"Sense the veins of the wind."
"Turn the power of the wind into the power you desire."
These two sentences plunged Wang Zhong into deep thought.
The wind has veins, a concept easy to grasp. The wind moves, leaves flutter; the wind rises, clouds surge. Even Qian Renxue, standing in the gale with hands clasped behind her back and pacing, her dazzling golden hair dancing in the wind, proved this point.
The wind is formless, but the surrounding things are not. Through their existence, one could perceive the veins of the wind.
However, the latter sentence, turning the wind's power into one's own desired power, was where Wang Zhong was lost.
"How can I borrow the power of the wind?"
Wang Zhong frowned. He sat down cross-legged, no longer stubbornly pushing forward. He simply stared intently at Qian Renxue, who was about to dance gracefully in the raging wind, lost in thought.
She made no specific movements to stabilize herself in the fierce wind. She walked and moved casually, even spreading her arms in the wind, letting the gale buffet her slender body without any sign of strain.
"How does she do it?" Wang Zhong was utterly bewildered.
"Is it a special ability from her Angel martial soul?"
"But she's not displaying her martial soul at all right now."
"This means there's some secret or trick I haven't discovered. And the key to it lies in those two sentences just now."
His brows furrowed deeply, a look of contemplation on Wang Zhong's face.
Just then, a feather, appearing from nowhere, entered Wang Zhong's sight. The feather drifted and swirled in the wind.
Wherever the wind's power blew, the feather followed, light and gentle.
"Gentle? Wait a minute, in such a strong wind, why isn't the feather torn apart? How can it remain so intact?"
As this question arose in Wang Zhong's mind, right before his eyes, the feather suddenly stilled in the wind. It bizarrely froze in mid-air.
Though it was only for a few seconds, Wang Zhong clearly grasped that moment.
A feather suspended in the air!
Wang Zhong's gaze trembled. Images and thoughts collided in his mind at that very instant.
"The veins of the wind! The veins of the wind! The so-called veins are not what I imagined. Leaves fluttering, clouds surging are merely the external manifestations of change under the wind's power."
"They seem to sway with the wind, but that's only out of necessity. Only that feather truly moved with the wind, capturing the veins of the wind."
His eyes suddenly lit up with excitement. Wang Zhong had grasped something incredibly subtle, just on the verge of uncovering it.
"A feather has no power. Without the wind, it couldn't fly at all."
"The power that made it fly was the wind, and the power that made it freeze in mid-air was also the wind!"
"Wind is resistance, and also assistance!"
Wang Zhong's eyes gleamed at this moment.
Wind is softer than water, wind is firmer than steel! The difference between these two lies solely in how one treats the wind.
Yield to the wind, and it is soft; resist the wind, and it is steel!
He stood up abruptly, once again standing in the raging wind. But this time, he didn't immediately try to walk forward.
He slowly relaxed his body, ceasing to resist the wind with force. Instead, he contracted his strength as much as possible, making his body as soft as he could.
This naturally led to an unfavorable consequence: Wang Zhong's body began to sway and move erratically in all directions.
Closing his eyes slightly, Wang Zhong recalled the image of the feather frozen in mid-air. He enveloped his entire body bit by bit with his soul power, trying his best to sense the wind's direction.
No matter how much one relaxed, a human body could not become as soft and light as a feather, nor could it float in the air like one. However, as a soul master, soul power was infinitely versatile, capable of being both steel and silk.
Soul power filled his body. He carefully sensed the direction and force of the wind. Instead of opposing it, he transformed his soul power into something as gentle as the wind.
As the gale swept over him, his soul power gently nudged, diverting the wind's force to the side. Wang Zhong's swaying body stabilized slightly, but it still shook noticeably.
This was the Wind Valley; the wind did not blow from a single direction but from all sides, from every angle. Merely diverting one gust was not enough for Wang Zhong to stand in the gale as naturally as Qian Renxue, feeling the breeze on his face.
"I must grasp the direction and flow of every gust of wind, and before it strikes me, gently deflect it with my soul power."
His concentration intensified, his mind grew clearer. A peculiar power spread from his brow outwards, and a wondrous world suddenly appeared in Wang Zhong's mind.
In this world, Wang Zhong saw the veins of the wind, even their form!
This was the world perceived through his spiritual power.
The soul power around him began to change, flowing gently like water. With each gust of wind, a surge of soul power would emerge to deflect it.
At this moment, Wang Zhong's body stood firmly in the raging wind, unmoving.
However, things were far from over. As Wang Zhong perceived the wind's veins through his suddenly appearing spiritual power, he suddenly discovered an anomaly in his body.
Within him existed two wondrous orbs of light, one green and one crimson-gold.
Probing the green orb with his spiritual power, Wang Zhong saw a tiny sapling, its emerald leaves swaying as if welcoming his arrival.
"This is my tree martial soul."
Wang Zhong felt the sapling and thought this in his heart.
Then, he directed his spiritual power into the other crimson-gold orb, and Wang Zhong saw something astonishing.
It was a terrifying colossal beast, completely crimson, so massive it resembled a mountain range as it lay prostrate. Standing before it, he felt as insignificant as a grain of sand.
Its fiery red fur, even in its recumbent state, clearly conveyed its streamlined body and powerful limbs. Its enormous head rested on the ground, seemingly asleep. Behind it, nine long and powerful crimson tails swayed unconsciously.
Wang Zhong was utterly shocked by what he saw. He never knew his body harbored such a terrifying beast.
Taking a slight step forward, he wanted a closer look at what this thing truly was.
But even those two steps seemed to inadvertently disturb the creature.
Its tightly shut eyelids twitched slightly, and the swaying of its nine tails intensified. Its long ears twitched subtly.
Under Wang Zhong's gaze, the colossal beast opened its eyes.
Its fiery red eyes were like an infernal abyss burning with fierce flames. Slaughter, ferocity, bloodshed, and rage – all sorts of terrifying emotions surged into Wang Zhong's mind, crashing down like an avalanche.
In that instant, Wang Zhong's spiritual power was shattered. The piercing pain in his head turned his face pale. His body wavered, and he fell straight down.
"Wang Zhong!"
In the last moment before falling, he heard Qian Renxue's anxious voice.