"Qingcheng'er has done it!" Su Ran stared at the radiant Su Qingcheng, who was emitting a faint but radiant rainbow glow. This was actually not dissimilar to the phenomenon she exhibited when she demonstrated her Penta-Essence Tianqi paths when she was much younger. Now that her Tianqi paths were slowly being reconstructed due to the mysterious medicinal properties of the Rainbow Phoenix Elixir that Yao Meiyue had brewed, Su Qingcheng could feel the power returning to her slowly. Though she had been demoted to Tianqi User again, she felt like she could comfortably reach Tianqi Geomancer status in about a year's time.
After a time, the glow finally completely faded, representing that Su Qingcheng's body had restored itself. Yawning, Su Qingcheng stood up and gave her mother and sister a hug. "Mother, sister, I am tired. I'm sorry to have brought a commotion up," Su Qingcheng sheepishly apologized. Su Yanran just smiled while Su Ran quickly dispelled any notions of attempting to feel guilty, urging Su Qingcheng to get some rest. This would end up being news that would shake up the entire Tang Gu City, which was already aware that the prodigy of the Su Clan had gotten in a freak accident that totally destroyed her Tianqi paths. Though regrettable, they would never be able to conceive the notion that Su Qingcheng would not only fix herself up, but demonstrate an even greater potential than before.
Naturally this was due to the Rainbow Phoenix Elixir, which not only could fix broken Tianqi paths, but also because it only worked on people who had Penta-Essence (hence the 'rainbow' in its name) it would also add an extra power and strength to the person who consumed it. By the time Su Qingcheng woke up the following morning, it was already noon – clearly she needed extra time to rest and let the turbulent energy within her settle slightly. You've woken up. Good, the elixir's effect has exceeded my expectations. You need to acquire a training room as soon as possible. We will begin today.
"Eh…"
Su Qingcheng yawned and got up, quickly getting herself ready – she would normally wake up several hours earlier, but the process of repairing her Tianqi paths of course took a lot of time. However, due to possessing Penta-Essence, her body was more sensitive to the geocentric energy in the air, allowing the energy to seep into her skin more easily. This undoubtedly expedited the process. Smiling, Su Qingcheng felt at her peak, something she didn't feel in the past four years that she suffered humiliation and ridicule. When she stepped out of the room, it was unexpected that the entire household already knew about the affairs of the previous night. Many of the Su clan folks looked at Su Qingcheng more respectfully and politely nodded or bowed towards her. Su Qingcheng felt a bit awkward as she was used to these people looking down on her. Clearly, nobody could expect that the energy ripple was because Su Qingcheng had actually re-awakened her Tianqi paths. However, this was actually further from the truth. The phenomenon was actually the energy caused by the forming of the Rainbow Phoenix Elixir, which could be considered to be a unicorn horn in the elixir world, a godly panacea that could fix even the unfixable problem of broken Tianqi paths. Thinking about this, Su Qingcheng now wondered what kind of amazing background Yao Meiyue possessed to even make such a miracle medicine from seemingly mundane ingredients.
Yao Meiyue kept mum on this matter so Su Qingcheng didn't want to probe any further than keeping the thoughts to herself. Soon, Su Qingcheng went to a hallway where many of her extended family youngsters were idling about or entering or exiting rooms. This hallway was actually informally labeled the Tiger's Den, it was composed of many training rooms. Originally, Su Qingcheng had a private room in this Tiger's Den but it had been abandoned ever since she lost her power. Now that she had gotten it back, Su Ran had already gotten this room cleaned up. Smiling, Su Qingcheng put a sign on the front door that said "DO NOT DISTURB" as she entered her private training room.
Breathing deeply, Su Qingcheng stretched as Yao Meiyue appeared from the necklace again, nodding in approval. This room is not bad. It looks like they took great pains to ensure you would have an optimal training environment. Penta-Essence users are a heaven-defying existence and are incredibly high maintenance. I can tell that the Tianqi mist in this room would be considered abnormal for anyone who isn't at least a Quadra-Essence user. Su Qingcheng naturally knew this as she had used this training room before. She sat cross legged on the lotus-shaped seat in the center of the room.
Yao Meiyue stood in front of her, urging the youngster to take out the Nightflower Tome she received last night. After taking it out, Su Qingcheng opened it and the entire room suddenly became darker, as if being blanketed by the night sky. The tome was evidently just as mysterious as its author! Gasping, Yao Meiyue laughed. Don't be alarmed, it'll be clear later on when you are ready. Anyway, this Nightflower Tome does contain all my personal techniques and Tianqi channeling skills. I assume you know the difference between techniques and earth divination? The idea of Tianqi Geomancy actually came from an ancient civilization which specialized in a method to channel the Tianqi around them. They were recorded into a kind of channeling method known as 'earth divination.' Such a method would be classified into "Tianqi Earth Divination." Since young, every person would have an inclination towards some kind of earth divination skill, thus there would undoubtedly be countless kinds of earth divination skills in the world compiled by various clans and powerful factions.
Techniques were similar, except instead of directly absorbing the energy and essence like you would in earth divination, techniques were a way to externally release the energy obtained from divination. Su Qingcheng of course learned about this before and easily could match these ideas to ideas in her past life. "Geomancy" in her past life came from the Ancient Greek word for "Earth Divination," which allowed her to easily comprehend the internal and external nature of Tianqi. However, she was still a little wet behind the ears.
"Yea, I understand the basic concepts. But I am still a bit foggy on the power level hierarchy," Su Qingcheng sighed. "It's a bit complex even for me."
Hmm, I guess this is true. You were too young when the accident happened so it was too early to introduce you. But you've got your talent back so it isn't too late. What do you know right now? Yao Meiyue played with her hair as she spoke.
"I know that similar to how Tianqi Users are divided to stratums, techniques and earth divinations are classified into ranks. The higher the rank, the stronger or higher potential a method or technique has," Su Qingcheng explained. "I know currently of three ranks – Foundation Rank, Sky Rank and Heaven Rank. Furthermore, each rank has a bottom, middle and top class. But I know mother told me that the continent is vast and there's more to everything than meets the eye."
Your mother is right. There is a fourth heaven-defying rank; this is the Universe Rank. Universe Rank techniques and divinations are very rare. I believe in my entire life, I have only seen two people practice Universe Rank methods. Even the Nightflower Tome composed of my entire life experiences, will most likely peak at a Top Class Heaven Rank method. However…
"However?"
Today I will impart to you something. Something that I feel only you can do, to continue where I have failed.
"I don't get it, Master. Explain?"
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I'm sure you have a lot of questions about my background. I'll explain it to you when I feel you are ready. However, I believe you deserve to know at least a little bit. Actually, when I was alive, I was a Penta-Essence user like yourself. That is why I know how to prepare Rainbow Phoenix Elixir. I was very lucky to come across the recipe for it in a dangerous expedition. As the only Penta-Essence user I knew, I decided to study further to try and develop my techniques and methods to break into Universe Rank.
"What happened next?" Su Qingcheng became very interested in Yao Meiyue's story.
Unfortunately, this really isn't so simple. I believe creating a Universe Rank method from scratch could only be done by a Tianqi God, and even I was only half-a-step into that realm before my physical body was destroyed.
Su Qingcheng could only gasp when Yao Meiyue confessed that she was half-a-step into literally becoming a god before she became a spirit. Now, she was definitely curious about the method she would learn.
Eventually, I instead did research towards the end of my life on the Natural Treasures of the world. I discovered that my techniques would actually be adaptable to these mysterious phenomena. As I only had Night Lily Foxfire, I couldn't develop it that much. But I believe that since you have the same constitution as me, I believe you can achieve something even greater than me.
"Eh? What? So you developed a technique that could actually harness the power of Relic-Class Natural Treasures and… Enhance itself?!"
Hmm. That should be the case. As a result, I named it the Nightblossom Method, it is a step up from the Nightflower techniques in that tome. However, since you don't have any Natural Treasures, the method peaks only at Middle Class Sky Rank. But as a Tianqi User of your standing, this should already be enough to sustain you for now.
"Amazing… A Middle Class Sky Rank method?! The highest method in the Su clan libraries only reach Top Class Foundational Rank! Mother is keeping all the powerful stuff to herself, keke…" Su Qingcheng sighed wistfully.
This is why the first thing I need to teach you is how to harness the five essences and channel them into your body. As you know, the mark of a peak Tianqi User before breaking through is to be able to enact external essence changes onto your own body flawlessly. Therefore, along with practicing the method, I will impart to you my bread-and-butter movement skill, the Nightblossom Movement "Frog Style!"
"Frog Style? That sounds… That doesn't sound very imposing." Su Qingcheng resisted the urge to laugh at something that sounds so silly. It reminded her of something a ninja would do. After all, she was an author in her past life. Such references would not escape her that easily.
Don't underestimate it. By using Nightflower Tianqi, it will allow you to leap high and stick to the walls! This is the foundation of every powerful movement skill I will teach you in the future. Furthermore, it requires an incredibly skillful usage and control of the Tianqi. By mastering it sooner, you'll progress in strength much faster.
Yao Meiyue, with a whisk of her sleeves, caused the tome to open in a seemingly random page. Su Qingcheng peered at it, unaware that the darkness of the room persisted, not only that, it got even darker. The words seemed to glow fiercely in the dark. She studied the text intently, learning that in order to create the Nightflower Tianqi, you had to merge the basic essences of Wood, Earth and Metal together. Creating the Tianqi, as written in the text, was actually very easy, especially for a Penta-Essence user like Su Qingcheng. However, when she studied how to control it, she panicked a little. It turns out you couldn't do this sitting down, but you had to actually stand up.
Standing up, Su Qingcheng started taking deep breaths as Yao Meiyue telekinetically with spirit power lifted the tome so Su Qingcheng could read it more easily. The essence in the room began to churn mightily as the young girl began to absorb the energy in accordance to the text. Breathing in and out intently, Su Qingcheng slowly started to feel the Nightflower Tianqi inside her begin to take shape. It was a dark, glowing energy that flowed through her veins. It felt cool and refreshing, like taking a nice stroll in the park at night.
Yao Meiyue nodded approvingly as indeed, Su Qingcheng didn't lose her mental fortitude even after the accident, and in fact may even have gained something out of the misfortune after all as Su Qingcheng's patience continued to persist. There was no concept of time in this training room; after literally half a day, Su Qingcheng who had shut her eyes sometime during this training opened her eyes and smiled.
Amazing. In merely hours, you have already began to imprint the process of forming Nightflower Tianqi inside your body. Show me how strong it is. Yao Meiyue smiled as she thrust her arm out into a punch, causing the darkness in the room to churn and suddenly flow into Yao Meiyue's hand like a vacuum cleaner. Gasping, Su Qingcheng could only marvel at this spirit's amazing strength. Soon she wondered if she could match Yao Meiyue in the future. Repeat after me, let me see the energy come out of you.
Su Qingcheng nodded and thrust her own right arm out in a punch. A black vortex akin to a tiny black hole materialized in front of her knuckles. Though it was small, the vortex appeared to contain the very purest essence of night within it. If this vortex were to completely cover her hand, smacking someone with it would definitely cause some significant damage.
Huh… This is indeed beyond my expectations. You were able to form such a pure Nightflower energy. I think that within a month you could definitely perfect the Frog Style.
As Yao Meiyue nodded in approval, a grumbling sound came from Su Qingcheng's stomach, who had been training for over half a day. Smiling with a rather flushed and embarrassed expression, Su Qingcheng said she was hungry. Yao Meiyue laughed heartily as she retreated into the hidden necklace. Opening the door to leave her training room, Su Qingcheng discovered it was already night time. A fellow clan member smiled but soon looked at Su Qingcheng in shock as if she were a monster.
"O-oh, uh, sister Qingcheng, dinner is ready, so we are being called… Good thing you came out, or, uhh… I dunno who'd be afraid enough to disturb you, haha. See ya around!" The young member looked a bit scared as he ran off to get his dinner.
Su Qingcheng furrowed her brows and shrugged, casually walking to the dining hall in the main Su clan residence. Upon entry, Su Zhan who was seated at the end of the table looked at Su Qingcheng with a proud expression. Though he was much weaker than his wife, he was also still a venerable Tianqi Sage. He could easily sense the abnormal Tianqi flowing in his daughter's body.
"Such a powerful energy… You are really worth to be called the prodigy of my dear Ran!" Su Zhan bellowed proudly. Though he wasn't as strong, he was definitely a lot more cunning and smart which still entitled him to some respect in Tang Gu City. Smiling, Su Qingcheng took her seat, it was about this time Su Ran walked in and then stared at Su Qingcheng much like how the young clan member looked at her earlier. Su Ran's expression had a very awkward smile on her face, as if she recognized something inside Su Qingcheng, but she quickly regained her composure and sat next to Su Zhan.
"It's really unexpected that our little Qingcheng'er could so quickly regain power. After only about a few hours she had already conglomerated three types of essence into something so strong." Su Ran laughed, playfully patting Su Zhan's belly as the family ate. Su Mujian and Su Yanran were naturally not excluded from this conversation.
"What method did you practice to be able to do that?" Su Yanran looked at Su Qingcheng curiously.
"It requires just three essences. But it can't be underestimated," Su Qingcheng answered, trying not to divulge anything too suspicious that perhaps Su Ran could recognize. "I'm still practicing it so it may still be weak for now, but once my control gets better, I think… I can protect myself easily."
Su Ran smiled but a flame of doubt suddenly emerged in her heart. 'This kid… Don't tell me she is practicing THAT method…?' Su Ran thought to herself, clearly she could sense something familiar about the Tianqi in Su Qingcheng's body. As Su Qingcheng already spent so long creating the Nightflower Tianqi in her body, as long as she willed it, she could now easily channel and absorb it. It was a byproduct of practicing the prerequisite foundations for the Nightblossom Method, which needed much more Nightflower Tianqi than the regular Nightflower Tome methods. Yao Meiyue was so shocked by how easily this kid was able to do it also!
The dinner became oddly quiet after Su Qingcheng vaguely explained what she had done and trained in the half-a-day she spent in the Tiger's Den. Afterwards, Su Ran, who opted to stay behind in the dining hall alone, looked up at the ceiling.
"Teacher Meiyue… Don't tell me you are going to teach my kid that thing…?"