After giving his instructions, Zhang Yu did not set out immediately. Instead, he took out the Cicada Cry Sword and carefully wiped it down before going into the inner chamber to sit cross-legged in meditation.
Only after a night of breathing exercises and cultivation did he shake his sleeves, rise, and leave the great platform with his sword in hand.
Looking up, he saw the blazing sun hanging overhead, illuminating heaven and earth. It was precisely noon.
His body slowly drifted upward. Once high in the sky, he glanced toward the distant horizon, then transformed into a jade mist and azure rainbow, flying deep into the wilderness.
After traveling more than ten thousand li northwest in one breath, he saw a raised earthen hill, the highest point within dozens of li, and descended toward it.
After settling there, he planted his sword point into the ground and sat down cross-legged.
Half a day passed, and the great sun sank toward the long horizon in the west.
Amid his long, steady breaths, the cold night passed in a flash. Soon, the blazing sun rose once more behind him, casting its warm glow across the boundless wilderness.
Yet after another day had passed, his opponent still had not appeared.
But he showed not the slightest impatience. His entire bearing remained calm and natural, his aura growing ever deeper and more prolonged, as though he had merged with heaven and earth.
On the third day, gusts of fierce wind arrived without warning. Dust and grit swirled up, and the sky abruptly turned dark and murky.
Zhang Yu remained seated without moving, like a reef amid the sea. The endless sand and dust reached him, only to be blocked outside by the Heartlight Seal around him and part around his body.
After a long