No one could deny that Lu Zhiying had been blessed with an extraordinary appearance.

Not only were her looks infinitely close to perfection, there was nothing to be criticised about her figure either.

Yes, she might not be as voluptuous as Gu Qiansi. However, she was definitely not lacking in the curves department herself.

Anyone who was asked would probably answer that her slender figure was actually what suited her the best.

Her body lines appeared exceptionally enchanting as she danced along to , and her long flowy hair added an extra touch of allure, tracing her every action by splashing the air with momentary instances of black.

It was either that the dance had been specially created just to fit Lu Zhiying’s every movement, or that her charm was simply too difficult to contain.

Watching her would send tingles through one’s skin, making one palpitate in excitement.

This was akin to watching the creation of a painting – one that depicted the most beautiful fairy who had descended from the heavens.

Zhao Yunxiao even had to make a conscious effort to look away from time to time when he felt that he was starting to be entranced by this beautiful creation of a performance.

Otherwise, he was afraid that he might just end up falling into a daze and failing to complete the song!

Before he knew it, had already come to an end.

“How was it? How was it?” Lu Zhiying immediately turned over to seek Zhao Yunxiao’s opinion.

She had reverted back to her excited self the moment the song ended, almost as though a switch had been turned off in her head.

At the same time, the other members of the Flying Shell Performance Group turned to look at Zhao Yunxiao as well.

All of them had already seen Lu Zhiying’s dance routine, so they were just waiting to hear Zhao Yunxiao’s verdict.

And they were not surprised to see that Zhao Yunxiao’s reaction was the same as theirs.

“Amazing! This is it!” Zhao Yunxiao exclaimed honestly. “With you dancing with us, our performance might just end up becoming the talk of the sect in this coming year!”

“Hehe, isn’t that right?” Lu Zhiying was pleased to hear that. “I did well this time, didn’t I?”

Back when Lu Zhiying first danced in front of them, Zhao Yunxiao had been extremely critical of her dance moves, saying that she was just relying on her face.

This time, the assessment from him could not be more positive so she could not help but feel good about it!

“You definitely did,” Zhao Yunxiao nodded. “Did you come up with this alone, or did Senior Martial Sister Leng come up with this for you?”

“That’s rude, Senior Martial Brother Zhao! Are you asking this because you don’t think that I can come up with this dance routine by myself?” Lu Zhiying retorted.

“Am I wrong though?” Zhao Yunxiao narrowed his eyes at her.

“...You are right, Senior Martial Sister Leng did come up with most of the routine,” Lu Zhiying answered with a pout.

Zhao Yunxiao nodded in understanding.

That was to be expected.

After all, Lu Zhiying was just a beginner when it came to the art of dance.

She would be too much of a monser if her cultivation talent applied here as well!

At the same time, Zhao Yunxiao could not help but feel impressed by Leng Huiqi.

If Leng Huiqi could coach Lu Zhiying to this extent in the short span of a week, she must be more than capable of creating performances that were even more amazing should she be given enough time for it.

Considering that, perhaps it was not without reason that Leng Huiqi had so many people swooning over her!

“I’m sure she came up with it with inputs from you as well, so you have to be credited for it too,” Gu Qiansi walked over and gently patted Lu Zhiying on the head.

“That’s right! I have to be credited for it too!” Lu Zhiying mustered up courage with Gu Qiansi’s encouragement.

“All right, all right,” Zhao Yunxiao chuckled. “You did well this time indeed.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t stop halfway through the performance though, Senior Martial Brother Zhao,” Huang An chimed in. “Senior Martial Brother Bo ended up with his mouth wide open the first few times we practised with Junior Martial Sister Leng dancing in front of us.”

“Ahem!” Bo Fei cleared his throat loudly. “Why are you making it sound like there is something wrong with me, Junior Martial Sister Huang? I have to let you know that I am the normal one here. Maybe it is just that Junior Martial Brother Zhao secretly doesn’t like women.”

“I have indeed never seen him liking another girl,” Gu Qiansi added immediately.

Gasp-!

Huang An looked at Zhao Yunxiao with shock in her eyes.

Zhao Yunxiao: “...”

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You guys are really having fun just saying whatever you want, eh?

“Next one! Next one!” Lu Zhiying urged. “Let me show you the rest of what I have prepared!”

Apart from , there were still two other songs that they would be performing the next day – and .

The dance routine for these two songs naturally would not be the same as that of the first, and Lu Zhiying was eager to show them off to Zhao Yunxiao.

“All right, let’s move on to !” Bo Fei said in response.

They had to practise every song anyway, so there was no reason to turn down Lu Zhiying’s request.

.

This was the song that Lu Zhiying had first danced to, which had in turn led to Bo Fei inviting her to join them for their performance.

Back then, Lu Zhiying had simply danced according to her instincts.

But this time, she had a complete routine in mind.

Despite being the subject of Zhao Yunxiao’s watchful gaze, Lu Zhiying did not feel a tad bit nervous as she danced to her heart’s content, not making a single mistake throughout the entire song.

And the same went for .

As expected, the following two dance routines from Lu Zhiying were very different from the first, but they were in no way less amazing.

If anything, they simply portrayed different dance aspects.

was a dance routine filled with abrupt changes at various points of the song, well aligned with the shifts in phases within the song.

was a dance routine that was soft and graceful, placing greater emphasis on simplistic beauty instead of any special intricacies.

Finally, was a dance routine that was strong and powerful, further highlighted by the fierce gaze that came over Lu Zhiying’s eyes the moment the song started.

Much to Lu Zhiying’s glee, Zhao Yunxiao had nothing but praises after watching her performance.

Just like that, they went through the entire three-song medley that they were slated to perform the next day.

There were no mistakes whatsoever, but the group was not contented with just that.

Instead, they continued to practise, again and again, trying to ingrain every part of the performance into their muscle memory and adjust everyone’s part to achieve greater harmony.

It was a repetitive process, but none of them had the slightest complaint about it.

Instead, their spirits only continued to rise the more they practised, each of them growing increasingly confident about the upcoming performance.

Night had already fallen by the time they ended their practice.

Without knowing it, they had ended up spending the larger part of an entire day simply practising the same three songs over and over again.

Nevertheless, all of them left satisfied.

They knew that this was their final opportunity to practise before the actual performance tomorrow, so there was no harm in spending the entire day on it.

After all, the last thing they wanted was to make a mistake in front of the entire sect.

That would be nothing short of embarrassing!

Just like always, the group had a quick free meal at the canteen before returning to their individual residences.

Zhao Yunxiao entered his meditation room and lit an incense before sitting down with a manual opened in front of him.

Earthen Clone Technique.

This was one of the three new techniques that he had decided to add to his arsenal.

Zhao Yunxiao had already read through the three manuals last night, and had a fairly good idea of what they were about.

So now that he had the theoretical part figured out, it was time to begin with the practical aspect.

After going through the manual once more to make sure that his memory did not fail him, Zhao Yunxiao closed his eyes and began to focus.

He calmly activated his dantian, tapping on the essence energy within and channelling it through his meridians before activating the technique.

In his head, Zhao Yunxiao chanted the mantra of the technique while picturing his essence energy slowly leaving his body before coming together to take the form of a second him.

Bit by bit, the image in his head came to fruition in reality.

Starting from the feet, an earthen humanoid began to form in front of him, with soil and rocks taking the place of flesh and bones.

One centimetre...

Two centimetres...

Three centimetres...

Five centimetres...

Ten centimetres...

Things seemed to be going smoothly initially, but when the construction of the earthen humanoid reached the shin level, it suddenly crumbled, turning into mere pieces of dirt.

First attempt – failure.

Huu-!

Zhao Yunxiao let out a sigh and looked at the pile of dirt.

It seemed like he would have quite a bit of cleaning to do after tonight...

No, this was not the time to be distracted!

Zhao Yunxiao closed his eyes and focused once again.

This time, he did not even reach the shin level.

The earthen humanoid crumbled barely after it even started taking form.

Zhao Yunxiao was not discouraged by just this.

He understood that the beginning was always the hardest when it came to learning a new technique, especially when it came to something like the Earthen Clone Technique – a type of technique that he had zero experience with whatsoever.

Therefore, the only thing he could do now was to keep trying until he got the hang of it.

And keep trying he did.

Again and again, Zhao Yunxiao tried to construct an earthen humanoid with an image of himself in mind.

Again and again, the earthen humanoids crumbled before completion.

It was only after hours of repeated attempts that he finally managed to complete the full earthen figure.

And this was not even supposed to be a difficult part of executing the technique.

Now that he had managed to construct a full earthen figure, next came adding the details on the figure to make it seem like himself, as well as to actually learn to control the resulting clone with ease.

Those were far more complicated steps that required a lot more looking into!

However, Zhao Yunxiao did not push himself further, instead ending his practice for the night with a satisfied smile on his face.

He understood his own limits, and knew better than to be too greedy for results.

This much was enough for tonight.

After all, it was only his first time practising the technique.

With that in mind, Zhao Yunxiao closed the technique manual and cleared out the pile of dirt that had accumulated on the floor of the meditation room.

Only after he was done doing all that did he wash up and pop a Winterwarmth Pill, ending his day in meditation.

And while Zhao Yunxiao was deep in meditation, the darkness of the night slowly rescinded, allowing the warm rays of the sun to descend upon Purple Plum Mountain.

It was the first light of the new year.

This was going to be the year that Zhao Yunxiao turned twenty – a year that Zhao Yunxiao would come to remember as one that marked the turning point of his life.