"Qi bomb? Is it an air bomb or a true qi bomb?" I asked.
Yaoyao thought for a moment, "I really haven't considered this problem. Open the window and let me try."
I opened the window halfway. Yaoyao turned her finger towards the window. I cleverly activated my qi sensing technique, and this time I saw it clearly.
A stream of purple true qi gathered from her arm to her wrist. A thick stream of purple qi completely enveloped her arm, but when it reached her fingertips, it condensed into a thin stream, similar to how a water droplet forms, but in an accelerated version. Outside her fingertips, a purple qi bomb formed, growing from small to large. It started the size of an egg, then an ostrich egg, and finally a volleyball.
"Is that good enough?" I could tell Yaoyao was building up her power, and I reminded her, "It's just an experiment, you don't need to exert yourself so much."
"Mm," Yaoyao nodded. Another, stronger stream of purple qi surged from her dantian, impacting her wrist and fingertips with extreme speed, launching the volleyball-sized "qi bomb." The speed of the purple qi bomb's flight is hard to describe in terms of physics. It didn't start out fast, but as it flew through the air, its speed increased.
Ah, I thought of it. It's a bit like a balloon, when it's fully inflated and you let go, it moves rapidly propelled by the escaping air. That's the feeling. Of course, Yaoyao's purple qi bomb was much faster than a balloon, not as fast as a bullet, but comparable to the speed of an arrow.
The qi bomb shot diagonally towards the starry sky until it disappeared.
"Where did it go?" I asked.
"Into the sky. It dissipated in the end," Yaoyao said.
"What's its range, roughly?" I asked again.
"I was almost at my full strength just now. It should be no problem hitting an eagle or a wild goose."
"Ten kilometers?" I exclaimed in surprise.
Yaoyao pondered, "Perhaps it's because it's not affected by gravity."
She even understood gravity. But it really should be the case. A qi bomb, in the air, isn't subject to no forces, but rather a balance of forces.
"How do I learn this?" I asked, very interested. If used well, this felt more practical than the gun Shen Xingyue gave me. It was only because I had activated my qi sensing technique that I could see the qi bomb Yaoyao condensed. For anyone else, the qi bomb would be invisible, allowing for concealed attacks.
Yaoyao taught me the method of circulating qi. By motivating true qi through different meridians, it could be released from different fingers. There were a total of six meridians, but the meridian in the right index finger allowed true qi to emerge the fastest and with the greatest power, so practicing this one was sufficient.
"Ah!" I suddenly realized, "So the Six Meridian Divine Sword is real!"
"What Six Meridian Divine Sword?" Yaoyao asked.
I told her about this martial art from a wuxia novel. After listening, Yaoyao fell into deep thought, "Perhaps some master who understood the Five Elements displayed it to this writer."
"That must be it, otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence!" I said. Yaoyao had just mentioned that true qi could travel through six meridians and emerge from the fingers. No matter how rich the old gentleman's imagination was, it wouldn't be this coincidental!
However, when I tried to motivate the qi bomb, I could only circulate the true qi to my fingertips and couldn't release it to condense into a "qi bomb" like Yaoyao.
"This requires practice. You'll be able to do it with more practice. Alright, that's enough for today. I'm a bit tired after launching a big one," Yaoyao said lazily.
"Do you need me to replenish you?" I asked with a smile.
"Mm... I do!"
The next morning, Chu Qi dragged me out of Yaoyao's embrace. I put on my clothes and groggily followed her to the dark harbor. Chu Qi didn't say a word and told me to get into the water.
"Wait a moment. Let me have a cigarette and wake up. I'm not fully awake yet," I said, trying to be lazy.
Chu Qi was also helpless and could only wait. I sat on a reef, lit a cigarette, and recalled the qi bomb incident last night. I unconsciously started circulating qi again. When it reached my right index finger, something strange happened. The true qi, after reaching my fingertip, began to probe out, reaching towards the direction of the cigarette tip—because the cigarette was held between my middle and index fingers, it was quite close.
A cigarette is a combustible material, and the tip also contains "qi" elements, akin to a tiny flame. Perhaps there was some attraction between the true qi at my fingertip and the cigarette tip? I then moved the cigarette to my left hand, held it, and slowly moved my right fingertip closer to the burning tip.