Chapter 33 - Rumors of a Genius

"While the sun hasn't set, let's quickly go to talk to your teacher"

After settling the warehouse problem, Zhao Fan quickly went over to his classroom. He was curious about the Great Fate era and wanted to find out more ways to improve his strength before tomorrow's big hunt.

"Master!" Zhao Fan walked in and found his teacher wearing his usual green robes, drinking some tea.

"What element did you choose?" His master inquired.

"I chose water, but I haven't been able to sense it. The book mentions adjusting my state of mind to be calm and turbulent at the same time, aren't those contradictory states?" Zhao Fan took the opportunity to ask the question which was plaguing his mind recently.

"Water? Interesting. Water isn't a popular choice because of its weaker destructive power, your choice in what element you choose will impact you greatly. As for your issue, those states are indeed contradictory, but that doesn't mean you can't feel both at the same time."

"How can that be?"

"Hmm, think about it like this. When a person feels sad and happy at the same time, they wouldn't feel either sad or happy instead they would feel bittersweet. The nature of water isn't calm or turbulent, it is the combination of both. It's natural for you to not understand this immediately, after all people usually take years to be able to sense an element."

Zhao Fan closed his eyes and thought about what his master said. Before, he couldn't understand how two contradictory states could take place at once, but the example about feeling bittersweet made him realize that he was thinking in the wrong direction.

He felt a moment of realization and quickly sat in a meditative pose.

"Oh?" Master Li was surprised. Did a few words of guidance allow his student to gain enlightenment?

"Smooth and everflowing, chaotic and turbulent" Zhao Fan repeated in his mind. If previously he tried to focus on all four, now he was trying to find a state which would reflect all four at once. Veins bulged on his forehead as he focused his hardest to keep his concentration. Gradually, he began to feel in a unique way he had never felt before as all four characteristics came together.

Zhao Fan's closed eyelids suddenly flapped open, revealing a deep blue iris, which signified his success in imitating the nature of water using his soul. He extended his hand and waved it around in the air. As if by magic, wherever his hand moved, water materialized and dripped down from his gloved hand.

Master Li looked at Zhao Fan with wide open eyes. "If the book explained this detail, would he succeed on his first try?" Master Li thought that his student was growing more and more monstrous by the day. If others took weeks, months or even years, Zhao Fan managed it in one try. The only logical conclusion was that he either was a genius or the element of water was compatible with his personality.

"Good job, what you’re doing now is pulling water qi present in the air out using your soul power. Communicating with elements uses up your soul’s strength and to recuperate it, you’ll have to sleep. Now, try combining the water element in the air with your qi."

Zhao Fan did as he was told. He raised his palm and covered the area inside with qi. He concentrated and drew the surrounding water element into his palm which quickly turned a shade of blue, and somewhat translucent.

ZIING

Master Li moved his hand so fast that Zhao Fan couldn't follow his movements. He unsheathed the sword by his side and slashed down at Zhao Fan's palm, cutting it in two. Zhao Fan panicked and released the energy in his palm which turned it back into its normal color. He hurriedly examined his palm and found that the sword passed right through without damaging his palm!

"This is one of the most basic water abilities you should know. It uses a lot of soul power but makes you invulnerable in whatever body part you infuse the water into. You can even turn your whole body into water but it’s extremely taxing and dangerous since if you mess up on your control, your body won’t be able to return to its former state."

"Thank you teacher!" Zhao Fan felt that this was an invaluable ability for him. If he couldn't avoid a fatal blow, he could just pass right through it! The only way to kill him would be to exhaust his soul power or attack him faster than he could react.

"Oh yes, one more question, master, do you know what the Great Fate era is?"

"Do I know it? Of course! Every semi-powerful cultivator in the world knows about it.”

“Can you tell me more about it?”

“Hmm, you should know that human civilization is very new, only a few thousand years old. We have just barely carved our place among the world of powerful beasts."

"Master, everyone knows about this, but what does this have to do with the Great Fate era?" Zhao Fan felt eager to learn the answer.

"Don't interrupt, I'm getting to it. Since our civilization is so new, how could there be so many inheritances scattered throughout the world?"

"From these ancient inheritances, cultivators have glimpsed some of the secrets of this world, one of them being the Great Fate era" Master Li hesitated for a moment but remembered the sight of Zhao Fan comprehending the element of water as easily as eating and drinking.

"The Great Fate era is an era when otherworldly geniuses with seemingly otherworldly powers show up and are blessed with boundless fate, finding inheritances and peerless treasures left and right."

"How do we know that we are in this era or that it's not something exclusive to the previous civilization? Have any peerless geniuses shown up lately?"

"There is one easy way to tell and that is the power the geniuses hold. Recently, it has been confirmed that we have entered this era as every dynasty has put up a tremendously generous bounty on a Qi Gathering cultivator.”

“Is he one of those geniuses? What type of power does he have?” Zhao Fan felt that the description of geniuses suited Hei Long with his weird power.

“This qi gathering youth has crimson colored hair and killed three peak Foundation Establishment cultivators using the power of space. His name is Lin Donghai if I remember correctly." Master Li sighed.

"Three Foundation Establishment cultivators?!"

"Yes, normally, a peak-level genius qi-gathering cultivator can kill at most a single middle-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. In every generation there is one or two who have accomplished what Lin Donghai has but there has never been a precedent as shocking as Lin Donghai who used the element of space which has never been seen before. If the Great Fate era was a rumor before, it is now confirmed." Master Li said with a grave tone.

"Is this a good or bad thing?" Zhao Fan felt shocked. He could probably only fight a few levels above his realm using his strong body and unorthodox techniques, in no way could he compare to Lin Donghai.

Each level in the Qi Gathering realm gave a substantial increase in qi storage. If a Qi Gathering 1 cultivator has one total point of qi, a Qi Gathering 9 cultivator would have more than a thousand. Having more qi meant one could use more powerful moves more often but it wasn't on a whole different level which is why fighting those higher in this realm was possible.

A foundation establishment cultivator, on the other hand, had a fundamental change in their qi which changed from gaseous to liquid state and became much more powerful as a result. It could even be manipulated outside which is why most skills and abilities were designed for Foundation Establishment cultivators.

After all, Qi Gathering cultivators were basically limited to enhancing their weapons and using some muscle nourishing techniques using qi. Only someone like Zhao Fan could imbue qi anywhere in his body and move it freely meaning he could use more techniques. Even with this advantage, he wasn’t sure if he could fight a Foundation Establishment cultivator once he reached the peak of Qi gathering, let alone three mid-stage ones.

"I’m already stepping over the line to tell you this much, you will find out more when you step into the Foundation Establishment realm." Master Li shook his head.

"It's getting late, meet me here at sunrise and I will teach you a few techniques. '' His student was definitely a good seedling, so naturally Master Li wanted to help him have a higher chance of staying alive in the forest.

"Thank you master!" Zhao Fan didn't want to impose any longer so he left.

"Hei Long, do you think we can kill a Foundation Establishment cultivator when we are merged?"

"Like I said, I'm not sure about the strength of Core Condensation cultivators and can only estimate Foundation Establishment cultivators. There is a heavy price with using our power but we should be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with Lin Donghai if we use it."

"So this means..." Zhao Fan connected the dots.

"Yes, without a shadow of a doubt we are one of the otherworldly geniuses, in my case literally otherworldly!" Hei Long laughed at his own joke while Zhao Fan stayed silent deep in thought.

"Wait, you aren't from this world? What was your previous world like?"

"Our worlds are very different, hopefully we can visit there someday when we are more powerful," Hei Long replied with a sharp tone.

“For now, we should focus on preparing for tomorrow!”