When Liu Xing thought about a shield technique to create a step in the air, he imagined materializing the shield right beneath his feet so he could jump higher. The idea sent a shiver of excitement down his spine.
Leaping from the shield, he landed on the ground with a soft thud, dismissing the shield as he touched down. Now, if he could summon this shield again in any position he liked, he could turn it into a flying step.
Summoning the shield once more, Liu Xing willed it to materialize in front of him, facing upward. Indeed, the shield appeared right before his chest in the correct position without fanfare, as if it had been invisible and suddenly turned visible. It hovered silently, its green gem glowing softly, which relieved Liu Xing. He didn't need to send qi from his bullets every time he summoned the shield.
He dismissed the shield again and tried to summon it behind him. After several attempts, he finally succeeded. Turning around, he found the shield floating lazily like a bubble right in front of his face.
Liu Xing dismissed and summoned the shield several more times. He willed it to appear in front of him again, behind him, at his side, and even above his head.
Liu Xing also tried to gauge how far away he could summon the shield, imagining that he could materialize it wherever his sight pointed. But after several attempts, he realized he could only materialize the shield within about a half meter around him, which wasn't bad at all.
"Now, for the final experiment," he muttered.
Excitement filling his chest, Liu Xing cycled his qi around his feet, kicked the ground as hard as possible, and launched himself into the air. His hair and robe fluttered in the cool night breeze, the ground growing farther away with each passing second. As gravity tried to pull him down, Liu Xing cycled his qi to summon the shield. He willed it to appear right beneath his feet.
For a moment, he fell, and then he stopped. Looking down, he saw that the shield with its glowing green gem had become a floating platform holding him aloft.
He chuckled, feeling elation bubble up in his heart. It seemed he could really use the shield to replace Air Steps.
Liu Xing jumped higher into the sky, materialized the shield, and jumped from it again. He repeated this several times, turning the night sky into his playground. At first, he needed to concentrate on where the shield should materialize, but after a while, Liu Xing felt he could trust the shield to appear exactly where he wanted it.
Liu Xing started to maneuver more elaborately. He bounced around in the sky, sometimes flying vertically, sometimes horizontally, and even diagonally. The stars twinkled above him, seeming to dance in rhythm with his movements.
Smiling, Liu Xing decided to up his game. He summoned his gun, activated Lightning Cloak, and bounced around so fast he looked like a bolt of lightning ricocheting across the night sky.
He started to laugh, feeling the adrenaline course through his body. With this technique, he felt stronger. After all, now Liu Xing could move freely, whether on the ground or in the sky. Moreover, this was a shield. While it could be used as a step, its true purpose was for defense.
Liu Xing ceased his fancy maneuvers and began jumping from shield to shield horizontally, as if he were crossing a wide river by leaping from stone to stone.
He started moving north, thinking it was time to go to Second Gray Cloud City. He moved from the plain grassland and entered a forested area. But just then, the shield materialized beneath his feet, and when he stepped on it, there was no resistance. Glancing at the shield, he realized the green gem wasn't shining, and it fell like a normal shield would.
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Since the shield couldn't be used as a stepping stone, gravity exerted its authority and pulled Liu Xing downward with the shield. Although he was high in the sky, he wasn't too high for the fall to hurt him. Instead, he focused on the falling shield.
Grabbing the shield, Liu Xing thought it might need to be recharged occasionally. From the start of his experiment until now, about half an hour had passed. So, he assumed the shield could float for half an hour at a time.
Liu Xing reloaded the gun and used the bullets to recharge the shield. The green gem now shone brightly again, and it stopped falling. Liu Xing grabbed the floating shield, then pulled himself up until he stood on it.
"All right, looks like the experiment time is over," he said, his voice barely audible over the whistling wind.
Next was to get many more treasures, defeat Wei Yi, and then become an inner disciple.
***
Mystic Moon City was one of the cities that didn't belong to a country. It was a self-governing city, almost like a tiny nation.
Once, this city was under a nation called White Bone Nation. This nation was a vassal of Purple Moon Sect, and while not the greatest, it was a fine nation. The people were blessed with fertile land, and the rulers had access to many cultivation scriptures and techniques. But in the past, the king of that nation decided to be greedy and sold himself to a demonic cultivator, daring to betray Purple Moon Sect. Needless to say, Purple Moon Sect was enraged, and the result was the disbanding of White Bone Nation and the scattering of cities without owners.
Some of them formed nations, some were gobbled up by neighboring countries, and some became independent cities like Mystic Moon City. This Second Gray Cloud City was one of the many cities which, after the ruin of White Bone Nation, was attacked and annexed by an empire called the Twelve Sun Empire.
Liu Xing stood atop his shield high in the sky. Looking down, he could see the entire expanse of Second Gray Cloud City. In the center of the city, a giant river split the city into two parts. He couldn't see the details, but it was said that many rivers branched from that great river.
Liu Xing willed his shield to descend. It lowered slowly, as if he were riding an elevator, and this time, Liu Xing preferred a slow descent rather than falling like a rock. He suspected he was floating as high as an airplane on Earth, and even if he was a sixth stage Lock Opening realm cultivator, he would be injured if he fell from this height. He hadn't actually planned to go this high, he'd just gotten carried away, trying to swim inside a white cloud.
As he descended, Liu Xing thought about the three treasures he needed to get from this city. He had already memorized the information about these three treasures, and he knew the landmark that could lead him to these three treasures. He just needed to find that landmark.
Looking down, he predicted he would land in the center of the city, and he tried to recall which treasure was nearest to this landmark.
After descending for half an hour, Liu Xing finally could see individual buildings below. From this height, Liu Xing felt he would be able to land safely, so he decided to dismiss the shield and free fall. He saw many people bustling around on the streets, mingling with horses and donkeys pulling carriages. There were also many tents and buildings that looked semi-permanent, as well as roads that branched here and there, creating a maze. Liu Xing realized he would land in a market.
He considered resummoning his shield and using it as a springboard to land in a less crowded area, but ultimately decided against it. While he would land in the middle of a market, the exact place he would touch down was actually a less crowded street with a nice, well-painted building on the side.
As he fell, Liu Xing saw many people tilting their heads and pointing at him. He ignored them, focusing on the ground that grew closer every second. When he landed, a small cloud of dust formed around him, concealing him for a moment.
Liu Xing lightly slapped his robe to remove the dust and looked around. This street, while not crowded, still had many people. Liu Xing realized that each building lining the street was a store. To his right, there was a store with a glass display, showing a mannequin wearing a beautiful red dress with white trimming. Peeking from that store's door were several wide-eyed girls, as if they couldn't believe what they had just seen.