Soaring the Heavens

Chapter 17: Heart Facing the Blue Sea (3)

Soaking wet, Miao Yi climbed out of the water and returned to Lao Bai’s side, saying with a defeated tone, “The current I can stand, but with the continuous flow of water, it’s suffocating.”

“One month!” said Lao Bai as he turned his back to pivot around the rocks, speaking as he moved. “If your transcendence energy is enough to last you a month under this waterfall, you’ll have a firm foundation. I’ll be waiting for good news from you.”

“Ugh……”

Drenched from head to toe, Miao Yi looked at the roaring waterfall, and he finally understood something. He understood that the waterfall that he poured effort to create was to be used for his own torment.

Of course, he knew that Lao Bai would not let him waste his effort on something for nothing and that there was always a reason behind everything that he was made to do. Each task was all for his own good, and he carried them out with maximum effort.

Tides rose and fell, seasons changed, day after day he faced the sun for the True Fire of Supreme Yang, day after day he became one with the heaven and earth, taking in its Spiritual Qi, and engrossed in his cultivation, two years had passed.

After two years, the Miao Yi sitting drenched under the waterfall lasted half a month under its onslaught using his arts.

In all this time, he still hadn’t been able to master his transcendence energy. But just as he was about to reach his limit, the transcendence energy matured from the pressure, finally taking form.

An unseen force exploded from Miao Yi with a “Bang!”, splashing water everywhere.

The unseeable force started to spread outwards, with him as the epicenter, forming a transparent ball around him. At his spiritual point, a lotus bud quietly sprouted a petal between his brows.

Finally stabilizing his foundation, he had trodden into the White Lotus First Grade stage and into the cultivation grade boundary.

Miao Yi’s mouth twisted into a slight grin but it disappeared almost immediately, and he turned his focus back to withstanding the strong current of the waterfall.

Lao Bai had said, he must last an entire month to be considered successful.

With his transcendence energy shielding him, the torrent could no longer wash over his skin, and with that, Miao Yi lasted for five more days.

But he lasted no longer than that, due to the depletion of his transcendence energy earlier on. The round transcendence energy shield shook under the continuous torrent of water and collapsed.

The rushing current once again washed Miao Yi, who had already immensely exhausted both his body strength and transcendence energy, into the depths of the water.

A month passed again, and Miao Yi returned to the waterfall after his body strength and transcendence energy had returned to its optimum state. Once again, he used his transcendence energy to shield his body, went under the waterfall in a flash and quietly sat in a lotus position. A transparent ball shrouded him, not even a drop of water could touch him.

When a month’s time was up, in the transparent ball under the raging waterfall, Miao Yi’s eyes opened and caught sight of Lao Bai standing outside. He moved quickly from his spot, restraining the transcendence energy as he descended onto the shore. He was still dry.

“You said one month, and I did it!” Miao Yi reported the good news to Lao Bai, but his face was full of bitterness, “We’ve been here for almost four years already, right? I have been painstakingly cultivating for four years and my cultivation has only entered the first grade of White Lotus. Isn’t this too slow?”

“Continue!” Lao Bai threw him a vague glance, then without another word, turned and left.

Until the time came for it, Lao Bai usually never spoke more than a word.

Shaking his head, Miao Yi turned and walked up to the mountain peak. He could only continue to cultivate.

Since there was no one to compare himself with, he couldn’t have known that having his cultivation at White Lotus First Grade after a span of four years, wasn’t considered as slow.

Not everyone was fortunate enough to be able to meet and have a tutor like Lao Bai. No matter what doubts Miao Yi would have when in the middle of cultivating, Lao Bai would always stretch out a helping hand. He would easily give an explanation in simple terms, clearing Miao Yi’s doubts and helping him to quickly comprehend the profound meaning behind it so he could improve at a faster pace.

Lao Bai had arranged Miao Yi’s cultivation method according to his cultivation progress, and it was well-planned out.

Regardless of whether it was training to toughen his body or to cut into a mountain and dig out stones to form a waterfall, in actuality, it was all to ensure that Miao Yi would be able to cultivate internally and externally, maintaining perfect conditions of body and spirit. This undoubtedly provided a good cultivation state for Miao Yi.

Even making Miao Yi undergo the waterfall’s onslaught was a way to temper his body and willpower. Simultaneously, it was also to energize his training, overall improving his endurance and the ability to bear the pressure of the transcendence energy he was cultivating. This was a type of repetitive tempering which would be immensely advantageous for him should he be faced with strong foes in future.

Without depending on external forces such as elixirs, it was already considered to be a godly speed for a mere mortal to have ascended into the first grade of White Lotus in four years time.

After painstakingly cultivating for another year, Miao Yi once again found Lao Bai to clear his doubts, “Lao Bai, ever since I’ve crossed over to White Lotus First Grade, why does it feel like my speed in absorbing the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth has slowed down?”

Lao Bai replied, “It’s not that your absorbing speed has gotten slower. The actual fact is that your capability has become larger. Following the upgrade in your cultivation base, the speed of advancement in grades will appear slower than ever, and so it will take a longer time. It will require a good amount of patience. ”

Miao Yi asked, “So how much time will I need to cross over from first grade of White Lotus to second grade?”

Lao Bai threw him a glance and replied thoughtlessly, “Give or take twenty years.”

“Ah! Twenty years?” Miao Yi froze in shock, recovered and asked, “Is there a faster way?”

“Yes!”

“What method?”

“A man’s will is an amazing thing. One man’s will may be insignificant, but when the will of many are gathered together, it will materialize into an amazing power. Cultivators gathered this power for their own use to heighten the effects of absorbing the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth. They have used the will of many men to do so, gathering them together and absorbing it with great effectiveness. It has helped to enhance their cultivation at amazing speeds.” Lao Bai asked in reply, “I am sure you’re not unfamiliar with this condition?”

Miao Yi asked, “You’re talking about the power of will?”

Lao Bai nodded his head.

Miao Yi’s mind flashed over the shrine in his own home as well as those in other people’s homes. How could he be unfamiliar with the required six hours spent in daily prayer, offering his power of will to the shrine? How could he have forgotten the situation when he and his younger siblings were almost sent to the Manor of Merciful Hope, where they would have been forced to offer their power of will continuously for days and nights.

All this time, he didn’t understand why those ‘Immortals’ required this service, why they had to make everyone devote their power of will, but now he finally understood why!

Miao Yi was curious as to how mystical the power of will really was so he couldn’t resist the temptation to ask, “Once I have attained the power of will, how much higher can my cultivating speed be raised?”

“That depends on whether you will be able to get a sufficient amount of power of will supporting you, as well as the efficiency in utilization towards it.”

“Is there a difference in utilization?”

“You need to know that there are thousands of types of people. The gathered power of will contains a variety of people’s distracting thoughts of the seven emotions and six desires, so when using the power of will, it is a must to clear those distracting thoughts to purely utilize the power of will to reach one’s goal. Or else one will be turned by the seven emotions and six desires, causing an inner demon to form inside of them. If those with a natural talent in cultivating are not careful, they may one day be devoured and possessed by the devil due to their inner demons. For minor cases, they will end up as neither human nor ghost, and will be unable to control themselves. And for the serious cases, they will be bound on a path leading to death.”

“Since it’s so risky, why do those cultivators still want to utilize it?

Now, Miao Yi was also considered as a cultivator. And only now he realized that it was a bit ridiculous to be referring to cultivators as Immortals, and so he decided he would definitely not be calling them Immortals anymore.

“So there is the issue of the utilization efficiency of the power of will. Just use it carefully and gradually. As long as you’re patient and not rushing to succeed, there shouldn’t be any issues under normal circumstances.”

“By how much will it really increase the cultivating speed?”

“Under normal circumstances, and if nothing goes wrong, it will have at least a five-fold increase in speed.”

”Five-fold?” Miao Yi cried out in surprise. “So that means, if I require twenty years for my cultivation to achieve White Lotus Second Grade, it will only take four years if I use the power of will?”

Lao Bai calmly said, “It can be even faster!”

There was a faint feeling that Lao Bai was trying to gradually tempt Miao Yi.

It can at least shorten the time required to cultivate by five-fold!

As Miao Yi listened, his heart began to itch and was on the verge of losing restraint. After scratching his head and pacing back and forth for awhile, he began to speak hesitatingly, “Lao Bai, I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to continue staying on this island, cultivating slowly.”

Lao Bai let out an ‘Oh’ and then asked, “You want to go outside to gather the power of will to cultivate?”

Miao Yi nodded as he replied, “Yes.”

“Since you want to leave, I won’t stop you.” Lao Bai walked to the entrance of the cave and suddenly turned around, his gaze becoming sharp and intense as he said, “Have you already made preparations to pillage the world’s power of will?”