Regrets and Harvest

Even in Zhang Qingyuan's Previous Life, an age where the extraordinary was nowhere to be seen, the name of a wandering hero could spread throughout an entire region.

Let alone in this immortal cultivation world?

Living in this world of cultivation,

one would always hear of some youthful genius appearing somewhere, accomplishing this or that great deed, or of some family producing another cultivation genius who reached such-and-such a realm at such-and-such an age.

Even among the few Cultivation Families allied within their tiny River Pond Town, there were Junior Geniuses.

It was just that compared to those great figures who truly rode the wind and cloud across the Cultivation World, the gap was glaringly obvious.

In the eyes of these guards at this moment,

Senior Zhang Qingyuan, whose strength completely surpassed that of several clan leaders, had to be one of those lofty geniuses spoken of in legends.

Not to mention the reactions of those behind him.

At this moment,

the battle in the field was about to draw to a close after only a short while.

From the Monkey King Demon Ape fleeing with a severed arm, to the monkey pack rushing forward to cover its retreat, to Zhang Qingyuan unleashing the Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles in a bloody slaughter of the pack,

everything had taken no more than a quarter of an hour.

Yet in that brief span of time,

the Demon Monkey Pack's situation had taken a sharp turn for the worse.

Hundreds of Monkey Demons had besieged him, sacrificing more than two-thirds of their companions, their corpses piled on the ground like mountains, yet they had not even touched a single hair on Zhang Qingyuan's head.

Faced with such a despairing enemy,

even the most ferocious and violent Demonic Beasts could no longer hold on.

One Monkey Demon after another turned into bloody, stiff corpses on the ground,

and the Demon Monkey Pack's morale kept plummeting,

until, at a certain moment,

when one Monkey Demon among the remaining third seemed to have been frightened by the brutal battle and squealed as it fled madly,

fear began to spread rapidly through the monkey pack.

Then,

the frenzied monkey pack

collapsed in an instant.

The surviving defeated remnants screamed in terror as they fled into the mountain forest behind them,

not daring to turn around for even a single glance.

They scattered in all directions, running and leaping into the woods like headless flies.

A savage battle

ultimately ended with the Demon Monkey Pack suffering grievous losses, collapsing, and fleeing.

Yet this

did not bring Zhang Qingyuan the slightest bit of excitement or joy.

Zhang Qingyuan's sword flashed like lightning, tearing through the air as it effortlessly severed the head of the last Monkey Demon that charged at him. The surrounding monkey pack had already scattered with a crash, and not a single living monkey remained around him.

The battle had suddenly stopped.

This

left Zhang Qingyuan, who had been gaining insight into the Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles amid battle,

so frustrated he nearly coughed up blood!

At that moment,

he had been at the crucial juncture of comprehending how the Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles resonated with his own Cloud Water Art!

The battle had abruptly ceased,

and the hearty, uninhibited slaughter came to a sudden halt, bringing the rapid rise of his sword art proficiency to an abrupt stop as well.

That feeling

was like reaching the brink of the peak,

only to suddenly stop short!

The sword styles that had been rapidly breaking through and improving

were forcibly halted where they stood!

"Bastards, don't run!"

Zhang Qingyuan's face turned green.

It was like having one's comprehension abruptly interrupted halfway through. Such a wonderful opportunity to break through, improve, and increase proficiency had vanished just like that.

How could he possibly endure it?

Zhang Qingyuan turned into a streak of lightning. A Sword Light drifted through the air, cutting across the high altitude, and with several leaps, he instantly slew a few fleeing Monkey Demons!

However,

not only did Zhang Qingyuan's strike fail to stop the remaining Monkey Demons from fleeing,

it instead caused the Monkey Demons already gripped by fear to flee even faster.

In only a few breaths,

the remaining Monkey Demons burrowed into the deep forest beyond the darkness like headless flies, leaving not the slightest trace behind!

"Damn it!"

The sudden halt to his improvement

left Zhang Qingyuan so depressed that he nearly coughed up blood.

And at this time,

the monkey pack's sudden collapse

also pulled Zhang Qingyuan out of his earlier slaughter-induced insight. That faint sense of resonance with his sword art was gone.

Regret.

What a regret!

Such a fine opportunity.

Huff, huff, huff!

After taking several deep breaths,

he only then managed with difficulty to suppress the restless urge to plunge into the forest.

After such a delay, both the Monkey King Demon Ape and the remnants of the monkey pack had vanished completely. Other than monkey corpses littering the ground, nothing remained.

Though he was deeply displeased,

Zhang Qingyuan did not lose his mind and chase after them.

The incident at Azure Mountain Town had been his first mission after leaving home. He lacked experience then, so it was understandable that he had ended up in danger.

But after going through that near-death experience,

if he still failed to learn his lesson,

then chasing a cornered enemy into danger again this time would make him nothing more than an idiot.

Although his insight had been interrupted,

his improvement through this actual battle had still been considerable. That alone made it worthwhile.

Standing in the field,

Zhang Qingyuan took the time to glance at the Data Panel in his mind.

Cultivation Method:

Water Origin Art: (Fourth Layer: 220/10000 (+7))

Martial Skill:

Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles: (Great Accomplishment: 214/1000 (+178))

Cloud Smoke Steps: (Minor Accomplishment: 16/100 (+5))

The Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles had surged by nearly two hundred points,

while the Cloud Smoke Steps, the Water Origin Art, and the rest had all improved as well.

This gave Zhang Qingyuan's wounded heart a little comfort.

Fortunately,

the gains from this improvement

were comparable to two or three months of Zhang Qingyuan's previous hard work.

Moreover,

although his insight had been interrupted,

Zhang Qingyuan still remembered that earlier feeling. If he returned and carefully reflected on and honed it, then even if he could not find that feeling again, he could at least raise the proficiency of the Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles by another small stretch.

It seemed

that although he had failed to achieve the full result,

his harvest was still quite substantial.

At this thought,

the gloom in Zhang Qingyuan's heart only then eased slightly,

though he still harbored deep resentment toward those damned Demon Monkey Packs.

"Senior Zhang truly is a disciple of the Upper Sect. Your Dao arts are exquisite; with a mere gesture, you slaughtered these Monkey Demons until they were scattered to the four winds. Your divine might is truly peerless!"

Once the battle had settled,

Patriarch Zheng somehow came to Zhang Qingyuan's side, smiling as he flattered him,

lowering his posture with an exceedingly humble expression.

But Zhang Qingyuan did not fall for that act.

He waved his hand,

his expression calm.

"Patriarch Zheng, I remember that the mission your Zheng Family described to the Cloud Water Sect involved one Monkey King at the fifth level of the Spirit Essence Realm, along with twenty or thirty Low-level Demon Monkeys. Now, that Monkey King's strength is likely close to the peak of the sixth level of the Spirit Essence Realm, while the number of Low-level Demon Monkeys has exceeded a hundred. This differs from what you described by far more than a little! When you posted the mission at the Cloud Water Sect, you did not conceal anything, did you?"

P.S.:

Didn't feel like writing,

Laziness has driven me to despair,

I got put on the recommendation list this afternoon, but my stockpile of chapters officially died yesterday.