Freedom

After enjoying a hearty breakfast, Huang Tian returned to his apartment to continue cultivating. Only about three hours later, however, he felt a faint swelling ache in his meridians. Clearly, he had reached his limit. "It seems my daily cultivation time cannot exceed twelve hours. Otherwise, it might disrupt the circulation of spiritual qi—more harm than good." Recovering his focus from meditation, he thought, "Since I can't keep absorbing spiritual qi, I might as well try cultivating those two spells." Huang Tian flipped to the sheets of paper recording the Earth Puppet Technique and the Minor Cloud and Rain Technique, doing his best to memorize and comprehend their contents. Two minutes later, he closed his eyes. Every detail of cultivating the two spells surfaced in his mind with complete precision. At the same time, the details and essential knacks of how to cultivate both techniques were fully clear to him, as though he had already rehearsed them countless times. "My memory and comprehension have both improved noticeably! "Is this also an effect of cultivation? The former might be, but the latter... Mo Qiu never mentioned that cultivating the Huang Tian Mountain-Suppressing Spirit Scripture would enhance comprehension. "So, it must be the work of my superpower again." Huang Tian was thoroughly satisfied with the transformations his superpower had brought, and he could not help thinking: Not enough! Still not enough! He shook his head with a quiet laugh, finding himself rather childish at this moment. "I really am still a young man after all—erratic thoughts, easily getting ahead of myself..." Huang Tian steadied his mind, suppressing the urge to cast spells immediately. Grabbing his keys, he locked the door behind him and went downstairs, mounting his electric scooter to head toward Guangming Park. Guangming Park had a grand-sounding name, but in truth, it was merely a patch of flat land on the outskirts of town featuring a single gazebo and a dozen or so pieces of outdoor exercise equipment. Behind the park lay several small hills. There were no fierce beasts on the hills, but the woods were rather dense and mosquitoes abounded in the summer. As a result, once dusk fell, anyone exercising or relaxing in Guangming Park would leave immediately to avoid serving up a feast for the bugs. Huang Tian lived near the city's outskirts to begin with, so after riding for about ten minutes, he arrived at Guangming Park. After parking his scooter, Huang Tian walked into the park along a gravel path. At this hour, there were only a handful of elderly people around—some resting on the long stone benches in the gazebo, others brooding over a game of xiangqi. Huang Tian did not linger. He walked straight through the park and followed a narrow path up into the small hills behind it. The deeper he went, the denser the trees and brush became. From time to time, birds were startled by his presence, fluttering up with a flurry of beating wings and circling several times overhead before settling back onto the branches. Avoiding the crisscrossing branches, Huang Tian walked unhurriedly up the hill. Eventually, dense woods blocked any further path ahead. Huang Tian stopped and looked around. The surrounding trees stood either bolt upright or leaned gracefully like reclining beauties. It was exceptionally serene; only the distant park yielded faint shouts of old men bickering over retracting a chess move. "This place isn't bad. Quiet, no people." Standing on the earthen ground, he closed his eyes and gathered his focus. A few breaths later, he faintly sensed a heavy, solid presence rising from the earth. With a slight stir of thought, he mobilized the spiritual power in his body, his fingers shifting into hand seals. "Condense!" Rumble~ The ground within a radius of several meters trembled slightly. The surrounding earth, sand, and stone seemed to be kneaded by an invisible giant hand, swelling upward and converging rapidly to form an earthen puppet nearly ten feet tall, holding a stone hammer. The earth puppet's facial features were blurred and indistinct, yet judging from its height, build, and weapon alone, one could easily sense its formidable might. Huang Tian walked over to the earth puppet and found that he barely reached its waist. Curiously, he patted its torso and arms. "It really does feel like soil and rock." Huang Tian circled the earth puppet and said softly, "Extend your hands." The puppet immediately stretched both arms straight out. "Lift your leg." The puppet swiftly lifted a leg. "Pick up that boulder." Following the direction Huang Tian pointed, the puppet walked over and effortlessly lifted a half-person-tall boulder to its waist. "Strong, and not slow either. The Earth Puppet Technique really is a decent low-tier protective spell. Unfortunately, it consumes far too much spiritual power. Merely condensing a puppet that lasts fifteen minutes drained nearly a third of my reserves. "Mainly, my cultivation is still too low. If I were a few layers higher, my reserves would naturally be much larger, and casting spells would surely be much easier and more natural." Huang Tian shook his head. Looking at the motionless puppet, he commanded, "Disperse!" As soon as the words left his mouth, the towering earth puppet collapsed and disintegrated, turning into chunks of rubble and loose dirt. Having tested the Earth Puppet Technique, Huang Tian was in no rush to try the Minor Cloud and Rain Technique. Instead, he pulled out his phone and opened the weather forecast. "It says the weather will turn in an hour and bring light rain." He looked up at the sky and saw that thick clouds had already masked most of the sun. The sky was gradually darkening, and the air carried a stifling humidity. "While I wait, I'll regulate my breathing and recover the spiritual power I used up." More than half an hour later. Huang Tian felt the spiritual power within his body replenish to fullness. He gave a slight nod, then looked up again. The sun was completely blocked; overcast clouds piled layer upon layer like pools of spilled ink, dimming the daylight. "Time to test the Minor Cloud and Rain Technique." His fingers shifted through seals as spiritual power surged forth, guiding the moisture in the air to gather toward him like a whirlwind. Whoosh, whoosh~ Gusts of warm breeze swept through, gently swaying the branches across the hill. Soon, the wind intensified. Trees thrashed, leaves fluttered wildly, and dust swirled into the air. The clouds above seemed to shift with the wind. Lead-gray clouds moved and piled rapidly, their color deepening from lead-gray to charcoal-black. At the same time, the clouds sank lower, hanging heavy in midair as if something were churning and brewing within the mass. Rumble—! Suddenly, a web of purple lightning tore savagely across the sky. A tremendous crack of thunder followed on its heels, startling the birds and beasts of the mountain forest. Some cowered in fear, while others let out uneasy cries. Pitter-patter, pitter-patter~ Drops of rain struck the leaves with soft splashes. In the blink of an eye, the sparse drops strung together into beaded lines, which then wove into an impenetrable curtain of rain. The rain seemed to be dumped from the sky by the basinful, crashing down in torrents with no sign of letting up. Gales howled through the torrential downpour, sometimes whipping the rain sideways, sometimes surging upward with clouds of spray. Muffled rumbles of thunder rolled faintly through the heavy black clouds, entirely drowned out by the roar of the tempest. The entire forest was left with only the relentless roar of the rainstorm washing over all creation. Huang Tian looked completely relaxed, letting the rain wash over his entire body. As a boy, he had loved getting caught in the rain—strolling or running through downpours simply because he thought it was cool. Only after growing up did he realize how foolish and painfully juvenile that behavior had been. Yet now, he gladly bathed in the raging wind and rain, for at this very moment, he felt a powerful sense of something called absolute freedom. Too long confined within the cage, I return at last to nature!