Chapter 1491: Unexpected sight (2)
Chapter 1491: Unexpected sight (2)
Four cultivators could cultivate the same cultivation art, and the manifestation could look the same, but inherently, within their execution, certain properties would differ from one another. This could be seen with weapon cultivators like sword cultivators, whereby they could cultivate the same sword cultivation art, and in the early stages, the manifestation would look the same, but as they progressed in the cultivation of the Sword Dao, differences and uniqueness began to appear as cultivator and cultivation art started to synchronize, the nature of the cultivator seeping into the art as defining differences emerged.
Sword qi could look and feel the same among sword cultivators cultivating the same art, but there was not a single recorded instance of two sword cultivators sharing the same sword intent.
Every sword intent was unique to the person. And it was the same with saber, spear, and other weapon users, down to even fist intent. Each, without fail, was unique to the person. And as one progressed down the path, the more unique it became as they developed their own domain, and eventually their sword, saber, or spear soul.
The deeper your cultivation and your realm, the deeper your essence seeps into your art and its ensuing manifestation. The way the spells of the Universe Resonant Light responded in Yang Qing’s hands was likely to be different from the way it looked from other users’ hands.
This uniqueness wasn’t only observed in cultivation arts but could also be seen in other things like trees. Leaves may look the same. The fluctuations may be the same. But if one looked closely, they had their own uniqueness that differentiated one from the other. Their inherent nature and overall properties may be the same, but they would not be identical on every single component. There would always be areas where they showed individuality, and Yang Qing’s eyes were cultivated to spot those individualities.
And yet every leaf on the tree before him, without fail, was a carbon copy of the others. It was as though the tree had one leaf that had replicated itself endlessly. That strangeness told Yang Qing something was abnormal with the tree. He still couldn’t tell if its origin had been damaged, but what he observed told him the Dawn Cloud Tree wasn’t functioning normally.
"You have sharp eyes, Fellow Daoist Yang Qing," Chen Yu commented.
On reflex, Yang Qing turned to face him with both techniques still active, and what he saw was a vast expanse of blue and white flowing within Chen Yu’s body.
Yang Qing’s pupils trembled faintly as the sight sent shockwaves through him. The vastness of Chen Yu’s lifeforce wasn’t anything a Palace Realm expert should be exhibiting. Not even an early to mid-stage Domain expert would have the vibrancy and vastness of such a scale.
He had the lifeforce fluctuations of a late-stage Domain expert, yet the fluctuations of his spirit told Yang Qing he was indeed a Palace Realm expert.
Yang Qing was an abnormality himself — his vitality and vigor were close to the peak of the Palace Realm, even though he was at the early stage. But that was only in terms of the regenerative side of vitality and his large reserves of spiritual qi. In terms of lifespan, his wasn’t higher than that of a peak-stage Palace Realm expert; it was close, but it was not higher. A core Palace Realm expert had 40,000 years, while Yang Qing had around 37,700.
Most Palace Realm cultivators, upon breaking through, gain 30,000 years in lifespan, while those who break through using powerful Daos gain higher than that. The current known record was 38,000 years, and Yang Qing’s edged close to it. But as high as his was, it was still lower than that of a Core Formation expert by a few thousand years.
But Chen Yu... by Yang Qing’s rough estimate, he had at least 100,000 years, and Yang Qing couldn’t shake the feeling that the number was definitely higher. Even the quality of his spiritual qi seemed odd. The core was Palace Realm qi, but certain intricacies of it made it different from that of normal Palace Realm experts.
Yang Qing’s heart raced. He’d only seen such strangeness in one other figure... and it was Yang Shitong. While he could not tell exactly how many years of lifespan that greedy and insufferable roommate of his had, from what Yang Qing had seen when he last secretly observed him, that foul bird’s fluctuations showed that his lifespan was definitely higher than 200,000 years.
Not to mention, after losing flawlessly to Yang Qing, in typical Shitong fashion, the bird lacking the strength to even flap a wing or use his beak to peck at Yang Qing, Shitong decided to use the one weapon he always had plenty of strength and talent for, and that was his foul mouth and venomous tongue. He snapped back at Yang Qing with the most piercing of words when his beak could not. Shitong had said that his lifespan exceeded even that of an early-stage Soul Formation expert, before moving on to threaten Yang Qing, declaring that he would use Yang Qing’s bones to preen his feathers after Yang Qing passed on from old age.
Safe to say, Yang Qing did not appreciate the threat. So, mustering whatever reserves of strength he had remaining after the fight, he channeled it into hitting Yang Shitong with the most powerful arrow-like spit he could muster, given that he could not move his body. He had won the fight, yes, but he, too, could not move much. After Shitong elected to use his beak to spew words that would torment him, Yang Qing decided to use his mouth to produce spit. So spit became his fist, and that fist landed true as he pelted Yang Shitong right in the eye.
That hit ranked among his ten most monumental strikes. But as monumental as it was, he never forgot Yang Shitong’s words from that day. An early-stage Soul Formation expert had a life expectancy that exceeded 200,000 years. If Yang Shitong’s claim was true, then that damn bird had at least over 300,000 years.
Looking at Chen Yu, he could not help but wonder...
"Seems like you saw something, Fellow Daoist," Chen Yu said, smiling, his eyes glinting with deep interest. "I wonder what you saw..."