New way to use web

(100 chapter! Yey)

Xia Lina

I was sitting outside the room where Master was breaking through to the next major realm, guarding his peace. I planted the seed of the Ice Lily in my dantian a few days ago, and it seems to have taken root. At least, occasionally, cold energy radiates from the seed, passing through all my energy channels and bringing a pleasant freshness. This has only started happening since yesterday; initially, I thought we might lose the seed. Master says this will later allow me to better use elemental techniques.

Speaking of Master, his blood has recently become tastier, purer somehow, and after absorbing it, it's easier for me to cultivate. My development speed has increased, and I am already at the Purification of Essence 7th stage. Though I lag slightly behind Master, it doesn't bother me at all.

Of all the techniques available for study, I like arrays and water and ice techniques the most. While I guard Master, water and ice techniques are not suitable for training due to the lack of space and the risk of disturbing him, so I have been training with threads.

My training method is quite simple. I release threads from different parts of my body, sinking them into the ground and lifting my body slightly. This way, I train in many aspects, starting with the proper use of each thread—where it should be elastic and where it should be rigid. Additionally, since I constantly create new threads and retract old ones, I need to at least feel the world around them, as I can't see where the threads go. Another challenge is balancing and trying to remain completely stable.

In essence, it's an all-encompassing training that requires neither a large space nor any destructive elements. It probably looks funny from the outside—me hovering half a meter above the ground and not moving—unless one knows to look for the threads. I direct the threads in different directions each time, not only below me but also sideways, grabbing onto anything I can. I was quite pleased with my training method. Moreover, I tried to make the threads as thin and stable as possible so they blend in with the surroundings. Since I often accompany Master and don't want to hinder him, I needed to figure out how to train without being a nuisance.

Hui Ying

We were really stuck with the spiders. Every attempt to harvest strawberries ended with us being dragged to the cave with the bees. We had hit a dead end. Attempts to climb trees and shoot from there resulted in the same outcome. Somehow, the threads would come from the trees. We were almost falling into depression. It was decided to seek advice from Mei or Lin Qing. Perhaps they could at least point us in the right direction.

I headed to the mansion to find one of them in the administrative wing. As I walked, I pondered how to solve the problem, but nothing came to mind. Passing by Xia Lina, I nodded in greeting, surprised to see her here. But then again, it wasn't really my business. Only after I walked a bit further did I start to feel like I was missing something. About ten seconds later, as I raised my hand to knock on the door, hoping to find Lin Qing or Elder Mei, it hit me—Xia Lina wasn't standing on the ground. She was hovering in the air.

My hand froze mid-air. Quickly turning back and walking over to her, I began to observe closely. She was indeed suspended above the ground, hovering. I opened my mouth to ask, but then decided to watch a bit longer. Activating my concentration and observation technique, I tried to figure out what was going on. The more I watched, the more questions I had. Except for the constant tiny flickers of spiritual energy, nothing else was happening. I mean, nothing at all. The flickers were so faint that if they weren't so rhythmic, I would have thought they were just her natural energy fluctuations.

Approaching Xia Lina, I finally decided to ask about the technique. If we could hover or fly, the threads wouldn't be able to reach us unnoticed.

"Xia Lina, could you tell me how you are floating in the air?" I asked her.

Xia Lina gave me a puzzled look. "Um, I'm not floating, I'm training" she stated matter-of-factly.

"Could you tell me what technique you're training? And where did you learn it?" I asked. She seemed a bit strange, but maybe that's just how vampires are—apathetic and aloof.

"It's the thread technique that everyone in the clan is learning" she said, then fell silent.

After another twenty questions and five minutes of persistence, I finally managed to extract the details. Unbelievable. We hadn't even thought of using threads for movement like this. Judging by the fact that I couldn't see her threads, she had brought this technique to an insane level of control. Her threads were so thin and fast that they left no trace of movement and didn't disturb the surrounding spiritual energy at all. Amazing. And here I was, proud of being able to use ten threads. Xia Lina, it turned out, was using thirty, and they were completely invisible. If those flickers of energy indicated when she released a thread, then she was changing all thirty threads three times per second. Unbelievable. I needed to ask her to describe her entire experience with threads in detail. It would take forever, given her manner of answering questions, but it would be a breakthrough. I should ask the master to request this from her, as she only seemed to listen to him.

Feeling thoroughly grounded by this revelation, I quickly exited the mansion. I grabbed the first disciple I saw and told them to summon all the first-batch disciples to the gathering spot. Then, I headed there and sat down to wait.

Within ten minutes, all the first-batch disciples had gathered. It was interesting to see that everyone had come, even those who were defending the fortress this week, despite it being the second day of the allowed capture period. Clearly, I wasn't the only one frustrated by our current predicament.

"I have some interesting news for you all" I said, pausing for dramatic effect. "I know how we can fix everything." I looked around at the eager faces of my fellow disciples.

"Stop teasing us and just tell us already" someone urged.

"I propose using our threads to lift ourselves into the air and stay there during the whole process. This way, the spiders' webs won't be able to sneak up on us unnoticed."

"Wait, you mean like anchoring ourselves to the treetops and hovering in the air?" someone asked skeptically, immediately trying to shoot down the idea. "We'll be practically immobile. What's the point of noticing the webs if we can't dodge them? What kind of nonsense are you suggesting?"

"Quiet, all of you, let me finish" I said firmly. Once everyone settled down, I continued. "No, I don't mean anchoring to treetops" I said with a bit of theatrics. "I mean using the threads as makeshift stilts that anchor to the ground, allowing us to maneuver as if we had extended limbs." To demonstrate, I lifted myself half a meter off the ground, standing on four threads, one from each limb. I managed to balance for a second before losing my footing and falling to the ground.

"I know, I fell just now, but if we perfect this technique, it will be a game-changer. Imagine being able to change direction in mid-air at any moment, using the same technique we use for dodging. Picture how that would look to our enemies." I was getting more excited, already envisioning how we'd bewilder our opponents by constantly appearing and disappearing at different heights and positions.

"That sounds theoretically possible, but it will take a lot of time to develop and practice this technique. And we don't even know if it's feasible yet," someone pointed out skeptically.

"What if I told you that someone has already mastered this technique?" I said, silence falling over the group.

"Who? And how? The thread technique is still incomplete and weaker than the spiders" Zhi Qiao asked.

"Follow me, and not a word. If anyone gets us into trouble, I'll personally throw them into the spiders den every day for a month!" I led everyone to where Xia Lina was.

When we approached her, she was sitting on the floor, seemingly recovering. She opened her eyes and cast a disapproving glance at our group.

"If your crowd interrupts the master's breakthrough, I'll skin you alive and make toilet paper out of your hides" Xia Lina said quietly, but the ensuing silence showed that everyone had heard her.

Um, time to take control of this conversation.

"Xia Lina, I understand that you want us to leave quickly and not disturb you or the master" I said, trying to draw her attention. "I have a small request that will only take a few seconds, and then we'll go."

She looked at me with an indifferent gaze but didn't chase us away.

"Can you show us how you train, preferably while moving around the room? Please, and then we'll leave and not bother you anymore" I added, keeping my voice calm and respectful.

"Wait" she said, closing her eyes. She fell silent, leaving us all standing there, exchanging uncertain glances. After about three minutes, she opened her eyes and said, "I'm ready."

I turned to my fellow disciples and instructed, "Eat a couple of strawberries and activate your observation technique to full concentration." I quickly popped a couple of strawberries into my mouth, feeling the surge of heightened awareness, and said "Please, go ahead."

The sight must have been quite comical—twenty people with glowing eyes intensely watching Xia Lina. She effortlessly lifted herself half a meter off the ground and then began to "fly" around the room. Occasionally, she would disappear from one spot and reappear in another, all while remaining in a lotus position. Finally, she hovered half a meter above the ground near the door, where the master was presumably sitting, and said, "Leave, don't disturb the master."

Nodding in gratitude, I herded my fellow disciples outside.

"What did we just witness? That's definitely not a levitation or air technique. They can't do that" someone said in disbelief.

"As I said, it's our thread technique, just mastered by someone who knows it far better than we do," I replied.

"But I didn't see any threads. It can't be that" another argued.

"Just because we can't see the threads doesn't mean they aren't there. I spoke with her beforehand when I noticed her training. She makes them as thin as possible and controls them so well that they don't emit any spiritual energy. I'm almost certain that none of you noticed one crucial detail" I said with a hint of pride.

"The frequency with which she releases and replaces them?" Zhi Qiao interjected. Damn, he noticed, I thought, slightly annoyed.

"Yes, you're right. She controls about 30 threads at the moment" I continued, seeing their eyes widen. "She replaces them three times per second. That means she creates the threads, then either cuts them or retracts them—I couldn't quite figure out which—and makes new ones. That's the speed she's working at now."

"Well, if we can master even a fraction of that level, the spiders' webs won't be a threat" said Qiang Zhuang.

"That's true. The only problem is that getting her understanding and technique from her won't be easy. Once the master breaks through to the next level, I'll try to ask him for help" I concluded.