There were still five days until Senior Disciple Brother's wedding, and Zhao Ping'an was due to set out for South Ridge City the next day.
After all, he was one of Zhao Ping'an's only family members in this world. He couldn't very well wait until the wedding day to arrive.
That was Master and Mistress's idea, too, and lodging and meals in the city had already been arranged.
After dinner, Zhao Ping'an chatted with Mistress for a while, then returned to his room and meditated until late into the night before falling asleep.
The night passed without incident...
Early the next morning, he woke and continued meditating to cultivate Primordial Chaos Art, which he had already deduced into a Yellow-grade Cultivation Method. He kept at it until sunrise.
Primordial Chaos Art had been deduced from One Qi Art.
His Game Panel had long since undergone a complete transformation:
[Name: Zhao Ping'an]
[Realm: First Layer of Great Grandmaster]
[Body Cultivation: Eighth Layer of Great Grandmaster]
Cultivation Methods:
[Golden Armor Technique (Yellow-grade Cultivation Method): 268/1000 (Eighth Layer, Simplified) Repeatedly ram your body into an iron pillar 100 times to gain 1 point of Training Progress]
[Primordial Chaos Art (Yellow-grade Cultivation Method): 65/1000 (First Layer, Simplified) Meditate calmly and absorb Heavenly Qi for ten minutes to gain 1 point of Training Progress]
Martial Arts:
[God Slaying Saber Strike (Yellow-grade Martial Art): 300/1000 (Mastered, Simplified) Draw a Steel Saber weighing at least ten kilograms 100 times in a row to gain 1 point of Training Progress]
[Golden Eagle Soaring Technique (Human-grade Martial Art): 500/500 (Perfect, Simplified) Available for deduction!]
[Deduction Points: 71%]
(How to acquire Deduction Points: omitted)
Cultivation Methods and Martial Arts were divided into the following ranks: unranked, third-rate, second-rate, first-rate, Human-grade, Yellow-grade, and so on.
Zhao Ping'an didn't know what came after Yellow-grade. His Master, Zheng Hetong, didn't know either.
The Blazing Blade Sect's strongest Cultivation Method was only first-rate, and they had just a handful of those. They had never even seen a Human-grade Cultivation Method, let alone anything above Yellow-grade.
The Yellow-grade Golden Armor Technique on the panel had been deduced from the first-rate Bronze Armor Art, advancing it to the Human-grade Silver Armor Art before it was deduced once more.
To cultivate Golden Armor Technique, he had even gone down the mountain in the middle of the night to buy several thousand jin of pig iron and order an iron pillar two zhang long and as thick as a large bowl.
As for the money, it came from the New Year's gifts his Master, Mistress, and several senior brothers and sisters had given him over the years.
This world had a New Year, too, around the same time as it did on Earth in his previous life.
The currency consisted of gold, silver, and copper. One liang of gold was worth ten liang of silver, while one liang of silver was worth a string of copper coins—or 1,000 wen.
He had spent every last one of the dozen or so liang of silver he'd saved over the years.
But compared with his cultivation, that was nothing.
The Yellow-grade Primordial Chaos Gang Qi, also known as Primordial Chaos Art, had been deduced from the second-rate One Qi Art, advancing first to the first-rate Xiantian True Qi, then to the Human-grade Xiantian Gang Qi, and finally to its current form.
The Yellow-grade God Slaying Saber Strike had been deduced from the second-rate Blade Draw Slash, advancing first to the first-rate Blade Qi Across, then to the Human-grade Eight Heavenly Gang Styles, and finally to its current form.
The Human-grade Golden Eagle Soaring Technique had been deduced from the second-rate Swallow Art, advanced to the first-rate Wind Dance Art, and then finally deduced into its current form.
"That should be enough, right?"
After finishing his morning cultivation, Zhao Ping'an looked at the 71% Deduction Points he had accumulated on the panel and murmured to himself.
His cultivation had already reached the Eighth Layer of Great Grandmaster, and the total amount of Deduction Points he could accumulate had risen accordingly. Deducing a Human-grade Cultivation Method no longer required only 50% of his Deduction Points, but it didn't require 100% either.
"Let's give it a try..."
Zhao Ping'an tapped the ghostly words "Available for deduction!" on the Game Panel.
A window immediately popped up:
Consume 65% of Deduction Points to begin deducing Golden Eagle Soaring Technique.
Deducing...
Current progress: 1%
As the rank of the Cultivation Methods rose, the time deduction took grew longer and longer.
At first, he could deduce 1% in a second. Now it took thirty seconds to deduce 1%—thirty times as long.
Still, that was a drop in the bucket. It would take less than an hour to finish deducing Golden Eagle Soaring Technique.
Zhao Ping'an didn't sit around waiting. He got up and headed for the dining hall.
After breakfast, it would be time to set out.
After breakfast, Zhao Ping'an accompanied Master and Mistress down the mountain.
By then, Golden Eagle Soaring Technique had reached 82% completion.
They soon covered the few hundred meters of mountain road.
A small town had long since sprung up at the foot of Feather Mountain, where the Blazing Blade Sect was based. The town had no name; everyone who knew of it simply called it the Blazing Blade Sect.
A four-meter-high, two-meter-thick wall of bluestone encircled the town. It had only two gates.
One led to Feather Mountain behind the town; the other was the town's entrance and exit.
This world was far from peaceful. Demonic Beasts appeared in the wilderness from time to time, and countless bandits roamed the land, so basic defenses were essential.
Every business in the town belonged to the Blazing Blade Sect, including restaurants, inns, clinics, shops selling rice, flour, cooking oil, and salt, and even a brothel.
Of course, the Blazing Blade Sect owned the properties, but not necessarily the businesses. Still, one way or another, they all had some connection to the sect.
"Ping'an, take this carriage. Your Mistress and I will take that one. We should make it to South Ridge City by noon."
At the foot of the mountain, Zheng Hetong pointed to an ordinary carriage in front of them as he spoke to Zhao Ping'an. Another carriage stood ahead, noticeably more luxurious.
"All right, Master."
Zhao Ping'an wasn't picky. In this world, horses were expensive. Even an ordinary horse cost dozens of liang of silver.
A fine steed that could cover a thousand li was worth a fortune.
Anyone who could afford a carriage was rich.
Feather Mountain was only thirty li from South Ridge City. At a carriage's pace, the journey would take about an hour.
Soon, under the coachmen's direction, the two carriages left the town and set off toward South Ridge City.
The Blazing Blade Sect traveled this thirty-li stretch more than any other road. Before long, they passed people dressed in Blazing Blade Sect Attire and carrying Steel Sabers.
It was such a dangerous stretch that no ordinary bandit would dare linger there.
Only those who weren't afraid of the Blazing Blade Sect would come—and they wouldn't be interested in this place anyway.
Not long after the carriages set off, the Martial Art deduction progress on Zhao Ping'an's panel reached 100%.
His Lightness Skill had now become:
[Soaring Dragon Void Steps (Yellow-grade Martial Art): 0/1000 (Not Yet Initiated, Simplified) Run 1,000 meters continuously to gain 1 point of Training Progress]
"Still a thousand meters. Not bad. But the proficiency requirement has gone up to a thousand, too. At this rate, I'll have to run a thousand kilometers to advance Soaring Dragon Void Steps by one layer."
Looking at the cultivation method for his upgraded movement art, Zhao Ping'an nodded in satisfaction. After doing the math, though, he felt a pang of dismay.
With his current strength, he could run over a thousand li in a day if he went all out.
And that meant running, not using Lightness Skill to travel. If he used Lightness Skill, he could go at least twice as fast.
Before you continue