In a mist-covered mountainous region with strong winds, a group of people were closely watching a young girl. They were dressed in yellow Shaolin-style robes, just like the girl. The girl, with light blue eyes and sky-colored hair, and skin slightly tanned by the sun, was observing the obstacles in front of her. She took a few steps back and took a deep breath.
Zhou Yue closed her eyes and focused, imagining her core as a red fluid spinning in circles and condensing into a small gem. When the spherical gem appeared in her mind, she imagined placing her hand close to the core and used her willpower to try to make the energy within the gem move towards her imaginary hand.
Eventually, she succeeded, and a yellow energy flowed out of her core. Now came the hardest part—she needed to manipulate and shape this essence to acquire the characteristics required for the technique she wanted to perform.
Shaping the essence of her Mid Red core was much easier than when she was merely Mist Red, but as Dusk had told her some time ago, shaping red essence is like sculpting with sand and stone; it would never be perfect. After a while, she managed to make her essence move through her body in the way she wanted.
She opened her eyes and started running with all the power she could muster. As she leaped off the wooden platform, those watching her with wide eyes felt as if she was flying for a few seconds.
Yue quickly glanced at the ground, which was about 10 meters away from her. If she missed her target and fell, she would end up getting hurt.
But that didn't happen. Her black wooden shoe on her right foot landed on a small spherical stone on top of a thin wooden post. Her first challenge was to jump far enough, and now she needed to find the balance point to stay stable and not fall. Her body wobbled, and she almost slipped, but at a certain point, she managed to balance herself.
Sighing in relief, she gathered her energy in her right leg and jumped towards the next post. With her left leg, she stepped on another spherical stone. This time, she found her balance more easily and was able to move forward faster.
“Wow, she actually made it!” a teenage boy said, pointing at Yue.
“She’s really managing to run across the posts!” said a young girl.
“Well, it’s Yue. She arrived four months ago, but all the masters spoke highly of her.”
“I’ve heard that some people even call her the Wind Princess.”
“I’ve heard that too. They say she might be our sect’s hope for securing a good position in this year’s tournament.”
Groups of young people murmured incessantly.
A young man who seemed to be around 18 years old said to his friends while clicking his tongue, “Damn, how did a farmer's daughter manage to learn a technique in just four months? I’ve been here for years, and I’m still stuck in the First Flying Dao along with these plebeians.”
‘95, 96, 97, just a little more!’ Yue thought excitedly.
Then she finally reached the hundredth and last post. She increased her focus, not wanting to fail at the last step after coming so far. With another powerful leap, she jumped from the hundredth post toward another wooden platform.
She landed gracefully on the platform and placed her hand on her chest, breathing heavily due to exhaustion.
A man, about 30 years old, approached Yue. He was wearing a brown sash around his waist. The man had a serious expression on his face, but a keen observer might notice a hint of enthusiasm in his eyes.
“Zhou Yue, you have mastered the movement technique, Heavenly Breeze Steps, of our Flying Sword Sect and successfully completed the 100 Celestial Steps challenge. Because of this, I hereby affirm that you have earned a place in the Second Flying Dao class.”
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The sect master took out a red sash and extended it to Yue.
Yue quickly wiped the sweat from her forehead, untied her white sash, and took the red sash.
She bowed deeply and said loudly, “Thank you for your teachings, Master Feng!”
image [https://i.imgur.com/CJALaUN.png]
Master Feng guided Yue to the room in the sect’s dormitory, where she would now stay.
“You will sleep in this room from now on. Try to get along with your new companions.”
“Understood.” She said, and she bowed to take her leave.
She opened the wooden door and entered the room. The room was simple but comfortable. She saw two girls, twins, with dark, almost black eyes and hair. They were younger than her, appearing to be around 10 years old.
“Hello, my name is Zhou Yue. I’ll be your roommate from today. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Yue said, trying to sound cultured.
“Hmm, I see. You’re the new girl the master said would come. Well, I’m Xiao Mei.”
“And I’m Xiao Ning.”
The three girls talked for a while before Ning and Mei took Yue to explore that area of the sect. Yue looked at the outer area and saw several groups of young people training tirelessly.
“Curious, people here seem to take training much more seriously,” Yue said, finding it strange that the young people were training so late at night.
“Well, the sect tournament is near. We in the Second Dao take it very seriously; this could be an opportunity to make our names known,” Mei said, showing enthusiasm about the idea of participating in the tournament.
“I don’t know why they try so hard; the big sects always steal the spotlight,” Ning said lazily.
Suddenly, some people began to move strangely. Someone was walking down the corridor, and the people around started to quickly move away.
“What’s going on?” Yue asked, curious.
“It must be that crazy foreigner,” Xiao Mei said.
“Oh, you just got here, so you probably don’t know about him. He’s nuts, so it’s better to stay away from him,” Xiao Ning warned.
Curious, she tried to see who they were talking about.
She saw a child walking down the corridor, his shoulder-length hair as black as raven feathers, and his eyes as dark as the night sky. His skin was now white as marble instead of sickly as when they first met. The boy’s normally empty and expressionless eyes passed over her; his expression changed slightly, and then he changed direction and came toward her.
He was wearing the common attire of people in this sect: a yellow shirt and pants made of lightweight fabric that covered almost his entire body, black wooden shoes, and long white socks that reached almost halfway up his thighs.
She noticed his red sash around his abdomen and the red cords that adjusted the size of his shirt.
“Damn, he’s coming over here! Does he want to hit us too?” Mei and Ning said this simultaneously and quickly left.
Tristan approached Yue, and she noticed again how much he had grown in the four months since she first met him. He was still shorter than her, but now the difference wasn’t as significant as before.
He saw the red sash on her body; a look of understanding appeared on his face, and then he said:
“Oh, you managed to pass the challenge; congratulations!”