The glowing inscriptions on the charms Ming made for the group dulled, their rattles ceasing. Using the host’s Qi as a source of energy, charms tended to be expendable, so they would soon cease to function after serving their purpose.

  “So with this we know multiple Rank 1’s have entered the formation you made?” Shuren gave a look of surprise as he fidgeted with the charm.

  “What’s with that look? I still come from Cloud City’s best formation clan. Linking my charms to a formation to detect intruders is pretty basic, even for me.” Ming tensed his arm as he rested a hand on the hilt of his sword. “What’s more surprising is Elder Spiritweaver’s ability to even know that a group is smuggling Deviant Beasts to other continents.”

  Aerestia patted the hem of her robe as she stood up, the twin Ash Tiger cubs tensing up and preparing to move out. “Sir Ming, can you tell how many intruders there are?”

  “Didn’t I tell you to stop with the ‘sir’?” Ming groaned when she once more refused to drop the honorific. “Either way, seems like it’ll be easy. Only three are around Stage 4 Qidense Realm. There’s half a dozen more below even Stage 3. Honestly, I’m guessing it’s a trap from how weak they seem.”

  “Let’s observe for now, in case the group is hiding their true strength. Since Elder Spiritweaver was able to find out their route, it might be a ploy to drag us out if they noticed they’ve had a leak of intel.” Shuren held the Ruyi Staff against his shoulder, which was vibrating from the constant cycling of his own Qi.

  *My control has continued to improve ever since I stepped into Stage 10 of Qidense Realm a few months ago. Unlike Ming, I can take advantage of the terrain with my fighting style, which would be helpful if we need to deal with multiple powerful fighters.*

  “Their route is going through the canyon at the border of this continent, using the terrain as their shield to avoid detection. So let’s use that to our advantage. If they’re truly at Stage 5 Qidense Realm, an ambush would deal heavy damage, but if there’s Path Foundation in the midst, we’ll have time to retreat and reconsider our options.” Shuren brought out a map, while Ming and Aerestia huddled closer to observe.

  Though Ming was at the beginning of Stage 12 Qidense Realm, and Aerestia on the cusp of Path Foundation, they didn’t come from a powerful clan that focused on martial might, nor did their backing educate them in the art of tactical fights. After dealing with multiple battle missives with Shuren, they opted to listen to his opinion first.

  “Then you two be the scouts. The canyon isn’t that deep, and you both can get there ahead of time. I’ll follow the caravan from a distance, and judge the situation for myself when you’ve made your move. If they’re weak, I’ll naturally take charge, but if they’ve got more up their sleeve, they’ll be too busy chasing you while I’m still hiding behind them.” The sound of metal came as Ming unsheathed his sword, ready for battle.

  “Good plan, but be honest. You just want to be in the fray,” Shuren agreed with a wry smile.

  Ming shrugged, pretending to be insulted. “Nooo, absolutely not. I’m just here to do my job. I’ll know when you’ve acted, so you two go ahead.”

  Aerestia gave a strange expression to Ming before facing Shuren. “Then let’s move out, we’ll go around until we reach the canyon.” Facing her familiar cubs, she said, “Panki, Ponta, follow me.”

  Shuren’s group were originally resting at a river running across the border between Cloud City and the Aegean Continent, but inwards to the east the terrain became rocky. They would need to travel south eastward until the canyon could act as a natural shelter for them.

  Since using the flying nimbus was slow, costly in Qi, and quite noticeable, Shuren and Aerestia alongside her two familiars ran across the other side of the river, making way towards the canyon. At most, they would use the nimbus to help climb to the top of the canyon.

  “Aerestia, you are prepared, right?” Shuren ran, controlling his pace to follow Aerestia. Though she was at a higher stage than Shuren, her Talisbody wasn’t as developed as his own, at around Bronze Grade. Though, that was enough to break through to Path Foundation.

  “I… I understand.” She had a strained gaze as she said. “I won’t hold back. There is no mercy for demonic cultivators, letting them go would only harm innocents.”

  “It’ll be fine, we just need you to cover our backs from a distance. Ming and I will cut them down and dirty our hands.” Shuren felt the hum in his Ruyi Staff as he ran alongside it. He removed it from its strap in case they were somehow ambushed on the way, though it was unlikely. It was better to be attacked with a weapon in hand.

  “You’re wrong about one thing Shuren, it’s not that I won’t fight back when my life is on the line, but… Death must always be a last resort, I must remember that.” Aerestia declared with resolution in her eyes.

  “Death as the last resort…” Shuren thought of her background as a refugee from the Unhallowed Monolith incident. *Though she’s soft spoken, Aerestia has gotten used to the Seven Clouds after a year. Has she ever…*

  Shuren felt it wasn’t right to ask such a question, but the life she led must’ve not been simple.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  How many people could say that death would be their final option? Shuren wasn’t sure if he was one of them, especially on the battlefield.

  It took around an hour to traverse around to reach the canyon in sight. Aerestia’s flying nimbus became a dark grey as her two familiar Ashen Tigers plopped on it. “The canyon has a depth of around 200 metres. What should we do now?”

  “We’ll stay near the entrance so Ming has space to retreat. Help me collect some of the boulders around this part to prepare for our ambush,” Shuren commanded as he stepped on his cloud, also shifting it to a dark colour to help camouflage it.

  It didn’t take long for them to find half a dozen boulders around the size of themselves strewn throughout the land above the canyon. Fortunately, Bronze Talisbody was more than enough for the pair to move these dark grey boulders around, and Shuren could feel that with his Iron Talisbody, he could even crush these boulders with the wave of his staff if he wished.

  Shuren laid on the floor, peeking his head out from the edge of the canyon peak while staring into the distance. Though the caravan was barely more than a blot in the distance, with a bit of focus of Qi around his eyes, he was barely able to notice it. *If they’re also holding back, then they’d definitely be prepared for our ambush. Because of that, Ming should follow us if we fall back.

  When Shuren faced away from the edge of the canyon, he watched as Aerestia licked the tip of her index finger and raised it high in the sky. Raising himself off the floor and patting his robes, he proceeded to ask her the natural question.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Checking the weather?” Aerestia nonchalantly replied as if it were common knowledge. Noticing Shuren’s expression, slightly scrunched as if he were trying to figure out her answer, she elaborated. “Farmers often use this technique to gauge the direction of the wind.” And with a light smile as if hoping for this exact result, she claimed, “It’s going to rain soon.”

  “Interesting, to think farmers had such a method of gauging the weather.” Shuren was genuinely surprised at the novelty, copying the actions of Aerestia. Licking the index finger on his right hand, he also raised it high. “And how do you know the rain will come soon?”

  Aerestia had a sheepish smile when realising the ignorance of Shuren. Though the answer was common sense for her, he was someone that never needed to worry about the weather. “It’s in the clouds. With the direction of the wind, I can also tell which clouds will come towards us, and I’ve been keeping a note of them while coming here.”

  “Ah, I can feel it now. Though, you probably don’t need to lick your finger to tell with the shift of temperature. As cultivators, just slightly focusing the flow of Qi around your finger should have a similar effect,” Shuren flexed his hands at the idea.

  “It’s an old habit.” Aerestia used those words to hide her ignorance after hearing Shuren’s answer.

  “This must be necessary for the method you use in manifesting ice, correct?” Shuren cut to the heart of the matter, gaining an understanding of her methods.

  She nodded, before continuing, “I learnt this back when I first stepped into Qidense Realm. It helps us learn the ways of Spirit Calling, imploring nature to lend us its power, it still has a major weakness.”

  “It takes too much time, so the only way to use it in battle was like that one incident we had, where you work in a group. But through this, you almost display the powers of a Path Foundation, and attune to your own Path through nature.”

  If Silvents had the natural advantage of using their surroundings to manifest these techniques, they could easily figure out which element would be the most suitable for them through trial and error. Meanwhile, others would have to learn basic Qi abilities, such as a simple fireball at the higher stages of Qidense Realm, and continue to use them, in order to understand if they’re suitable for it.

  Though even if there were unique methods in each sect or clan on how to learn the potential of disciples, the Seven Clouds Sect taught each disciple to grasp multiple techniques as a method to improve their mastery of Qi, pushing them closer to breaking through to Path Foundation.

  “I’m going to summon a simple ice wall behind all the boulders, so I can push them at the same time. You make the call when you observe the situation.” She took out a small oaken crown from her pouch, which extended until it formed into a staff.

  When Shuren moved towards the boulders, Aerestia’s familiars shied away from him, moving back towards her instead of lounging where they were. Ignoring their wariness of him, Shuren made sure to line up all the boulders in a straight line, a few metres away from the canyon edge so that it couldn’t be seen from a distance. He couldn’t help but have some pride, with a light smile on his face. “It’s good to see you’ve gotten better at talking and speaking your opinion with a firm attitude. When we first joined the sect together, you would’ve hesitated to even talk like this.”

  “D-don’t tease me, I feel weird remembering that time. I simply took your advice to heart. That was my first time mingling with the other side of Cloud City, and I just wasn’t used to the atmosphere. If you saw me back in my hometown, it wouldn’t have been like that.” With a frown, she firmly held her staff with both hands, and extended her aura to sense the Qi of the atmosphere.

  *We should have around thirty minutes before that caravan comes anywhere near the canyon, but it’s best I keep an eye in case they speed up.*

  Shuren watched patiently at Aerestia’s technique. Her breath had abated, cold air exuding out, and the edge of her hands began to pale. An angular aura formed in front of the boulders, obscuring the view like stained glass. An extremely thin string, almost naked to the eye, extended from the aura as if it fell from the clouds. The mantra of ice was spoken with a resolute stillness.

  “Northern winds, bar my path.”

  Over the next few breaths, the sheen of an ice wall formed, forming into a concave shape around the boulders, spanning a few metres. Slouching after her summoning, Aerestia looked toward Shuren. The twintail cubs near Aerestia began to hiss loudly, shriveling behind her body.

  Her expression was agape as she stared at him with wide eyes.

  Precisely, directly toward the side of his face.

  Shuren didn’t waste time contemplating on her expression, and grit his teeth before moving to back away. Every part of his body was invigorated with the aura of a Stage 10 Qidense Realm cultivator.

  A firm hand clasped on his shoulder, barring him from any movement. An ugly sensation bore into him, as if a nest of snakes drilled into his body.

  “Yo.”