Red Clothes in the Empty Valley

The moment Zhong Yue hit the ground, another Flood Dragon, formed from his condensed spirit, arrived beside Yu Feiyan. It fiercely coiled around the young woman and unleashed Ride the Thunder Across the Sky, crashing through trees as it descended.

But Yu Feiyan was dazed, her Sea of Consciousness controlled by an Inner Demon. She tumbled more than a dozen times upon landing before finally stopping.

Fortunately, though she hadn't deliberately trained her body, it was still far stronger than an ordinary person's and she wasn't injured, only bearing a few bruises on her fair skin.

The young woman was still shaken, her eyes filled with terror, the Inner Demon still lingering.

"Senior Sister, help me!"

Tao Daier's frantic shouts echoed from above. Zhong Yue looked up and saw the red-clothed girl flailing as she fell from the sky, though her descent was very slow.

Hmm? This visualization technique is quite peculiar; it visualizes clouds.

Zhong Yue observed closely, seeing clouds swirling around Tao Daier, slowing her fall. He mused, Elder Pu once said that clouds have spirits. When clouds are worshipped, they don't dissipate, and over time, they gain sentience. Senior Sister Tao might be following the path of cloud spirits.

Cloud spirits are ethereal, formless, and unpredictable. They can transform into wind, rain, or lightning, ascend to the heavens, or descend into the mountains. They are a very mystical kind of spirit.

Yu Feiyan regained her senses. As the top-ranked Senior Sister of the Women's Court, she quickly visualized a Fish Dragon, refining the Inner Demon in her Sea of Consciousness. Spotting Tao Daier falling from above, she hurried over. "Tao Tao, I'll catch you!"

Plop.

Tao Daier landed in front of her, sitting down with a thud and feeling completely disoriented.

"Senior Sister, you did that on purpose!"

"No, I didn't."

Yu Feiyan retracted her hands, which hadn't caught Tao Daier, and said calmly, "Tao Tao, I really wanted to catch you, but I missed. I slipped up."

Tao Daier got up, rubbing her backside, and said indignantly, "You definitely did it on purpose, you didn't slip up at all!"

Yu Feiyan secretly glanced at Zhong Yue in the distance and whispered, "Really, I didn't. I already slipped up once just now."

"Nonsense, you were just embarrassed and didn't want to be the only one to make a fool of yourself, so you let me fall too," Tao Daier grumbled.

As the two girls bickered in low voices, they suddenly noticed Zhong Yue finding another large rock in the forest and hoisting it onto his back, intending to climb to the cliff top. The two girls exchanged a look and walked towards him.

"Junior Brother Zhong..."

Yu Feiyan paused for a moment before saying, "Thank you."

Zhong Yue visualized a Flood Dragon and chuckled, "It's nothing. After all, Senior Sister didn't hesitate when she jumped down. Two Senior Sisters, I need to continue my training, so I won't be accompanying you."

"Who wants you to accompany us?"

Tao Daier spat, "We're not drinking!"

Yu Feiyan shot her a look. "Is Junior Brother training?"

"Yes. Stepping through the threshold of life and death, stimulating potential, overcoming great fear and terror, striving desperately to survive—this is my method of cultivation."

Zhong Yue smiled. "Senior Sister also experienced the threshold of life and death just now. You should know what it feels like."

"The threshold of life and death..."

Yu Feiyan looked at him deeply. Suddenly, two black wings unfurled behind her with a whoosh, and she soared towards the cliff top. "Since you're training, our battle will have to wait for another day!"

"Senior Sister, you left me behind again!"

Tao Daier stomped her feet repeatedly. She quickly visualized clouds, and her body slowly floated upwards, drifting leisurely towards the sky above the cliff. She called out to Zhong Yue, "Junior Brother Zhong, we'll find you to keep us company next time! I'm going ahead... Hey! Wait for me, don't climb so fast! Stupid clouds, stinky clouds, drift faster..."

By the time Zhong Yue reached the cliff top, Tao Daier was still floating halfway up the mountain. However, the black-clothed girl, Yu Feiyan, had already vanished, likely having gone far ahead.

The art of flight is indeed profound. Visualizing clouds or birds allows one to fly. While flying with thunder is fast, the consumption is also immense, and it lacks the agility of flight with wings. When the next lecture day arrives, I'll see if I can learn a flight technique.

He felt that a flight technique was extremely important, not only for disciples of the Upper Court like himself but also for Qi Refiners. It would be useful not only in combat but also for daily travel.

Whoosh—

Zhong Yue, carrying the large stone on his back, leaped off the cliff. He passed Tao Daier on his descent. By the time he climbed back up the cliff, more than half an hour had passed. He saw the red-clothed girl still struggling to float slowly towards the cliff top.

The gust of wind kicked up by Zhong Yue's fall pushed the girl downwards, causing her to cry out in alarm.

A short while later, Zhong Yue, carrying the large stone, climbed the cliff again. Tao Daier cried out once more, telling him to slow down.

"Zhongshan Clan, if you dare jump off past me again, I'm done with you!"

The red-clothed girl was once again blown down a hundred feet by the hurricane generated by Zhong Yue's leap. Finally, she became angry and exclaimed, "If you dare do it again, I'll tell Junior Sister Ting that you harassed me, and you'll have no good consequences!"

Zhong Yue, carrying the large stone, passed by her again and said earnestly, "I really have no relationship with Junior Sister Ting."

Tao Daier leaped up and landed on his back, her face beaming. "If you carry me up, then it counts as you having no relationship."

Zhong Yue felt no significant increase in weight. He knew the girl was light, soft as boneless, and was also visualizing clouds to reduce her weight so he wouldn't be unable to carry her. He thought, Senior Sister Tao is quite considerate. She jumped off the cliff with me earlier. With such a kind heart, it's no wonder she has such a beautiful singing voice.

"Senior Sister Tao, why don't you sing a song for me?" Zhong Yue suggested.

"No."

Zhong Yue made a motion as if to throw her down, scaring the girl into quickly grabbing his neck. "I'll sing, I'll sing! You're so mean, I really don't know what Junior Sister Ting likes about you!"

Tao Daier sang a beautiful, ethereal song on his back. Before the song was even finished, Zhong Yue had already carried her to the cliff top.

Tao Daier sat by the lake, her feet splashing the surface, her song still lingering.

Zhong Yue jumped into the lake at the horse-drinking platform to wash off the sweat and dirt. The song was like a maiden's fingertips brushing his soul, washing away his physical and mental fatigue.

The sun began to set, and the sunset clouds hung between the sky and the mountains. The afterglow illuminated the girl on the lakeshore and the boy in the lake. A few leisurely unicorns ambled to the lakeside to drink.

The singing voice grew even more ethereal. Tao Daier, holding her shoes, stepped across the water beside Zhong Yue. After a moment, the singing slowly faded, its lingering notes still echoing. The red-clothed girl waved to him from afar and walked into the mountain forest.

A long time passed before Zhong Yue finally awoke from the girl's beautiful singing. He saw that the girl had already gone far away.

"Dragon Travels Ten Thousand Miles!"

Zhong Yue leaped from the water into the air. His Spiritual Power erupted, and a Flood Dragon coiled around his body. He glided across the lake's surface like an enraged flood dragon emerging from the water, stirring up immense waves. He traversed the air, crossing the Drinking Horse Lake in a few strides, and strode towards the Upper Court.

In just this one day, his cultivation had undergone earth-shattering changes. Not only had Suihuang become more solidified, with his image becoming clearer, but his Sea of Consciousness had also repeatedly expanded, now covering three hundred mu!

His body was filled with explosive power. In a short time, he could manifest his Spiritual Power, unleashing it as an incredibly powerful attack!

"Tomorrow, I will continue cultivating!"

The Kindling Child said in his Sea of Consciousness, "To surpass Heavenly Phenomenon Mother, slow cultivation won't do! What you're doing now is far from enough. Only when you achieve brittleness, ferocity, and rigidity can you be considered to have reached the introductory level of sensing Spirits!"

Zhong Yue asked, "What do you mean by brittleness, ferocity, and rigidity?"

"Power must be brittle. The moment your fist touches the enemy's body, the power should explode completely, crushing everything!"

"Spirit must be fierce. Your heart must hold the ambition of a fierce tiger, like a dragon descending the mountain. Your Spiritual Power should surge, and your visualization of gods and demons should form in an instant!"

"The Soul must be rigid. The Soul should be like a sharp spear, able to bend but not break. When the Soul moves, it can lift ten thousand jin; when the Soul is still, it is like the Heavenly Emperor seated in the main hall, impervious to all evil!"

The Kindling Child said calmly, "Only when you reach this point will your foundation be solidified, and you will have the capital to contend with Heavenly Phenomenon Mother."

Zhong Yue took a deep breath and said solemnly, "Good! I will continue cultivating tomorrow!"

"Grandfather, today I met a young cultivator who told me about the great terror and fear between life and death."

Below the Golden Summit of Sword Gate, in a grand hall supported by a Lingzhi mushroom cliff, the black-clothed girl Yu Feiyan respectfully asked a white-haired old man sitting cross-legged, "He said that by stepping through the space between life and death, one can stimulate their potential, overcome great fear and terror, and strive their utmost to survive, leading to twice the results with half the effort in cultivation. What is this 'between life and death'? Is there really such a cultivation method?"

The white-haired old man, who was the patriarch of the Youyu Clan and held a very high position in Sword Gate, opened his eyes upon hearing this and asked in surprise, "Between life and death? Someone is actually cultivating this way?"

"Is there really such a cultivation method?" Yu Feiyan asked, astonished.

"Yes. But it's only a legend."

The Youyu Clan patriarch said gravely, "This cultivation method is too extreme. It's extremely dangerous, leads to extreme progress, and has an extremely high mortality rate, so very few people cultivate it. Between life and death, one lives, one dies; they are mutually opposed. If you succeed, you live; if you fail, you die. However, among those who cultivate this way, the vast majority die. In the past, people in our Sword Gate also used this method, but they all died."

Yu Feiyan was startled, "They all died?"

The Youyu Clan patriarch nodded and said, "This cultivation method is only for foundational cultivation. It is effective for the Soul Egress and Soul Sacrifice realms, but it has no effect on Qi Refiners. How can Qi Refiners, who travel through heaven and earth, easily enter the space between life and death? And without becoming a Qi Refiner, one has too few means of self-preservation and can die with the slightest carelessness. Therefore, this foundational cultivation method is called extreme and is highly inadvisable. However, I heard that our Sword Gate's old Sect Master solidified his foundation incredibly firmly using this method back then, but that's just a rumor and cannot be taken as fact..."

Yu Feiyan's eyes flickered. The Youyu Clan patriarch saw her gaze and felt a chill in his heart. He shouted, "You must not learn this method! You becoming a Qi Refiner is already a certainty. If you cultivate this way, you will die with the slightest mistake. The gains do not outweigh the losses!"

The next day, Zhong Yue arrived at the Drinking Horse Platform again. From a distance, he saw a red-clothed girl sitting by the lake, with a black-clothed girl standing beside her.

"Heh heh! Zhongshan Clan, what kind of method is this for hooking up with little heifers?"

The Kindling Child exclaimed in surprise and leaped with joy. "Pass it to me, quickly pass it to me! Once I find the next Kindling inheritor, I can teach him!"