Greatly Increased Strength

Art: Golden Cicada Art (First Layer, Proficiency 0.01%).

The Golden Cicada Art had nine layers. After entering the first layer, Su Yu's divine soul transformed into a golden cicada pupa. A layer of golden light enveloped his divine soul like a cicada pupa.

When he circulated the Golden Cicada Art, Su Yu felt as though he were within an Ice Spring Spirit Vein. His mind became clear and empty, and his divine soul felt immensely comfortable under the glow of the golden light.

Even his physical body felt exceptionally comfortable under that golden radiance.

However, the golden light of the newly initiated Golden Cicada Art lasted for fewer than thirty breaths before being completely depleted.

Su Yu awakened from that mystical state, deep in thought.

With the first layer of the Golden Cicada Art only just initiated, cultivation under that golden radiance increased his cultivation speed by roughly ten percent.

For the moment, he could not see any changes in his divine soul, physical body, or magical power.

Yet while within that golden light, he could sense tiny traces of impurities in his divine soul, physical body, and magical power being purified away.

Its effects might not seem significant in the short term, but if he cultivated under that golden radiance for a long time, he would surely undergo a transformation.

"The Golden Cicada Art still needs to be cultivated and improved. Otherwise, that little bit of soul power will be exhausted too easily." Su Yu looked at the proficiency of the first layer of the Golden Cicada Art, which he had only just begun, and gently shook his head.

Though he had experienced it for fewer than thirty breaths, cultivating beneath the Golden Cicada Art's golden radiance truly felt wonderful.

Once he had tried it, he did not want to stop.

"Elder, someone wishes to refine a high-grade Rank 1 pill." Su Rui'an arrived at the rear courtyard of the Alchemy Pavilion and spoke respectfully from outside the room.

"Mm, coming."

Su Yu went out and worked for a while, taking an order for a furnace of high-grade Rank 1 pills.

As he refined pills, he explained alchemy to the seven people of the Alchemy Pavilion.

Su Rui'an's talent in alchemy was barely passable. Under Su Yu's continued instruction, he was already capable of refining low-grade Rank 1 pills.

The others had somewhat poorer talent for alchemy.

But Su Yu felt that it would not be difficult to train two high-grade Rank 1 alchemists for the Su Family before he left.

The Alchemy Pavilion was not particularly busy. In a month, Su Yu did not need to show himself more than five times.

He spent the rest of his time cultivating and studying pills, talismans, and Puppet Master techniques.

With the Low-grade Rank 2 Alchemist Inheritance, Su Yu's magical power was not yet sufficient to support him in refining low-grade Rank 2 pills, but he could still study the pill formulas first.

As for talismans, although he did not have a second-rank inheritance, Su Yu possessed more than a dozen incomplete ancient talismans he had collected over the years.

If he could not find a suitable Second-rank Talisman Master inheritance, he planned to study them himself.

He would try to see whether he could develop his own low-grade Rank 2 talismans.

As for Puppet Master techniques, Su Yu likewise could not yet venture into Rank 2 Puppet Beasts. Aside from his cultivation level, neither his financial resources nor his materials could support it.

He could only study Top Grade Rank 1 Puppet Beasts and the low-grade Rank 2 Puppet Beasts recorded in the inheritance for now.

Once he had thoroughly researched them, he could directly begin crafting Rank 2 Puppet Beasts when the time came and he was confident.

Time slowly passed.

The Golden Cicada Art was somewhat difficult to cultivate, and its proficiency progressed slowly. However, as its proficiency increased, the duration he could maintain the Golden Cicada Art each time also gradually grew.

And under the influence of the Golden Cicada Art, the cultivation progress of both the Azure Wood Age Wheel Art and Crocodile Demon's 108 Forms Body Refining Technique was considerably faster than before.

A year and a half later, the proficiency of the first layer of the Golden Cicada Art had only barely risen to 11%.

However, under the influence of the Golden Cicada Art, the Azure Wood Age Wheel Art broke through to One Wheel Seven Turns a full year earlier than expected.

The Age Rings on Su Yu's body deepened by another circle.

His cultivation had finally reached the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining.

He had entered the late stage of the Qi Refining Realm.

After breaking through, Su Yu looked at the information on the Proficiency Panel.

Name: Su Yu.

Cultivation: Seventh Layer of Qi Refining.

Lifespan: 36/139.

Arts: Azure Wood Age Wheel Art (One Wheel Seven Turns, Proficiency 0.04%), Crocodile Demon's 108 Forms Body Refining Technique (Eighth Layer, Proficiency 98.62%), Blood Whale Swallowing Moon Art (First Realm, Proficiency 0.01%), Golden Cicada Art (First Layer, 11.03%).

Spells: Wood Vine Technique (Perfected), Spirit Nurturing Art (Perfected), Spirit Spear Art (Perfected), Spirit Infusion Art (Perfected)

"My lifespan has increased by eleven years." Su Yu murmured, a sharp gleam flashing through his eyes.

This Ancient Art, the Azure Wood Age Wheel Art, was truly formidable.

An ordinary ninth-layer Qi Refining Realm cultivator generally only had a lifespan of around one hundred and twenty years.

Cultivating the Su Family's former Wutong Greenwood Art, one might reach a lifespan of over one hundred and thirty years at the ninth layer of the Qi Refining Realm.

But with the Azure Wood Age Wheel Art, even though he was only at the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining, his lifespan had already reached nearly one hundred and forty years.

This was lifespan.

Something countless cultivators dreamed of yet could never obtain.

Once he reached the ninth layer of the Qi Refining Realm, his lifespan would exceed that of an ordinary ninth-layer Qi Refining Realm cultivator by several decades!

Several decades could accomplish far too much.

If he broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage, the gap in lifespan would only grow wider and wider.

At that time, waiting until his enemies had turned to ashes before dancing on their graves, then skinning their descendants, pulling out their bones, and scattering their ashes would no longer be empty words.

The spells section on the Proficiency Panel was quite long. Over the past few years, Su Yu had learned many spells.

For example, the Sword Control Technique, Wind Escape Technique, and so on.

There were nearly twenty spells of all sizes combined, and he had cultivated every one of them to perfection.

These spells were not difficult to cultivate. In Su Yu's view, a cultivator's foundation still lay in cultivation and magical power.

Spells only needed to be sufficient.

Another two months passed.

Su Yu's Crocodile Demon's 108 Forms Body Refining Technique successfully broke through to the ninth layer. After the Body Refining Technique reached the ninth layer, Su Yu tried accumulating the core power of the Blood Whale Swallowing Moon Art to fullness once again, then launched a full-powered attack.

In a wilderness dozens of miles from Cloud Mountain Market, Su Yu resembled a colossal Humanoid Giant Crocodile. His blood qi formed a gigantic claw.

It clashed head-on with the Dragon Eagle Puppet Beast's claw before him.

That direct collision cracked the ground across one or two li.

Countless trees toppled, and enormous boulders shattered.

A massive crater one hundred zhang in diameter was left behind.

With the ninth layer of his Body Refining Technique, combined with the onefold power Pseudo Divine Ability burst of the Blood Whale Swallowing Moon Art, Su Yu's full-force strike only barely forced the Dragon Eagle Puppet Beast back half a step.

After that strike, Su Yu put away the Dragon Eagle Puppet Beast, hurriedly slapped several Invisibility Talismans, Breath Concealing Talismans, and Divine Movement Talismans onto himself, and slipped away.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Before one hundred breaths had passed, several cultivators hurried over on magical artifacts.

Seeing the enormous crater and the destructive traces of that single strike below, the expressions of those Inner Disciples of Cloud Sword Sect changed drastically.

"Ninth Layer of Qi Refining? No, this power... Hiss, could it be—Foundation Establishment!?"

"Go, quickly! Report this to the deacon and have a Foundation Establishment senior come handle it!"

The Inner Disciples of Cloud Sword Sect hurriedly fled on their swords in terror, not daring to linger.

Elsewhere.

In high spirits, Su Yu returned to Cloud Mountain Market. He spent several days adjusting his condition, preparing to attempt refining low-grade Rank 2 pills.

But just then, a group of guests came to visit.

P.S.: I saw people mentioning the issue with the Soul Capturing Needle. This magical artifact is designed as a special magical artifact that targets the soul. It is comparatively sinister and vicious, and is generally used more often by the Demon Path, which is why it is called a Demonic Path magical artifact.

(Dog head for protection.)

This Soul Capturing Needle is different from the Demonic Soul Banner written about earlier. The Demonic Soul Banner is refined using human lives, so it is unquestionably a demonic artifact.

Mm, this author thinks it can barely be explained, right?