Peerless Grace

The back mountain of Yelan Castle was completely silent.

Among the lush green trees, Milia raced through the forest, her figure flickering so erratically that it was impossible to pin down.

Eight or nine afterimages flashed around her at once. In the past, these had simply been remnants left behind because she was moving so fast.

But after hearing the profound principles behind the Shadow Clone Technique, inspiration suddenly struck Milia.

"I've had a vague feeling about this for a while. Now I finally know what I need to do!"

"If I can merge my own body with the wind, then if I let the afterimages I leave behind linger in the wind too, wouldn't they become even more lifelike 'phantom bodies'..." A keen glint flashed in Milia's bright silver eyes.

Like a sprite dancing in the wind, she slipped into the invisible, colorless breeze, shifting her position constantly.

She was now unleashing the profound mysteries of the Wind Movement Technique at full force. Her speed was so incredible that it was impossible to make out her movements.

At the astonishing speed Milia was displaying, even Luo Ya probably wouldn't be able to react in time if he faced her.

Sometimes, extreme speed was enough to make up for every weakness.

"Whoosh—"

The wind rustled through the woods without pause as Milia flashed about tirelessly, her figure moving like a specter.

"Merge with the wind, let the afterimages linger in it..." She kept shifting her position at incredible speed, all the while grasping this entirely new profound mystery at a startling pace.

"Afterimages, lingering, phantom bodies..."

At some point, Luo Ya and Beiya had caught up and spotted Milia.

"Let's not go over yet. Milia's in an extremely special state of cultivation right now. I'm sure she'll make considerable progress this time." Hearing the certainty in Luo Ya's voice, the elven lady Beiya trusted his judgment without question.

Milia's current state did resemble a kind of epiphany. Beiya had experienced one herself, though she hadn't been running around like Milia.

"It's different now, it's different!"

As time passed, Luo Ya soon noticed that the figures Milia created had become much more lifelike. They no longer looked like the obviously illusory afterimages from before. Instead, like Harvey's phantom when he had fought Luo Ya, they seemed to have been imbued with a vivid vitality.

What happened when an afterimage gained vitality? It became a clone.

Though this kind of clone couldn't be used to attack directly, it was highly effective at confusing an opponent. At the very least, even experts of the same level would find it difficult to tell which was real.

"This is a clone! The Laws of Wind have this technique too?" The silver-haired elven lady beside him looked just as astonished.

"That's right. It's a clone." Luo Ya was now certain that the profound mystery Milia was comprehending belonged to the Clone Technique, one of the nine profound mysteries of the Laws of Wind.

"To be inspired by the Shadow Clone Technique from the Laws of Darkness and comprehend an entirely new profound mystery in one go... Milia really does have extraordinary talent and insight." Watching her, Luo Ya couldn't help admiring her.

As far as he knew, Milia hadn't been a Saint for much longer than he had.

"She's stopped." An epiphany always had its limits. Before long, the two of them saw Milia's figure abruptly come to a halt. Before her stood just one clone, growing more and more real by the moment.

Though there was only one clone, its ability to confuse an opponent in battle was clearly in a different league from the afterimages she had made before.

"Hmm? No, her cultivation isn't over yet!" Luo Ya was about to step forward and congratulate Milia when he keenly sensed that her special state hadn't ended.

Could she have comprehended something else as well? Luo Ya's heart skipped a beat as a bold guess occurred to him.

"Luckily, Miss Beiya isn't the sort to act carelessly. Otherwise, she would've nearly interrupted Milia's epiphany just now." Glancing at the quiet elven lady beside him, Luo Ya breathed a sigh of relief.

He had experienced that mysterious state known as an epiphany himself, so he knew how rare an opportunity it was.

If someone interrupted him in the middle of one, he'd probably be so frustrated he'd cough up blood!

"The Shadow Clone Technique lets the body and shadow switch places... Can my Clone Technique from the Laws of Wind switch places with a 'shadow' too?" Just as Luo Ya had guessed, shortly after comprehending the profound mystery of the Clone Technique, Milia came up with another novel and daring idea.

By conventional wisdom, each law had its own distinct characteristics. The wind was "light and graceful," while the earth was "heavy." So the principles behind the Shadow Clone Technique, which applied to the Laws of Darkness, might not hold true for the Laws of Wind.

But once the thought occurred to her, Milia resolutely decided to give it a try.

Her intuition told her that the Laws of Wind could achieve the same effect as the Shadow Clone Technique.

And so, under the astonished gazes of her two friends nearby, Milia boldly attempted it.

It was an extremely risky move, but she didn't hesitate for a moment.

"Whoosh—"

Just then, a breeze happened to sweep through the trees, stirring the azure cloak behind the golden-haired girl.

Less than twenty meters in front of her, beneath a lush, verdant tree, another "Milia" stood in exactly the same pose.

"Whoosh—"

In an instant, Milia's body vanished. The original figure standing where she had been dissolved like a bubble, while the other "Milia" beneath the tree became more vivid and lifelike.

"This..." Even the usually unflappable elven lady Beiya was stunned by the technique Milia had just demonstrated.

"The Laws of Wind can actually do this..." In that instant, Beiya felt as if she had discovered a whole new world of profound mysteries. A new door seemed to be waiting for her to push it open.

"So it really can be done!" Having successfully proved her idea, Milia was indescribably delighted.

Under the complicated gazes of Luo Ya and Beiya, Milia created another clone at a distance. Then, with a flash of her figure, her true body vanished from where it stood and took the clone's place.

The clone appeared, and the true body vanished.

The true body merged with the clone, and the clone disappeared.

Repeating the process over and over, Milia seemed to teleport as she darted through space, appearing beneath a tree a hundred meters away in the blink of an eye.

"I'll call this the Wind Shadow Clone Technique!" Milia was so thrilled she could hardly put it into words. A joyful smile came to her face of its own accord.

Milia's golden hair, pinned up in a bun, gleamed even more brilliantly in the sunlight. With a faint smile at the corner of her mouth, she seemed to radiate a mysterious, noble air, like a sprite in the wind.

For a moment, Luo Ya's gaze lingered on her, unable to look away.

He was captivated by the girl's breathtaking beauty, and also awed by the extraordinary talent she had displayed.

If his guess was right, Milia had fused the Wind Movement Technique and Clone Technique profound mysteries of the Laws of Wind.

She had surely only reached a very low level of fusion so far, perhaps around one percent, which meant her brilliant display still had plenty of room for refinement.

But there was no denying it: fusing profound mysteries was something even Luo Ya himself had yet to accomplish...