Leaping Across the Heavenly Abyss

Thud!

Bai Jing had wanted to say a few more words, but a melodious bell stopped him.

"The time has come. All new disciples, gather here at once!"

A cold voice rang through the area. Looking over, everyone saw a Daoist-robed cultivator standing at the very front of the trial grounds.

It was Senior Brother Chu, who had introduced them to the Three Heaven Scrolls yesterday.

"Let's go." As Ling Qinghe spoke, she strode forward on her long, well-proportioned legs toward Senior Brother Chu.

A moment later, more than twenty disciples stood neatly assembled before Senior Brother Chu.

He nodded, then led the newcomers into the trial grounds.

Before long.

They arrived at the familiar flat ground.

Yet ahead of them was no mountain of blades or sea of flames, but a bottomless black abyss.

Senior Brother Chu pointed at the abyss and told them:

"You are to use the Wind Element Ultimate Skill to leap across to the other side in a single attempt. That will count as passing the trial."

"What happens if we fail to make it across and fall down?"

One disciple stood at the edge and peered downward. The abyss was like a black ocean beneath a moonlit night—silent and profound, terrifying to behold.

Moreover, the other side was likely a thousand zhang away. Leaping across it in one go would be immensely difficult.

"Rest assured," Senior Brother Chu said. "There is a teleportation array beneath this abyss. Even if you fall, you will be sent back to this flat ground. Your lives will not be in danger."

"What you must do is cross it within half a month. If you cannot accomplish it within half a month, you will be deemed to have failed."

"I shall wait for you on the other side!"

With that, he took a single step and crossed the distance, arriving on the other side in an instant. Then he sat cross-legged and closed his eyes to cultivate.

The crowd on the flat ground fell silent at first, then each began working hard.

They had only half a month. Even for geniuses like them, that was an extremely tight deadline.

Some nervously flipped through the ultimate skill manuals, studying them word by word.

Others had long since memorized the contents and were now reviewing them in their minds, carefully seeking comprehension.

Bai Jing naturally belonged to the latter group.

He stood at a corner by the abyss, feeling gusts of breeze brush across his face.

Then Bai Jing closed his eyes and pondered carefully.

Wind—the power of nature, and also the wind of freedom.

Fresh and light, enveloped by space, yet bound by nothing.

Coming and going as it pleased, following its heart without restraint—this was wind.

Waves surged, trees snapped, beasts trembled, forests roared, starlight dimmed, dust and sand swept through the air—this too was wind!

A famous work from his homeland once said: "With the aid of a fair wind, it sends me soaring into the blue clouds."

That was the finest interpretation of wind.

And cultivators were to turn this wind force, this Wind Momentum, to their own use, strengthening themselves until they could ride the wind with a sword beneath their feet.

Bai Jing naturally could not yet ride the Wind Momentum into the blue clouds, but leaping a thousand zhang was no great problem.

With that understanding, he stepped forward and actually leaped down, flying into the black abyss.

"He's starting already?" someone muttered softly at the sight.

It was only the first day, yet he wanted to cross this vast abyss?

A disciple surnamed Zhou, who was close to Liang Hai, could not help shaking his head and sneering. "An array cultivator is still just an array cultivator. What could he know of the mysteries of the Heaven Scrolls?"

Buzz!

Before long, white light flashed, and Bai Jing returned to the flat ground.

Proficiency +1!
Wind's Chant · Not Yet Initiated (2/100)

The corners of his mouth curved upward.

Then, following the circulation route of the ultimate skill, Bai Jing seemed to have oil beneath his feet. He leaped several zhang in a single bound and jumped into the abyss again.

Yet compared to the thousand-zhang-wide distance to the other side, it was still far too short.

"Has he gone mad?" a disciple could not help saying.

Who cultivated an ultimate skill like this? Everyone else was carefully grasping the skill's subtleties. Who started by leaping right away?

Of course, no one could understand Bai Jing's current mood.

Proficiency +1!

Proficiency +1!

The information on the ultimate skill reflected in his eyes. Watching his proficiency rise again and again, he felt both delighted and exhausted.

That was right. After three or four attempts, Bai Jing felt as though he had been drained dry. He was utterly fatigued.

Effort brought rewards, but cultivating an immortal path ultimate skill consumed an enormous amount of mental energy.

However, nothing said he could not use medicinal pills while cultivating this ultimate skill!

Bai Jing took out a jade bottle, poured out two pills, and swallowed them.

At once, he felt much of his mental depletion replenished, while his blood and qi gradually recovered.

After resting for more than an hour, Bai Jing resumed his leaps.

Everyone went from initial disdain to being accustomed to the sight.

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, a day had gone by.

"A whole day has already passed, and I still have no clue how to begin with this ultimate skill!"

"Exactly. Compared to the ultimate skills at the outpost, this one is as different as heaven and earth. We simply cannot cultivate it as we did before."

Feeling time slip away, some disciples had already begun to panic.

Others looked astonished as they watched the youth by the abyss and said thoughtfully:

"Have you noticed? He has been constantly leaping across the abyss, and every leap is farther than the last. At first it was only several zhang, but now he can cross more than ten zhang."

"This array cultivator is no simple fellow!"

Thud!

Under the watchful eyes of some, Bai Jing sprang forward and actually crossed more than twenty zhang.

"Could repeatedly leaping with the wind also be a way to cultivate the ultimate skill?" someone said in a grave voice, his heart beginning to stir.

"Whew!"

Bai Jing sat cross-legged and took a deep breath. Then he pulled a medicine bottle from his robes.

At that moment, a voice came. "What medicine are you taking?"

He immediately tucked the bottle into his robes and covered it tightly.

"Stingy." Ling Qinghe curled her lips, then asked earnestly, "Fellow Daoist Bai, does cultivating the ultimate skill as you do truly produce miraculous results?"

"Fellow Daoist, that counts as a matter of cultivation privacy already, does it not?" Bai Jing said slowly.

"I've already called you brother. Asking you to give your junior sister a few pointers is not too much, is it?" Ling Qinghe blinked her beautiful eyes and spoke softly.

Yet Bai Jing remained expressionless. He held up five fingers and said, "Fifty Immortal Merit!"

"Are you a bandit cultivator?" Ling Qinghe snorted coldly and turned to leave without hesitation.

Bai Jing did not react at all. Closing his eyes, he began regulating his breath.

After taking only a few steps, Ling Qinghe turned back again and frowned. "Who prices things like that? You do not even know how to bargain?"

Yet the youth gave no response whatsoever.

"Hand over your Jade Pendant!"

"Gladly!" Bai Jing immediately opened his eyes, removed the Jade Pendant from his waist, and handed it over.

"..." Ling Qinghe linked their two Jade Pendants together, then waved her hand. Fifty Immortal Merit immediately appeared on the youth's pendant.

Bai Jing looked at the additional Immortal Merit in his Jade Pendant and nodded in satisfaction. Then he quietly told the girl:

"This method cannot be called miraculous, but it does offer inspiration. While leaping, you should carefully sense the Wind Momentum around you and combine it with your own ultimate skill."

"So that's how it is!" Ling Qinghe's eyes lit up. Those fifty Immortal Merit had not been wasted after all.

Time was of the essence. She immediately followed Bai Jing's advice and put it into practice.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The girl's figure traced a graceful arc through the sky. She closed her eyes and carefully sensed the wind around her.

Another day passed.

Ling Qinghe came before Bai Jing somewhat disgruntled and questioned him:

"I clearly followed your method. Why has my progress not been as obvious as yours?"

"Compared to burying your head in training alone, does it count as progress?" Bai Jing asked.

The girl thought back slightly, then nodded unwillingly.

Compared to her first day, her progress had indeed been obvious.

But compared to this youth, it was still far too slow.

"How did you manage to improve so quickly?" the girl could not help asking.

"Because I'm a genius!"

"..." Ling Qinghe.

Who here was not a genius?

"Actually, I've gained a few more insights. Want to learn them?" Bai Jing looked at the increasingly breathtaking girl, his smile warm.

Ling Qinghe was delighted, but in the next instant, her face darkened.

The youth held up one finger.

"One hundred Immortal Merit!!"