They all became female demons after being reborn.

Chapter 31: Lightness Skill Improved, Heading to Sword Pavilion to Meet Qingque

Gong Yuqing glared at him, "Be careful not to bite off more than you can chew."

"Master, my teeth are fine," Wu Cheng explained. "What I need now is to learn more skills, and then refine them. If I can't find the most suitable ones for me, then rashly learning from the experience of my predecessors might not be so suitable for me."

"Hmph, you've got some ideas, kid."

Gong Yuqing pursed her lips and continued, "Then let's take it one step at a time. Our Wentian Sect's lightness skill is divided into three levels. The lowest level is a physical technique called Flying Cloud Step, which is a basic footwork that all disciples in the sect must learn in their first year. Its main purpose is to assist in the cultivation of mental techniques. Since your physical foundation is already established, you can skip this level."

"The intermediate level of our Wentian Sect's lightness skill is the technique of application, which is called the Flowing Cloud Step. After mastering it, not only is the endurance strong, but the burst of speed in a short time can also allow for a second change of direction in the air without using any force, making it easy to deal with most of the pursuit and escape in the martial arts world."

"The superior one is the Soaring Cloud Step, which requires a thick amount of true qi and a fine control over it. Once mastered, one can turn seven times in the air without any support, and walk on clouds as if on flat ground, and even walk tens of feet in the air as if strolling in a garden."

Wu Cheng seemed to be deep in thought. "Master, could this Soaring Cloud Step also be prepared for the Innate Realm?"

"Smart." Gong Yuqing nodded. "Those born at the Innate level can manipulate the void, but it consumes too much true energy, so they generally don't use it. This Soaring Cloud Step is an attempt to do this in advance, and it is also a preparation for breaking through to the Innate level."

Wu Cheng nodded.

As expected of the Wentian Sect, all their cultivation techniques are transformed into innate ones.

It is well known that in the martial arts world, cultivation techniques that can generate true qi are treasures, and countless people would fight tooth and nail for a single manual that can generate true qi.

However, within the Wentian Sect, any cultivation technique that cannot reach the Innate Realm is considered unworthy of serious consideration.

Gong Yuqing said, "Xiao Cheng, today I will first teach you the Flowing Cloud Steps."

Wu Cheng cupped his hands in a respectful gesture, saying, "Please enlighten me, Master."

Gong Yuqing walked to the edge of the stone platform with his hands behind his back, then turned around and faced away from the surging sea of ​​clouds. "The mental formula of the Flowing Cloud Step only has twenty-four characters."

She read it out slowly and deliberately: "Qi suspends at Baihui, spirit guards Yongquan, lotus blossoms bloom on the soles of the feet, body is like a flying kite, clouds come without a trace, clouds go without a return."

After she finished reading, she asked Wu Cheng, "Xiao Cheng, how do you understand these twenty-four characters?"

Wu Cheng pondered for a moment.

In his previous life, he had seen many bloggers online analyzing martial arts and the physical principles and logic of light-body skills in various movies and TV shows or in real life. However, most of them were just theoretical discussions. Wu Cheng only thought they were cool and would just exclaim "Holy crap!"

But now he has mastered two top-tier cultivation techniques and has a deep understanding of how true qi circulates in the meridians.

Now, when I hear this incantation again, the images that come to mind are quite different.

Baihui (GV20) is an acupoint located at the top center of the head, while Yongquan (KI1) is an acupoint located on the sole of the foot.

"The Qi is suspended at Baihui, and the spirit is guarded at Yongquan" means to raise the true Qi upward to create an upward pulling force, while the consciousness stabilizes the lower body's center of gravity.

"Lotus Blossoms from the Soles of the Feet" refers to the true energy gushing out from the Yongquan acupoint on the soles of the feet. Combined with the exquisite micro-management he practiced with swordsmanship last night, if he adds a spiral force or spring force or other subtle techniques when gushing out the true energy from the Yongquan acupoint, the explosive power can definitely be increased by more than one level.

This so-called "lotus" might actually represent the circulation of true energy.

"Body like a flying kite" refers to maintaining a streamlined body shape to reduce air resistance, and even to achieve twice the result with half the effort by using wind and airflow to lift the body when moving.

"Clouds come without a trace, clouds go without a return" means that the footwork should be so subtle that it leaves no trace, so that the enemy cannot predict the trajectory of his movements.

Wu Cheng roughly explained his understanding using language that the world could understand.

Gong Yuqing nodded subconsciously after hearing this.

This kid is truly a monster; he can grasp eight-tenths of the essence even on his first listen.

She suppressed the satisfaction in her eyes and continued calmly, "The formula is just a formula; putting it into practice requires some unique skills."

Gong Yuqing raised her slender, white index finger and said, "First, the true qi must be released through the Yongquan acupoint. The true qi in your body comes out from the dantian, goes down along the Shaoyin meridian of the foot, and finally condenses into a vortex at the Yongquan acupoint and maintains its state."

"Remember, use one foot to rotate clockwise and the other counterclockwise."

Then she raised her second finger, "Secondly, there are two types of vortex release. The first type does not require a fast rotation speed, but it must be even, and the release of true qi must be stable. At this time, the person is light and does not leave the ground. When walking on narrow paths, climbing cliffs, or passing through dense forests, it feels as if there is a layer of air cushion supporting the feet, allowing one to travel for a long time without getting tired. If the true qi is sufficient, traveling hundreds of miles a day is not difficult."

"The original master created this technique to speed up his journey."

Wu Cheng asked curiously, "Master, why don't you ride a horse?"

Gong Yuqing glanced at him wistfully, "Because I'm poor."

Wu Cheng: "..."

reasonable.

"The other is explosive," Gong Yuqing continued. "As long as you accelerate the rotation of the Qi vortex at the Yongquan acupoint, compress it to its limit, and then unleash it, you can rush a great distance at extremely high speed. However, this technique consumes a great deal of true Qi, and if your meridians are not strong enough, it can also injure your body. You need to practice diligently to get used to that sudden burst of speed. Otherwise, if you rush out and can't react in time, wouldn't you just be running into someone's swords and dying?"

Wu Cheng seemed to be deep in thought.

Gong Yuqing then extended a third finger, "The last one is the trick to changing direction. Ordinary light-body skills rely on twisting the waist or pushing off the ground with the toes to change direction, but the Flowing Cloud Step is different. It relies on the true qi to borrow power from the soles of the feet to change direction, so it can change direction in mid-air."

"It's actually simple in some ways and difficult in others. The main thing is that when you change direction, you need to instantly remove the air vortex from one of your feet and supply all the extra true energy to the other foot. Only with double the true energy can you create an air cushion that you can use to gain leverage in mid-air. Combined with the method of bursting true energy, you can change direction out of thin air."

"The difficulty of this technique lies in your ability to perceive subtle details precisely, and the strength of your meridians and acupoints to support a sudden, doubled burst of true energy. Do you understand?"

Wu Cheng nodded. "Understood."

Thanks to classical mechanics, going to school is really useful!

Gong Yuqing was no longer shocked. She pointed to the edge of the stone platform and said, "Try it over there. Go from here to there. Don't worry, with your master here, you won't fall."

Wu Cheng nodded, then took a deep breath and manipulated his true energy to flow down the Foot Shaoyin Meridian and converge at the Yongquan acupoint.

Then he began to condense the true energy in the soles of his feet into a vortex, one clockwise and one counterclockwise.

When the two cyclones first started spinning, he swayed and almost lost his balance, but he quickly stabilized the rotation speed and brought the two cyclones to the same speed.

Then he took a step forward.

As Gong Yuqing watched his steps transition from a slight sway in the first three steps to a steady and even pace within five steps, her willow-leaf eyebrows lifted almost imperceptibly for a moment.

It took her half an hour to complete it in one go... and her master even praised her as a genius...

After Wu Cheng became familiar with the situation, he began to try to unleash his full potential.

He suddenly increased the speed of his foot rotation, compressed the true qi in his Yongquan acupoint to its limit, and then stomped down hard.

As if a spring had snapped open, his body shot out seven or eight zhang in an instant, but he staggered four or five steps before regaining his footing.

Gong Yuqing's voice came from behind, "Use the technique you just used for traveling. This burst technique is for breaking through stalemates. You still need to try it more. When I was young..."

Before she could finish speaking, she saw Wu Cheng rush back, this time without stumbling.

In just a few breaths, he was able to switch between the two states at will, the process as smooth as Dove chocolate.

Gong Yuqing pursed her lips and decisively chose to keep quiet.

Wu Cheng walked to the edge of the stone platform without hesitation and then slowly exhaled.

Gong Yuqing's expression changed, and she quickly said, "Wait—!"

Before she could finish speaking, Wu Cheng leaped off the cliff, more than three zhang away.

The mountain breeze paused for a moment, and his robes fluttered slightly in mid-air, his movements as light as if he were being carried by a cloud.

The next moment, he seemed to use the force of his feet to bounce back onto the stone platform.

Looking up, Wu Cheng revealed a bright and sunny smile, "Master, I think I've mastered it."

Gong Yuqing remained silent for a long while.

It took her ten days to achieve that mid-air change of direction, Bai Suying took three days, and this kid... less than an incense stick's time.

"You've already mastered the Flowing Cloud Steps," Gong Yuqing said calmly, as if it were perfectly normal. "The rest is just a matter of practice makes perfect, requiring constant refinement. By the way, how does your Yongquan acupoint feel? Is it burning or painful?"

Wu Cheng nodded, "I understand."

Then he shook his head, "No, it's just that there's a slight heat around the Yongquan acupoint."

Gong Yuqing fell silent again.

Wu Cheng then asked, "Master, what's the next step?"

Gong Yuqing took out a palm-sized copper talisman from her sleeve and tossed it to him.

Wu Cheng took it and looked down. He saw that the front of the bronze talisman was engraved with a small sword, and the back had two small seal characters: Sword Pavilion.

"This is the Sword Pavilion's training talisman. Go to the Sword Pavilion later and give this talisman to Dugu Moli. She will personally guide you."

After a pause, Gong Yuqing added, "Xiaobai is the chief of the Sword Pavilion, and your maid Xiao Qingque is also there. You can go and see her too."

Wu Cheng accepted the bronze talisman, then looked up and asked, "Master, what about you?"

"I'm going back to catch up on my sleep!" Gong Yuqing said confidently, hands on her hips. "You brat, learning so fast is no fun. I'm leaving!"