Chapter 403: Warrior
Looking at Luna, who had fallen into a deep sleep, Ace opened his hands. A dreamlike radiance blossomed from his palms, sealing the knowledge related to the path of blood qi and heart fire into that blood-red gemstone.
After doing all this, Ace did not stay. This was a seed he had casually sown, a decoy to divert attention. If she could develop, it would be due to her effort, talent, and opportunity. If she couldn’t, that was also Luna’s fate.
“The acquired supernatural beings of this world cannot consist only of wizards, fire stealers, or favored ones. I need a general trend of chaos. The path of the warrior is the most universally applicable path for mortals. Even those with absolutely no magic talent can at least awaken blood qi.
“Moreover, the end of this path has been deduced to the level 2 stage; it is already a mature path. Let the heart fire of the warrior burn blazing in both the Old and New Continents, attracting all eyes!”
Specks of moonlight spilled through the dilapidated roof. Ace spoke softly with his hands behind his back.
He turned to look at Luna. Contract runes emerged in the air, and magical patterns surfaced on the dusty ground, quickly forming a complex contract magic circle.
Under the effect of mana, Luna floated up slowly. Ace extended his slender right hand and grasped Luna’s left hand. A golden Scale of Contract descended from the void.
“The contract is set. I am the Firelinker. I agree with the person before me, Luna, that you shall not reveal my name, nor shall you reveal the source of your teachings. You may teach this path to those you trust. From this moment forth, whatever your achievements may be, whether they bring blessing or disaster, has nothing to do with me.
“If Luna violates this agreement, her soul shall return to the River Styx, and her True Spirit shall shatter!”
Luna slowly opened her eyes. She found herself floating in mid-air, unable to control her movements. The person claiming to be the Firelinker stood amidst strange, luminous patterns, chanting something.
Those words seemed to possess magic, actually transforming into a parchment scroll. The strange scale before her shattered, and the contract mana enveloped Luna and Ace.
The next day, the sun hung high in the sky. Sunlight shone through the cracks in the roof onto Luna’s eyes. She woke from her deep sleep.
So tired. Her whole body ached. This was Luna’s first sensation.
She was a bit dazed. She rubbed her eyes vigorously, then suddenly thought of something. She sat up abruptly and pulled open her clothes. The blood-red gemstone on her chest shone brilliantly in the sunlight.
She touched it gently with her finger. The gemstone carried a dreamlike sensation. Hum!
“Why do I feel so dizzy?”
With a thud, Luna, who had just woken up, fell asleep again.
In the hazy realm of dreams, Luna once again saw that elegant and slender figure. He wore a pure black magic robe, and a gold-rimmed, red-bottomed 4-ring hexagram badge flickered on his chest. Under the tall magic top hat, his face was unclear.
The surroundings were a vast whiteness. Luna tried to approach him, but they remained at the same distance forever. She couldn’t help but ask, “Who are you?”
Her voice echoed here, but there seemed to be no one else.
Just then, the elegant figure opposite her spoke in a voice that drifted and echoed:
“I am the Firelinker, the guide of the supernatural. You have accepted my path and become my disciple. From now on, you shall call yourself a warrior. By becoming a warrior, you possess the capital to surpass mortals and stand shoulder to shoulder with divine descendants.
“But you must always remember our agreement. If you violate the agreement, the chains of the contract will drag your soul to the bottom of the River Styx.”
This ethereal voice was like a thunderclap. Luna instantly recalled the scenes from last night, especially the moment the magic contract was concluded. The words of the contract also echoed in her ears, and she involuntarily recited:
“I shall not reveal your name, nor shall I say where I learned from. I may teach this path to those I trust. From this moment forth, whatever my achievements may be, whether they bring blessing or disaster, has nothing to do with you.”
She gradually understood. Her eyes shone with a sparkling brilliance. An ambition fueled by a desire for power, dissatisfaction with her situation, and a wish for a better life burned in her eyes.
Luna bent her knees and knelt, prostrating before the elegant figure. She said in a pleading tone, “Please, Lord Firelinker, bestow power upon me!”
Intense white light blossomed. Ace’s figure gradually disappeared, but the ethereal voice continued to echo.
“The path I bestow upon you is the path of the warrior. You shall call yourself a warrior and act in secret. If you fail to maintain secrecy and invite disaster, you have only yourself to blame.
“Now, I will explain to you what a warrior is. The so-called warrior is summarized and sublimated from the combat skills among mortals.
“Mortals do not have divine bloodlines, nor do they have innate supernatural abilities. But we still have to fight against wild beasts, monsters, and other humans. Over the long course of combat, humans have gradually summarized some fighting techniques. These techniques can be roughly divided into three categories: unarmed combat, weapon combat, and footwork skills.”
Luna stood up and listened earnestly, her brow furrowed tight. Although she had never thought about these things, she basically understood them. But merely fighting techniques couldn’t achieve the supernatural.
“Mere fighting techniques cannot reach the supernatural. Over a long period, humans gradually summarized methods of training— simply put, is the combination of eating and exercising.
“Only by eating enough nutrients can one train enough strength, jumping ability, speed, physique, and so on.
“But these can only allow a mortal to reach their own limit, far from breaking through the limit. What mortals diligently seek is to shatter the shackles of limits.
“And the path of blood qi and heart fire is the method to break the limit. This path comes from the summary of mortal combat experience, hence it is called the warrior!
“A so-called warrior is a fighter who breaks the mortal limit, a true brave one, carving out a supernatural path with a mortal body.”
Ace’s resonant words made Luna tremble all over. She shook with excitement, almost unable to wait to learn this path of the warrior.
“The key to this path lies in the first step: the birth of blood qi. If you want to give birth to blood qi, you must have enough vitality. Through the Blood-Food Circulation Method, using a set of postures for walking, sitting, and lying, you stimulate and accumulate vitality bit by bit. Finally, with accumulated strength, you cross the mortal limit and break the shackles.
“Now, I will teach you the Blood-Food Circulation Method.”
As his voice fell, a figure appeared in front of Luna, demonstrating the methods of walking, sitting, and lying. Luna watched and imitated with shining eyes. The core of this method was to eat food rich in vitality, then use the postures of walking, sitting, and lying to constantly stimulate latent vitality, finally refining the essence of vitality from the body—which is blood qi.
After a long time, Luna woke up. It was already evening. Her stomach was rumbling. Having not eaten for three consecutive days, although her vitality was replenished by Ace’s blood qi, the hunger could not be resolved.
Enduring the hunger, she ran through the postures of the Blood-Food Circulation Method she had learned in the dream. The vitality power she obtained from absorbing Ace’s blood qi mist began to gather from within her body. Her blood rumbled like lead and mercury, and wisps of blood qi appeared from various parts of her body.
Following the essentials of the Blood-Food Circulation Method, Luna gathered the blood qi bit by bit towards her chest. The sky had turned completely dark, and a small mass of blood qi had condensed in her chest.
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