Chapter XXXIV: Ascending The Lunar Temple

"Make a choice!" The Temple Spirit barked. Her voice penetrating the room, snapping me from my contemplation over the movement skill in my hands.

"Middle-Level Cosmic Grade Skill: Tide Master Step!" I announced, holding the book high for her to see from wherever she was hiding.

"Haha! I remember that rouge." She tittered, "I killed him and took his pet tens of thousands of years ago. 51 thousand to be exact. It was a thousand years before the great fall of my clan. This man lived on a chain of islands caring for a small sea dragon when I met him. Nothing special about him but the sea dragon and that movement technique. Though his cultivation was low...his speed and...Haiz. Anywho, your time starts now."

'Two weeks,' I thought to myself as the room changed to a large courtyard on top of a high mountain. So high the full moon seemed to be a few paces out of touch.

"This must be constructed from memory. This temple is truly amazing." I sighed.

Taking a seat in the middle of the yard. I opened the manual continued my reading where I left of before the Temple Spirit interrupted me. At the same time, she was laughing at me due to the way I approached the technique.

Unaware of her amusement at the time, I continued on for an hour. Reading, studying, and practicing has always been my way. And one is accustomed to a certain way, it's hard to pick up on flaws due to a set perspective.

Naturally, I had already made my first mistake but had yet to realize it. Closing the manual, I stood up and began to practice the Tide Master Step. Thanks to my keen insight, I understood all of the techniques and I could perform them.

However, understanding, comprehension, and mastery are a bitch. For those who don't know the difference between the three key terms, I'll take a minute to explain an essential truth in cultivation.

First, a cultivator can pick up, read, understand, and perform any level of martial skill. Think of it as following a recipe. To follow a recipe, all you need to know how to do is read and be capable enough to follow the steps.

Second, a cultivator must diligently cultivate to properly comprehend the meaning of the martial skill. This is a step above understanding. Understand is knowing how something is done while comprehending is knowing why something is done.

Finally, Mastery. There's a say, 'those who can't, teach.' But teachers become scholars because they achieve complete comprehension of the skills that pupils pursue in order to aid them as much as possible. Scholars can explain the world and its finer mechanics along with its origins but they can not replicate the explanations.

Mastery comes from applied comprehension that is tested and refined through experience.

While standing in the courtyard, I practiced the Tide Master Step over and over again. It was separated into eleven levels:

Capillary wave, Ultra Gravity Wave, Ordinary Gravity wave, Infragravity wave, Progressive wave, Seiche, Storm surge, Swell, Tide, Tsunami, Wind sea.

Along with the brief description, images of the steps were recorded in the manual. Following those steps, my speed was less than a fourth of what I could achieve with my Storm Dancer technique.

Days passed and I meditated on what I knew and gradually increased my speed but I soon realized that I was changing the essence of the technique. On day six, I trashed all of my work and returned to the basics.

on the seventh day, I directly stepped into my soul realm and attempted to conjure a golden clone to practice the technique but nothing appeared as if I hadn't read the technique at all. To test my martial intent, I conjure golden clones to practice Storm Dancer, One Style, Lightning Fire and Metal, Hands of Eros, Nature Sutra, and so on. Every technique could be practiced and refined with my martial intent except for the Tide Master Step.

On the eighth day, I pulled a Weiqi set from my storage ring to help clear my mind for a moment. It was the only thing that could allow me to see multiple scenarios at once. And I'm embarrassed to say that after a put a single piece on the border, I finally realized my first mistake.

Looking at the Movement Skill, I sighed. "Cosmic skills are profound. So profound that words can't contain them. The six Nature Limit Break was a Heaven Technique when I first received it. But I failed to recognize it as cosmic technique after I received the complete version from the jade piece Senior Sister left behind." I spoke softly.

Picking up the technique, my mind enveloped it and I was pulled into the text in a single breath. My environment changed. I soon found myself in the middle of the sea standing across from a raged man with a harpoon in his hand.

Behind him was a long line of similar men as far as the eye could see.

"You're the rouge..." I gasped.

The man did not answer. He merely pointed his harpoon at me. "You are like me. But you are different. Countless incarnations were spent to create this technique and my journey ends in this prison world. Hopefully, we lived in a common world and you understand this science."

The man flexed and the long line of men condensed into one man wearing an ancient Athens navy uniform with a trident in his hand.

"It all started on earth after my death in the Aegen Sea. Doomed to die in the sea, a God gave me a new life in the world of cultivation. That was the beginning of my journey to become the Tide Master. Martial Arts is nothing without movement. Even a simple fist requires motion. Open your mind to the heart of the sea."

The rouge took the first stance and his body moved slowly in my eyes only because it was too fast for me to perceive. In a single step, the rouge was postured in the final form as the seas of the universe became a dragon and swallowed galaxies.

The pressure and magnificence were unbearable and completely beyond my existence.

My soul was shaken and I panted as the force of the skill kicked me out of the manual. Sweat drenched my body but pieces began to form a picture in my mind. This was the first step of comprehension that would lead to mastery.

On day ten, I felt something was missing something keeping me from transforming from a ripple to a wave. My realization caused a change in my Martial Intent. A golden man soon appeared in my soul realm holding a double-bladed polearm in his hand.

On the twelfth day, I dance around the courtyard with my pole weapon. The Tide Master Step was more than a movement skill but a martial skill as well. Like the rouge's trident or harpoon, my double blade polearm became the key to move the waters of the world.

From ripple to wave. From wave to force manipulation. Gravity became an ally and wind a lover. Fore without wind there are no waves. This skill lit up my soul realm and the concept of wind was deepened. It aided my mastery of the Tide Master Step.

My Concept of Ice was expanded, allowing me to touch the Lower Attainment in the Concept of Water. The Concept of Sound resonated with the waves and reinforced my breakthrough into the stage of Infagravity Wave. Oscillation was another key to mastering the Tide Master Step.

Every step crumbled or caressed the earth. Water could be gentle or tyrannical. When the fourteen the day came. My meal was hefty and I devoured it all, breaking through on multiple stages. Not only did my Martial Intent reach Higher Attainment due to the weight of my enlightenment, but my Polearm Intent finally reached Intermediate Attainment.

One Style reached Intermediate Mastery and swallowed my basic Polearm skills, broadening the Martial Art.

I achieved a breakthrough in Storm Dancer as the Tide Master Step became the new core of the technique, replacing Dancing Pixie. Thankfully the essence of Storm Dancer remained the same.

Without movement, there are no martial arts. Tide Master Step was naturally carried to Lower Mastery seconds before the Temple Spirit announced the end of the test.

A moment later, I was racing across the battlefield using only the Tide Master Step to demonstrate my mastery. I evade traps and engaged autonomous enemies but, I received no obstruction at all. The power of the wave was greater than I could ever imagine.

Like the Six Natured Limit Breaker, the Rouge that created the technique wanted to achieve something more than a simple movement. It was this intent that made the technique a Cosmic Grade Skill.

So while I performed the first four forms and achieved Lower Mastery. Concepts were needed if I wished to master this skill to perfection. And Dao was a must if I wanted to transcend the skill. Thankfully, the skill blended well and stimulated my comprehension and mastery on multiple fronts.

At the end of the battlefield, my Tide Master Step had built so much momentum that my last swing of the polearm obliterated the autonomous dummy into a hundred pieces on contact. I then stood motionless for a moment to recenter myself before looking towards the sky, awaiting the temple spirit to speak.

"No words?" I asked after a long silence.

"None. You're pretty talented. More talented than the average mortal world native. Less talented than a big clan youngster." She replied. "But you still have potential to shake the world. Achieve Martial Intent at a young age is...phenomenal. And the way it aided your comprehension of the Tide Master Step explains why you were given the name 'Orym'."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

There was another brief pause. " You were destined to achieve Martial Intent the why some people are born with divine bodies, random atavisms, or great soul power. Your blessing, though it had to be worked for, Is Martial Intent and eventually the Dao of Martial Arts. From this, you can achieve mastery in ten thousand skills. Hence the name, Orym."

'Not even my father could perceive that' I thought in my heart. 'But why is the Temple Spirit so analytical with me?'

The battlefield finally rumbled with change and the portal appeared to enter the next floor. Pushing aside my thoughts, I stepped through the portal and appeared on the second floor. The last words the Temple Spirit said to me were, "Congratulations on achieving the Heaven Trial. See you at the top."

The rest of the trial was rather a cliche. As I went through the floors, I knew in my heart that I wasn't destined to conquer this temple. This temple was made to choose an ill-fated mortal world native and give them purpose.

In most stories, you see the central characters as this great one with hardships and in events like these, I would storm the tower and get some great fortune and be all the better for it. Not this time.

After the first few floors, my actions during the preliminary rounds scrapped cut all of the benefits received in half. Every floor was set up with autonomous powered buy three energies: Xue, Shen, and Qi.

Xue was the final primary force that body cultivators used. It was also the energy within Qi that allowed essence cultivators to refine the body. While pure Xue was rare and extremely beneficial, my body was completely refined halfway through the Second floor that represent Xue. I was now at the threshold of Dao Attachment. Once I step into Dao Attachment, my capacity for Xue energy would break and be naturally produced.

The third floor represented Shen. Shen is the spirit. It is the water that fills the sea of consciousness and the walls that contain it. Because of the Six Natured Limit Breaker and the consumption of my Senior Sister's Faye Blood, Shen only served to purify and condense my spirit power but not promote my soul cultivation. Like the Tide Master Step and Body cultivation, only comprehension of concepts and intents to the point of Dao could progress my soul cultivation making Shen energy meaningless.

The fourth floor represented Essence. My entire martial foundation was staked against this floor. From the moment I decided to use the Qi Fermentation Training Method, my Dantian, cells, and meridians have been gradually expanding, and become accustomed to the purest and densest qi. By the time I condensed my Martial Physiques, I was a total glutton for Qi. After the construction of my Primal Wild Blood Physique, in the words of Jinro Eldunari, take my qi capacity for breakthrough and multiply it by ten.

At the completion of the fourth floor, my cultivation had risen to Second Stage Houtian. When the fifth floor opened up, I knew there wouldn't be a Pavillion of treasures like Mortal World and myself believed there to be. I was already halfway to the top and in front of me was a Piano, Ocarina, Guqin, and an empty spot. Above each spot was a sheet of music.

Naturally, I picked the Guqin, and the sheet music flew to my hand. It was the most complicated piece I had ever seen on the chaos serpent planet. This floor was obviously one of the special trials of the Heaven Trial. But again, I wasn't destined for any new attainment because the scale used to compose the music was one I would never forget.

Like her master, Senior Sister most have played music for the Lunar Demon King as the scale used was the same that the Young Miss of the Faye Clan played on the Ocarina when I saw her within the Jade Piece that held the complete Six Natured Limit Breaker technique.

With my comprehension of sound, the composition was a breeze and the door to the sixth floor was opened. Finally, I received the pavilion of treasures, weapons, and ancient beast physiques. At this point, the Temple Spirit finally admitted that the Lunar Temple was completely useless for me.

"Welcome to the sixth floor, Orym. Besides the library and Garden on the ninth floor, nothing is worthy of you. This floor was created to help advance and outfit contestants for the seventh and eighth floors." said the Temple Spirit.

"Can I opt-out and just leave at this point?" I asked a bit tired of the whole trial.

The Temple Spirit giggled. "Oh no, If you leave, then you'll be leaving your people behind."

"My people? It's been six years. They should have completed their trial a long time ago." I replied.

"Haha, think about what you just said, Orym Vamoria. Six years. All of you should have been out of my temple. But once I saw you, I knew this year had to be different. So while it's been Six and a half years since you entered, only a little under a year and a half has passed outside. That's because I made it so. So why would I let them go if it's a sure-fire way to bring you to the top of this temple?"

"Why me?" I asked.

Since the moment I was born, no spectacular destiny has roped me in. Every event was brought about by my own actions. Even my encounter with Gifted Reincarnators happened because I started a war. So, when the Temple Spirit said that she picked me. It was a bit shocking.

"Make it to the top and I'll answer any question you want." The Temple spirit fell silent and a new portal opened.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to stop my blood from boiling but the more I thought of QingQing, Nimue, Wu Zexi, and Shane, my body was on fire and all I could see was red.

Stepping through the portal, I entered a small world with a pavilion on a mountainside. The mountainside had two manmade plateaus representing the seventh and eighth floor. But there was only one name for the entire pavilion.

" Thousand Datura Pavillion" I mouthed the words.

In a thunderous boom, a thousand beauties appeared in the sky. Seven hundred beauties belonged to the lower plateau and three hundred were at the highest. If I want to make it to the ninth floor, I was certain that I had to go through these thousand Heaven Realm concubines. But my only focus was on my loved ones and I was willing to face a thousand more of the bitches if I had to.

"Boy! the rules are simple. Keep fighting until you can't fight anymore. Each of these women will suppress their cultivation to match yours be it body, essence, or soul cultivation. Be aware that many of us were peerless amongst our generations and you will be fighting the strength that we held when were at your level." The woman that hovered above the rest spoke.

"Wei Li Na! You're up first!" the woman added as a great force wrapped around me delivered me to a martial stage. The most terrifying part wasn't the battle against ancient beauties but the lustful gazes and murmurs I received from them.

On the other side of the stage, a human girl with long blue hair and a slender body stood with emotionless eyes. Her great cultivation visibly shrank to match mine. Then she bowed before taking a ready stance.

Just as I bowed, surprisingly, the gambling pool opened and my odds were low as hell.

"Don't mind them. We've been her for a while and this is the first time we've seen an outsider, let alone get to spar with one. I thank you on behalf of my sisters for this entertainment." Wei Li Na spoke blankly.

"Mmmm" I nodded and took my own fighting stance. For the sake of my people being held, I didn't plan on holding anything back.

"Let the Qualification Tournament begin!"