Dustfallen Precipice
Cultivators didn’t have much of a concept of time. Before he knew it, Mu Yu already spent two years at Dustfallen Sect and was no longer an ignorant child.
Cultivation was split into realms; each realm consisted of nine layers. The phase at which cultivators ushered qi into their body to refine their body was called Qi Condensation Realm. Learning to sense spiritual qi was Qi Condensation’s First Layer. Once a cultivator’s essence grew stronger, they could reach Ninth Layer. At that point, they could ascend to Foundation Establishment.
A cultivator was only considered a proper cultivator once they reached Foundation Establishment. Once there, they could fly on swords and convert exterior spiritual qi into spiritual energy to wield and imbue their sword with it. In addition, they could transform the invisible spiritual energy into a physical body capable of inflicting severe damage unlike Qi Condensation Realm.
Upon condensing their spiritual energy and delivering it to all nerves and meridians in their at Foundation Establishment’s Ninth Layer, they could attempt to collect all of the energy at their dantian to form a core in order to ascend to Golden Core Realm. Core formation was a challenge for plenty of cultivators. Perhaps the level of control over one’s spiritual energy was too high of a hurdle for many cultivators, leading to them plateauing at Foundation Establishment Realm.
Mu Yu proved Feng Haochen’s judgement correct, ascending to Foundation Establishment within two years. Of course, nobody was envious when he came from an obscure sect and wasn’t the only talented individual. His seniors were all more advanced than him in terms of cultivation realms.
Mu Yu sat on a rock situated under the waterfall bucketing down from the peak of Mount Dustfallen to its foot –the best place on the mountain to practice Dustfallen Mental Cultivation. He practiced calming his mind whilst under the roar of the water.
A stone rippled the water ever so slightly and shot toward Mu Yu’s back. Mu Yu discharged spiritual energy from his back, deflected the stone. A barrage of stones subsequently flew toward him from every direction. He pressed his hands together, deflecting the stones with patterns around him.
“That’s the third time today. Who will you two ever catch with your skills?” Mu Yu opened his eyes. With a grin, he flicked a ray of spiritual energy at the water surface, bouncing a streak of water at a tree next to the waterfall. Kongkong grimaced and hopped off the tree.
“It’s all Miaomiao’s fault. I said to attack together, but, no, she just had to alert you.” Kongkong dusted his hands and leapt onto the water surface. He treaded lightly across the water and then somersaulted, landing clean on the rock next to Mu Yu.
Miaomiao deftly landed on another rock. “Whatever. You were just slow. Have some shame. You’re my bane!”
“Sucks for me, too.” Kongkong sat down and kicked his feet in the water.
Mu Yu wasn’t angry with the twins because he was used to their pranks. It was the norm whenever he practiced Dustfallen Mental Cultivation. They’d fight each other or hurl stones at him to try and distract him. Needless to say, their shifu permitted it. Feng Haochen wasn’t worried about them harming anyone as the cultivator might as well quit if they couldn’t handle that much.
“You two have Dustfallen Stance down pact, huh? I didn’t even notice you within twenty metres.” Mu Yu grinned.
They were finally old enough for trousers, although, without any cultivation, they could only practice Dustfallen Stance.
Kongkong proudly nodded. “My silly sister’s qinggong can’t compare to mine. I was nineteen and a half metres away.”
“Senior Brother Mu Yu, please forgive my shameless brother,” indirectly chided Miaomiao, washing her face and flicking her hair.
“Mu Yu, can you take us on a flight?” asked Kongkong, smiling mischievously.
“Sure. I’ll take you thirty metres up to pluck the moon.”
Mu Yu’s face went red whenever he mentioned heights. Everybody on the mountain was aware of his height phobia. When he first learnt to fly on a sword, he adamantly refused to fly higher than ten metres off the ground. The twins mocked him over it daily. Whenever he flew, they’d cheer sarcastically from below. Luckily for Mu Yu, he wasn’t the type to fall for provocations or be worried about them poking fun at him. Being able to fly thirty metres up without feeling his heart almost burst was a significant improvement for him.
“The mountain is several hundreds of metres high, though! Why don’t you chicken out when you view the scenery below from Dustfallen Precipice?” teased Miaomiao, smirking.
“It’s so high up that I don’t see anything from there. Besides, what’s so scary about the scenery in the distance?”
“By the way, Uncle An said you are going to start training at thirty-five metres above ground level from now. It’s going to be a challenge, isn’t it?” questioned Kongkong.
Mu Yu: Oh, sh…
Mu Yu was able to grasp Dustfallen Swordplay, Dustfallen Stance and Dustfallen Mental Cultivation, but the most basic skill, flying on swords, was still his nightmare. As soon as he returned to the ground, his legs would give in, and he’d pant erratically.
Mu Yu flinched in response to a stone catching him on the head. He looked over to see Xiang Nan sitting on his sword, hovering in the air. He juggled a couple of stones and grinned. “Shameless Senior,” grumbled Mu Yu.
Similar to Miaomiao and Kongkong’s ambushes, everyone had to always be on alert whilst training Dustfallen Mental Cultivation, lest someone came along and tried to throw wrenches in their training.
Xiang Nan: “Calm your mind whilst in the tempest. You lost focus, Mu Yu.”
“Aye, Xiang Nan has more tricks up his sleeves than us now!” Kongkong and Miaomiao gave each other a gleeful high five.
Mu Yu eventually realised Kongkong and Miaomiao were distractions; Xiang Nan was the main force and the brains. Kongkong and Miaomiao undoubtedly invited Xiang Nan into their team after their previous two attempts failed.
Miaomiao griped, “Sadly, we failed to disrupt First Senior Brother after nine tries.”
“I don’t even know why you two try.” Mu Yu shook his head, knowing full well they had no chance when he failed.
“How about all four of us team up? We’ve basically won if we can force First Senior Brother to open his eyes,” suggested Kongkong.
The twins couldn’t even get close to the sect’s third best cultivator, let alone make him open his eyes.
Miaomiao clapped. “That sounds good! He’s training at Dustfallen Precipice. Let’s go turn up the ante.”
Mu Yu agreed to the suggestion.
Kongkong enthused, “Senior Brother Xiang Nan, take us there.”
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