Chapter 143: Ten Thousand Threads Flow and the Raindrop Domain

"Feng Qiu actually lost?!"

"His wind technique was so powerful, yet he still lost to Zhao Xing."

"I didn't even understand it. Feng Qiu was charging back and forth in the middle of the gorge, and then with a bang the gale-force wind exploded and it was over."

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"Feng Qiu's wind technique is indeed formidable, but Zhao Xing's spell combination was even stranger. I only saw Zhao Xing's figure at the very end—his cloud technique is just too strong."

"Feng Qiu's winning streak has been ended. The one hailed as number one in wind techniques, Feng Qiu, has fallen to Zhao Xing. Doesn't that mean Zhao Xing's cloud technique is number one among the reserve Si Nong?"

"Zhuang Ziqing is hailed as invincible in thunder techniques, Feng Qiu is hailed as invincible in wind techniques, and Zhao Xing is invincible in cloud techniques!"

"Suppose I ride Feng Qiu, hold Zhao Xing in my left hand, and raise Zhuang Ziqing in my right—who in the reserves could be my opponent? Even Shi Yong would have to swallow his grievances on the spot!"

"I heard that Cao Shuang from the Terrain Academy has an astonishing Dark Earth遁 technique. Why don't you ride him too? Then you'd be unstoppable in heaven and earth."

"Hahahaha."

………

On the plaza outside Cloud Gate, Peng Ran, Yu Chunwu, He Yu, and Yang Yang held their earth mirrors and watched intently, after Feng Qiu lost.

Yang Yang was so excited he slapped his thigh. "Zhao Xing really won! Someone as strong as Feng Qiu also fell to him!"

He Yu sighed with emotion: "I only just realized now—when Zhao Xing fought me before, he wasn't using his full strength at all. He was completely using me for practice. No wonder I felt that with every spell, he only beat me by a tiny bit."

Yu Chunwu also lamented endlessly: "When I first met him, he was only sneakily releasing dark winds. I figured he couldn't even beat Li Feng. But just over three months later, he could defeat Feng Qiu."

"Good thing we didn't go cause him trouble back then." Peng Ran laughed. "Otherwise, even if the four of us tied together, we wouldn't be enough for him to beat."

"Well said. Li Feng's fate was already miserable." The other three also laughed.

Back when they were reporting in, they had been played by Zhao Xing. The four only realized afterward that it was Zhao Xing's doing, and they all had thoughts of going to beat him up.

But they never ran into Zhao Xing, since they didn't know him at all back then.

By the time they found out it was Zhao Xing, it was already during the branch academy examination.

When Swallowing Clouds came out, who could compete? At that time, Zhao Xing already displayed astonishing dominance in cloud techniques.

Later on, the gap grew wider and wider, and they completely lost the thought of causing trouble.

"After this battle, Zhao Xing's combat ability is beyond doubt. I think the only one who can outclass him is Shi Yong; even Zhuang Ziqing might not be able to."

Zhuang Ziqing was now completely without any sleepiness.

When he saw Feng Qiu unleash that move 'Wind Devours the World', he had thought Zhao Xing was bound to lose.

After all, this move's power was too great—instantly draining all elemental energy, pushing the Nine Swords Four Mysteries technique's power beyond its limits, already comparable to a high-tier technique's power.

But unexpectedly, under this killing move, Zhao Xing still withstood it.

"He's comprehended it." A hint of fighting spirit appeared in Zhuang Ziqing's eyes. "He must have a Solar Term Token that reached the fourth turn of the Knowing Realm, which is why he could withstand it."

Recalling the final moment of the battle between Feng Qiu and Zhao Xing, that single drop of rain surfaced in Zhuang Ziqing's mind.

"It's that raindrop. Its power reached at least the tenth turn, and his breakthrough is different from Feng Qiu's."

"Feng Qiu's wind technique reached the eleventh turn entirely by relying on his own control over the power of wind movement, supporting this extreme manipulation with more elemental energy, continuously absorbing the quantity of gale-force wind. From the moment he entered the Wind Thunder Gorge, he condensed the gale-force wind together, holding it back without releasing, making the technique's power reach the eleventh turn."

"After unleashing this move, his elemental energy was completely drained. But Zhao Xing's raindrop quickly condensed a second time, clearly consuming relatively little elemental energy." Zhuang Ziqing quickly saw the difference between the two.

"He's comprehended a high-tier technique. Its power may not yet have reached the eleventh turn, but essentially, Zhao Xing's comprehension of the Dao has already surpassed Feng Qiu's. That's why he can easily cast it a second time."

Having figured out the key, Zhuang Ziqing's eyes grew more and more excited: "To the Dao Arena! I want to test the power of this raindrop of his."

Zhuang Ziqing couldn't sleep anymore either. He immediately stepped on auspicious clouds and flew toward the Dao Arena.

Martial Division, the public activity area of the four great Martial Divisions.

At this moment, Fu Ying was feeling terrible all over.

The moment he saw the battle's result, Fu Ying almost threw his earth mirror away.

Feng Qiu, how could you lose?

With your loss, brother, I'm going bankrupt!

Among the seventy thousand points, the others pooled together twenty thousand points. Since there were quite a few people, each person actually didn't lose that much.

But he, Fu Ying, was going to lose fifty thousand points!

He had originally planned to fleece Xia Jing, but unexpectedly ended up suffering a huge loss himself.

"Fu Ying."

Xia Jing put away his earth mirror, walked up to Fu Ying with a smile, and said, "Don't be discouraged. You only lost fifty thousand points. For you, it's just a drop in the bucket."

"……"

Fu Ying was so angry his teeth itched.

You make it sound so easy. These fifty thousand points—he'd have to find time to take on missions, working himself to death for three months to earn them back.

But he couldn't lose his composure. In his heart, he cursed Feng Qiu, Xia Jing, and Zhao Xing bloody, but on the surface he still said with a smile: "Of course, it's only fifty thousand points. A bet is a bet! I'll transfer it to you right now."

Fu Ying casually took out his earth mirror, as if he didn't care at all.

But Xia Jing saw that when Fu Ying was transferring the points to him, his hand obviously trembled, and at the moment of transfer, there was a breath of reluctance.

Bankrupt but still talking tough... A slight curve appeared at the corner of Xia Jing's mouth.

"Done." Fu Ying put away his earth mirror and looked at Xia Jing. "The points have been transferred to you."

"Generous! I thank you on behalf of the brothers." Xia Jing grinned.

"Why do you need to speak for us? We're right here." Chen Fang came out to add a stab. "Thanks, Brother Fu."

"Thanks, Brother Fu. We'll gamble with you again next time." Zhang Jie cupped his hands cheerfully.

"A bet is a bet. Brother Fu is truly a man!" Hu Bing gave a thumbs-up.

"……"

Fu Ying's face wore a smile, but his heart was bleeding.

These bastards are truly hateful, ahhhh!

Within Cloud Gate.

Cen Sanji flew back to his own courtyard with three students. During the flight back, he also patiently answered the students' questions.

"By comprehending the Celestial Timing Sect's secret canon and reaching the fourth revolution of the Knowing Realm, one will grasp the 'Phenology Method' and the 'Climate Change Method.' What Zhao Xing displayed at the end was a Celestial Phenology technique—that single raindrop was the embodiment of his Dao comprehension."

"Teacher, just how powerful is that raindrop of his?" a student asked.

"The Phenology Method and the Climate Change Method are at least high-tier techniques," Cen Sanji said. "Zhao Xing's raindrop has already reached the baseline standard of a high-tier, first-revolution technique."

"Teacher, why is Feng Qiu's technique power called mid-tier, eleventh revolution? Isn't it said to rival high-tier technique power?"

Cen Sanji said patiently: "This is because the realm of the Dao differs. Feng Qiu's technique power rivals high-tier techniques, but in essence, his comprehension of the Dao is still mid-tier."

"Zhao Xing's comprehension of the Dao, as embodied in that drop of water, has already reached the high-tier level."

"Feng Qiu was drained after casting once and could no longer fight, because this kind of move is extremely draining of vital essence. This also proves that his comprehension of the Dao has not reached high-tier."

"Zhao Xing, however, could easily cast it a second and third time. This is because the Dao he comprehended is strong enough, so casting techniques does not require expending too much vital essence."

The students suddenly understood—this was the difference between a steady high-tier and a burst-type high-tier.

Someone asked: "Teacher, why did Zhao Xing say Feng Qiu went astray?"

Cen Sanji said: "Because Feng Qiu pursued techniques rather than the Dao. In the ancient cultivation system, the ninth rank is called the Qi Gathering Realm, and the eighth rank is the Spirit Bridge Realm. Why is it called Spirit Bridge?"

"It is because the Spirit Bridge Realm is mainly about communicating with heaven and earth, comprehending the Dao within heaven and earth. During the Qi Gathering Realm, the focus is on techniques—the stronger the vital essence, the greater the technique's power."

"If you use one portion of vital essence versus two portions to drive a technique, you will find the latter is somewhat more powerful. But upon reaching the eighth rank, this method gradually reaches its limit, so one must construct a Heaven-Earth Spirit Bridge and continue to improve through comprehending heaven and earth."

"The subsequent seventh rank Earth Fiend and sixth rank Heaven Yang are all advancing along this great Dao of comprehending heaven and earth."

After a pause, Cen Sanji continued: "Feng Qiu was overly gifted in wind techniques. He could easily control the power of wind. Others reach their limit at the ninth revolution, so they turn to comprehending heaven and earth. He felt he could continue to improve, so he kept researching."

"When he previously lost in the selection matches to Shi Yong and Zhuang Ziqing, some experts had already spoken about this, but Feng Qiu didn't listen and stubbornly researched another move that reached eleventh-revolution power."

"Now that he's lost to Zhao Xing, hopefully he can come to his senses."

"If he awakens in time and has the courage to break out of his comfort zone, his path is still long."

"If he doesn't change and continues to waste time... he may miss the optimal period for cultivation. When the three souls weaken and the seven spirits wither, sixth rank will be his limit in this lifetime."

The outside world buzzed with discussion, but within Cloud Gate, Zhao Xing sat quietly on the preparation platform.

His battle with Feng Qiu brought him great gains. Most importantly, the Solar Term Token 【Lichun】 had finally broken through, reaching the fourth revolution of the Knowing Realm.

"Among the Celestial Timing Sect's secret canon, the Lichun and Yushui diagrams are what I contemplated the most."

"Now that I've broken through, I've finally comprehended a high-tier technique from the Lichun solar term."

A drop of water floated before Zhao Xing.

The newly comprehended technique belonged to the Water Element school. Because it was comprehended from the Solar Term Token and involved the heavenly truth of phenological change, it also counted as a Phenology Method.

Continuously supplementing advanced techniques and filling them into the Solar Term Token to perfect the Heaven-Earth power within it would allow reaching the second layer, Fixing the Celestial Season—changing heaven and earth on a large scale, commanding any season in an instant, producing all manner of incredible effects.

Used for attack, it becomes a natural disaster; used to nurture living beings, it can cause species to transform.

"When I came down from Spirit Mountain, I already felt my cultivation speed on the Water Element Dao greatly increase. The rain technique at that time was also completed early."

"The easiest thing for me to cultivate is Water Element techniques. Including later when I was officially appointed and went to the temple to receive techniques, the first thing I gained insight into was the Yushui diagram—it was just interrupted."

"But what should be mine will still be mine." Zhao Xing looked at the panel.

【Dripping Water: High-tier】

【Category: Water Element Technique, Phenology Method】

【Progress: First Revolution】

【Effect: Using the power of Water Element to gather the might of heaven and earth—one drop of water is heaven and earth.】

"As for the application of the Dripping Water Method, I wonder if it's in the Earth Mirror." Zhao Xing took out the Earth Mirror to check.

Upon reaching a high-tier technique, the application of techniques becomes more profound.

Having just comprehended the Dripping Water Method, he only had the simplest form of control. How to grow it, how to continue cultivating? Of course, through the experience of predecessors.

A quick search in the Earth Mirror quickly brought up many secret techniques related to Dripping Water.

Countless people have contemplated the Solar Term diagrams. To this day, comprehending an entirely new technique is already extremely difficult. Basically, whatever one comprehends on their own, others have already comprehended and developed many variations.

Zhao Xing's gaze fell on the top-ranked secret technique, also the highest-rated one in the Earth Mirror—【Dripping Water Domain】

【Dripping Water Domain is a set of four advanced secret techniques created based on the Dripping Water Method.】

【First secret technique 'Dripping Water into Lines': learnable at the first to third revolution of the Dripping Water Method. Controls up to nine water droplets to attack the enemy, connecting them into a line. Using the nine water droplets, one can trap, attack, or defend.】

【Second secret technique 'Hundred-Line Dripping Water Flow': requires the Dripping Water Method at the fourth to sixth revolution. Controls one hundred water droplets to attack the enemy.】

【Third secret technique 'Ten-Thousand-Line Dripping Water Flow': requires the Dripping Water Method at the seventh revolution. Raindrops form countless threads, layer upon layer of strangulation.】

【Fourth secret technique, 'Dripping Water Domain': requires the Dripping Water Method to be complete. Raindrops are infinite; wherever they cover becomes a domain, where life and death are decided.】

【The four secret techniques are profound and difficult to comprehend. They require spending points to purchase, used to pay the creator 'Nangong Ye' and the production cost of the transmission paintings.】

【First secret technique, includes 'one fifth-tier transmission painting', purchase cost: 50,000 points】

【Second secret technique, includes 'two fifth-tier transmission paintings', purchase cost: 150,000 points】

【Third secret technique, includes 'four fifth-tier transmission paintings', purchase cost: 300,000 points】

【Fourth secret technique, includes 'eight fifth-tier transmission paintings', purchase cost: 1,000,000 points】

【Note: Grade-A geniuses can receive a discount—upper, middle, and lower grades receive 30%, 20%, and 10% off respectively. Once purchased, no returns or resale. Please choose carefully!】

"Damn expensive." Zhao Xing couldn't help but complain. "Even with the discount, the first technique still costs 35,000 points."

But being expensive has its reasons.

【Dripping Water Domain】 not only provides the cultivation direction for the Dripping Water Method, but also the secret technique applications of it.

The same technique, when wielded by different people, produces different effects.

The Dao is the foundation, the technique is the manifestation, the art is the experience.

Take Feng Qiu—his wind techniques are more powerful than others' precisely because he developed several secret techniques from the wind techniques he learned.

The straw-man technique 'Willow Weaving Method' that Xue Wenzhong transmitted is the same. He obtained it from an expert surnamed Willow. Different weaving methods for straw-man techniques naturally produce different effects.

For example, the strange technique Zhao Xing wanted from Benwo Sect, the *Mystic-Yellow Essence-Dissolving Art*, is also fundamentally an Essence-Dissolving Art, and the version created by Mi Fu, through the aid of certain external objects, can grant a person a 'Pure Essence Soil' in advance!

Of course, Mi Fu's version can be said to be a new technique.

What he needs to buy now is the cultivation direction and secret arts of the Water-Drip Method.

If you think it's too expensive, you don't have to buy it—figure it out yourself.

To buy it, one must pay the production cost of the teaching painting, as well as a royalty to the founder.

If everything were free, the imperial court would find it hard to bear the burden; if creators were required to contribute for free, then no one would be willing to create, and everyone would just wait for others to do it.

"Looks like I'll have to find a way to earn points from now on," Zhao Xing muttered to himself.

But he wasn't in a rush to buy it now. After all, the might of a high-tier technique was right here—even the simplest application of it could not be withstood by more than a handful of people in the reserves.

Even if Zhao Xing only grasped the surface of a high-tier technique, it would be enough to let him look down on the other geniuses of the Agricultural Bureau.

"First, I'll finish this third-tier advancement battle, then we'll talk." Zhao Xing clicked on opponent matching in the Earth Mirror.

This part involves supplementing the cultivation system, and I'm a bit stuck on the writing—sorry. The following chapters may come out rather 'early'; you can read them when you get up.

If I'm still stuck and neither update is out by two o'clock, I may have to make up for it during the day.