From afar, Su Yun and the four foxes looked as though they were standing atop the clouds, while farther away, a white elephant carried a divine being as it raced wildly across the clouds.
Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled within the clouds, bolts of lightning continuously striking downward.
Thunderclaps kept exploding within the thunderclouds high above.
The flood dragon's tribulation had reached its most critical moment. Waves of lightning came one after another, surging toward Snake Ravine like the tide.
Beneath the clouds lay a bottomless abyss. If anyone carelessly fell, they would undoubtedly be smashed to pieces!
Forget falling in—even a single glance made one's heart pound and one's muscles go weak, tendons and bones turning sore and limp.
Yet the fierce astral winds howled through the high sky. The gale did not blow in a single direction; the winds here were strange and frequently shifted course. Even a treasure like the Immortal Rope was shaken into rippling waves.
Su Yun stood sideways on the rope, one hand forward and one hand behind him, his body rising and falling with the Immortal Rope's jolts.
His gaze did not stray, and his ears heard nothing else. He turned a blind eye to his dangerous situation and a deaf ear to the thunder, staring fixedly at the two characters charging out from the clouds.
Those two characters transformed into a divine being riding an elephant and charged at him. Su Yun was not the least bit surprised, but the four foxes behind him cried out in alarm.
Spiritual Abilities had always been exceedingly strange.
Having been weakened by the lightning within the clouds, those two characters were already badly damaged, far inferior to what they had once been.
But they were Spiritual Abilities!
Achieving Spiritual Abilities was incredibly difficult. Only after the sixth level of a Foundation Establishment cultivation art could one enter the Spirit Infusion Realm. Those in the Spirit Infusion Realm could be called Spirit Scholars, but reaching that realm did not necessarily mean one could cultivate Spiritual Abilities. It was merely the process of using vital qi to strengthen one's Spiritual Nature and nurture Spiritual Abilities.
Only upon cultivating to the Primal Motion Realm could one use Spiritual Abilities.
In other words, there might be a difference of two whole realms between Su Yun and the Confucian Scholar Tong Xuan!
Qiu Shuijing had once told Su Yun that different realms had different cultivation arts. No single cultivation art could span every realm, nor could any one cultivation art suit every realm!
The Great Furnace Transformation: Qi Cultivation Chapter could only be used in the Qi Cultivation Realm. Upon entering the Spirit Infusion Realm, one had to switch to a cultivation art for the Spirit Infusion Realm.
That meant the gap in strength between different realms might be an impassable chasm that could never be crossed!
The white elephant carried the divine being charging before him and let out a long trumpet, clear even amid the thunder. The enormous elephant galloped across the clouds, its momentum unmatched!
Though the divine being's body was also tattered and broken, his imposing aura soared like a rainbow. Borrowing the white elephant's momentum, he swung his halberd down at Su Yun!
Combined with the white elephant's charge and the divine being's own strength, this strike could absolutely split Su Yun from crown to heel, cleaving him in two!
"However..."
Brilliant light flashed in Su Yun's eyes, forcing the phantom Immortal Sword shadows within them back again and again. His blood and qi churned as a deep dragon's chant rose from his chest.
His blood-qi flood dragon rested its two front claws on his shoulders and raised its head from behind him, towering roughly two feet above him. Its whiskers hung beside his ears, swaying gently in the wind as it too lifted its head and released a deep dragon's chant.
At that moment, his aura swelled. It was as though wind whirled and surged beneath his clothes, puffing out his chest and inflating his sleeves and trouser legs until they were round.
"This Confucian Scholar of the Tong Family seems not to have learned enough!"
Su Yun and his blood-qi flood dragon struck almost simultaneously, meeting the descending halberd. His blood qi had transformed from crocodile dragon qi into flood dragon qi, and the Crocodile Dragon's Roar's six moves and thirty-six Unbound Moves had accordingly transformed into the Flood Dragon's Chant's six moves and thirty-six Unbound Moves.
The moment he attacked, he used Dragon Roaming the Winding Marsh. His arm met the descending halberd, his palm settling on its shaft. The Unbound Moves of Dragon Roaming the Winding Marsh made his arm supple as a flood dragon, coiling around the halberd.
At the same time, his blood-qi flood dragon coiled around the halberd as well.
Man and dragon used endlessly supple Unbound Moves, attempting to deflect the force of the white elephant and divine being.
The impact of the golden-armored divine being and white elephant surged over them like a crushing avalanche. Not even Dragon Roaming the Winding Marsh and the blood-qi flood dragon could fully disperse that terrifying force!
A hissing scrape sounded beneath Su Yun's feet as the divine being's and white elephant's force drove him sliding along the Immortal Rope. Heat from the friction immediately scorched his soles, and his shoes became so hot they seemed about to ignite!
That slash forced him back a full sixty or seventy feet. The four foxes hurriedly fled along the rope.
But Su Yun retreated too fast and sent all four foxes flying.
My life is over!
Just as Flower Fox and the others thought this, they suddenly found themselves straddling the rope—the Immortal Rope had caught them.
The four foxes hurriedly got to their feet and saw the Immortal Rope slowly winding through the clouds in a spiral, forming five and a half loops.
They had landed precisely on the outer loop, while Su Yun, the white elephant, and the divine being were now on the inner loop.
"Eh? This Confucian Scholar of the Tong Family really doesn't seem to understand his learning..."
Flower Fox's eyes lit up. He too spotted the hidden flaw in Confucian Scholar Tong Xuan's Spiritual Ability and hurriedly said, "Xiao Yue, Xiao Fan, Bu Ping! We can help!"
The four foxes immediately raced along the rope toward the white elephant.
Flower Fox shouted, "This time, we're going straight for the lower half! We'll crawl beneath the elephant's belly and use Crocodile Dragon's Roar to tear the big white elephant apart!"
The three young Fox Demons were greatly encouraged.
The divine being had failed to kill Su Yun with one blow and forcefully raised the halberd, lifting Su Yun and the blood-qi flood dragon into the air. The halberd spun and shook with hissing sounds, breaking apart Su Yun's Dragon Roaming the Winding Marsh Unbound Moves and jolting the blood-qi flood dragon loose.
He danced the halberd, thrusting, lifting, sweeping, shaving, chopping, hooking, and unleashing every sort of move. His killing intent surged boundlessly!
Su Yun was in midair, yet he deployed Dragon Roaming the Winding Marsh's Unbound Moves once more. The six Unbound Moves shifted and changed without end, as if they were ten thousand techniques—at times coiling around the halberd, at times clinging to it, and at times standing atop it.
Even when the divine being shook him flying, he could not completely cast Su Yun off. His limbs were as supple as a flood dragon; whether it was his arms, legs, or any other part of his body, a light touch, cling, or hook would bring him back onto the halberd.
Meanwhile, his blood-qi flood dragon pounced down. The white elephant swung its trunk, the flood dragon struck, and dragon and elephant battled together.
The divine being found it inconvenient to sit upon the elephant's back, so he simply stood. Seizing the instantary opening as he rose, Su Yun landed on the elephant's back as well, closing in and rushing within three feet of the divine being, forcing him to be unable to unleash the halberd's power.
A halberd's combat range was between four feet and twenty feet. With a halberd in hand, if the enemy came within four feet, I would retreat one step and use the small branches to slash him; if the enemy withdrew to twenty feet, I would advance one step and use the central blade to stab him.
Su Yun stood at exactly three feet, beyond the halberd's attack range. His Crocodile Dragon's Roar had become Flood Dragon's Chant, and its thirty-six Unbound Moves changed in a thousand ways, like a flood dragon god-or-devil with many heads, many tails, and many claws, attacking the divine being in a frenzy.
The divine being retreated again and again. Suddenly, his feet found empty air, and he fell from the elephant's back. Spreading his legs, he landed on the Immortal Rope.
At that moment, the four Fox Demons slipped beneath his crotch and crawled under the white elephant's belly.
Su Yun followed close behind. In midair, he used Flood Dragon's Tail Sweep, his right leg lashing viciously toward the divine being.
The divine being turned his head and raised the halberd crosswise to block. Su Yun's leg slammed heavily into its shaft. Then, twisting in midair, Su Yun delivered another Flood Dragon's Tail Sweep—this one with his left leg.
That kick knocked the divine being's head askew. As Su Yun landed, he used Flood Dragon Emerging from the Abyss with his left hand, spreading his five fingers and reaching forward to seize the halberd's shaft.
A dragon's chant came from behind him. Abandoning the white elephant, the blood-qi flood dragon used Flood Dragon Emerging from the Abyss and bit into the divine being's head.
"Today, I'll beat your 'divine' character into an 'armor' character!"
Su Yun and the blood-qi flood dragon exerted force at the same time. One seized the halberd and immediately thrust it into the white elephant, while the other bit off the divine being's head.
With a bang, the divine being exploded and turned into the character "armor."
At the same time, beneath the white elephant, the four Fox Demons each unleashed Crocodile Dragon's Roar, breaking all four of its legs. The white elephant exploded and became the character "excuse."
—Because a halberd had been stuck into its backside, the character "excuse" looked rather absurd.
The divine abilities hidden within the characters "divine" and "elephant" had been broken, turning them into the characters "armor" and "excuse." The light around the two characters gradually faded until they finally vanished.
Su Yun let out a breath and was about to speak when Flower Fox beat him to it. "This Confucian Scholar of the Tong Family is no good at learning! 'The origin of human culture began with elucidating the Grand Ultimate; aided in secret by gods, the images of the Book of Changes came first.' This comes from The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons. Mister Wild Fox taught it!"
Su Yun nodded. The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons was one of the Old Sage Classics, and Mister Wild Fox taught the Old Sage Classics more than anything else.
He and Flower Fox were both Mister Wild Fox's students. Su Yun had studied under him for six years, while Flower Fox had studied for a full seven. Thus, they knew many Old Sage Classics so well that they could recite them backward and forward.
But the three little foxes had studied for less time and had learned few Old Sage Classics, so they immediately asked Su Yun and Flower Fox for instruction.
"This means that human culture arose from explaining the Grand Ultimate, perhaps with hidden assistance from the gods. The sages then used the trigrams and images in the Book of Changes to explain the Grand Ultimate."
Su Yun tried to restrain his blood qi as he explained, "The gods mentioned here refer to humanity's ancestors, not gods formed from Spiritual Nature after death, nor gods worshipped by religions."
Flower Fox took over from Su Yun and continued, "The 'images' in 'the images of the Book of Changes came first' do not mean animals like white elephants. They refer to trigram images. That Confucian Scholar of the Tong Family clearly misunderstood these two characters and took them to mean a divine being and a big white elephant."
If one misunderstood the classics, the power of one's Spiritual Abilities would be greatly reduced. Likewise, it would be difficult for one's future cultivation to advance further!
"This is the consequence of not having a good teacher."
Imitating Mister Wild Fox's tone, Flower Fox said earnestly, "If the meaning of the classics is distorted or misunderstood, it may delay someone for an entire lifetime. That is why having a good teacher is of utmost importance! We are fortunate to have Mister Wild Fox and Mister Shuijing teaching us, laying down an excellent foundation."
The three young Fox Demons seemed to understand, yet not understand.
Hu Buping asked in confusion, "If Mister Wild Fox is so formidable, why was he beaten to death by bad people?"
Zhai Zhu: I recommend the sci-fi novel Nine-Star Poison Milk, by Yu. It's a frequent presence on the sales rankings~
Before you continue