Chapter 806: Lightning Essence Crystals
Shang Xia not only increased his combat strength during his half a year of seclusion, he even managed to improve his rank five secret art once again. The difficulty he faced when cultivation dropped slightly and he also managed to come up with a proper path for his rank five martial arts from his current state all the way up till it developed into a martial intent.
He felt that everything was going really smoothly, but he didn’t expect Yu Duhe to look for him in a state of panic the moment he emerged.
After hearing that something had happened to the Lightning Bird on the Rocky Cliff Mountain, Shang Xia didn’t waste any time as he rushed over to the Thousand Leaf Mountain Range.
The Rocky Cliff Mountain was where the flock of Mutated Rain Swallows chose to nest and it held special importance to the Tongyou Institution. They didn’t just station several experts to guard the region. There were quite a number of Mutated Rain Swallows who had keepsakes of the institution that allowed them to enter the institution as they wished.
Of the Mutated Rain Swallows that entered and left the institution occasionally, the Lightning Bird was never a part of them.
No one knew what was going on, but the Lightning Bird seemed unwilling to enter the Tongyou City no matter what happened. If it wished to meet Shang Xia, it would wait around outside the city.
Now that it could convey a message to Yu Duhe that it wished to meet Shang Xia, the situation had to be extremely dire.
Yu Duhe lived up to his name as a professional bird tamer. He had been unable to communicate with the flock of Mutated Rain Swallows back then, but after Shang Xia made the introductions back then and brought him over to meet the Lightning Bird so that they could track down Feng Yezi, he was able to establish some sort of connection between them.
By the time Shang Xia arrived close to the Thousand Leaf Mountain Range, the Lightning Bird seemed to have been waiting for some time and it transformed into a streak of light that rushed over to him.
When the man and bird met, lightning flashed across the skies and rained down on the Lightning Bird. Only after some time did Shang Xia ask, “What’s going on? Why do you need to meet me in such a hurry?”
The Lightning Bird released several anxious cries and flapped its wings urgently. It seemed to be saying that it had no choice but to look for Shang Xia.
“... Are you talking about Yan Ni’er and the other birds?” Shang Xia asked.
The flapping became even more violent and the Lightning Bird flew around Shang Xia once.
“Let’s go take a look!” Shang Xia rose into the air and the Lightning Bird led the way as they raced into the depths of the Thousand Leaf Mountain Range.
Shang Xia quickly realized that they weren’t headed for the Rocky Cliff Mountain. The Lightning Bird was flying southwest, and it didn’t take long before they passed the Thousand Leaf Mountain Range. Not too long later, the Taihang Mountains appeared in their sights.
The Lightning Bird was extremely fast and even without using its extermination origins, it was able to fly as quickly as Shang Xia who was flying at full speed. The moment the Lightning Bird activated its extermination origin, it would be covered in lightning as its speed would increase to a frightening level. Even Shang Xia would only be able to eat its dust.
The distance of several thousand miles was crossed by the bird and man pair in a short amount of time. They passed through the skies of the Taihang Mountains before long.
Only then did Shang Xia realize where the Lightning Bird’s destination was.
“Are you bringing me to the place where I fought with Feng Yezi?” Shang Xia asked with a slight sense of shock.
He received a loud and clear cry in response, and the Lightning Bird increased its speed by 30 percent. Shang Xia had to circulate his fate dippers in order to catch up.
“Hm... Other than the ability to create spatial tunnels, I should look for a practical movement art...” A strange thought that he left behind a long time ago surfaced in his mind again.
With his Five Element Dipper Qi, he had the ability to create spatial tunnels through space to arrive at the location he desired. It allowed him to travel safely through the void before arriving accurately at his destination. However, the method of transport was only suited to Shang Xia and it couldn’t be used by others easily.
“In order to create a movement art, I don’t have to focus on the speed and the distance I can travel through the void. After all, everyone before me has been working on something like that... I should just focus on maneuverability and make my movements harder to predict...” Shang Xia thought to himself. He seemed to have reached a conclusion on where to start.
“At the end of the day, there are only 2 uses for a flying art. The first is to travel around while the second is to escape. Different movement arts focused on different things. If one only wanted to escape, they could fly faster than whoever was chasing them, or they could choose a way to hide themselves while moving such that no one would be able to discover them.” Shang Xia thought to himself. He had split his consciousness to do multiple things as he thought about a new movement art while flying after the Lightning Bird.
“Actually, I should think about it from the perspective of my Five Element Yin Yang Origin. It doesn’t only mean that it’s restricted to the elements of my fate dippers. The dao of the Five Elements is vast and it includes everything with the heavens and earth. If I only think about it as the elements of my fate dippers, I would be greatly restricting myself.” Shang Xia seemed to recall the first time he stepped into the battlefield between the two worlds back then. He discovered an undead corpse that could walk through the earth and even though it was a crude method of making an underground hole before moving through it, why couldn’t he think of it as an elementary way of moving through the earth?
A lightbulb lit up in Shang Xia’s mind as he seemed to have obtained some sort of enlightenment.
It was then that the Lightning Bird that was flying in front of him released a high-pitched cry. It interrupted his thought and caused him to raise his head. He noticed a region that was covered in a massive storm. It was clearly the location where he did battle with Feng Yezi.
However, there were many Martial Extermination Realm experts observing the region as they tried to gain inspiration from the energy left behind. Those staying near the outer region of the disturbed region were those who had just entered the Martial Extermination Realm. The stronger they were, the closer they ventured into the central region.
Many of them were experts from the You Continent, or had connections to the institution. Shang Xia discovered several familiar faces among them and he even noticed several experts from the Five Mountains Alliance.
After inspecting all of them with his divine will, Shang Xia’s gaze was quickly attracted to figures darting about the depths of the disturbed space. He quickly noticed that most of them were Mutated Rain Swallows, and there were also several mutated birds of other breeds among them. Whatever it was, all of them were third rank spiritual beasts or above.
Shang Xia also understood what they were there for.
Due to the remnant energy from the battle between himself and Feng Yezi, there was a huge amount of stormy qi left behind. There were traces of dipper qi mixed into it and strange flashes of lightning would appear from time to time.
Those mutated birds that came from everywhere, including the Mutated Rain Swallows, were doing the same thing as cultivators.
What Shang Xia found strange was the fact that even though the battle happened more than half a year ago, the region didn’t seem to be calming down in the slightest. Instead, there were signs of it growing more chaotic.
An exchange between Martial Dipper Realm experts would cause huge disturbances, but no matter what, the heavens and earth would slowly return to its natural state.
From how the chaos was spreading, Shang Xia was becoming more and more interested in what was happening.
Hiding himself, he quickly entered the core region of the disturbed space without alerting anyone. It was where Martial Extermination Realm experts didn’t dare to tread easily, but he saw several rank three Mutated Rain Swallows and a single smaller Lightning Bird flying around.
The moment Shang Xia appeared, the birds were alerted to his aura and they tried to fly away as quickly as possible, the only exception being the little Lightning Bird. It seemed extremely excited as it cried out with joy while circling Shang Xia.
Those birds present consisted of Yan Ni’er’s child, the little Lightning Bird named Yan Lei. It was the mischievous little bird Shang Xia named back then.
As soon as he arrived, he understood why the Lightning Bird called him over. Yan Ni’er and Yan Lei, along with the other Mutated Rain Swallows, had reached the limit of the third rank. They went to the disturbed space in order to borrow the dense stormy qi and lightning qi in the air to condense their extermination origin and advance to the fourth rank!
The advancement process for spiritual beasts was different from cultivators. The moment they failed, there was no second chance. They would definitely die. As the birds required the baptism of lightning when they attempted a breakthrough, not even their bodies would be left if they failed.
The Lightning Bird called Shang Xia over so urgently in order to borrow his strength to help the little birds break through to the fourth rank!
“You really found an incredible helper...” Shang Xia chuckled helplessly. However, he was curious about the breakthrough process and he felt that not only would he be able to lend them a hand, he might also be able to catch a glimpse of their attempt.
Along with several loud cries from the Lightning Bird, the birds that flew away earlier due to Shang Xia’s appearance were called back. They started to fly about the cloud that emitted constant flashes of lightning while absorbing the lightning qi in the air.
What Shang Xia could do was to stabilize the lightning qi in the air around them to ensure they didn’t fail because they lost control of the rampaging lightning qi.
However, he wasn’t omnipotent, and not too long after they started the breakthrough process, one of the Mutated Rain Swallows attracted a powerful lightning bolt as it absorbed too much lightning qi at once. Shang Xia tried his best to rescue the bird, but the lightning qi had already gone amok in its tiny body. The next moment, it exploded into a bloody mess.
The Lightning Bird released a cry of grief as it flapped its wings to fly deeper into the storm.
The next moment, Shang Xia realized something else and he revealed an expression of utter shock.
In just several seconds, the Lightning Bird flew through the multi-colored lightning emitted from the dense storm clouds. Shang Xia noticed a small crystal that was surrounded by tiny lightning bolts in its mouth.
“Is it really a Lightning Essence Crystal?!” Shang Xia gasped in disbelief before tossing the crystal over to Yan Ni’er.
Yan Ni’er swallowed the crystal without hesitation and her body started to glow. A bolt of lightning emerged and flowed along her feathers. It quickly attracted even more lightning qi over from the storm clouds.
Releasing painful cries, Yan Ni’er’s feathers stood on end as though they were about to be blown apart by the lightning inside her body and those outside.
Shang Xia already seemed experienced in controlling the lightning qi around him at that point and he immediately released his Five Element Dipper Qi to absorb the excess lightning qi around her. It prevented Yan Ni’er from attracting the wrath of the lightning after absorbing too much lightning qi like one of the other birds.
Even with his help, webs of lightning surrounded Yan Ni’er in mid air.
Eventually, she seemed to become one with the storm clouds as it started to fluctuate violently around her.
“Lightning Origin! That’s the sign that the condensation of a lightning extermination origin was successful! Yan Ni’er can be said to have entered the ranks of rank four spiritual beasts!” Shang Xia chuckled while looking at Yan Ni’er whose feathers had been blown off by the lightning earlier. She looked like a naked chicken and Shang Xia found it hilarious.
If it was any other bird, they wouldn’t even be able to fly in such a state. However, Yan Ni’er seemed extremely energetic at the moment. Even though she barely had any feathers on her body, she was able to soar through the skies even if she only had half a wing left.
After Yan Ni’er was done, Yan Lei also managed to absorb sufficient lightning qi. He condensed a Lightning Extermination Origin in his body and smoothly entered the fourth rank. He didn’t even borrow the power of a Lightning Essence Crystal to do so.
Throughout the entire process, there were 2 other Mutated Rain Swallows that Yan Ni’er hatched circling down below as they observed the process.
With the exception of the Mutated Rain Swallow who failed the breakthrough and was turned into a mist of blood, there were 3 others that tried to break through. Even though the Lightning Bird brought out 2 more Lightning Essence Crystals from the storm cloud and Shang Xia lent them a helping hand, only 1 other bird could cross the barrier of the fourth rank.
6 birds at the peak of the third rank were brought over by the Lightning Bird to break through, and 3 of them broke through at once! Throwing the Lightning Bird into the mix, 4 rank four spiritual beasts sped around the clouds and released high-pitched cries without holding back. They were expressing their joy, but their actions frightened god knew how many cultivators in the area.
After an hour had passed and the 3 newly ascended rank four birds finally expressed all the joy they felt, they were chased away by the Lightning Bird. They met up with the other Mutated Rain Swallows along the region and flew back towards the Thousand Leaf Mountain Range. Alone, it remained with Shang Xia in the core region of the disturbed space.
As the second Lightning Bird of the flock, Yan Lei wanted to remain after his breakthrough earlier. However, he was smacked around by the Lightning Bird and tumbled through the air. In the end, he could only leave with Yan Ni’er and the other Mutated Rain Swallow that broke through in an ‘obedient’ manner.
After everyone had left, the Lightning Bird stood on Shang Xia’s shoulder again and it tilted its head to the side as it raised its wing slowly to point at the dark clouds before him.
It was also where he found the Lightning Essence Crystals in the first place.
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