Chapter 384: Chapter 383 Comprehending the True Intent of the Wind
"This would make a perfect place to take refuge."
Looking up, Shi Xiaole began to laugh.
One-line Gorge had many forks and twists and turns, acting like a labyrinth formed by the mountains and rivers. Add in the sparse sunlight and an unevenness of the canyon walls, anyone traveling through it could easily get lost.
Even with Shi Xiaole’s spiritual power, it radiated only about thirty meters around him. For other experts on the Spiritual-Passage Realm level, the distance would only be a little over twenty meters, making it difficult for outsiders to find anyone hiding in the One-line Gorge.
Of course, this only refers to actively searching situations. If the opponent’s aura spreads out, a practitioner on the Spiritual-Passage Realm can detect it, even from hundreds of meters away.
Whoosh!
A sudden whirlwind blew by, creating a towering column of water that exploded, causing the walls of the gorge to tremble as if an earthquake was occurring.
Luckily at this time, Shi Xiaole’s power had recovered, allowing him to stabilize his body timely. The misty water rained down, but was blocked by his Faceless Internal Power an inch from his body.
"The Black Darkness Elder and Kong Datong must still be looking for me. I don’t have to leave in a hurry. Besides, the sporadic gusts of wind here could help me deepen my understanding of the Wind Intent Realm."
The main reason Shi Xiaole came to the One-line Gorge, besides escaping, was the whirlwinds inside the gorge.
The Devil Path essence within him was used up, and his cultivation had reached the ninth level of the Spiritual-Passage Realm. Raising his power more would be increasingly challenging, as the progress of the Faceless Divine Skill was not something accomplished overnight.
As for the Sword Heart Realm, the same applies. To reach higher levels of the Sword Realm, Shi Xiaole felt that his foundation was still far too shallow, and even having high comprehension wouldn’t help.
Therefore, the path laid out before Shi Xiaole was clear - to continue his rapid progress, he would have to work hard on mastering various Intent Realms.
Understanding the Intent Realms and advancing in them greatly boost a martial artist’s strength.
Why are the senior masters so powerful?
It is not mainly because of their internal power. After all, there is a limit to human strength. After training a second-rate high-quality, one’s internal power hardly increases even after decades of training.
The real reason lies in understanding the Intent Realms.
For instance, the Elder Blood Buddha has understood 20% of the Blood True Intent. Only because he underestimated his opponent on that day, Shi Xiaole managed to defeat him, otherwise, it would have been impossible.
Among the senior masters, the Elder Blood Buddha is relatively ordinary, at the same level as Kong Datong, the Lame Elder, and the Black Darkness Elder.
Above them is Yi Wentian, a first-rate master among famous seniors.
Then there’s the Jade Fan Scholar and the two old men with damaged eyes, who are truly deserving of being considered the best of the best. Within the senior masters, they are invincible.
From the battle that day at Mountain Cang, Shi Xiaole clearly saw that the strength of these three was at least thirty percent of True Intent, and they have even surpassed the perfection of Palm Intent, stepping into even higher realms.
To catch up with these people, mastering and increasing True Intent is the only way for Shi Xiaole!
"My Fierce Kill Intent Realm is at ten percent. My Hazardous Intent Realm and Enchanted Moon Intent Realm are both at sixty percent, while my Wind Intent Realm is at seventy-five percent. Presently, Wind Intent is probably the most useful."
The Hazardous Intent Realm is rather abstract, and to tell the truth, it’s just a kind of ordinary Intent Realm. Even if it is mastered, considering the Devil Path seniors as a goal, it may not be of any use.
The Enchanted Moon Intent Realm is indeed a profound realm, but without a suitable occasion, it is too difficult to comprehend.
The Wind Intent Realm is different; not only is it the pinnacle of profound realms, but also there are references available at any time. Once it is quickly upgraded, all of Shi Xiaole’s skills will greatly improve, making it the best choice.
Once again changing his disguise and taking a blue shirt out of his system space to put on, Shi Xiaole returned to his original appearance. He sat cross-legged under the gorge wall, observing the whirlwinds that occasionally blew past.
Boom!
Boom! Boom!
The whirlwinds in the gorge were unpredictable, sometimes strong, sometimes weak. But even the weakest blow could kill hundreds of ordinary people. Amidst the roaring, the terror of nature was displayed.
"Wind, formless and faceless, its origin and destination unknown."
"Wind, adapting effortlessly, becoming one yet assimilating into everything."
"Wind, high or low, large or small, transforms according to its environment."
Shi Xiaole sat alone, observing the changes in the whirlwinds, and a lot of perceptions came to mind.
He gradually reduced the protection of his Faceless Divine Skill, allowing the wind caused by the aftermath of the whirlwind to blow against his body. Feeling the rhythm and breath of the wind, he let the falling water soak every pore of his body.
Shi Xiaole found that wind shares many similarities with water.
When weak, neither are noteworthy. But when strong, they can destroy everything. Neither has a fixed form, perfectly displaying both rigid and flexible characteristics.
Extremely calm but full of potential, Shi Xiaole used Wind God Leg and dove into a passing whirlwind one day. He began to increase the intensity of his experience, trying to fathom the mysteries of the wind amidst its rage.
Again and again, he was thrown around until dizzy, crashing into the rock walls and falling into the lake. Fortunately, his Faceless Divine Skill was pure enough to protect his body. Otherwise, with his approach, his body would have been torn apart after a few attempts.
After countless attempts, a profound comprehension emerged in Shi Xiaole’s mind, gradually sublimating with the wild swings of the whirlwind.
Boom!
He was tossed again, but this time, Shi Xiaole’s body abruptly froze midway. A closer look revealed a faint cyan gust of wind holding him up.
He twirled in the air and landed on a huge boulder on the gorge wall, watching the whirlwind disappear in the distance.
"My Wind Intent Realm has increased from seventy-five percent to ninety percent."
Shi Xiaole had made considerable progress after half a month of grueling training. However, this method could not be replicated nor could anyone else dare or even attempt to try it out.
Firstly, to withstand the impact of a hurricane, one must possess the internal power of an influential expert level, or just a notch below that.
Secondly, whenever Shi Xiaole plunged into the hurricane, he wouldn’t do so blindly. Instead, he precisely released his spiritual power to find the most suitable point.
Thirdly, the Wind God Leg technique and the Wind Intent Realm were highly compatible, which to a certain extent reduced the difficulty for Shi Xiaole to understand it.
Fourthly, and most crucially, was the perception. Without an extraordinary level of understanding, it wouldn’t matter how much time you had - several months, or even years wouldn’t be enough.
With a thought, Shi Xiaole leapt forward. The scenery before his eyes blurred as if through a filter. The precipitous cliffs on both sides seemed to be moving backwards at an extremely high speed, as if they were detaching from their original positions.
Shi Xiaole was pleasantly surprised to find that his speed had increased by a full thirty percent.
It’s worth noting that his original speed was already faster than Kong Datong and others. The only thing he lacked was a rich enough internal power. An additional increase of thirty percent over this base, one can imagine how incredibly fast he had become now.
Speed was just one aspect, the lethality of the Wind God Leg had also increased. With a single kick, large chunks of the precipice caved inwards. The shattered stones turned to dust before they even had a chance to fall.
After understanding ninety percent of the Wind Intent Realm, Shi Xiaole was much more relaxed when facing the hurricane. He could even barely control his body and movements in the hurricane, without being flung out too quickly.
Ninety-one percent.
Ninety-two percent.
Ninety-three percent.
...
Shi Xiaole put all his heart into it, swaying with the wind in the long One-line Gorge. In the end, even he didn’t know where he had ended up.
His understanding of the Wind Intent Realm became more and more profound. On the third month, he finally reached an astonishing state of full comprehension.
At this point, Shi Xiaole made a full leap, his speed now being a full fifty percent faster than before. So fast there was hardly a trace of him left, even the Black Darkness Elder would likely sigh in envy and helplessness upon seeing this speed.
However, at this step, Shi Xiaole finally hit a bottleneck.
To evolve the fully comprehended Wind Intent Realm into Wind True Intent, the difficulty was at least ten times higher than upgrading seventy-five percent of Wind Intent Realm understanding to full comprehension.
Even among profound intents, there were levels of difference.
The Fierce Kill Intent Realm was only one of the stronger types among the profound intents.
While the pure Wind Intent Realm was one of the premium types within profound intents.
Frankly speaking, the power of the first level of Wind True Intent is far more powerful than that of the first level of True Fierce Kill Intent. However, correspondingly, this type of pure intent is more difficult to comprehend.
Even among powerful experts of both righteousness and devilry, only a few have comprehended this type of pure natural intent, and most of them only achieved the first layer.
However, those few are some of the most powerful and unsurpassed masters, apart from the Jade Fan Scholar and the two elders with vision impairment.
Given that he already practices the Wind God Leg, once Shi Xiaole comprehends the Wind True Intent, his strength will certainly undergo earth-shaking changes.
The pity is, after fully comprehending the Wind Intent Realm, Shi Xiaole seemed to run out of inspiration. Sometimes, he would go through an entire day with a blank on his mind, unable to think of anything. Sometimes he had ideas, but they seemed like water without roots, with no practical use.
"Without comprehending the Wind True Intent, there’s not much I can do outside."
Shi Xiaole is a ruthless man.
After fruitless hard training in One-line Gorge, he rashly burst out of the cliff, came to the top of the canyon, and built a thatched hut in a beautifully secluded spot. He then settled down.
He had made up his mind. He would not rest until he had comprehended the Wind True Intent!
With only half a year left until the system task deadline, Shi Xiaole really didn’t have much time left.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Those powerful experts who had spent decades or even a hundred years comprehending the pure true intent, were admired by the martial artists of the eight provinces. He was determined to break this record, completing it in a shortened time of several times, dozens of times, or even hundreds of times!
Miracles are always created by people, and Shi Xiaole absolutely does not set limits for himself.
...
Next to the thatched hut, Shi Xiaole in his green robe was brandishing his sword in the wind.
Over the past two months, he realized that he had fallen into a misconception.
It was not true that the more furious the hurricane, the more inspiration it could provide. The wind itself has no superiority or inferiority, the fierceness of the hurricane, the gentleness of the breeze, all are part of the wind - the key lies in their coordination.
The grass on the ground swayed left and right.
Shi Xiaole’s sword swings seemed to blend into the wind, with no trace as he moved his sword. Even his Sword Qi seemed to converge, dispersing into the world with the wind.
"What am I still missing?"
"These two months, I have not been without accumulation, I just lack an opportunity."
The wind sometimes blew, sometimes not. At one moment, Shi Xiaole stopped.
