Rise of Humanity
chapter-85

Chapter 85 – Xuan Wu Gold Spirit Shield

Jun Sixie herself had mastered quite a number of techniques, two of them being the【Xuan Wu Visualization Art】and 【 【Xuan Wu Gold Spirit Skill】】. She was the holder of an innate spirit body, her perception and potential were greater than anyone else – it was natural for her to easily be able to grasp the quintessence of the techniques.

As her psyche had slightly recovered, she cast her psyche and showed the totem carvings of Xuan Wu to Zhong Yue, she first explained to him about the quintessence of the【Xuan Wu Visualization Art】 followed by the permutations of the totem carvings, imparting every scrap of knowledge she had to Zhong Yue.

The 【Xuan Wu Visualization Art】 was way more profound than the【 Spring Thunder Sword Skill】 and 【 Jiao Dragon Winding Body Totem Art 】. It was divided into two parts, the Xuan Tortoise Totem and Teng Snake Totem, only by merging the two totems together can the Xuan Wu Totem be derived.

Among the two, the Xuan Tortoise Totem had 24 permutations, having the form of a dragon turtle; while the Teng Snake Totem had 22 permutations, taking the form of a soaring snake; the two totems would have a total of 46 permutations.

While Jun Sixie was explaining, Zhong Yue was carefully listening on the side. About two hours later, Jun Sixie had finally finished demonstrating the 24 permutations of the Xuan Tortoise Totem and her psyche was seeing depletion. After all, she was still bearing severe wounds from the fiasco she was embroiled in before; she then fell asleep in the middle of explaining the totem carvings.

It was in the middle of the night, a cold breeze permeated through her skin penetrated towards her bones, she thought to herself, After so many years of being a Qi Practitioner, this is the first time I’ve ever felt so weak….

She opened her eyes only to see a dreadful dragon turtle standing beside Zhong Yue, its shell was ten feet in radius; while Zhong Yue on the other hand, was with the Coral Tree and he flitted the eighteen Sword Qis right at the turtle shell; as they clashed together, the high-pitched screeching of clashing metal could be heard and sparks of collision burst out, but the turtle shell remained unharmed.

Jun Sixie was shocked, she rubbed her eyes and cast her gaze over again. The dragon turtle that was reflected in her eyes under the moonlight struck an indelible impression of realism in her mind and it was hard to discern whether it was merely the manifestation of a visualization art or a living dragon turtle.

It was clear to her that Zhong Yue had grasped the quintessence of the Xuan Turtle Totem, he had fully understood all 24 permutations of the totem; that was why he could have visualized the skin, flesh, blood, bones and even the internal organs of the dragon turtle with his psyche. Not only that, the dragon turtle he visualized had the hallmarks of a living being; the flow of the blood through the body, the heart that pumped incessantly, all these imbued the dragon turtle with an incredible defensive capability!

How long have I slept?

Jun Sixie was startled, she mumbled to herself, It must be it, my wounds are so severe that it threw me into sleep for a few days. He must have mastered the 24 permutations of Xuan Tortoise Totem within this period of time. Oh, I’m so hungry, it must be that I’ve slept for too long….

Zhong Yue tossed a few pieces of raw beef over, Jun Sixie immediately cast aside her respectable genteel image and her heroine-like demeanor as the superior senior martial sister of Swords Gate. She snatched them over and gnawed on the raw beef like a rabid dog. As she was fed, she paused and burped loudly and between mouthfuls, she said, “The Xuan Tortoise and Teng Snake are in fact, one. Master the Xuan Tortoise Totem and the Teng Snake Totem, merge them together and you will get the 【Xuan Wu Visualization Art】. Come, I will now teach you the Teng Snake Totem, look carefully!”

Four hours slipped away, a small wedge of light spilled over the horizon with the coming sunrise; a mighty snake with wings was in mid-air, under Zhong Yue’s control, the psyche formed Teng snake soared in the clouds.

When the sunlight had entirely streamed across the sky, Jun Sixie gazed speechlessly at the tens of feet long Teng Snake, she drew in a cold breath, He really did understand and grasp the quintessence of all the 24 totem permutations, this dude, is he really human? He isn’t really some maniac from the dragon race right?

His ability to learn and adapt, his perception, and his comprehension and control. All in all, his holistic potential was beyond her imagination. In such a short while he could remember all 24 totem permutations and even more, fully understand them and elucidate himself on the quintessence of it!

He said that his cultivation speed was too quick, it seems like it was not simply an empty boast at all….

Jun Sixie’s face blushed red in embarrassment, she taught in her heart, Yesterday, I’ve just said that his only shortcoming was blowing on his own trumpet, but it turns out that he wasn’t blowing on anything at all, wouldn’t that mean that I was literally praising him for having no weak points at all … En, his shortcoming is actually his pride and arrogance!

Little did she know that even the 【Xuan Wu Visualization Art】 with 46 totem permutations, which could be considered as a moderate-level technique in Swords Gate, was merely nothing in Zhong Yue’s eyes if compared to the ‘Great Boundless Sword Qi’, not to mention the Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art!

These two techniques could only be said as difficult. Zhong Yue had studied the sword totem carvings of the ‘Great Boundless Sword Qi’, he had spent dozens of days to comprehend and grasp its quintessence; but then again, the ‘Great Boundless Sword Qi’ was nothing if compared to the Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art imparted to him by Xin Huo.

Having the experience of cultivating the Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art, it would be as easy as drinking water for him to grasp the quintessence of the 【Xuan Wu Visualization Art】 – there were simply no difficulties for him.

Whether it was the structural configuration of the totem carvings, the ideology that underpinned it, or the quintessence of the art, the 【Xuan Wu Visualization Art】 was way simpler than the ‘Great Boundless Sword Qi’ in every respect; but the main usage of this technique was the rather formidable defensive capability it could bring to the caster.

Among the two totems, the Xuan Tortoise Totem was aimed to withstand the attack entirely while the Teng Snake Totem was tasked to disperse and unload the impact force.

Not long after, he had fully mastered the 【Xuan Wu Visualization Art】 and successfully managed to merge the Xuan Tortoise and Teng Snake into one entity – the Xuan Wu.

“Senior martial sister, I suppose you can teach the ways of the 【Xuan Wu Gold Spirit Skill】?” Zhong Yue asked.

“The 【Xuan Wu Gold Spirit Skill】 is even harder, the hardest part lies not in visualizing the totem but extracting the Gold Qis. The Jinyuan Pellets are necessary to extract the Gold Qi….”

Her voice got lower and lower as she spoke, it might be arduous for the others to extract the Gold Qi as it would require a great amount of Jinyuan Pellets, and they were not anywhere close to low-priced. Hence, in order to cultivate the Xuan Wu Gold Spirit Art, not only was a strong perception needed but sufficient wealth in order to support the exorbitant expenditure of cultivating the skill!

But the purportedly hardest obstacle was reduced to a meaningless speed bump to Zhong Yue!

After a few moments of silence, she said begrudgingly, “You yourself can extract the Gold Qi without the need for Jinling Pellets. Now the only obstacle that lies in front of you is the shield totem carvings, which is the way of transmuting the extracted Gold Qi into a shield, then engraving the Xuan Wu totem atop the shield surface. I will now teach you what I know and explain the quintessence in it.”

An hour later, Jun Sixie had finished explaining, Zhong Yue closed his eyes and focused his concentration; moments later, aurulent-colored rays flitted about in front of him. Slowly, the golden rays congealed into a square shield measuring a square foot.

Totem carvings began to faintly emerge on the surface of the small shield, and gradually the carvings became clearer. A few moments later, the totem carvings of a dragon turtle wreathed by a soaring snake arose from the surface of the small shield.

The mythical beasts were almost indistinguishable from their real counterparts, the dragon turtle’s dreadful head extruded out from the shield’s surface and roared fiercely, while the Teng Snake wreathing around its body was slowly meandering around.

The time he used for 【Xuan Wu Gold Spirit Skill】 is even faster….

Jun Sixie was dispirited, it was as if her heart took a heavy blow; Zhong Yue was concerned and he quickly asked, “Senior martial sister, are you hungry again?”

“Get off, leave me alone … Wait, come back, I’m indeed getting hungry, you have more beef?”

Zhong Yue hurled a few pieces over, he was curious in his heart, Even though Senior Martial Sister Jun has petite and elfin stature, she can still eat so much. The aunties in Zhongshan Clan all said that the more a girl eats, the more babies she can give birth to….

Zheng-Zheng-Zheng!

Sounds of metals clashing together could be heard; Zhong Yue cast the eighteen Sword Qis in the Coral Tree and slashed on the Xuan Wu Gold Spirit Shield. After a period of time, he stopped the slashings and inspected the shield, finding that the Sword Qi failed to leave even a single impression. He was overjoyed and thought, I wonder how the Wooden Sword Qi and Xiang Dragon Sword Qi would fare against this Xuan Wu Gold Spirit Shield….

Right away, the Wooden Sword Qi surged out and gashed at the Gold Spirit Shield, －zheng zheng zheng－ the shield was barely scathed after withstanding the ferocious barrage of attacks; moreover, the scratches disappeared right after his psyche flowed in and repaired the shield.

Zhong Yue then turned to the Xiang Dragon Sword Qi, －chui!－ The Sword Qi pierced right into the Xuan Wu Gold Spirit Shield, but as the Sword Qi pierced deeper into the shield, its momentum decreased and further penetration grew more difficult. Eventually, it stopped and remained pinned in the shield.

Zhong Yue withdrew the Xiang Dragon Sword Qi, the deep gash on the shield recovered slowly and a few moments later, it was flawless again.

This defensive skill Senior Martial Sister Jun taught me is really … strong!

Zhong Yue settled his mind, and thought, My Xiang Dragon Sword Qi is equally matched with the dhole Qi Practitioner’s soul weapon. We are both a Rebirth Qi Practitioners, and if his soul weapon can’t penetrate through my Xuan Yuan Gold Spirit Shield, then neither can the soul weapons of other Rebirth Qi Practitioners!

Although he had now acquired a defensive skill, Zhong Yue still dared not let his guard down He took out another steel fork and continued extracting the Gold Qi from it.

I’ve only one Xuan Wu Gold Spirit Shield, it’ll be alright if my opponents are mediocre; but if I happened to encounter with one who can wield multiple soul weapons at a time, one shield will not be enough. I need to accumulate more Gold Qi, and more Xuan Wu shields!

He lifted his head and cast his gaze away, he surmised the distance left until they would reach the Great Wilderness and he thought to himself, At this rate, we’ll need another two more days. But if we continue with full speed, it’ll only take half a day. But, if any monsters see us, then my true identity will be surely exposed….

The longer the time, the greater the risk of exposure; but if he went on at full speed by turning the head of the dragon around forwards, he would draw the attention of the more preeminent monsters.

Zhong Yue found himself stuck in a difficult quandary, but ultimately, he had opted for the path with the lowest risk – traveling backwards towards the Great Wilderness.

A dozen steel forks were consumed, and Zhong Yue had manifested his second shield. Right at this moment, he could feel a surge of monstrous Qi closing in at great speed.

The Jiao Dragon quivered and slowed to a halt, Jun Sixie was curious and she asked, “Are the monsters catching up to us?”

Zhong Yue nodded in confirmation, he planted the zither string in the ground, and the Sword Qis were released out to the wild. An exquisite Xiang Dragon was crouching below an ancient pine tree and a pile of small grass was innocuously swaying beside the road. His Yuan Shen in his psyche ocean was closely attached to the Sword Qis in anticipation, primed to strike out like a viper.

The sounds of hyenas barking and wolves howling came from afar, Zhong Yue squinted his eyes and cast his gaze at them; there were packs and packs of giant hyenas and wolf monsters galloping right at them. While in the middle of the crowd, a middle-aged man of short stature stood on the alpha wolf.

Jun Sixie’s face changed drastically, she whispered lowly, “This is bad, it’s Bei Shisong! Junior Martial Brother Zhong, this monster Qi Practitioner is sly and cunning, he is one of the ones who ambushed me….”

The middle-aged man and the packs were getting closer, they stopped abruptly a thousand feet away from Zhong Yue’s position; shuddering their bodies, they stood up like humans, and turned into monster beasts with wolfen or hyena heads, standing by their master with extreme obedience and pious deference.

These monster beasts were not Qi Practitioners, but their prowesses were close to one. With dozens of monster hyenas and monster wolves clustered together, they would be a noteworthy force of strength!

The alpha wolf trotted forward in its humanoid form, it was a hundred and twenty feet tall, and its wolfen head was sized like a mountain. The middle-aged man stood on its head, looking over at Zhong Yue, he smiled and said, “So junior martial brother has successfully caught Swords Gate Jun Sixie, I’m indeed impressed. Is the junior martial brother heading back to Gu Xia City? May I escort you?”