Chapter 85 - Black Tortoise Gold Spirit Shield (1/2)
Jun Sixie herself had mastered quite a number of techniques, two of them being the [Black Tortoise Visualization Art] and [Black Tortoise 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 Black Tortoise to Zhong Yue, she first explained to him about the quintessence of the [Black Tortoise Visualization Art] followed by the permutations of the totem carvings, imparting every scrap of knowledge she had to Zhong Yue.
The [Black Tortoise 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 Black Tortoise 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 [Black Tortoise 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 [Black Tortoise 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 [Black Tortoise 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 [Black Tortoise 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 [Black Tortoise Visualization Art] and successfully managed to merge the Xuan Tortoise and Teng Snake into one entity – the Black Tortoise.
"Senior martial sister, I suppose you can teach the ways of the [Black Tortoise Gold Spirit Skill]?" Zhong Yue asked.
"The [Black Tortoise 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 Black Tortoise 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 Black Tortoise totem atop the shield surface. I will now teach you what I know and explain the quintessence in it."