!”
Three blue frogs suddenly moved. Before they could strike, the other side already began to attack. They started to fight back. A red tongue, accompanied by a beam of faint light, quickly zoomed at Mengmeng. It was as fast as lightning. Yet, no matter how fast it was, it could not break the defense set by Zhang Han.
“Swoosh!”
When the fire wave flashed past, and the three blue frogs seemed to have merged into the blue flame and dissipated.
“Bravo!”
Mengmeng shouted in surprise. Then, she continued to wield the Fire Whip, proceeding to the second round of the training.
On the yacht, Zhang Han just smiled and said nothing.
With Mengmeng’s strength, it was a piece of cake for her to take out these spirit beasts who had not even reached the Peak Strength Stage.
“Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!”
Mengmeng wielded the Fire Whip to her heart’s content. After striking a dozen times, she was finally exhausted.
“I’m tired again.”
The Fire Whip disappeared. Mengmeng ran back in a hurry and jumped onto the yacht from the water.
“Daddy, one more medicinal pellet.”
The little girl even asked for the medicinal pellet of her own accord.
Because she now knew that she could quickly recover her energy once she took it.
“Here you are.”
Zhang Han handed her one, then he caressed her head. “Very good. You learned it in less than 20 minutes. You just need to practice more in the future. One day, you will also be a strong martial artist that fears nothing. Yet, there is one more thing that you should be careful with. There are many dangerous creatures in relics. For example, the blue frogs we saw just now are poisonous, highly poisonous. And there are many of them. Therefore, we have to be prepared for the dangers in advance. We should carry some defensive treasures with us. In fact, when we enter the relic, we should activate the defensive treasures as soon as possible just like that An Xiaoshan did. Then, we must observe the surroundings. Don’t panic when something unexpected occurs. Because panic will make people die faster. The ability to calm down and analyze the situation is the basis of survival.”
“Well, I should calm my nerves a bit,” Mengmeng responded with a clear voice
She picked up the cold juice beside her and began to drink.
“By the way, Daddy,” When she was done with the juice, Mengmeng sat up and said, “you say I’ve carried a lot of defensive treasures. But why can’t I use them myself?”
“They function of their own accord,” Zhang Han replied. “When we get back, you can go to your grand uncle’s. He has a lot of strange treasures. Ask him to give you some as toys.”
“Great! I’ll ask him as soon as I get back. If he says no, I’ll go and complain to my grand aunt.” Mengmeng abruptly put on an impish smile.
In his family, Wang Ming’s status was not as high as Rong Jiaxin’s. He was the kind of man who let his wife call the shots. Rong Jiaxin had a great say in the affairs of the Wang family. She also doted on Mengmeng very much. If Mengmeng said that she wanted some treasures to play with, wouldn’t Rong Jiaxin empty half of Wang Ming’s laboratory?
It could be imagined that Wang Ming would soon live in fright and astoundment for a few days.
Thinking of this, Zhang Han burst into laughter.
“There’s nothing interesting here. Let’s go to the next place.”
“Sure. Off we go!”
Mengmeng held up both of her hands and cheered excitedly.
“Swoosh!”
The yacht traveled very fast. It headed forward without a stop along the river.
But the forest was so vast that it seemed that they would never get out of it.
“Mengmeng, look, we seem to be traveling in a straight line, but in fact, we are not. We’ve been making a detour. It’s like that a person would come back to where he set off if he keeps going forward without knowing the direction. As An He said, the river here is like an S-shaped curve. According to the angle of the slope, we’re going upward. And our final destination should be a lake at the top of a mountain,” Zhang Han said.
“Daddy, how come you know so much?” Mengmeng’s eyes glinted with curiosity. “Is it because of the thing called soul sense? Is it like a detection device?”
“Yes.” Zhang Han nodded and explained, “A normal cultivator will open his soul sense at the Innateness Stage. But a smart cultivator can start this process at the Foundation Stage.”
“Daddy, are you blowing your own trumpet?”
Hearing this, Mengmeng asked with some suspicion.
“That’s also a compliment to you, isn’t it?” Zhang Han’s mouth quivered slightly.
Since the little girl had grown up, sometimes her train of thoughts really took him by surprise.
“I can do it too?” Mengmeng’s eyes lit up.
“Of course, don’t you see whose daughter you are?”
“Haha.”
“…”
They chatted and laughed along the way. And the trip took about two hours.
After passing through the blue frogs’ place, it seemed that they had arrived at the territory of water snakes. From time to time, there were ripples on the calm water surface at the bottom of those trees. It meant that water snakes were swimming by.
Without exception, these water snakes did not approach the yacht in that they felt a trace of aura that Zhang Han had emitted.
The aura was terrifying.
After they passed the water snakes’ territory, the trees became fewer. The environment turned more lifeless. And there was a faint mist over the water.
“Daddy, it’s so quiet here, and the water is so clear. It’s said that when the water is too clear, there will be no fish. So, there must be some monsters here. We should be careful,” Mengmeng lowered her voice and said with a serious tone.
“Who said that there is no fish when the water is too clean?”
Zhang Han smiled and pointed to the front. “Look over there.”
“Eh? What’s that? A ton of fish!”
The water surface ahead of them turned black. Upon a closer look, they found that it was a mass of black fish. Each fish was half a meter long and had sharp teeth.
At the sight of them, one would think of three words: “the Cannibal Fish!”
These Cannibal Fish seemed to be afraid of nothing. They all gathered around the yacht.
“You can practice the Deep Flame Whip here.”
“Yes.”
Mengmeng did what she was told and cast the Deep Flame Whip again.
But then came the problem.
“I can’t reach them.”
Standing on the deck, Mengmeng’s little whip was not long enough to touch the fish.
Zhang Han was quite speechless.
“The fish will be within your reach if you go into the water.”
“Oh, right, right.”
Mengmeng thumped her forehead and muttered, “I’ve become dumb after hearing Daddy’s flattering words.”
With that, she jumped into the water, completely ignoring Zhang Han, whose face darkened with embarrassment.
“Swoosh…”
“Daddy, they’re too powerful. Shall we retreat?”
Mengmeng waved the Fire Whip 10 times but only killed eight fish. These Cannibal Fish were good at defense and were also very powerful. They opened their mouths and charged at Mengmeng, which gave the little girl quite a turn.
Seeing this, Zhang Han hurriedly reached out and scooped Mengmeng back on the yacht.
“Take a break before you continue.”
In this way, Mengmeng went through the first training in her life.
She had practiced five times in the territory of the Cannibal Fish.
And the only skill she used was the Fire Whip. She killed eight fish on the first try, 13 on the second try, 18 on the third try, 31 on the fourth try, and 69 on the fifth try!
Her progress was extremely fast.
It was attributable to her talent, as well as Zhang Han’s good teaching.
Zhang Han had been making plans for Mengmeng’s cultivation for many years. And he had considered every step carefully. Therefore, how could she not progress fast?
“This area is a threat to those at the Peak Strength Stage. Ten minutes before we arrived here, eight people were killed here.”
“Then they couldn’t go back home, nor could they see their families again. It’s so sad.” Mengmeng pressed her lips as if she suddenly understood something.
It certainly made sense to be cautious and guarded.
“This is the way with martial arts. So it is with cultivation,” Zhang Han said slowly.
“Let’s go to the next destination. I figure we’re almost there.”
He prepared to speed up. Mengmeng’s performance in the first training had already lived up to Zhang Han’s expectations.
