147 Water Training Room

Sect Leader Fang led Ed out of the tea room towards the upper reaches. Once there, they traveled to a plaza encircled by seven buildings. Each building was painted with a different colored symbol reflecting each of the seven elements.

"Here we are." Chonglin said as he pointed to the buildings. "Each of these buildings is optimal for training in a single element. They use a mix of manullium walls to contain mana released from activated mana-cores gathered from beasts. As an honorary elder, you're allowed unlimited access at no cost."

"Thanks." Ed nodded, a slight smile appearing on his face. 'If nothing else, the Purple Origin Sect really knows how to treat its allies well.'

"I'll be going now." Sect Leader Fang stroked his beard. "You'll probably like it here so much that you'll disappear for months." He laughed. "It happens all the time." He turned around to leave.

"Ah, wait." Ed hurriedly replied, reaching his arm out to stop him from leaving. "I have a small favor to ask."

"Hmm?" He turned back around.

"In the courtyard I'm staying at, there are three people. One of them will probably have zero interest in cultivation, but could you induct the other two into the sect?"

"That..." Chonglin hesitated. "We don't have a position for other honorary members. If they join, then they would be full-fledged members, first and foremost loyal to the Purple Origin Sect. Is that alright with you?"

"It is." He agreed. "Also, I think one of them may have the starlight unique body constitution. Could you check him out for me?"

"Oh?" Chonglin's face lit up with interest. "Haha, just leave it to me." He heartily laughed as he hurried away, perhaps fearing Ed might change his mind.

Now alone, Ed looked at the seven buildings. 'Already mastered the fire storage meridian. Guess I'll start with water.' The building with the symbol for water was identical to the others, except for a few blue lines indicating the element. Upon entering however, his eyes widened in shock. The building had been relatively small and unassuming, so he had expected an equally small interior. He even thought there might be an underground section that expanded the building to a larger size. But instead, all of his expectations had been crushed.

'How is this even possible?' He wondered as he looked around. Before him was a vast snowy tundra with no end in sight. He took a step inside, and not even the walls next to the door were visible to him. The entrance appeared as just a floating rectangular hole. The door slowly closed on its own, appearing as a rectangular blue glow once it finished.

'Fuck it's cold!' Ed shivered as he hugged his arms and his teeth chattered. 'For the weather to affect my body...' Even the extreme weathers within the deeper portions of the cage he had visited didn't feel as cold as this. He hurriedly covered his body with a layer of purple mana and felt the cold vanish, much to his relief.

He began walking forward, the snow crunching under his feet. More snow continually fell from the sky as the wind bellowed past, making it so that the snow pelted the right side of his body. 'Did the Purple Origin Sect really create this with just manullium and mana-cores?' He skeptically wondered. 'No, there must be something else involved. Maybe espers are working to make this?' He focused on his surroundings but detected no foreign presences. 'Maybe not... Then they must have a better way of controlling mana-core energy output and functionality. Probably something similar to my mana-batteries but more sophisticated. I'll have to ask Sect Leader Fang for as many details as he'll give me later.'

Ed looked up towards the sky. There was neither a sun or ceiling in sight, nor were there any clouds. Only an endless white expanse seemed to exist. He thought back on his time spent fighting President Walker, as well as his time with World Walker. 'This has to be some type of stabilized space manipulation. Space... That should be one of the laws then, right? So even President Walker is only on the path of laws.' A greedy look appeared in his eyes. 'I have all seven elements. Doesn't that mean I can master laws related to space as well?' He thought back on past espers he met, including Ms. Willow from the academy. 'The law of time too? Space is probably related mostly to the dark element and time to the light element. What would happen if I mastered both and fused them together?'

He continued walking through the blizzard-like conditions, though it no longer bothered him much due to his protective mana. Soon, he found a smooth rock clear of snow and sat down atop it to meditate. He closed his eyes as he focused on separating his water mana so that he could search for his water storage meridian. Hours passed as he attempted separation. Each tug and pull of his water mana took a great deal of mental effort, but he was having little success. The other elements, with the exception of fire, stuck to it like glue. The suppression from the weather didn't seem to be helping at all.

'Maybe my purple mana is blocking it.' He released the layer of protective mana, allowing the cold to directly attack his body. A shiver travelled down his spine, causing his body to tremble. The rock underneath him felt like an ancient glacier radiating cold into his surroundings.

Focusing on his mana again, he tried separating the water mana. Much to his joy, he succeeded after only a few tries. 'Good.' He grinned. 'Now I just need to find the water storage meridian.' His mana searched throughout his body, and after several passes, he located the meridian. Like the previous time he had chased the fire storage meridian, he divided his mana into various divisions to encircle and capture the water storage meridian. Each time the meridian escaped his trap, he managed to store just a bit of mana in it.

A couple days passed, and he finished filling the storage meridian with water mana. Once again, his total mana capacity had increased. More importantly, he had made significant improvements in his control over water mana.

"Already done." He smiled as he stood up and stretched, his body completely numb and frozen. 'At this rate, it'll only take me a couple weeks to master all of the storage meridians. But Sect Leader Fang said I'd probably spend a few months here? Why?' He looked around the wasteland, not spotting anything particularly interesting. He could tell it felt a bit colder as you went deeper into the wasteland, but that was hardly of any interest to him.

'Oh well.' He shrugged as he turned to leave. He trudged through the snow, returning towards the entrance. 'Where is it?' He frowned as he looked around. 'I'm positive it was right here.' He doubled back towards the rock he had chosen, confirming he wasn't lost. He then returned to where the entrance should be, as well as several other places nearby.

"God damnit! He cursed aloud. 'Sect Leader Fang said I'd love the training so much I'd spend a few months here. The old bastard pulled a fast one on me!' He frowned as he stared towards the heart of the wasteland. 'Fuck it. Let's see what's so special about this place then.'

As he walked deeper and deeper into the depths of the tundra, the snow piled up more and more. His feet now sunk so far into the snow that it was getting in his boots. Annoyed, he prepared to activate his flames. A silver fire flickered on his body momentarily before quickly sputtering out. "What?!" He exclaimed in shock. He tried again, only to meet with the same result. He opted for purple flames instead and sighed in relief when he found that they worked. The snow around him melted, no longer barring his path.

Two days passed as he continued walking towards the coldest part of the wasteland. He soon reached a dividing line that separated the depths from the outer reaches. The snow was up to his waist by now, but just past the dividing line was only ice. Not only that, but small hail the size of fingernails fell continuously upon the ice. Interestingly, the hail did not pile up on the ice but instead fused together with it.

'I should be getting close.' He sighed in relief as he stepped onto the ice. Suddenly, his eyes widened in shock as his purple flames vanished. The hail pelted against him, each blow feeling like an ice-cold nail was being hammered into his body. He hurriedly stepped back into the snow.

'To suppress even the most balanced of flames.' He frowned. 'This has gone beyond simple mana-core and manullium technology. At the bare minimum, it would require some type of law.' He spread his mana out, detecting nothing unusual. 'But for it to be a law... An esper can't be controlling it. I'd almost be guaranteed to detect them at my level. Is there technology that can continuously make use of a law? It seems plausible... If so, did the Purple Origin Sect invent it? Or did they steal it from Europe? The latter seems more likely.'

'How do I travel deeper then?' He didn't like feeling stumped. Determination flashed in his eyes as he decided he would conquer whatever laid beyond the ice. 'Think. This is a training room, right? If that's the case, then it's obviously used for training water cultivators. So, water should be where the answer lies.' He lifted his hand, a swirl of hot red water appearing atop it. It held up surprisingly well in the snow, with only a small portion of it becoming steam. However, when he reached his hand forward, the hot red water froze almost instantly, becoming a useless block of ice.

"Tsk." He clicked his tongue as he covered his hand in purple water instead. Fortunately, it seemed to hold up just fine. 'Well, that was easier than I expected.' He grinned as he stepped back onto the ice. Any hail that touched his protective layer of water had its force redirected towards the ground.

Ed continued on his journey. By now, he was eagerly looking forward to the next challenge. It was rare for his abilities to be tested these days unless he faced a deadly opponent in a life or death battle. He felt rather pleasant having a leisurely training session like a normal cultivator. 'Heh.' He chuckled to himself. 'I can only imagine how far behind everyone that stayed at the academy is by now. Well, Feather may have gotten a bit stronger if she's using Nexus well. Relm too, if she ever manages to increase her mana capacity. Ah, now that I think about it, I was originally going to try getting someone to kill Dexter? Eh, maybe I'll try recruiting him one more time first once I go back.'

Before long, Ed reached the very center of the wasteland. An ice giant stood with a two-handed sword embedded in the ice. It opened its eyes and glanced at him. Slowly, it lifted the sword and pointed it forward.

Not really understanding what this was about, Ed prepared himself for the fight. The purple water surrounding his body grew in volume, rapidly swirling around his body.

"No. Purple. Elements." The ice giant stuttered.

Ed frowned. "Why not?" He asked.

"Against. Rules." It replied. "No. Exit. Unless. Beat. With. Path."

'It wants me to beat it using the 49 paths?!' Ed panicked, knowing he had little wiggle room to train in the paths without damaging his soul. Not wanting to risk such a thing, he chose to attack with his purple origin water anyways. It swept forward in a wave, like a miniature tsunami atop the ice.

The ice giant cleaved upwards with its sword, attempting to cut the purple wave in two. But instead, its sword melted, followed by the rest of its body. When the attack finished, the ice giant was nowhere to be seen.

'Got it.' Ed grinned in self-satisfaction.

"Cheating. Means. No. Exit." The ice giant's voice echoed. Suddenly, over a dozen identical ice giants formed from the ice. They pointed their swords at him simultaneously. "Leave." They all spoke at once. "Try. Again. Tomorrow. No. Cheating."

Ed frowned as he debated on what to do. The ice giants didn't seem particularly strong, and he wasn't exactly the type to listen to others easily. He prepared another attack, shooting streams of purple water in thirteen different directions.

Like before, all of the ice giants tried and failed to defend themselves. However, a hundred new ice giants quickly appeared to replace them. "Try. Again. Two. Days. No. Cheating." Their words echoed in a chorus against the ice.

"Damn!" He cursed. 'So, the penalty goes up each time I cheat? Or is it each time I lose?' He wondered. Even if they were weak, having a hundred ice giants glare at him in the middle of a blizzard filled with hail was fairly intimidating. He feared they might come back as 1,000, or even 10,000, if he defeated them once again. Disgruntled, he turned to leave.

It wasn't long before he left the icy tundra, returning to the snowy tundra that divided the two. The hail turned back to snow, and it almost felt like paradise when compared to the earlier environment. A ball of red water appeared in his hand as he stared at it. He looked back towards the ice. 'I'll either have to master more paths of water or control the path of red water well enough to defeat both the ice and the ice giants.' He sighed. "I'm going to be here a while."