(OLD/NOT CANON) Immortal Ascension Tower

Chapter 22 - External Aura Manipulation

"External... Aura Manipulation..." Xiao Wu read out aloud the flaming words that had been embedded in her mind. Xiao Wu frowned: she had never heard of this technique before. However, since her brother had risked his life for this piece of information she had no choice but believe in him.

She looked around for a bit unconsciously, checking if someone was there, and then sat down on the floor.

"Let me see what's so great about you that my brother had to risk his life to get it!" Xiao Wu breathed in and entered the cultivation state. The time was seven in the morning and there were exactly three days left to the Outer Sect Exam.

...

Xiao Wu had been sitting crosslegged for three whole hours and finally, a hint of understanding flashed across her face. She opened her eyes and massaged her temples.

"This External Aura Manipulation... Is indeed quite useful!" Xiao Wu stood up and put her hand on her chin just like Cheng Hao used to do when he pondered himself.

She thought out aloud "Basically, I can manipulate the air surrounding me by letting out gaseous Qi... The Aura. By doing so, I can manipulate it to create various shapes, the easiest being basic objects, like geometrical shapes, while the hardest being living creatures, such as gigantic monsters and such. There are many levels to Aura manipulation, the lowest being Student followed by Scholar, Master, Grandmaster and, finally, Sage! Though, it is still unsure wether the Sage level is truly the end to Aura cultivation, as everybody reached a bottleneck at the Sage level..."

Xiao Wu paused as if to recall something and then continued "The way I should let out gaseous Qi is really similar to the way I create the illusory Martial Ways, so that won't be a problem. The only thing that I'm worried about is that I need to thoroughly understand the internal structure of what I am about to create, otherwise it would be nothing but an empty shell..."

Xiao Wu smiled and then said "That is probably the reason brother asked me wether I practiced using the Black Dragon Blade... If I practice with it daily, I would naturally come to understand it more and more!"

"If an Aura Manipulator is able to manipulate Aura into stable, two-dimensional figures, then he will officially be recognized as an Aura Student. Making more than one, two-dimensional figures would count as graduating to a Scholar. Making a single three-dimensional figure would be on the level of a Master, more than one would be a Grandmaster and, finally, manipulating the Aura into a living being would make one a Sage"

Her previously happy expression turned discouraged as she said "Does that mean brother wants me to jump straight from Student to Master, to create three-dimensional copies of my two Martial Ways? That is simply asking for the impossible..." 

Xiao Wu pondered and suddenly her foggy eyes cleared "Unless... He wants me to create a two-dimensional Black Dragon blade! Although it is referred to as Two Dimensional, it isn't truly two dimensional as it has a very thin surface. But, as it still has an edge, it can still cut!"

Xiao Wu sat back down and began to move her hands in the air as a faint layer of coloured gases surrounded her. Her hands seemed to draw a figure in front of her and the gases slowly began to flow and follow her hands' movement. After four hours of weaving the Qi, the faint outline of a long sword appeared. 

Its shape was odd, one edge was sharp while the other wasn't, it had no guard and the handle resembled a black dragon: this was the Black Dragon Sword!

Xiao Wu opened her eyes and wiped away the sweat from her face "This is much harder than I thought! After four hours I have barely scratched the surface of the technique! I have already expended most of the power in my Core, yet I could only draw the outline of the blade... This will take at least three times the effort if I want to finish this before the exam starts!"