Chapter 4 - The Footwork of the Flying Dragon

Proofread by Nie Qiao

Day in and day out, five days have elapsed quickly. For these five days Yuan Feng has almost never moved an inch away from his room, spending all the time in cultivating.

“My young Childe, this is the last time. Uncle Liang said that these are all the tonics you can get this month. If more is needed, you must ask for permission from the patriarch. Waner cannot fetch them for you anymore.”

In the room, Waner still holds a big tray packed with all types of magical plants. But obviously, whether the quantity or the quality of the magical plants this time has shrunk compared with the previous ones.

“Ha-ha, it doesn’t matter. These are enough for the time being. Waner, thanks a lot for all you’ve done these days. You can leave and have a rest.” Glimpsing the magical plants on the tray, Yuan Feng feels fairly content. In spite of the lower quality and quantity, these are presumably sufficient.

The Yuan family is a big clan with fixed disciplines and rules. Such tonics and magical plants as these are surely not available for anyone without limits. He, as the son of the patriarch, has enjoyed a pretty preferential privilege.

“Hehe, you don’t need to be so courteous to Waner, my childe.” Smiling sweetly at Yuan Feng, she lays down the tray incidentally. “If there is nothing else, I’ll be going. Take a good rest!” She does a shallow curtsy while speaking, and then leaves happily.

Owing to the contacts over the past few days, Waner apparently senses the change of Yuan Feng and gets a better impression of him. The previous Yuan Feng had a lazy disposition and capricious moods. When has he ever been so mature and genial like these days?

“Hu, I’ve eaten so much good foodstuff. I guess I will be able to attain the third level of Ning Yuan Realm next time!”

Looking at the magical plants, Yuan Feng slowly beams with smile.

In the last five days, he would eat like a horse once a day and then relentlessly cultivate.

After the Qi of his body increases, he needs more practice of running skills to be familiar with and master it. Day after day, his Qi multiplies. This speed is proper in that excessive speed will cause danger. It is obvious that if Qi is suddenly elevated too much, yet with a lagged realm of cultivation method, Qi is likely to get out of control, which may lead to the devastation of meridians, and what’s worse, death.

Consequently, even with the sky-swallowing martial spirit, Yuan Feng mustn’t hurry to a goal by one step. “Haste makes waste” is also true for Yuan Feng.[1]

Sitting cross-legged and consuming the magical plants one after another, Yuan Feng directly eats up the whole plate of these plants, then cultivates the Soul-fostering Skill.

The cultivation methods and martial skills are various in this world with some being good and others bad. And the Yuan clan’s Soul-fostering Skill is a cultivation method of yellow layer which is not the top level, but could still be counted rare. All the lineal descendants of the Yuan clan cultivate the Soul-fostering Skill that is divided into nine levels from low to high, respectively corresponding with the nine levels of Ning Yuan Realm just like other skills.

The higher the level of a cultivation method is, the better the result of the cultivation will become. However, it is pitiable that cultivation methods all over the continent are relatively precious and few and far between. Those of yellow layer are extremely difficult to acquire, not to mention the martial skills and cultivation methods beyond yellow one.

Some large sects and schools, with a long history and rich resources, could possibly have senior cultivation methods and martial skills which, however, are not accessible to everyone. It is certainly beyond question that the cultivating speed and fighting capacity of those who cultivate the senior methods and skills are better and more powerful than those of the people who cultivate the junior ones.

Yuan Feng is trapped in the second level of Soul-fostering Skill for a long time. Yet with the gluttony and tireless cultivation in the past five days, he has accumulated and condensed sufficient Qi which is enough to break through the third level of Soul-fostering Skill.

He slowly controls the circulation of Qi in his meridians so that the radiance of Qi can merge into the core of Qi step by step. Now, the Qi in his meridians has been more than a dozen fold than that a few days ago.

It is hard to say when Yuan Feng recites the incantation of the third level of Soul-fostering Skill to himself after a few circulations of Qi. Among the nine levels of Soul-fostering Skill, the higher one is more profound and opaque than the lower one. He has learned the second-level method thoroughly by heart, so the crucial task now is to run the third-level method successfully. If he is able to master the incantations of the third level, he will attain the next one and become a third-level warrior.

“Hum! Clatter!”

An impalpable broken sound comes from the depth of his heart. At the same time, the Qi’s circulation suddenly speeds up, and moreover, wisps of Qi’s radiance appear out of nowhere, expanding the original core of Qi instantaneously.

“Done!”

Yuan Feng has a delighted expression with eyes closed. He has broken though the third level in a breeze.

Based on an elevated level, Yuan Feng can sense that the Qi in his meridians, from quantity to quality, has obviously been enhanced. The third-level Soul-fostering Skill is enough for him to cultivate a lot of martial skills.

“Ha, trapped in the second realm of Ning Yuan Realm for two years, I have made it at length!”

With an improved strength, Yuan Feng is elated, and filled with thousands of sensations. With the help of the sky-swallowing martial spirit, he has made up the gap of over two years in a few days. Such speed of cultivation cannot be measured by usual means.

Of course, the breakthrough of Qi is just one cause of his joy. What makes him happier is the improvement of his talent.

“Hehe, eating so many magical herbs, my meridians have been a dozen fold larger than before. At this moment, my talent for martial arts must surpass all people in the Yuan clan, even in the whole Mukden county.”

The expansion of his meridians speeds up his speed of Qi’s circulation, which is directly related to the learning and use of martial skills. From this perspective, although he hasn’t learnt martial skills yet, he has transcended others a lot in terms of foundation.

“It’s time to select a martial skill.”

Smiling slightly, he jumps out of his bed, directly walking towards the Wuji Pavilion (the name of the pavilion storing martial skill volumes). Compared with the breakthrough of Qi, he aspires to learning martial skills more. Only when he learns the martial skills, can he be regarded as a true warrior.

The Yuan clan’s Wuji Pavilion is located in the depth of the mansion house. As one of the three largest clans in Mukden, the Yuan clan’s Wuji Pavilion is designed in a presentable and grand shape—-square and upright stone pavilion with two guards of the Yuan clan guarding the gate just like straight javelins.

“Third childe!”

When Yuan Feng comes into the pavilion, two guards greet him tepidly. However, Yuan Feng friendly nods his head, directly entering the building.

“Eh? Why does the third childe come to Wuji Pavilion? Does he come to select martial skills?”

“Yeah, one who does not attain the third level of Ning Yuan Realm is not in the position to cultivate martial skills. Did he actually make a breakthrough?”

“Breakthrough? If he made a breakthrough, I’m afraid that everyone could do that. This guy, a slow-witted loafer, how can he make a breakthrough suddenly? I guess he comes to be an on-looker nine times out of ten.”

“What do we care? Let’s stand guard. If we are caught to chat, we must be blamed.”

The two guards have a small talk, and then continue to carefully guard again, upright like javelins.

When Yuan Feng enters Wuji Pavilion, two rows of bookshelves leap into his eyes at first. On the shelves there are not so many books, which add up to twenty or so. However, more than twenty types of martial skills, in such small county like Mukden, can be counted abundant. Yuan Feng catches a glance of the two dozen of martial skills, finding that the relevant types are not few.

“Fufeng Swordsmanship, Kaibei (Stone-cleaving) Palm Attacks, Lingxi Finger, Jingang Fist, Suijin (Gold-smashing) Palm… Tsk, tsk. They are so comprehensive. It seems that many martial skills have been collected through the management of several generations of Yuan clan.”

More than twenty types of martial skills stand at the layer of yellow with none being higher. Nevertheless, this situation meets Yuan Feng’s expectation. If Yuan clan could obtain a set of martial skills beyond the layer of black, the power of the family would probably be upgraded to a new phase.

“The swordsmanship must be grasped, for it is certainly better to fight with weapons against enemies than fight with bare fists. Besides, I can learn one more set of fist position.” On the way, Yuan Feng has set a goal: to learn one set of swordsmanship and another set of fist positions at present. If more, he is afraid that he would bite more than he could digest.

“Fufeng Swordsmanship, Jingang Fist, that’s all.”

The martial skills collected by Yuan clan almost have similar effect and power. The reason that he selects the Fufeng Swordsmanship and Jingang Fist is that he knows his father has cultivated these two martial skills and obtained very high attainments. The fact that his father chose the two skills presumably predicts that the two incantations are relatively better.

Grasping the two books, Yuan Feng means to turn around and go. However, at the moment of when he turns back, at the corner of the bookshelf abruptly leaps a dark red book into his eyes, attracting his attention.

“Eh? The Footwork of The Flying Dragon? What’s this?”

Subconsciously picking up the dark red book, Yuan Feng finds this martial skill called The Footwork of The Flying Dragon is only three pages left, yet others are obviously torn out of the book. This is to say that the incantation is actually a fragmentary writing.

“Eh, this is an unexpected Lightness Skill, but unfortunately just a fragmentary writing. If only it is a complete one. After all, martial skills related to footwork seem very rare.”

Sword, saber, spear and staff, fist, palm and figure skills. None of them are rare. But martial skills of footwork are more far and few between. Unfortunately, this is just a fragmentary incantation, so cultivating it is just a waste of time, reaping no attainments at all.

“Martial skills about footwork are relatively rare, so I might as well take a look at it.”

He has meant to leave, but the appearance of The Footwork of The Flying Dragon kindles his interest. Anyway, it is very rare to come across a martial skill of footwork, and what a shame to miss it!

Thinking of this, he carries the esoteric books of the Fufeng Swordsmanship and Fufeng Fist in his clothes, then casually chooses an open place to sit down, holding the fragmentary record of The Footwork of The Flying Dragon.

Sitting cross-legged，Yuan Feng turns over the cover. All of a sudden, illustrations and annotations jump into his eyes one after another.

“The first level of The Footwork of The Flying Dragon: Light as a Swallow!”

The first page records the cultivation method of first-level of The Footwork of The Flying Dragon. Catching a glance of it, Yuan Feng continues to flip through the book. However, he doesn’t find the method of the second level to the end.

“Eh. Unexpectedly, there is only the writing of the first level, even which is fragmentary. No wonder it is left without anybody caring for it. Without the complete record of the first level, it is worthless to cultivate!”

If the text of the first level were full, it would have a little value of cultivation. But it is a pity that it is a fragmentary account of the first level. Obviously, it cannot be used for cultivation. From this point, the fragmentary chapter of The Footwork of The Flying Dragon could be thrown away.

“Eh, anyway, cultivate it and see.”

Having a sigh, Yuan Fengd directly starts to read the incantation of the first-level of The Footwork of The Flying Dragon without thinking twice.

“The Footwork of The Flying Dragon, as active as a speedy dragon. The person attaining a high level passes a million flowers without any leaf touching his body, like the wind, like the shadow, invisible and intangible!”

“The first level of The Footwork of The Flying Dragon: lightly sink Qi, run it under your feet,

then fly swiftly as a frightened swan goose and lightly as a swallow…”

With illustrations combined with words, the book renders him indulging in it almost in a flash. Having intended to take a casual look, he, however, is too attracted to leave it. His whole being is immersed in an indescribable sense.

Seemingly bewitched, he, without blinking his eyes, reads every picture in this book extremely carefully. The first page, the second page…quickly, he reads to the last page. At this moment, Yuan Feng who is immersed in The Footwork of The Flying Dragon suddenly closes his eyes, sitting there motionlessly.

“Hum!”

Yuan Feng doesn’t know what has happened to him. He just feels his head a little giddy. Then the image of the sky-swallowing martial spirit flashes across his mind, and a blurred figure slowly becomes clearer in his mind.

It is hard to tell the gender of the figure. As soon as it appears, it starts dancing in his brain. The figure is glittering and translucent, interwoven with wisps of flowing silk threads which accompany its dancing to repeatedly move.

Watching the figure dancing, Yuan Feng cannot control his body this time. Subconsciously, he begins to circulate his Qi in the light of the silk thread in the figure, and his body also transforms its position in the Wuji Pavilion according to the footwork of the figure.

All of these seem involuntary. Yuan Feng doesn’t know whether he is conscious at this moment. In the clouding of consciousness, he has an unreal sensation that his whole being seems to be floating. But, the dynamic Qi in his body makes him realize that at present he is literally moving instead of falling into illusions.

In his mind the moving of the figure becomes faster and faster. Within a short time, he has found that the footwork demonstrated by the radiant figure is no longer the first-level one of The Footwork of The Flying Dragon. Immediately, an epiphany abruptly emerges at the bottom of his heart, awakening him with a start.

“The second level of The Footwork of The Flying Dragon: to move as swiftly as gale!”

Suddenly pop-eyed, he is too shocked to say anything at this moment.