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  Ancient Fragment #11

  Stories tell that to see her wield the White Oblivion Scythe is to invite doom, for nothing short of complete destruction awaits.

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  Long Tianyu stood beneath a towering red pine tree, its trunk thick enough that six grown men would struggle to wrap their arms around it. The canopy vanished high above, needles overlapping and swallowing the sky.

  He inhaled slowly and closed his eyes.

  Qi stirred within his body, drawn from the surrounding world and pulled into his spiritual core. The moment the qi settled, Long Tianyu stepped forward and punched towards the tree.

  BANG!

  The sound reverberated and the bark exploded outwards to the sides of his fist.

  The impact echoed through the forest as small pieces of bark scattered across the grass and moss below his feet.

  Long Tianyu exhaled sharply, his brow furrowing.

  Behind him, Hua Qingqing sat atop a tall and smooth gray rock, her legs dangling above the forest floor. She watched him with quiet attention, her expression soft.

  It really does feel like old times, she thought. Just the two of us in the forest. Cultivating. Failing. Succeeding.

  She stretched her fingers into the air, letting the breeze slide between them. The wind here was so gentle, broken apart by layers of red pine trunks before it could reach them. It brushed softly against her skin.

  ''AHH!'' Her nostalgic thoughts were interrupted by Long Tianyu's shout of frustration.

  Hua Qingqing blinked and then smiled.

  She hadn't heard this sound in so long. Even though they were childhood sweethearts, they had spent little time together since arriving in Moondragon City years ago. She had stayed in the Hua Clan to protect her father from scheming clan members who despised them for being from a minor branch. But she had also stayed to be close to Long Tianyu. She did not visit him often, careful not to put him at risk of becoming a target of schemes.

  Only Tianyu and I stayed in the city, she thought. Everyone else left for the sects.

  Her mind drifted to her brothers, Chen Jie, Zang Liu, Xiao Chi, Nong Xuanfeng, and to her sisters, Wang Mei, Lin Yue and Song Xue. All of them had left during the sect selections, stepping onto paths filled with opportunity.

  She and Tianyu were both the eldest. Eldest Brother. Eldest Sister. Yet only the two of them had remained behind.

  She let out a quiet laugh at the irony. Both of them carried the titles of elders, yet neither had shown meaningful cultivation progress since that disastrous day at the sect selections.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  ''AHH!''

  Another shout snapped her back to the present.

  She looked over, Long Tianyu had created over ten small fist sized indents on the red pine tree. Hua Qingqing hopped down from the rock. Her robes fluttered softly as she landed, barely stirring the grass beneath her feet.

  Long Tianyu turned around as she was walking towards him. His sweat glistened on his face, unlike the time when they were escaping he didn't look tired at all but still full of energy.

  “Tianyu,” she said gently, “you cannot force qi straight from the core into your fist.”

  He frowned and scratched his head. “Then how am I supposed to do it?”

  “You guide it,” she replied. “Let the qi circulate through the spiritual core first. One full rotation. Only then do you send it outward. If you could simply move qi directly, there would be no need for a core at all.”

  Long Tianyu clicked his tongue. “Fine. I will try.”

  He stepped back, planted his feet, and closed his eyes again. This time, he slowed his breathing. He felt the qi within his spiritual core begin to gather and rotate the qi, making it much more dense.

  It works! His heart pounded as qi rushed through his arm and gathered in his fist.

  ''HAA!'' He roared and exploded out with a power that no mortal could ever produce. Something he had basically been until recently.

  BANG!

  A sound much larger than before exploded out and the bark that stood strong against him before were like an eggshell as it exploded into bits and pieces all over the ground.

  ''Good!'' Hua Qingqing's eyes lit up and turned into crescents as she smiled from seeing Long Tianyu's progress instantly.

  ''Qingqing, do you also think that the information given to us from The Godslaying Abyss is still fragmented, like it was done in a rush and just the most important points were given to us, everything else we will have to figure out ourselves? Like I didn't know how to correctly use the qi even though I'm in Elementary Qi Realm.'' Long Tianyu said while frowning.

  ''I think so too, whatever saved us was in a rush to do so.'' Hua Qingqing nodded, she had thought the same the last couple of days.

  He flexed his fingers.

  “Also I don't even feel pain,” he said slowly. “Is it because I reached the Elementary Qi Realm, or is it my bloodline?”

  He turned toward her. “Qingqing, maybe our bloodlines strengthen our bodies naturally. I feel like my Qi and Soul are at the first stage of the Elementary Realm, but my body feels far stronger, it is at the 8th stage in Elementary Body Realm.”

  She thought back to her own cultivation within the Hua Clan.

  “I think so,” she replied. “I have never struck a tree with bark this thick, but if you had hit me with that punch before…” She trailed off, then placed her hand against the shattered trunk. “I would have lost in one blow.”

  Her tone was calm, but serious.

  Both of them understood the implication. The Divine Tempering of the Three Origins was no ordinary method.

  ''By the way Qingqing, what realms have you reached now?''

  ''I'm in the 1st stage of Qi Infusion Realm, 1st stage of Elementary Body and 8th realm in the Elementary Soul Realm.''

  His eyes lit up and he laughed. “That is incredible! Qingqing, you will be protecting your husband in the future.”

  She rolled her eyes in response.

  Long Tianyu thought about challenging her, but decided to protect his pride. Hua Qingqing seemed to have sensed it and turned around to the red pine tree that Long Tianyu had just hit. He could feel a change in the air as the qi gathered towards Hua Qingqing.

  Compared to Long Tianyu she could make the qi go multiple rounds in the spiritual core, each time making it more powerful.

  She took a stance and in a flash her small fist exploded outwards towards the tree. Her clothes fluttered as her fist hit the tall tree.

  BOOM!

  The tree bark exploded outwards together with the wood inside, bits flying into the air. Hua Qingqing rushed backwards towards Long Tianyu as a loud crack sounded.

  Long Tianyu's eyes expanded into horror as he realized the power of Qi Infusion Realm combined with the two origins.

  She destroyed the tree!

  The tall red pine tree fell slowly towards the ground, it crashed into nearby trees causing loud noises that startled the birds and animals to run away.

  The tree finally struck the ground with a thunderous crash, the impact echoing all the way toward Chisong Village. In the Red Pine Forest, trees like this rarely fell. Their roots were ancient and deep, anchoring them firmly to the earth.

  Long Tianyu took a deep breath and did a prayer for the bad fate of her future enemies.

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  End of chapter 11 - The Shattering Strike