"Whoosh"
Facing such a formidable Su Mei, Chu Feng found himself unable to dodge. Left with no choice, he was forced to unleash the first of the Thunder Three Forms.
The moment the move was executed, Chu Feng seemed to transform into lightning. His speed increased several times over in an instant, and he bolted away like a streak of light, finally evading Su Mei's attack.
"You little girl — how is your strength so terrifying?"
Chu Feng was stunned. By his own estimation, even if he couldn't defeat a Spirit Martial 8th Stage expert, he should at least be able to put up a decent fight.
Yet Su Mei's earlier strike had been nothing more than a plain, ordinary attack, and it had already driven him to the point of deploying the Thunder Three Forms — a trump-card technique. That was simply beyond his imagination.
"Hmph, you think you're the only one who's cultivated a Mystic Art?" Seeing the shock written all over Chu Feng's face, Su Mei shot him a disdainful glance. She stopped attacking and instead sat down in a chair in the hall, picked up an apple, and began crunching into it rather ungracefully.
"A Mystic Art — you've cultivated a Mystic Art?" Chu Feng's astonishment only deepened.
He knew perfectly well what a Mystic Art was. A Mystic Art was essentially a cultivation method, and the reason it was called "mystic" was precisely because of its wondrous, arcane nature.
By mastering a martial cultivation technique, one could gather Spiritual Energy. If one's aptitude was good enough, breaking through to the Yuan Wu Realm was entirely possible. However, anyone who only possessed a martial cultivation technique would find the first level of Yuan Wu to be the absolute limit of their cultivation — just like Chu Feng's grandfather, Chu Yuanba.
The Yuan Wu Realm was an entirely new stage. What it demanded was no longer the refinement of Spiritual Energy, but Yuan Force. Yuan Force existed between heaven and earth, but it could not be condensed through ordinary martial cultivation techniques alone.
To condense Yuan Force, the only way was to cultivate a Mystic Art. The trouble was, Mystic Arts were far too precious and exceedingly rare. It was said that the entire Azure Dragon Sect possessed only a handful of them, and aside from the elders, only the Core Disciples were permitted to cultivate them.
But Su Mei was merely an Inner Disciple. How could she possibly have cultivated a Mystic Art? Unless…
"What's so strange about it? You've cultivated a Mystic Art yourself — is it really so unthinkable that this lady could do the same?" Su Mei said with a pout.
So the girl thinks I've cultivated a Mystic Art, Chu Feng realized. He had heard all manner of legends about the wonders of Mystic Arts but had never actually seen one. Still, when he thought about it carefully, his recent performance did indeed bear a striking resemblance to what one might expect from someone who had cultivated such an art.
"Hey, what's that look on your face? Don't tell me you haven't cultivated a Mystic Art and are just this strong because of some absurd natural talent."
"I really haven't cultivated a Mystic Art," Chu Feng said.
"You're serious?" Su Mei walked over.
"Mm." Chu Feng nodded.
Su Mei stared at him for a long while, as though searching for some crack in his story, but in the end she exclaimed in genuine surprise: "So it really is true that someone with Mental Power is something else entirely. You haven't even cultivated a Mystic Art and you're already this formidable — imagine how terrifying you'd be if you had."
"Heh, something like a Mystic Art is hardly within my reach." Chu Feng shook his head. If he could, though, he would very much like to see what a real Mystic Art looked like.
Especially now, after learning that Su Mei's rapid progress and extraordinary strength were the result of cultivating a Mystic Art — his longing for one only grew stronger.
Seeing the yearning on Chu Feng's face, Su Mei's delicate brows furrowed slightly, as if she were wrestling with a difficult decision. After a moment, she spoke: "I could give you a Mystic Art."
"You're serious?" At those words, Chu Feng's expression changed dramatically.
"Do I look like I'm joking?" Su Mei said, her face grave.
"What's the catch?"
"The catch is that you join my Wing Alliance."