Breathing cultivation

The next day, Huang Xiao was woken by the howling wind at the bottom of the cliff. With sheer walls rising on both sides, the wind down there was fairly strong. Today, however, it was stronger than yesterday, and it woke him.

Huang Xiao looked around. The bottom of the cliff was still rather dim. In fact, even in broad daylight, it was never very bright down here. Sunlight could not reach this place, and with mist swirling overhead, the depths seemed all the gloomier.

Still, looking at the light filtering through the mist above, Huang Xiao knew the sun should be rising soon.

As Huang Xiao looked up, he discovered an astonishing sight. The Golden-Winged Roc was standing on a protruding rock several dozen zhang above the cave, spreading and folding its wings as it breathed in and out. That was not what astonished him most. What astonished him most was that, as the roc breathed, its enormous golden beak parted slightly, and the mountain mist swept into its mouth in billowing streams. After a while, it expelled a great deal of white mist.

As it breathed, a whirlwind formed over an area nearly a hundred zhang across. This was why Huang Xiao had felt the wind growing stronger.

How miraculous! What terrifying suction! Huang Xiao marveled inwardly.

Was this not precisely how the books described extraordinary beasts breathing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and absorbing the essence of the sun and moon?

It really has become a spirit, Huang Xiao thought. Even without witnessing the strange phenomenon its breathing produced, he had known yesterday that a Golden-Winged Roc this enormous was naturally an exceptional being. There was nothing surprising about it becoming a spirit.

I wonder if internal power is cultivated this way too? The thought suddenly flashed through Huang Xiao's mind, but he soon shook his head with a smile. He had absolutely no idea what internal power was or what it was like. Liu Qiang had only told him that internal power was a mysterious kind of qi generated in the human body's dantian, which then circulated throughout the meridians. Huang Xiao had little grasp of this; he did not even know where the dantian was located in the body. The thought had merely occurred to him because he had witnessed the marvel of the Golden-Winged Roc's breathing and remembered that internal power was also called true qi, so he had imagined it as something like this mist.

Huang Xiao watched quietly for over two hours before the Golden-Winged Roc finally finished its practice and returned to the cave.

Huang Xiao, meanwhile, naturally began exploring the bottom of the cliff, hoping to find a way out.

After feeling his way along the bottom for a long time, Huang Xiao found that it was long and narrow. At least, he had not seen its end, while the sheer walls on either side rose too high for him to see their tops. He also tried climbing, but after ascending nearly a hundred zhang, he realized he had no idea how much farther the top lay, while the bottom below was already almost out of sight. After considering it, Huang Xiao abandoned the idea of climbing out and returned to the bottom.

In fact, by the time he had climbed a hundred zhang, Huang Xiao had been all but exhausted. There was nowhere to rest on the sheer cliff face, and if he kept climbing, he feared he would only exhaust himself and fall to his death.

In the end, Huang Xiao returned to the pool, since this was the only place with water. Of course, he had already buried Zhang Ma's corpse. Although Zhang Ma had wanted to kill him, now that he was dead, their grievances could be considered settled once and for all. He could hardly leave him dead without a burial place. Besides, Huang Xiao did not want to drink water with a corpse soaking in it.

Sitting beside the pool, Huang Xiao felt rather dispirited. He had spent an entire day without finding a way out, nor had he found anything to eat along the way. There were plenty of flowers and plants at the bottom of the cliff, but they clearly were not edible. As for birds and beasts, there were practically none. There were insects, but they could not be eaten.

Thinking back to yesterday's rabbit, it seemed he had simply been lucky, and such luck did not come every day.

Going without food for a day would not kill him, but a sense of danger rose in Huang Xiao's heart. If he still could not find anything to eat tomorrow or the day after, he feared he would starve to death.

Tomorrow I'll try looking in the other direction. Hopefully I can find a way out, Huang Xiao sighed inwardly. He could not help thinking of Liu Qiang, wondering whether he had escaped the landslide. Even if he had survived, though, Liu Qiang probably felt worse than if he had died. Everyone in the stronghold was probably gone, and the pain of losing his loved ones would likely drive him to despair. Of course, Huang Xiao also feared Liu Qiang might do something foolish-seek revenge against the Wang Family. Huang Xiao did not need to think to know how such rashness would end.

Thud! The sudden sound and the wild boar before him gave Huang Xiao a terrible fright.

Am I this lucky? Another wild boar fell down? Huang Xiao thought. But he quickly realized he was wrong, because the Golden-Winged Roc had also appeared before him.

The Golden-Winged Roc placed a talon on the boar, then kicked it over to Huang Xiao. Next, it waved an enormous wing toward the charcoal and ashes left by yesterday's rabbit-roasting fire.

"You want me to roast this boar?" Huang Xiao quickly collected himself and asked.

The Golden-Winged Roc cried several times, then waved its wings and nodded at Huang Xiao.

"Stop, stop, stop! All right, all right, I'll roast it now. Stop flapping!" Huang Xiao shouted, squinting. Each beat of the Golden-Winged Roc's wings raised a gale around them, blowing so hard that he could not open his eyes.

Huang Xiao could tell that the Golden-Winged Roc understood human speech. Still, considering how enormous it had grown, it had to be an extraordinary beast by nature, so this small ability did not particularly surprise him.

Hearing Huang Xiao's words, the Golden-Winged Roc stopped, then nudged the wild boar beside his feet.

"Don't rush me. I'll get started now." Huang Xiao felt rather helpless. He could not refuse the Golden-Winged Roc's demand, nor did he have the courage to refuse it.

Roasting this wild boar took who knew how many times more effort than roasting a rabbit. Fortunately, he had learned the Coiling Snake Hand; otherwise, he really could not have managed it.

Throughout the roasting, the Golden-Winged Roc stood quietly beside him.

"Done!" Huang Xiao said, clapping his hands.

The Golden-Winged Roc gave a loud cry, then took the boar in its beak and prepared to fly back to the cave. But just after taking flight, it hovered briefly and slashed a talon across the boar, slicing off a leg.

After Huang Xiao caught the boar's leg, the Golden-Winged Roc cried at him several times, then flew back into the cave.

Looking at the boar's leg in his hands, Huang Xiao froze for a moment, then laughed. "Not bad. Does this count as payment? Never mind. At least I won't starve to death now."

Over the next few days, Huang Xiao kept searching for a way out, but every attempt ended in failure. Every day, the Golden-Winged Roc caught birds and beasts for Huang Xiao to roast, such as wild cattle and mountain goats. Once, it even brought back an enormous black bear. It was thanks to the Golden-Winged Roc that Huang Xiao had not long since starved to death.

Huang Xiao could tell that the Golden-Winged Roc seemed to have fallen in love with roasted meat. For him, of course, this was a good thing. With roasted meat forming the basis of their friendship, the man and bird got along quite well.