Sky Bridge Rising from the Sea of Clouds

Although Qiu Shuijing had gone far away, his voice still rang clearly in Su Yun's ears, deafening and enlightening.

"If you want to heal your eyes, once you cultivate the first part of the Great Furnace Transformation: Qi Cultivation Chapter to the seventh level, you can dissolve the imprint in your eyes. But if you want to rise like a meteor, to stand above the crowd, you must leave the countryside and go to the city!"

"Fifty-three li from here is Tianshiyuan Station. Once you have healed your eyes, you can enter the city from there. Remember, you must heal your eyes before going to the station! After entering the city, remember to find me..."

Only after a long while did Su Yun turn back.

He could feel the sincere encouragement in Qiu Shuijing's words, and his heart was deeply moved.

He trained even more diligently. However, although he had learned the Great Furnace Transformation: Qi Cultivation Chapter, his progress was slow. The Eight-Sided Facing Heaven Palace in his eyes continued to absorb his vital qi.

Not only had his vital qi cultivation failed to advance during this time, it had actually regressed considerably.

An even more terrifying change was that his appetite had surged. Not long after eating, he would feel hungry again.

Fortunately, Flower Fox and the other three little foxes often brought back chicken, duck, fish, meat, and fruit, allowing him to fill his stomach.

Flower Fox and the other three little foxes also became hungry very quickly, but their cultivation progressed at astonishing speed. Flower Fox had already cultivated the Great Furnace Transformation: Qi Cultivation Chapter to the second level and asked Su Yun to teach him the latter part.

Although Su Yun had not yet cultivated the first level of the Great Furnace Transformation: Qi Cultivation Chapter, his comprehension was truly exceptional. Qiu Shuijing had only explained the latter part of the Great Furnace Transformation in broad terms, yet Su Yun had already thoroughly grasped it.

The first part was for learning; the latter part was for using.

The latter part opened with Crocodile Dragon's Roar, stirring the vital qi in the chest cavity to unleash the thunderous sound of a crocodile dragon.

Crocodile Dragon's Roar shook the blood and qi, tendons and membranes, strengthening the body and increasing one's power.

Not long after Flower Fox began practicing, waves of crocodile dragon thunder resounded from within his body, startlingly powerful.

"Second Brother Hua's aptitude is truly excellent." Su Yun smiled, sincerely happy for Flower Fox.

He could not practice the Crocodile Dragon's Roar from the latter part.

To cultivate Crocodile Dragon's Roar, one first had to observe a real crocodile dragon, study how it breathed and how it let out its dragon roar, until one could visualize the crocodile dragon.

Although Su Yun had thoroughly understood the secrets of Crocodile Dragon's Roar, he could not see. Unable to observe a crocodile dragon and visualize it, he could not cultivate it.

One day, as Su Yun breathed in the essence of the sun and moon at dawn, he suddenly felt the Eight-Sided Facing Heaven Palace stop absorbing his vital qi. Delight rose in his heart.

Once the Chao Tian Que stopped absorbing his vital qi, the qi within his body immediately became vast and blazing, like a small furnace burning fiercely in his dantian!

He felt as though the yin and yang qi within him had turned into charcoal fire; his five viscera, six bowels, tendons, bones, seemed to have turned into bronze pillars and a bronze furnace; and his blood seemed to have become molten bronze!

This was Creation at work—the Power of Creation transforming the functions of the flesh and strengthening vital qi!

The first level of Great Furnace Transformation was finally complete!

His vital qi blazed and surged through his body. Su Yun rejoiced. If only Mister Shuijing were here. What a pity I was more than ten days late...

The moment this thought crossed his mind, a sudden change occurred before his "eyes"!

The patterns of divine beasts and strange beasts on the surface of the Eight-Sided Facing Heaven Palace seemed to come alive, flying out of the Chao Tian Que. In an instant, Su Yun's mind filled with the roars, cries, and long howls of countless divine and strange beasts, thunderous enough to split his ears!

The divine and strange beasts danced through the air, all charging toward the Heaven Gate!

These strange beasts clung to the Heaven Gate and actually became part of it. Suddenly, an intense fluctuation swept forth!

Bzzzz—

Light streamed from every side of the Heaven Gate's frame, filling each doorway. At last, the central doorway formed a mirror-like screen of light.

Beyond that mirror lay the world of the immortals, the so-called Immortal Realm—the world of the long-lived ones that had bewitched the Great Emperor of Yuanshuo Kingdom and countless powerful experts.

Su Yun, however, knew none of this.

The mirror surface trembled lightly. Su Yun suddenly felt himself fly up against his will, dragged over by an inexplicable force. With a flash, he passed through the mirror and arrived in the world within it!

To Flower Fox and the other fox demons, Su Yun was still sitting there perfectly well, without moving at all.

Yet from Su Yun's perspective, he had left Tianmen Town and suddenly entered another world.

In this world, he was no longer blind. On the contrary, he could see dozens of times more colors than ordinary people!

It was a magnificent, breathtaking world. He stood amid a sea of clouds and mist. In the distance, Immortal Mountains floated in the air, their peaks carved flat into platforms glittering with brilliant colors.

Bathed in that light, the sea of clouds also seemed to gain color.

In the sky, the Great Sun was like amber, yet it did not glare.

Behind Su Yun stood an enormous five-tiered Heaven Gate, with all kinds of divine and strange beasts clinging to it and slowly crawling about.

The world was wondrous and magnificent, so unreal it seemed almost illusory.

Su Yun heard the ringing of a bell and looked up to see a small Yellow Bell hanging above his head.

On the lowest layer of the Yellow Bell were three hundred and sixty cycle markings, constantly rotating. The upper layer, the seconds, also had three hundred and sixty cycle markings. Whenever the hu marking completed one rotation, the second marking advanced by one mark.

"Isn't this the Yellow Bell I imagined for keeping time? Why has it appeared? And my eyes... what's going on?"

Su Yun quickly came to his senses and calmed down. Greedily, he looked around at the scenery. "It feels so good to be able to see these colors..."

Just then, a faint tremor came from beneath his feet. The clouds surged, and Su Yun felt his body rising slowly along with them. He immediately steadied his footing.

He was extremely nervous, but he knew his nervousness would be of no use and would only make matters worse.

He did not know what was emerging from the clouds, but he knew that where he stood was safe. At a time like this, he absolutely could not move rashly.

The ground beneath his feet continued to shake, and the clouds continued rolling upward. Su Yun turned back to look at the Heaven Gate.

"I was drawn here by a force and passed through the Heaven Gate. Then the Heaven Gate must also be able to take me back."

His eyes flickered as he calculated in secret. "The Heaven Gate is three zhang and six chi away. I definitely can't jump that far. I need a running start, then use Crocodile Dragon Emerges from the Abyss, the movement technique from Crocodile Dragon's Roar in the latter part of the Great Furnace Transformation: Qi Cultivation Chapter. Halfway through the leap, I can turn Crocodile Dragon Emerges from the Abyss into Crocodile Dragon's Roll—head forward, body behind, spinning and rolling to extend my jump. I can land on my hands as though they were feet, leap into the Heaven Gate, and leave this place. I am standing in a sea of clouds and have no idea what lies ahead. For now, I can only answer ten thousand changes with unchanging stillness."

After a moment, the thing carrying him up from the clouds finally revealed its true form.

It was a long stone bridge, gradually rising above the clouds.

Mist billowed across the stone bridge, sliding down both sides like flowing water and falling into the sea of clouds below.

A bead of cold sweat appeared on Su Yun's forehead.

Only then did he notice that he was standing at the edge of a broken bridge!

This stone bridge should have connected to the Heaven Gate, but for some reason, the section joined to the Heaven Gate had broken off. If he took even one step backward, he would fall from the bridge!

"Good thing I didn't take that step."

He let out a breath and carefully examined his surroundings.

Many small stone pillars stood along the bridge, carved with layer upon layer of scales. Looking closer, the pillars resembled the claws of some creature.

As the mist on the bridge dispersed, turtle-shell-like patterns were revealed across the bridge's surface. On either side of the turtle shell were patterns resembling wings.

Many parts of this bridge were damaged, as though it had endured the baptism of war. Some areas even bore enormous claw marks, as though some monster within the clouds had ripped at it with its claws.

Su Yun cautiously surveyed his surroundings. The stone bridge stretched far into the mist, its end unknown. The distance on the bridge is enough for a running start. The only problem now is that I have never practiced Crocodile Dragon's Roar.

Crocodile Dragon's Roar required one to visualize a crocodile dragon and use that as the foundation for producing thunderous sound.

Qiu Shuijing had also painted a crocodile dragon diagram and taken them to search for crocodile dragons, letting them listen to the thunderous sounds they made so they could observe and visualize them more easily.

Though Su Yun had been unable to see the crocodile dragon, the thunderous sound of its roar had left an extremely deep impression on him.

But precisely because he could not see, he had not been able to view the crocodile dragon diagram Qiu Shuijing painted, nor had he ever seen a crocodile dragon with his own eyes.

Unable to visualize a crocodile dragon, he could not cultivate Crocodile Dragon's Roar.

This was his greatest difficulty, and also why Qiu Shuijing, though he appreciated Su Yun, had been somewhat hesitant about teaching him cultivation.

In the distance, more stone bridges continuously emerged from the clouds, winding and twisting like dragons and serpents stretching their bodies from the mist.

Su Yun's heart stirred. He tried using this as a basis to deduce Crocodile Dragon's Roar, but before long, he gave up.

A stone bridge was still merely a stone bridge, not a crocodile dragon.

The bridge was clearly only three or four zhang from the Heaven Gate, yet he could not cross it in a leap.

"Where does this stone bridge lead?"

Su Yun looked up. Stone bridges were still emerging from the mist, while farther away stood platform after platform upon floating Immortal Mountains.

"The stone bridges most likely connect to those platforms. Perhaps I can find a way out by going there."

Just as this thought occurred to him, he suddenly saw a patch of mist disperse. A figure appeared on the bridge, facing him. One hand gripped a small stone pillar on the bridge, while the other reached out in Su Yun's direction.

His five fingers were spread wide, his stride enormous, and his mouth hung open. He seemed to be running desperately, yet also as though he were calling out for something.