Chapter 104: Domain
Wind. The wind was everywhere around him. It was an element which Xu Min had acquired by absorbing the fairie’s powers within the Blood Pagoda, and this control over the wind had benefitted him previously in other battles.
He was now capable of commanding the wind, shaping it into anything from wind blades to an assistant for his attacks. The wind allowed for him to move much quicker than he had been able to before. He felt the wind close to his body, and he was capable of comprehending that within this element was a deep secret, the secret of the power of the wind and the truth behind this element.
The more Xu Min thought about the wind, the more he understood about it. The wind was present everywhere, even right next to him now. As he emerged himself in the feeling of this element, he came to understand that it could be controlled in so many different ways.
A gentle breeze played with Xu Min's hair while he was pondering the secrets of the wind. Slowly and gradually, he felt himself slip into a stage very similar to becoming one with the world.
Xu Min, amidst the gentle breeze, was fully focused on his meditation; his mind was slowly leaving his body when it merged with the wind. It was so comfortable, Xu Min himself had become a breeze of wind, traveling vast distance with a single breeze, encompassing everything as the wind was everywhere, never to be seen but always to be felt.
Xu Min could feel himself leaving his body within the small house and traveling through the Academy as a gust of wind. He experienced the sights he had seen once before. He gently played with the hair of some fairies, brushed against the clothes of some elves and even flew past some immortals. No one, however, raised an eyebrow at this sudden gust of wind. No one seemed to sense that it was not just a single gust of the wind but Xu Min's mind hidden within.
Xu Min felt free like a bird, free as a spirit as he soared in the sky. He flew where he wished to fly, and he was not restrained by anything.
Xu Min was enjoying himself so much that he did not notice the darkness that quickly descended on the Academy. He had taken to the sky and was wafting back and forth at the top of the clouds. Suddenly he noticed that the world had turned dark. He was startled as he had fully emerged himself in the feeling of unlimited freedom.
Taking to the ground, Xu Min returned to his body. With an emotional sigh, he finally seemed to understand something incredible. The wind was everywhere, and one could merge with the wind. He could control any wisp of the wind, any gust, and any storm. He could brew typhoons and command hurricanes, but what’s more, he could merge with the wind with things such as his swordlight, his soul, and his attacks. Every gust of wind could contain the attacks he had learned. Merging his sword with the wind, he would even be able to attack anywhere at any time. Where the wind was, he would also be.
It was not only his sword which was able to merge with the wind and travel at astonishing speeds; Xu Min was also able to do the same act with his entire body, blending with the wind and traveling at a speed similar to a strong wind gust. It would be so swift that his attacks had now increased tremendously.
"Turns out that I might be able to manage in a duel like this," Xu Min mused to himself. He dared not be complacent, though. He had just gained access to the element of wind, and suddenly he understood the hidden secrets hidden within it. Would not other opponents to also have understood and comprehended this before?
What Xu Min had understood was a domain. The Wind domain gave him full control over his specific element and was the highest level of comprehension that one could have towards an element.
Smiling, Xu Min understood others were likely to also having comprehended it since he was able to gain access to it. Thus he still needed to focus on increasing his strength for these few days of peace. It was clear that many experts were going to challenge him. Even more would be coming to witness this downfall of Xu Min, the representative of humanity. Xu Min could a little understand their sentiment and their grudges, but he still felt it was rather uncomfortable to be the target of all this hate and curiosity. All he wanted was to become a normal student, increase his strength and then kill the Zhong family. After that, he wanted to live a casual life together with Meilin, have children and become an expert that reached Immortality.
Xu Min had already planned out his life, and he was satisfied with it. There was nothing more he wanted. This is why he wanted to solely on increasing his strength as soon as possible so that he could get his revenge completed. Then he could live a peaceful life.
Spending the rest of the night contemplating and thinking about the benefits he had gained, Xu Min also considered which pursuit he should focus on to become stronger.
"Spirit. It seems that the elves are using spirit bows and other kinds of spiritually influenced attacks. I have not gained any insight into this aspect. I need to practice instead of continuing to ponder and meditate," Xu Min mused to himself.
"Since I cannot focus on my spirit attacks right now, and I already comprehended the Wind domain, I better focus on stances. I am not strong enough for the Lunar Crow and Solar Rabbit stance just yet. Nevertheless, I can still try all the stances that imitate the elements. Hopefully, if I don't go up against a fairy, I should be fine as their elemental control is superior to these cheap imitations as well as though elves cannot control elements either. Being up against them, I should have a chance."
Xu Min was mumbling to himself. Upon reaching a decision, he spent the rest of the evening focusing on stances. He did not have time to perfect all stance, so he did not know whether or not he wished to learn an entry level in all stances or if he wished to go into details with a few of them. Both ideas could prove to be beneficial, but it all depended on which kind of experts he would be up against.
Xu Min did not have time to sleep. The next couple of days were spent in his cottage where he was cultivating, pondering, meditating and experimenting with stances. Sometimes he would play with the wind, other times he would train with his sword. Before he knew it the seven days had gone past and the sparring field was open once more.
That morning that the sparring field opened, Xu Min noticed that the outside of his cottage, which usually had been completely silent, was bustling with life. Many students had come to hear who would be the first one to challenge him to a duel. So far none of them had seen much from Xu Min.
Xu Min had just joined the academy. Because seven days of peace were given to him, he had not needed to participate in the classes before the eighth day; now it was time.
Waking up, he was aware that he had two classes: one in the morning and one in the evening. The morning class was with the fairies while the evening he would be with the elves.Usually, the students would only participate in one of the classes, but Xu Min was a special case. Thus he had no other option than to participate in both. This also meant that he had a few hours before the lessons started to spar at the sparring field.
Xu Min was painfully aware of this fact. He packed down the medicinal pills he had been given and sighed deeply as he rose from the bed where he sat and meditated all night.
"Human boy you have nothing to do here!" A voice finally boomed through the air. "Come show us your strength, so we know what is so special about you!"
The voice was very hostile, and it did not try to give Xu Min any face to the voice. All it intended was to insult him, to make him feel unfairly treated and become furious. The more furious he became, the better it was the one who called him out, but Xu Min had experienced too much through his life, a few words were not going to upset him.
Sighing, the young man opened the door to his cottage and went outside; the entire area turned silent. Previously many had been whispering to one another. They were gossiping about Xu Min's ability or reactions. Nevertheless, when he went outside in such a casual and collected way, everyone was stunned. He was simply too calm considering the words spoken before.
Even the speaker felt that something was amiss. He was slightly embarrassed by the words he said, but he knew that there was no turning back now. He snorted as he took a step forward. "Good to see that you at least have the guts to show up! Don't dally around; hurry to the sparring field."
Xu Min just sighed as he looked at this aggressive person. He shook his head, displaying a maturity which clearly looked down on the aggressiveness of this young man.
Without waiting for the entourage which had arrived to see his battle, Xu Min started moving towards the sparring field. He did not move with the help of the wind but walked casually. The control he had over the wind could not be displayed casually. He had to depend on the element of surprise to defeat many of these elves and fairies.
If he could defeat the majority of the challengers, he would already have done enough. He could not kill anyone. However, considering the words were spoken by Mu Zi, Xu Min did not have the ability to kill these experts. Thus he had no reason to hold back either. On his back was the sword which could feel his fighting spirit and started to vibrate in response to the battles that were to come.
Seeing that Xu Min, who was one against many, was able to have a small smile on his face these elves and fairies were filled with mixed emotions. Some were perplexed; others were indignant. Most thought that he was too certain of his abilities and was overestimating his strength. While a few were worried that Xu Min truly had some strength that no other expert had been able to see through.
Even immortals had shown up at the sparring field to see the battles that were to unfold; all of them came to see Xu Min purely because of curiosity. He was a human, but he had been accepted by the Guardian Tree. He had traits from both humans, elves, and fairies. He was an enigma that no one could understand. These immortals were all curious about what kind of person he was what his combat ability was like and how he could manage against their experts.
Not just this, these immortals were guardians of different parts of the academy. They did not often see entertainment such as this. For them, this was a welcome change, and all of them were excited about how the battles would go. They even went as far as to bet amongst themselves.
Some of them had heard rumors from the Immortal Valley Ranking and were positive towards Xu Min. While others blamed Xu Min for humanity's mistakes just like a few of the students. After noticing that the immortals were there, Xu Min still was carefully smiling as he observed what was happening around him.