Chapter 147: Primordial Energy Transforming into Water

Ling Qinghe, one of the two vice-commanders of the Gale and Cloud Guard of Myriad Wind City, was going to personally take the field and examine the candidates participating in the selection trials!

This...

Who could possibly pass?

If this were truly the case, I'm afraid no one would be able to last a single round under Ling Qinghe's hands.

Except for Luo Tian, everyone present was a favored son of heaven. Even so, facing Ling Qinghe, who possessed a Primordial Spirit Pill, none of them could muster the courage to fight him directly.

The young cultivators exchanged glances with flickering gazes, silently grasping each other's thoughts.

Unless Ling Qinghe was deliberately creating an impossible hurdle, there had to be some profound mystery behind this; otherwise, no one would stand a chance of becoming a Gale and Cloud Guard this time.

"Later, everyone will stand at a distance of one hundred meters away from me."

Seeing that no one was shouting loudly, nor breaking the rules to ask questions, though most of the youths wore expressions of hesitation and doubt, Ling Qinghe felt inwardly satisfied. "I will control my true essence to transform into a current of water, and your task in this assessment will be to use your own true essence and profound intent to break through it. Within the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn, whoever gets closest to me will be the victor of the second round. As for when the time is up, if you haven't even crossed half the distance..."

At this point, Ling Qinghe stopped speaking and merely cast a cold glance at the youths before him.

Did it even need to be said?

If they couldn't even cross half the distance, they might as well just pack up and leave.

"Of course, you don't need to be afraid. I will control its power so that the difficulty is only slightly higher than the second round of previous years. Those with genuine strength have nothing to worry about."

Ling Qinghe cast an imperceptible glance at Luo Tian. A youth with a somewhat formidable physique might achieve this by focusing on a specific cultivation technique, but naturally, his true essence cultivation and profound intent would inevitably fall short.

Just a fifteen-year-old kid, could he possibly defy the heavens?

The comprehension of profound intent could not outstrip the crowd purely by a modicum of talent.

Comprehension was undoubtedly crucial, but without accumulation, it was all for naught. Great achievements stemmed from deep foundations; without consistent and extensive enlightenment, one's profound intent could never progress.

Of course, shortcuts did exist. Possessing the True Phoenix Nirvana Flame made it easy to comprehend the Undying Intent to an introductory level; the Earth-Heart Magma Fire was immensely helpful for those gaining insights into the Scorching Intent; and the Transforming Essence True Gang Fire was even more extraordinary, as the Intent of Annihilation was an exceptionally formidable fire-type profound intent.

Heh, but what kind of thing was this brat? Hailing from the Divine Sun Sect, how could he possibly possess any fire-type true spirit?

Even heroic figures at the level of the commandery prince and the city lord could not procure such a thing; could a mere disciple of the Divine Sun Sect possibly have such good fortune?

This bastard was indeed planning to set a trap for me, wasn't he?

Luo Tian gritted his teeth inwardly, the anger in his heart surging even higher.

Jiang Zihe glanced at Luo Tian, who had just stolen his thunder, and smiled proudly. The time for a genuine, blade-to-blade contest had finally arrived. While releasing true essence outwardly was a method accessible to all Meridian Flow realm cultivators, the sheer power contained within that released true essence depended entirely on an individual's true essence quality and degree of profound intent comprehension.

There was nothing much to say about true essence quality; everyone refined the ambient energy of heaven and earth into fire-type true essence, and no one possessed any unique advantages. But when it came to profound intent, this Luo Tian wasn't even fit to whip his horse to keep up!

Jiang Zihe calculated inwardly, brimming with confidence.

In this stage, he would definitely thoroughly crush Luo Tian's prestige, re-establish his own status and reputation, and let him know what it meant to have heavens beyond the heavens and people beyond people.

Then, he would send him packing in utter despair, leaving him with no heart for cultivation ever again.

Nodding in satisfaction, examples of this were by no means rare. While a cultivator's talent was certainly important, perseverance in cultivation was equally indispensable. If one's thoughts were blocked, it was very likely they would become stuck at a bottleneck, never to recover, eventually fading into the crowd.

Jin Xishan, on the other hand, looked at Luo Tian with a worried expression. As vice-commander, Ling Qinghe's actions were truly vicious—he both vented his personal grievances and weakened the faction of sects within the Gale and Cloud Guard, implicitly increasing the say of the major families in Myriad Wind City. It was utterly detestable.

Jin Xishan held no special fondness for Luo Tian, nor would he do anything foolish like speaking out righteously on his behalf, but no matter what, Luo Tian still represented the power of the sect faction. If it were a normal assessment, he might very well have entered the Gale and Cloud Guard.

Even if he did nothing at all, having such a person around would still benefit the sect faction.

"Follow me!"

Ling Qinghe said indifferently, and then led the group of youths a short distance away to an exceptionally spacious clearing.

Signaling for the youths to halt temporarily, Ling Qinghe walked forward to a specific spot and then spoke, "Now, walk to a position one hundred meters away from me. Shortly, I will release a sliver of power to transform into a water current, and you can simply make your way inward from the perimeter."

Hearing Ling Qinghe's words, the young cultivators stepped forward one after another, finding spots to stand and roughly forming a circle centered around Ling Qinghe, each maintaining a distance of a little over one hundred meters from him.

Seeing that everyone was in position, Ling Qinghe gently waved his hands, which had been clasped behind his back, forward.

As Ling Qinghe's hands danced, blue true essence began to flow slowly from his palms like a gentle trickle of water.

Water true essence?

Luo Tian's eyes narrowed. Once a cultivator reached the Primordial Pill realm, the color of their true essence no longer signified the height of their cultivation level, but rather represented the elemental attribute they cultivated. Since a cultivator possessed only a single physical body, their true essence naturally had to be chosen from a single path of cultivation.

Judging solely by their thickness, these two streams of true essence were inferior even to a little finger. However, the moment they extended to a distance of one hundred meters, they abruptly dissipated, surging outward like a breached floodgate.

White splashes of water, blue rolling waves, and the sound of crashing currents burst forth together, spreading and diffusing in all directions.

For a moment, Luo Tian could even hear a roar in his ears resembling a sudden mountain torrent.

The churning water rapidly formed a cylindrical column under Ling Qinghe's control, standing about two meters high and two hundred meters in diameter, as if an invisible, transparent wall wrapped around the outer perimeter of the water pillar.

Two thin streams of true essence could actually produce such an effect?

Even with Qin Tianyu's memories, knowing that countless powerful figures possessed methods far more wondrous and formidable than the scene before him, the shock of witnessing it with his own eyes still made Luo Tian's heart surge violently.

A Primordial Pill expert!

This was the strength of the Primordial Pill realm!

If even Ling Qinghe's Primordial Spirit Pill was this formidable, once he used the Transforming Essence True Gang Fire as his pill heart and condensed his own True Spirit Pill, what would he achieve?

In a single instant, the urge to grow stronger burned like a fire in Luo Tian's heart, growing ever more intense.

"Inside here, I am only using control, manifestation, and the Intent of Fluctuation, utilizing less than one percent of my true strength. Ordinary Meridian Flow realm cultivators naturally cannot cross ten meters, but you are all outstanding juniors hailing from your respective sects and families. If you want to enter the Gale and Cloud Guard, crossing half the distance is the minimum requirement. If anyone performs exceptionally well, even if they failed the first round, there is still an opportunity here."

Ling Qinghe's cold and stern voice arrived, seeming to pierce through the rushing water and ring directly in everyone's ears.