Feng Xiaotian had no idea how many times he had been thrown into the air.
When he first stepped into the Eye of the Storm, he didn't even have a chance to stand still. The wind wasn't blowing from any one direction; it was coming from all directions at the same time, as if dozens of invisible hands were tearing at his limbs and torso. As soon as he calmed his center of gravity, a gust of air swept him off the ground, and his back slammed heavily onto the ice, sliding several meters away.
He got up, went back inside, and was thrown back into the air.
The third time, he held on for two more breaths. The fourth time, he bent his knees and lowered himself, using Wind Attribute Soul Power to envelop his legs, trying to pin himself to the ground. But the wind was not only powerful, it was also cunning. It would circle behind him and push against his knees, it would press down from above his head to force him to bend over, and it would strike him hard from the side the moment he regained his balance.
He was bruised all over from the fall, his lip was cut twice, and his tongue tasted rusty. But every time he got up, he would sit in the same spot for a while, close his eyes and recall what had happened in those few breaths, how the wind had flowed, how his center of gravity had shifted, and which muscle had given way first. He would think it through before going back in, then fall again, and then think it through again.
It took him two days to go from standing still for three breaths to standing still for five. It took him another two days to go from standing still to taking his first step. When he took that first step, his feet had just left the ground when a gust of wind blew them back, and he flew sideways and crashed into the ice wall, his shoulder feeling like it was shattered.
But he remembered the sensation of that moment. The gust of wind cut diagonally up from the lower left, at a tricky angle, with the force originating from the outside of his ankle. The next time, he shifted his weight slightly to the left, letting the wind slide past the outside of his knee.
Then he took the second step.
Then he learned to walk, to jog, and to adjust his pace in the storm to adapt to the chaotic air currents instead of stubbornly resisting them. It took him a long time to understand one thing—the winds weren't all there to stop him; some of them could be used to his advantage. As long as he found the right direction, the force that pushed him away could become the force that propelled him forward.
He couldn't tell whether it was the sixth or the seventh day anymore.
He ran through the storm for the entire duration of an incense stick's burning, his feet never leaving the ground.
The moment the wind stopped, the world was so quiet it made his ears ring. A beam of blue light rose from the ground at the eye of the storm and disappeared into his brow.
The Second Trial of the Wind God Nine Trials: Eye of the Storm. Passed.
Reward: Increases Wind God Affinity by 5%, unlocks the Third Trial.
He stood in the suddenly still eye of the storm, panting for a long time. His knees were weak, and the sweat on his forehead froze on his skin before it could even dry. Then he heard the sound of ice cracking—cracks began to appear on the ice wall at the edge of the Eye of the Storm, and the pillar of wind that had trapped him for who knows how many days began to collapse from the top, shattering into countless blue specks of light that dissipated into the gray-white sky of the Far North.
His legs were still shaking when he walked out of that area.
Just then, the sound of wings cutting through the air came from the sky. He looked up and saw Little Frost's blue and white figure swooping down from the clouds and landing on the ice a dozen steps away from him. Shui Bing'er slid off Little Frost's back, her steps unsteady when she landed, her face paler than when she left, but the icy blue mark on her forehead was clearer than before.
"You've passed through on your end too?" Feng Xiaotian asked.
Shui Bing'er nodded, walked up to him, and looked him up and down. "You look like you've been run over."
"You're about the same." Feng Xiaotian chuckled, and the wound at the corner of his mouth, which hadn't fully healed, split open again, oozing a little blood.
Shui Bing'er didn't reply, but took out a clean handkerchief from her bosom and handed it to him. Feng Xiaotian took it and pressed it to his lips. The two sat down side by side on the ice, their backs against a piece of ice rock that had been smoothed by the wind like a mirror.
After a moment of silence, Shui Bing'er spoke first, "What is the Third Trial?"
"Find the Wind Trace." Feng Xiaotian raised his hand, the three cyan guiding lines on his palm faintly visible. "Within three days, find three Wind Trace left by the Wind God in the Far North Ice Plains, and identify the correct flow of the Origin of Wind from them."
"The three directions are all different?"
"One to the east, one to the northwest, one to the southwest." Feng Xiaotian lowered his hand, "They're scattered quite far apart. What about your side?"
"A hundred ice crystals were fired at the same bullseye, all hitting their mark with an error of no more than three inches, thus initiating the prototype of the Ice God Bow," Shui Bing'er said. "We saw the target on the way here, on a black rock wall to the south."
Feng Xiaotian nodded, and was about to say, "Then let's go our separate ways," when Shui Bing'er spoke first.
"Does your three-day period start from now?"
Feng Xiaotian paused, glancing down at the three lines on his palm. The guiding lines were slowly fading, as if silently reminding him that time was passing. "It must have been. It's been lit for a while now."
Shui Bing'er was silent for a moment, then stood up and brushed the snow off her cloak. She looked down at Feng Xiaotian, who was sitting on the ground, and said calmly, but not in a deliberate way. "My target is right there; it won't run away. The Hundred Crystal Array has no time limit. I'll go with you to find Wind Trace first."
Feng Xiaotian looked up at her. "Aren't you going to practice for the Third Trial?"
"Three days, three directions, one person running three points." Shui Bing'er crossed her arms. "Are you sure you can run all that in three days by yourself? The roads in the Far North aren't official roads."
Feng Xiaotian opened his mouth, wanting to say he could do it, but swallowed the words back. He remembered the direction the first Wind Trace pointed to—the ice field to the east. He had glanced at it from afar; it was full of undulating glaciers and crevasses, requiring extra caution with every step. Running in three directions in three days, and spending time identifying the source flow of the Wind Trace in each direction, time was indeed tight.
"And—" Shui Bing'er turned around, glanced at the ice field to the south, and lowered her voice, "There's no time limit for my Third Trial. I'll run through the three areas for you first, then I'll go back to practice my target practice. It won't delay anything."
Feng Xiaotian stood up from the ice, folded the cloth, and put it back in her hand.
"Okay."
Shui Bing'er put away the cloth, turned around and waved to Little Frost, then turned to look at Feng Xiaotian: "How far east is the first path?"
The guide says to walk until you reach the point where the Wind Trace and the Martial Soul resonate. The exact distance will only be known after you've walked there.
Shui Bing'er climbed onto the dragon's back and reached out her hand to Feng Xiaotian.
"Come on up. Little Frost knows the roads in the Far North; traveling in the sky is faster than on land."
Feng Xiaotian glanced at her outstretched hand for a moment, then without hesitation, he grasped it, flipped himself onto the dragon's back, and sat behind her.
"Hold on tight," Shui Bing'er said.
Little Frost let out a deep dragon roar, and with a sudden flap of its wings, it soared into the air.
The biting wind from the Far North swept over him as Feng Xiaotian sat atop the dragon's back, watching the rapidly receding ice plains below. Three Wind Trace the passage of three days, and now, another person had joined his side.
He glanced down at his palm; the eastward-pointing line was slightly warm, as if urging him to move forward.
" Little Frost, head east." Shui Bing'er patted the dragon's neck.
The Frost Dragon adjusted its direction, its wings cutting through the frigid air currents of the Far North, carrying the two people towards the depths of the eastern ice plains.
(This humble servant did not break the promise~ Although it's a bit late, there's a reason. My head still hurts a lot today, but in order to keep my word, I have to persevere. I'll look at the revisions tomorrow.)