19 – Beiming
“Wasn’t I told to turn left in front, then turn left, go straight until the intersection, and then turn right again? Where am I?” Xue Qilin looked around.
This was obviously a garden with all kinds of flowers and plants, and there was a man-made lake not far away.
The lake sparkled, reflecting the moonlight. It was surrounded by a few big trees and silence.
It doesn’t look like there’s a restroom here… Xue Qilin sighed helplessly.
After leaving the banquet hall, Xue Qilin asked a passing Heavenly Sword Gate disciple where the restroom was, and despite following the other party’s instructions, she still got lost.
Although she had heard that people of ancient times set up restrooms in gardens, but there were only some rock gardens, flowers, plants, and trees. There was nothing that looked like a restroom in sight.
“This Heavenly Sword Gate is too big, isn’t it?” Xue Qilin grumbled.
Since I can’t find a place to go to the toilet, then I might as well go for a stroll here, last I go back and be bothered by Hua Tianji.
However, it seems like there is someone else here.
Suddenly, a melodic humming came from the lakeside. It was very beautiful.
Xue Qilin subconsciously followed the sound.
… A delicate and ethereal silhouette overtook her field of vision.
An intense feeling that could not be ignored made everything in the world retreat from her field of vision like the tide, only leaving the silhouette behind.
Under the dim moonlight, there was a pure white figure standing atop a large boulder beside the lake.
White garments, long snow-white hair – it was a pure white girl.
Standing there alone, she had her head facing upwards as she looked at god knows what. Her eyes looked far into the distance, like she was looking at something that could not be touched by her gaze.
That silhouette looked so lonely.
The big sleeves touching the floor suddenly moved, and the girl turned her head.
Emotionless deep purple eyes were accurately fixed on Xue Qilin.
The instant she saw the girl’s face, Xue Qilin was stunned. The girl is unreasonably beautiful.
However, in the next moment, Xue Qilin noticed a pair of white fox ears on the girl’s head.
Martial beast? Xue Qilin wondered – is she from the Spirit Moon Valley?
However, before she could dwell on the matter, the girl acted, and her lips moved, “Are you from the Merak Palace?”
Xue Qilin was surprised. She didn’t expect the other side to ask this.
“How did you know?” As soon as her words left her mouth, Xue Qilin felt a bit like an idiot.
Perhaps the other party saw her at the banquet just now. In that case, it was no surprise that she knew of her identity.
However, the other party’s answer was beyond Xue Qilin’s expectation…
The girl played with her hair and said jokingly: “You practice the Ji Xuan method, which is an internal force cultivation method the old fellow Qi Guiyuan came up with after improving upon the Merak method. It can be said to be unique. How do you know it?”
This was a master, and her cultivation base should be higher than Xue Qilin’s.
“I’m indeed from the Merak Palace…”
“What’s your relationship with Qi Guiyuan? Why do you practice his cultivation method?” Narrowing her eyes, the girl’s sharp gaze stabbed into Xue Qilin like a knife.
A huge pressure surged towards her, and Xue Qilin became instinctively alert, “… Senior Disciple Sister, who are you? ”
She drove the true qi inside her to accelerate gradually and guided it through specific qi passageway tracing a unique pattern, and formed another small loop.
She knew that her amber eyes should have been died golden, and her pupils should have become narrow vertical slits – just like the eyes of a cat.
Discerning Eyes – a spell that greatly enhanced dynamic vision at the expense of a reduced field of vision.
The reason why Xue Qilin cast this spell was naturally because during the battle with Situ Mutou, she got a deeper understanding of her weakness – close combat.
A dynamic vision far beyond ordinary people could enable her to see clearly those dazzling moves, so as to make a more focused response.
“Oh, that’s quite the interesting skill.”
“How do you know that I practice the Ji Xuan method?”
“The qi leaking out of you gives off…” She smiled, and then went on: “Well, the same feeling as Qi Guiyuan.”
However, when she spoke, she had an ineffable look in her eyes, like she was reminiscing and lamenting.
But what Xue Qilin was more concerned about, was what she meant with qi leaking out.
Based on the different cultivation methods practiced, each person’s true qi had different qualities.
If the true qi was diffused outside, some people with Heaven Realm cultivation base could sense the differences in the true qi, and from that determine the cultivation method the other party practiced.
Of course, only those with extremely rich knowledge could have this ability. At least Xue Qilin, who was an inflated Heaven Realm expert, had no such ability.
But Xue Qilin hadn’t used true qi outside her body, so how could the girl reach her conclusion?
At this time, her true qi was revolving at a high speed, her qi passageways were under unimaginable pressure, and a strong pain assaulted her nerves.
Xue Qilin frowned slightly. In fact, during the battle with Situ Mutou, she noticed that the feeling of the true qi revolving inside her body was like going against a current, and there was a strange discomfort.
There was no such feeling before. But after she began practicing the cultivation method taught by Qi Guiyuan, this feeling came into being.
Especially when using spells, she had almost to force her true qi out of her body, which was far less smooth than before.
“Oh?” The girl seemed to have detected something.
Then, in the next moment, she disappeared.
Wrong! She moved, but her movement was too fast. Even with the Discerning Eyes boost, she still could only see an afterimage.
A terrifying aura assaulted her from behind.
Behind! Reacting in an instant, Xue Qilin took a step and quickly turned around.
“Explode!” As if in response to her voice, an explosion arose between the two.
However, the other side wasn’t afraid, and a small lily-white hand passed through the explosion and grabbed Xue Qilin by the arm.
“Sure enough, it’s the qi school [1] style.” An expression of understanding on her face, the other party said with a sneer.
Not the least bit harmed, her hand looked like it just gently grabbed Xue Qilin, yet Xue Qilin felt like her arm was firmly clasped by iron pliers.
Besides, the other still party pressed two fingers on her radial artery. This way, as if blocked by a boulder, the turbulent true qi lost momentum and slowed down.
Subdued! And she didn’t even use any skills! Xue Qilin was shocked.
She quickly channeled the remaining true qi into her free hand, made a fist, and punched out.
However, as if it hit a wall, the fist bounced back. The strong rebound force made Xue Qilin lose her balance, and she plopped on the ground.
“Don’t struggle.” The other party said sarcastically.
Although Xue Qilin had her back drenched in cold sweat, her mouth still refused to give up, “You lolicon! I would rather die than surrender.”
“Lolicon? What’s that? Oh, you don’t mean that my chest is small, do you?” The other side’s eyes narrowed, and Xue Qilin felt the biggest crisis in her life from the emotionless eyes.
“Er… that’s not what I meant.” Xue Qilin felt wronged. How did this fox ear beauty’s thoughts wander in that direction?
The girl look at Xue Qilin suspiciously, and then grunted, “Fine, anyway, you’re in my hands now. If you have anything to say, do so.”
“So, is there some kind of enmity between the two of us?” Since there was no other way, Xue Qilin simply assumed an indifferent attitude.
“There’s none, but the same could not be said about Qi Guiyuan.”
Xue Qilin gave the other the stink eye and said angrily: “Then what do you want with me? Big Sister, you have to find the right person to take revenge! Hatred should only be directed against the right person! Why don’t you break through the void and get revenge on old man Qi? Oh, there’s a lake over there, why don’t you try jumping inside?”
“You look like a crazy kitten now.” The girl dismissed Xue Qilin’s sarcasm with a laugh.
Xue Qilin rolled her eyes and said no more.
“You rascal, you’re really a bit like Qi Guiyuan…”
“Don’t compare me to that old bastard! I haven’t seen anyone as shameless as that old rascal! He’s not only a free-loader, bu he also seized my manga!” Xue Qilin complained emotionally, as she recalled her time with Qi Guiyuan.
The girl suddenly sighed: “Unexpectedly, there’s another person in the world, besides me, who knows of the filthy heart behind that dignified facade…”
“You must have suffered a lot…” Because of empathy, Xue Qilin looked at the other with less hostility.
“Forget it, let’s not talk about that. You’re clearly using the qi school style, so why do you practice a sword school cultivation method?”
“What?” Did old man Qi Guiyuan fool me? Xue Qilin was confused.
After contemplating for a while, the girl looked like she has thought of something, and burst into laughter, “This Qi Guiyuan has hatched a nice scheme… Is he sure that he can pull it off? ”
“What are you talking about?”
“That senior disciple brother of yours wants you to practice a sword school cultivation method first to help you refine your body and expand your qi passageways. Then, he planned for you to meet me, knowing that I’d help you rectify it.” The girl gnashed her teeth and said angrily, “Qi Guiyuan, you scoundrel, you hatched quite the scheme!”
“What’s going on?”
The girl glanced at Xue Qilin and said as if no one else was present, “When Qi Guiyuan was still here, he was the number one in the world, but that was only the number one in the sword school style.”
“What you mean to say is that that old snake oil salesman doesn’t understand the qi school style?”
The girl let go of Xue Qilin’s arm and sneered, “Humph, when you get to his level, you won’t be ignorant of the mysteries of the qi school style. However, that only amounts to deductions. How could he compare to people who studied qi school cultivation methods for years?”
“Oh…” Xue Qilin blinked her eyes, “Can you speak in simpler terms?”
“I see, you’re an idiot. Even if I put it in simpler terms, I fear that you still won’t be able to understand it.”
“Whom are you calling an idiot?”
“How funny. To be fooled without even being aware. If that’s not an idiot, then what is?”
“Weren’t you also fooled by him…”
The girl was stumped by this sentence, “You have a sharp tongue.”
“So? You said that you can help me, what’s with that?”
“I can help you rectify it. When you used that skill just now, didn’t you feel that the flow of true qi was strange, wasn’t it hard to operate it?”
“You are correct.”
“That’s because you are practicing a sword school cultivation method. Sword cultivation methods focus on condensing true qi outside the body, while with the qi school style, you first have to diffuse true qi inside the body, and then control it. The two are essentially opposites, which is why you experience problems when using skills.”
“What do I have to do then?”
“It’s simple, just reverse the path of the flow of true qi.”
“It’s that simple?”
“It is. Try it if you’re not convinced.”
“Oh.” Although Xue Qilin was skeptical, but she couldn’t think of any reason for the other party to deceive her. Therefore, she did as she was told. She had no inkling how dangerous it was to reverse the path of the flow of true qi.
Sitting down, she first slowed down the flow of true qi, until it was completely still.
As she expected, when her true qi was completely still, her body began to emit white light, which was the presage of her recovering her original appearance.
If she saw me turn into a man, would she be scared to death? Xue Qilin mused non-bona fide, but she wasn’t bored enough to really change back to her original appearance. After all, her clothes and what not would rip!
She concentrated her mind on quickly plan out the route of the reverse flow of true qi, and then carefully operated her true qi along the expected path.
But she made a mistake, and her true qi strayed. Then, as if a wild horse, her true qi went out of control.
When Xue Qilin was at a loss for what to do, the girl touched her on a specific place and accurately restrained her true qi and scattered it.
Xue Qilin nodded in gratitude. The girl, however, said jokingly: “Are you so idle that you can afford to get distracted? I won’t care if you stray again.”
Following the other side’s reminder, Xue Qilin quickly calmed down and focused on guiding her true qi again.
During this period, she strayed several times, yet was helped out by the girl.
At some point, Xue Qilin opened her eyes, the path of the flow of true qi was completely reversed.
“This…” Xue Qilin was surprised by the change in the true qi. The true qi not only circulated much faster, but the quantity also increased by 1.5 times.
“Try going all out.”
“Okay.” Xue Qilin accelerated her true qi to the limit. This time, she no longer felt the stabbing pain in the qi passageways. Rather, there was a subtle soothing feeling.
A strange change took place in an instant. With Xue Qilin as the center, countless lightning streaks suddenly flickered in a area five meters in diameter. At the same time, numerous lightning streaks danced atop her skin.
“What’s this?” She clearly didn’t use any spells, so how come there was lightning?
“Domain.” The girl replied in a word.
Looking at the streaks of lightning dancing on her hands, Xue Qilin asked blankly: “This is domain?”
“Yes. With your cultivation base, it’s not surprising that you have a domain. Just that, it doesn’t conform with your original cultivation method, leading to the speed of the flow of true qi to be inadequate; the domain could not be manifested.
At this moment, Xue Qilin discovered a problem… “My true Qi is consumed very quickly.”
“Isn’t that natural? You think that domains don’t need true qi to be maintained?” For the first time, the girl showed a dumbfounded expression.
“Oh, that’s right.” Xue Qilin slowed down the flow of true qi, and the domain disappeared automatically, “Then, will the domain appear automatically every time I accelerate the flow of true qi to the extreme? Can this be prevented?”
“The domain comes from you. If you don’t want it to appear, then it naturally won’t appear. You just have to think of it.”
“Oh, that means that I can control it with my will?”
“Naturally. Things that cannot be controlled don’t belong to you.”
“That makes sense.”
With a teasing smile, the girl looked at Xue Qilin and uttered: “I have much more experience than you, so naturally what I say makes sense, right?”
Xue Qilin wrinkled her nose disdainfully, “Not necessarily. Isn’t this a lesson drawn from Qi Guiyuan’s mistake?”
The girl was stunned for a moment and then laughed, “Ha-ha-ha, indeed.”
“Anyway, why did you help me? I thought you wanted to beat me just now.” Xue Qilin asked curiously.
The girl’s expression suddenly darkened and her eyelids drooped, and she said: “Maybe it’s due to loneliness.”
“Loneliness?”
The girl shook her head, saying no more, and turned to leave.
“Hey, wait a minute, you haven’t told me your name and the sect! Otherwise, how do I find you if need be?!”
“We will meet again sooner or later…” At this point, the girl suddenly sighed, “My surname is Beiming.”
She only said her surname, and then disappeared before Xue Qilin could ask her about her name. She disappeared virtually into thin air.
Her surname is Beiming? Xue Qilin frowned lightly – could she be Beiming Youyu [2]? Didn’t Little Seven mention that Beiming Youyu, just like myself, was an old lass who looked like a child? But the fox ear girl surnamed Beiming has a curvaceous figure, she has nothing to do with the word “child”…
[1] – Qi school was previously translated as air-bending
[2] – Beiming Youyu (in the northern ocean there is a fish) is a reference to the prose Xiao Yao You (逍遥游) by Zhuang Zhou (庄周). The whole excerpt goes something like this: “In the northern ocean there is a fish, called the Kun, which is thousands of meters long.”
