117 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

[Such a crude and basic method, and yet you were able to create so much spiritual intent already!?]

When Jet woke up and noticed Van's progress it was immediately shocked. The ring's surprise was not faked in any way at all. He had imparted Van with just the most basic fundamentals of creating spiritual energy strands and yet the kid had taken it to such extremes!

Van had no idea what Jet was on about, "I just used the method you taught me."

The ring suddenly laughed, it was unknown if it was out of delight or incredulity.

[Creating the strands of intent is only the first step of achieving true spiritual intent. You were only meant to make a few hundred strands at the most. Instead you created two thousand, I don't know if I should praise you or kick you.]

Van was lost but he was intrigued by Jet's words.

"If it is only the first step, then what is the second?"

[Right now you have created 2000 individual strands of power. Controlling that many individual pieces – don't you feel that it is tiring?]

The red-haired youth thought about it and nodded. Indeed, controlling so many strands of spiritual intent took a lot of concentration and made him feel drained. A human brain wasn't meant to split its attention into so many parts after all.

[The second step is to take all the strands of intent you have created and weave them back together. If you had reached the Sea Establishment stage your spiritual sense would form naturally but since your cultivation level is too low we can only do this the crudest way possible, which is to individually extrude strands and then re-join them outside of your body. Only then will you form one singular and powerful spiritual sense resembling an ocean wave. Remember the image I showed you in the beginning.]

Van nodded and closed his eyes once more. He felt the thousands of strands of spiritual intent around him and drew them closer towards him.

[Start with just two,] Jet instructed.

Two silvery strands of intent touched and fused together at one end. The joined entity pulsed for a moment. Van was able to control these two joined strands as just one strand, however the power was not lessened at all.

Over the next two hours, Van weaved a large and brilliant spider-web of spiritual intent that formed a dome around him composed of countless crisscrossed strands. This dome could be controlled with a single thought and within its domain, Van could sense everything. His breath, the flow of spiritual energy around him and the slightest pulse in the ground below.

Van was filled with wonder and elation. His dark eyes shone when he opened them. So, this was the power of having a spiritual sense!

[This is too ugly and unrefined,] Jet sniffed.

Van opened his lips, ready to defend the creation that had taken him days of effort but Jet just hmphed.

[Let me show you what the real deal looks like.]

The black ring fell silent.

…

Woooooosh

As the moments passed, a light breeze teased the dust at the bottom of the canyon.

…

Van scratched his head.

Was there something he was meant to see?

...

[Did you feel that?]

Jet asked proudly.

"Nope."

The red-haired youth replied honestly. However, the ring emitted a satisfied aura.

[You did not sense anything, and yet now I know that 50km to our right, there is a small tuft of Yellow Spirit Grass halfway up the canyon wall. What does that tell you?]

Van shook his head, he did not know.

[That a good spiritual sense should be gossamer thin and undetectable! Why do you think there is the phrase 'crouching tiger, hidden dragon'?]

Van pondered the words 'crouching tiger, hidden dragon' and understood what Jet was saying -

Survival was above all else in the cultivation world, hiding your strength from others and preserving the element of surprise cannot be underestimated. Do not fear being underestimated, but of being overestimated!

The ring saw Van's understanding on his face and continued.

[Your spiritual sense is still too rough. The strands are too thick and the weaving uneven. You must create a spiritual sense that is as thin as gossamer and as light as air. Only then will your spiritual sense stand a chance of reaching 100km of range.]

[I will only show you once more, pay attention!]

This time, when the ring fell silent Van used all his nascent spiritual sense to sense Jet's spiritual intent extend through the air. Only the faintest ripple was detected when he concentrated with all his might. If Van did not know that Jet was doing this, he might have mistaken that faint rippled for a slight variation in the wind flowing through the canyon.

This observation caused the red-haired youth sighed in admiration.

Compared to that invisible, almost-air spiritual intent, his was truly too rough and inelegant!

[The sun rises in a few more hours. I must refine my spiritual intent to be as thin and light by nightfall. I refuse to waste another day in here!]

The red-haired youth took a deep breath and closed his eyes. In his minds eye, he saw the slivery woven net he had formed with his strands of spiritual intent.

Ting! Ting!

Faint metallic noises were detected in Van's mindscape as he hammered and stretched those silvery strands into thinner and longer pieces. When they were as thin as a strand of hair he was still not satisfied.

Ting! Ting!

Van's brow was full of sweat. With fierce determination, he hammered and stretched each strand of mental intent into the thinnest gossamer thread before weaving it with the others. By sunrise, Van had refined 100 of the strands, with 1900 strands to go.

1800

1500

1000

By late afternoon, Van had to acknowledge the fact that his refining rate was a too slow but there was nothing he could do. The red-haired youth could only put away all useless thought and pour all of his energy into refining his spiritual sense.

900

700

500

Van's pace picked up.

200

All two thousand strands of spiritual intent were now thin as silk and light as the clouds in the sky. Once all strands were woven together, Van saw a strange phenomenon. The delicate web of spiritual intent pulsed gently before coalescing into a transparent, see-through layer. The individual strands had completely disappeared.

Van knew he had finally succeeded in creating his spiritual sense Instinctively he pulled his spiritual sense back into himself. The giant transparent, shimmering layer of spiritual intent shrank down and sank into the space between Van's brows.

A breath.

Van's shimmering gossamer spiritual intent burst from between his brows and spilled into the air like a dam that had burst through the walls that confined it. The thin layer spread quickly across the breadth and width of the canyon.

5km

10km

20km

30km. This had been Van's previous limit but now, the thin and powerful wave that was Van's spiritual sense raced on, engulfing the canyon.

40km

60km. The silvery layer of spiritual sense spilled forth relentlessly.

80km

90km. Van felt the momentum of his spiritual sense slow gradually. His brows pinched. He was so close to 100km. If he could reach 100km then the entire Firestorm Abyss Entrapment Array could be comprehended.

The silvery dome kept expanding.

95km

97km

99km

Digging his fingernails into his palm, Van forcefully stretched his newly formed spiritual sense to the limit.

100km!

At that moment, a miniature model of the canyon appeared in Van's mindscape.  This was the image that he had captured using his spiritual sense. Although Van's knowledge of arrays and formations was low, the Firestorm Abyss Entrapment Array's advantage was its power, not its complexity. Therefore, Van was able to see the faint flows of spiritual energy that allowed the array to maintain its power. These faint flows of spiritual energy all emitted from one location in the canyon.

[So, there you are!]

The red-haired youth sitting quietly on the canyon floor suddenly displayed a brilliant smile that made one forget about his sweat-damp hair and the dirty state of his robes. His slightly opened eyes glimmered with satisfaction.

[Cordelia, Daphne, just you wait!]

______

It was getting late in the evening and the audience in the coliseum had begun to trickle over to their accommodations. The most important guests were provided complimentary lodgings on the backs of powerful flying beasts that were tethered to the coliseum. This prime arrangement meant that these important guests could continue viewing the events displayed in the mirages in the privacy of their accommodation. Whether they wished to view the event without sleeping, or if they wished to have a brief nap was all up to them. Of course, ordinary audience members could not afford these luxuries. The poorest of them stayed in their seats in the fear that someone would take it from them, they slept in these seats and only left them briefly to go to the toilet with a friend watching their seat for them. Others with a bit more background set up large tents in the grounds just outside of the coliseum. Obviously, they would have servants or friends keep an eye on the situation inside the five battlefields so if anything, exciting happened they could immediately go and take a look.

At this moment, a snoring audience member sleeping with his head thrown over the back of his seat was shaken awake by his next-door neighbor who happened to be his good friend.

"Big news! Big news!" His good friend hissed, "He actually started to move!"

The snoring audience member jolted awake with a loud snort. Seeing his friend, he rubbed his eyes sleepily, "Who, what big news…"

"That red-haired kid! I know you gave up on him after the first day, but I was curious and took a look just then. He moved! I think he's figured out a way to escape the Entrapment Array!"

"How is that possible!?" The audience member was excited to the point his face went red and yet at the same time full of doubt.

"Would someone lie low for three days and suddenly run around like this if they hadn't figured something out? Originally, I thought he was cultivating to pass the time, but what if he actually used these three days to actually solve the array?"

The audience member's mouth dropped open at his friend's words. He wanted to shout that this idea was preposterous but the longer he thought about it, the more reasonable his good friend's words seemed. Maybe the red-haired youth was actually a talented genius in the Dao of Arrays? The Cedar Sect was rich and had deep foundations after all!

The audience member and his good friend turned to look at the mirage up above in silence. In that deep dark canyon, the thin back of a youth was seen dashing quickly forwards. His path was straight and true as if he had long decided where he was going.

______

Madam Sophia was resting on her bed with a small cup of celebratory wine when she suddenly felt the urge to check on the situation in the second battlefield. She took one last sip of the wine before standing up and gliding over to the window of her accommodation, which was on the back of a large gryphon-like creature.

The Elder of the Zephyr Sect glanced over at the giant mirage above. Her eyes narrowed and her mood soured. The sweet taste of the wine suddenly lost its flavor.

She thought he had decided to obediently stay in the Firestorm Abyss Entrapment Array and endure the next few rounds in bitter silence, unable to obtain the treasures in the Underworld Labyrinth.

But now he was running around again, full of energy and without the signs of depression or hopelessness that anyone else would display.

… Had he figured something out?

Madam Sophia considered the situation more carefully but still came to the same conclusion.

It was impossible.

She knew personally how difficult it is to deal with an array like this without reaching Sea Establishment first. He must have reached the end of his patience and was just trying to stir the nest. Despite his calm exterior, he was definitely full of panic inside. After waiting for a few days, he couldn't wait any longer and decided to throw caution to the wind and try anything that might work.

Yes, that would be it.

Madam Sophia took another sip of her wine and found it sweet once more.

At that moment, the red-haired youth suddenly stopped running. Walking calmly over to the side of the canyon, he leaned over and plucked something casually out of the craggy wall.

RUMBLE!

The cup of wine slipped from Madam Sophia's fingers.