Beyond The Primordials

Yin Hui's brows furrowed as he layered his body with spirit energy. In order to fly, one needed to use spiritual qi to create a barrier between the user and the environment. The layer of qi could make whatever was inside it absolutely weightless, which could then be adjusted mentally to produce flight. This was heavily taxing on the mind and required Yin Hui's utmost concentration.

"When you are sure your entire body has been covered in a thin layer of spiritual energy, begin gradually reducing your weight. This is your first time so take it slow." Yu Mingxi said.

Veins popped out of Yin Hui's head from the stress. Gradually, his feet began to rise from the ground. He rose about 10 centimeters before his concentration collapsed and he fell to the ground.

"Maintaining the barrier strains my mind so much." Yin Hui thought to himself.

"Normally, as one progresses through the cultivation realms their capacity for qi increases. Since that is not the case for you, the difficulty is much higher. Each bit of qi you exert from your body needs to be used with absolute efficiency, not a single bit should be wasted." Yu Mingxi lectured.

Yin Hui plopped his back on the soft grass. To fully reach the second aspect, he needed to be able to fly effortlessly for two whole hours. Just now, it already took all he had just to lift a few centimeters off the ground for a second.

"Keep working on it. Look at the river beside you. It flows in a continuous motion without a single wasted movement. Though it may deviate every now and then from a well-placed rock, it simply moves around it and resumes its course. Become like water, adapt until it becomes effortless."

Yin Hui nodded and got back up. He imagined the qi circulating around his body like the river. Flowing freely and continuously without a single wasted effort. His mind relaxed and he began to levitate once more. This time, Yin Hui was now a full three meters above the ground!

"The trick to flight is to make yourself like a river... I understand now!"

Though Yin Hui was ecstatic that he now knew the secret to flight, he was also ashamed. All his achievements, including his recently learned spells were not from his own enlightenment. Every step of the way he required some sort of hint from Yu Mingxi. If she wasn't there to give him advice he probably would've still been fumbling with the Blinding Light spell.

"What is wrong Yin Hui? While it is preferred that you learn flight as quickly as possible, I am not expecting you to master it in the first few hours. You must be thorough in understanding the applications of qi, or else it can cause great consequences in the future."

Yin Hui turned to Yu Mingxi and clasped his hands.

"Not to be rude Lady Yu. I am extremely grateful for your lessons and guidance. However, I feel ashamed that all of my growth has not been through my own comprehension."

As a slave, Yin Hui had to learn much about life on his own. He did not have any formal education and simply learned through observation and intuition. The surrounding slaves taught him the basics of reading and writing, but most of his vocabulary was built from witnessing the interactions between other slaves and the Tang Clan.

Therefore to Yin Hui, the act of having a personal teacher guide him in his training felt very odd. He had always been an independent learner. With knowledge being handed to him without any work on his end, Yin Hui felt like he was just stealing from Yu Mingxi own efforts.

Yu Mingxi understood Yin Hui's meaning and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Yin Hui, there is nothing wrong with having a little guidance from a senior. A senior is one who has been in the same shoes as a junior, but learned to overcome the challenge. Though I have pointed you in the right direction, the act of putting those tips into practicality belongs to you entirely." Yu Mingxi comforted.

Yin Hui nodded and continued to practice.

"She's right, having a teacher does not lower my achievements. Instead, having one allows me to save time and know that my efforts are being put in the right direction. I need to utilize Lady Yu's great experience as much as I still can. If the day comes where she can no longer instruct me, I need to be ready to progress myself."

Initially, Yin Hui would not have mastered flight this quickly. However, seeing the sheer amount of effort he was putting into it, Yu Mingxi gave him a little help. She used her own spirit energy to allow Yin Hui to feel the full effects of flight in its completed state. When Yin Hui experienced what true mastery of flight was really like, his comprehension greatly increased. Yin Hui was naturally a perceptive person and quickly memorized how his body felt during the whole demonstration. With his newfound understanding, the speed of his progression skyrocketed, allowing him to master it within a single week.

As the final week before Tang Bian returned began, Yin Hui was back at the training field. This was potentially his last seven lessons with Yu Mingxi. Yu Zhuwa, who had made immense progress with his cultivation, got bored of cultivating and decided to spectate Yin Hui's lessons.

"Since I'm almost in the Spirit Waking realm, its fitting that I'm here now right Grandma Yu?" Yu Zhuwa said in a playful tone.

"Yes, I did say that what is covered in these lessons is only useful to Spirit Waking cultivators. Since your almost there, I'll allow you to spectate this week's lessons."

Yu Mingxi turned towards Yin Hui.

"Yin Hui! This is the final challenge you must overcome in mastering qi. You must develop your own spiritual sense!"

Yin Hui stood with a confident expression. Spiritual sense was essentially the most useful skill one could learn in the Spirit Waking realm. The ability to extend your vision beyond what your eyes could normally see could be used for many different purposes.

"Now then, the reason why spiritual sense is so difficult to learn is because it is a skill that is half a step into the Spirit Manifestation realm. It is essentially integrating your own soul and will into the qi within your body so that it acts as an extension of yourself. To others, it will feel as if another you was looking directly at them. When used on a weaker cultivator, various characteristics can be revealed such as their cultivation level. However, if a cultivator is of the same strength or stronger, your spiritual sense can actually be severed or destroyed. If this happens, you will be weakened for a short while until your spirit recovers." Yu Mingxi explained.

Developing spiritual sense was already difficult for most cultivators. This was even moreso for Yin Hui. Because of the curse on his soul, incorporating part of his spirit into the qi was going to be extremely difficult.

"Damn it! I can't merge my spirit with the qi! The curse on my soul restricts it from even being near spiritual energy!"

Yu Mingxi sighed. She knew that this would be the most difficult aspect to overcome. Even with all her experience, she had no solution around this particular problem. One needed to be able to integrate a part of their soul into spiritual qi to progress their cultivation. This was especially true in the Spirit Manifestation realm, as this personal qi was the foundation for forming an ethereal spirit.

An entire day passed and Yin Hui had still made zero progress.

"I cannot allow myself to stop here. My goal is to climb to the peak and show the heaven's the mistake they made when they cursed me. In order to do that, I need to make their power mine!" Yin Hui did not give up. If his years of servitude taught him anything it was resolve.

Yu Zhuwa yawned. Watching Yin Hui struggle for an entire day had started to bore him. He looked at Yu Mingxi who had a hopeless look on her face.

"Is there really nothing you can do to help Grandma Yu? You helped him learn flight last time didn't you?"

Yu Mingxi shook her head.

"Spiritual sense is innate to each person, it's not something I can just give. Even if I left a trace of my spirit sense in him only I would be able to use it."

Yu Zhuwa's face grew gloomy.

When Yu Zhuwa's words entered Yin Hui's ears his eyes lit up.

"Yu Zhuwa, that's it!"

Yu Zhuwa had a puzzled expression on his face.

"What do you mean?" Yu Zhuwa asked.

"Cultivators aren't the only one's who can be cursed. If given the right requirements, qi itself can also be cursed and cast out of the heaven's! And that qi is what I'll use to solve this problem!"