Most weapons people wield have a distinct feeling and were inherently different. From this, when one wields their weapon the Spiritual Qi would take on that feeling and sensation. Even if one was using a club the feeling of one’s Qi would take on a blunt and heavy pressure.
When using the sword, the feeling of a person’s Qi would be fast and sharp, making it known as Sword Qi. Blade Qi was more forceful and straightforward in nature because of the way the weapon was wielded. Only one side of it was used for attacking so a blade wielder had to maneuver their wrist to attack their opponents at each turn. They had no choice but to be forceful and overbearing while attacking, and if they slip up, it could lead to their disadvantage.
Sword wielders were different as both sides of the swords were sharp so they have numerous options of how to attack an opponent. They could be as flexible as they want to be.
These are just some of the things that distinguish each weapon, and when adding Qi usage to the mix it leads to distinct characteristics coming out while battling.
However, what Xi Shen was doing was replicating those characteristics in the Spiritual Qi without actually wielding the weapon itself. This would come as a shock to normal cultivators as Xi Shen had never touched any of these weapons before, but was still able to accomplish this.
A wide-eyed Mu Fan too couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Especially when he saw the Blade Qi being manifested above Xi Shen’s palm.
‘This...just how is he doing that? It isn't exactly impossible to achieve, and it wasn’t like there weren’t people who study the sword and blade as dual weapons. But his ability to grasp the different characteristics of each weapon, and use Spiritual Qi to display them is inhuman. Just what kind of talent and comprehension was needed to understand and carry out such a process? Is this what a Supreme-grade Comprehension is capable of? Unbelievable.’
Among Fang Chen, Fei Yin, Yang Su, and Lihua, Lihua was the only one that was similarly taken aback by Xi Shen's performance.
After Xi Shen went through various weapons, he finally stop and clamp his palm shut allowing the Qi gathered to dissipate back into the air.
To him, it wasn’t really difficult to implant those weapon's characteristics into the Spiritual Qi. It’s just something he could do after studying Chaos Qi which eventually created the myriad Qis in the world. Manipulating these energies was child's play compared to their original source. And as for learning the different characteristics of those weapons, if his massive sea of consciousness wasn’t able to analyze those minute details and replicate them from memory, then it wouldn’t be living up to its abilities.
Xi Shen’s capacity for memorization was high, given that his Soul and Consciousness were almost comparable to a Nascent Soul Realm old monster.
After trying out the Three Thousand Myriad Soul Creation Art… -ahem, damn that’s a long name-… After Xi Shen tried out the Myriad Soul Creation Art, he was pleased. This type of Soul Art could grow with him, unlike most techniques that would eventually be discarded after they had reached the highest potential usage they could.
Finding Soul Arts or martial arts techniques in general that could grow with the user was rare in the cultivation world, even Cultivation Methods were the same.
‘Myriad Soul Creation Art, I’ll be using you in the incoming future. The rest I had chosen before would have to take a back seat, this one suits my ideal way of battle too well. Now, let’s get to the main course, this Soul Art...’
Xi Shen said as he looked at the Seven Carnal Sins Manipulation Soul Art. -I can't shorten that-
After a moment of pause, Xi Shen reached out with his perception.
‘WARNING: This Soul Art is never to be cultivated. It is kept within the Soul Pavilion solely for research purposes only. If any disciples from our Divine Music Academy are caught practicing this Demonic Art then he or she will be harshly punished with the Academy’s highest possible punishment, DEATH.’
That death character was written in blood red, showing the seriousness of the message.
Reading it, Xi Shen frowned a bit, it didn’t explain what the Soul Art was.
The mention of the Divine Music Academy piqued his interest though, he guessed this Soul Art was considered Demonic Arts back then. And although he believed demonic arts were bad, techniques like these depend on how the users use them. It wasn’t like the techniques Demonic Cultivators use that require the pure Yin essence of a hundred female virgins, or the blood sacrifice of newly born babies. Now those techniques were straight up vile and inhuman.
Seeing as there’s no description of it, Xi Shen just chose to memorize the Mantra for it.
He also noted that the Mantra for it was different from other Soul Arts he’d seen before. Usually, the Mantra for casting a Soul Art would require one to recite it out loud or in their head.
But this also requires several hand signs to cast, similar to Divine Abilities and Daoist Magic spells.
That would mean because of its complexity, it requires more than one method of activation.
Xi Shen pondered if he should try it out now, but something was telling him not to do it with people around.
So with that, he decided to try it at a later date.
From this, it looks like he was mistaken about the Heavenly Connection Soul Art being the technique his Head Master was talking about.
Although this Heavenly's Connection Soul Art wasn’t useful to him and his current Faction members now, surely being able to share understandings of a technique with someone was useful.
Maybe he could use this Soul Art as a dividing factor, where he had different squadrons who cultivated the same technique can use it. There would also be a Squadron Leader, five to be precise, Lihua, Fang Chen, Fei Yin, Yang Su, and Mu Fan. He realized all of them cultivated different Qi elements so this plan could be executed.
Well, Yang Su was an anomaly, he was able to link with Lihua but not the others. In the future, if he ended up with all Six Elemental Qi, maybe he could become the head of the group that links with everyone.
‘Well, that might be too much responsibility he can handle so I’ll ruminate on this plan for now. The future has endless possibilities, no need to be confined to one specific goal.’
After all that was finished, Xi Shen thought it was about time to bring his group closer together, as of now all of them aren’t on the same page, knowledge-wise.
“Alright, all Faction members gather up front!” Xi Shen said while pointing at the spot in front of him. “Let’s have an introduction session to better know each other!”
Upon hearing that, everyone was first stunned, but still followed his words and all sat down in a semi-circle in front of him.
Xi Shen looked up in the tree they were under and said to Mu Fan, “You too Mu Fan, line up.”
Mu Fan threw away the bone of the other drum stick he had, and while licking his fingers clean he leaped down off the tree branch to sit at the far right end of the semi-circle.
“Now what’s all this about an introduction session? Your weird kid.”
Mu Fan said while licking his lips, which were completely covered in grease.
“This is a necessary process to build cohesion in a group. Now Lihua…” Xi Shen pointed at Lihua who was at the left end of the semi-circle and continue to say, “Introduce yourself, like your age, talent and tell what your life goal is.”
Hearing this, Lihua hesitated a bit. She found what Xi Shen doing to be quite weird as well, but from a different perspective, she guessed these are things that would build a stronger bond between them.
‘Is that what he’s going for?’
After a moment of pause, Lihua open her mouth to speak, but Mu Fan suddenly interjected and said, “Lihua? Your name is Lihua? Why did your parents give you a girl’s name?”
Mu Fan then laughed out loud.
It was then Xi Shen realized Lihua was still wearing her masked, and Mu Fan didn't know her identity. Which was all the more reason for this session.
Lihua shot Mu Fan a nasty glare before she said, “That’s because I am a girl you fool.”
“Huh?”
Mu Fan's laughter suddenly got stuck in his throat, and he looked at Lihua with a confused expression, obviously being dumbstruck by her words.
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