Chapter 65: Tide
Li Xixing leaned against a stone in the spring, half lying down, as he looked at the hovering black eagles in the sky. The heated spring water had washed away all feelings of exhaustion. He felt happy. At the same time, he could not help but think about the end- if he were to die like this, it could be a good thing. At least … at least this would not be as tiring. And yet, this thought stayed in his mind but for a fleeting moment.
Life was like this, tired but unwilling.
The surroundings were still extremely calm. The black eagles hovered but did not land on the Mountain of Ancestors. There seemed to be something in the mountain they innately feared.
A sneer on the corners of his mouth, Li Xixing slowly stood up. The spring water flowed down the fur of his robes, washing out most of the dried blood.
“All right?” He looked at Hu Jingjing whose face had turned red in the springs.
Hu Jingjing nodded. “All right.”
While she still found it hard to believe, this was the truth. The wounds inside her body, which would have taken a long time to heal even with the best medicines of Changling, had been healed by this spring in a short while.
“What are you doing?” Li Xixing’s next movements shocked her move.
Li Xixing pulled out his sword and waded through the spring towards the source of the water. He had two swords. At this time, he was using the large pale white sword. The seal scripts on the blade were like long fangs filled with rebellious and destructive presence.
The spring water was forced away by the sharp sword energy to reveal the milky white stone underneath. The pale white sword light cut on the rocks around the water outlet, and the stones were cut into pieces.
“You want to destroy this spirit spring?” Hu Jingjing realized what Li Xixing was going to do.
Li Xixing did not look back and continued to use his sword to cut away the stones around the water outlet so his sword light could penetrate more deeply. He said without emotion, “This is not our ancestral mountain.”
“While I think this is a waste, it feels you are right.” Hu Jingjing nodded seriously after a momentary daze. She walked next to Li Xixing and started to exude sword essence.
“Why are those eagles flying so low?”
“The eagles are not flying low, but the sky is too high.”
“Do not pretend to be mysterious in front of me.”
“There must be an enormous valley below.”
“How are you sure?”
“Because the spread of spirit energy here is interesting.”
“Why do I not feel it is interesting? Is your perception above mine?”
“Because of the Heaven Replenishing Divine Art.”
Multiple military horses passed through the grass. Only two people sat on the horses, Ding Ning and Shen Xuan.
From Guyu Pass to here, Shen Xuan had asked many questions concerning Ding Ning’s cultivation and perception. But the result of those discussions were frequently attributed to the Heaven Replenishing Divine Art by Ding Ning.
Shen Xuan did not look at Ding Ning but at where the black eagles were flying low. He could not confirm Ding Ning’s explanation, because Ding Ning was the only person in the world who knew the true secrets of the Heaven Replenishing Divine Art.
During their travel, he had continued to talk with Ding Ning, not because he wanted to find out the other’s secrets but out of fear. To him, facing the unknown Wuzhi expert and desiring to kill the sect master of Spirit Void Sword Sect were both terrifying matters to him. He wanted to gamble, but he also feared becoming a rotten corpse consumed by dholes on the plains.
Now, he started to sense the oddly moving primal energies of the universe in the surroundings start to vibrate violently like someone was unveiling a great drama.
Ding Ning’s gaze also moved to where the black eagles were hovering. He too sensed the dramatic change in the primal energies of the universe. This did not feel like a powerful cultivator absorbing primal energies, but like strong primal energies were exploding out of that place.
Li Xixing and Hu Jingjing were standing in the hot spring. The heated water had only been at their waist when they stood up, but now the water was above their chest and at their necks. They had cut out a large area around the water outlet. The bursting spring water was slow, but the water was boiling with fist-sized bubbles.
When each bubble floated to the surface, they would explode with a pop. Pure milky white spirit energy would burst out. The condensed milky white spirit energy was slightly heavier than the air. So after they exploded above the water, they would fall into the water like blooming lotuses.
Li Xixing pressed his lips together tightly, firm and cold. His perception went as deeply as it could into this spirit vein. “Use the strongest attack of your sect. We will do it together.” When Shen Xuan and Ding Ning were sensing something in the distance, he turned and spoken to Hu Jingjing.
At some unknown time, the two of them had gained a close understanding of each other. Hu Jingjing nodded at him and then unhesitatingly started a sword attack she had to use her full power to perform.
Multiple yellow rays of light suddenly formed in the milky white spring water. Then all of the water turned faint yellow like the water had become a yellow mirror.
Li Xixing frowned deeply and gave a low howl like a wolf king howling from the deepest part of the grassland. He stepped forward with one foot. The spring water ahead of him exploded under his step into fine white mist that spread outsides. The spring water disappeared ahead of him but the yellow lights still remained. His pale white long sword borrowed the power of the yellow light and penetrated deep into the spirit vein to a depth his perception could not reach.
At this moment, his and Hu Jingjing’s bodies were blown away by an enormous and ancient power, flying backwards like two fallen leaves. The thick spirit energy originally gathered in the hot spring suddenly exploded and filled the entire valley before soaring up into the sky like a pillar.
Li Xixing and Hu Jingjing did not land on the ground. They were still being blown up by the powerful presence. The blood in their bodies boiled yet they felt no wounds. Wild spirit energy pierced through their bodies, like river water constantly washing the stones on the riverbed, and smoothed out the edges on the surface.
The pair felt a great dizziness and could not think or sense the passing of time. When their bodies felt heavy and started to fall, they saw they were dozens of feet in the air, and the water below, as well the original hot spring, had disappeared. There were enormous clouds above the Mountain of Ancestors. A wild wind blew through the surroundings, creating the sound of dried grass being snapped.
Li Xixing managed to gain control of his vital energy despite his strong dizziness. He forced his vital energy through his feet to avoid himself and Hu Jingjing becoming minced meat when they hit the ground. But at this moment, he felt a great shock, and instinctively made a low exclamation.
Hu Jingjing steadied her body and looked inquiringly at him, shocked speechless.
“You too?” She struggled out in the next breath.
Li Xixing nodded.
Under the violent spirit energy cleanse, he had made a breakthrough in his long halted cultivation realm, and his vital energy had made an astounding leap. It was the same with Hu Jingjing.
He suppressed his shock, and sensed his body that did not seem like his previous one. He looked up.
Rain descended from the clear sky.
The rain fell on the plains. Shen Xuan had no sword in hand but subconsciously tightened his grip until he seemed to hold one.
Milky white rain dripped from the sky. They did not make a splash on the ground when they fell like water did. They popped and became threads of milky white smoke.
The grasslands seemed to be in a frenzy. The yellowed grass swayed furiously. The dried roots absorbed the milky white energy and suddenly gave birth to some green.
All the animals and insects hiding in the ground woke up and surged out wildly. The wild beasts in the distance, not covered by this rain cloud, came in wildly from all directions.
Shen Xuan looked with a pale face at the dense mat of insects burrowing out of the soil under his feet. He sensed the vibrations from the wild beasts racing in the distance and his breathing grew heavier.
This was something he had never seen before. He had not expected so many insects in a patch of soil next to him. To his shock, even his amputated arm felt a sore itchiness like his arm would regrow if an arm were connected there.
The rain made from spirit energy was astounding pure and had an unimaginable power to heal. The rains fell most densely on the Mountain of Ancestors. The milky white raindrops fell on top of the mountain and flowed down the gullies.
There were tens of thousands of insects on the plains, forming an ocean, and tens of thousands of animals, forming a tide, flooding towards the Mountain of Ancestors.
