Joining the Sword Spirit Sect

Half a month later, under the Village Chief's guidance, the people of Chi Village prepared to leave. However, the Village Chief did not have everyone split up. Some traveled in pairs, others in groups of three. The purpose was to test just how powerful the Li Family's Blood Demon Tracking Art truly was—whether it could still track them when several people gathered together.

If groups of three or four could avoid being detected, then the people of Chi Village could travel in small clusters across Great Xia without facing quite so much danger.

You strongly agreed with the Village Chief's decision; it had been your own idea as well. But someone would inevitably have to stake their life on this test, so you had found it difficult to bring it up.

In the end, the men of the Hunting Team all clamored to become the test subjects, utterly heedless of their own lives. You could not help but admire them. The people of Chi Village truly were good people, willing to be Self-Sacrificing.

Ultimately, the Village Chief and four others remained in Chi Village. Everyone else either traveled alone or formed groups. However, some children were simply too young to fend for themselves, so they could only be accompanied by an adult, gambling that the Blood Demon Tracking Art could not track two people together.

Over the following period, you remained hidden in Blackwind Town with Chi Feng, cultivating bitterly. You focused entirely on sword practice and improving your cultivation. Thus, in this life, with no shortage of pills or Spirit Stones, your cultivation advanced far more quickly. On April 5th, Great Xia Calendar 481, your cultivation broke through to the tenth level of the Innate Realm. Compared with ordinary Innate Realm martial artists, who needed ten or twenty years to advance by even a minor stage, your progress was nothing short of astonishing.

Next, you went to the places where the people of Chi Village traveling together had settled. You discovered that even the Chi Village people traveling in groups of four had encountered no danger. Both you and Chi Feng breathed sighs of relief.

After venturing deep into Blackwind Forest, you found that the Village Chief and the others who remained in Chi Village had not been attacked either.

After giving it some thought, you decided to join the Sword Spirit Sect. You believed that, as a Fourth Grade Alchemist, you had a good chance of gaining the Sword Spirit Sect's favor and mooching off their Earth Grade Cultivation Methods and martial arts to cultivate. That would make your cultivation advance even faster.

Though the Sword Spirit Sect would very likely become your enemy, using an enemy's resources to strengthen yourself before flattening them in the end would be all the more satisfying.

When you arrived at the Sword Spirit Sect and revealed your identity and intentions, the entire sect was shaken. The Sect Leader personally came out to receive you and valued you immensely. In the end, you easily became an Inner Sect Elder of the Sword Spirit Sect, receiving excellent treatment and gaining fame throughout the land because of it.

Next, you continued cultivating diligently and practicing sword arts. Because of your esteemed status and immense value, the Sword Spirit Sect, in order to win you over, allowed you to cultivate its sect-defining cultivation method, the Sword Essence Art, and its sect-defining martial art, the Sword Control Art. Both were low-grade Earth Grade techniques and incomparably precious.

You successfully cultivated the method. During your cultivation in the Sword Spirit Sect, you unexpectedly befriended Bai Tianhong. You often sought him out to discuss insights into sword practice, and the two of you became close friends. At this time, Bai Tianhong was much younger than you, only nineteen years old. Yet at nineteen, Bai Tianhong had already reached the Innate Realm. His talent was truly peerless.

In Great Xia Calendar 487, your cultivation reached the Half-Step Spirit Origin Realm. Bai Tianhong's cultivation was even more terrifying: he had long since reached the Half-Step Spirit Origin Realm and had even comprehended Sword Intent. Of course, because you had received the Sword Spirit Sect's true teachings and often exchanged sword techniques with Bai Tianhong, you too comprehended Sword Intent. However, your Sword Intent was not as powerful as Bai Tianhong's.

At the same time, over these years, you had already investigated thoroughly and learned that the Village Chief and the other four who remained in Chi Village were still safe and sound, having suffered no attacks. From this, you understood that the Blood Demon Tracking Art was not as powerful as you had imagined.

On August 1st, Great Xia Calendar 487, you invited Bai Tianhong to Blackwind Forest and ventured deep inside, intending to find the Silver Moon Wolf cub ahead of time. In the end, you heard the furious roar of a Silver Moon Wolf deep within Blackwind Forest and rushed over.

Then, both you and Bai Tianhong saw an expert fleeing with a Silver Moon Wolf cub in his grasp. His cultivation had actually reached the Half-Step Spirit Origin Realm.

You and Bai Tianhong both understood what had happened. Next, you proposed taking the Silver Moon Wolf cub and raising it as a spirit pet. Bai Tianhong chose to help.

"Bai Tianhong really is a good man."

Watching the simulation unfold on the Screen, Wang Ping could not help but praise him.

Sure enough, although the Sword Spirit Sect Leader was vicious and ruthless, Bai Tianhong was completely different—a true man of temperament.

"The Blood Demon Tracking Art isn't that powerful after all. That puts my mind at ease. Although the people of Chi Village still have the major problem of the Bloodline Curse, at least the tragedy of their entire clan being wiped out can be avoided."

Wang Ping let out a quiet breath, thinking to himself.

Next, Wang Ping continued staring at the Screen.

Next, you told the Half-Step Spirit Origin Realm expert to hand over the Silver Moon Wolf cub, promising sufficient compensation. Seeing your and Bai Tianhong's identities, the man handed it over without hesitation. After reminding you to honor your promise, he immediately fled.

You were greatly surprised by how smoothly it had gone. Originally, you had planned to resort to force if the deal failed. Seeing that everything had gone so smoothly and that there was no need to fight, Bai Tianhong was relieved as well.

However, before long, the adult Silver Moon Wolf found you. Facing the enraged Seventh-Level Demon Beast, the Silver Moon Wolf, Bai Tianhong remained fearless and boldly attacked. You too erupted with astonishing battle prowess, joining forces with Bai Tianhong to deal with the Silver Moon Wolf.

In the end, the two of you joined forces and slew the Silver Moon Wolf. After killing it, you left Blackwind Forest with its corpse. A beast tide that would otherwise have erupted was strangled in the cradle by the two of you, preventing the deaths and injuries of hundreds of thousands.

Next, you and Bai Tianhong returned to the Sword Spirit Sect and continued cultivating in seclusion. You also began using various Spirit Herbs to raise the Silver Moon Wolf cub.

In Great Xia Calendar 495, you attempted to break through to the Spirit Origin Realm, but your aptitude was insufficient and your Dao Heart was not firm enough, so you failed. After discussing the Dao with Bai Tianhong, you gained a profound understanding of your own heart and reaped great rewards. You began tempering your Dao Heart, confident that you could break through to the Spirit Origin Realm within three years.

At the end of Great Xia Calendar 495, the Spirit Origin Realm Old Ancestor of the Great Xia Royal Family Ascended. The Feudal Lords could no longer hold themselves back. They began courting every faction, declaring themselves kings, and casting covetous eyes upon the imperial throne. At the end of that year, you also learned of the whereabouts of the Fire Spirit Flower.