Sword Cultivator

"There it is."

Li ChunJun calmly opened the first file, "Crimson Sun Body Refining Art," and read through it carefully.

Cultivation was divided into four major realms: body refinement, Qi refinement, spirit refinement, and Void Refinement.

Yet in truth, for cultivators, there was no such thing as the Body Refinement Realm. Their cultivation began directly with the Qi Refinement Realm.

Body refinement was merely a martial path passed down out of necessity because those born with Spirit Roots were so few.

Even so, exquisite and superior body-refining methods remained immensely valuable.

In many martial arts schools within Guangzhou City, the owners were at most at the Internal Strengthening stage. The body-refining methods they possessed extended only to strengthening the lungs and organs, and some did not even contain the secret to Internal-External Unity. Yet even so, studying under them still cost tens of thousands each month.

A poor scholar, a rich martial artist.

A situation that had seemed exclusive to ancient times was even more vividly displayed in the modern age.

Yet the "Crimson Sun Body Refining Art" before him not only recorded in detail the process of externally refining the sinews and bones; its further stages of internally strengthening the organs and achieving Internal-External Unity were described with equal thoroughness.

Every step was practically pried apart and kneaded into fragments for others to understand.

With such a cultivation method, so long as one was willing to invest enough effort, almost anyone could reach the realm of Internal-External Unity.

Moreover, according to its description, this process would bear results in as little as three to five years, or as long as a dozen or more years.

That description made Li ChunJun pause slightly.

"Three to five years?"

Three to five years to produce a Harmony Realm martial master?

Everyone in this world took pride in becoming a cultivator.

Yet those who possessed Spirit Roots were one in ten thousand.

Even if everyone in Great Shang began testing at the age of nine, once every three years for three rounds, only a handful in each city could ultimately soar to the heavens in a single step during every round of testing.

At least, that was the case in Guangzhou City.

Two in the last round, three in the round before that, and two in the round before that...

With hope so slim, many people who were unwilling to accept it and came from reasonably well-off families would pursue martial arts after being screened out.

Even those who did not study martial arts had a thorough understanding of martial arts and cultivation.

At the very least, when sitting together and chatting, they could speak with great seriousness and lay everything out in convincing detail.

For that reason, Li ChunJun knew very clearly what a Harmony Realm martial master represented.

In a place like Guangzhou City, the Harmony Realm was essentially the ceiling of the martial arts world.

Every one of them could be called a Mount Tai or the Big Dipper.

With a word or gesture, they could easily determine the wealth, poverty, rise, and fall of thousands, even tens of thousands, of families.

Yet according to the "Crimson Sun Body Refining Art," such experts could be cultivated in no more than a dozen years!?

And in as little as three to five years if things went quickly?

Li ChunJun continued reading in thought.

Gradually, he came across a crucial resource.

The Red Sun Pill.

A medicinal pill that had to be used alongside the cultivation of the "Crimson Sun Body Refining Art."

Otherwise, forcibly practicing this overbearing body-refining cultivation method passed down from a great cultivation sect would result in depleted Qi and Blood and Essence Qi Severely Injured at best; at worst, one's spirit would fade, one's body would wither, and one would die on the spot.

"Pills."

Li ChunJun repeatedly reviewed this body-refining art.

Rather than saying this body-refining art had been created to cultivate Internal-External Unity, it would be more accurate to say it was a cultivation method derived around the Red Sun Pill.

As long as the Red Sun Sword Sect monopolized the Red Sun Pill, every Martial Artist who practiced this cultivation method would have to abide by the Red Sun Sword Sect's Rules.

"Depleted Qi and Blood."

A flicker passed through Li ChunJun's eyes.

This body-refining art was incomparably overbearing and required the Red Sun Pill to practice.

But...

What if the practitioner's physique itself was already comparable to Internal-External Unity, or even stronger than the Harmony Realm?

"Practice it."

Li ChunJun made up his mind and opened the Martial Arts Innate True Explanation.

After externally refining the sinews and bones, internally strengthening the organs, achieving Internal-External Unity, opening all Hundred Meridians, and Circulating Energy Through the Heavens through three minor stages, one could shatter the bridge between heaven and earth. Using the human body's minor heavenly cycle to stir the world's great heavenly cycle, one would step into the Innate Realm.

At that point, one could borrow an Immortal Array and use Heaven and Earth Origin Qi to pour backward into the body, completing the first step of Qi absorption and cultivation.

However, because martial arts practitioners possessed no Spirit Roots and had no Spirit Roots to harmonize the yin, yang, and five elements within Heaven and Earth Origin Qi, refining true Qi and Mana of different attributes, this step was extraordinarily perilous for Martial Artists. With Essence Qi Infusion, nine deaths awaited for every sliver of survival.

Furthermore, without Spirit Roots to harmonize Origin Qi and refine Heaven and Earth Origin Qi into true Qi and Mana, the Origin Qi absorbed through the circulation of the inner and outer heavenly cycles could only passively temper the body. Thus, they could only follow the path of the Body Cultivator and strengthen their physique.

And Body Cultivators...

Had another name in the World of Cultivation—Hercules.

They were inherently half a step weaker than Qi Refining Cultivators who commanded countless mysterious spells.

And because Body Cultivators lacked the many mysteries of Qi Refining Cultivators, certain martial Body Cultivators blessed with astonishing talent and comprehension refused to remain beneath others. Pooling their wisdom and taking the sword down an extreme path, they opened up the path of the Sword Cultivator.

A path of cultivation that found immortality difficult to attain, yet possessed peerless killing power.

Cultivators despised Body Cultivators!

They might not think highly of Sword Cultivators either!

But when a Sword Cultivator drew his sword, whether they respected him or not, they would have to lower their arrogant heads.

Truth existed only upon the edge of the sword.

Even Qi Refining Cultivators had to avoid the sharp edge of the Sword Cultivator's peerless path of slaughter.

Therefore, if a Martial Artist could become a Sword Cultivator, the treatment they received in any sect would not be inferior in the slightest to that of Spirit Root cultivators of the same level.

Furthermore, Sword Cultivators spent all year carrying out slaughter, hunting, and battle missions. The many earnings gained each year by those Sword Cultivators who rose above the rest exceeded those of Spirit Root cultivators at the same level.

Li ChunJun did not pay much attention to the benefits of being a Sword Cultivator.

Yet his gaze remained fixed on the eight words, "the Sword Cultivator's path possesses peerless killing power," and could not move away for a long while.

He had never intended to practice bare-handed combat. He wanted to practice weapons.

Because weapons were more efficient at killing than fists and feet.

And now, Sword Cultivators transformed from Martial Artists were peerless in the path of slaughter...

What was there to wait for?

He skipped past the "Body Cultivation Foundation Establishment Chapter" document, switched to the "Sword Cultivation Foundation Establishment Chapter" interface, and opened it.

Body Cultivators!

They used the Heaven and Earth Origin Qi they cultivated to temper their physique and strengthen themselves.

Sword Cultivators, on the other hand, used all Heaven and Earth Origin Qi to nurture swords, temper swords, and refine swords.

Yet what they nurtured, tempered, and refined was not a sword of gold and iron, but formless Sword Qi gathered from Essence Qi.

Swords of gold and iron were easily broken for all their sharpness, while Essence Qi Swords came from heaven and earth and would not be destroyed.

Using the body as a furnace, one nurtured heaven and earth's Essence Qi within it. Human and sword became one, hammered and refined a hundred times over, until the first strand of Sword Qi was forged. Only then was the path of the Sword Cultivator achieved.

Unlike the path of the Body Cultivator, where one could steadily grow after surviving the first Essence Qi Infusion, the Sword Cultivator's path was fraught with danger at every step.

Nurturing Sword Qi within the body and turning Essence Qi into a furnace to forge it—one slight mistake could injure oneself or even cost one's life.

Only those overflowing with talent could achieve anything.

Jin Haoxuan's sister, Jin Zhiya, had passed the Sword Cultivator method to him. Clearly, she had placed hopes upon him.

Unfortunately...

She had clearly thought too highly of her useless younger brother.

Judging from how Li ChunJun had killed Jin Haoxuan as easily as crushing dry weeds and smashing rotten wood, Jin Haoxuan probably had not even cultivated the Crimson Sun Body Refining Art.

After finishing the "Sword Cultivation Foundation Establishment Chapter," Li ChunJun returned to the dozen or so pages that followed.

Those pages recorded three sword arts.

Although one did not need to master exquisite sword arts before becoming a Sword Cultivator, once Sword Cultivators cultivated Sword Qi and paired it with sword arts, unleashing it as Sword Aura would undoubtedly maximize their killing efficiency.

That was why this document included three sword arts.

He did not know how exquisite these sword arts were, but since they came from a great cultivation sect like the Red Sun Sword Sect, they presumably would not be inferior to the sword arts available on the market.

He flipped through them and quickly chose one.

"Nine Heavens Thunderclap Sword Art."

It emphasized speed, force, and momentum.

It placed comparatively low demands on adaptability and technique.

It was perfectly suited to his situation.

After choosing the sword art, he turned his attention back to the body-refining cultivation method, the "Crimson Sun Body Refining Art."

He read through it again and again.

An increase in Life Level had never merely strengthened his physique and spirit in a single aspect.

It enhanced every aspect of him across the board.

That included his memory, logic, and comprehension.

After only four readings, he had committed the entire body-refining method to memory.

Then he rose to his feet, went into the bathroom, arranged every usable electrical circuit, connected every lightbulb he could gather, and turned them all on.

At once, the not particularly spacious bathroom blazed with light, as though a crimson sun shone overhead.

This was the prerequisite for cultivating the Crimson Sun Body Refining Art.

Bathe in crimson sunlight, use the heat of sunlight to forge the body and stimulate the flesh, then combine it with special physical techniques and breathing methods to squeeze out the body's potential. Rapidly cultivate force, then use that force to temper the boiling sinews, bones, skin, and flesh forged by the crimson sunlight, swiftly passing the stage of outer refinement!

In truth, it was exactly as he had guessed.

With the enhanced foundation granted by Life Level 7, cultivating the "Crimson Sun Body Refining Art" had been advancing a thousand miles in a day for him.

One night of body refinement strengthened his sinews and bones.

Three days of body refinement brought minor accomplishment in his sinews and bones.

Six days of body refinement brought Outer Refinement Great Accomplishment.

The entire process flowed like drifting clouds and running water, arriving naturally when the conditions were ripe.

Dragged along to experience the National Day holiday's sea of people.