Breakthrough, Breakthrough, Another Breakthrough! (Please Bookmark, Please Keep Reading)

After a dreamless night of deep sleep, on the third day, once he had awakened, Zhong Ming did not follow Qi Hong, Yang Chen, and the others' arrangements to engage in fierce sparring.

Finding a stream, Zhong Ming began to dance with his sword gently, following his own rhythm.

Qi Hong, Yang Chen, and the others... did not think Zhong Ming was slacking off because of this.

Nor did they think there was anything wrong with what he was doing.

Over these past days of training, Zhong Ming's rate of improvement had frightened them—and thoroughly won them over.

Qi Hong said, "Cultivation, cultivation—what we cultivate is our true selves. For cultivators like us, the farther we go, the more we must develop our own insights and understanding. Mere imitation can never make one strong."

"Although Junior Brother Zhong Ming's cultivation is low, his talent is extraordinary. It is only natural that he has begun to walk his own path."

Yang Chen and the others agreed with those words as well.

At that moment, their only regret and sense of loss was that they had taught him for too short a time.

"Alas, what a pity. We are still not strong enough to give Junior Brother Zhong Ming more guidance..."

Zhong Ming paid no attention to the others' sighs.

Immersed in his own world, Zhong Ming danced with his sword gently.

As he swung it, he moved continuously like flowing water.

And during this process, water from the stream was drawn out by his long sword, moving along with its blade.

Once, twice, three times...

Gradually, Zhong Ming, wielding his long sword, seemed to have broken through the boundary between reality and illusion. He truly felt as if he had become a mass of water—a stream surging endlessly, leaping and flowing.

"Splash, splash..."

At that moment, Zhong Ming heard the stream's flow and felt a sense of ease and freedom.

At the same time, a system notification sounded in Zhong Ming's sea of consciousness.

[Ding! Your Dragon Creek Swordplay has broken through and is now at Realm 3: Mastery. You have gained a new trait: Water Flow.]

As before, after breaking through, Zhong Ming entered a brief state of enlightenment, and his understanding of water deepened.

The difference was that in his previous breakthroughs, Zhong Ming had comprehended [Water has no form, thus it takes ten thousand forms], as well as water's ability to expand and contract.

This time, the Water Flow Zhong Ming comprehended had more to do with whirlpools and undercurrents...

"Water possesses power as well. A massive whirlpool can swallow even a ten-thousand-ton giant ship. Once the whirlpool turns, everything will be unable to escape. It can only be swept along by me, drifting with the current..."

"Boom..."

The instant Zhong Ming comprehended this Water Flow, a suction force materialized out of thin air around Zhong Ming and his dancing long sword.

The surrounding leaves, dead branches, and even scattered stones were all stirred by that suction force.

Naturally, this debris did not fall upon Zhong Ming. Instead, it mixed into the water currents created by his sword dance and was swept along by them, spinning at high speed.

These stones and dead branches also made the water currents Zhong Ming drew forth immensely powerful and heavy, more than doubling their destructive force.

"So this is Dragon Creek Swordplay at Realm 3? I do not need to make contact. As long as I swing my sword, force will arise from thin air, causing others' attacks to fall involuntarily toward my sword. Then Water Flow will guide them away with the current and borrow part of their power."

"Splash..."

Dragon Creek Swordplay reaching Realm 3 delighted Zhong Ming somewhat.

But his distraction lasted only a brief moment. Soon, he immersed himself in his sword dance once more.

And this time, Zhong Ming's sword dance became even more imposing.

"Rumble..."

A few breaths later, another system notification sounded in Zhong Ming's sea of consciousness. Another of his cultivation arts had broken through.

"Hum..."

Just like before, Zhong Ming entered enlightenment with this breakthrough.

Yet this time, Zhong Ming's comprehension of water's transformation was especially different.

"Water is not unchanging... When water is heated and evaporates or boils, liquid water becomes gaseous water vapor. When water vapor rises into the high sky and encounters cold, it gradually condenses into tiny droplets or ice crystals. This is cloud."

"When the water vapor within clouds encounters cold near the ground, it forms tiny liquid droplets through liquefaction, suspended in the air as mist."

"Condensed, it becomes water; drifting free, it becomes cloud; hazy and swirling, it becomes mist... This too is a kind of water's flow, and an expression of the great Dao of nature..."

"Hum..."

As Zhong Ming reached this realization, with a sweep of his long sword, the water circulating around him actually transformed into billowing mist that spread in all directions.

The mist was thick and hazy, as though it could conceal everything. Yet Zhong Ming's understanding of water was extremely deep. Others could not see through it, but Zhong Ming could sense the conditions within the mist.

"I have gained another method... Moreover, water's transformations into cloud and mist are not limited to this. If my understanding of clouds and mist deepens later, I can use Water Flow to ride the clouds and command the mist."

Qi Hong, Shi Yun, and the others saw this dense mist as well.

The sight made them sigh in wonder.

"Water's transformation into clouds and mist—Zhong Ming's Water Dragon Art has reached Realm 3."

"Not just the Water Dragon Art. His Dragon Creek Swordplay reached Realm 3 as well, judging from that suction force earlier. Too fast."

Besides the two of them, Lin Shuyu spoke as well. "Zhong Ming's cultivation has not yet ended. If my guess is correct, his Leaping Wave Dragon Creek Steps will likely reach Realm 3 as well."

"..."

Lin Shuyu's words left everyone silent.

Even though they knew Zhong Ming's talent was extraordinary, three cultivation arts breaking through together in a single day still stunned them.

Zhong Ming had no time to concern himself with the outside world. Just as Lin Shuyu had predicted, after Spirit Stream Finger · Water Dragon Art advanced, his deepened understanding of Water Flow meant that Zhong Ming did not even need to practice swordplay this time before a system notification rang beside his ear.

[You have gained insight into Leaping Wave Dragon Creek Steps. Your cultivation art progress +19.]

[Your Leaping Wave Dragon Creek Steps has broken through and is now at Realm 3: Mastery. You have gained a new trait: Water Flow.]

As before, the instant the advancement was complete, a surge of insight flooded into Zhong Ming's heart.

This time, Zhong Ming's comprehension concerned water's refraction.

"When light enters the surface of water, it bends. This too is a kind of flow..."

As he pondered this, the Water Flow of Zhong Ming's Leaping Wave Dragon Creek Steps resonated and fused somewhat with the Water Flow of Spirit Stream Finger · Water Dragon Art.

Because of this, a special ability flowed into Zhong Ming's mind.

"Hum..."

As inspiration struck, Zhong Ming assumed a sword-drawing stance.

This time, Zhong Ming himself did not move. Yet with a whoosh, a figure suddenly appeared three meters away from him. The appearing "Zhong Ming" fiercely slashed a sword before him.

"Whoosh!"

After that strike, the figure vanished, yet another figure appeared behind Zhong Ming.

Then at his side, before him, in the air...

"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" "Whoosh!"

For a time, Zhong Ming's figure flickered incessantly throughout the area.

However, these figures could remain for only a single breath.

Finally, when Zhong Ming lowered his sword-drawing stance, only the true body standing at the very center of the field remained.

Yet the existence of that true body made Qi Hong and the others raise their brows, and they all looked toward the true body's... side.

"Poof..."

Under their gaze, Zhong Ming's true body at the center of the field also dissolved into clouds and mist.

Once that true body vanished, a figure slowly emerged where Qi Hong and the others had been looking.

This was Zhong Ming's true body.

"Relying on the transformations of water, clouds, and mist, as well as water's refraction, I can create phantom bodies and even render my own body invisible... Unfortunately, these figures are only illusions and possess no offensive ability. My invisibility is merely a visual effect and is ineffective against a cultivator's divine soul."

Though he thought this, Zhong Ming was not overly disappointed.

His cultivation was still weak, and the level of his cultivation arts was still low. That was why they possessed so many flaws.

Once his cultivation grew profound and his cultivation arts rose in realm as well, these phantom clones would not be so easily dealt with.

"No, it seems I do not need to wait until later."

"Right now, the resonance of merely two Water Flows has already granted me such mysterious transformations. If all five were stacked together..."