Chapter 9 - Breadth of Mind and Spirit (2/2)

Living in this world... without high ambitions, one will not strike high even if they are talented! If they don't take me in, then I will go and learn what I can myself, as long as I can learn anything, there is no need to pay attention to the reputation of the teacher.

His eyes brightened as he walked into Knowledge Teaching Pavilion. The Qi Practitioners of Swords Gate would, from time to time, come to the Knowledge Teaching Pavilion and pass down their techniques and knowledge to the upper house disciples. Today, there were more than ten Qi Practitioners in the pavilion, each teaching tens to hundreds of upper house disciples their ways of cultivation.

Zhong Yue walked into a training room, and he stood in the corner. In the room, a hundred upper house disciples were sitting down crossed-legged, quietly listening to the teachings of an old Qi Practitioner who was on the stage.

The old Qi Practitioner noticed him walking in, he was slightly startled, and he gently nodded to Zhong Yue.

The other upper house disciples also looked at him. Then the old Qi Practitioner continued with his teachings; his voice was loud and sonorous. "The mountains have mountain spirits. The rivers have river spirits. The trees have tree spirits. The grasses have grass spirits. The clouds have cloud spirits. The winds have wind spirits. The golds have gold spirits. The earth has earth spirits. The moon has moon spirits, and the sun has sun spirits!"

"Sense and manifest one of the spirits from nature and you can then manifest a related spirit in your psyche ocean!"

"These spirits, are the totem spirits, the spirits of worships!"

"It has been a long time since the residents of the Great Wilderness worshipped the majestic mountains, great waters, godly trees, spirit grasses, clouds and winds, sun and moon. Over time, spirituality emerged within the nature that we worship, people that possess a strong soul could sense and manifest the spirituality of nature within their body!"

"Only with the spirit, can one become a Qi Practitioner! The soul and spirit combine to form the atman of a human, the Yuan Shen!"

"Have a look; this is my spirit!"

A Swords Gate appeared above his head. When it opened, a foot tall stone man walked out of it. It had a body with four arms and an eye on the middle of each palm that glimmered with strange rays!

"My spirit is the spirit of the mountain, the mountain spirit integrated with my soul, and it became my atman. The atman is also called the Yuan Shen! The mountain gods have four eyes, closely watching all four directions. Hence, my atman also has four eyes!"

His soul dashed out and fused with the mountain spirit, his spirit was visibly getting bigger and taller, before finally becoming a four-armed stone man that was a thousand feet high. It stood behind the old Qi Practitioner, looking majestic and imposing. The four arms were reaching out, and the four eyes gazed in all directions—the upper house disciples were looking at it in wonder.

Zhong Yue was also greatly moved in his heart; he had heard words about the 'spirit'; some called it the 'totem spirit,' but he never knew what the 'spirit' was. Today, he finally had a basic understanding of the 'spirit.'

"In order to manifest the spirit, you must have a strong soul, and a strong soul is only obtainable through hard work, penance, and training. While for you to train in the Great Wilderness, you will need to possess great fortitude."

The old Qi Practitioner slowly explained everything in details. He smiled and said, "Great strength can only be unleashed through the combat arts. All of you can make it to the upper house—your foundations must be robust, your psyches must be firm, and your soul must be able to be liberated. Your combat awareness must not be bad either. All of you are eligible to learn the combat art I will be teaching today, the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Art]!"

His words were as if enchanted with magic, it brought Zhong Yue, the cultivation layman, into an intriguing state of mind.

"The [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill] – it is cultivated by visualizing the spring thunder. The spring thunderbolt is the first thunderbolt in spring… the first thunderbolt of the year. I need all of you to visualize and construct a totem of a thunderbolt with your psyche. Then turn the thunderbolt totem into Sword Qi. At that point, you would have successfully cultivated the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill]."

"The Sword Qi of the [Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill] moves like a sudden clap of a spring thunderbolt. From afar, it could travel vast distances in a blink of an eye, slaying your opponent from a thousand miles away! From near, ten steps would bring with it a kill. The thunderous lightning force erupts and explodes, destroying and crushing everything in seconds!"

Time flew by without anyone realizing it. The old Qi Practitioner thoroughly taught the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill] to the disciples. Using his psyche, he demonstrated how to carve the totem of thunderbolt to the disciples. He taught them without holding back the slightest bit of knowledge.

Zhong Yue became fully immersed in the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill] as he listened to the teachings. After the explanations were done, the old Qi Practitioner closed his eyes and stopped teaching, the disciples within the room could then only pull themselves back into their conscious mind.

All of them were enormously excited; they started practicing and cultivating the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill]. Some even practiced in groups, carefully observing the flaws in each other and then proceeding in perfecting it.

The thunderbolt is swift, in but a second it can crash from the high heavens to the ground. In the ancient times, the livings worshipped the thunderbolts and then birthed the thunderbolt totem, it contained the calamitous power of lightning.

Zhong Yue didn't try to carve the thunderbolt totem immediately; instead, he continued visualizing and thought to himself, The key to the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill] lies in the totem of thunder. The old Qi Practitioner carved a perfect and lively thunder totem, but the key wasn't on the form and linings of the totem, rather, it was whether the thunder totem could fully unleash the mighty and magnificent thunderous force!

The thunderbolt totem is complicated in carvings; it will not be easy to master all the carving permutations of the thunder totem. Only by grasping the core of the thunderbolt totem can I quickly learn the [Spring Thunderbolt Swords Skill] and apply it in combat. Only then, will I slowly perfect the thunder totem and strengthen the power of the art!

His thoughts ventured deep into his visualization. He recalled back to how it looked like when he used to see the lightning splitting the sky itself in half. It was like a long sword piercing through the heaven and earth, flashing over thousands of millions of miles in the blink an eye.

While the spring thunderbolt was the first thunder of the year, it broke and bombed the cold winter. It caused the hearts of the people to tremble; it was another concept, something that transcended ordinary thunder!

Moments passed, Zhong Yue opened his eyes, stood up, and started practicing the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill].

At this point, there were already quite a number of upper house disciples that could cast the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill]. When they cast their sword skills, they were near replicas of the old Qi Practitioner's manifestation of the [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill].

Meanwhile, Zhong Yue cast a different [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill] than the Old Practitioner's. His [Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill] seemed to be very stubborn and dull, it wasn't like the ordinary thunderbolts that contained a vigorous and lively force.

The old Qi Practitioner closed his eyes and sat down quietly, behind his back, the four-armed four-eyed mountain god opened its eyes widely, carefully observing every movement, every action of the upper house disciples.

After a long time, the old Qi Practitioner heaved a deep sigh, rose and left, in a desolated voice he said, "The ones that could truly grasp the essence of my teachings—there is only one…"