Mid Qi Refining Stage

Su Fan, who had been utterly despairing, suddenly found it hard to believe.

But Ye Tianhe followed up with another remark.

"Those few sword techniques you used that day had some real substance. Let's have a bout in a moment..."

Su Fan hurriedly nodded. He finally understood why Ye Tianhe had sought him out.

He really was a Sword Maniac.

Every day, all he thought about was either practicing the sword or killing people.

Ye Tianhe set down his wine cup and rose excitedly, dragging him outside.

"Come on... We can drink again later..."

Su Fan quickly tugged him back and said with a smile, "Senior, there's no need to rush. Let's drink first..."

The two had barely taken a few sips before Su Fan was dragged by Ye Tianhe into the courtyard.

Ye Tianhe did not even draw his sword. He stood in the courtyard with his hands behind his back.

"Use the sword techniques and footwork from that day. Don't hold back. Come..."

Su Fan took the battered sword from his Storage Bag and gripped its hilt with both hands. Just as he was about to swing, he suddenly remembered something.

"Senior, you can't use a flying sword..."

What kind of joke was that? He had witnessed the might of flying swords that day.

Once a flying sword was unleashed, this little courtyard might not even remain.

Hearing Su Fan's words, Ye Tianhe across from him did not know whether to laugh or cry.

"I began learning the sword at seven. Every day, I swung my sword at least ten thousand times. Could it be that without flying swords, we sword cultivators can't fight?"

Only then did Su Fan relax. The instant the thought arose, his body was already drifting diagonally toward Ye Tianhe.

Ye Tianhe's eyes lit up. To have trained the Wind Riding Art to such a level was no simple feat.

As he was distracted for that moment, a flash of lightning suddenly burst beneath Su Fan's feet, and his figure vanished from where he stood.

The great mastery-level Lightning Ghost Step was worlds apart from before. The distance of four or five meters was crossed in an instant.

In the blink of an eye, Su Fan had arrived beside Ye Tianhe, and the greatsword came crashing down.

"Tidal Slash..."

The Microscopic Realm Nine Extremes Consecutive Slashes had already faintly formed an unstoppable, razor-sharp momentum.

Clang!

Ye Tianhe drew his long sword and casually slashed.

Su Fan instinctively saw a dazzling sword light, like a bolt of lightning, blocking the edge of his magic sword.

Bang!

A tremendous force nearly knocked Ye Tianhe's sword from his hand, and he staggered backward several steps.

He froze on the spot.

How did this kid have such strength? Just how heavy was that battered sword?

After being caught off guard, he was not angry at all. Instead, he was indescribably excited.

Su Fan pressed his advantage. Lightning flashed beneath his feet, and his figure teleported once more to his opponent's flank as the greatsword swept wildly outward.

"Limitless Slash..."

Clang!

An invisible Sword Intent easily knocked Su Fan's greatsword aside.

After all, Ye Tianhe was a sword cultivator. Though he had just suffered a hidden loss, a backhand sword stroke immediately restored his advantage.

Su Fan was not discouraged in the slightest. His figure darted several meters away again before appearing at Ye Tianhe's side.

Using his right foot as the pivot, he swung the greatsword in a circle and slashed horizontally once more.

"Whirlwind Slash..."

The two went back and forth in the courtyard, battling for dozens of exchanges.

Su Fan knew full well that only with the first strike had he held even the slightest advantage.

After that, Ye Tianhe was purely using him to practice swordsmanship.

He had grown up playing with the sword, after all, and every stroke contained Sword Intent.

Faced with the fierce and savage Nine Extremes Consecutive Slashes, he could casually dispel them with a single sword stroke.

Su Fan grew fired up as well. The Dao Seed inside him exploded with a boom.

Blazing, dazzling lightning instantly wrapped around the magic sword as it launched a frenzied assault at Ye Tianhe.

Seeing the purple lightning on the magic sword, Ye Tianhe's eyes immediately lit up.

He swept out his long sword and blocked Su Fan's magic sword.

He felt a scorching current surge into his body, and his figure abruptly stiffened.

"Not good..."

The spiritual energy in his body circulated rapidly through his meridians. His figure retreated more than a dozen steps in an instant before he finally forced the current out of his body.

Su Fan finally seized an opportunity. He swung his magic sword and unleashed nine consecutive slashes in a single breath.

But he still failed to capitalize on it. Ye Tianhe casually dispelled them with several sword strokes.

There was nothing he could do. The two of them were separated by two entire realms.

"No more fighting. No more fighting..."

Su Fan panted heavily. Just now, he had unleashed more than a hundred slashes in succession, putting everything he had into every stroke.

Despite his powerful body, he was beginning to feel unable to endure it.

Ye Tianhe laughed heartily. "You've tempered your body quite well. Aside from not using a flying sword, I've already done everything I could."

"You have excellent talent for swordsmanship. If I had met you twenty years ago, I definitely would have taken you back to my sect."

Hearing this, Su Fan shook his head like a rattle drum.

Oh, hell no.

Sword cultivators were all crazy, knowing nothing but fighting and killing every day.

He would never do it, not even if someone beat him to death.

Ye Tianhe watched him with a beaming smile and said meaningfully, "Lightning body tempering is a rare sight..."

Su Fan nearly burst into tears. Do you think I wanted this?

"I had no choice. My aptitude is poor..."

Ye Tianhe added with a half-smile, "It does resemble the path of the Demon Sect..."

Su Fan's face went pale. He was just about to explain when the other man waved his hand.

"Ancient body cultivation isn't divided into Immortal Sects and Demon Sects. If you really want to discuss it, we sword cultivators used to be a Demon Sect ourselves. Hahaha..."

Only then did Su Fan relax.

Modern sword cultivators were even more vicious than the Demon Sect.

Ye Tianhe glanced at the battered sword in Su Fan's hand.

"Where did you get this sword?"

"I found it at an Artifact Refining Shop. It cost one spirit stone."

After saying this, Su Fan handed the sword to Ye Tianhe.

The other man was a sword cultivator from a major sect and had surely seen all kinds of things. He ought to be able to help identify it.

Ye Tianhe took the magic sword. His hand dipped suddenly, and he nearly dropped it onto the ground.

He gripped the hilt with some effort and laughed. "Good heavens, this must weigh two or three hundred jin. What's it made of...?"

Seeing Su Fan shake his head, he supported the magic sword with both hands and brought it before his eyes for a careful examination.

After studying it for quite a while, he shook his head. "I can't tell either. My master probably knows."

Su Fan nearly laughed. You're going to bother your master over a battered sword? Better forget it.

Ye Tianhe took a Jade Slip from his Storage Bag and handed it to Su Fan.

"This is a sword formula I happened to obtain in a secret realm. Your talent in the sword path is quite good, so take it and study it. The swordsmanship of Ancient Body Cultivators is astonishingly powerful, but with your cultivation, you won't be able to bring out much of its might."

Su Fan had not expected Ye Tianhe to give him an entire sword formula.

Were sword cultivators all this straightforward? They had only known each other for a short while, yet he was giving away a sword formula just like that.

He accepted the Jade Slip and said sincerely, "Thank you, Senior..."

Ye Tianhe smiled and waved his hand.

"This sword formula is useless to me, but it might be of some use to you."

After Ye Tianhe left, Su Fan returned to the Cultivation Room.

He sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion, took out a stick of incense, placed it in the nearby censer, and lit it.

This was Soul Calming Incense, and a single stick cost one spirit stone.

It was made from several rare and precious aromatics, with the raw materials coming from the powder of Soul Nurturing Wood, a wood-element Heaven and Earth Spiritual Material.

Soul Calming Incense could gather the mind, nourish spiritual thoughts, and aid cultivation.

When he had practiced swordsmanship with Ye Tianhe just now, he had faintly sensed an opportunity for a breakthrough.

Su Fan took out a Yellow Spirit Pill and popped it into his mouth.

He shut out distracting thoughts, focused solely on his dantian, and entered a state of selflessness.

As he circulated the Primordial Chaos Technique, the Spirit Qi-gathering formation on the "Immaculate Treasure Robe" absorbed all the surrounding spirit qi into his body.

Before he knew it, he had become completely immersed in cultivation. After an unknown length of time, Su Fan awakened.

A cool aura spread through all four limbs and every bone, as though each cell were being stimulated by the chill.

His body trembled involuntarily, and every inch of flesh seemed to radiate joyful excitement.

"I broke through..."

Su Fan opened the panel and let out a long breath.

[Name] Su Fan

[Remaining Lifespan] 36/92 years

[Realm] Qi Refining Fourth Layer: 1/100

[Techniques]

1. Primordial Chaos Technique (First Rank): 34/100.

2. Body Tempering Art (Second Rank): 115/200

3. Demonic Saint Body Art (First Rank): 100/100

4. Nether Demon Spirit Forging Technique (Second Rank): 13/200

[Arts]

1. Qi Gazing Art (Microscopic): 615/800

2. Light Body Art (Microscopic): 727/800

3. Spirit Concealment Art (Microscopic): 598/800

4. Xingyi Quan (Microscopic): 451/800

5. Void Spirit Art (Minor Mastery): 55/200

6. Corpse Control Art (Minor Mastery): 47/200

7. Object Manipulation Technique (Minor Mastery): 99/200

8. Nine Extremes Consecutive Slashes (Microscopic): 523/800

9. Spirit Possession Corpse Control Technique (Minor Mastery): 32/200

[Skills]

1. Green Lamp Talisman (Beginner): 65/100

2. Evil Warding Talisman (Great Mastery): 35/400

3. Water Repelling Talisman (Minor Mastery): 105/200

4. Armor Horse Talisman (Minor Mastery): 95/200

5. Arrow Repelling Talisman (Minor Mastery): 158/200

6. Muting Talisman (Minor Mastery): 110/200

[Divine Abilities]

1. Lightning Eye Dharma Eye (Great Mastery): 35/400

2. Lightning Ghost Step (Great Mastery): 317/400

Su Fan had finally entered the Mid Qi Refining Stage. He was no longer a minor cultivator at the very bottom of the Cultivation World.

At least in Shaoyang Market Town, among the many Rogue Cultivators, Mid Qi Refining cultivation definitely counted as a middle-tier level.

To put it this way, of the more than ten thousand Rogue Cultivators around the market town, fewer than three in ten had probably reached the mid stage, and fewer than one in ten had reached the late stage.

The overwhelming majority of Rogue Cultivators were still lingering in the early stage of Qi Refining. Early-stage cultivators with white hair were everywhere.

After breaking through to the mid stage, Su Fan's dantian had expanded considerably, and his spiritual energy had nearly doubled.

His gaze sharpened. His Spiritual Sense rapidly spread outward, extending more than sixty zhang before stopping.

Everything within a radius of two hundred meters was under his control.

The transformation brought by the Lightning Dao Body had greatly raised the lower limit of Su Fan's Spiritual Sense.

Combined with his daily cultivation of the Nether Demon Spirit Forging Technique, it had made his Spiritual Sense even denser and purer.

Su Fan's Spiritual Sense was now already comparable to that of a Late Qi Refining cultivator.

As the sages said, everything else was nonsense. Cultivation was the foundation.

By then, it was already midnight.

Su Fan came to the small courtyard outside and drew a deep breath.

He had finally taken the first step of the ten-thousand-li Long March.

He took out Ye Tianhe's Jade Slip and pressed it against his forehead.

Transmission Jade Slips generally came from sects. How could miserable Rogue Cultivators receive such treatment?

Though the Jade Slip was small, it used the transmission of objects to convey spirit. The entire sword formula, including its written words and images, was recorded within.

After a while, Su Fan lowered the Jade Slip.

This sword art was called the Purple Cloud Thunderous Sword Art. It could control a sword with Spiritual Sense, making the sword move like rushing thunder.

Once mastered to the utmost extreme, a single thought could send the flying sword flashing away, killing an enemy thousands of miles away.

No wonder Ye Tianhe had said it was useless to him. Ordinary people simply couldn't cultivate it.

He had probably mistaken Su Fan for someone who could control lightning, which was why he had given him the sword art.

But how could he know that Su Fan himself was basically a giant electric baton?

Besides, cultivating this sword art had its own threshold. It required a lightning-element flying sword that had been nurtured by thunder for many years.

Where was he supposed to find a lightning-element flying sword?

A sword cultivator's flying sword and an ordinary magical flying sword were completely different things.

Even an ordinary Five Elements flying sword for sword cultivators cost at least several times more than a magical flying sword.

Not to mention the rare lightning-element flying swords. Just gathering the materials for refining one was difficult enough.

Moreover, any unusual magical treasure such as a lightning-, ice-, or wind-element treasure required an experienced master refiner to forge.

A sword sect with an ancient inheritance like the Ziyang Sword Sect even had its own sword mound.

When disciples of past generations passed away, their flying swords would return to the sword mound, waiting for newly inducted disciples to choose them.

I'll put it away for now. I can't cultivate it at the moment anyway.

Over the next few days, Su Fan stayed at home, consolidating his cultivation.

Su Fan now had every day packed to the brim. He cultivated the Primordial Chaos Technique twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening, and cultivated the Nether Demon Spirit Forging Technique once at night.

Both techniques were the foundation of cultivation, so he never skipped them.

Most of the rest of his time went into practicing the Nine Extremes Consecutive Slashes and Xingyi Quan, while using the gaps between cultivation sessions to grind several spells and divine abilities.

Besides all that, he had to set aside time to make talismans. He was practically never idle.

Even so, after entering the Mid Qi Refining Stage, he had been considering whether he should learn a few Mid-grade Spells.

Although the Light Body Art, Qi Gazing Art, and Spirit Concealment Art had already reached the Microscopic Realm,

their starting points had ultimately been too low. If he did not experience Mid-grade Spells, he would always feel somewhat unwilling to accept it.

After careful consideration, Su Fan decided to give it a try.

He would learn one Mid-grade Spell first and see how it went.

He chose the Mid-grade Wind Riding Art. It was actually the Light Body Art's 2.0 upgraded version, but its power was more than just a little stronger.

Of course, casting the Wind Riding Art required considerably more Spiritual Energy, and it was also more difficult to learn.

Su Fan did not take it too seriously. Could it really be harder than calculus?

As it turned out, he had still underestimated the difficulty of a Mid-grade Spell.

By noon the next day, he had not even touched the threshold.

How could Su Fan have known that all the spell manuals he had bought in the market were common, mass-produced trash?

For things like talismans and spells, low-grade ones were still acceptable. But once they reached the mid-grade, the information recorded in the books became extremely vague. There was practically no true transmission.

Sects and cultivation lineages would all establish inheritance halls, with specialists responsible for teaching techniques.

As a Rogue Cultivator, where was he supposed to find someone to teach him?

Su Fan could only feel his way forward on his own. Yet after spending so long at it, he had not even touched the edge of the threshold.

Looking at the copy of Detailed Explanation of Mid-grade Spells he had bought in the market, he was so furious his liver ached.

He had spent thirty Medium Spirit Stones on this lousy book, yet it was utterly useless.

This was too much bullying.

"Damn it, I'm not learning this anymore..."

Su Fan was so angry that he wanted to throw the book away. Before he could do so, someone suddenly appeared in front of him.

It startled him badly. He had just reached for his sword when he realized it was Ye Tianhe.

"Senior..."

Ye Tianhe nodded. Ignoring him, he walked straight toward the house.

"It's nothing. Go on with what you're doing. I just came over to sit for a while..."

Su Fan did not know whether to laugh or cry. You really don't stand on ceremony.

"Make yourself at home, Senior..."

Ye Tianhe did not turn around. He merely waved a hand.

"What's for lunch? That Demonic Beast Meat from last time was pretty good. Is there any left...?"

What could Su Fan say? He did not even know whose home this really was.

"There is. I'll steam some in a bit..."

Ye Tianhe nodded in satisfaction. Just before entering the house, he turned around.

"By the way, what are you doing?"

"Uh... learning a spell..."

"Aren't you a talisman master? Why are you learning that stuff? With that time, you'd be better off practicing your swordsmanship..."

A flash of inspiration struck Su Fan, and he hurriedly asked, "Senior, you know the Wind Riding Art, right...?"

Ye Tianhe nodded, then asked in confusion, "Haven't you already learned the Wind Riding Art? I saw you use it last time."

"Senior, I used the Light Body Art last time..."

"What...?"

Ye Tianhe stared at Su Fan, utterly dumbfounded.

"Use it again..."

Su Fan nodded. As soon as the thought arose, his body became like a sheet of paper, as though it had been lifted into the air by the wind.

With a whoosh, he arrived atop the wall of the opposite courtyard.

Ye Tianhe was even more bewildered. What the hell...

You call that the Light Body Art?

It took him a long while to recover.

"All right, if you say it is, then it is..."

So what if it's fast? Can it be faster than my sword?

Ye Tianhe walked over and took the copy of Detailed Explanation of Mid-grade Spells from Su Fan's hands, casually flipping through it.

Then he raised his head and asked with a frown, "Where did you buy this book?"

"Uh... at the market..."

Ye Tianhe laughed and shook his head. Then, with a rip, he tore the book apart.

You bastard...

Su Fan's eyes instantly reddened. That had been thirty Medium Spirit Stones!

Did being a sword cultivator mean he could do whatever he wanted?

If I weren't weaker than you, I would have cut you in half with one sword long ago.

Before he could get worked up, he saw Ye Tianhe take a Jade Slip from his Storage Bag and casually toss it to him.

"Stop reading that kind of trash. It'll lead you astray..."

After saying that, he swept Su Fan a look of utter disdain and turned to enter the house.

For a low-level spell Jade Slip like this, if one tossed it onto the ground in front of any small sect, no one would even bother picking it up.

Even so, sects strictly prohibited such things from flowing into the market.

Of course, sword cultivators were the exception.

They had always looked down on things like talismans and spells.