Ha! Ha! Ha!

Zhang Qiang continuously raised and swung his sword. These simple actions appeared harmonic in Zhang Qiang's hands. It was as if he was subconsciously counting the rhythm of music. His sword was the violin's bow, and each swing mimicked the motions of a violinist.

Up. Down. Up. Down.

"Ahhhh!" Zhang Qiang abruptly shrieked. "I can't take this anymore!"

A fist-sized rock shot towards Zhang Qiang's head like a bullet. Upon impact, the rock shattered into many pieces.

The thrower, Ye Tian, in his black robes and mask, rested on a lounge chair whilst reading a book. Beside him, piles of similarly-sized rocks formed a tiny hill.

"Practice makes perfect. Keep going."

Zhang Qiang held his head in pain and indignantly looked at Ye Tian.

"I've been doing this for hours. I don't understand! Cultivators don't need to train their bodies, do they?"

"You're doing this to sharpen your swordsmanship. Blame it on your own lack of skill to even master a mid-mortal ability."

"I don't want to do this anymore," Zhang Qiang threw his sword to the ground. "Why should I even care about this stupid competition in the first place? It's just a jerk fest for talented, handsome men like Lu Ning." 

In the distance, multiple demon beasts squirmed whilst tied to the trees around Lu Ning. Electric bolts, magma, and other abilities were continuously thrown at him as he constantly dodged. Each one of his steps left behind a ripple that distorted the solid dirt. Occasionally, Lu Ning would be flung to the ground with a shriek, but he constantly stood back up to keep going. When the demon beasts stopped from the futileness of their predicament, Lu Ning would pick up patches of dirt or pebbles to throw and agitate the beasts.

Once all his qi was used up, he shouted out towards Ye Tian who released his aura in response. An invisible wave of pressure swept across the tied-up beasts. Immediately, they all quieted down with whimpers.

Aura was something that was formed upon entry into the elemental realm and serves as an exceptional tool at intimidation. When experts came face to face, a clash of aura helps determine who has the higher cultivation, but aura did not define victory or defeat as any cultivator could easily use a powerful tool, ability, or superior fighting tactics.

There was another name for aura: proto-domain.

Once qi is pure and thick enough, the invisible and incorporeal form of aura would solidify into a domain. However, some elemental realm cultivators were powerful enough to partially manifest their aura to a solid form. Different from half-step dao domain cultivators, this solid aura could only choke beings that were far weaker than the user itself.

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Lu Ning stretched his sore body and walked towards Ye Tian, “I only got hit 17 times this time.”

Ye Tian, without looking up from his book, criticized, “Enough to kill you.”

“Why can’t I use the rank two inscribed robes? The attacks really hurt.”

“Pain is a great teacher.”

“The only teacher around here,” grumbled Zhang Qiang who had gone back to swinging his sword. Immediately after, he was stung by a zap from Ye Tian’s black-red qi.

Ye Tian continued, "Relying on items is very bad. Once you reach higher realms, inscriptions become negligible."

"Why?" Lu Ning asked in surprise.

The question was not an easy one to answer as it required in-depth knowledge of inscriptions. Ye Tian put down his book to think for a moment before coming to a conclusion, "It should be because inscriptions use the natural qi around us. For elemental realms, our spiritual roots take on the attribute of elements. We take in natural qi and convert it to the more powerful elemental qi, so inscriptions are useless for us."

"Oh, okay. Then why aren't there any inscriptions that gather elemental qi?"

If you ask me then who do I ask? All I've done is read a few books on inscriptions. I don't know jack about actual inscribing.

Ye Tian used the mysterious smile of a master and hinted, "Formless qi does not beget change."

"I see..." Lu Ning nodded in a daze as if he truly understood the concept.

Hearing the rustle of nearby bushes, the two looked towards the noise. Lu Lan walked out while dragging the corpses of 2 rank one demon beasts. She was in poor shape. Her red robes were spotted with patches of dirt and ripped in certain parts. Loose strands of hair dangled in front of her forehead while the rest of her hair was disheveled. A sharp contrast to her normally well-kept hair.

Lu Lan's walked up to Ye Tian with the demon beast corpses and her voice quietly leaked out. "2 today." 

"You did well. Go get some rest."

She nodded and headed off to the area where everyone's tents lay. During this training period, Ye Tian had found the time to grab some and set them up. After all, sleeping on trees or ground was not part of the training.

Ye Tian took a glance at the demon beast corpses and went back to reading.

"You two make dinner today."

Zhang Qiang could not help but release a string of curses while Lu Ning sighed and got to work.

"I'm so sick of this," complained Zhang Qiang as he too walked over to the corpses with a sword.

"It'll be you three eating anyways."

After the rebirth realm, a cultivator's body was truly reborn as one no longer had to sleep, eat, nor excrete anything. The body also receives extra strengthening and one's vitality can extend 50 years. This was all due to the body being reformed by qi and the spiritual roots changing in nature

Soon, the smell of roasted wild game permeated throughout the air.

They're getting good at this. I might have some.

Ye Tian walked over to where a giant slab of meat was hung on a rotating grill.

"I'll take some."

Lu Ning was slowly rotating the grill while sprinkling seasoning, and Zhang Qiang had gone off to get more wood for the campfire. Abiding by Ye Tian's command, Lu Ning took out two porcelain plates, retrieved from the tents earlier, and put portions on both.

"Master, can you take the other to Lu Lan? She should be hungry."

"Sure."

Ye Tian walked to Lu Lan's white tent and reached out to open it but stopped at the last second.

I know this trap.

Choosing a different option, Ye Tian called out, "Lu Lan, dinner time."

"Leave it."

Per her request, Ye Tian left the food at the entrance of the tent and walked away.

After he left, a hand reached out and took the plate in.