Path Of The Dragon (A Dark Fantasy Cultivation Wuxia Xianxia Progression Series)

Chapter 46 Inspection

But, after so many attacks in so short a time, Jie felt drained. She could manage a handful more, but that seemed rather pointless. Instead, she pulled out the qi armor scroll as that shouldn't drain her qi much, and having a defensive skill just in case seemed like a good idea. Of course, she'd still have to make sure not to get hit. Needlessly draining her qi would be stupid.

Jie looked over the scroll once more, but it wasn't that complicated. It was similar to lightning step, only it covered her in a thin sheet of qi that would react to any attack by thickening the qi in that area. Kind of like reactive armor using her qi.

She didn't even bother to close her eyes as she cycled her qi in the pattern described. A faint blue hue surrounded her, like a small, shimmering aura.

Lightning sparked and crackled over it. She made a mental note to never use this skill when trying to sneak around unless she found a way to control it better. The draw on her power was incredibly small just as the scroll had said. Less than her movement skill in fact.

But... how would it react to being hit?

Jie punched the wall without a technique, just using her normal strength, and her fist stopped a millimeter from the hard stone as though stopped by an invisible cushion she couldn't break through. She felt a much larger pull on her qi and shot backward with explosive force as a deafening roar rumbled through the enclosed space, not unlike when she'd used finger of light.

A mark of blackened stone showed where her fist had struck and already the stone was knitting the tiny cracks back together. Jie blinked. That wasn't supposed to happen.

She checked the scroll again, but it made no mention of such explosive power or the push back. It was just supposed to block an attack and nothing more. But this... was this even a defensive skill anymore?

On a whim, Jie stomped the ground hard while using the technique and rocketed up into the air. She slammed into the ceiling and bounced off it onto the floor and then back up again. Each hit drained her qi, and her stomach churned as she bounced around the room like a pinball, deafening cracks like thunder punctuating each time she connected with a surface. But it didn't hurt. It was just extremely tiring. She cut off the skill and smacked into the floor.

"Okay... that one hurt," Jie groaned as she picked herself back up.

Still... the defensive skill might protect her, but everything else it did was... fascinating. Would other cultivators expect the weird movements it allowed her to make? Without even counting what she could do with lightning step? And what kind of damage could she do by using the qi armor and dragonfist at the same time?

That thought seemed interesting, so she tried it out, though she did it at low power as her qi was running nearly empty.

Sure enough, her qi armor was triggered, but after a few low-powered hits, she found she could control it if she wanted to. She could actively tell it not to respond to something, so it shouldn't negatively affect her too much unless something took her by surprise, or she slipped up.

That was good. Having a skill she had little control over didn't sit well with her. Except maybe some kind of ultimate attack. Something that would kill anything in her way. Just in case. Was there something like that in this world? There had to be right?

She sat on the floor and cultivated, bringing her breathing back to normal as she regained her energy. What an exhausting day, but so worth it.

***

While Jie was busy training her new martial skills, several elders gathered with Headmaster Siluvius outside Jie's private residence.

"Heavens!" said one Elder, "I see what you mean. It's pulling in the Essence so strongly, it's like it'll tear out my soul! Is this girl really such a monster?"