Cultivating the Azure Wind Sword Art (Requesting Follows Monthly Tickets Recommendation Tickets)

"It hasn't been easy!"

Zhou Ling stopped, drank a huge bowl of water, and felt refreshed all over.

Thinking back, he had gone from a baby at death's door to where he was now, step by step.

If not for the boost from his talent, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

Even with the support of the [Physique Evolution] talent, it had taken more than two full years for him to reach the level of a normal infant.

After all these years, his hard work had finally paid off.

"At this rate, my Body Refining cultivation will soon surpass my mana cultivation."

Zhou Ling pondered again.

All these years, he had practiced the Great Yang Fist only to improve his physique. He had never intended to develop in the direction of a Body Cultivator.

Moreover, the Great Yang Fist caused a certain amount of wear and tear on the body during cultivation, leaving behind tiny injuries.

"The reason it hasn't affected me much is mainly because of the effects brought by the [Physique Evolution] talent."

"But Father might not be so fortunate!"

Zhou Ling thought to himself.

The Great Yang Art was a basic body-refining cultivation art of the Dao Alliance, but Rogue Cultivators could generally only obtain the method for its first layer.

At most, they could cultivate to the late Body Refining stage.

Medicinal baths were needed as an aid during cultivation.

On one hand, they could help increase cultivation; on the other, they could lessen the wear and tear on the body.

"Mystic Cloud Sand, Blood Spirit Grass... none of those are cheap either!"

Zhou Ling frowned slightly.

Although his father had persisted in cultivation all these years, his progress had been slow.

The main reason was the lack of medicinal bath assistance.

Zhou Ling knew that his father was reluctant to spend Spirit Stones.

But if this continued, it definitely would not do. Never mind the slow cultivation progress—once the injuries inside his body accumulated little by little, they would become a serious problem.

Fortunately, every time Zhou Shan entered the mountains now, Zhou Ling prepared one or two Thunder Fire Beads for him.

So he was still relatively safe.

"The key is to earn more Spirit Stones!"

Zhou Ling shook his head, a bitter smile appearing on his face.

Over the years, he had truly paid far too little attention to his parents' cultivation.

His mother bustled about every day and only had that little bit of time at night to cultivate.

Her cultivation method was low-grade, and she had no supplementary spiritual items. It was naturally difficult for her to make much progress.

He stopped thinking about it, got up, and headed toward the kitchen.

The fragrance of buns filled the kitchen.

Li Ru was taking a plate of steaming Meat Buns from the large pot. When she saw Zhou Ling enter, she smiled. "Ling'er, you're hungry, aren't you?"

As she spoke, she picked up a piping-hot bun and handed it to Zhou Ling.

"Mother, be careful, it's hot!"

Zhou Ling hurriedly took the bun. He was now at First-Order Mid-Stage Body Refining, so freshly steamed buns in his hand did not affect him at all.

Li Ru smiled. "How could Mother be so delicate?"

Zhou Ling took the bun, blew on it lightly until it cooled a little, then stuffed it into his mouth. He finished it in just a couple of bites, then took another two buns along with a meat cleaver.

Only then did he leave the kitchen.

He planned to practice the Azure Wind Sword Art for a while.

He simply did not have a magical sword at hand yet, so he could only make do with the meat cleaver for now.

"Whoosh!"

"Whoosh!"

Following the basic sword forms recorded in the Azure Wind Sword Art, Zhou Ling slashed again and again with the cleaver.

[You are practicing the Azure Wind Sword Art. Sword Control +1]

[You are practicing the Azure Wind Sword Art. Sword Control +1]

······

Instructor Fang's annotations accompanied these basic sword forms—how to practice them, how to circulate spiritual power in coordination with them, and all the tricks and key points were marked out one by one.

Even though it was Zhou Ling's first time encountering it, he got the hang of it after practicing for just over the time it took to burn an incense stick.

Of course, these were only the basic cleaving sword forms.

Yet as time passed, Zhou Ling gradually began to feel some strain. His movements became sluggish, and the Internal Spiritual Power within him was noticeably depleted.

Just then, there came a clang.

His arm suddenly stiffened, and the meat cleaver in his hand fell straight to the ground with a clang.

"Whew!"

At that moment, Zhou Ling felt his hands go weak and sore. Sweat streamed down his entire body, soaking him through.

He walked into the hall and gulped down a bowl of water, finally feeling somewhat better.

"I never expected the Azure Wind Sword Art to consume not only spiritual power, but to place such enormous demands on one's Physique as well."

Zhou Ling thought to himself.

[You are cultivating the Azure Wind Sword Art. Stronger from Adversity +1, Azure Wind Sword Art Proficiency +1]

[You are cultivating the Azure Wind Sword Art. Sword Control +1, Azure Wind Sword Art Proficiency +1]

[Effect: Sword cleaves reached 100]

[Total sword strikes: 105/1,000]

Seeing that daylight had fully broken, Zhou Ling did not continue cultivating.

He went to the well, drew some water for a rinse, and after washing himself clean and feeling refreshed all over, returned to his room to change clothes.

After breakfast, he headed to the Dao Academy.

Over the next three days, Zhou Ling continued drawing First-Order Mid-Grade Spirit Gathering Engravings, and finally succeeded in engraving one onto the Cloud Pattern Brush.

With this Cloud Pattern Brush, the expenditure when he drew Steam Fire Engravings again was noticeably reduced.

Another two days later, taking advantage of the Rest Day, Zhou Ling went to the Lu Family Workshop to collect the Spirit Brush artifact blanks forged that month. He also purchased a First-Grade Low-Rank sword artifact blank and, while he was at it, asked about the progress on the Brewing Furnace artifact blank.

Fortunately, Master Lu had already finished forging it.

The two exchanged money and goods, completing the transaction.

After deducting the spirit stone fees for drawing Spirit Brushes that month and the previous deposit, Zhou Ling still paid seventeen Low-grade Spirit Stones.

Including the cost of exchanging for the Essentials of First-Order Mid-Grade Engravings last time, he now had only a little over twenty Low-grade Spirit Stones left.

"Master Lu, does the workshop have any other orders at the moment?"

After wrapping the Brewing Furnace artifact blank in burlap and placing it in his basket, Zhou Ling asked again.

Master Lu fanned himself with his palm-leaf fan and looked Zhou Ling over. "There are temporarily no orders for First-Grade Low-Rank Magic Artifacts, though there are one or two for First-Order Mid-Grade Magic Artifacts."

"But considering your current cultivation, I wouldn't dare take them."

"Why not?" Zhou Ling asked.

He desperately needed spirit stones now, and he was anxious too!

Master Lu shot Zhou Ling a glare and said irritably, "For a First-Order Mid-Grade Magic Artifact, the materials alone cost at least a dozen spirit stones."

"If it gets ruined during refinement, are you going to compensate for it?"

Zhou Ling froze for a moment, then scratched his head and smiled. "Master Lu, what business is without risk? The greater the investment, the higher the returns naturally are."

Hearing this, Master Lu looked thoroughly surprised. "Master Ling, from the sound of it, can you now produce First-Order Mid-Grade Engravings?"

Zhou Ling said modestly, "I only learned recently. I'm still not very proficient."

"Congratulations, Master Ling!"

Master Lu's expression changed at once, and a smile appeared on his face as he cupped his hands in congratulations to Zhou Ling.

A First-Order Mid-Grade Inscription Master under ten years old had a very great chance of becoming a First-Rank Artifact Refiner in the future.

He was absolutely worth befriending!

After thinking it over, Master Lu said, "In that case, I'll go discuss those two orders from Myriad Treasures Pavilion with them again!"

"However, First-Order Mid-Grade Magic Artifacts are not the same as First-Grade Low-Rank ones. At most, I can provide two artifact blanks."

Zhou Ling paused, a bitter smile appearing on his face. "Master Lu, you think too highly of me. A fifty percent Success Rate is already all I can manage right now."

"Then there's nothing I can do about it either!" Master Lu shook his head.

"Let's take them first," Zhou Ling said after giving it some thought.

With his talent's support, he only needed to raise his proficiency first before drawing them on actual artifacts.

After all, the profit from First-Order Mid-Grade Magic Artifacts was far higher than that from First-Grade Low-Rank ones. If he successfully drew even one a month, he might earn more than he did now.

Once the matter was settled, Zhou Ling bade Master Lu farewell and left.