Over the next few days, aside from her daily cultivation, Shi Yu spent most of her time practicing a movement technique.
This movement technique was precisely her reward for taking first place in the tournament at the Alchemy Exchange Conference, named 《Six Transformations of Fire Chanting》.
The Hengze Prefecture Alchemist Association had been fully confident that Yin Wenzhou would claim first place. They had prepared an exceptionally lavish prize, truly breaking the bank, while keeping the mindset that benefits would stay within their own house. After all, putting it up for display only for it to return to the association meant no waste either way.
They never expected that it would ultimately benefit Shi Yu in the end, leaving them to suffer in silence with no way to complain.
As for this 《Six Transformations of Fire Chanting》, it was an extraordinarily peculiar movement technique that could only be practiced by fire-attribute cultivators. The first three transformations were suitable for Qi Refining cultivators, while the latter three could only be practiced after reaching Foundation Establishment. Every transformation held its own subtle wonders. True to its status as a Tier-4 technique, it was far superior to the many cultivation methods Shi Yu had previously learned.
Furthermore, after she read through the entire text, the Fate-Tapping Bell inside her Purple Mansion acted as usual, transforming the technique into a light orb—larger and brighter than those of other methods—which floated and revolved around the bell.
After entering the light orb's space, the 《Six Transformations of Fire Chanting》 was further perfected and deduced by the Fate-Tapping Bell, making its power appear even greater.
Shi Yu had paused her alchemy and artifact refining for these past few days, leaving her divine sense unconsumed. Now, entering the light orb space and practicing the technique with the figure whose appearance was identical to her own, her divine sense rapidly drained once again.
During the day, whenever Master Ji was free, she would spar and consult with him, gradually comprehending and assimilating what she learned from the technique through actual combat.
At this moment, as she unleashed this movement technique, a scorching wave of aura radiated from her. Shi Yu moved like lightning, rapidly weaving through the space like a fiery blaze and leaving behind a blurred trail of flames. Her movements were agile and vigorous, surrounded by that blistering heat that seemed to envelop the surrounding air in flames. In an instant, she dodged Master Ji's attack, appearing right behind him and striking a palm toward the center of his back.
This first transformation was the most fundamental of the 《Six Transformations of Fire Chanting》, yet it was by no means to be understated. It allowed one to harness fire elemental Qi to boost their own speed and flexibility.
“Great movement technique!” Master Ji burst into laughter. Having over a hundred years more combat experience than Shi Yu, he immediately gauged her strength and gained a clear understanding of her capabilities. Yet he harbored not a shred of contempt, suppressing his cultivation to the Qi Refining Realm Great Perfection before taking her attack.
Master Ji also practiced the Dao of Swords. Heavy sword in hand, he swung it upward with force, using offense as defense to turn around and block Shi Yu's palm strike.
Sensing the surging power contained within the sword blade, Shi Yu knew she was no match for a direct clash. She twisted her body to retreat rapidly, yet her palm strike lost none of its momentum, crashing head-on against the blade with a terrifying surge of impact force.
Two streams of fire spiritual energy overflowed into the air, prompting President Song, who was steering the cloud boat not far away, to flick his sleeves and disperse the energy. He chuckled with mock indignation, “If you damage my cloud boat, you'll be paying for it!”
After calling out, he squinted his eyes and watched with keen interest.
Their sparring was originally meant to help Shi Yu hone her movement technique, so Shi Yu naturally would not resort to methods like spirit talismans or array formations—otherwise, the outcome would be hard to say. Master Ji knew this well, so he remained completely unbothered, smiling as he attacked again with his sword.
“Little Yu'er, try my Heavenly Dipper Sword Qi!”
With those words, strands of sword Qi condensed into form, centering around the heavy sword in Master Ji's hand to create the phantom image of a massive sword several times its size. Around the giant sword, sword Qi further condensed into nine smaller swords, surrounding her in a formation of one primary and nine secondary blades as they swept toward Shi Yu.
Unleashing this move, Master Ji's eyes gleamed with smug satisfaction, assuming victory was already sealed.
Yet in the next instant, Shi Yu's figure suddenly blurred.
Stepping upon scorching flames, her movements became exceptionally nimble, soaring like a weightless firebird across mountains and rivers. With a single leap through the air—like a flickering flame—she slipped right through the blockade of sword Qi and appeared right in front of Master Ji.
Master Ji was startled, followed by a chill at his neck—the girl had pressed her long flute right against his throat.
Having succeeded with one strike, Shi Yu pulled back the Hidden Hatred Flute and smiled brightly, mimicking Master Ji's earlier tone. “Master Ji, you let your guard down.”
Master Ji's face darkened. If this had been actual combat, what touched his neck wouldn't be a flute, but a sword piercing straight through.
He coughed lightly and changed the subject to cover his embarrassment. “You clever girl! For a Tier-4 movement technique, your progress is ridiculously fast!”
When Shi Yu flashed past just now, it was as if she had traversed distance instantaneously, making it truly impossible to defend against.
This was precisely the second transformation of 《Six Transformations of Fire Chanting》.
At the level of a Tier-4 technique, practicing it was unlike common Tier-1 or Tier-2 methods where memorizing the text and practicing briefly allowed one to command it freely. Instead, it required genuine, painstaking effort to comprehend and master.
Yet in just a few short days, Shi Yu had already learned the second transformation—such progress was truly astounding.
To the side, President Song couldn't help glancing at Shi Yu once more. Seeing her bright, radiant eyes, graceful presence, and the increasingly dense aura radiating from her whole body, he sighed, “You really are a little monster.”
Shi Yu teased, “'Little monster' doesn't sound very nice. President, you should pick a different term.”
President Song said crossly, “Sometimes I really wonder if you're some old monster reincarnated after dying or possessing a body.”
Yet after spending time with her, although this girl possessed an exceptional mindset, she would occasionally reveal the innocent innocence of a young girl. Furthermore, she was often quite clueless, possessing only half-baked knowledge about many cultivation matters—none of which could be faked.
Thus, President Song was merely speaking offhandedly.
“Uh...” Shi Yu felt a slight twinge of guilt.
She wasn't some old monster reincarnated after corpse liberation or possessing a body, but strictly speaking, her situation shared a few similarities.
That aside, besides 《Six Transformations of Fire Chanting》, Shi Yu had also studied all the other techniques she had acquired.
After killing Pei Yanji in the Yanyang Spiritual Realm, she had obtained over ten cultivation technique manuals from his storage ring. Unfortunately, most of these techniques had been stolen by Pei Yanji from various cultivators he had killed. They were of varying quality and mostly incomplete, lacking a coherent system. Most were Tier-2 techniques, with only one or two being Tier-3 techniques, which was better than nothing.
In any case, after being evolved and merged by the Fate-Tapping Bell, these techniques could all be converted into “experience points.” Learning them brought her no harm whatsoever.
The three of them chatted casually for a while longer before going off to attend to their own affairs.
The blue sky was vast and boundless, with a sea of clouds stretching into the distance. The grand and magnificent world unveiled picture-like scenes of mountains, rivers, forests, and grasslands.
Shi Yu walked to the edge of the cloud boat, looking at the diverse sights far below as the gentle breeze stirred her hair. She murmured to herself, “In another two or three days, we'll reach the borders of Lingtai Prefecture.”
Although this trip to Hengze Prefecture had seen various twists and turns, she had gained immense benefits, and President Song had successfully broken through to the Golden Core Realm, drawing a perfect conclusion to the journey.
President Song had already sent a message ahead. Their return was bound to be quite a lively occasion.
Rate on N.U.
