Chapter 349: Spirit-Sealing Step |
Liu Xiaolou didn’t even know what to say anymore; Lin Twin Fish had made it way too obvious. There was no way to talk her way out of it or cover for her.
Han Gao snapped, “She just doesn’t want to give me a chance. She’s terrified I’ll steal the spotlight and get the opportunity to enter that ancient cave dwelling. When it comes to me, everything’s forbidden, nothing’s allowed. But the second someone from her faction shows up, suddenly they all get special treatment!”
All Liu Xiaolou could do was try to comfort him carefully. “When we reported things to the Zhanglong Sect, I was there too. At the time, it really was said that my Sanxuan would send four people. Three honored guests, plus me as sect leader. You did arrive a bit late, after all.”
Han Gao shot back, “So what if I was late? I can still pull my weight. What right does Lin Twin Fish have to shut me out? I don’t have any hidden agenda here. At the very least, I’m an assistant guest elder of the Sanxuan Sect. A guest elder is still a guest elder, right?”
Liu Xiaolou nodded again and again. “Right, right, absolutely.”
Han Gao went on, “She’s just full of sect prejudice! Can’t stand to see my Dafeng Mountain doing well. She’s scared shitless I’ll actually get the opportunity. All she cares about is her precious Southern Sea Sword Sect. What a petty, small-minded thinking!”
Liu Xiaolou tried calming him down from a different angle. “In the end, it’s a major battle. Sitting it out isn’t such a bad thing. You have to remember who’s on the other side. It’s the Jinting Sect. The Jinting Sect. They’re huge. I’ve been there before, back in the day. A true major power, unbelievably big. Once the fighting starts, people are very likely to die. Being a substitute is just being a substitute. If you miss out on the ancient cave opportunity, you also miss out on the risk of losing your life. Wouldn’t you say that makes sense, Brother Han?”
What else could Han Gao do? In the end, that was all there was to it.
Han Gao kept grumbling stuff like “I’m done with this!” and “I’m out of here!” over and over, but he never actually budged an inch from Qianzhu Ridge. Finally, after Liu Xiaolou patiently talked him down, he sulked his way back to his room and went back to cultivating his yin-yang techniques.
The bamboo grove stirred as if a wind had swept through. Leaves fell like rain, spinning through the forest.
The disturbance caught Liu Xiaolou’s attention. He leaned against a cluster of green bamboo, watching with fascination as Han Gao’s movements grew more and more ethereal.
Pretty soon the afterimage reappeared, snapping back into Han Gao’s body. He was clearly visible now, yet when he moved, his body wavered and drifted, like a falling leaf.
All of a sudden Han Gao called out, “Sect Leader, please give me some guidance!”
Liu Xiaolou sent the Three-Mystery Sword flying, slashing down at Han Gao’s head.
Just as the blade was about to strike, Han Gao sank with the momentum of the sword, then drifted off to the side, as if he were being pressed down and pushed away by the gust of wind raised by the blade itself.
Liu Xiaolou was intrigued. He summoned his flying sword and started slashing back and forth. Han Gao never once bothered to dodge on purpose; he just floated there like a leaf caught in the breeze. Every time the sword wind rushed at him, it simply pushed him aside, gentle and effortless. No matter how fiercely the Three-Mystery Sword struck, it couldn’t touch him. Not even the edge of his robe.
After a while, Liu Xiaolou withdrew the sword. “Congratulations, Brother Han. Your cultivation has advanced by leaps and bounds.”
Han Gao burst out laughing, coming to a stop with a big grin plastered on his face. “Many thanks to the Sect Leader for your help. Your Wulong Mountain really is a treasure ground. I’ve only been here a few days, and my Spirit-Sealing Step has already reached the third level. I was stuck at the second level for a ten years!”
Liu Xiaolou said, “So this is the third level of the Spirit-Sealing Step. It’s quite different from what I saw yesterday.”
“What do you think of it, Sect Leader?” Han Gao asked with a smile.
Liu Xiaolou thought it over. “Yesterday,” he said, “there were no traces to be found. Today, there are traces, but you still can’t quite catch them.”
Yesterday, he had used a formation disk to try to trap Han Gao. At the time, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t clearly see Han Gao at all, which was why he called it “no traces to be found.”
Tonight, when he tried again, Han Gao was perfectly clear, and his dodging movements were extremely slow, almost painfully obvious. Everything was right there in plain sight. And yet, every time, he was still “blown” aside by the momentum of the Three-Mystery Sword, and the blade could never quite reach him.
But how could a sword’s momentum actually “blow” someone away?
Han Gao explained, “It’s not really the sword’s momentum. It’s the spiritual energy attached to the blade. At this stage, my Spirit-Sealing Step can be described as sensing spiritual energy and avoiding it. If I can cultivate it to the fourth level someday, that’s when it truly becomes sensing spirit and sealing it. Only then would it truly live up to the name Spirit-Sealing Step.”
“You were that impressive yesterday,” Liu Xiaolou asked curiously. “And that was only the second level? What’s it even called?”
Han Gao replied, “What you saw yesterday was the second level, the Seize formula. When real elemental spiritual energy comes at you, you don’t dodge lightly or back away. You take the initiative and go on the offensive. You charge in, slip inside before the energy fully arrives, and seize that tiny gap where the energy is weakest.”
Liu Xiaolou thought back carefully to what he’d seen the day before. The way Han Gaodao moved around the formation disk really did carry that sense of seizing the moment. He nodded slowly, several times. “So that means what I saw earlier was actually the first level?”
Han Gao held nothing back. “The first level is the Sense formula. Once you can perceive spiritual energy, you naturally know how to evade it. This level is a bit less advanced, but even so, it’s far stronger than the movement techniques of most other sects. The reputation of our Han family’s Spirit-Sealing Step mostly comes from this first level. Almost all Han disciples master it. You can only start cultivating the second level after reaching Foundation Establishment. As for the third level, that usually comes in the later stages of Foundation Establishment, and the fourth level isn’t even possible unless you reach the Golden Core realm.”
Liu Xiaolou kept nodding. “No wonder the Han family has enjoyed such prestige reputation, and holding their immortal mountain in Lingnan for centuries without decline. There’s a real reason for it.”
Han Gao smiled. “The Spirit-Sealing Step sounds mysterious, but the way to cultivate it really isn’t that complicated. It all comes down to two words...”
Liu Xiaolou focused right away, holding his breath and listening intently.
“The two words are eat and seal.”
“Eat? Seal? By ‘eat,’ you mean… literally eat, right?”
“Exactly. And I’m sure the sect leader has already guessed what it is,” Han Gao said with a laugh.
“Wait...” Liu Xiaolou was genuinely stunned. “July Fragrant Orchid? You just eat it like that? Brother Han, are you serious?”
“Completely serious,” Han Gao replied. “The secrets of the July Fragrant Orchid are known nowhere else. I’ll have to ask the sect leader to keep this strictly confidential.”
Liu Xiaolou’s eyes went wide. Then he immediately raised his hand and swore: “You can trust me on this. I won’t let a word of it leak out. Absolutely nothing will come from me. If it does, may I be struck by heaven’s thunder!”
Han Gao nodded with a smile. “The July Fragrant Orchid is a specialty of our Dafeng Mountain. You won’t find it anywhere else. If you ever need some in the future, just send me a letter. I’ll have it delivered right away.”
Liu Xiaolou glanced uneasily toward the depths of the bamboo grove. That was where the Sanxuan Sect’s flower garden lay. He made up his mind then and there that he absolutely would not let Guest Elder Han wander in that direction. Turning back, he said, “I never would have guessed. Then many thanks to you.”
He guided Han Gao out of the bamboo grove and back to the house.
“Brother Han, let’s drink by the moonlight.”
“Gladly!”
“This is Bamboo Leaf Green spiritual wine from Tianmu Mountain. Brother Han, have a taste of our Jing-Xiang region’s finest.”
“I’d like to try it,” Han Gao said with a grin. “Let’s see how it compares to the best brews from Lingnan.”
He took out the Bamboo Leaf Green and poured it. The two of them downed a bowl in one go and picked up where they’d left off.
“The other word is seal. There’s really nothing mystical about it. It means ink paste, specifically Purple-Gold Lotus Fragrance Paste... another specialty of our Dafeng Mountain,” he said, and he took out a small box and opened it. Inside was half a box of ink paste, giving off a faint purplish-red glow.
“You eat the July Fragrant Orchid seeds internally, apply the Purple-Gold Lotus Paste on the outside, and then cultivate a section of movement chants. That’s the secret method behind our Han family’s Spirit-Sealing Step from Dafeng Mountain.”
Liu Xiaolou nodded and thought for a moment. “So… what’s your plan here, Brother Han?”
Han Gao waved his hand with a smile. “Sect Leader, you’re overthinking it. What plans could I possibly have? Since I’ve joined the Sanxuan Sect as a guest elder, it’s only right that I give my effort in return. Consider this set of secret chants a gift from me, Han Gao, to you.”