“Rejected!”
Lin Shu made a large “X” with his hands, refusing the “Tomb Robbers Note Filming Plan” directed by the Sanqing Fairy.
“But why!” The Sanqing Fairy was puzzled, pulling Lu Zhiyun, who had just walked through the door, over to her side.
“Our Little Lu has already reached Foundation Establishment! And Little Shu, you just said—”
“What did I say?”
Lin Shu looked directly at the Sanqing Fairy. After a moment, her head drooped, she pursed her lips aggrievedly, and muttered in a low voice, “Might makes right with you… You stingy person! Always bullying a Fairy…”
Seeing this, Lin Shu only sighed helplessly. “Fairy, Little Junior Sister has only just reached Foundation Establishment. Her realm is unstable; how can she go running around everywhere?”
“Oh, right!” The Sanqing Fairy suddenly realized.
The lower the realm, the more importance is placed on building a solid foundation.
Usually, when a cultivator has just broken through to the Foundation Establishment stage, it is best for them to find a way to continue their insights and thus consolidate their cultivation. Otherwise, a single lapse in caution could cause them to fall back to the Qi Condensation stage.
That kind of operation where one holds back experience points to break through in the heat of battle as a ‘Phase Two’ power-up is something only experts at the Golden Core stage or higher play with. For a little rookie, it’s better to stay honest and take things step by step.
As for Lu Zhiyun, who had just broken through, she certainly couldn’t follow the Fairy to do strange things like digging up graves right now.
“Senior Brother, then what should I do next?” Lu Zhiyun asked.
In the “Sanqing Primordial Qi Formula – Lin Shu’s Annotated Version,” it was mentioned that after reaching Foundation Establishment, she could begin trying to cultivate her second spiritual root.
According to the “Thunder-Fire Sword” reverse order Lin Shu had given her, the next step should be developing the Fire root!
Fire spells…
Lu Zhiyun had only seen remote-attack type Dharma cultivators like Wang Zhiya, who possessed a single Fire spiritual root. As for sword cultivators using fire spells, they were extremely rare.
Swords and fire didn’t seem to match very well.
A sword cultivator’s blade was generally steady and powerful, with moves that were quiet and precise, capable of wounding the enemy through the sword’s momentum alone. Combining that with a restless fire spell would instead make it very easy for gaps to appear in one’s sword forms.
But if she made good use of her “Breath of Cloud” and forced herself to stabilize the flow and consumption of spiritual energy within her body, was it possible to make the fire root become quiet as well?
Lu Zhiyun began to ponder. A sword wreathed in raging flames, sweeping across and allowing the fire to purge all evil—wouldn’t that be incredibly cool and handsome?
Decided! This move will be called “Fiery Clouds”!
As for “Breath of Cloud,” it would have to be modified too! One must keep up with the times!
She was a girl; even when paired with a fire root, she had to emphasize clean and beautiful sword strokes, pleasing to the eye like a dance…
Hmm—can’t think of anything!
Difficult!
Naming things is so difficult!
Lin Shu interrupted Lu Zhiyun’s fantasy, saying, “Let’s hold off on the Fire root for now. We’ll develop the Lightning root first!”
Lu Zhiyun questioned, “Why? I almost had a name—”
“What name?” Lin Shu asked curiously.
“Oh! Nothing! Senior Brother, please continue!” Lu Zhiyun’s face turned slightly red, feeling a bit embarrassed.
“Actually, you could have learned fire spells first, but since the Fairy is here, we’ll change the approach!” Lin Shu explained with a smile.
“The Fairy is skilled at esca—cough! Movement arts! So you can try starting with speed-oriented lightning spells.”
Karma-type divine abilities were too difficult for the current Little Junior Sister. It was better to have the Fairy teach her some moves specializing in evasion first.
An immortal like the Sanqing Fairy, famous for her “survival skills,” definitely had specialized techniques in this area.
“Hehehe! Don’t praise me so much! I’m just an ordinary immortal!” The Sanqing Fairy smiled modestly.
“Then does the Fairy really have a cultivation technique for the Lightning root?” Lu Zhiyun asked curiously.
“Since Little Shu put it that way, even if I didn’t have one, I’d certainly make one up for you on the spot!” The Sanqing Fairy patted Lu Zhiyun.
Uh… I have a feeling this is very unreliable, Lu Zhiyun thought to herself.
The Sanqing Fairy knew it was time for her performance. She blinked and smiled, “Watch closely!”
Then, with her hands on her hips, she leaned against the wall and then… just like on the immortal boat, she didn’t move an inch.
“Fairy, you’ve used this move before…” Lu Zhiyun said softly.
Lin Shu shook his head and reminded her, “It’s different, Little Junior Sister. Observe more closely!”
Different? What was different?
Lu Zhiyun scrutinized the Sanqing Fairy before her.
Skin as fair as congealed fat, a beautiful white face that remained tight and lustrous despite the passage of three hundred thousand years…
“Little Lu, I feel like you’re thinking about something very rude!” The Sanqing Fairy warned with squinted eyes.
“No, no! Not at all!” Lu Zhiyun waved her hands hurriedly, then continued to observe further down.
Hmm—is it an illusion? Why does it feel like they’ve gotten bigger again…
“You’re not even pretending anymore, are you? You definitely are thinking about something rude!” The Sanqing Fairy’s chest rose and fell violently with anger.
“Cough cough!” Lin Shu, whose ears were burning red, stepped in to smooth things over. “Little Junior Sister, look at her feet! Her feet!”
Lu Zhiyun scratched her head apologetically and looked toward the Fairy’s feet. The next moment, her face turned pale.
“Shadow… where’s the shadow?”
The gentle sunlight from outside the tea room fell upon the Sanqing Fairy, but her shadow was nowhere to be found.
Had she seen a ghost?
“Hmph hmph! Look behind you!” The Sanqing Fairy tilted her chin.
Lu Zhiyun turned around, only to see a new shadow standing prominently right next to her own.
Just by looking at certain obvious characteristics, one could tell it was the Fairy’s shadow.
“This…” Lu Zhiyun was so shocked she was speechless.
To actually be able to separate the shadow from the original body—what was the principle behind this?
“That’s not all!” The Sanqing Fairy snapped her fingers. In the next moment, a faint “sizzle” of electric current sounded in Lu Zhiyun’s ear.
“Hi hi!”
While Lu Zhiyun was still dazed, the Sanqing Fairy, who had appeared beside her at some unknown point, poked her and gave a sly smile.
“Interesting! It’s actually a displacement spell?” Lin Shu clapped.
Lu Zhiyun turned back and only then realized that the Sanqing Fairy had swapped places with her shadow.
“So… so powerful!”
“I told you! The ‘Sanqing Primordial Qi Formula’ is very useful!” The Sanqing Fairy laughed.
“This is the highest, most advanced movement art a Lightning root can cultivate. I call it… Thunderbolt Shadow!”
Looking at the move the Sanqing Fairy had made up on the spot to act like an intellectual, Lin Shu didn’t call her out. He only pondered.
He had been a child who liked to use his brain since he was young. Before the Fairy could explain, he began analyzing the principles.
By activating the Lightning root, the main body and the shadow are made to vibrate rapidly to achieve separation. Then, using the principle of the flow of spiritual energy between heaven and earth, the shadow is hidden within the spiritual energy. Finally, using the law that the shadow and the body share the same source, a perfect displacement is achieved!
Marvelous! Very scientific!
“Fairy! I want to learn! How is this move performed?” Lu Zhiyun asked excitedly.
The Sanqing Fairy said mysteriously, “This move has quite the history!”
“Back then, I followed the village teacher to learn characters. He said that all things have spirits and everything has life!”
“I asked him, ‘Does a person’s shadow have life too?’ He replied yes, so I started communicating with my shadow!”
Lin Shu was full of questions. Did one really need to communicate with a shadow?
“Then, I discovered that the shadow indeed has a spirit! And it can separate from the body under certain conditions!” the Sanqing Fairy said.
“Was it the result of communication?” Lu Zhiyun asked curiously.
“No! The communication failed!” the Sanqing Fairy said indignantly. “Then I activated the power of the Lightning root to shock her. With that shock, I discovered this technique.”
“Just like this!”
The Sanqing Fairy gave a demonstration. She activated her spiritual energy, wrapping it around her fingertip, and lightly touched the butt of the shadow on the ground.
The “Shadow Fairy” hurriedly covered her backside, jumped up, and quickly moved to a distance to crouch on standby, looking pitiful.
Wait! It’s your own shadow, so treat her well, hey!
Lin Shu didn’t know how to begin venting his internal complaints… he felt like his years of immortal cultivation had been in vain.
“It can actually be like that?” Lu Zhiyun said thoughtfully.
Lin Shu advised, “Little Junior Sister, there’s no need to be so abstract…”
Before Lin Shu could finish, Lu Zhiyun clapped her hands, suddenly having an idea.
“Ah! Then if I don’t let my shadow run away, but instead have my shadow take out someone else’s shadow, what would happen?”
“Oh~ Little Lu really has creativity! I never thought of that!” The Sanqing Fairy slapped her forehead.
“Or taking another approach, I don’t shock my own shadow, but shock someone else’s shadow instead. What would the effect be?”
“Waaaaah! Why didn’t I think of that!” the Sanqing Fairy said excitedly. She truly felt like her years of immortal cultivation had been in vain.
…
The two chatted more and more excitedly, and the direction of their conversation gradually strayed from the scope of “movement arts.”
How to put it?
When he heard Lu Zhiyun say, “Not only do people have shadows, but the shadows of objects might be useful too,” Lin Shu knew it was time for him to speak up.
“Little Junior Sister! Wake up!” Lin Shu tapped Lu Zhiyun on the head.
“We are righteous cultivators. We cannot use such ev… such weird moves!”
Lu Zhiyun smiled and nodded, indicating she understood!
Her remarks had already deeply captured the heart of an evil cultivator. Even Lin Shu had to personally step out to stop her from continuing, worried about exposing her identity as an evil cultivator.
Seeing that his Little Junior Sister was being obedient, Lin Shu breathed a sigh of relief.
“Since you plan to learn this movement art, let’s go activate your Lightning root first!”
The downside of having three spiritual roots was that some roots were destined to be weak, and the spiritual energy they could absorb was incredibly thin.
The “Thunderbolt Shadow” spell required Lu Zhiyun’s Lightning root to receive a tiny bit of stimulation before it could be performed.
“Okay! Senior Brother!” Lu Zhiyun couldn’t wait to learn this spell. “Where are we going?”
“I’ll take you to a certain place!” Lin Shu gave a mischievous smile.
“But I can’t tell you yet! It’s a secret!”