Chapter 68: Young Hero Stelle
Stelle stared at the open pages of the Fire Dance Whirlwind manual, her brow twitching violently. She had gritted her teeth, forced her eyes to track across the dense, archaic calligraphy, and practically devoured the entire book. Yet, a harsh reality sat heavy in her chest: she didn't understand a damn thing.
The pages were absolutely crammed with obscure Xianzhou cultivation jargon that made her temples throb. Heavenly Circuit Circulation? Mind Guarding Dantian? Spirit and Qi Integration? It was like trying to read an instruction manual written in ancient hieroglyphs.
She scratched her messy gray hair, letting out a long, suffering groan. Her gaze drifted from the elegant, borrowed Liuli Sword resting across her lap to the familiar, comforting weight of her own Flame Lance leaning against the wall.
"Hiss..." She sucked in a breath through her teeth. "This delicate little thing is way harder to figure out than just charging in with the Flame Lance."
She slumped back against the plush sofa of the Express, fully aware of her own limits. "With my current cultural literacy... if I just fumble around on my own, this legendary sword technique is going to turn into a complete joke."
Just as she was about to toss the manual over her shoulder, a spark of inspiration hit her. She bolted upright, her golden eyes widening. The Chat Group's Training Room!
"That's it!" Stelle slapped her thigh, a grin breaking across her face. "Doesn't the Training Room have that time-acceleration feature? Plus, it boosts comprehension and has full environmental simulation! Swinging a sword in a custom-made dojo is bound to be a hundred times more efficient than just flailing around like a headless chicken out here. And... maybe it can even spawn a sparring partner?"
Thinking of the sheer miraculous utility of her system cheat, her confidence came rushing back. She eagerly swiped a hand through the air, summoning the translucent blue interface of the Chat Group. Without a second thought, her finger jabbed the [Adaptive Training Room] icon.
Swish!
A soft ripple of light washed over the carriage, and Stelle vanished into thin air.
The parlor car remained perfectly tranquil. A few feet away, March 7th sat cross-legged, completely blissed out and deeply immersed in her newfound exploration of out-of-body astral projection. The energetic archer didn't even register the sudden absence of her chaotic companion.
Up at the front of the Astral Express, Pom-Pom hummed a cheerful tune, their long ears bouncing as they carefully swept the floorboards. Somewhere deeper in the train, Welt and Himeko were likely buried in the data bank's vast wisdom repository or relaxing in their private quarters.
To the crew of the Astral Express, Stelle spontaneously vanishing via a Space Anchor to go rummage through trash cans or wander the galaxy was a daily occurrence. No one batted an eye.
For Stelle, the transition was instantaneous. The warm metal dome and plush seating of the Express rippled like water, dissolving into a blinding flash of light.
When her vision cleared, a biting, frigid mountain wind slapped her cheeks, carrying the heavy, moist scent of high-altitude clouds. She stood at the absolute summit of a solitary, heaven-piercing peak.
Jagged, ancient rocks jutted out around her, acting as silent sentinels over a vast, surging sea of white mist. The golden rays of the morning sun pierced through the clouds, painting the horizon in stunning strokes of amber and crimson. The air up here was impossibly crisp—so pure it tasted faintly sweet on her tongue. Every breath she drew felt like a shot of pure adrenaline, instantly washing away her mental fatigue.
"Whoa!" Stelle spun in a slow circle, her coat snapping in the wind. "This environment is way cooler than practicing in the hallway!"
But time was points, and points were precious. She couldn't afford to stand around sightseeing. Her sharp eyes quickly spotted a simple, woven straw meditation cushion resting atop a perfectly flat bluestone slab nearby.
She hurried over, plopped down cross-legged on the cushion, and spread the Fire Dance Whirlwind manual across her lap once more.
The moment she focused, a deep shift occurred.
Those impenetrable Xianzhou phrases that had mocked her back on the Express—Qi Sinking to Dantian, Spirit Following Intent, Guiding Qi into Sword—suddenly shed their mystery. It was as if the words themselves had breathed in the mountain air and come alive. The obscure calligraphy flowed off the parchment, transforming into vivid, kinetic diagrams within her mind's eye.
An endless stream of martial insight bubbled up from the depths of her consciousness, clear and refreshing as a mountain spring. Every complex posture, every complex pathway for circulating Qi, mapped itself intuitively across her muscles and nerves.
The Chat Group's [Comprehension Boost] was terrifyingly effective!
"Oh, this is the good stuff!" Stelle cheered. She gleefully grabbed the messy, question-mark-riddled notes she had scribbled earlier and tossed them over the cliff edge.
Springing to her feet, she drew the borrowed Liuli Sword.
The translucent blade emitted a vibrating, low note, humming in her grip as if sensing the dense ambient energy of the peak—and its wielder's soaring excitement.
Stelle took a slow, measured breath. She closed her eyes, letting the first stance of the manual surface in her mind: First Glimpse of Fire Cloud.
Her wrist flicked. The Liuli Sword carved a flawless crimson arc through the frigid air, trailing a distinct wisp of scorching heat that hissed against the mist!
She didn't stop. Her footwork shifted, flowing effortlessly into the next forms. Prairie Fire! Three-Fold Flame! Crimson Glow Filling the Sky!
A flurry of foundational sword techniques poured from her hands. The stiff, awkward hesitation she had felt in the carriage was completely gone, replaced by a fluid, deadly grace. The blade cut through the wind with a sharp whistle, and tiny, brilliant sparks ignited in the air along the sword's path, as if she were physically dragging the fire element out of the surrounding ether.
As she completed the final form of the set, she lowered the blade. A deep, comforting warmth radiated through her veins. Her blood pumped with vigorous rhythm, her Qi flowed without obstruction, and her spirit felt sharper than the edge of her sword.
"Awesome!" she muttered, a breathless laugh escaping her lips.
But as she stared at the empty sea of clouds, a small frown tugged at her mouth. "Just swinging at the air isn't enough. I can't gauge the actual combat impact... It'd be perfect if I had a sparring partner right about now."
Whoosh—!
The moment the thought crossed her mind, the thick mist blanketing the peak violently churned. It spiraled inward, rapidly condensing into a solid, humanoid shape just ten paces away!
In the blink of an eye, a figure composed entirely of swirling white vapor stood before her, gripping a sword forged of pure mist. Though it lacked facial features, the entity radiated an oppressive, razor-sharp sword intent. It raised its blade, executing a flawless, traditional cupped-fist salute.
Stelle's golden eyes lit up with predatory glee. "Perfect timing!"
She shifted her stance, preparing to return the polite gesture. But before her hands could even meet, the mist figure exploded forward!
No flashy wind-up. No warning. Just a blindingly fast, fundamental lunge thrust aimed dead center at her chest!
"Whoa, hey!" Stelle yelped. Her honed combat instincts took over before her conscious mind could process the threat. She snapped the Liuli Sword up, angling the blade to parry.
Clang!
The impact rang out like a struck bell. A massive surge of kinetic force traveled down the translucent blade, instantly numbing Stelle's wrist and forcing her to slide back half a step against the stone.
This was no basic training dummy. The system had synthesized an opponent whose combat logic, speed, and raw power perfectly mirrored Stelle's current physical stats and her exact level of mastery over the Fire Dance Whirlwind. It was the ultimate, unforgiving examiner—and the perfect whetstone.
"Oh, you want to play rough? Let's go!" Stelle's fighting spirit ignited like a powder keg. She cast aside all distracting thoughts, her chaotic energy narrowing into a laser-focused battle trance as she threw herself at the mist figure.
Chop. Thrust. Lift. Sweep. Parry. Block.
The mist figure's strikes were entirely devoid of flair, yet terrifyingly precise. Every single attack was ruthless, calculatingly aimed at the microscopic gaps in Stelle's guard or the momentary lag in her stance transitions.
For the first few dozen exchanges, Stelle was pushed entirely onto the defensive. She scrambled, relying purely on her freakish reflexes and brute strength to deflect the relentless assault.
But under the brutal tutelage of her faceless, merciless coach, Stelle was forced to rapidly digest the theoretical sword principles she had just memorized and forge them into practical muscle memory.
Minute by minute, her footwork stabilized. The clumsy transitions between her strikes smoothed out, linking together like a flowing river. The crimson aura clinging to the Liuli Sword grew denser, burning hotter, until every swing left a searing, hissing trail of sword Qi in the air.
She stopped retreating. Her parries turned into deflections, and her deflections turned into vicious counter-thrusts. With a heavy, fiery sweep, she finally managed to force the mist figure to stagger back three paces!
Fight! Comprehend! Fight again! Comprehend again!
Stelle lost herself entirely to the rhythm of the clash. She forgot the Astral Express. She forgot the passage of time. She even forgot the terrifying rate at which her precious system points were burning.
In her isolated world, nothing existed except the hum of the Liuli Sword, the relentless phantom before her, and the ever-climbing, white-hot inferno of her battle intent. Every spark struck between their blades, every narrow dodge, carved the essence of the Fire Dance Whirlwind deeper into her soul.
Without realizing it, Stelle slipped into a deep, ethereal state of martial arts enlightenment.
The Chat Group's Training Room immediately detected the extreme rarity of its host's mental state. As Stelle's preset timer—originally capped at one day for a cost of 100 points—ticked down to zero, the system's [Adaptive] protocol quietly intervened. Recognizing that interrupting her now would shatter a once-in-a-lifetime breakthrough, the system automatically bypassed the timer, silently siphoning her points to keep the simulation running.
Deep in her trance, Stelle remained completely oblivious.
Day after day bled away on the mountain peak.
Her blade grew exponentially faster. The sheer momentum of her strikes transformed from a localized heatwave into a majestic, suffocating pressure. The scattered sparks that once trailed her sword evolved into thick, sweeping arcs of rainbow-like sword Qi.
Eventually, a faint, ethereal sound began to echo beneath the whistling wind—the distinct, piercing cry of a phoenix!
...
Layer by layer, her mastery deepened. The destructive power of her forms climbed to terrifying new heights.
Finally, on the ninth day of continuous combat—a span of time Stelle's entranced mind still perceived as a single afternoon—she drew back the Liuli Sword for one ultimate strike.
She poured every ounce of her essence, Qi, and spirit into the translucent blade.
The Liuli Sword erupted. A blinding, crimson-gold sunburst shattered the mist on the mountain peak. Accompanied by a deafening, soul-shaking phoenix cry, a massive, fiery phantom of a phoenix tore itself from the blade! It soared majestically into the heavens, its burning wings carving through the sea of clouds, circling the summit three times before dissolving into a shower of golden embers.
Fire Dance Whirlwind, Thirteenth Layer—Phoenix Nirvana!
Stelle slowly exhaled, a plume of white steam escaping her lips as she sheathed the blade with a crisp click.
Her chest rose and fell in a steady, controlled rhythm. Beneath her messy gray bangs, her golden eyes burned with an impossibly sharp, refined light. The chaotic energy she usually exuded had been tempered in the flames of pure martial focus. As she stood there amidst the fading embers, the young Trailblazer radiated an unmistakable aura of a true, seasoned swordmaster.
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