“Empress?” whispered Zilan, confused.
He then shut his eyes and took in a deep breath,
“It shouldn’t come as a shock to find out that someone with Grandmother’s abilities has such a high status. But…. the Rain Dragon King was actually her subordinate? And that ability…. how can something so rule-defying exist?”
He then remembered his eyes and kept his mouth shut.
‘Will I also acquire that ability?’ A wryly smile formed on his face as he quickly dismissed the thought.
After taking some time to digest the vision he just had, Zilan finally began looking around. He was now inside of the main building but the grand, awe-inspiring layout he was expecting was nowhere to be found.
All around him was darkness except for directly in front of him where elaborate carpeting that appeared to have a story to tell could be seen. It led straight to the centre of a stage that was the only well-lit place in the entire structure.
The stage was in actuality a specially tiled large open space that had peculiar yet systematically arranged holes on the faces of some of the tiles. At the centre of the stage, a mesmerising mat, the size of a normal Dragon could be seen. There was only a single mat which confused Zilan to some degree but he assumed that the Temple must possess some form of intelligence, recognising that only a single person had been granted access to its resources.
He was still taking in this new environment when he noticed the shadow coach go to the mat and sit, cross-legged.
Zilan needless to say, followed the example and did as the shadow did.
He expected something to happen as soon as he sat down but even after waiting for a significant amount of time, nothing occurred.
He thus turned to the shadow and asked,
“Is something wrong?”
Shadow coach touched his shoulder and Zilan immediately understood.
“I need to concentrate on the Infinite Rain technique?”
Closing his eyes, he decided to think on Rain Storm and its systems.
This time, something happened.
As he was envisioning the Rain storm technique, the usual imagery he had was now nowhere to be seen. Instead, replacing it was a world that resembled the Temple he was currently in. The difference though, was that this version of the temple resembled a King’s palace and a Holy abode at the same time.
Beautiful, peaceful hymns resonated throughout, a gigantic field and a ceiling of realistic stars greeted Zilan’s eyes.
“Hahahaha…” Seeing all this, he could not help but laugh out in wonder. The systems and laws involved in the creation of a place capable of something like this was enough to keep him busy for untold hours. In fact, he wouldn’t even know where to start.
“Consciousness, within consciousness, within consciousness…….Amazing!”
His body was in the physical world, his consciousness within the Cloud Inheritance Palace and now somehow his consciousness was again divided and placed within this world.
“Fascinating.”
Still marvelling at this world, Zilan had failed to notice that shadow coach was currently standing next to him.
It reached out and touched him.
Immediately a bunch of information rushed into his mind, breaking him out of his wonder-struck mood.
“This place can do that?!?”
Zilan’s eyes widened and his hands trembled from excitement. He immediately sat crossed in the ethereal field and began meditating on the Rain storm technique. Unbeknownst to him, transparent strings of energy flew out of the holes on the tiles in the other stage, firmly latching onto his body. And meanwhile, outside the main building, one of the towers surrounding the Temple lit up.
Rain drops then began falling all around him, all of which not only dripped onto him but were also absorbed by him.
What happened next was a series of revelations that left Zilan in a constant state of disbelief.
First, the water droplets that were absorbed by him turned into a colourless energy within his body and started moving around his meridians and channels in a repetitive, specific rhythm.
‘This is how I should control my energy to best use and channel the Rain storm technique.’ He inwardly exclaimed.
He mimicked the rhythm and as expected the power he channelled this time was unlike anything he’d been able to achieve before. It was like he’d just been given the secrets to the technique, anything useful was kept and every process that was useless as well as time consuming was scrapped.
Mind you, this wasn’t all that happened. No, this was just the beginning.
Next came the introduction of a whole new concept to Zilan.
Shadow coach held onto his shoulder guiding him through the process. Once it felt the preparations were in place, it moved in front of Zilan and began transforming into a transparent mirror image of Zilan.
Everything that was being displayed inside of it, was an exact replica of Zilan’s internal workings. His meridians, his energy movements, his body functionality, everything.
It was at this time that Zilan opened his eyes.
He didn’t seem that surprised witnessing what was before him, he was more fascinated than anything else.
He then waved his hand and issued an order to shadow coach,
“Perform the Rain Storm technique my way and then perform how it’s supposed to be.”
Responding to the order, shadow coach still transparent, followed the instructions to perfection. All of the data concerning what and how it was performing, was sent to Zilan as the actions were being done.
There were distinct and clear differences between both his performances leading to an enlightened and ecstatic Zilan.
“This is beyond….I’ll never make a mistake in my cultivation again as long as I have this.”
The transparent shadow coach turned back and touched Zilan on the head.
“What! This place is only useful for the cultivation of Infinite Rain?”
His expression hung low and the previous smile on his face faded away.
“No.” Zilan shook his head. “I shouldn’t be greedy. This is already above and beyond anything I could hope for.”
What he didn’t expect was that this was not the end.
Shadow coach touched him once again for a very long time and a river of information subsequently flowed into Zilan’s mind. The content of the information was something that resulted in him losing his ability to coherently form words.
“This…how…really…I can’t……unbelievable!”
Closing his eyes, he tried to do as shadow coach instructed and the moment he opened his eyes, everything had changed, taking the shape of what he had just imagined.
He was currently in a world of clouds flying around effortlessly and before him were a large number of giant wolves whose cultivations were at a level Zilan could only dream about.
‘Give me the ability to use Rain Storm cultivated to its peak level.’ He commanded, mentally.
A rush of energy later and with a wide smile, Zilan waved his hand downward. In the next instant, the sky changed, no, the world changed. The clouds turned dark, thunder and lightning terrorized the heavens and earth. Then, all of a sudden, a rain storm the likes of which engulfed the world suddenly appeared.
The rain itself consisted of all of Zilan’s current understanding of the laws of water accompanied by all the other laws he had ideas on. Darkness, light, fire, water, nature…..everything in existence seemed to be a part of this rain and everything in existence seemed to be susceptible to the destruction this rain caused.
“Rain Storm.” Whispered Zilan.
The falling rain abruptly gather into a single multi coloured gigantic claw that was surrounded by lightning and serenaded by earth-shaking Thunder.
Despite knowing it was an illusion, the realistic way in which the powerful energy that he obviously did not currently possess ran through his meridians and body caused Zilan to feel both baffled and intoxicated.
He was about to release this giant claw when he suddenly heard Hihi’s childish voice,
“Time’s up. It’s been a day.”
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