Zhao Yunxiao's eyes lit up as he saw Nie Hanchang approach the Clear Thoughts Pavilion from afar. Unlike what he used to wear in the past, Nie Hanchang had donned clothes that looked just as shabby as the ones on Zhao Yunxiao right now.
Finally, someone whose thoughts resonated with his!
The first thing he did was to give a thumbs-up, and Nie Hanchang immediately smiled in satisfaction. Even in the absence of specific words or greetings, it was clear that the duo had understood what each other was thinking.
On the other hand...
"Did you force Senior Martial Brother Nie to dress like you?" Gu Qiansi was dumbfounded when she saw the two beggar-lookalikes waiting at the Clear Thoughts Pavilion.
"What do you mean 'force'? I didn't say or do anything," Zhao Yunxiao rolled his eyes.
"Don't misunderstand, Junior Martial Sister Gu," Nie Hanchang answered. "I am the one who decided to dress in such a way after noticing Junior Martial Brother Zhao's habit. After all, it does make a lot of sense to want to avoid drawing too much attention."
"Does that really help?" Lu Zhiying rubbed her chin in contemplation.
Zhao Yunxiao stole a glance at the Myriad Fields Backpack resting on her back, and could not help but think that it looked nothing like a proper weapon. If she were willing, perhaps he could help to take a look and see how it could be improved.
Of course, it would be best if Lu Zhiying could adopt a more traditional weapon instead. Not only did those have more corresponding techniques that she could master, but using traditional weapons would also help her build rapport with users of similar weapons in the future.
This could be of great help when she eventually entered the inner sect – a place that was rife with politics!
"With the way you guys are dressing, you will only end up drawing more attention than if you'd just dressed normally!" Gu Qiansi slapped her forehead in disbelief.
"What does a recluse like you know? Regular travellers get targeted by robbers too. Only poor-looking people are safe," Zhao Yunxiao shrugged. "Anyway, shall we go?"
"Yes, let's go!" Lu Zhiying cheered.
Under the regretful gazes of the other male disciples at Clear Thoughts Pavilion, the group left the sect grounds and embarked on the journey towards their next destination – Demonfall City.
It was going to be a two-week journey, so the group was naturally not intending to let the time go to waste, especially with Zhao Yunxiao and Nie Hanchang counting among the members.
"Hurry up and keep going!" Zhao Yunxiao shouted as he ran forward through an open grassland. "They are about to catch up!"
"I'm trying!" Lu Zhiying snapped back from beside him while continuing to execute the Xuanwu Movement Art.
Behind them, Nie Hanchang and Gu Qiansi chased on horseback. Two riderless horses were tied to theirs as well – horses belonging to Zhao Yunxiao and Lu Zhiying.
"Only a short time has passed, so how can you already be running out of stamina?" Zhao Yunxiao shook his head in disapproval. "Qi Yuanyuan has golden spiritual meridians, allowing her to absorb world origin energy with ease and thus granting her nigh unlimited energy. In your current state, all she needs to do is drag out the fight and you wouldn't stand a chance!"
"I can just win before my stamina runs out!" Lu Zhiying retorted.
"By that same logic, you can just leave Senior Martial Brother Nie and Gu Qiansi in the dust right now, ensuring that they would never be able to catch up to you. If you are that confident in your abilities, why don't you do just that?" Zhao Yunxiao was not having it.
"Ah, whatever!" Lu Zhiying decided to save her energy by focusing on running instead, knowing that Zhao Yunxiao would not be budging anytime soon.
Watching from behind, Gu Qiansi felt sympathetic towards Lu Zhiying, but did nothing to stop it. Just like Zhao Yunxiao, she understood that Lu Zhiying possessed great talent, but talent did not guarantee strong physical fortitude.
On the contrary, strong physical fortitude could only be attained through consistent conditioning of the body.
Due to how painful and boring this process was, many cultivators ended up neglecting the training of their physique, focusing on techniques and energy manipulation instead. After all, essence energy techniques were still the main source of strength for most cultivators.
This was definitely the fastest and most efficient path to reach the pinnacle.
Therefore, despite knowing that it created a weakness in their foundation that they would have to find ways to make up for, most cultivators continued to swear by this formula. Even for those who decided to train up their physical fortitude as well, few would dedicate too much of their time to doing so.
Among the people she knew, Zhao Yunxiao was definitely the one who had consistently dedicated the most time and effort towards strengthening his physique.
And he had the results to show for it too.
She did not remember exactly when it started to be the case. But at some point in time, Zhao Yunxiao had become someone whom she deeply believed to possess the strongest physique among those at the Essence Gathering realm!
Of course, this was also largely because he did not have as great of a talent when it came to cultivation. Therefore, training up physically was his way of making up for his lower cultivation level.
In a way, it was the opposite side of the coin to the mentality that most talented cultivators possessed.
These talents sacrificed physical conditioning to focus on speeding up their cultivation, while he focused on physical conditioning to make up for his slow cultivation.
Regardless, as long as it did not end up impeding her cultivation of the essence cultivation system, this was definitely beneficial to Lu Zhiying.
In addition, Gu Qiansi also knew that Lu Zhiying was not going to be the only one who would have to go through this...
"Gu Qiansi, your turn!"
"Fine..." Gu Qiansi let out a helpless sigh before leaping off her horse. With Lu Zhiying returning to horseback, Gu Qiansi simply allowed her horse to follow along Lu Zhiying's while she raced forward to join Zhao Yunxiao.
And after Gu Qiansi came Nie Hanchang's turn. Just like that, the three of them took turns running alongside Zhao Yunxiao. By the time they arrived at the next rest stop, all three were drenched in sweat.
"Finally time to rest!" Lu Zhiying ran to the edge of a stream to wash her face. "How refreshing!"
"What are you doing? This rest is for the horses," Zhao Yunxiao's cold voice directly dashed all her hopes of taking a break. "Come, let's take a look at your combat skills!"
"Do you have to press her this hard?" Gu Qiansi felt the corner of her lips twitch. "We have been travelling all day, so why don't you let her take a break?"
"It's okay, I can do it!" Lu Zhiying assured.
Gu Qiansi: "..."
Zhao Yunxiao glanced at Gu Qiansi, then turned to look at the sweat-drenched Lu Zhiying. As the one with the lowest cultivation level, it was only natural that she looked the most tired despite having run the least.
"Fine, let's rest for now," Zhao Yunxiao sighed. "In that case, let's go through the Soul Suppression Shell Array. It might come in handy for this mission."
Gu Qiansi: "..."
Do you not know the meaning of rest?
"Soul Suppression Shell Array?" Lu Zhiying blinked blankly.
"As its name suggests, this array focuses on suppressing souls," Zhao Yunxiao explained. "It does not have any effect on the physical body. But under its influence, any spiritual bodies would be shackled to the edges of the array, prevented from either entering or leaving. Not just that, but there would also be a heavy pressure that pins down all spirits that exist within the edges of the array."
"I know a little about it," Gu Qiansi said. "What about you, Senior Martial Brother Nie?"
"Not much," Nie Hanchang shook his head.
"Knowing a little is as good as not knowing. Please take this opportunity to brush up on it," Zhao Yunxiao reminded.
"...Fine!" Gu Qiansi snapped back in response.
"Is it difficult?" Lu Zhiying asked.
"Not at all," Zhao Yunxiao said with a smile. "Don't worry, I specially chose this array because it is executable by Foundation Building realm cultivators as well. You should do fine."
"Let's begin, we have rested long enough," Nie Hanchang interjected.
Gu Qiansi: "???"
Hadn't they only been here for barely a minute?
Oh, right! This Nie Hanchang was the same type as Zhao Yunxiao!
Damn it, she could already imagine just how tiring the coming month would be...
"What's wrong?" Zhao Yunxiao looked at Gu Qiansi curiously. "Why are you suddenly sighing?"
"Sigh? Did I? You must be hearing things," Gu Qiansi quickly denied. "Well, let's start already and get this over and done with!"
"Sure..." Zhao Yunxiao raised an eyebrow in response, but did not harp on the matter. Instead, he started going through the basics of the Soul Suppression Shell Array while the other three listened intently.
The Soul Suppression Shell Array was not too difficult to learn, which was rather expected, considering how it was supposed to be suited for Foundation Building realm cultivators.
As Essence Gathering realm cultivators, Gu Qiansi and Nie Hanchang quickly got the hang of it. In fact, even Lu Zhiying managed to pick it up quickly, which quite frankly did not come as a surprise to the others.
That said, learning it was one thing. Actually putting it into practice in an effective manner was another.
While it was not essential for multiple people to work together to activate and sustain this array, the strength of the array did increase with the inclusion of more members. Therefore, Zhao Yunxiao made sure to have the group continue to practise at every rest stop.
This was also one of the main reasons why Zhao Yunxiao had selected this particular array for their mission. There were other arrays that were way more efficient than the Soul Suppression Shell Array, but most of those required the consumption of materials for activation.
With the amount of practice required, going with one of those arrays was bound to burn a huge hole in their pockets!
In the day, the group focused on their physical conditioning and practice of the Soul Suppression Shell Array.
But when night fell, the trio took turns giving Lu Zhiying guidance while the others either meditated or focused on their own training.
As someone who had always placed great emphasis on honing his techniques' proficiency, Zhao Yunxiao focused on improving Lu Zhiying's execution of the Xuanwu Movement Art and Xuanwu Fist Art.
On the other hand, Gu Qiansi focused on guiding Lu Zhiying on the basics of energy manipulation and the efficient use of the root fibre of the cotton rubber tree in her Myriad Fields Backpack.
As for Nie Hanchang, he was in charge of honing Lu Zhiying's combat sense.
Whoosh-! Whoosh-! Whoosh-!
Bright flashes lit up the surroundings as energy arrows repeatedly tore through the air, creating mini explosions as they struck the ground.
On one end of these arrows was naturally Nie Hanchang and his Grand Annihilator. On the other end, Lu Zhiying carried her bulky Myriad Fields Backpack as she leapt around, trying her best to steer clear of each oncoming arrow.
Boom-!
"Hahaha! That was close!" Lu Zhiying laughed excitedly as she barely dodged the previous explosion by a mere few centimetres.
Had she moved just a second slower, or applied just slightly less strength with her legs, she could have ended up with a hole in her torso. Yet even as each subsequent arrow struck nearer and nearer, the grin on her face only grew wider in excitement!
A short distance away, Zhao Yunxiao and Gu Qiansi sat cross-legged beside a small campfire as they watched speechlessly.
"Senior Martial Brother Nie is going easy on her... right?" Gu Qiansi asked hesitantly.
"Yes..." Zhao Yunxiao closed his eyes.
He knew that despite Lu Zhiying's seemingly boundless potential, if Nie Hanchang truly wanted to hit Lu Zhiying, she would not stand a chance as she was right now.
However, did he really have to cut it this close? Was he not afraid of accidentally hitting her?
Arrows do not have eyes!
And did Lu Zhiying really have so much trust in Nie Hanchang that she could enjoy herself so much? Laughing like that would only encourage Nie Hanchang to continue pushing the limit!
Thankfully, there were no other cultivators passing by this open grassland. Otherwise, they might just feel compelled to intervene, thinking that Lu Zhiying was being hunted down by Nie Hanchang!