Cultivating Saber Techniques and Breaking Through

After bidding farewell to the Huangfu Family, Lin Ming headed home. When he passed a weapon shop along the way, he went inside and spent twenty Gold Coin to buy all three hundred wooden practice posts in the store, then swaggered away amid the strange looks of the bystanders.

After all, these practice posts were usually given away as complimentary items after customers bought weapons. It was the first time the owner had encountered someone who came to a weapon shop just to buy wooden posts—and bought out the entire stock at once. He could not help wondering which young master had come out to squander money again.

Ignoring everyone's odd stares, Lin Ming continued on his way. Half an hour later, he pushed open his front gate. Looking at the setting sun that was nearly level with the ground, Lin Ming said, "Another day is almost over. Tomorrow, I'll officially begin cultivating saber techniques."

The night passed without incident. The crowing of roosters at dawn awakened the sleeping people, and a new day officially arrived.

After washing up, Lin Ming came to the courtyard. With a flash of his Storage Ring, a saber manual appeared in his hand. The cover read, "Startling Swan Saber Technique." Lin Ming picked up the Startling Swan Saber Technique and began reading it carefully.

Startling Swan Saber Technique, Profound Tier Mid-grade Dou Technique. In ancient times, great masters could split mountains with one slash and sever rivers with one slash. Though this saber technique did not seek comparison with such feats, once cultivated to mastery, a single slash could make even soaring geese fall. It presumably possessed one or two parts out of ten of a great master's might.

Seeing this, Lin Ming thought that the great master's technique had to be at least an Earth Tier Dou Technique. Only techniques at Earth Tier or above could draw upon the might of heaven and earth, allowing one to split mountains and sever rivers. He remembered that in the original novel, when Old Yao demonstrated the Earth Tier Low-grade Dou Technique Flame Splitting Wave Ruler to Xiao Yan, he had even cut off the waterfall's flow. Splitting mountains and severing rivers had to be even more formidable, so it should at least be Earth Tier Mid-grade or above. The description of the Startling Swan Saber Technique said that at mastery, it possessed at least one-tenth the power of an Earth Tier Mid-grade or higher Dou Technique. It seemed that the Startling Swan Saber Technique was top-tier even among Profound Tier Mid-grade techniques.

This was only natural. After all, this Blade Skill was a collection belonging to Grandpa Liu, an expert at least at the peak of Dou Ling. Grandpa Liu had never married and had no descendants. In the past, he had treated Lin Ming's father, Lin Long, as his own son. After Lin Long's accident, Lin Ming was his grandfather's biological grandson, his father's biological son, and the Lin Family's only remaining bloodline. Grandpa Liu truly treated him as his own grandson. As a gift for the grandson of an old friend, how could it possibly be poor?

Turning past the introduction, he entered the formal cultivation content. Having learned from his previous experience cultivating Explosive Thunder Fist, Lin Ming truly read every word this time. It read: "A saber is the courage of all weapons! It emphasizes imposing might and punitive slaughter. Though it lacks the sword's endless variations, it still possesses techniques such as cleaving, chopping, thrusting, smashing, pointing, and slashing. Mastering these techniques will make cultivating Dou Techniques twice as effective with half the effort..."

This time, Lin Ming read through everything meticulously and seriously. Still feeling uncertain, he read it again from beginning to end before finally putting down the Dou Technique. Worth mentioning was that this saber technique also came with a movement technique Dou Technique, presumably to better enable the saber technique to kill enemies. No matter how powerful one's attack was, it would be useless if it could not hit the target. Lin Ming estimated that the accompanying movement technique alone was Black Tier Low-grade.

Putting away the Startling Swan Saber Technique, he took out the Star Dragon Saber and the wooden posts he had bought. Since the Dou Technique specifically mentioned that mastering saber moves could make cultivation twice as effective with half the effort, Lin Ming decided to practice the moves first. After all, that had been his original plan as well. First, it would make him more familiar with the saber's techniques and moves. Second, through repeated cleaving and chopping, he could better coordinate himself with the saber, finding the most effortless and comfortable way to exert force, as well as mastering the weapon's effective killing range and so on. That was why he had gone to the shop and bought all three hundred wooden posts in one go.

After setting up the wooden posts, Lin Ming picked up the Star Dragon Saber and said to it, "Partner, from now on, you'll accompany me into battle. One day, I'll make your name known across the continent, suppressing ghosts and slaying gods."

The moment his words fell, the Star Dragon Saber flashed out. A cold gleam streaked through the air, and the wooden post split in two.

And so, Lin Ming practiced moves such as cleaving, chopping, thrusting, smashing, pointing, and slashing one strike at a time. Half a month later, Lin Ming stopped practicing the basic moves. After wearing out nearly half the wooden posts, he felt that he was almost there. He did not dare claim mastery, but he was fairly proficient. To improve further, he would need real combat; simple practice like this no longer meant much. Therefore, Lin Ming decided to officially begin cultivating the technique's meridian circulation from that night onward.

Calming his mind, he sank his Qi into his Dantian. Recalling the Dou Qi meridian descriptions in the technique, Lin Ming used his consciousness to slowly guide his Dou Qi into circulation. With his experience cultivating Explosive Thunder Fist, mobilizing his Dou Qi went fairly smoothly this time. Although there were more meridians and acupoints this time, Lin Ming believed that he could complete one full circulation in half a month at most.

Bang! A wooden post flew down and crashed onto the ground. Seeing that he had split the wooden post in half using only saber Qi, Lin Ming knew that he had succeeded. Today, he had completed the circulation through all the meridians. With one swing of his saber, he had split a wooden post in half. Seeing that he had finished the meridian circulation in only thirteen days, Lin Ming was immensely excited. After all, it was two days earlier than his expected half month. Next, he only needed more practice to improve his proficiency and learn the accompanying movement technique. This movement technique was not inherently tied to the saber technique, so it could be practiced separately.

Two months later, a figure arrived in an instant from the distance. One saber slash fell, and a wooden post slid apart. This was followed by a buzz, and a fist blasted out, shattering another wooden post. Looking at the wreckage of wooden posts scattered across the ground, Lin Ming slowly withdrew his stance.

Over these two months of practice, Lin Ming had not only learned the movement technique that came with the saber technique, but had also mastered using the movement technique together with the saber technique; the movement technique together with his fist technique; the saber technique followed by the fist technique; and all three—the movement technique, saber technique, and fist technique—together. It was no exaggeration to say that Lin Ming now felt he could easily handle an ordinary Dou Zhe below Five Stars.

His cultivation was basically complete for now. During This Period, he had been so busy cultivating that he had rarely taken Ya Fei, that little girl, out to play. As a result, Ya Fei now had a slight grievance against her Brother Lin Ming. Therefore, Lin Ming decided to take Ya Fei out for a good time today. After tidying himself up a little, Lin Ming headed out.

"Little Princess," "Little Beauty," "Queen." Before the puff-cheeked Ya Fei, Lin Ming could only grovel shamelessly as he tried to please her.

"Hmph, you stinky Brother Lin Ming. Now you know to come find Ya Fei? Aren't you going to cultivate your Dou Techniques?" After saying that, Ya Fei turned her head away, leaving Lin Ming with only her profile while occasionally glancing at him from the corner of her eye.

Knowing he was in the wrong, Lin Ming rubbed the tip of his nose and said, "It was Brother Lin Ming's fault. At the time, I was at a Critical Moment in cultivating my Dou Technique. Look, didn't I come to find you as soon as I finished? Stop being mad at Brother Lin Ming, okay?" He then added, "It's getting late. If we don't leave now, we won't have enough fun. If you're still upset, then go wild buying food and eat Brother Lin Ming bankrupt. Then go wild buying things and spend Brother Lin Ming into bankruptcy."

Ya Fei still kept her face turned to the side, but she clearly seemed much less angry. Then she quietly said, "Who wants to eat you to death?" Before loudly declaring, "I don't need your money either. Ya Fei is only hungry and wants something to eat. It's not like I've forgiven you!" With that, she skipped away.

Lin Ming sighed and thought, Give me back my mature-woman Ya Fei. Then he immediately hurried after her.

The mature-woman determination Ya Fei showed in the original novel had probably been born of necessity. After all, her Cultivation Talent was poor, and she was a woman. This world placed great importance on sons over daughters, especially among these families. Unless one had exceptional talent, one would only become a tool for marriage alliances. In the original novel, Mu Zhan of the Mu Family had publicly announced among the younger generation of the Imperial Capital that he wanted to marry Ya Fei. The Mu Family was also one of the Great Families of the Jia Ma Empire, with Dou King Experts in its ranks. Mu Zhan's talent and strength were also considered top-tier among the younger generation of these Great Families. Thus, the Mite'er Family had intended to arrange a marriage alliance between Ya Fei and Mu Zhan. Later, perhaps Ya Fei sensed it or for some other reason, she applied to train at the Wutan City Auction House where the Xiao Family was located. There, she encountered the rising Xiao Yan and later gained the favor of Mittel's true Boss, the Ice Emperor, whom Xiao Yan brought back. Only then did she turn her life around and avoid being married off.

Although Ya Fei's ending was fairly good, who knew how she had endured those years before that? Thinking of those people who stood on the moral high ground, believing that one should do something for this or that reason, and branding anyone who refused with every kind of ugly label, Lin Ming felt disgusted.

As for now, with Lin Ming here, he would not let Ya Fei go through those things again. She only needed to live happily, doing whatever she wanted. Lin Ming would support her. If she did not want to do something, no one could force her. Of course, judging by Ya Fei as she was now, her values were still proper, and she would not do anything terribly bad. As for minor matters, Lin Ming only had one thing to say: there would always be people you disliked and people who disliked you in this world. If he wanted to live happily, then those people who disliked him could only be unhappy. As for that Kid Mu Zhan, Lin Ming only had this to say: "You'd better know what's good for you and watch your mouth. Otherwise, I, Lin Ming, will help you learn to be sensible."

Lin Ming caught up with Ya Fei, and amid laughter and playfulness, the two gradually walked farther and farther away.

It was late at night by the time Lin Ming returned home. This was the latest he had ever stayed out while accompanying Ya Fei, but the effect was obvious. Ya Fei had already forgiven him.

After washing up simply, Lin Ming lay on his bed and thought that he would not cultivate tonight. He should sleep instead.

The sun was already high in the sky. With the Year-end approaching, the blankets were especially warm, so Lin Ming had slept until now before getting up. After washing up, Lin Ming planned to return Explosive Thunder Fist, the Dou Technique he had borrowed from the Library Pavilion, since its due date was almost here. After straightening his clothes, Lin Ming was about to leave when he suddenly noticed something was wrong. Then a cry rang out, "I'm Dou Qi Stage Seven?" "Damn, I broke through just by sleeping? Could it be that cultivating Dou Techniques During This Period accelerated the gathering of Dou Qi, allowing me to advance from Dou Qi Stage Six to Dou Qi Stage Seven in half a year, more than a month ahead of normal?" That was probably the case.

Thus, Lin Ming headed toward the Scripture Pavilion. Before he reached the Scripture Pavilion, he took out his identity token. Since the guards probably recognized Lin Ming as well, he entered the Scripture Pavilion without any obstruction.

After seeing Grandpa Liu, Lin Ming said, "Grandpa Liu, Xiao Ming came to see you."

"Hahaha, Xiao Ming is here. How did the Dou Technique cultivation go?" Grandpa Liu asked with a laugh.

"Grandpa Liu, Xiao Ming has already learned it. I came today to return the Dou Technique as well," Lin Ming said. Then he circulated his Dou Qi and exerted force fiercely. With a buzz, his fist blasted into the air.

"A Profound Tier Dou Technique? Xiao Ming, you cultivated Explosive Thunder Fist to the power of a Profound Tier Dou Technique?" Grandpa Liu asked in surprise. The sound alone had made his ears tremble just now. Only a Profound Tier Dou Technique could achieve that.

"Yes, Grandpa Liu. When Xiao Ming was cultivating it, I felt that something was wrong. Then after... I finally cultivated the true Explosive Thunder Fist, which is this one," Lin Ming said. He roughly explained the process of cultivating Explosive Thunder Fist to Grandpa Liu. As for discovering the capillaries, he merely said that he had accidentally noticed an abnormality and then slowly tested things bit by bit.

He also organized some of his insights on cultivating Explosive Thunder Fist into a separate copy and handed it to Grandpa Liu along with the Explosive Thunder Fist manual. He said, "Grandpa Liu, these are some cultivation insights Xiao Ming organized for Explosive Thunder Fist. Xiao Ming is submitting them to the family as well. But Xiao Ming hopes Grandpa Liu can keep these insights for a while. After all, Xiao Ming still wants to amaze everyone and bring honor to you, this Elder."

"Hahahahaha!" Grandpa Liu burst into laughter.

Then he said, "As expected of a fine young man of my Mite'er Family. At such a young age, not only did you cultivate Explosive Thunder Fist—which no one has managed to cultivate to Profound Tier power for so many years—to Profound Tier power, but you are also willing to submit it to the family without reservation. Don't worry, Grandpa Liu will have the family reward you. And according to what you said, cultivating this requires detecting those capillaries, which demands extremely strong Spiritual Strength—almost at the level of your Grandpa Liu. Among the younger generation of the family, no one besides you can achieve it. Even in the entire family, only a few can. With your freakish Spiritual Strength, if your Dou Qi is truly of the Fire and Wood Attributes when you break through to Dou Zhe, then you really could become an Alchemist."

Hearing Grandpa Liu say this, Lin Ming felt relieved. He added, "Grandpa Liu, don't worry! Xiao Ming will definitely become an Alchemist."

Looking at Lin Ming's resolute expression, Grandpa Liu smiled. "Good! Lord Alchemist."