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Chapter 242 - The Great Eruption
🕑 Added 2025-02-13 07:00:07 +0000 UTCA collective murmur spread through the passengers as they processed the announcement.
President Albert continued, his tone turning sharper. "And one more thing—behave yourselves. This isn't a pleasure cruise. Anyone who causes trouble will find themselves promptly kicked off my ship. You've been warned."
With that, the announcement ended.
"Leyvi, I'll be looking for President Albert to train my Fire Concept with him, if he doesn't mind. I might not be around much during this trip," Anda said as she entered Leyvi's cabin. Each passenger had been assigned their own private space for the journey. She still clutched the panda plush toy tightly, refusing to store it in her space ring. It was simply too comforting.
"Alright," Leyvi replied with a grin. "Just don't pick up his spitting habit while you're at it."
"Why not? Maybe I can make it my signature move—a fiery spit attack! Ptui ptui ptui!" Anda teased, miming the act of spitting fire.
Leyvi gasped dramatically, clutching his chest as he sprawled across his bed. "Argh! Help! A spitting panda monster is attacking me!"
"Ho ho ho~ Can't handle my fire spit? Then prepare for my ultimate move! Behold, the fire booger!" Anda declared, pretending to pick her nose and flicking an imaginary flaming projectile at him.
Leyvi recoiled in exaggerated horror, rolling on the bed as if mortally wounded. Their shared laughter filled the cabin.
Unbeknownst to them, the cabin door was still ajar. Elder Godari, passing by on his way to check on the passengers, paused mid-step.
He stared at the bizarre spectacle inside—Anda pretending to flick fire boogers, and Leyvi sprawled on the bed like a defeated hero. His expression frozen in a mixture of bewilderment and secondhand embarrassment.
Elder Godari rubbed his temples, muttering to himself as he walked away, "What am I even witnessing? Truly, geniuses are beyond comprehension…they are all crazy."
The couple, realizing too late that they had an unintended audience, exchanged a look. Anda was the first to break the silence, her face reddening.
"Oops…"
"Hahaha!" Leyvi laughed. "You might want to close the door next time, my spitting panda queen."
Anda buried her face in her palms, mumbling, "Noted…"
Eh? Where's the panda? Anda suddenly realized she wasn't holding it anymore and immediately saw it sticking to Leyvi's back. So she picked it up again without overthinking. Its claws must have gotten stuck onto Leyvi's clothes during their weird roleplay.
After Anda left the cabin to find President Albert, Leyvi lay sprawled on his bed, pondering how to make the most of the three-month journey ahead. Should he focus on cultivation, or perhaps practice the Multi-Element Sect Progenitor's martial skill? He mulled over the options, dismissing the idea of cultivating. Three months wasn't nearly enough to make significant progress.
Even Lilian, who had been cultivating diligently for eight years, hadn't reached the middle stage of the Core Formation realm. Compared to that, mastering or refining a martial skill seemed like a more practical use of his time. He still hadn't had the chance to learn the three-element martial skill that Sect Mistress Bulan gave him.
He was just about to retrieve the jade slip containing the martial skill when another thought crossed his mind—his spiritual sense. The tight sealing of moving airships usually prevented the extension of spiritual sense outside, but that was no longer the case. His spiritual sense now could ignore the walls!
Curious, Leyvi spread his spiritual sense outward as far as it could reach. The shifting scenery outside the airship unfolded vividly in his mind. Mountains, forests, rivers—everything passed by in stunning detail.
"Hahaha! This will make the trip so much less boring!" he exclaimed, delighted by his newfound ability.
He watched the world flash by with fascination. During their last journey to the Holy Cat City, he hadn't thought to try this. Back then, his time had been entirely absorbed by the company of the ladies. Now, with so many people around, intimacy wasn't really an option, leaving him free to explore other distractions.
After taking in the mesmerizing scenery, Leyvi finally turned his attention to the jade slip resting in his palm. It contained the Three-Element Martial Skill he had long meant to study.
Jade slips came in two types: single-use and rewritable. The single-use variety was most commonly employed by shops to sell valuable information, such as cultivation manuals, martial skills, and other proprietary content, preventing easy duplication.
Rewritable jade slips, on the other hand, were far more versatile and widely used among cultivators. They served as tools for taking notes, storing insights, sending messages, and sharing knowledge freely.
Leyvi inspected the jade slip with his spiritual sense, a habit that felt almost foreign. It had been years since he last delved into the contents, and his memory of the manual's details was hazy at best.
The martial skill recorded within the jade slip was called the Great Eruption Martial Skill. It combined the attributes of fire, water, and earth Qi to mimic the destructive power of a volcano. This skill wasn't just about raw offense; it offered powerful defensive techniques as well.
Leyvi sighed after reading the martial skill manual again, a sense of déjà vu washing over him. He had reacted the same way the first time he encountered the technique—utterly amazed. At first, he had been reluctant to pursue it, but the moment he saw the contents, his interest had been piqued. However, something had happened back then that had prevented him from diving into the skill.
The Great Eruption Martial Skill was filled with unique and powerful attacks, but there was one technique that captured Leyvi's imagination above all others: Meteor Volcano. The name itself stirred memories of a fierce battle against a demonic leopard, where he had fought with desperation. In that fight, his body had ignited with fiery Qi, and with a full-powered kick, he had launched himself from above, descending like a meteor upon the beast. He had called the move Meteor Impact at that moment, a reflection of his instinctive reaction.
However, Meteor Volcano was different from his previous attack. Instead of requiring him to act like a meteor, this technique would allow him to unleash a barrage of superheated molten fists, launching them high into the air and letting them rain down like terrifying meteors.
Leyvi's eyes widened at the thought. The sheer destructive potential of such an attack was unimaginable. It was no wonder the Multi-Element Sect had poured so much effort into creating martial skills that combined multiple elements. The skill was not only powerful—it was truly awe-inspiring.
The creativity that went into the development of multi-element martial skills only deepened Leyvi's respect for the Multi-Element Sect. After all, to achieve the intended effects, the sect's members had to undergo countless experiments and theoretical studies with their Qi. The effort involved was comparable to the painstaking work of an alchemist trying to create a new and revolutionary formula. Leyvi couldn't help but marvel at the complexity of their approach.
And so, following the manual of the Great Eruption Martial Skill, Leyvi began his first learning session. His task was to simultaneously produce fire, water, and earth Qi—a feat that had been a miserable failure in the past, leading him to spend two long years honing his ability to produce and balance the five-element Qi simultaneously.
This time, however, balancing the three elements was almost effortless. He could already do it with five Qi, three Qi were nothing. Leyvi summoned the three Qi spheres—red for fire, blue for water, and brown for earth—which floated around him with a fluid grace, each representing a perfect balance of their respective elements. The sight was a clear indication of his mastery over the Qi.
With a steady hand, he guided a thread of Qi from each sphere. Slowly, the three threads began to intertwine, working toward combining their elemental powers into one unified strand.
Then, a sharp pop echoed through the room. The intertwined thread of Qi exploded, sending a ripple of energy through the air.
Leyvi sighed softly. It was a failure, but he wasn't discouraged. He hadn't expected to succeed on his first attempt. After all, he wasn't a genius—just an average cultivator who had been extremely lucky to get where he was. He had already received many great cheats in other aspects, so this much hardship wasn't something that he could ever complain about anymore.
Determined, he began again, fully aware that mastering this skill would take time and persistence.
Time passed. It was unknown how many failures it had been, but Leyvi's concentration had never dropped even once.
He was so focused that he lost track of time. It was unsure when it happened, but Leyvi had switched from using his eyes to using his spiritual sense to capture everything that happened while merging the Qi.
The threads moved in slow, deliberate motions, each one threading through the others with increasing precision. The Qi intertwined gracefully, becoming more fluid, more synchronized. A calm excitement built within him as the connection seemed to solidify, and for the first time, the three Qi elements were one.
There was no explosion this time, only a subtle hum of energy as the combined Qi settled into a single, balanced thread of power.
Leyvi opened his eyes, breathing a sigh of relief. He had done it. His success was still small—just the first step in learning to combine three elements—but it was enough to make him happy.
"I did it," he smiled, staring at the single thread of combined Qi. "Now, the real work begins but let me rest first."
Leyvi looked up at the calendar clock array hanging on the cabin's wall, intending to know how much time had passed.
"What the heck! It's been two weeks!"
