Entering the Microscopic

The next day, Su Fan went to the marketplace, but he did not discover anything unusual.

Still, he bought five hundred jin of spirit rice, along with more than a hundred jin of smoked Demonic Beast Meat.

He also bought more than twenty mid-grade talismans at Myriad Treasures Tower, spending every last spirit stone he had.

Although Xu Wen sometimes liked to show off, he had connections in Lesser Yang Sect and was quite reliable as a person.

Although the marketplace showed no signs of anything amiss, Su Fan still chose to believe him.

After returning, Su Fan began puttering around in the courtyard again.

That night, he had been lucky enough to escape with his life.

How could Su Fan possibly make the same mistake again and let bandit cultivators jump into the courtyard so easily?

He bought several "Mother-Child Warning Talismans" at the marketplace and stuck them on the courtyard wall and main gate.

As long as someone climbed over the wall, the child talisman would be triggered, and the mother talisman at Su Fan's waist would instantly ignite.

Every night before bed, he also set up several "Firework Talismans" in the courtyard.

As long as someone crossed the courtyard, several fireworks would shoot into the sky.

He also replaced the door to the house.

The new door was made of Black Ironwood and was more than five inches thick. An additional hidden lock had been installed on the inside.

Once everything was finished, Su Fan finally felt much more at ease.

The following dozen or so days passed extremely fulfillingly.

He cultivated the Primordial Chaos Technique twice every day, once in the morning and once at night.

The rest of the time was spent practicing swordsmanship until he had exhausted his strength, after which he practiced various spells.

In his previous life, he had been so lazy it was ridiculous. After coming to this world, he had instead become diligent.

There was no helping it. The Cultivation World was not an easy place to survive.

Without strength, he did not even have the qualifications to lie flat.

Besides, there were no games here, no Weibo, and no cute streamers in live rooms. Life was unbearably boring.

If he did not find something to do, he would have gone crazy long ago.

During cultivation, Su Fan watched strings of "Proficiency +1" messages pop up from time to time, along with the constantly increasing progress on the panel. He really felt as if he were back grinding progress in a game.

Late at night, when all was still, he also studied the basics of talisman drawing.

Su Fan did not rush things. He first used a writing brush to practice various basic strokes on xuan paper.

Only after he became proficient did he simulate copying several talismans.

In just a few days, he had used several hundred sheets of xuan paper practicing the strokes for drawing talismans.

His battle with the bandit cultivator that day had made Su Fan realize one problem: in a narrow space, a spell sword was impossible to wield properly.

Thus, Su Fan remembered the fist technique known as "Xingyi Quan."

He had not read it wrong. That really was its name.

But it had absolutely nothing to do with the fist technique from his previous life.

Xingyi Quan was a Body Cultivators' fist technique inherited from ancient times.

Body Cultivators who had fought Demonic Beasts for years had drawn upon the fighting methods of seven powerful Demonic Beasts—the Azure Bear, Savage Tiger, Ink Flood Dragon, Kui Ox, Stone Ape, Wind Falcon, and Dragon Elephant—to create this fist technique.

Compared with Nine Extremes Consecutive Slashes, this fist technique was somewhat of a trap.

Before cultivating it, one had to sketch the appearance of a Demonic Beast in one's mind, then practice the fists by visualizing the beast's form.

The threshold was far too harsh.

The ancient Demonic Beasts had long since gone extinct. Where was he supposed to find them?

Actually, even if they existed, he would not dare go looking.

The other party would not even need to move. A single breath could blow him into smithereens.

He had no choice but to copy the pictures in the Bestiary of Demonic Beasts and paste them on the wall, staring at them for a while every day. Only then did he barely manage to enter the threshold of the fist technique.

At midnight, having just completed one round of Nine Consecutive Slashes, Su Fan leaned on his sword and recovered his strength.

He opened the panel, and the progress of several spells updated once again.

[Name] Su Fan

[Remaining Lifespan] 36/92 years

[Realm] Qi Refining Second Layer: 99/100

[Techniques]

1. Primordial Chaos Technique (First Tier): 22/100.

2. Body Tempering Art (Second Tier): 45/200

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

[Spells]

1. Qi Gazing Art (Greater Mastery): 297/400

2. Light Body Art (Subtlety): 1/800

3. Spirit Concealment Art (Greater Mastery): 245/400

4. Nine Extremes Consecutive Slashes (Minor Mastery): 7/200

5. Xingyi Quan (Entry): 9/100

[Skills] None

[Divine Abilities] None

Aside from the techniques remaining completely unmoved, several spells had made substantial progress.

Spirit Concealment Art and Qi Gazing Art had successively advanced to greater mastery.

Nine Extremes Consecutive Slashes had also broken through a tier and had now reached minor mastery.

Only Xingyi Quan was somewhat of a trap.

Although he had barely entered the threshold, even after practicing it dozens of times, the proficiency on the panel might not increase once.

Several dozen Magic Coins had effectively been wasted.

What delighted him was that the greater mastery of Light Body Art had advanced once again. The realm displayed on the panel was "Subtlety."

Before his strength had fully recovered, Su Fan eagerly began experimenting.

He formed hand seals and mudras while silently reciting the incantation.

A mysterious force rapidly spread through his body. His body immediately became light and buoyant, as if it had lost the pull of gravity.

Even a gentle breeze could blow him away.

With a thought, his body drifted diagonally toward the roof like a sheet of paper.

Immediately afterward, Su Fan began floating around the small courtyard.

As long as he formed a thought, his body moved according to his will.

He was light as a feather and came and went like the wind, unexpected and utterly silent.

Su Fan was somewhat dumbfounded.

This is...

You call this Light Body Art?

Light Body Art improved from entry to minor mastery and then to greater mastery.

But no one could have imagined that after advancing to "Subtlety," its effect would become this heaven-defying.

Was this still a first-tier low-grade spell? Even the mid-grade Wind Riding Art probably was no better than this.

To cultivators, Light Body Art was as tasteless as chicken ribs.

It was merely used as a transitional spell. Once they learned "Wind Riding Art," they would abandon it.

Of course, no one else would cultivate a low-grade spell dozens of times every day as if possessed.

Wait...

Something seemed wrong.

Su Fan opened the panel. It displayed: Light Body Art (Subtlety): 2/800.

Ever since he began practicing spells, every successful cast increased the panel's proficiency by one.

Previously, he had always assumed that the body's instinctive memories were at work.

But he would never believe that his predecessor could have cultivated Light Body Art to such a heaven-defying level.

Now that Light Body Art had reached "Subtlety," he had just cast it once, yet the proficiency on the panel had still increased by one.

Su Fan lowered his head and pondered for a while. Then he gripped his sword with both hands and cast Nine Extremes Consecutive Slashes.

This time, he practiced extremely seriously. Every slash followed the sword manual's instructions, striving for perfection.

After the nine slashes, Su Fan opened the panel.

Nine Extremes Consecutive Slashes (Minor Mastery): 8/200.

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Su Fan closed his eyes and rested.

Once his strength recovered, he performed it seriously once more and then opened the panel.

Nine Extremes Consecutive Slashes (Minor Mastery): 9/200.

Su Fan's breathing quickened, and his heart began pounding violently.

It seemed he had always overlooked the panel's true function.

The Game Panel's purpose was not merely to digitize his attributes.

Rather, just like when he had played games back then, every time he successfully cast a spell, its proficiency was forcibly increased by one.

Compared with several low-grade spells that were easy to cast, Nine Extremes Consecutive Slashes was considerably more complicated.

The complete sword technique included changes in the moves, the circulation of spiritual energy, methods of exerting force, and many other details.

When he had first started practicing swordsmanship, Su Fan had still been fairly serious. Later, he simply stopped caring and hacked around wildly.

He had basically been practicing in a damn sloppy manner.

To verify his theory, Su Fan had just practiced seriously twice.

As a result, both times, the proficiency of "Nine Extremes Consecutive Slashes" on the panel had increased by one.

It seemed that even the slightest flaw meant the cast did not count as a successful execution, and the panel's proficiency would not respond.

Previously, he often had to practice more than a dozen times before the panel's proficiency increased by one.

Then according to the rules of the game, the proficiency of every spell could be ground up.

This was the Game Panel's true purpose.

As long as he put in the effort, there would always be a reward.

No wonder every time a spell advanced, inexplicable insights and realizations would surge into his mind.

Especially after advancing to "Subtlety," his understanding of Light Body Art had deepened.

In other words, if he had not practiced in such a damn sloppy manner, Nine Extremes Consecutive Slashes might have reached greater mastery long ago.

If he ground Nine Extremes Consecutive Slashes to "Subtlety," what kind of effect would it have?

Then in the future...

After "Subtlety" advanced, would even more heaven-defying changes appear afterward?

At this thought, Su Fan felt a surge of hot blood shoot from his spine straight to the top of his head.

Goosebumps rose all over his body, and every pore trembled violently.

"This is going to be freaking amazing..."

Only now did he finally have the capital to establish a foothold in this world.

After the excitement passed, an indescribable relaxation followed, filling his entire body.

Ever since arriving in this world, an inexplicable sense of crisis had always been weighing on his heart.

At this moment, it was as if all the gloom had vanished without a trace.

His body felt light and buoyant, and he was even more comfortable than soaking in hot bathwater.

"The future is looking bright..."

Once I become a great immortal cultivator, I'll find a place with beautiful mountains and clear waters, then lie flat there until I die.

Su Fan drew a deep breath and rubbed his face with both hands.

His original state of excitement and agitation immediately cooled.

He gently tore at a patch of dead skin on his face, only for a large piece to peel away.

The mutation in his body was growing increasingly severe.

Although his skin was no longer flaking off in sheets, it was becoming drier and drier, forming large patches of dead skin.

The most horrifying part was that his strength was still slowly increasing. Compared with the past, it had already more than doubled.

His appetite was growing as well. Every meal required three large bowls of spirit rice.

Su Fan was truly frightened.

He returned to the house, found the Body Tempering Art manual, and studied it carefully.

He wanted to see whether something had gone wrong with his body cultivation.

But even after turning through the entire book, he found no clues regarding a mutation of the physical body.

He set down the manual, then suddenly slapped his forehead.

"I'm such a pig..."

Su Fan suddenly remembered the words described in the general outline of the demonic technique.

If he was not mistaken, this bodily mutation was very likely related to that demonic technique.

He took the Demonic Saint Body Art from his Storage Bag and read through it page by page, line by line.

When he reached the section describing the initial cultivation, he began reading carefully.

Just as Su Fan had expected, the bodily mutation was indeed caused by this demonic technique.

The things described in the general outline at the beginning of the technique really had not been boasting.

When a cultivator circulated the technique and drew Heaven and Earth Lightning into the body, it would plant a Dao Seed near the heart.

This Lightning Dao Seed would have a dormant period lasting several months.

The earlier the Dao Seed was activated, the better its effect at reshaping a Body Cultivator's physical body.

In ancient times, the "Heavenly Demonic Sect" arranged life-and-death trials for its disciples to activate their Dao Seeds ahead of time.

After the Lightning Dao Seed was activated, it would gradually reshape a Body Cultivator's physical body.

This process took roughly a month.

Having found the cause of the bodily mutation, Su Fan finally breathed a sigh of relief.