Chapter 6: The Return Journey

“The Windwing Evasion Art is the foundation of our Yuchi clan and must not be passed on to outsiders!” The first line on the gold-leaf-like page made Ji Ning pause. Yuchi clan? His mother was Yuchi Xue—could it be that she was from this Yuchi clan? On this boundless land, those of low birth had no proper surnames; names were casually given, like Blackfang, Blackstone, Ironhead, and so on. Generally, only large tribes had proper surnames!

“Mother never mentioned this Yuchi clan to me,” Ji Ning thought. “I am my mother’s child, so I carry the bloodline of the Yuchi clan. But strictly speaking, I’m only half a member of the Yuchi clan. Yet Mother still taught it to me, and from birth until now, I’ve never heard of this Yuchi clan.”

Ji Ning had read no small number of books! But none recorded the Yuchi clan, indicating it was not a tribe from the surrounding area.

That made sense...

His mother and father had met in the vast North Sea and then roamed and adventured together.

“Mother never spoke of this Yuchi clan. Perhaps she ran away from home, or the Yuchi clan declined? Forget it, I won’t dwell on it.” Ji Ning lowered his head and continued reading. The book began to describe the origins of the Windwing Evasion Art in detail.

The Yuchi clan’s ancestor, Yuchi Antong, was originally a slave.

Once, while hunting in the mountains, he rescued a gravely wounded child on the verge of death. He tended to the child diligently, and the child gradually recovered. Half a year later, the child revealed his identity... Though he appeared to be a child, he was actually a Celestial Immortal who had cultivated for endless years and had already leaped beyond the Three Realms. He had encountered a great calamity and used a desperate technique to escape to this mountain, but he had no strength left to resist. If he had met an ordinary minor demon, it might have devoured him.

The child called himself Su Huan and had become an immortal during the Primordial Era.

This immortal named Su Huan then began teaching Yuchi Antong cultivation methods. Unexpectedly, Yuchi Antong was more talented in divine body training... Su Huan stayed by Yuchi Antong’s side for a full hundred years, teaching him carefully, and also passed on a divine ability, the Windwing Evasion Art. Then Su Huan said, “Our affinity has ended. Take care of yourself!”

With that, he drifted away.

...

“Celestial Immortal?” Ji Ning was shocked. “Divine ability?”

This, this...

Even in the underworld, according to Lord Cui, the heavenly soldiers and generals in the heavens, having the visualization technique Nüwa’s Diagram, still had to undergo countless tribulations to become Celestial Immortals! In the Grand Xia Dynasty, it was rare for a Celestial Immortal to appear even in a million years. These were beings who had truly leaped beyond the Three Realms, free from the constraints of the underworld and the heavenly court!

“I never expected my mother’s clan, the Yuchi clan, to have such a background,” Ji Ning thought, deeply shaken. “This is far more impressive than our Ji clan’s origins.”

“Moreover, the Windwing Evasion Art is a divine ability!”

Ji Ning held his breath.

What is a divine ability?

Famous divine abilities like Heaven Earth Avatar, Kuafu Chases the Sun, Seventy-Two Transformations, Three Heads and Six Arms, Houyi Shoots the Sun—these are all divine abilities. They are innate techniques created by ancient and powerful divine demons, and only they can be called divine abilities! Only divine body cultivators can learn them, and they can only be mastered at the Zifu stage!

Any divine ability is extremely precious. Many divine body cultivators who reach the Zifu stage are clearly capable of learning divine abilities but have none to practice.

“Divine abilities should only be usable at the Zifu stage. Why did Mother tell me to wait until I reached the Xiantian stage to look at it?” Ji Ning continued reading. Next came the cultivation information for the Windwing Evasion Art.

Whoosh!

Turning the gold-leaf-like page, a golden sheet appeared before him, but it was clearly different from the previous pages. This golden sheet shimmered with specks of starlight and was covered with images—all of a roc in flight.

Sometimes flapping its wings, sometimes diving, sometimes flying in the nine heavens, sometimes plunging into water, sometimes landing on the ground, sometimes burrowing deep into the earth...

Ji Ning was involuntarily influenced by these images, as if he saw a giant roc flying and resting. The roc in the images was covered with countless starry dots—these dots were the key points of divine power flow during the roc’s flight.

The dots were almost all concentrated on a pair of wings.

“The roc spreads its wings and flies a hundred thousand li!”

“This is what Teacher Su Huan once told me. Unfortunately, I am far from this realm. Future generations of the Yuchi clan must diligently cultivate the Windwing Evasion Art, hoping one day to reach the highest realm of this divine ability. The eighty-one roc diagrams of the Windwing Evasion Art all contain profound mysteries. You must diligently ponder them! The benefits are endless!”

“The Windwing Evasion Art has multiple levels. When divine power can condense a pair of wings on the back, that is considered mastering the divine ability. However, the Windwing Evasion Art is a divine ability coveted by the most powerful tribes of the Grand Xia Dynasty. Clan members must use wing-type magic treasures, combining them with the divine ability to both fly faster with the treasure’s power and keep the divine ability secret...”

Ji Ning closed the book.

It was a long while before he gradually calmed down.

“My mother truly has an extraordinary background,” Ji Ning frowned. “But clearly, although this book is all golden pages, the pages recording the eighty-one roc diagrams are made of different material. Such profound diagrams were probably left by that immortal Su Huan.”

“Even if Immortal Su Huan taught the Windwing Evasion Art, he probably left only this one copy. That means the Yuchi clan likely had only this one secret manual!” Ji Ning inferred.

Though he had seen the eighty-one roc diagrams for the first time, Ji Ning was certain they were profoundly mysterious, like the feeling of comprehending the Dao... Such unfathomable mysteries could only have been drawn by one who had cultivated this divine ability to its highest level.

“The Yuchi clan probably had only this one manual, yet it was with my mother,” Ji Ning pondered. “Was the Yuchi clan annihilated? Or some other reason?”

Though he felt some worry for his mother, he had little connection with the Yuchi clan since childhood, so he soon stopped thinking about it.

“Ponder carefully.”

The moon hung high. Ji Ning sat quietly by the pond, flipping through the roc diagrams.

The Windwing Evasion Art had multiple levels.

Condensing divine power into wings for flight was considered mastering the divine ability. But the requirements for divine power were stringent; only Zifu-stage cultivators could do it.

“Mother told me to wait until I reached the Xiantian stage to look at the manual,” Ji Ning smiled. “Although I can’t condense divine power into wings, these eighty-one roc diagrams contain infinite Dao mysteries. By pondering them, I can improve my movement techniques.”

Ji Ning had already comprehended a trace of the true meaning of the Dao in terms of realm.

With such a high realm, he could see at a glance that the eighty-one diagrams also contained infinite Dao, even more profound and endless, so he naturally immersed himself in understanding them.

...

Time passed.

The golden crow set, the moon rabbit rose.

Day after day, Ji Ning was completely absorbed in the Windwing Evasion Art in the mountain forest. He could be seen darting through the forest again and again, his leaps growing farther and faster, and more effortless.

“I’ve been cultivating here for over a month,” Ji Ning looked at the sun in the sky one day and suddenly woke up. “If I don’t go back, Qiuye and the others will be anxious and report to West Prefecture City.”

“Time to go back.”

Ji Ning smiled and looked back at his surroundings. The pond beside him was still quiet, the water slowly flowing through the gaps in the water plants.

“I’ve made great progress this past month,” Ji Ning was extremely delighted. Whether in qi training, divine body, or soul, he had even learned the Yuchi clan’s clan-guarding divine ability, the Windwing Evasion Art.

“Let’s go.”

Ji Ning leaped.

Whoosh!

Like a blurry phantom, or like a bird spreading its wings, he instantly shot over a li away. His speed was even faster than Tiemu Zhanshi using Lightness Talismans and Speed Talismans.

...

In a dilapidated tribe on the wasteland, some stone houses had collapsed, and the tribe was in disarray. Clearly, the tribe’s people had long left; it was an abandoned settlement.

At the edge of the tribe, several dozen stone houses were clean, and a group of black-armored guards gathered there.

Qiuye sat on a stone stool, silently gazing into the distance, waiting.

Earlier, because the great demon Winged Serpent had emerged from Winged Serpent Lake, Ji Ning had taken Qiuye and Mowu away from the Ironstone Tribe... But after the matter of the great demon Winged Serpent settled, Ji Ning had Qiuye and Mowu temporarily stay at a black-armored guard outpost.

The territory under the Ji clan’s control was vast.

Thus, there were many black-armored guard squads scattered across this land, ready to detect any important matters immediately. They also served to intimidate countless tribes.

“Young master.” Qiuye stood up in surprise.

The black-armored guards and Mowu also turned to look. In the distance, a blurry figure flickered and appeared at the main entrance of the dilapidated tribe, then walked over with a smile.

“Hmm?” Qiuye was slightly startled. She felt that the young master walking toward her seemed different—he had a more endearing aura, as if he were the essence of heaven and earth. Only she, who had grown up by Ji Ning’s side, noticed the subtle change in his temperament.

“Young master,” Mowu stepped forward respectfully.

“Young master,” the group of black-armored guards knelt on one knee in unison.

“Prepare to leave,” Ji Ning said with a smile.

Qiuye was taken aback: “Leave? Go back?”

“First to Winged Serpent Lake,” Ji Ning’s eyes flashed with anticipation. On this adventure, he had long decided to deal with the Winged Serpent demon once he broke through to become a Xiantian lifeform. Although the Winged Serpent had now become a Xiantian great demon at the peak, Ji Ning was still fully confident.

“Young master, you...” Qiuye showed a look of surprise. She naturally knew that Ji Ning had planned to deal with the Winged Serpent demon as soon as he became a Xiantian lifeform.

“Mm.” Ji Ning nodded.

Qiuye was sensible and didn’t say anything more. She nodded: “Mowu, hurry, pack up. We’re leaving.”

After a while.

Ji Ning, Qiuye, and Mowu mounted three black-tawny beasts and left the dilapidated tribe.