Arts and Martial Skills

"Spirit Essence Realm Seventh Level!"

His heart

could not help but stir slightly.

His clenched right hand opened,

and the precious Spirit Stone in his palm had already been drained of Spiritual Energy, turning pale gray and lifeless all over,

like a worthless rock.

A flicker of pain crossed Zhang Qingyuan's eyes.

This breakthrough

had nearly exhausted more than a year of his savings.

But fortunately,

he had succeeded in the end.

That small pang of pain was drowned out by the excitement of breaking through and the surging Spirit Essence coursing through his body.

The Spirit Essence Realm was the initial realm of cultivation.

At this stage, one mainly cultivated by absorbing Spiritual Energy, then circulating it through the Dantian Meridians and transforming it into Spirit Essence that could be wielded as easily as one's own limbs, gradually strengthening oneself.

The Spirit Essence Realm had nine levels in total.

Levels one through three were the Spirit Essence Realm Early Stage, four through six were the middle stage, and seven through nine were the Spirit Essence Late Stage.

Now,

Zhang Qingyuan had broken through into the Spirit Essence Late Stage.

This level of cultivation

was not considered outstanding among the tens of thousands of Outer Sect Disciples in the Cloud Water Sect.

Those most exceptional Outer Sect Disciples had long since reached the eighth or ninth level. The strongest among them were even only a single step away from the True Essence Realm.

Even in the Inner Sect,

they would count as formidable experts.

Zhang Qingyuan, who had only just entered the Spirit Essence Realm Seventh Level, was merely above average within the Cloud Water Sect's Outer Sect.

However, if he worked harder and had a little luck, he might not lack a chance to advance into the Inner Sect during the triennial Inner Sect promotion Grand Competition.

Within the Cloud Water Sect,

the Inner Sect was entirely different from the Outer Sect.

Only Inner Sect Disciples could truly be regarded as the true core of Cloud Water Sect. Within the sect's sphere of influence stretching thousands of li in every direction, even fairly sizable families had to treat them with the utmost respect.

Only by entering the Inner Sect could one be said to have truly stepped into the Cultivation World.

That vast Cultivation World, where one entered and left the netherworld, shattered Mountains and Rivers with a palm,

where sect grudges and family feuds intertwined, formed by countless Cultivation Powers.

Having completed his breakthrough, Zhang Qingyuan did not leave immediately.

He sat cross-legged on the Cushion, gathered his mind, and slowly consolidated his realm.

His time in the Secret Chamber had not yet run out,

so he could not waste it.

Only after the time was exhausted,

and the steward came to remind him,

did Zhang Qingyuan pack up his belongings and leave.

Early the next morning,

three peals of bells rang melodiously through the mountains.

More than eighty people from the Seventeenth Branch of Xin District swiftly emerged from their courtyard and rushed toward the plaza on nearby Chaoyang Peak.

Figure after figure moved with astonishing speed,

rising and falling,

forming flickering Black Shadows in mid-air.

Today

was Headmaster Liu's once-every-three-months Lecture.

This was a personal lecture from a True Essence Realm expert, who would also freely teach a spell or Martial Skill. Unless something truly unavoidable delayed them,

almost no one was willing to miss it.

In less than a quarter of an hour,

the Disciples of the Seventeenth Branch of Xin District had all arrived and found their seats.

Before long,

outside Chaoyang Peak, a figure in a Moon-white Robe arrived by Sword Flight. True Essence in mid-air stirred the surrounding air into a wild gale, raising brilliant radiance as he drifted through the high altitude,

then landed atop Chaoyang Platform. The Sword Light beneath his feet drew in and returned to its sheath of its own accord.

Floating like an Immortal, as though he truly were an Immortal,

all the Disciples below showed longing and envy in their eyes.

Among the crowd,

Zhang Qingyuan was the same.

Compared to the natives of this world, he longed even more for those Immortals who could soar through the skies and travel across the earth.

On Blue Star in his Previous Life, where the extraordinary never revealed itself,

what young man had not dreamed of Sword Flight, of flying through the heavens and traversing the earth?

But dreams were dreams after all.

Only after coming to this world

did he truly have a chance to fulfill the dreams of his youth.

Unfortunately,

only upon reaching the True Essence Realm

could one possess the ability of Sword Flight.

And that realm

was still a distant, unattainable realm for Zhang Qingyuan, who had just entered the Spirit Essence Realm Seventh Level and was striving toward the goal of entering the Inner Sect.

The True Essence Realm—

the level of Cloud Water Sect Outer Sect Elders.

For these tens of thousands of Outer Sect Disciples,

the True Essence Realm and sect Elders

were Important Figures they could see but never touch throughout most of their lives.

"Greetings, Headmaster!"

As Headmaster Liu descended onto the seat of honor,

the Disciples below all rose and bowed.

Headmaster Liu had a stern appearance.

With an indifferent expression, he waved his hand.

"No need for formalities. Cultivate diligently, and do not disgrace the Seventeenth Branch."

After offering some encouragement

and speaking a few customary opening words,

Headmaster Liu sat cross-legged upon the Cushion atop the High Platform

and began today's Lecture.

Today's subject

was the path of arts.

The so-called path of cultivation was to refine World Spiritual Energy and strengthen oneself, constantly raising one's realm and power, until one ultimately transcended Beyond Heaven and Earth and became an undying True Immortal.

Of course,

no one had ever seen the True Immortals of legend.

The vast Cloud Water Sect

had been passed down for several thousand years,

yet had never produced a true Immortal.

And upon this road of cultivating toward immortality and Achieved Dao,

one naturally could not do without methods to protect the Dao against all manner of dangers along the path.

The first was arts,

and the second was Martial Skills.

Arts mainly transformed the True Essence Inside the Body into natural elements such as Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, wind, fire, and lightning for attack.

Fireball Technique, Lightning Strike Technique, Wind Blade Art, and the like

were the most commonly practiced arts among Low-level Cultivators.

Martial Skills, meanwhile, emphasized that Great Power returned to oneself.

They used one's own Spirit Essence as a weapon to attack, or close-combat techniques developed in combination with Spirit Essence, and so on.

Between these two,

there was no conflict.

Basically, every Outer Sect Disciple mastered one or two arts while also knowing a few Martial Skills. The only difference was the degree to which they emphasized arts or Martial Skills according to their own temperaments and preferences.

What Headmaster Liu taught in this lesson was the path of arts.

For example,

how to cast arts more freely, how to increase the speed at which arts were cast, and how to reasonably use arts to attack in battle.

His various explanations

were profound yet easy to understand,

and the Disciples below listened in rapt attention.

Zhang Qingyuan likewise focused his mind

and carefully listened to Headmaster Liu's explanation.

At the same time,

within the panel in his mind,

lines of text gradually refreshed and appeared:

[You listened attentively. Headmaster Liu's Lecture gave you some gains. Your Light Body Technique proficiency +1]

[You listened attentively. Headmaster Liu's Lecture gave you some gains. Your Spring Return Technique proficiency +1]

[You listened attentively. Headmaster Liu described his insights when breaking through to an advanced Light Body Technique. You gained greatly and were suddenly enlightened. Your Light Body Technique has advanced.]

Headmaster Liu was indeed a True Essence Realm expert.

His understanding of cultivation was simply not something rookies like them could compare to.

Some of the difficulties Zhang Qingyuan had encountered while cultivating arts were resolved at a single point by Headmaster Liu's explanation, and his Light Body Technique had even risen to the third level.

As for the text that appeared in brackets on the panel,

Zhang Qingyuan ignored it outright.

At present,

he still could not divide his attention while listening to a Lecture.

This lousy panel

was purely an auxiliary panel.

If you did not cultivate, did not listen to lectures, or did not understand the cultivation content even after listening, then the panel would not react in the slightest.

The panel

would never cultivate for you.

Do not ask how Zhang Qingyuan knew.

Speaking of it, that was another history written in blood and tears.

On the stage,

Headmaster Liu finished explaining his experience in using arts.

Next came the teaching of an art.

The free transmission of a technique once every three months

had almost become a fixed practice.

This raised the interest and anticipation of the Disciples by several degrees.

Yet that anticipation did not last long

before it all dissipated, leaving them dispirited.

Because what Headmaster Liu intended to teach

was a non-offensive auxiliary art called the Manifestation Tracing Technique.

Those present were all youths, their temperaments not yet settled.

Compared to these insubstantial auxiliary arts with no offensive power, they still preferred offensive methods such as the Fireball Technique and Lightning Strike Technique, which were both powerful and dazzling to behold.

Not to mention anything else,

merely forming a fireball in one's hand or firing a bolt of lightning had sound-and-light effects far cooler than the Manifestation Tracing Technique.

The Disciples below were somewhat disappointed.

Moreover, having concentrated for more than an hour during the earlier Lecture, the Disciples in the plaza relaxed, and some began to let their minds wander beyond the heavens.

Zhang Qingyuan was somewhat disappointed as well,

but he still roused his spirits,

He listened attentively.

Unlike the other Outer Sect Disciples, he had no powerful clan standing behind him. His only source of techniques was the Cloud Water Sect. The sole inheritance left to him by this body's parents was a farming technique called the Spring Breeze Rain Art, used to catalyze crop growth.

This was a technique specifically meant for farming.

His father in this life had once earned merit and exchanged for it from the family.

It was also the technique Zhang Qingyuan had cultivated the longest and possessed the greatest proficiency in.

If he wanted to learn other techniques,

he could only exchange Sect Contribution Points for them in the Hidden Skills Pavilion.

And they were not cheap.

Being able to learn one technique for free was still one technique gained. Whether it was an offensive spell or an auxiliary spell, whether he would need it in the future or not, he might as well learn it first.

As he listened attentively,

he also took out paper and brush to make careful notes.

Only after Headmaster Liu had finished explaining the key points of cultivation did Zhang Qingyuan take a moment to inspect his own panel.

Name: Zhang Qingyuan

Realm: Spirit Essence Realm Seventh Level

Cultivation Method:

Water Essence Art (Third Layer: 992/1000)

Techniques:

Spring Breeze Fine Rain Technique (Third Layer: 879/1000 (+8))

Light Body Technique (Third Layer: 4/1000 (+6))

Growth Induction Technique (Second Layer: 84/100 (+5))

Spring Return Technique (Second Layer: 47/100 (+4))

Manifestation Tracing Technique (Not Initiated: 0/0)

Martial Skill:

On the technique interface,

every technique he had learned showed its own improvement.

And on the final line, there was now an additional entry: Manifestation Tracing Technique (Not Initiated: 0/0).

This meant that Zhang Qingyuan had already grasped this technique.

As long as he went back and tried cultivating it a few times,

he would be able to use it.

One lecture,

had yielded no small Harvest.

The changes on the panel

represented Zhang Qingyuan's Harvest from this lesson.

It had not been in vain that he had concentrated on listening for more than two hours. On Zhang Qingyuan's slightly tired face,

a satisfied smile could not help but emerge.

At this moment,

Dean Liu, who had lectured from the High Platform for more than two hours, also felt his mouth grow slightly dry.

He paused for a moment,

then swept his gaze over those below.

Seeing that the disciples beneath him were all listless, their minds scattered and wandering,

he shook his head slightly.

A pack of fools. They do not know how to cherish these peaceful days of cultivation. Once they leave the Outer Sect Branch, enter the Inner Sect, or their time is up and they leave the Outer Sect for the mortal world, they will understand

just how perilous the Dao Path is.

The Manifestation Tracing Technique indeed possessed little killing power,

but when exploring the wilderness, it was an incomparably practical technique.

Once they left the Sect's protection and entered this cruel Cultivation World,

they would face Demonic Beasts that devoured people, Rogue cultivators who killed for treasure, and disciples from Hostile Sects. At that time, any small oversight could cost them their lives.

Yet Dean Liu did not speak up to remind them.

Though he was the Dean of the Seventeenth Branch in Xin District,

he had merely accepted this Sect Mission from the Inner Sect for Sect Contribution Points.

Although these Outer Sect Disciples called him teacher,

they were not truly master and disciples. Aside from one lecture every three months,

they had little interaction with one another.

Dean Liu was not a dedicated Dean specifically tasked with nurturing the Cloud Water Sect's next generation.

He had only casually accepted a task to serve as an Outer Sect Dean.

Cultivation

had always depended on oneself alone.

He only needed to handle the matters before him.

He had no obligation to guide them through the problems they might encounter later in life.

Therefore,

Dean Liu had neither the intention of reminding them nor the intention of reprimanding them.

Just as he was about to withdraw his gaze,

all of a sudden,

Dean Liu spotted an exception among the disciples whose minds had wandered far beyond the clouds. Not only had this exception listened with utmost seriousness throughout, he had also focused on taking notes.

This disciple,

Dean Liu had some impression of him.

He seemed to be called Zhang Qingyuan, from a very small family.

When he had first entered the Seventeenth Branch,

his Spirit Essence Realm Third Level cultivation had been among the very lowest of the more than seventy people in the entire branch.

Yet over nearly two years, he had worked diligently and cultivated tirelessly. Not only had he raised his cultivation, he had also left Many people behind him.

"Hmm? He is already at the Late Spirit Essence Realm?"

Noticing the somewhat unstable Aura around Zhang Qingyuan,

Dean Liu was even more surprised this time.

If he remembered correctly,

this Kid's family seemed to offer him little support. He often had to take on Outer Sect chores for the Sect just to sustain his cultivation.

Yet in less than two years, he had climbed all the way from the bottom among the Outer Sect Disciples of his branch to the upper-middle ranks of the Seventeenth Branch?

At this,

a faint stir of interest

rose within Dean Liu's heart.