Internal and External Mutual Aid, Clouds Obscuring the Sun

The next day, daylight was already bright.

Liu Dongqing was already standing amid the two plots of soil he had reclaimed in his courtyard.

In one hand, he carried a cloth pouch filled with Jade Cloud Fruit seeds that had undergone several generations of his improvements.

Then, adopting the resistant posture of someone being forced into labor, as though he intended to drag his feet, Liu Dongqing slowly pinched seeds from the pouch with his other hand.

But perhaps he was simply too practiced at this work.

Despite his thoroughly unwilling posture, Liu Dongqing's planting speed was not the least bit slow. In only half an hour, he had finished planting both plots at a pace that seemed slow but was in fact swift.

Having finished everything, Liu Dongqing, with an unmistakably vexed air, viciously flung the cloth pouch in his hand toward an empty patch of ground, then faced the two plots.

As he turned around, Liu Dongqing's gaze unobtrusively passed over the courtyard wall and glanced toward Departure Peak, which towered behind him as though piercing the heavens.

Higher up the mountain, amid the lush greenery, an exquisite and conspicuous courtyard stood sheltered by its surroundings. From there, one could take in every disciple courtyard in the entire Sunward Dao Academy at a single glance.

That was Steward Hou's residence.

Liu Dongqing had no way of knowing whether, at this very moment, Steward Hou's gaze was falling upon his courtyard from within that residence.

But when it came to things he could not be certain of, Liu Dongqing treated them as though they were certain.

That was precisely why he missed no detail, striving not to reveal the slightest flaw.

As he planted, he did his utmost to "perform" the helplessness and indignation of a man trapped in a rut, showing none of the excitement of someone who had already glimpsed a turn for the better.

More than three years after entering the Sacred Sect had thoroughly ground away the naivety Liu Dongqing had carried over from his previous life.

Through Steward Hou's endless rounds of exploitation, he had finally learned caution, understood disguise, and reforged his state of mind.

Immediately afterward, he cast aside his stray thoughts and settled his mind slightly.

Only then did Liu Dongqing sink his waist and sit into a horse stance on the spot. The instant his posture became firm and steady, he bent his right hand into a Daoist hand seal and held it beside his head; then he formed a sword-finger seal with his left hand and pointed it straight toward the sky.

Next, his chest rose and fell distinctly, like the bellows of a forge.

Amid those fierce breaths, deep purple light suddenly burst from Liu Dongqing's eyes.

The instant that pair of purple lights appeared, a sudden gale sprang up around Liu Dongqing, whipping his pale blue Daoist robe into loud flutters.

Wuu—wuu—wuu—

Just as the gale wailed around Liu Dongqing at its most piercing pitch, his right hand, held aloft in a Daoist hand seal, suddenly twisted at the wrist. Then, as though his entire arm weighed a thousand jin, he slowly pushed it forward with overwhelming force.

Strangely enough, with that fierce push from Liu Dongqing, the gale circling his body seemed to have found an outlet and surged fiercely forward along his outstretched arm.

Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—

The increasingly violent gale continued to whirl through the courtyard, sweeping up loose earth and dust until it seemed as though sand flew and stones raced through the air.

Yet immediately afterward, in no more than two or three blinks, the wind surged upward and condensed into a pale-purple "cloud" gleaming with spiritual light, nearly turning the entire courtyard upside down beneath it.

Then, Swish—swish—swish—

The moment the cloud formed, translucent azure raindrops impatiently drifted down from the purple cloud.

The azure spiritual radiance carried an unimaginable gentle vitality.

After only several dozen breaths, Liu Dongqing slowly withdrew his stance. In an instant, the clouds dispersed and the rain cleared. Yet when he looked over, tender shoots had already broken through the soil from the Jade Cloud Fruit seeds he had just planted in the plots nourished by the purple cloud and azure rain.

Yet Liu Dongqing had no leisure at all to admire such a flourishing sight.

He hurriedly closed his eyes.

As every trace of cloud and rain vanished from reality, within Liu Dongqing's inner sight, invisible spiritual wind surged through the meridians throughout his body just as it had in the scene moments ago.

Very soon, wisps of azure-purple, mist-like mana were born within Liu Dongqing's meridians.

This was the true crux that shackled Liu Dongqing's cultivation in the Mirror-Illuminating Cloud-Birthing Purple Rain Art.

Among the myriad Dao arts under heaven, whether they were inheritances of sacred lands and great sects or surviving manuals of Rogue Cultivators, their ranks differed; yet at the Qi Refining realm, their overall framework was broadly similar.

The crucial principle could be summed up in no more than eight words—"Use it outwardly as arts; refine it inwardly as methods"!

Arts and methods were one whole, inseparable.

When used outwardly, they became spells; when used for internal refinement, they became cultivation arts.

Indeed, inner and outer gave rise to one another. The mana gained through internally refining cultivation arts was the source of power that repeatedly drove spells and even increased their might.

Likewise, casting spells externally was an indispensable part of cultivation. It accumulated and purified mana, complementing internal refinement.

Whether it was the Purple Rain Art or the Little Azure Light Incantation, they were techniques of the same type.

At this moment, after Liu Dongqing cast the Mirror-Illuminating Cloud-Birthing Purple Rain Art externally, once the complete purple clouds and azure rain had taken shape, the few wisps of cloud-vapor spiritual power remaining at the end—most pure and brimming with vitality—naturally transformed into mana within his meridians.

For an ordinary person, this would have been a precious medicine that harmonized vitality and strengthened one's foundation.

But for Liu Dongqing, if those few strands of azure-purple mist were left behind, they would contaminate his own mana—a "poison" that would utterly cut off all hope of further cultivation!

And so—

The instant the misty mana was born, he took the initiative to guide it with his mind, gathering it all toward his dantian.

There—

A faint lamp flame flickered and leapt in time with the rhythm of Liu Dongqing's heartbeat.

As the flame swayed, gentle azure light spread outward, forming ring after ring of halos around it.

Looking closely, the azure light had already condensed into three solid halos, while amid the shadowy shimmer, the faint arc of a fourth halo had begun to emerge.

But the next instant—

As Liu Dongqing actively drew over the purple-and-azure misty mana—

The damp mist charged straight toward that faint lamp flame. At the same time, the fire blazed fiercely, and the once-gentle azure light surged in brilliance, battling the purple-and-azure misty mana that filled the sky.

At the moment of impact, water and fire clashed. Vapor smothered the heavenly light, while heavenly fire steamed the mist dry, and both vanished into nothingness.

Yet ultimately, the misty mana had only been produced by the casting of a single incantation; whereas the candle flame Liu Dongqing bore, and the azure light that illuminated all, were the very foundation of three years of tireless cultivation, day and night.

In but an instant, the purple-and-azure misty mana throughout his meridians dispersed completely like smoke and clouds.

But the price was just as real.

Looking carefully, among the rings of azure halos cast out by the candle flame, only the three that had already solidified remained. The azure arc of the fourth halo, which had been in the midst of forming, had likewise vanished in the collision.

At that very moment, Liu Dongqing's cultivation fell another step, and he completely lost his sense of the threshold to the fourth level of the Qi Refining Realm.

Liu Dongqing's body swayed involuntarily before he finally opened his eyes, his face pale.

This double torment of body and mind was the true substance of the oppression he had endured over three years in the outer sect.

Soon... very soon...

Three days later.

When Liu Dongqing cast the Mirror-Illuminating Cloud-Birthing Purple Rain Art once more—

Suddenly, a clear yellow beam of light plunged down from Departure Peak, instantly tearing apart the purple clouds and azure rain Liu Dongqing had painstakingly gathered.

Within the light floated a jade talisman. The instant it appeared, it shone a line of large ancient seal-script characters across the sky—

"By decree of the rotating-duty elder of the Secular Affairs Hall: There is a tribe of Red Crow Tribe mountain folk, dwelling in the wilds and roaming the mountains with their herds, who have now encroached upon the vicinity of one of our Sacred Sect's mines. Therefore, disciples of the sect are commanded to eliminate this hidden threat. Jiang Xiuyong shall lead the disciples on this mission. Liu Dongqing of Sunward Dao Academy, upon seeing this command talisman, must depart at once. Those who defy this order shall be punished as rebels against the sect! Those who obstruct this order shall likewise be punished as accomplices!"

Standing where he was, Liu Dongqing instinctively wanted to press his lips together as he usually did, concealing his expression.

But after pausing for a moment, facing the spiritual radiance falling from the jade talisman, Liu Dongqing finally bared his teeth in a grin, and a blazing smile bloomed across his face.