Greatly Increased Skill!

At dusk, the setting sun slanted across the land, and the mountain breeze was gentle.

By the mountain stream, before the wooden cabin, Lu Chen moved with his sword, agile as a roaming dragon. Wherever the sword light flashed, it was sometimes like falling blossoms scattering in profusion, sometimes like drifting snowflakes. The sound of his longsword cutting through the air was at times soft and gentle, like spring rain and breeze silently nourishing all things, and at other times swift and fierce, like a biting northern wind that seemed to scrape flesh from bone.

It had been ten days since he and Huang Rong entered the mountains and built their cabin.

Over these ten days, they caught only one snake on slow days and two or three on good days, harvesting more than a dozen strange snakes in all.

Lu Chen worked hard every day, and his inner strength advanced by leaps and bounds. After only ten days, the originally meager, weak true qi in his dantian had already grown into a substantial mass.

When the true qi flowed through his meridians, it was no longer as thin and pitiful as a thread, but like a babbling stream, ceaseless and unending.

Although it was still far from the realm Lu Chen imagined, where true qi surged through the meridians like mighty rivers and the dantian's reserves resembled a vast ocean, it was vastly stronger than before he began cultivating by catching snakes. Had he relied solely on his own cultivation, it would likely have taken two or three years of hard work to accumulate this much true qi.

Thus, Lu Chen was quite satisfied with his progress in true qi.

After all, in a low-martial world, inner cultivation was usually measured in years.

Without fortunate encounters such as absorbing another's inner strength, receiving a master's power transmission, or obtaining rare spiritual treasures, it was difficult to achieve much in inner cultivation through personal training alone without enduring several years, even more than a decade or decades of practice.

Yet Lu Chen had made such gains in a mere ten days. That already counted as an extraordinary stroke of fortune.

Not only had his inner strength greatly increased, but his muscles, bones, and physical power had also grown considerably. Even without reinforcing himself with true qi, relying purely on his muscles and arm strength, he could easily lift a stone weighing one or two hundred jin over his head.

Even his recovery ability had improved, allowing his inner strength and stamina to recover more quickly.

With his inner strength greatly improved, his swordsmanship naturally rose along with it.

Huang Rong sat on a rock, cupping her chin in both hands as she watched him practice his swordplay with a smile.

After watching for a while, she suddenly rose and flicked out a pebble with her finger, shooting it toward Lu Chen's waist and ribs.

Hearing the sound and judging its position, Lu Chen casually swept his longsword and knocked the pebble flying.

Huang Rong giggled and rapidly flicked her slender fingers, sending pebble after pebble toward various acupoints on Lu Chen's body.

Over the past ten days, although Master Rong had displayed noble generosity by letting Lu Chen have all the snake gallbladders, she had also eaten plenty of snake meat. Her inner strength and physical power had improved, and her martial arts were much stronger than before.

The pebbles she fired in quick succession now whistled through the air. Not only were they quite forceful, but their accuracy was excellent. An ordinary martial artist truly would have struggled to deal with them.

Lu Chen, however, handled them with ease. With casual movements of his hand, dazzling sword light stabbed, lifted, sliced, and circled, knocking away every incoming pebble.

When the final pebble came shooting toward him, he thrust straight out with his sword. The blade's perfectly straight line of light was like a bolt of lightning, and with a hiss, it split the pebble cleanly in half.

This strike was not Sword One.

But Lu Chen contemplated the Sword Intent Imprint every night and used Half-Move Sword One to cultivate his true qi in daily practice. Though he still could not wield Sword One at will or release and withdraw it freely, he could now incorporate a trace of Sword One's essence into ordinary sword moves, greatly increasing their power.

With his current swordsmanship, if he encountered a martial artist at Xue Wu's level again, he could take his life within ten moves.

After firing all the pebbles, Huang Rong saw how calmly Lu Chen had handled them and how his swordsmanship had risen to another level. She clapped and laughed.

"Not bad, not bad. Your Falling Blossom Swordplay can already be called masterful. As for your inner strength, you can be considered an expert now."

In her view, in terms of Falling Blossom Swordplay alone, Lu Chen was only lacking a little refinement compared with her father.

If her father suppressed his inner strength to Lu Chen's level and sparred with him using only Falling Blossom Swordplay, he might not be able to defeat Lu Chen even after one or two hundred exchanges.

"An expert? How expert?" Lu Chen asked with a smile. "Could I compare to the Seven Freaks of Quanzhen?"

Huang Rong thought for a moment, then answered with a serious expression.

"The Seven Freaks of Quanzhen have been famous for many years. In terms of inner strength, you probably still aren't their match. But in swordsmanship, I think you may already have surpassed them."

In truth, she had never seen the Seven Freaks of Quanzhen's swordsmanship and had no idea just how skilled they were.

But Lu Chen had been taught by her personally, had sparred with her old father many times, and received quite a few pointers. Naturally, Huang Rong had to talk up one of her own.

Lu Chen also knew that in this world, there was not actually any particularly clear division of martial arts realms.

Aside from the Five Greats, who stood high above all others at the pinnacle of the Martial Arts World, one could only know everyone else's true strength after fighting them.

As always, the depth of one's inner strength did not absolutely determine one's combat ability.

Even with slightly weaker inner strength, so long as one's martial skills were strong enough, there was still a chance to defeat the strong while weak.

Just as Lu Chen had killed Xue Wu with his swordsmanship that night.

"All right, sword practice is over. Now it's time to practice Movement Technique! Come catch me!"

At that moment, Huang Rong leaped to the streamside, bent down to scoop up a handful of water, and splashed it onto Lu Chen. Then she made a face at him, turned, and ran.

Lu Chen smiled faintly, gathered his qi to lighten his body, and chased after her.

Huang Rong laughed as she darted and leaped ahead like a nimble little deer. With the lightest touch of her toes, she could spring two or three zhang away.

Lu Chen's robes fluttered around him as he pursued Huang Rong closely with graceful movements.

Now that his inner strength had greatly improved, his Movement Technique had naturally advanced as well. His speed in flight was no slower than Huang Rong's. He, too, could cover two or three zhang in a single step, and with a burst of qi, leap more than a zhang into the air.

Sometimes they jumped from stream rock to stream rock, and sometimes they sprang onto tree branches, flitting through the forest canopy. Both moved with lightness and grace. As they chased and played through the woods and along the stream, they resembled two immortal cranes gliding on the wind, indescribably elegant and beautiful.

Night fell.

After dinner, Huang Rong sat on a bluish stone by the stream. She removed her shoes and socks, soaking her two fair, tender feet in the clear water as she enjoyed its coolness and listened to Lu Chen tell her about the "Immortal Realm."

"My world has many wonderful things, but it also has many terrifying and frightening things. For example, demons. Every so often, demons appear in our world and cause trouble. Fortunately, there are usually signs before they emerge. As long as we set up defenses and eliminate them in time, they generally do not cause too much destruction."

Rather than being frightened, Huang Rong became even more interested.

"What do demons look like?"

"They come in all shapes. Some have bodies like giant praying mantises but human heads. Some have faces like mountain goblins and bodies like tigers. Others are half-human and half-insect, or half-human and half-beast. There are all kinds of strange and bizarre forms..."

"Then how do you deal with demons?"

"With the weapons I told you about before—guns, cannons, tanks, aircraft, missiles, and the like. Demons are flesh and blood too. Though their bodies are powerful, and some possess strange demonic arts, they can still be killed by powerful weapons. Of course, in certain situations, such as within cities, weapons that are too destructive cannot be used. Then Superpowered Individuals are deployed."

"Superpowered Individuals?"

"Yes. Some can control fire, some can create frost, some command lightning, some can fly through the air, and some have bodies of steel... There are all kinds of strange arts and superhuman abilities. Their powers also vary in strength."

"Controlling frost and flame, wielding thunder, and even flying—aren't they immortals?"

"They cannot be considered immortals. They are merely humans with special abilities. Just like martial arts experts: even if they can soar high and dart about, they are still mortals. In fact, in terms of overall ability, many Superpowered Individuals may not even compare to martial arts experts."

"I understand! Lu Chen, you're a Superpowered Individual too. Your abilities are traveling beyond the heavens, extraordinary recovery, and talent in swordsmanship!"

"Now that Rong'er puts it that way... it really does seem so?"

"The Immortal Realm sounds so interesting. I really want to see it."

"Actually, I can take you there now. It's just that I still haven't mastered the ability to travel back and forth freely. If I take you to my world, I don't know when I'll be able to send you back... I must wait until I can travel freely between the two worlds before taking you there to visit."

"Then when will you master the ability to travel back and forth freely?"

"I need to completely master Sword One, able to release and withdraw it at will and wield it freely. Don't worry, Rong'er. I will succeed within a year."

Huang Rong tilted her head to look at Lu Chen and smiled sweetly.

"Mm-hmm. I'm not actually in such a hurry. You shouldn't rush either. Haste makes waste. You can train diligently in martial arts, but as for your state of mind, don't be too impatient. Just let things take their natural course."

Though she clearly wanted to visit the "Immortal Realm," she urged him not to rush lest it disrupt his state of mind. Rong'er's thoughtfulness and consideration deeply moved Lu Chen. He turned to look at her as well and smiled brightly.

"Since coming to this world, my greatest fortune has been meeting you, Rong'er, the moment I arrived."

Huang Rong froze slightly, her pretty face flushing as she said in a soft voice.

"How could I be that wonderful...?"

Lu Chen said nothing more. Smiling, he took her hand and enveloped her soft little hand within his large one.

Huang Rong felt a little flustered. Her heart thumped wildly, and her face grew warm.

Yet she did not pull her hand away. She let him hold it as they quietly admired the bright moon over the mountains and listened to the mountain wind through the forest. In a daze, she felt a strange emotion quietly stirring and growing within her heart.