Hui closed his eyes, drawing on the Vermillion Bird bloodline hed absorbed into his body. Red feathers fluttered at his neck, and his robes flickered, changing from blue to shining red feathers, flowing with the motion of his body. Fire burned in a halo around him, arcing high above his head.
He waved his hand. If I can establish a connection to the others, why not receive video, too? Pushing more qi into the spell, he called out to the light between the four of them and resonated with it. Three screens appeared on the air in front of him, showing him the others.
Bai Xue raised her arm. Tian Lan shone with brilliant blue power and uncurled from her arm, surging up in size and coiling around Bai Xue, slowly undulating. Bai Xue closed her eyes and pressed her fingertips together. Her breathing evened. Blue light glowed faintly from her body, growing brighter with each passing mont as she perfectly, naturally, resonated with Tian Lan. She opened her eyes. Bright as sapphires in the sun, they glowed with Tian Lans power, full of the bright young yin of the Azure Dragon.
Li Xiang stood still, perfectly still. Her form collapsed inward, vanishing rapidly as if vacuud up, revealing a sword standing as upright as her. It glinted with cold light, and a projection of a White Tiger appeared behind it, clearer and colder than the distant stars. The swords tip took on the brutal hook of a tigers claw.
Zhubi trembled, changing into his Black Dragon-Turtle form. He spun around in air, octagonal-shaped shell a hole in the void, even darker than night. His tiny form burst, growing larger and larger mont by mont, until the massive length of his snakelike body coiled several tis around a shell easily as large as a mansion. Two dark eyes gazed toward Hui, as though he could see Hui even through the screen. Black energy swirled around him.
Hui grinned. He nodded at the other four, even though he knew they couldnt see him in return. We wont have long before the Golden Immortal realizes what were doing. Even with Song Weis distraction, our ti is limited. Until then, I need all of you to resonate with the direction you chose! Gather as much energy into your cardinal beast into yourself, as you can. The more the better. When you cannot bear the energy anymore, direct it to and continue to gather even more energy! Ill handle the rest.
Will you be able to handle that much energy? Li Xiang asked, her voice issuing from the swords crossguard.
Hui nodded. Dont worry about . I have a plan.
Is it like your other five plans that you cant tell us in case the Golden Immortal overhears? Bai Xue asked, her eyes twinkling.
Hui pursed his lips. Elder Sister
I get it, I get it. She laughed, waving her hand. Well focus on our part. You focus on yours.
Yes.
Hui closed his eyes and focused. He reached out to the phoenix fire inside him, cloaking his body in its regenerative flas. I dont know how much fire I can bear without the phoenix fires support, given how Im more aligned with
With
Uh. Life? Death? Uh, plants?
In any case, Im not particularly fire aligned, is the point. With the phoenix fire on my side, Ill almost certainly be able to bear more fire than my ordinary body can alone!
The Vermillion Birds bloodline surged with the phoenix fire. His whole body grew warm in a comfortable way, as if a warm blanket wrapped him on a cold winters day. He took a deep breath, enjoying the mont.
But this isnt how I absorb qi. He clenched everything down, not to death, but to embers. The red feathers lost their luster, the halo of fire all but flickering out. Phoenix fire grew dim around him, only barely spluttering, on the verge of extinguishing entirely. All around him, the world faded away, and darkness encroached on his vision. His heartbeat faded.
The embers flickered out. The feathers laid flat against his body. His heart stopped. Cold, dark, empty, Hui hung lifelessly in the air.
One mont. Two.
Now!
Huis eyes opened. Energy rushed into him, shapeless, warm energy, surging into every pore and filling him up. The energy swirled toward the south. Every ti it pointed southward as it spun inside him, it surged a little faster. Fire blasted off his body, the red feathers shining more brightly than before. The halo of flas burned once again, with the light of the sun.
The energy overwheld his dantian. Hui compressed it down, pressing it into a tight coil. Compress it! Tighten! As much as I can, push that energy down, pull it into threads and wind them tight.
Fully compressed, the coil still took up a third of his dantian. Hui pressed his lips together. Its dense to start out with, huh?
Oh well. Here we go. Two more tis!
Once more, he killed his qi. Once more, the ferocious energy rushed in. Hui compressed it again, forming a second coil. Again, and a third coil filled his dantian.
He glanced at the screens. The others continued to cultivate. Energy swirled around them, blue, black, and white, spiraling endlessly into them. Hui twiddled his thumbs, a little awkward. I feel like that kid who finished the exam first, then just sits around looking at all the others panic. Its that feeling of I definitely missed sothing, but what? Is my dantian smaller? Did I forget sowhere to store energy?
Argh I cant just sit here! Im the one who ca up with this plan. If I run out of energy and screw us all, then what kind of plan-maker am I? No. I cant! I must have enough energy. Again. One more ti. If there isnt enough room, Ill make room!
Again, he killed his qi. When energy rushed into him, he started to compress it, but even compressing it on the way into his dantian, it wouldnt fit. The walls of his dantian began to bulge painfully. He bit his lip. What do I do? I cant keep adding qi. But the others are all still working. I cant slack off now!
Wait. Hold on! He grabbed the compressed strand of qi and pushed it back out into the world. With his aura on him, it remained around his body, under his control. He looped the new strand of qi around him, creating a sort of hoop around his body. Turning back into his dantian, he imdiately felt the qi hoop waver. He whipped back around and grabbed the qi again, only to lose the ability to absorb more qi as his attention focused on the loop instead. I need to have constant attention on the qi at all ti in order to not lose the loop. At the sa ti, I need constant attention on the incoming qi or else I cant absorb more qi.
Hui looked at the hoop, then grinned. Good thing I can split my attention!
Spawning off a ntal clone to mind the loop, Hui focused on absorbing more qi. When the loop t itself on the far side of his body, he spawned a second ntal clone and began forming a second loop. One after another, until at last, at five ntal clones, he stopped. I dont think this version of can handle more than five clones. Er, but five loops thats enough, surely? Even if the others dantians are twice as large as mine, thats still enough qi, probably. They cant be more than twice as large as my dantian. I dont think so, anyways. I never got the impression that the others could absorb much, much more qi than but then, I never spent that much ti assessing others dantian size and qi absorption abilities.
Argh! If I cant absorb enough qi if I lack qi He gritted his teeth, staring at the loops with uncertainty. He took a deep breath, then shook his head. I have to I hate to admit it, but I have to believe in myself! I have to do it. Just for a minute, believe in myself. I have enough energy! Probably.
Ugh. I wish I could gather more It feels so awkward to sit here and wait! I was never that kid who finished first and both Li Xiang and Bai Xue were considered geniuses, while Im just an ordinary cultivator. Maybe I should figure out a way to stock up a little more qi?
Hui licked his lips and glanced at the other three, still sucking in qi. Trust. Trust in ! I have enough. Believe! Surely soone else will finish soon.
Surely surely!
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