The Spirit World

Chapter 546 Shadowless Flame
"You, go to the [Box of Void], and that fish will teach you the first level moves of [Shadowless Swordsmanship]. Come back and practice after you've learned it." Erica sat on the grass, cross-legged, and looked at Chang Yufeng, who was a little frightened, with a serious look on her face.

She coughed, raised her head, and looked at the blue sky: "You can enter that space without my help now, so she is like your master, you listen to her and learn well."

"Ah? She's a fish monster...fish can talk...fish monster..." Chang Yufeng shook his head, "I can't do that. Monsters eat people...what if they eat me?"

"She's a spirit. Not a monster."

Erica looked at the clouds in the sky and walked slowly. She lowered her head and looked at Chang Yufeng, who was obviously not willing to learn swordsmanship. She tilted her head and said, "Tell her that you want to learn Shadowless Swordsmanship, and she will teach you. Do you understand?"

"don't know……"

"If you don't want to learn, what do you want to do when you grow up?"

"I must! Leave here!" Chang Yufeng looked at Erica seriously, his black pupils were clear and bright.

"why?"

"I told you, I don't want to learn..."

"Why do you want to leave here..."

Erica looked at Chang Yufeng, and he suddenly didn't dare to look into Erica's eyes.

"You can only leave here if you study hard. Isn't that right?"

"I just want to leave...here..."

Chang Yufeng lowered his head...as if Erica was not a younger sister but an older sister. He lowered his head to admit his mistake, hesitating.

Such a beautiful little blue goldfish...

How can a child be afraid...

"If you don't want to learn swordsmanship, how can you leave here? This world is very dangerous. You know you can't even beat cousin Henry. If he wants to steal your things again, how can you...protect yourself?"

"I...I'll find a way..."

"Go, learn the swordsmanship that suits you. After you become the best swordsman in the world, you can leave here or leave us if you want." Erica didn't look at Chang Yufeng. She clenched her little hands tightly and sighed softly, looking at the many children in the jungle outpost. Their parents were instructing their children to practice magic and swordsmanship.

"Our parents love us very much... They made many sacrifices to protect us... They love us very much."

"That's not why I want to leave! I..." Chang Yufeng looked at Erica in panic, wanting to say something, holding the umbrella tightly in his hand.

"Learn... okay? For yourself."

Erica smiled gently, her dimples shining so beautifully in the sun, her blonde hair swaying in the breeze, her maturity and gentleness totally unlike her age, making her so beautiful, even the wind was gently caressing her cheeks.

Chang Yufeng glanced at Erica, pursed his lips, and coughed because of discomfort in his throat.

It may be easy to guess what children are thinking, but their logic can never be explained by common sense, although they are not unreasonable. Gently, they have their own reasons, and repeat them again and again. Sometimes they are right, and sometimes they must be wrong.

Without guidance, even the brightest star will lose its brilliance and fall into the abyss.

"Okay...how should I...get back...there..." Chang Yufeng shyly moved closer to Erica: "Erica, don't be angry...I...don't want to leave, really, I promise..."

"Yeah, I know." Erica raised her hand and paused in the air, a little hesitant. She wanted to touch Chang Yufeng's head. What the child said was good, could it be really good? She put her hand down and nodded: "It's the same as going out. Just think about going there."

"What's it called there?"

"The Void Box."

"Let me try..."

The moment he finished speaking, Chang Yufeng turned into a blue light and disappeared on the grass.

Erica touched her nose with her hand and rubbed it with her eyes closed.

"Ah... kid, this is so troublesome..."

Chang Yufeng suddenly came to the Void Box. There was nothing in it except for the little blue fish. The Void Box was empty and so peaceful.

"You are here again~" The little blue fish swam beside Chang Yufeng, carefully looking at every corner of Chang Yufeng with its big eyes.

"Hmm..." Chang Yufeng was also looking at the beautiful blue fish, which was crystal clear and sparkling with blue light in the purple, empty box.

"So, what are you doing here?"

Xiaoyu's sweet voice is extremely pleasant to the ear, which matches her cuteness very well.

"I'm here. My sister said you would teach me swordplay... It's called Shadowless Swordplay."

"I... Yu, of course I know Shadowless Swordsmanship, but..." The little goldfish gurgled and spit out bubbles in the Void Box: "Why should Yu teach you~"

"My sister said that as long as I tell you, you will teach me... I tell you, you teach me..." Chang Yufeng watched the little fish tumbling and swimming. This place was like a small box. There was no light, only purple nebula, as if the space could only accommodate the little fish and Chang Yufeng.

Chang Yufeng looked at Xiaoyu gurgling and spitting out bubbles, pouting his chin with a slightly sad look on his face.

"Okay, then, I'll teach you." Xiaoyu swam faster to the top of Chang Yufeng's head, touched Chang Yufeng's hair with his white belly, twisted it twice, as if stretching his neck: "Do you have a sword that suits you?"

"Yes..." Chang Yufeng took out the lotus umbrella and placed it on his head to show Xiaoyu.

"Shadowless Swordsmanship is a swordsmanship that is extremely dependent on the sword. If the sword is not good, the power of Shadowless Swordsmanship cannot be exerted at all." The little goldfish patted its tail, and blue spots of light slowly splashed on the back of Chang Yufeng's head.

"Can't we use this one?" Chang Yufeng looked at the exquisitely carved lotus umbrella, which was made by Erica and not out of thin air.

Erica has a natural talent for magic and seems to have achieved great accomplishments in every aspect.

"Yes, I am telling you that in Shadowless Swordsmanship, the most important thing is the quality of the sword, followed by one's own strength. It is best if the two complement each other to exert the greatest strength. The most important thing for a swordsman is his own sword. This is nonsense~"

"If it's nonsense, then why are you talking?" Chang Yufeng blinked and looked at the lotus umbrella. The lotus umbrella itself was first an umbrella, and then a sword. The detachable small sword was fixed on the top and would be taken out when needed.

Of course, Chang Yufeng still hoped that he would never use the sword tip in his life, because that would be a very dangerous time.

"I'm telling you, if you want to learn the Shadowless Sword Technique, it is very different from other sword techniques~" The little goldfish flapped its beautiful fins again, puffing out blue bubbles.

"Oh~ Then... how do I learn? Just say a few words and I will learn it?" Chang Yufeng looked up at the blue goldfish above his head and smiled with satisfaction: "If that's the case, that would be great!"

"You're dreaming. How can good things be obtained without hard work? As the saying goes, good things take time. If something is obtained too easily, it must be a fraud."

"But I also got here very easily... Could it be that you are also cheating?"

"Do you know what fraud is?"

Chang Yufeng shook his head.

"You don't know what fraud is, so how do you know there is fraud?" The little goldfish flew down, almost sticking to Chang Yufeng's face, staring at Chang Yufeng with big eyes and said sweetly: "Hey ~ Your sister and I are friends ~ How could I hurt you ~"

The little goldfish swam away, and in Chang Yufeng's eyes, it seemed that the little goldfish never stopped for a moment. It swam back and forth, making a lot of noise. It didn't realize that a stranger had come into its small space and it was so happy that it forgot itself.

"If I learn it, will I be better than my sister?"

Chang Yufeng looked expectantly at the goldfish as it flew into the air and collided with a purple nebula that looked like cotton candy. It dived into the nebula and hid there. Then it swam out again, swinging its beautiful blue fins that looked like ribbons. The faint blue light began to shine in the void.

"Well... it should be possible if you study hard."

"Then why did she let me learn? Why didn't she learn it herself?"

"Because she's a girl... Girls aren't suitable for swordsmanship~"

"But, I saw many women holding swords in the city, including female orc swordsmen..."

"Well, Erica is good at using magic, and you are good at using swords~"

"But you just said that girls are not suitable for swordsmanship..."

Chang Yufeng touched his head half-doubtfully, looking at the lotus umbrella in a daze.

"Yes, your sister is a girl..." The little goldfish returned to Chang Yufeng's head and closed its big eyes quietly.

It rocked its body comfortably, as if it was going to have a peaceful sleep.

"what's your name?"

"My name is Jack Nyman...but..."

"But what? Do you have another name?"

"Will you tell Erica? If you don't tell her, I will."

"I'll keep it a secret for you. Anyway, I'll teach you the Shadowless Sword Technique~"

"You have a good relationship with my sister, so I won't tell you."

"That's fine too." The little goldfish shook her body again, and blue spots of light swayed from her body.

"Then what's your name?"

"My name is Xiaolan, Lan means blue. Lan means blue sky."

"Xiao Lan... nice... simple name... if you have such great sword skills, why do you have such a simple name?"

Chang Yufeng looked up at Xiaolan again, and Xiaolan was also looking down at him from above his head.

"No reason. The name comes from my parents. I can't decide."

"Okay..." Chang Yufeng lowered his head and looked at the moving purple nebulae.

"Are you a monster?" Chang Yufeng looked up at the beautiful little goldfish. When he looked up, the little goldfish was right on top of his head, close to his head, as if it was hiding from him and could not be seen at all.

"I am a spirit. Do you know that everything has a spirit? I am the spirit that gave birth to everything." The beautiful fish fins passed by Chang Yufeng's eyes. "I don't know..." Chang Yufeng lowered his head and had to look at the floating blue bubbles.

"It's okay if you don't know~ Just call me Xiao Lan~"

"Where is this place?"

"The Void Box~"

"Oh~ Erica said..." Chang Yufeng imitated Xiao Lan's tone and said, "So are you going to teach me now, or how? Shadowless Sword Technique?"

"I'll teach you now~" Xiao Lan said and quickly came to Chang Yufeng and floated in front of him. Only then did Chang Yufeng get to see this beautiful little blue goldfish as he wished.

"How to teach? After learning it, can you really be stronger than Erica?" Chang Yufeng looked at the umbrella and wanted to give it to Xiaolan, but Xiaolan swam backwards and kept the distance. Chang Yufeng watched her turn around and swim backwards, then turned back and swam towards him.

"Do you really want to be better than Erica?" Xiao Lan looked at him seriously, her big watery eyes, and she looked very energetic.

"Is it not possible?" Chang Yufeng put away the umbrella and put it around his waist.

"Of course you can. It's just that Erica is really intelligent and gifted with magical talent. If you want to catch up with her, you must work hard." Little Blue wagged his tail, and the blue light sparkled, turning into blue stars that slowly floated down like snowflakes.

Beautiful and charming.

"For example, if Erica takes one step, you must take ten steps, or even a hundred steps."

"I... always feel that Erica is so strong, but she always makes things difficult for me, asking me to do this and that, which makes me very uncomfortable..." Chang Yufeng snorted, breathing out through his nose, his dimples moving slightly: "If I were stronger than her, she wouldn't dare to bully me..."

"Did Erica bully you?" Xiao Lan looked at Chang Yufeng in surprise.

"She always makes me do things I don't like~" Chang Yufeng looked at Xiao Lan, as if he had found a punching bag: "I clearly wanted to sleep, but she made me get up so early. I clearly didn't want to participate in the Dragon Assembly, but she insisted that I sign up. I clearly didn't want to learn swordsmanship, but she made me learn it every day... I'm as tired as a puppy every day!"

"Hahaha, she is really bad~" Xiao Lan laughed, squinting her eyes as she looked at Chang Yufeng who was standing with his hands on his waist angrily: "Then you should practice well. One day you will be better than her, and then she won't bully you anymore~"

"I am stronger than her, so she won't bully me... But, you didn't teach me just now... You were just chatting with me..." Chang Yufeng pouted and looked at Xiao Lan. Xiao Lan rushed in front of him and rubbed his face with her body.

"I'll teach you now." Xiao Lan happily distanced herself from Chang Yufeng, turned around and stared at Chang Yufeng: "Take out your sword."

"Okay..." Chang Yufeng stood in a bow stance and took a horse stance with the sword upright using the traditional basic swordsmanship posture.

"For Shadowless Swordsmanship, the most important thing is the weapon... But it looks like you haven't practiced the basic swordsmanship very well... You can't even stand steadily in horse stance. It's very difficult to learn like this..." Xiao Lan sighed and said, "You have to practice the basics well first..."

"Ah... I didn't practice well when Erica asked me to... She always forced me to do horse stance... It's too tiring..." Chang Yufeng had just done horse stance for a while and he spoke with some force. When he persisted for a few more seconds, his legs began to tremble slightly.

Obviously not solid.

"This obviously won't work. The most important skill of the Shadowless Sword is to be able to control it freely. It is fatal if the swordsman cannot stand steadily. If your feet are not stable, and others fight a protracted battle with you, you will be the first one to be caught because of your unstable lower body..."

"Down..."

"It's the center of gravity... your center of gravity when swinging the sword... depends on your lower body... that is, the support formed by your feet, knees, and thighs. Release the center of gravity and it will be difficult for others to find the weakness of your lower body to chop your legs. Lower your body, because the length of the sword is also a good way to resist attacks from the lower body." Xiao Lan swam beside Chang Yufeng's legs. His increasingly trembling thighs did not make Xiao Lan happy, so Xiao Lan shook her head unhappily and said, "Forget it, you can practice this again. The basic sword posture must be learned well. Otherwise, there must be many flaws. If you are not careful, you will be cut by others."

"There are so many flaws?" Chang Yufeng spit out saliva, a little scared: "Will someone...cut me?"

"Well... However, let's teach the first level of Shadowless Swordsmanship first. Although the first level has nothing to do with the basics of swordsmanship, it is closely related to the basics of swordsmanship." Xiao Lan came to Chang Yufeng's head quietly again. Chang Yufeng had relaxed his body and stood up straight.

"You have to practice the basics well. There are flaws. No one can guarantee that they have mastered all the basics, but at least there should be no flaws."

"All right……"

"The first mantra of the first level of Shadowless Sword Technique is [Shadowless Flame]. Of course, in order to avoid the embarrassment of just shouting it out, you can just say it, 'Open!'" Xiao Lan spit out a few bubbles with a buzzing sound.

"Shadowless Flame...Open?"

"Yes... but you must use your momentum to stop your opponent! You have to shout very loudly! Very loudly! It would be best if it is loud enough to deafen the enemy." Xiao Lan blinked and looked down at Chang Yu Feng. Chang Yu Feng had been repeating the mantra of Shadowless Flame. When he heard what Xiao Lan said, he really shouted very loudly!
"Shadowless Flame! Open!"

"Louder..."

"Shadowless Flame! Open!"

"Louder, please~"

"Shadowless Flame!! Open!"

"Louder!"

"Shadowless Flame!!! Open!!!"

These shouts, accompanied by the rolling of the nebula, seemed to have a huge echo, ringing in this quiet box of emptiness.

There were clearly only the two of them in the Void Box, but there was a wisp of white flowers like cotton catkins floating gently among the nebulae. It seemed to be a rare flower that had fallen from a strange tree, pure white and flawless. It only floated down after hearing the echoes of the sounds, rolling with the nebula.

"Shadowless Flame! Open!" Chang Yufeng shouted for a long time, getting louder and louder, but nothing happened, so he shouted softer and softer.

"No...what...ah...just shout it out and scare others?"

Chang Yufeng coughed and moistened his throat.

"Of course I'm not trying to scare others to death. I'll tell you the formula first, and then teach you how to use it. Is that not okay?" Xiao Lan covered both sides of his body with his beautiful fish fins. Although he had no ears, he was still annoyed by what he heard.

"Okay... Then, how do you use this formula?"

“Feel the changes in your body.”

"Body changes?" Chang Yufeng's eyes twitched and he pulled his eyebrows: "No..."

"Because you have a dark physique, you are particularly suitable for practicing the Shadowless Sword Technique." Xiao Lan patted Chang Yufeng's head with his tail and said, "Now, mobilize the elemental power of your whole body to form a flame and gather it together?"

Chang Yufeng nodded, opened his right palm and said: "My elemental power is very little... Don't laugh at me..."

"No..." Xiao Lan had just finished speaking when she saw a little bit of insignificant fire flickering in Chang Yufeng's palm. It turned red, then orange, and then stabilized and turned into a tiny bit of... normal dim fire...

"Very weak, right..." Chang Yufeng went to look at Xiao Lan, but saw Xiao Lan covering her mouth, looking at the tiny light with a slight smile, but not saying anything.

"Then, use your dark power to melt into the flames."

"Dark attribute? I don't know how to do it..." Chang Yufeng scratched his head and looked at Xiao Lan aggrievedly: "Aren't there only water and fire elements?"

"I'll help you this time. Next time, you can practice slowly on your own." Xiao Lan jumped towards the tiny flames and blew at them with his mouth. With a whoosh, a ball of black, furious flames rose up, completely covering the tiny flame and carrying an even more unstoppable momentum.

"Wow...how did you do that?" Chang Yufeng looked at the burning black flame in surprise. He couldn't believe that it was caused by the fire in his hand.

"This is the original appearance of your own flame. I just used the dark element to transform it... The ball of fire in your palm is actually the fire core." Xiao Lan spun proudly, as if dancing happily: "But, you don't know how to extract the dark element, so you can only make it a fire core, but not a physical body."

“I don’t understand…but, it’s amazing!”

Black flames rose, and in his eyes, it was incredible to see such a huge column of flames.

But this fire had no temperature...which made him feel a little strange.

Xiao Lan continued, swaying his body: "The use of this Shadowless Flame cannot help you use it in the same way as other fire mages, because it comes from your thoughts, that is, mental power. It is not the strength of your spiritual power."

"What do you mean?"

"It has no temperature, does it?"

"Yes."

"So, he can only be used for defense to a large extent, and can't even keep warm."

"What's the use?"

"That depends on you... If you want to attack, attach it to the sword. If you want to defend, attach it to your side."

"How... attached?"

"This is a test of your control over your spiritual power and your precise use of it. You need to practice this. In addition to how to control the dark elements to cover the fire core, you also need to practice this."

"This has nothing to do with the sword, right?"

Chang Yufeng looked at the lotus umbrella and the Shadowless Flame in his hand.

It always feels weird, a flame without any temperature...is it a will-o'-the-wisp?

Then, what's the use of this? It may not even hurt others... The momentum of the flames is fierce, no wonder they have to shout so loudly, it's really to scare others.

of?
"You can't even extract the dark element... It's too early to practice swordsmanship. However, since you want to be related to the sword so much, I will tell you the second formula of the first level of Shadowless Swordsmanship: [Shadow Breaking Hua Zhan]. I guess these two things will be enough for you to suffer..." Xiao Lan shook her head and looked at Chang Yufeng: "You practice first and extract the dark element. Then I will tell you how to practice the swordsmanship technique of Shadow Breaking Hua Zhan."

After saying that, she flicked her slender and supple goldfish tail, and the black flame in Chang Yufeng's right hand disappeared in an instant, replaced by a little bit of wretched "fire core"...

"Hey, why did you die?"

"What? Are you going to use the Shadowless Fire I lit for you for the rest of your life?"

"Is it not possible? Anyway, there is no temperature...it won't burn anyone..."

"You..." Xiao Lan swept Chang Yufeng's face with her fish tail, and playfully dodged Chang Yufeng's grasp.

"This fire can actually be heated, but it's too early for you."

"I... don't know how to extract dark elements... I don't even know what dark elements are..."

Chang Yufeng looked at his empty hand. The huge black flame disappeared... It was as if something was missing...

Perhaps, he should be surprised why he had such a strong dark elemental flame, but he still missed the feeling of... possessing real "power" just now.

If it was a blazing fire element instead of a temperatureless and shadowless flame, it would definitely be more majestic.

(End of this chapter)