Chapter 9: I See Light
Underneath the hazy treeline, water vapor rose from the vast pool.
Spring water battered the pool and splashed up mist.
Within the cloudy mountain mist, a smoky silhouette quickly moved alongside the pool. With a jump, mirages of shifting movements appeared on the clear water like a snake dancing through the air, twisting into a stream of strange figures. This was Su Chen.
From just seeing the quickness of his body’s movement technique, one simply wouldn’t think of him as a blind man. He would be considered as agile as a monkey and quick as a fleeing rabbit.
However after a moment, Gu Qingluo who stood at the side suddenly made a move to disrupt Su Chen, whose true appearance had recently emerged from that exceptional display.
In actuality, Gu Qingluo hadn’t done much. She had only threw a few tiny stones on the ground Su Chen was about to walk on. The stones even displayed a clear sound of having fallen onto the ground.
But at this moment, it was too late for Su Chen to avoid them.
He stepped on the rocks and then twisted his foot. His body had already fallen to the side, and he fell into the pool with a large splash.
Although falling into the water was far better than directly falling onto the ground, the posture of his head first plunge into the water was in no way graceful. What was important was that it was already winter and the water temperature was ice cold. Despite Su Chen’s sturdy body, he still shivered from the chill and flusteredly climbed out of the pool.
Gu Qingluo let out a very long sigh.
“You are a genius, Su Chen.” She threw a red bead at Su Chen. This was a Strict Yang Bead and could dry one’s clothes at great speed. Although it wasn’t of much use, it wasn’t cheap. It was a toy Gu Qingluo had acquired because she came from a great clan. If the entire Su Clan was searched, not a single one of these beads could be found.
Gu Qingluo said, “To be able to so quickly grasp the changes of the Snaking Mist Steps, both your comprehension and talent is outstanding. However, you don’t have the bloodline, and since you can’t see the road, you can only move in accordance to a fixed path. If any obstructions or surprises appeared on this familiar path, then the high speeds of the Snaking Mist Steps would prove to conversely harm you. The opponent wouldn’t even be required to act. You would cause yourself to fall half-dead... Perhaps I shouldn’t have taught you this. It isn’t suitable for you at all.”
With that said, Gu Qingluo was already somewhat regretful.
“I still feel that the Snaking Mist Steps is quite good.” Su Chen rolled the Strict Yang beat around his body, causing his body to release a white mist. The clothes that were soaked through a moment ago had become completely dry. Then he said, “This place is a mountain, the terrain is rugged and paths are complex. With addition to the mist in the air and the slippery hard ground, it is easy to make a mistake here. If it were on a stage, those worries would be unfounded. Although I am lacking the borrowed power and cannot display the Snaking Mist Steps in the mist, its erratic movements are very reliable. Furthermore, my opponent is from the Su Clan. They won’t be familiar with the Snaking Mist Steps. Grasping the direction of my approach won’t be an easy matter. Moreover, they aren’t experts capable of achieving great victory with little effort like you are.”
As was said, Su Chen could only use the Snaking Mist Steps like a stiff machine. He could only advance in a set path and was incapable of adapting to any changes. However, his opponent was also unfamiliar with Snaking Mist Steps. Thus, Su Chen saw that he really had a chance in the fight.
“Even if it is like that, your chances of victory don’t exceed three tenths.” Gu Qingluo sighed.
“You are incorrect. They don’t exceed two-tenths.” Su Chen replied. “Su Qian entered the seventh layer of Body Tempering yesterday.”
Su Chen entered the eighth layer of Body Tempering two months ago. At first, he was originally two layers higher than Su Qian. If he fought him with the speed of the Snaking Mist Steps at that time, the odds of victory would’ve be three-tenths.
Unfortunately, Su Qian entered the seventh layer of Body Tempering yesterday.
Although he advanced much later than Su Chen had, in the end, he had closed the gap before the competition.
As such, Su Chen advantage of rank and thus chance of victory against Su Qian shrank.
Hearing Su Chen’s words, Gu Qingluo blankly stared. “Even if it was like that, you still insist on joining the competition?”
Su Chen faintly smiled, “Even if I didn’t have the Snaking Mist Steps, I would still have joined.”
“But your odds of victory is uncertain...”
“But that isn’t a reason to give up, is it?”
Those words caused Gu Qingluo to fall completely silent.
After a long while, she smiled and said, “Well said. That isn’t a reason to give up at all. Even if you lose, you still want to embrace that defeat with bravery. For your aspirations, this young lady will give you a gift.”
With that said, she suddenly bit her finger and forced a bead of blood out from her fingertips.
This bead of blood was sparkling and transparent, it looked as if she were rolling a pearl at her fingertips.
After she forced out the bead of blood, Gu Qingluo’s complexion clearly worsened a bit. Then she pressed her fingertip against the space between Su Chen’s eyebrows. She then said, “Don’t think of anything. Feel it with your heart. Guide this power throughout your body.”
“This is...” Su Chen was stunned. He felt drop of warm moisture between his eyebrows.
“It is a drop of my blood essence. It possesses the true secrets of the Soaring Snake bloodline. I cannot give you the bloodline, but at least I can let you sense for a moment what a true Soaring Snake is.
Su Chen’s heart slightly trembled.
It was actually blood essence.
The most precious item of a bloodline clan was the source of their power. Gu Qingluo had so casually given him such a drop, just so he could deepen his comprehension of the Snaking Smoke Step’s profound effects.
How could he not feel touched?
“Qingluo, you...”
“Hey, don’t feel so moved, alright? I simply cannot bear to see your clan bully a blind person like scoundrels. You already absorbed the blood essence. Why haven’t you used the Snaking Mist Steps yet? Realize the power of bloodlines.”
Su Chen let out a long breath and put away the Strict Yang Bead. Then, he dashed along the pool once more.
The Snaking Mist Steps was an extremely powerful footwork technique. It is said when this footwork technique was profoundly cultivated, one could soar the skies and walk through air. Even at the first level, it was possible to walk on water. However, to obtain that level, the power of a corresponding bloodline is required.
As for now, Su Chen had only grasped the most basic layer of the Snaking Mist Steps. It increased his speed and evasion capability. The footwork of the Smoking Snake Steps were strange. By fully using it, one’s body became twisted and slippery, possessing a certain evasive power. It also possessed a certain degree of offsetting power1. Although it wasn’t much use in a fight against opponents with weapons and origin energy, it was enough for a comparison of skill between two youths in Body Tempering.
But unfortunately, Su Chen was blind and was doomed to have limited success with Snaking Mist Steps.
Although it was like this, Su Chen still earnestly practiced. His incapability of sight caused him to lack feeling of the outside world and crippled his ability to respond to the unexpected. However, this increased his perception toward body cultivation. He quickly dashed along the pool. As he was running, Su chen was soaking in comprehension of the Snaking Mist Steps.
The power of Gu Qingluo’s drop of blood essence gradually began to show its effect.
As he was running, he gradually felt as if he had actually become a true demonic snake. As he drifted through the air, he drew support from the thin water vapor in the air and continued to perform all sorts of strange variations.
A Soaring Snake!
This was the bloodline source of the Gu Clan.
This was the tremendous power possessed by a demonic snake. Innate skill in controlling water and an expert in movement variations.
Fully using Snaking Mist Steps, he felt the deep existence of the Soaring Snake. Su Chen suddenly comprehended something and a change accordingly appeared occurred from beneath his feet.
“It has finally come.” Gu Qingluo smiled.
At that moment, she sensed a small change occur from Su Chen’s body.
His speed didn’t increase but his figure transformations became even more quick and strange. As he hurried alongside the pool, great amounts of water vapor soaked his jacket. Not to mention that he previously had already fallen in the pool. But now, the water of Su Chen’s body had started to float from his body and formed a thin film of mist covering him.
Thought it seemed unremarkable, Gu Qingluo was startled.
“Congealed water film? He actually formed congealed water film?” After she clearly saw this Gu Qingluo nearly shouted this out.
Congealed Water Film appeared when Snaking Mist Steps was cultivated to a certain level. Its greatest characteristic was that it was able to condense the surrounding water vapor into a thin film that covered his body. This film possessed a certain degree of offsetting power. This was the true origin of the Snaking Mist Steps’ ability to offset power.
Congealed Water Film is the peak at which a non-bloodline cultivator is capable of grasping the Snaking Mist Steps, requiring at least three years of hard work. Even if Gu Qingluo had given him a drop of blood essence, that would only help him in deepening his understanding of the Soaring Snake’s spirit. It definitely wouldn’t have directly raised him to this level. She truly did not expect him to reach this step so quickly.
“He truly is a genius...” Gu Qingluo couldn’t but display sincere admiration.
It was a pity he didn’t have the bloodline. Even if he were a genius, his accomplishments were still limited. Not to mention that he was still blind.
Su Chen was still running. His mind was completely immersed in the sensation of the Snaking Mist Steps.
He felt as if a true Soaring Snake had merged with his body, giving him power. But no matter how hard he workedstrives, he was incapable of progressing further.
Is this the bloodline’s limit without a bloodline?
He could only acquire the idea of the skill, but not its soul. its image imagine but he wasn’t able to acquire its soul.
Even if Gu Qingluo gave another drop of blood essence, it would only allow him to “see”. It wouldn’t allow him to genuinely reach that step.
Despite not knowing that he has already formed a congealed water film, an accomplishment that many only acquired after years of bitter cultivation, he guessed that bloodline was his greatest obstruction from progressing in Snaking Mist Steps.
He sighed in his heart but he was unwilling to give up.
He continued to submerge his mind and unceasingly felt the existence of the Soaring Snake; it felt increasingly deeper and increasingly profound. Suddenly Su Chen heard the explosive roar of the dragon fill his mind.
Roar!
In his consciousness, a huge dragon soared and released astonishingly brilliant raging flames, filling Su Chen’s entire field of vision.
“Ah!” Su Chen loudly shouted as he fell into the pond again. This time, he had fallen underwater, and hadn’t gotten out.
“Su Chen!” Gu Qingluo ran over and quickly entered the water. She grabbed Su Chen and pulled him out.
The spring water drenched her is clothes, revealing an exquisite female body. However, Gu Qingluo was in no mood to care for herself. Grabbing Su Chen’s shoulders, she loudly yelled, “Su Chen! Su Chen, what’s going on?”
Su Chen blankly stared at the sky like a fool.
After a long while, he finally returned to his senses.
His eyes were brimming with tears.
“You...” Gu Qingluo was startled.
Su Chen was actually crying.
He sat up and touched Gu Qingluo’s face.
Gu Qingluo was also confused and allowed him to touch her face.
“Su Chen, what’s going on with you?” Gu Qingluo asked.
Su Chen trembled as he replied, “Light... I can see light... I can see light!”
He was crying tears of joy!
1. Offsetting power or 卸力 Xue Li, is a force that repels and soften blows.
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