Fragrant mist lingered, and water murmured.
Wisps of light smoke rose slowly through the gaps in the halls, the damp haze seeming to brush straight against the face, soft and curling, clear and jade-smooth.
Testing me?
Chen Heng had long since altered his embryonic breath to match the properties of "Ingot-Gold True Qi" at the Qi Refining realm.
His entire being possessed the nature of keen metal, incomparably sharp. Even the turn of his gaze seemed about to strike up the grating screech of sand against a whetted blade, its clangor assailing eyes and ears.
Much of his blood vitality and vital essence had also been concealed by the Scattering Radiance and Concealing Form Art, leaving only a little over half.
As he was now, he seemed no more than a brilliant young talent from a minor sect.
When he released his aura, it was spirited and unrestrained, fierce and blazing, yet lacked something of the profound foundations of the Daoist path.
Had a cultivator of great attainment been present, a single glance would have sufficed, with no need for close inspection, to recognize that this was merely strength on the outside and hollowness within.
He was like a pillar built into a wall, an unfired brick at a kiln, plainly without the true transmission of the Great Dao.
Though he could flaunt his might for a time, it could not last.
Untempered by water and fire, untried by cold and heat, should torrential rain fall one day and the rivers overflow, it would take no time at all for the house to collapse in ruin. With such feeble foundations, there was no hope of supreme longevity.
In fact.
The talented disciples of those minor sects, such as Zhou Xingling of White Crane Grotto, Qin Xian of the Blood Lotus