Earth Grade Combat Skill "Immortal Slaying Sword Art"

In the valley, opposite the cottage, there was another large boulder that could serve as a place for him to practice combat skills. But it was already night, and he did not want to disturb the others' rest. He decided not to practice combat skills tonight and wait until tomorrow morning instead.

Returning to his room, he continued circulating his Dou Qi. An Earth Grade Cultivation Method truly was different; its cultivation speed was nearly six times that of a Mystic Rank Technique.

On a sudden whim, he said, "System. Three consecutive draws!"

Congratulations, Host, for obtaining: ten ten-year Kirin Fruits, one Fifth-grade Alchemist inheritance, and one Melting Fire Pill Recipe!

Xiao Heng was quite satisfied. He had eaten Kirin Fruit before, but that one had probably been ordinary. This time, it came with an age designation. Wouldn't it be even better if he could draw higher-year Kirin Fruits in the future?

He did not fuse with the Fifth-grade Alchemist inheritance for the time being. Anyone could tell that the amount of knowledge contained within that inheritance would be enormous. If his current Soul Power had to bear it directly, he would probably faint, and that would not be good. So, he planned to first stabilize his status as a third-grade alchemist before accepting it. By then, it should be about right.

The last pill recipe was no small matter. It had only one function, and it was not limited by grade. Simply put, the better the materials used, the more powerful the pill refined would be. There were only two main ingredients: Fire Cloud Fruit and a fire-attribute Magic Core. The higher the grade of the two, the higher the grade of the resulting pill.

This pill had only two effects. The first was to improve fire-attribute affinity. The second was to absorb Heavenly Flames. After being consumed, it could form a layer of fire membrane inside the body, isolating the damage caused by the Heavenly Flame while absorbing it.

This was incredible! He happened to have Fire Cloud Fruit, and its grade was not low either. He also had fire-attribute Magic Cores. After checking the required medicinal ingredients, he found that he was only missing four kinds, none of which were particularly precious. He should be able to find them at the Mite Auction House or the Alchemist Association.

Happily putting everything away, he took out a Kirin Fruit and swallowed it. Mm! It still had that same taste, except the energy was several times more abundant than before!

Steadying his mind, Xiao Heng began refining the energy with all his strength. Like before, the energy would not erupt all at once. Instead, it would remain in his body and allow him to refine it slowly. It would probably take around seven days to refine a single fruit. If he refined them all, it should be enough to let him break through to Six-Star Dou Shi! That was, provided he did not rely solely on refining these fruits.

The next day!

Xiao Yi Xian got up early. The moment she looked up, she saw Xiao Heng practicing swordsmanship atop that large boulder. She could not understand it, though, and after watching for a while, she went off to do her own things.

Compared with the Vertical and Horizontal Sword Technique, which had retained many basic swordsmanship techniques, the fused sword art had lost many of its opening combos. Only three moves remained, divided into three levels from lowest to highest.

The first level focused on the wind attribute. Xiao Heng named it Breath Sever. The second level centered on the Nine Solitary Swords and could split into nine streams of sword qi. The nine streams possessed equal power, connected to one another yet independent of each other. He named it Nine Strikes.

The third level was mainly based on the Vertical and Horizontal Sword Technique, fused with its combat skills: ultimate speed and ultimate dominance. Xiao Heng felt that this move should be named Vertical and Horizontal!

Thus, an Earth Grade sword art had emerged, and Xiao Heng possessed his first Earth Grade Combat Skill! But that did not mean he would stop practicing basic swordsmanship. He might be different from the sword users of this world. Those people might regard a sword as merely a weapon; if they lost one, they could simply replace it with another. Xiao Heng was different. A sword was his friend, his family, a part of himself.

Having not practiced swordsmanship for a long time, Xiao Heng felt somewhat rusty. Closing his eyes, he practiced the basic sword forms again and again. Xiao Heng sensed the sword in his hand, and it seemed to breathe, to possess life!

Then, at a certain moment, Xiao Heng opened his eyes. "Breath Sever!"

A streak of pale azure sword light slashed toward the sky with incredible speed, as if it were about to split the heavens apart!

Sheathing his sword, Xiao Heng sat cross-legged atop the boulder and carefully savored the sensation from just now. In the end, he grasped that fleeting feeling and engraved it in his heart.

Even he had not expected to master this move so quickly. But on second thought, it made sense. He had practiced the sword for ten years. If even the first level took him a long time, would that not be far too slow?

However, only he could use this Earth Grade Combat Skill. This sword art was not merely a combat skill; it was also a type of swordsmanship that required "intent" to use. In this world, he had yet to encounter anyone who possessed "intent." Even Yun Yun merely treated a sword as a sword, nothing more.

It was, after all, an Earth Grade Combat Skill, and its Dou Qi consumption was truly enormous! That single strike had drained one-third of the Dou Qi in his body! In other words, he could probably unleash only three sword strikes in a battle right now!

Sitting cross-legged, he circulated the Kirin Fruit's energy. His Dou Qi recovered quickly, and ten minutes later, it had mostly returned!

Then, he began trying to unleash the second sword strike. It took much longer than the first, more than an hour!

Xiao Heng stood atop the huge boulder with his sword in his right hand. Sunlight fell upon the blade, gliding across its snow-white edge. A glint of reflected light suddenly blazed brilliantly! Then, white Dou Qi slowly climbed over his body before finally reaching the sword tip!

After that, movement stirred soundlessly around Xiao Heng as sword qi surged. Nine snow-white swords slowly took shape before solidifying!

Xiao Heng raised his sword and thrust toward the sky! The nine sword phantoms vanished in the blink of an eye!

The Dou Qi around his body rapidly vanished. Xiao Heng suddenly dropped to one knee, using his sword to support himself as bead-sized drops of sweat rolled down from his forehead! Having ninety percent of his Dou Qi drained at once did not feel good at all!

"Pant... pant... pant..."

"I can't practice the final sword strike yet. At the very least, I'll need to break through to Five-Star Dou Shi before I can possibly unleash it. Otherwise, it might drain me dry in one go!"

Seeing Xiao Heng suddenly drop to one knee after using a combat skill, Xiao Yi Xian immediately asked anxiously, "Xiao Heng, are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" Xiao Heng replied, immediately sitting cross-legged to recover his Dou Qi.

Hearing his answer, Xiao Yi Xian breathed a sigh of relief. She had thought something had happened to him! Still, she continued watching him for a while, only returning to tend to her medicinal ingredients after confirming that he was alright.

The first sword strike had drained thirty percent of his Dou Qi, while the second had drained ninety percent. That did not mean the two moves could only use that much Dou Qi; it meant that was the minimum amount of Dou Qi they required!

After lunch, Xiao Heng's Dou Qi had mostly recovered. That afternoon, he planned to leave the valley and find two Magical Beasts to test his swordsmanship on! Swinging his sword at the sky was not nearly as intuitive. He mainly wanted to test the first sword strike; the second had not yet reached the point where it could be tested.

"I'm leaving the valley later! Let me borrow Xiao Lan!"

Xiao Yi Xian looked at the Blue Eagle beside her and said, "Ask her yourself."

The Blue Eagle proudly raised her head and let out a low cry, seemingly saying, Beg me!

Xiao Heng was helpless. This silly bird! Although after several days together, the Blue Eagle's relationship with him had improved considerably, the silly bird was still rather proud!

He took out a bottle and poured out a pill. (A first-grade pill, the Beast Luring Pill. It strongly attracted Magical Beasts and also accelerated their cultivation.) Attracting them was one thing, but if it had no benefits at all, Magical Beasts were not fools! That was why this pill was quite useful to Magical Beasts.

The moment the pill appeared in Xiao Heng's hand, the Blue Eagle immediately surrendered. She pounced over, wanting to eat it. Struggling to push aside that enormous eagle head, Xiao Heng held the pill and said, "Listen to me, and I'll let you eat it. Understand?"

Only then did Xiao Heng feed her the pill. After savoring it, the silly bird sat down beside him, continuously rubbing her head against Xiao Heng to indicate that she wanted more! Stroking her smooth feathers, Xiao Heng took out two more pills and fed them to her.

He did not have many of these pills stored away, only these three. But it did not matter. This place had plenty of medicinal ingredients, so he could simply refine more. For a time, the Blue Eagle and Xiao Heng became good friends.

Seeing this, Xiao Yi Xian looked at Xiao Heng with jealousy and said, "Shameless swindler!"

Xiao Heng did not hesitate to retort, "That's my ability. What can you do about it? Right, Xiao Lan!"

After saying that, he shot Xiao Yi Xian a provocative glance. She was so angry that she could not speak, so she could only turn her attention to her own pet. "Xiao Lan, how could you let him buy you off so easily? Come over here!"

Xiao Lan was utterly baffled. What did I do, Master? Aren't you two friends? What's wrong with me eating a little of his food? Still, she obediently returned to Xiao Yi Xian's side.

Hugging her Blue Eagle, Xiao Yi Xian said, "Looks like I'll have to keep Xiao Lan away from you in the future, or you'll sooner or later lure her away!"

Xiao Heng spoke with righteous indignation. "How could that be? Do I look like that kind of person?"

Xiao Yi Xian glanced at him and stayed true to her word. "You don't look like one—you are one! Xiao Lan, let's go. Ignore this bad guy!" With that, she left with Xiao Lan.

Xiao Heng had been about to defend himself, but the girl and eagle had already left. With no other choice, he shook his head and washed the bowls.

Actually, he could have flown out himself. After breaking through to the Dou Shi realm, the Purple Cloud Wings had become far more practical. Long-distance flight was still out of the question, but leaving this valley would not have been a problem. However, they were in the Monster Mountain Range now. If he could avoid consuming Dou Qi, he would. Otherwise, if he ran into trouble, wouldn't he be finished? That was called being cautious!

In the end, Xiao Heng still flew out on Xiao Lan's back. However, after they had flown a short distance, he had Xiao Lan return. He wanted to go farther in, and Xiao Lan, being only a First-order Magical Beast, was not suited for it. Besides, flying through the air was too conspicuous and would easily draw the attention of other magical beasts. The Monster Mountain Range did not have only one Amethyst Winged Lion King. It was vast. While there might not be any seventh- or Eighth-Rank Demonic Beasts, there were still quite a few fifth- and sixth-tier ones.

As he headed deeper into the Monster Mountain Range, third-tier magical beasts were easy to find when he had no special requirements.

After walking for about two hours, Xiao Heng found his target for the day: a third-tier Earth Stone Bear. This bear was about as strong as the Shadow Wolf from before, but their strengths lay in different areas. The Shadow Wolf excelled in speed and ambushes, while this Earth Stone Bear prioritized strength and defense. Of course, that did not mean it was slow. As a third-tier magical beast, while it might not match wolf- or panther-type magical beasts in speed, it was still extremely fast. The Shadow Wolf was faster than it, but if they fought, this bear could grind it into the ground.

Along the way, Xiao Heng had encountered quite a few magical beasts, including second-tier ones. But any that had attacked him first were now lying dead, so he had also obtained two second-tier Magic Cores and five first-tier Magic Cores. He had converted the first-tier Magic Cores into Energy Points.

Xiao Heng did not hide his presence. He simply carried the Black and White Profound Cut and stood a short distance in front of the dumb bear, only to find that it was asleep and showed no reaction.

Xiao Heng could only step closer and call out, "You sleep that deeply? How did you even survive this long? Hey! Wake up, it's time to fight!"

The huge bear seemed not to hear him at all. It rolled over and continued sleeping!

Xiao Heng was speechless. He kicked it twice and found that it really was quite hard. Hm?

Why did this bear have a layer of stone armor on its leg? Hm? Stone armor?

"Fuck, this bear has already broken through to the fourth tier! Is it still too late for me to run?"

Earth Stone Bears could only form stone armor after breaking through to the fourth tier. Perhaps this one had only recently advanced, which was why the stone armor had only gathered into a small, inconspicuous patch. Otherwise, Xiao Heng would not have dared to court death like this!

"Wait, didn't I just kick it?" A trace of doubt suddenly rose in Xiao Heng's heart.

"Go, go!" Xiao Heng quietly began to back away!

A pair of bear paws wrapped around his right leg. It was the very bear he had just kicked. However, the bear had not awakened, so it had only grabbed him instinctively.