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Chapter 06: Admiring the Moon while Capturing Monsters
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On a Thursday in October, exactly on August 15th of the lunar calendar was this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival. On this day, of course it was a school holiday, but Ye Weishan and everyone half-jokingly made plans to go out together to admire the moon while capturing monsters.
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Actually, on every 15th of the lunar calendar month, when the moon is full, at certain specific locations, in accordance to some sort of condition, there’d be a chance of monsters appearing. In the past it was about a 20% chance, but recently, the possibility of an appearance increased substantially, so it became a regular monthly activity for the Martial Dao School members.
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But this 15th landed right on the Mid-Autumn Festival which was a day for many people to celebrate at home with their families. Not to mention the fact that Chen Luonian and the others haven’t formally joined yet, nor had they gone through Bian Ti, so even if they went they’d only be able to watch. That’s why, though Ye Weishan wished for everyone to participate, she didn’t strongly push this matter.
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Even though there was no one at home so Chen Luonian didn’t have to celebrate any Mid-Autumn Festival, he still didn’t particularly want to go. It was only because of an unspeakable reason that he had no choice but to go; As for the other three, Hou Tianliang and Zhang Zhiwen both expressed that their families already had plans so they couldn’t participate. Unexpectedly, it was the well-behaved child, Huang Zongru who quickly agreed. So Ye Weishan told Chen and Huang to wear sports clothing and climbing shoes and to meet at five that afternoon in front of Xindian station.
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Chen Luonian hadn’t been to Xindian much and wasn’t that familiar with the roads, so he made sure to head out a bit early. When he arrived at the station entrance, it was only about four.
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Standing in front of Xindian station, Chen Luonian sifted through the crowd, looking to see if there were any beauties worth appreciating while swinging his right hand out of habit, only to remember that he didn’t need to practice today and couldn’t stop himself from giving a bitter laugh.
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In these eight days, the dagger moves were increased from two to seven, of those they were separated into the upwards slash, slanted slash, inclined slash, reverse slash when holding it upright and the downwards slash, straight slash, and horizontal slash when holding the handle in reverse, these seven forms. As for which forms to use in which situations, Lai Yixin didn’t go into details. He just requested that Chen Luonian practice each move five hundred times each day. According to what he said, after getting used to it the speed will naturally increase, when that happens he can raise the number of swings for each move until it became fast and accurate.
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After learning the seven moves, Chen Luonian had to spend four hours each day afterschool slashing and swinging. As for that “increase time” ability, not only was it useless, it gradually made Chen Luonian feel like it was even a bit of a burden.
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This ability, as soon as his level of concentration increased a little, would automatically kick, and it wasn’t like he could adjust the speed to twice or three times as slow. By his estimation, the amount that this ability stretched the length of time once activated was actually quite a lot. And when concentration increases, it could increase even more, but the more it increases the more mental fatigue is felt, so it was very unsuitable for practical use.
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And, just as Huai Zhen said, his actual speed didn’t increase. When the flow of time slowed, it was just more time to daze out. At best, during baseball, ping pong ball and other types of sports it makes it easier to hit, but without without skill, where the ball goes after it’s hit still can’t be controlled.
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Not to mention in this kind of situation, everyone’s speaking voices become extremely grotesque and hard to understand. Even though it can be recognized with effort, it was very strenuous.
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That said, where the heck did Huai Zhen go? Last time she came to look for him after just seven days, this time it’s already been nine days. Isn’t there too much of his Hun Dun Yuan Qi? During recent evenings——when it was the time that Yuan Qi tended to disperse, he was always in the basement practicing the dagger. Even if it was safer because Lai and Ye were also there, but it still made him feel unsettled.
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And this was also the reason that though Chen Luonian didn’t want to go, he had no other choice, because if a monster shows up next to him this evening, that would be troublesome.
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“Luonian.” Huang Zongru’s voice came from the side. Chen Luonian turned and saw him smiling a bit shyly: “The others……haven’t arrive yet?”
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“En, still haven’t seen them.” Chen Luonian also felt a bit awkward. This past week, even though they were together afterschool to practice, but Chen Luonian wasn’t the type to actively start a conversation and Huang Zongru rarely spoke, so the two pretty much had never talked before and were in reality still practically strangers.
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The two stood side by side in silence for a while. Huang Zongru thought for a moment, before suddenly saying: “Yesterday you said that you didn’t have anyone at home.”
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“En?” Chen Luonian was slightly dumbfounded, when he recovered, he said: “Yeah, my uncle is rarely home.”
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“Then……” Huang Zongru swallowed: “Your sister?”
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No way, right? Going around this curve was to ask about Huai Zhen? Chen Luonian didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry as he replied: “She doesn’t live with me.”
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“Oh.” Huang Zongru dazed out for a while, his face had a bit of blush as he said: “I didn’t have any other meaning.”
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“En.” Chen Luonian didn’t know how he should reply, so just casually responded with a sound.
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A while later, Huang Zongru asked another question: “Is your sister studying abroad?”
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How strange, exactly what kind of fairy is Huai Zhen, why would they be captivated by her with just one look? Perhaps she’s a fox-spirit1 type thing? That’s right, this is possible, since the first time seeing her, that giant creature looked both like a wolf and a dog, if you say it was a fox it’s also pretty similar. Oh yeah, can’t call her a fox-spirit, have to call her a fox-fairy…… Chen Luonian thought as he spoke: “Actually, I’m not too sure what she’s doing either.”
(1) Fox spirits, in Chinese culture, has the characteristics of being sly, manipulative and seductive. The term can also be used derogatively. Other english equivalents could be vixen, witch, and enchantress.
“How come?” Huang Zongru asked, surprised.
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“Because she doesn’t want to say, and I also don’t want to ask.” Chen Luonian didn’t want to continue talking about Huai Zhen, so he said, offhandedly: “That’s right, Zongru, why did you decide to join this monster subjugator group? Aren’t you scared?”
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Huang Zongru was slightly stunned, lowered his head to think, then said, a bit embarassed: “I do get scared.”
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Chen Luonian let out an ‘oh’.
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The two were silent for another while, before Huang Zongru abruptly started to speak slowly: “I don’t have a lot of guts. But if I prepare mentally and make certain of the outcome, then I won’t be cowardly…… This group can help me become stronger. As long as I’m strong, I don’t have to be afraid, so when I practice I’m always really serious. As long as I’m strong enough, then it’d be ok.”
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It was the first time hearing Huang Zongru speak this much, Chen Luonian thought for a moment, then said: “Some parts are pretty similar to me.”
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“Really?” Huang Zongru didn’t really expect that.
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“About being certain of the outcome, I’m also used to hiding a bit farther away.” Chen Luonian said: “The difference is——even if I’m sure of the outcome, if it’s really troublesome, I’d still stay away from it.”
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“But you saved me before……” Huang Zongru was surprised and looked at Chen Luonian as he said: “I often think, if one day I could be as brave as you…… to not be scared even if I can’t win, how great would that be.”
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“That’s a misunderstanding.” Chen Luonian shook his head: “Sometimes I’d…… lose rationality. It’s not what I decided to do, so it’s not bravery.”
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“This is called…… a double personality?” Huang Zongru was shocked and looked Chen Luonian up and down.
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How did he come to that conclusion? Chen Luonian waved his hand: “It’s only losing rationality.”
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“Really?” Huang Zongru said flabbergasted: “You’re not…… tricking me, right?”
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“What would I trick you for?” They was nothing to do anyways, so might as well chat for a while. Chen Luonian said: “For example, during the junior high graduation trip…… One afternoon, we had freetime next to the creek so a lot of people ran to the creek to play…… I was also nearby. That time, in front, a girl suddenly slipped, and fell into the water, flailing , so I immediately jumped in to save her.”
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“Ah.” Huang Zongru said: “That’s really brave.”
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“But after getting up, my watch was broken, all my clothes, shoes, paper money, and ID were all soaked.” Chen Luonian said unhappily: “More importantly——the water there only reached her waist, if she just stood up she would have been fine.”
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“Eh……” Huang Zongru didn’t know what to say.
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“Anyways, if I could just stay a bit calmer it would be better. If I was two seconds slower, at least I could’ve taken off my backpack and watch. If I thought for five seconds, perhaps she would already have stood up, no, God, if I just thought for five seconds I wouldn’t have gone at all!” Chen Luonian knocked his own head: “It wasn’t until I pulled her ashore and snapped out of it that I realized, next to the creek there were like ten people, but I was the only one that went into the water. At that moment I felt like I was an total idiot. I’ve always wanted to change this shortcoming, but I couldn’t change it.”
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“Oh……” Huang Zongru thought about it, then said: “I feel like it isn’t necessary to change it though.”
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“That’s because you’ve only heard this case, there’s ones even more tragic.” Chen Luonian rolled up his sleeves and glared: “Last year there was a time when my uncle took me to his friend’s party to play. When I went to the bathroom, my god, I suddenly heard a desperate shriek from the room next door. My mind went blank and I immediately rushed in……”
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“And then?” Huang Zongru hurriedly prodded.
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“Urgh, don’t ask……” Chen Luonian mumbled to himself: “That time I should have knocked first.”
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“What exactly was it?” Huang Zongru became really curious.
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“Two buttnaked people were tangled together!” Chen Luonian got angry just remembering it, and said extremely angrily: “Who would’ve known that wasn’t a miserable shriek? ……goddammit, why didn’t they lock the door!”
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“So they really do cry out like that? Mosquito told me in all the A films they were just fake screaming.” Huang Zongru’s expression showed strong surprise.
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“Are the screams fake? I don’t know.” Chen Luonian hadn’t experienced it either, so he said, astonished.
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“What screams are fake?” From behind them suddenly came Ye Weishan’s sweet-sounding voice.
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The two were seriously surprised, Huang Zongru almost literally jumped. Chen Luonian hurriedly said: “Nothing!”
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Huang Zongru also followed as his face turned red: “Nothing, nothing.”
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Ye Weishan looked at the two for a moment but didn’t pursue the topic. Turning back she asked Lai Yixin: “Should we take a taxi?”
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“I’ll go call one.” Lai Yixin faintly smiled as he walked out and flagged down a taxi. The four got in and it started heading towards the mountain area.
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The car proceeded along a small precipitous road in the mountain woods for a while before stopping. Everyone paid the cab fare, then started walking forward, following the uneven woods path. While walking, Ye Weishan said: “It’s inconvenient for us as minors to use vehicles so Zong Zhang arranged for us to take the closest area. In the past Yixin and I went to a place pretty far away to catch monsters and the round trips used up a lot of time.”
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“The monsters that appear on a full moon are stronger than all the ones you’ve seen before.” Lai Yixin spoke seriously: “You guys are only here to observe and didn’t bring weapons, so don’t come too close, it’s dangerous!”
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“En, but a stronger monster means the amount of Yao Zhi that can be extracted is also greater.” Ye Weishan looked at Lai Yixin: “Adding in the amount Qiya and Malian gave us, the amount we’ve accumulated…… it’s about enough for three people now, right?”
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“Right! If today’s monster is rather strong, after subjugating it, these four will be able to go through Bian Ti now.” Lai Yixin smiled.
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“But if it’s too strong it’s actually hard to extract the Yao Zhi.” Ye Weishan shook her head: “And it’s not likely that it’ll appear this early.”
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Ye and Lai chatted as they casually strolled behind them, but Huang Zongru was breathing heavily like an ox, drenched in sweat. Chen Luonian was also dripping with sweat, and before long, both of them didn’t have the strength to even open their mouths.
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As they walked, Chen Luonian who was at the very front staggered to a stop.
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Huang Zongru who was originally following Chen Luonian’s heels looked up as well upon seeing this and also received a shock.
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Packed not far ahead of them were two large military trucks. Inside, about 10 or so soldiers were sitting holding semi-automatic rifles. The two sides met eyes, both felt surprised, and the soldiers looked at the four with astonishment. Chen Luonian didn’t know if he should continue to walk forward.
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“Eh?” Ye Weishan passed through the two, walked forward and asked: “Are you waiting for us?”
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“Is it group leader Ye?” The door of the vehicle in front opened and a youth wearing a military uniform spoke as he got out: “Do you have your papers with you?”
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Ye Weishan took out a document from her slanted backpack, handed it over and asked: “What’s going on?”
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After looking at it, the youth respectfully handed the papers back as he said: “The higher ups gave instructions. They said that group leader Ye would be bringing newbies this time, and had us give you a ride on the way.”
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Ye Weishan said: “May I ask, you are……”
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“My surname is Wu, rank is first lieutenant.” Lieutenant Wu said: “You four can split up and sit in the front seats of the two trucks……”
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“No need to be so polite, it’s fine if the four of us just squeeze into the back of a truck.” Lai Yixin interrupted with a smile.
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“Really?” Lieutenant Wu wasn’t reluctant about that offer either and after arranging it, allowed the four to sit at the end of the first truck with ten or so soldier boys. These soldiers seemed around twenty years old. They didn’t seem to know what they were doing here this time either. Perhaps it’s because they had received a military command, since though several people curiously seized up the four, no one opened their mouth to speak.
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Chen Luonian and Huang Zongru were both a bit baffled, but after a quick look, felt like this wasn’t the time to ask questions, so they also closed their mouths without a sound.
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The car moved along for another period of time, eyes watched as the surrounding sky gradually turned dark. The car behind them already turned on their yellow headlights. As everyone swayed along due to the conditions of the road, a soldier suddenly gave a strange shout. Everyone’s line of sight shot to the same place, only to see him, with an expression of fear, extend a finger to fish out some unknown thing from his own nose.
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“What are you doing?” Another soldier sitting next to him frowned as he spoke in a low voice: “Be careful, otherwise you’ll be put in detention when we head back.”
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That soldier didn’t stop his movements. Without warning, his hand quickly flinged outwards, a trail of dim greenish light followed his finger, drawn out from his nostrils, and it was still becoming longer and gradually thicker. The man continuously shook his arm as he shouted in alarm, seeming utterly flustered.
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“Don’t move.” Ye Weishan had already reached inside her sleeve, taking out that round narrow dagger. She pointed towards that greenish light and softly shouted: “Dart!”
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Chen Luonian could only feel that a portion of energy suddenly concentrated in Ye Weishan’s dagger, shortly after, a sharp beam of qi xi that was formed on the blade tip shot out, hitting the precise area where the light and the soldier’s finger was connected.
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The light area released a strange noise as it was struck flying by that energy. With a ‘thump’ it hit the mental front wall of the truck. In the same moment, Lai Yixin who had taken out a silver spear earlier and was waiting on standby, with one thrust, the silver spear passed through the crowd that didn’t even have the chance to panic yet and pinned that light to the truck wall. All that could be seen was the light area trembled for a little while, then gradually shrunk. Following that, even the light rays disappeared.
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“What happened?” The window connecting the front and the back opened and Lieutenant Wu questioned, flabbergasted.
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“We captured a small one.” Lai Yixin said with a smile: “Nothing much.”
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“Captured?” Lieutenant Wu responded, taken aback: “Is the mission completed?”
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“No, this was just a lucky appearance.” At this time Ye Weishan had already approached with a handkerchief, as she spoke she picked up that strange thing: “The mission hasn’t started yet.”
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Lieutenant Wu’s facial color changed, he thought for a bit but didn’t continue questioning.
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Ye and Lai didn’t pay attention to the astonished looks on the faces of the surrounding soldiers and returned to their seats in the back. Lai Yixin said happily as he packed away that monster corpse: “So lucky, it appeared right here so we were able to catch it before it even became big, so much easier.”
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Ye Weishan also slightly nodded as she glanced at Chen Luonian, then lowered her head to contemplate.
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As a matter of fact, just then was dusk and Chen Luonian’s Hun Dun Yuan Xi, like always, suddenly went out of control and dispersed outwards. The moment just before he recollected it, that thing appeared. Chen Luonian was very unsettled and couldn’t help worrying inside. Problems have finally started occurring, if Huai Zhen doesn’t come to suck some away, starting tomorrow, won’t monsters start jumping out every night at dusk?
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The truck shook for a while longer before it stopped. Lai Yixin led the way and everyone jumped off the truck. Chen Luonian looked around, only to see that the forest path continued to extend upwards, on the left side was a downwards sloping steep cliff, in front to the right was a rather wide space. This open space looks like it once had a building, traces of the past building could be seen on the ground, but other than that, all the other parts had already disappeared.
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And looking into the horizon, the vacant mountain was quiet, an atmosphere of calm. Besides the forest there was only more forest, there was no distinguishing mark of any sort at all.
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Those thirty or so soldiers were currently grabbing their weapons and getting off the truck in succession. Two people carried a cheval de frise2 and walked towards the road heading down the mountain, there were even some people that carried down several chests then took out some tube-shaped things and started assembling them.
(2) a type of barrier
Is it close to here? Why leave the truck on the road, why not just park it in that empty space? Chen Luonian was a bit puzzled, and examined the empty space a few more times. He suddenly started a little, that piece of open space about thirty meters wide seemed to have a queer atmosphere around it.
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Was it just his imagination? Chen Luonian squinted his eyes and looked around, but couldn’t see anything that might explain it. He just felt that inside the center indented area of the open space there seemed to be something that was slowly spiraling around and condensing…… En, that came from the surroundings, but the origin was certainly a bit like a mist of nothingness that was hard to examine.
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“Did you feel something?” Ye Weishan suddenly opened her mouth and spoke.
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Chen Luonian hesitated but was about to nod when Lai Yixin interrupted, smiling: “They shouldn’t be able to feel it yet, right?”
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Shouldn’t be able to feel it? My God, he was almost exposed, good thing Lai Yixin interrupted. Chen Luonian glanced at Ye Weishan, not able to tell if she had asked on purpose or not.
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“En…… you guys haven’t gone through Bian Ti yet, you shouldn’t be able to feel the strangeness.” Ye Weishan’s expression did not change as she pointed at the surrounding mountain features and elaborated: “This area is surrounded by the mountains, with exactly two peaks, the ley lines crossing left and right, this is a place where multiple qis collect3. In the past someone built a house here…… But not long after, because of monsters appearing they destroyed the house.”
(3) Not sure if it’s the case in this book but according to a dictionary there’s 6 types. Simplified there’s daybreak, noon, sunset, midnight, heaven, and earth type ‘qi’. Btw, the ‘qi’ used in this case is 氣, which is the ‘breathing’ ‘air’ type rather than the ’emptiness’ ‘fire’ type.
So it was this place. Chen Luonian closely looked at it, but still didn’t understand why multiple qis would collect here, perhaps it has something to do with the feng shui philosophy?
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Ye Weishan continued: “When the news spreaded to the Sect, naturally we knew this was to so-called monster gathering place. Most of the time it’s fine, but every 15th of the lunar calendar, the moonlight and the earth qi, their qi xis mix, condensing into Dao xi, so there’ll be a chance of monsters appearing. If you add on the control of Dao techniques, the odds are even greater. Lately these months, I heard that it’s certain for one to appear every month, and it’s not just a simple small monster either……”
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Explaining to here, Ye Weishan noticed the dazed expressions on Chen Luonian and Huang Zongru’s faces. She paused for a moment, then switched to another way of explaining: “To put it simply, the terrain of this place can collect a portion of energy. During the full moon, that energy has a possibility of increasing in strength, enabling monsters to appear.”
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This way was easier to understand, Chen Luonian and Huang Zongru nodded their heads distractedly, inevitably taking several more looks at that place.
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“The position of the moonlight is different everytime, the estimated time for monsters to appear this time is around seven.” Ye Weishan paused for a minute: “Because we didn’t expect that there would be a ride, we’ve arrived a little early.”
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Chen Luonian looked at the time, right now it wasn’t much after six, looks like they’ll have to wait for a while.
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“Later you two go stand with those soldiers, don’t stay too close.” Lai Yixin who was holding his silver spear said: “We don’t know how strong of one will appear.”
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“If it was like earlier and you could kill it right after it appeared it should easier to deal with, right?” Chen Luonian asked.
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“It’s different.” Lai Yixin replied: “The monsters that appear in this kind of place usually aren’t the type that grows larger in size.”
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“Stand next to me.” Ye Weishan said: “I won’t get too close either.”
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“En.” Lai Yixin said to Ye Weishan with a smile: “You be careful too.”
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When Ye Weishan’s gaze turned towards Lai Yixin, her expression naturally became a bit more gentle, she paused for a moment before smiling and replying softly: “Got it.”
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In short, staying a bit further away is safer. Chen Luonian turned his head to look at those soldiers, they seemed to also have finished preparations and were stationed at the two entrances to the space holding guns. Also placed beside some people were bazooka-like things.
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◇◇◇◇
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Another twenty or so minutes had passed when suddenly, sounds of a disturbance came from the mountain road downwards. Everyone looked over to see two thirty or so years-old youth, wearing white collarless shirts and black robes, shove away the soldiers next to the cheval de frise. They started walking towards this direction, but this place wasn’t a battlefield afterall, although those soldiers picked up their guns, they apparently didn’t know how to deal with this.
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“What are you doing? Halt!” Lieutenant Wu walked up to say: “Troops are having a practice exercise here, people with no fixed duties……”
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“We’re not people with no fixed duties, are you this time’s platoon leader?” The leading man, with strong eyebrows, deep eyes, and a mouth that slightly turned downwards at the corners, took out a document and handed it over to Lieutenant Wu.
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“Eh?” Lieutenant Wu looked over and asked, shocked: “You guys are also? Then them……”
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“So it’s none of your business.” The man pushed aside Lieutenant Wu, turned his gaze towards Lai Yixin and said: “You guys are from Bai Sect?”
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Lai Yixin, in a rare moment, put away his smiling expression and nodded: “That’s right, I’m Lai Yixin from Bai Sect, may I ask you two are……?”
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“Li Sect, my surname’s Zhou, his is Guo.” Strong eyebrows man glanced over the four, slightly frowned as he said: “They’re all kids. You guys can go now.”
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“I don’t understand.” Lai Yixin widened his eyes and said: “This place was assigned for us to take care of.”
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“That’s because the two of us originally had something to deal with so we were busy, but now we have time again.” The man named Zhou said: “And this place has always belonged to our Li Sect, right? You get it now?”
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“This time, this place was handed over for us to handle, it was agreed on by your Sect Leader.” Ye Weishan calmly butted in.
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“Let’s not argue this.” Surname Zhou guy knitted his brows and said: “Kids should head home early, leave this to us.”
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Ye Weishan’s expression slightly changed and was planning to continue to argue, but Lai Yixin stole the gun and said: “Got it.”
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“Yixin?” Ye Weishan slightly started.
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“It’s fine.” Lai Yixin shook his head, turned around to face Ye Weishan and smiled: “We’re all part of the same school, it’s best not to damage the friendly relationships.”
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Ye Weishan’s brows slightly pursed, seemed quite unwilling to accept it, but she also didn’t want to dispute with Lai Yixin. In the end, with a soft stomp, she turned around and walked away to the side.
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“Will you let us observe?” Lai Yixin asked Zhou with a smile.
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“Up to you guys.” Zhou saw that Lai Yixin had straightforwardly stepped aside and released claim of this place and his expression improved a bit. But perhaps he was born with his mouth corners curving downwards because he still didn’t look amiable at all. You could only see him twitch his lips and say: “You guys are still students, right? What’s going on with Bai Sect, accepting a bunch of kids?”
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“Only our group is rather young.” Lai Yixin replied, smiling.
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“That so?” Zhou gave a ‘humph’, looked at the full moon that was in the east but tilting slightly south, then checked the time.
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“Junior brother Lai.” The other’s appearance was more fair, but he also had a stiff expression, as if someone owed him money. He walked closer and said: “Sorry, right now everyone is lacking Yao Zhi.” But speaking with that expression it didn’t feel sincere at all.
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Lai Yixin seemed not to mind and just nodded: “It’s alright. Everyone’s goals are the same, whichever side that could get a bit more energy is all a good thing for all us.”
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“If that’s how you think of it, that’s great.” This man pompously said: “I’m called Guo Jianian, He’s Zhou Huaiyun. Never seen you guys before.”
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“Our group was just recently established.” Lai Yixin looked towards the side and saw that Ye Weishan still seemed to be angry so it was not a good idea to call her over for introductions. He could only keep silent about the fact that the group leader was actually Ye Weishan.
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“It’s almost time, you guys back away.” Zhou Huaiyun pushed open his robe and from the side of his clothes pulled out a slender sword about one meter or so long. Following precisely, Guo Jianian also pulled out an identical weapon, standing at the other side.
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Ye Weishan standing at the side, upon seeing this, muttered in a low voice: “No creativity, rotten sect.”
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Chen Luonian who was standing closest caught it and asked, shocked: “What?”
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“Everyone uses the same weapon in Li Sect!” Ye Weishan ranted in a low voice: “I hate the people from this sect the most.”
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“Why?” Chen Luonian asked.
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Ye Weishan replied: “Most of them are tyrannical. Mannerless. Like hoodlums!”
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Like hoodlums? Chen Luonian said, surprised: “Before entering the sect, don’t they all have to go through a background check?”
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“They’re not real hoodlums.” Ye Weishan said: “Most of Li Sect’s members were found through police and military connections, they aren’t good people from the start.”
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“Huh……” They’re not good people from the start? Chen Luonian thought it was rather funny, never would have thought that Ye Weishan would have this childish side to her.
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“Alright, originally they might have still been bearable, but once they enter Li Sect they all turn rotten! In the past……” Ye Weishan spoke halfway then suddenly paused, switching to saying: “That person just now was so fierce, who’s scared of them being fierce? Yixin definitely would be able to beat them.”
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“Perhaps because they often need to deal with bad guys, their way of speaking became rough.” Chen Luonian looked around: “Is Yixin’s skill better than the police and soldiers?”
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“Of course.” The words “What’s there to doubt about that?” were pretty much written on Ye Weishan’s face as she said: “He’s a genius.”
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Uh…… Don’t dispute with a girl in love is a wise policy…… Chen Luonian gave a cough and didn’t continue discussing it.
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“Not mad?” Right at this moment Lai Yixin was approaching with a smile, after seeing Ye Weishan’s expression he seemed to be relieved.
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“Says who?” Ye Weishan’s face became serious again and she said, slightly annoyed: “Why did we have to yield to them?”
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“There’s no need to get into an argument for something like this.” Lai Yixin replied in a low voice: “If Zong Zhang found out, he wouldn’t be happy either. Also, since we don’t have anything to do, we can take this time explain the process to Luonian and Zongru.”
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Ye Weishan seemed still unable to accept this, but also didn’t want to argue with Lai Yixin because of it, so she pouted and stopped speaking.
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At this time, those two black clothed people had already took off their robes. Lai Yixin observed as he said to Chen Luonian and Huang Zongru: “Though they’re in the same School as us, but they’re of the ‘Jian Xiu Faction’ which is different from our ‘Zhuan Xiu Faction’, so they need two people working together to utilize techniques to open the portal. If it was us, we would only need Weishan, one person to do so.”
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These two terms he had heard from Malian’s mouth before, but at that time she didn’t explain, yet before Chen Luonian could open his mouth to ask about it, Huang Zongru had already spoken first: “Jian Xiu? Zhuan Xiu?”
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“En, we let the members of the school take specialized routes, Jian Xui faction only has one route.” Lai Yixin said.
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This explanation was the same as having no explanation at all. Chen Luonian and Huang Zongru shared a glance, both their eyes showing utter confusion.
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Standing to the side, peeved, Ye Weishan could not bear to continue listening. Looking serious she interrupted: “It’s just the difference between the dispersion type and the congregation type. Even though both uses qi(炁),we split into different types of cultivation, allowing congregation types to focus on combat arts while dispersion types focus on dao techniques; in Jian Xiu faction, both martial arts and dao are cultivated simultaneously, causing the shortcoming that both points are weak.”
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“Weishan’s explanation is better, as always.” Lai Yixin gave a ‘haha’ laugh and continued: “But an advantage is that each of their members could fight independently, not like us, needing at least two people to a group. This is also one of the reasons that their sect flourishes more compared to ours.”
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“Once they encounter monsters a bit stronger don’t they still have to resort to sending two people?” Ye Weishan said.
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Lai Yixin couldn’t help finding it funny as he said: “Weishan……”
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“That’s right.” Huang Zongru actually spoke earnestly: “To deal with a powerful enemy, dividing up the duties by specialty works better4.”
(4) Somehow I just feel that he has this opinion because of gaming experience.
“Right!?” Ye Weishan was somewhat pleased, with a pout said: “Didn’t you guys also say that having different weapons would have a complementing effect when working together?”
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Usually following a prescribed pattern to the letter, the natural and unrestrained Ye Weishan, in front of Lai Yixin actually showed a little girl’s attitude quite easily. Chen Luonian who suddenly discovered this couldn’t help but secretly find it humorous.
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“Yes, yes……” Lai Yixin forced a smile as he shook his head, then said: “They’re currently casting the technique, after a while a monster might appear.”
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Chen Luonian’s line of sight moved over. Sure enough, he felt the swords the two were cirrently pointing at the ground continuously releasing an amount of qixi(氣息). That’s probably the so-called qi(炁), but that qixi didn’t just simply flow out, in the air it created a unique circulating pattern, and these qixi were currently blending with qixi that already existed in the middle of the open space, under the illumination of the moonlight, it gradually transformed.
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“That movement is casting a technique?” Huang Zongru asked.
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“You haven’t gone through Bian Ti so you can’t feel qi and the surrounding atmosphere yet.” Lai Yixin slightly smiled: “Right now you can only look at the movements.”
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“Oh.” Huang Zongru nodded and didn’t continue to ask.
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Chen Luonian was a bit worried, if you couldn’t sense it before you went through Bian Ti, how come he could sense it? Had he already turned into a monster? But this is really strange, the Hun Dun Yuan Xi(息) had leaked out several times during the evening, even though Lai Yixin and Ye Weishan nearby they didn’t notice at all, what was with that? Hun Dun Yuan Xi and the so-called qi from monster qi(炁), what exactly was the difference?
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Another two minutes had passed when Lai Yixin suddenly said: “That’s strange, like this time will…… Weishan, do you think we should help……”
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“No!” Ye Weishan said.
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“Oh…… well……” Lai Yixin’s expression was a bit helpless.
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What’s going on with those two? Chen Luonian and Huang Zongru couldn’t help looking at each other, unsure if this was flirtatious bantering, so they didn’t dare to interrupt.
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“Fine, you people pleaser.” Ye Weishan said with a pout: “You go say it.”
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Lai Yixin smiled, walked forward a couple steps and said: “Excuse me, we also want to help a little, wonder if it’s feasible?”
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Those two people from Li Sect shared a look before Guo Jianian said: “Thanks for your trouble.”
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From the start Ye Weishan was already standing outside the circle. She took out her dagger, with one point towards the outside and a large amount of qi immediately dispersed outwards from the dagger, circulating in the same manner in the pattern outside then integrated with the other two’s qi, causing the particular atmosphere in the center to intensify.
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And at this time the smile on Lai Yixin’s face had already been put away. He held the silver spear as he stood in front of Ye Weishan with a serious expression, as if on guard against something.
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“Strange.” Zhou Huaiyun’s deep brows frowned into a deep line, he suddenly looked at Lai Yixin and said: “Did you guys did something earlier?”
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“Outrageous!” Ye Weishan glared: “Just because you guys couldn’t do it doesn’t mean……”
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“Weishan!” Lai Yixin interrupted at once.
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Chen Luonian was really almost about to laugh. Looks like Ye Weishan didn’t just dislike Li sect’s members with an ordinary amount of passion.
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Guo Jianian shot a glance at Ye Weishan, unexpectedly saw that he was glared at relentlessly by Ye Weishan. He was a bit surprised: “Little girl, you’re pretty vicious!”
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Seeing that Ye Weishan was about to snap back, Lai Yixin hurriedly scrambled to say: “Please don’t take offense, she’s not in a good mood today.”
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“You actually know that I’m not in a good mood!” Ye Weishan hissed: “Now what? I don’t want to continue bickering with them anymore, the monster essence won’t be ours anyways.”
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“Withdrawing like this probably isn’t a good idea?” Lai Yixin said hesitatedly: “How about we support them until the moonlight’s effect disappears?”
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Ye Weishan mutter to herself irresolutely for a moment, then stopped speaking.
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Chen Luonian observed Ye Weishan’s qixi from the side, discovering that Ye Weishan’s qi from the start was faint, it floatingly circulated around the surroundings of her entire body, sometimes close sometimes far, but when she needed to use it, it’ll concentrate on top of that beautiful dagger, then shoot outwards. At that moment it would be able to generate enough cohesiveness to control. Which is to say, his own Hun Dun Yuan Xi, if he followed the same procedure, could probably also be used like this.
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But the question wasn’t how to use, but rather he couldn’t use, right? If he casually used it, monsters would immediately appear…… Based on feeling, even though his Hun Dun Yuan Xi‘s usage seemed rather similar to what they called qi, but the function was actually different and didn’t possess such formidable power.
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Eh, aren’t they looking for monsters right now? He could lend a helping hand, not to mention he might be able to get rid of some Hun Dun Yuan Xi?
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Thinking to here, Chen Luonian’s heart gave a leap of joy. Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, he moved back a little, wanting to gather the Hun Dun Yuan Xi beneath his throat and release it through his finger.
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But that Yuan Xi, although it obediently flowed to the end of his hand, but it didn’t concentrate there and immediately scattered outwards. In shock, Chen Luonian quickly recollected the Yuan Xi back to his throat, feeling a bit puzzled.
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Ah, it’s definitely because he wasn’t holding a dagger……
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These few days, Ye Weishan and Lai Yixin would occasionally talk to everyone about the usages of qixi. Especially Ye Weishan would specially go to seek out Chen Luonian to mention some characteristics of the dispersion type, because for people of this type, their physique by nature easily tends to disperse, so it’s necessary to use qixi to refine and train and get used to their qixi dagger, only then will they be able to condense qixi as they wished on the weapon and then put it to use.
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As for the congregation type, they also had to foster sentiments with the weapon, but the reason was the exact opposite. Once their weapon and their body’s qixi harmonized, the process of sending it out from the body to the weapon will be much smoother. If the qixi is strong enough and the weapon linkage is enough as well, then they could possibly, though the weapon, send out qi in a small distance around the weapon. Back then when Chen Luonian saw Malian cut apart the gigantic jelly monster, it was with this kind of condition.
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But using the dagger to concentrate before shooting out was for the sake of using dao techniques or attacks. Right now he only wanted to call out a monster, so just sending the entire Yuan Xi to that middle area would work too, right? Thought process getting to here, Chen Luonian stopped releasing it from his finger and directly opened his mouth, sending the condensed Hun Duan Yuan Xi towards the middle of the field.
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As expected, just one breath scattered into one large piece. That portion of Hun Duan Yuan Xi, attracted by the qi pivot of the three on the field, quickly coagulated towards the center, mixing with the qixi that was already originally there. Just this second, suddenly a burst of energy went berserk. The field’s center exploded in a soft boom, everything went into messy confusion, dust sprang up from everywhere. Amidst the smoke and dust there something seemed to have appeared.
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Did it succeed? Chen Luonian hurriedly recollected the Hun Duan Yuan Xi, hiding it in his throat. At this moment, everyone’s gaze were directed towards the middle of the field. At first they only saw the smoke and dust, but as it gradually disperse a human figure slowly appeared. Looking closely, that person was extremely tall and big, the height exceeded two meters, wearing primitive leather clothing, both feet were bare, his left hand held a short pike-like object while the right hand held a long and narrow shield that was a little longer than half the height of a person. His back was currently facing everyone as he looked around.
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After trying for half a day, what they got was a primitive human? As everyone widened their eyes, that person’s head turned around. Everyone was greatly shock and couldn’t help retreating half a step.
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It turns out that person upper jaw actually two tusks poking through it, just like this extended downwards, after passing the chin curved outwards. Like this, naturally that mouth could not be praised as good-looking, the outer lips were not lined, and the other teeth were also grown in a hideous mess.
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This person’s skin was dark greenish black, above there was no hair, no eyebrows. The entire face was fierce-looking, with a pair of large copper eyes and practically crushed flat nose. In short, matchlessly grotesque; after looking clearly at the people around him, he suddenly faced towards the sky and hissed a strange sound. Then, without speaking any further, pounced towards Lai Yixin who was holding the silver spear.
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Credits: Chiyomira
[Chiyomira’s Corner]
Hmmmmmmmmm. Let’s see… I thought there would be more beautiful descriptions because moon-viewing, but guess not. The group bonding is nice though. 🙂
Glossary