Book 3: Chapter 34: Pinching Ice and Snow

Thunder Academy’s students suddenly appeared on Heaven Ascension Mountain Range. There was naturally a deeper meaning behind this.

Even the students of all different departments hurried over to this Half Snow Gray Plains to cultivate, this perhaps also having some deeper meanings. However, there was no way Lin Xi could figure this out on his own, so he just decided not to think about it anymore, instead considering the problem of his future cultivation from here on.

His eyes stopped over the dozens of strips of meat, jerky, and other simple jars in front of him.

These Thunder Academy students’ spoils of war, even though it wasn’t all that astonishing, it should already be enough to last him for the two and a half days, as well as the two day return journey.

That was why he already didn’t have to waste any more time on the search of food.

Apart from using his own unique ability, was there any other method of defeating an opponent like Wanyan Muye?

Lin Xi began to think about this problem.

He normally wouldn’t think about things he couldn’t figure out, or issues that were too far out, but an opponent on Wanyan Muye’s level already appeared in his world, so he had to spend some time thinking about this. What the principal already stated very clearly on the monument left for him was that no one in this world was unmatched, and the ability the two shared could only be used once a day.

Just like how he already used this ability today, if he encountered someone else at this level, what would happen then?

Wanyan Muye’s blade already left him shaken to the point where the area between his thumb and index finger split apart. It it wasn’t because he was already used to holding onto his weapon and facing his opponent while his arms were extremely sore already, if it wasn’t because he was used to intense pain, Wanyan Muye’s blade might have already knocked his weapon out of his hand.

Even if it was him who did an upward thrust, he still couldn’t easily make the body of an opponent on his level spin in the air.

That was why Wanyan Muye had perhaps already reached high level Soul Knight cultivation, his strength, under the support of soul force, probably exceeds his own by close to a hundred jin.

Lin Xi sat down on a rock, thinking to himself for a long time. Finally, the frown between his brows loosened.

Then, he put away all of these meat strips, bringing a jar and a torch next to the creek. After starting a fire, he began to boil a pot of water. He tossed a piece of plump fox meat inside, starting to cook a pot of meat soup.

When the soup completely boiled, before waiting for it to become even richer, Lin Xi already put out the fire. He sat down, facing the distant snow line, starting to sip on the soup. His gaze, however, continuously moved upwards, moving further and further up the snow line, eventually reaching the snowy peak hidden beneath the clouds.

The continuous snowy peaks that reached beyond the clouds, the summits not even clearly visible, were precisely the Heaven Ascension Mountain Range, as well as the unknown place Lin Xi wanted to climb over and explore.

With his current cultivation, it was obviously impossible.

However, as he sipped on the hot meat soup, finished all of the fox meat in the pot, Lin Xi then stood up. He tightened the black cloak around himself, and then wrote a line of words on the ground: “I am going to cultivate.” Then, he began to quickly move upwards, walking towards the frigid peaks covered under ice and snow.

…

Lin Xi already thought things through extremely clearly.

During his days of cultivation in Green Luan Academy, he had also learned much more from An Keyi, Tong Wei, and the others. He knew that soul force cultivation training really was just like using a bowl to collect small drops of water trickling out of a rock crack, what one had to rely on was the accumulation of time. That was why in this world, for cultivators who didn’t have much of a difference in aptitude, it was normally the greater the age, the more profound their cultivation. However, apart from a few spiritual pills, there was another type of method that could make the effects of soul force training even greater, which was to sharpen one’s willpower and spirit. When the body reached its limit, when one’s spirit and willpower reached true sharpening, the effects of cultivation would become even better.

This was the truth that Green Luan Academy’s Ailao Mountain concluded after analyzing a tremendous amount of cases and data.

As for the reasoning, Lin Xi believed that this soul force should precisely be the power created through spirit and willpower. The greater one’s spirit and willpower were naturally, the more powerful the soul force produced through cultivation would be.

Lin Xi also previously discussed the normal speed of cultivation with An Keyi in detail. According to An Keyi’s judgment of his soul force cultivation, without the support of medicinal goods, his soul force cultivation speed was indeed a bit slower than others, roughly only eighty percent of others. Meanwhile, Lin Xi’s speed of entering meditation cultivation was also number one among the new students, so An Keyi’s final verdict was naturally that Lin Xi’s aptitude was poor.

However, the conclusion Lin Xi reached was instead entirely different, because he was ‘two bowls of water’. That was why eighty percent speed, was the result divided by two. His true cultivation speed, was instead 1.6 times that of a normal student.

However, even if ordinary Green Luan Academy students could spend eight hours in true meditation cultivation, and he had two hours more, resulting in ten hours of meditation, there was no way he would have a six hour increase in cultivation speed.

That was why towards the extra speed, he believed that it was because he suffered more each day… that the torment and tribulations he experienced each day were much greater than what ordinary students experienced.

Ultimately, the more one suffered, the stronger one’s spirit and willpower would become, the faster their cultivation speed would be.

That was why previously, in the Direct Spear Strikes Trial, he already released a sigh. This cultivation, it really was suffering.

Wanyan Muye was indeed not someone who he could face head-on, but An Keyi also told him that a high level Soul Knight’s soul force, compared to a mid level Soul Knight, was basically double. When he calculated it like that, the ‘two bowls’ Lin Xi’s soul force was already about the same as Wanyan Muye’s.

Then, as long as he made further breakthroughs in cultivation, on the true battlefield, even if he could only use his ability once a day, when he faced someone like Wanyan Muye, he had a way of dealing with this opponent — exhaust the other party’s soul force.

In this Half Snow Gray Plains, there was no Direct Spear Strikes Trial or Blade and Spear Trial, but it had a vile environment that could similarly push his spirit to the absolute limit.

…

Because he purposely ‘tormented’ himself for the sake of cultivation, Lin Xi walked even faster, not hesitating to exhaust his stamina, continuously closing in on the snow line.

He already thought things through extremely clearly, but what he didn’t know was that in Heaven’s Core, on the wall within Vice Principal Xia’s simple and crude study, was a line of flamboyant and bold cursive calligraphy.

These words were similarly left behind by Principal Zhang, eight characters in total: “Between life and death, there is great terror.”

What was different, however, was that these eight words were written in the characters everyone in Green Luan Academy and Yunqin recognized, and not the simplified chinese characters Lin Xi was used to from his past world.

To continuously challenge the limits of his own body and spirit to cultivate, this was indeed another way besides using some pill medicines to cultivate. However, this great terror between life and death, was just like how all cultivators had to first sense their own soul force, a threshold they had to overcome.

Using true limits and danger to temper oneself… what if one accidentally died?

As a cultivator, aside from obtaining abilities that exceeded those of an ordinary person, one could also then acquire glory, splendor, wealth, and rank. Even the most inferior cultivators, could at the very least attach themselves to an official, never have to worry about food or clothing.

In the end, there still weren’t that many cultivators in this world, so it was easier to obtain fame and profit… That was why those who could truly reach a point where they didn’t hesitate to risk their lives for their own convictions became even more precious. As such, from the very start, Li Kaiyun already received the welcome of ‘Madman Qin’.

Just because you could overlook fear once in life and death, did that mean you could ignore fear many times in the future? Perhaps even true warriors could not reach a point where they are truly fearless.

That was why for those who decided to cultivate, there was still the most important point, which was mentality.

There were some who weren’t too restricted by fame and profile, some whose view of the world was more simple, some not attached to material things, didn’t pity themselves… When one’s heart was more calm, they would naturally enter meditation cultivation more easily. The stronger one’s convictions, those with true bravery, were closer to becoming fearless.

Meanwhile, as someone who had already died once, already completely understood what was important to him, he knew what he really wanted. He was just a simple tourist, together with his redo life saving tool, this ‘between life and death, there is great terror’, this threshold, for Lin Xi, didn’t exist at all.

…

Up ahead, water gradually turned to ice, the white air that he breathed out gradually turning into fine streaks of ice. The trees along the way slowly became low shrubbery, and then eventually completely disappeared, only strange ice and snow corroded by all types of mountain winds and time were visible.

Night fell. Lin Xi sat down within a cave where he could slightly take shelter from the wind, entering meditation cultivation.

Because his once a day ability still hadn’t returned yet, despite being extremely worn out from the first half of the day, his body still feeling like he was in an ice bath, he still kept a bit of stamina, not directly challenging his own limits. After crossing the snow line, as he climbed further, he still remained extremely careful, checking that he wouldn’t fall into the ice and snow after every step, and only then would he continue further.

However, he still discovered that he underestimated the terror of Heaven Ascension Mountain Range.

Before sunrise the next day, he was already forcibly roused awake from the cold. A large amount of stamina he saved up had almost completely vanished under the cold of the night.

A large amount of ice and snow that came from who knew where completely covered a small frozen valley, turning it into a snow lake.

The piercing cold left his entire body numb, momentarily unable to move. At the same time, he almost couldn’t breathe.

At first, Lin Xi was still a bit alarmed, but soon afterwards, peace returned to his heart, because when he woke up, that energy stream like soul force in his dantian began to release bits of heat, his almost frozen stiff body also starting to revive.

This way, no matter how difficult the environment was, as long as he was still able to throw out a help seeking ‘Stench Egg’, the academy’s lecturers would still bring him out of his pitfall.

…

A smear of golden light scattered across the towering Heaven Ascension Mountain Range, the sun rose.

Above Heaven Ascension Mountain Range’s snow line, heavy snowfall poured down, the mountain winds also stronger than yesterday. Within this place, there was even a bit of frozen dregs and fragmented icy edges flying around.

However, Lin Xi who already didn’t have much stamina left, after finishing a piece of smoked meat, instead walked out from this cave that blocked a bit of the wind, welcoming the even colder and crazier wind and snow.

It was because the roulette that he could move already appeared, and he could feel that the longer he spent in this type of bone piercing extreme coldness, the clearer the shaking in the veins of his arms would become.

In front of the snow lake, while standing on a protruding ice chunk that was about a person’s height, he reached out his hands.

His hands and arms quickly became cold to the point of almost being frozen, but the feeling between the flesh of his palm and fingers instead became even sharper.

Suddenly, three fingers reached out, pinching a strand of cold wind, pinching a snowflake.

In that instant, he seemed to be able to sense where this strand of cold wind came from, and then where it was going to flow towards, how much strength it carried. He could even sense how this snowflake melted on his fingertips, how much energy it sucked away from his fingertips.

With a slight shake of his three fingers, he flung aside the snowflake that had just melted into water.

The fine water droplets instantly formed frozen strands in the air. Meanwhile, at the same time, in Lin Xi’s brain, there was an arrow that flew out from between his fingertips.

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