With how silent the platforms had fallen, it was clear that Chu Tian’s strength had shocked everyone. Not only did the three moves include metal, wood, and fire element techniques, but all of them possessed startling power too. If they were fighting Chu Tian instead, they would probably be killed with his first move. It would be even less likely for them to escape from these flames.
How was it possible for Li Qingshan to win against such an opponent? He even tried acting tough, letting Chu Tian take three moves. He was just knocking on death’s door.
Yu Zijian felt her hand tighten until it ached. She saw how worried Hua Chenglu was. “Are you worried about your spiritual stones?”
“I’m worried about him!” Hua Chenglu quickly realised what she had said and blushed. “Oh you. I can’t believe you’re still in the mood to joke around right now.”
“Don’t worry, Chenglu. He’s not the type of person who would be defeated by moves like this.” Yu Zijian patted Hua Chenglu’s hand. She seemed to see that person’s figure on Li Qingshan, an unyielding will.
Liu Zhangqing smiled. Chu Tian might have been lacking a little mentally, but his strength went without saying. Not only did he have over ten times more true qi than regular people, but his techniques were extremely powerful too by using the principle of the mutual promotion of the five elements.
Li Qingshan had challenged him out of sheer ignorance. He was simply asking for trouble. Even if he managed to survive this attack, he should be heavily injured, unable to keep fighting!
Chu Tian laughed aloud, just like he did during the battle last time. “Do you really think you’re worthy enough to give me a handicap of three moves? General Han, I’ve won this battle!”
Han Anjun stood on a platform nearby; he was like a statue, as if he had not heard Chu Tian. Suddenly, he raised his hand and pointed at the fire.
Chu Tian looked over with a frown, and his eyes narrowed. Li Qingshan stood within the sea of fire, unscathed. His posture had not even changed. A circular, faint-blue barrier enveloped him, which resisted the roaring flames no matter how hard they collided against it.
Li Qingshan said, “Three moves!”
The Water Curtain technique was relatively more renowned among the various water element techniques. It was a defensive technique that could nullify power and neutralise attacks.
However, how was a seventh layer Qi Practitioner’s Water Curtain technique able to block Chu Tian’s Bird of Flames? Not only was Chu Tian puzzled, but even Liu Zhangqing was perplexed as well.
Li Qingshan smiled. “What, do you want another three moves?”
“Since you want to be so reckless, don’t blame me for not holding back!” Chu Tian erupted with fury. He formed seals with his hands. He moved so quickly that his hands seemed to multiply.
Li Qingshan did not use this opportunity to attack either. Instead, he just stood there with his arms crossed, as if he really planned on letting him take another three moves. Even the various school leaders felt like he was being a little too conceited now, but he had a plan.
Chu Tian pulled back his hands, and all the blurs vanished, merging before his chest. He slammed his hands against the ground violently.
There was an unbelievably loud rumble. The onlookers all felt the platforms shake slightly, as if there was an earthquake. A crack immediately appeared between Chu Tian’s hands, spreading to Li Qingshan’s feet.
A huge, earthen yellow hand extended out from the ground and headed towards Li Qingshan. The five thick fingers reached towards him like stone pillars.
Li Qingshan leapt up and unleashed his cloud, flying around the arena while looking down.
The entire stadium was filled with cracks now. The earthen yellow arms extended out of the earth and into the air before pressing against the ground. A humanoid figure used it to hoist itself out of the earth, like it was a giant that had awakened from its millennium-long slumber by the outside world. Rock and soil rolled off its body, revealing a perfect, humanoid shape. It stood over thirty meters tall.
The huge shadow it cast even enveloped quite a few platforms.
The people on the platforms were alarmed. “W- what is this technique?”
“The Earthen Strongman!” Earth elder Huang squinted his eyes.
“What? This is the Earthen Strongman?” A tanny, simple-looking young man beside earth elder Huang cried out, as he also knew this technique, and he was at the tenth layer.
The Earthen Strongman was an earth element technique. Anyone who cultivated Wu Earth true qi could use it, but when regular weaker Qi Practitioners used it, the ones they summoned would only be the size of a man. Stronger Qi Practitioners might have been able to summon ones towering at ten meters, but an Earthen Strongman this huge had already exceeded the understanding of regular Qi Practitioners. They struggled to make out what this technique was.
The power of techniques were basically determined by three factors—elemental affinity, true qi quantity, and understanding of the technique itself.
Without a doubt, Chu Tian was one of the best of the best for all three factors, particularly with the last factor. With his advantage as a Reincarnated Celestial, he basically knew how to use techniques even without being taught them, as if he was born with them. Even the primary disciple of the school of Agriculture paled in comparison to him. After all, in this current day and age of peace, regular Qi Practitioners would never spend too much time or effort on techniques.
Chu Tian stood on the Earthen Strongman’s shoulder and looked down at Li Qingshan. “If you want to admit defeat now, it’s already too late. If I want to kill you, no one can save you!”
This was extremely arrogant of Chu Tian to say, but no one treated it as a boast. This colossal figure probably weighed thousands of tonnes. Before a single punch from it, any protective true qi or defensive techniques would be rendered useless. He would immediately be crushed to pulp. Even if someone wanted to save Li Qingshan, it would be too late.
Before they knew it, this battle had already evolved into a struggle of life and death.
Han Anjun’s eyelashes trembled, while the primary disciple of the school of the Military, Han Tieyi, said, “General.”
Han Anjun said, “Let him kill him.”
Chu Tian laughed madly. Under his control, the Earthen Strongman extended a huge hand towards Li Qingshan.
Li Qingshan rode the cloud and slipped between the huge fingers in an extremely close shave. He felt his vision darken. At this moment, the other hand had already slammed down from above. The cloud descended rapidly, which was the only reason he managed to avoid that punch.
With a boom, the Earthen Strongman’s punch struck the ground heavily. A shockwave visible with the naked eye spread out in all directions. Wherever it passed by, masses of earth leapt up with it.
A few Qi Practitioners on the platforms basically wanted to flee out of fright. A screen of light appeared as the several hundred platforms formed a circular barrier, enveloping the entire stadium.
The shockwave dispersed, leaving behind a huge pit in the ground. Everyone was dumbfounded by the power. Was this really a technique used by a seventh layer Qi Practitioner?
Basically every corner of the stadium was within reach of the Earthen Strongman’s arms, and it definitely did not have any points of weakness.
Li Qingshan rode around on his cloud like a fly, weaving and dodging around, avoiding the Earthen Strongman’s attempts to catch him time and time again in close shaves.
Chu Tian sneered aloud. “What, is running all you know? Or are you trying to exhaust my true qi? I might as well tell you this then. Once my Earthen Strongman is created, the earth itself serves as a foundation for it. As such, it will never run out of power.”
“Twelve moves.”
Chu Tian was stunned. “What did you say?”
Li Qingshan smiled. “All for you to take!”
The slovenly daoist priest laughed too. He took a sip of alcohol. “This kid is still so arrogant. I like it! It’s just a pity!”
“Fuck you!” Chu Tian completely lost his temper. The Earthen Strongman opened its mouth and let out a soundless roar. It took quaking steps and spread out its arms, lunging towards Li Qingshan.
A huge shadow extended over. Li Qingshan felt like a mountain was falling on him, but he kept smiling. “Since you want to play, I’ll play with you!”
Boom! The two huge hands collided together heavily, and everything in between them vanished.
Hua Chenglu screamed. Wasn’t Li Qingshan dead now? Why hadn’t the referee Han Anjun interfered? Did he really want to see Li Qingshan die?
Chu Tian said, “As I’ve said, if I want to kill you, no one can…”
The Earthen Strongman opened its hands. There was nothing between them apart from a puddle of water.
The Water Clone technique. It could mould water into shapes and mislead people.
Sounds of amazement rang out in the surroundings. A shadow enveloped Chu Tian, but he did not care. At such an altitude, the only thing that could shroud the sun were clouds.
At this moment, Chu Tian saw many Qi Practitioners pointing behind him in surprise. He quickly turned around. He saw “clouds”.
A cloud giant even larger than the Earthen Strongman grabbed the Earthen Strongman by the shoulder with its left hand while forming a fist with its right. It threw it heavily at the Earthen Strongman’s face, causing it to stagger backwards and collapse heavily, striking the barrier around the stadium.
A huge slab of earth slid off the Earthen Strongman’s face as rock and soil flowed out. The punch was originally directed towards Chu Tian who stood on the Earthen Strongman’s shoulder, but his reactions were quite fast, so he managed to dodge it.
Li Qingshan sat on the cloud giant’s shoulder and said, “What a coincidence! I just happen to know a similar technique!”
During the time he spent in seclusion, Li Qingshan did not just practise qi. He also tried the techniques that came with the Gui Water Method of Condensing Qi, but he discovered it was all different now. These techniques that originally required him tremendous amounts of time to understand and grasp suddenly posed no difficulty at all anymore. He could use them after just a bit of study, and their effects were extraordinary too.
He did not become a genius overnight. This had nothing to do with his ability to comprehend. Instead, it was instincts, just like how fish could swim and birds could fly. Controlling everything that had to do with water was the spirit turtle’s natural ability. The Spirit Turtle’s Method of Sea Suppression had almost changed his very essence.
As a result, he tried all of the water element techniques in the cultivation dwelling. Li Qingshan did not wait around during the three days before the battle either. He got Liu Chuanfeng to find some stronger water element techniques suited for battle.
Liu Chuanfeng might not have been well-off, but he was still the leader of a school, while his senior brother, Sun Fubai, literally sold these things. As a result, he immediately gave him a few powerful water element techniques.
The “Cloud Ridge Giant” was one of them. Learning the Cloud Ridge Giant required great mastery over Mist Wielding and Cloud Riding.
The Cloud Ridge Giant was condensed from water vapour after all. It was massive, which was why it was called a “giant”, though it was not exactly more powerful than Chu Tian’s Earthen Strongman. However, it seemed like he had gained the upper hand.
“You actually- You actually!” Chu Tian roared. As if the punch had landed on his face, it ached with a fiery pain. Originally, he wanted to annihilate Li Qingshan quickly with absolute supremacy, but reality had proved him wrong time and time again.
The Earthen Strongman stood up once again as it rapidly recovered from the damage to its face.
The two colossal figures stood within the stadium, as if they had returned to a battlefield of primeval times.
Amidst the shock, all the Qi Practitioners wondered about the same question. Was this still a battle between Qi Practitioners? And ones at the seventh layer?
Painting a Snake and Dabbing in the Eyes
The name might be a little weird, but this is actually a note for requesting for monthly tickets at the start of the month!
Though, I still want to use this opportunity to ramble about some things, things about the novel itself.
This month’s been quite surprisingly difficult. First, my grandfather passed away, which forced me to halt releases for a week, but all it affected was releases. There are some things that run much deeper that are troubling me.
You can say that this is also the primary reason behind the unstables releases of Chronicles of Xu Xian. It has once troubled me deeply. When I thought I could avoid it by switching to a Levelling-up novel, it has instead come knocking once again.
Note: Levelling-up novels, just as the name suggests, is about the main character powering up throughout the novel, like he “levels up” in a game. The novel places quite an emphasis on growing stronger, if you couldn’t tell already.
I didn’t even understand what it was, until one day. I suddenly realised what’s troubling me isn’t my flaws, but my strengths. You might find this strange. How can my strengths trouble me?
All of this originates from the very source of this. Why do I write novels?
I think I’m the same as most people. If you’ve ever thought about writing novels, you must have experienced this too. In the very beginning, it’s just a good idea in your mind, a novel thought, a touching scene. But afterwards, it will extend on forever, making you feel like you have to write something.
However, when many people start writing, they realise that they can’t express these ideas in their minds, so they give up. Fortunately, I possess this ability. I can turn those ideas into interesting and touching segments of the story.
One of my strengths is that I don’t lack these ideas. They seem like inexhaustible starlight, leaping out and calling out to me everyday, “Write me! Write me!”
All I can say is, “Alright.” That’s because this is my mission. I need to use an invisible thread to string them together so that they can shine before you.
However, it’s not that easy.
Only now did I realise, Did I mess something up?
I think you’ve all heard the story about “Drawing legs for snakes”. I once treated this old fable as the story of a fool, “Just who can be so stupid!” This continued until a certain moment, which was right now. I suddenly realised that I was that idiot.
Note: Drawing legs for snakes is a fable (and a Chinese idiom) where there’s a group of people who compete for a jar of alcohol. Basically, they decide to compete by seeing who can draw a snake the fastest. One of them finishes well before everyone else, and in his arrogance, he even spends time to add legs to his snake. When he goes to claim his prize of a hearty drink, one of his competitors says that snakes don’t have legs, so he hasn’t drawn a snake. At this moment, that same person finishes drawing and takes the alcohol for himself. The moral of the story is not to go over the top, as you might end up shooting yourself in the foot.
Writing a novel isn’t threading a line. Instead, it’s drawing a snake. There’s a head and a tail, while the in between forms the snake’s wriggling body.
However, this snake was just too long and too big, to a point where I often forget this. In order to demonstrate these ideas in my head, you guessed it! That’s right, I drew legs for the snake!
This is not a small matter, so I paused the releases and passed it off as thinking over the plot. However, no matter how beautiful these “legs” were, no matter how diligently I drew them, even I could feel that something was off, let alone you. So afterwards, I paused the releases.
And as you know, “He who draws legs for the snake misses out on drinking.”
I finally understood that while these ideas were very beautiful, very touching, and very interesting, they did not belong to this story. They belong to another story, another style.
If the twisting and warping of all these ideas didn’t exist, it would be good news to both this book and to me. I can write this story of grinding and levelling-up in peace. Perhaps the novel won’t shine, but it’ll still be a snake.
If you complain about how you’re worse than others and how they’re more successful than you, that’s probably because you’ve done something stupendously idiotic and you’re still unaware. The idiotic thing is probably so simple that it can be accurately described using a fable.
Racking your brains out sometimes isn’t as great as a convenient scribble from others.
I’ve written so much nonsense, so you might be irritated by it now! As a note, requesting for monthly tickets, you can call this akin to the “snake legs”! I should have used this time to write another chapter and erupt while letting out a battlecry, raising morale instead!
Hehe, old habits die hard! All I can say is that I’m really not a genius. I don’t have the talent of achieving instantaneous enlightenment, achieving godhood through a single novel. However, I will be like Li Qingshan, advancing forwards step by step. Please join me on this process and please lend me a hand.
That’s because I refuse to draw snakes for the rest of my life. Right now, it’s just because I don’t have enough power. There will be a day when not only do I draw legs, but I’ll draw claws, scales, horns, ears, whiskers, a tail, and finally, I’ll dab in the eyes.
Perhaps it might summon the winds and lightning and emerge from the wall, taking off on the clouds…
When that day arrives, I’ll have you sit beside the dragon horns and soar through the wind and sky, all the way to beyond the Nine Heavens!
Note: The author’s note heavily plays off a few Chinese idioms, allegories, and sayings. As I’ve mentioned earlier, there’s the fable of drawing legs on the snake. At the same time, the author refers to the Chinese myth of how snakes can evolve into dragons once they cultivate for a sufficient amount of time. And at the end, with how it “emerges from the wall” towards the end, it’s a reference to the allegory of “Dabbing in eyes for the painted dragons”. Basically, a renowned Chinese painter, Zhang Sengyou, painted four life-like dragons on the wall of a temple, but he did not dab in the eyes. He did not do so as he claimed the dragons would spring alive and subsequently fly away if he did. A person ignored his warnings and painted the eyes in for two dragons, and just as Zhang Sengyou had warned, the two dragons sprang alive and flew away with winds and lightning (dragons are known to cause storms in Chinese legends). The allegory is basically used for things that are just a tiny element away from perfection.
