Chapter 33 Knowing The Wind
Sensing that mockery in the disciple at the Medicine Hall, Austin thought that it was useless to argue with him.
Instead of talking to him, he just wanted to show him what he got.
Austin put his one hand into his pocket and meditated. Shortly after, he took out three hundred vital energy crystals from his
secret Space Ring and threw them on the counter.
The disciple in the Medicine Hall was dumbfounded. He looked at the bright vital energy crystals and couldn't believe that a grunt
disciple could just take them out conveniently.
At Sun Sect, the outer disciple could only earn twenty vital energy crystals a month.
Even if the outer disciple saved his earnings of whole year, he couldn't just take out three hundred vital energy crystals.
It appeared to him that this grunt disciple was from a rich family.
Even Evan couldn't believe when he saw Austin threw so many vital energy crystals at the disciple. He wondered where Austin
could have gotten that fortune.
The expression of the disciple at the Medicine Hall had lightened a little at the sight of the vital energy crystals. Without further
ado, he took out a dark red elixir and put it on the counter.
"This is the Energy-recovering Elixir and it costs three hundred vital energy crystals. If he takes the elixir, his minor wounds will
surely be cured," the disciple said politely. He no longer gave them the cold shoulder. All he was after was to make a sale.
When presented with the Energy-recovering Elixir, Austin's heart jumped for joy.
It was the most effective remedy to ordinary body injuries including traumatic and internal injury.
Other than its healing powers, this elixir would help the warrior recover the vital energy during the healing process.
With its benefits, the Energy-recovering Elixir was a healing panacea that all warriors dreamed of acquiring.
Austin took the Energy-recovering Elixir and grabbed Evan out of the Medicine Hall.
As they were about to step out of the Medicine Hall, Austin suddenly stopped and walked back to the counter.
The disciple in the Medicine Hall hadn't put away the vital energy crystals from the counter yet when Austin picked up ten from
them and said, "I believe I made a mistake. I just gave you ten extra vital energy crystals. As you know, these ten crystals are
already a big fortune for a grunt disciple like me, so I hope you won't mind me taking them back!"
He smiled slyly at the disciple in the Medicine Hall then bid goodbye before finally leaving.
The disciple in the Medicine Hall counted the vital energy crystals on the counter just now and knew that Austin had originally
given him ten extra crystals. If Austin hadn't remembered it, he could have kept the extra ten vital energy crystals to himself.
Those ten vital energy crystals were already half of his monthly pay.
What a waste!
Remembering the sly smile on Austin's face, the disciple realized that he did that on purpose. The disciple got furious at the trick
that Austin played on him.
"Tin, why didn't you tell me you got rich? Where did you get those vital energy crystals?"
Evan asked on their way back.
"You don't need to know, but you can have some if you want."
Evan was speechless at Austin's proposal.
... ...
In less than half a day after Evan took the Energy-recovering Elixir, all the wounds on his body healed. Aside from that, he felt
that the cultivation base of the vital energy in his body had also improved.
Evan was happy to see that the elixir worked. If it wasn't for Austin, Evan didn't know how long it would take for him to recover
using the ordinary medicines.
"Tin, I think I am already better after being beaten. I can feel that my cultivation base has improved a little."
Austin just looked at him with a blank face.
"Is that so? Do you want to be beaten again?"
Evan suddenly got scared and hurriedly found an excuse to do something else.
The following two days, Austin was absorbed in cultivating the Wind-commanding Skill.
Evan came to see Austin from time to time but found the latter was concentrating in cultivating and had no time to talk with him.
Seeing Austin's dedication in his cultivation, Evan remembered the time when his friend was still an outer disciple. Back in the
day, Austin was known for his diligence in cultivation and admired by all the other disciples for it.
As a good friend, Evan supported Austin during this time and didn't bother him at all. He just brought him something to eat from
time to time.
Austin cultivated day and night with short rest in between. During his night cultivation, Austin could feel the night breeze from the
cottage or the wind between the trees from the nearby forest.
During the daytime, he would go up to the top of the mountain and could feel the strong wind blowing from far away in the sky.
Eventually, Austin realized that he could feel the wind around him at any time, even in the room of the thatched cottage with the
door closed.
As long as there was wind, no matter how slight it was, he could sense it immediately.
Austin felt his unprecedented sensitivity to the wind between heaven and earth. He could now feel every wisp of the wind around
him anytime.
He thought that he might have already mastered the first step of the Wind-commanding Skill–Feeling the Wind.
It took him almost six days of practice before he mastered the first step.
If Rafat was still alive and found out about Austin's cultivating progress, he would surely be astonished.
Rafat took almost three months to cultivate the first step of the Wind-commanding Skill before he could master it.
It might have looked easy but feeling the wisp of the wind in the surrounding was quite difficult.
Especially when the wind was calm and gentle that even if it blew, normal people wouldn't have felt it. There could be no sign at
all.
It was mandatory to master the first step, Feeling the wind before proceeding to the next ones namely: Knowing the Wind, Using
the Wind, Conforming to the Wind, and Hiding in the Wind. It would be difficult to cope with the succeeding steps without
mastering the first one.
Since Austin was confident that he had mastered the Feeling of Wind step, he could now proceed to practice the second step:
Knowing the Wind.
Austin carefully recalled the magic formula of the Knowing the Wind step.
Once one could feel the wind around him, the next step would be enhancing one's sense to feel the track of the wind using one's
mind.
Where was the wind from? How strong was it? What track did it take? Where did it stop? Which direction would it move to?
The basic mastery skill of Knowing the Wind was to know the wind's regular pattern and track.
While the highest mastery skill of the step was to foresee the wind's direction, strength, and track according to the regular pattern
when the wind started and before it reached the warrior.
This step proved to be more challenging than Feeling the Wind.
It required the cultivation of one's mind power, instead of the vital energy level.
The mind power was a special mental state. Cultivating the mind power meant adjusting the mind to a bright and pure state to
easily comprehend anything.
For example, the meditation of the Taoist or the epiphany of the Buddhist was a mental state to cultivate the mind power.
The Buddha meditated under the bodhi tree for seven days and nights and got the supreme Buddha fruit and it was a high-level
mind power.
Austin was immersed in cultivating the Knowing the Wind for three consecutive days. The wind's rule was appearing and
disappearing in his mind from time to time.
'The wind should blow in this way... It came from the southwest and would head to the northeast.
Oh, no. It should blow in that way... It came from the southwest but would head to the east...
Ha, it was correct this time. The wind came from the east and headed northwest...' ...
Austin had finally adjusted his mind to a peaceful state, feeling and foreseeing the direction of every wisp of wind around him in a
stable manner.
Whenever the wind blew, he could foresee its strength, track, and direction with his mind power.
Austin gradually understood a little about the wind's regular pattern.
As he comprehended it further, the theory and mystery of the wind began to appear in his mind.
But there seemed to be something that was blocking his mind from seeing it clearly.
"Tin, Tin."
A voice awakened Austin from his state of Knowing the Wind.
He was on the hillside of the mountain near the Clearing Lake.
Evan was at the foot of the hill when he called Austin. He jogged hastily to where Austin was cultivating to tell the latter
something.
"What's up?"
Austin asked.
"You won't believe this! Farry told me to inform you that he applied for the task on the Beast Mountain on your behalf."
Evan said as he struggled to catch his breath.
When Austin heard that, his eyes widened in disbelief. He asked in a low voice, "Did he get it? Was it approved?"