Literacy Technique at Perfection

The night had deepened.

The Blood Moon hung high in the sky.

The cold wind drove pellets of broken snow against the window lattice, making a soft rustling sound, as though countless icy hands were knocking at the door outside.

Wrapped in a half-worn dark cotton robe, Chu Fan sat alone beside the wooden table by the window, turning the pages of a book.

A Green Glaze Oil Lamp sat on the table. Its flame flickered under the draft blowing through the hall, stretching his lean shadow long and slanting it across the mottled wall.

The open Annals of Qing Prefecture had long since yellowed and become brittle, with several brown mildew spots clinging to its corners.

To the right lay another copy of the Annals of Qingyang County, equally tattered and yellowed.

The books in the Seven Star Gang's Library Pavilion had likely passed through countless hands.

Lowering his lashes, Chu Fan unconsciously furrowed his brows and slowly closed the Annals of Qing Prefecture.

As the pages came together, their faint rustle sounded especially clear in the silent night.

The wind outside suddenly changed its tune, as if someone were sobbing softly in the darkness.

The Blood Moon abruptly brightened a little.

[Upon reading these books, Literacy Technique experience increased by a total of 38 points.]

[Skill: Literacy Technique (Perfection) Progress: (0/1000) (Trait: None)]

The second strand of Qi and Blood Force had condensed three days ago.

It had been Twenty Days since he came to the Seven Star Gang.

Literacy Technique had finally reached Perfection!

Chu Fan's thoughts raced, and every book he had read in the past surfaced one by one.

The Ninefold Thunderclap Saber manual, which he had already memorized, now transformed into moving images reflected in his mind.

The instant his thoughts stirred, its contents appeared—without the slightest error!

From the look of it, merely reaching the Perfection realm had already given him Photographic memory.

And this Photographic memory was even more wondrous than he had imagined. It could actually make remembered contents play out dynamically!

Once Perfection broke past its limit, what astonishing Trait would it bring?

Chu Fan yearned for it.

It had taken Twenty Days to push this skill to Perfection.

It was not that the skill's experience was difficult to raise.

Rather, the time he spent reading each day was simply too short—only a brief rest after practicing boxing at noon.

He had managed to break through to Perfection within these three days only because condensing the second strand of Qi and Blood Force had drained too much of his Blood Qi.

So he reduced his boxing practice and set aside more time each day for reading, finally bringing the skill to Perfection tonight.

Chu Fan took a deep breath and felt his mind become clear.

It seemed that, in the future, he needed to spend more time reading.

Chu Fan placed the Annals of Qing Prefecture atop the Annals of Qingyang County.

He had borrowed these two books from the Library Pavilion today in hopes of finding major events connected to the Chu Family and the Demon Suppression Stele.

Unfortunately, he had found nothing.

Neither book contained the slightest record related to the Chu Family, much less a single mention of the Demon Suppression Stele.

The so-called major events recorded in the books had nothing to do with the Demon Suppression Stele.

That said, the Annals of Qing Prefecture repeatedly mentioned an organization of the Great Yan Dynasty called the Demon Suppression Bureau.

Many of Azure Province's major events, as well as incidents involving monsters, had the Demon Suppression Bureau's involvement.

Both the Demon Suppression Bureau and the Demon Suppression Stele bore the words "Demon Suppression."

He wondered whether they truly had some connection.

Perhaps it was merely a coincidence.

Chu Fan let out a soft sigh and reached for a long saber on the table.

This saber was one of the two long sabers Cao Shi had brought on Chu Fan's first day of learning the saber.

Its Saber Sheath was made of old sandalwood and had been polished bright by use.

Yet it could not conceal the trace of icy cold leaking from the sheath's mouth.

Chu Fan gripped the saber and stepped into the courtyard, his five fingers slowly tightening around its hilt.

Suddenly, his wrist sank. With a clear clang, like the first cry of a dragon or a glacier splitting apart, the saber came free.

The sound was not especially loud, yet it possessed a sharpness capable of cleaving gold and jade.

Blood Moon light spilled over the blade.

It reflected not a trace of red light; instead, it was as though the blade had swallowed the moonlight whole.

The saber's dark-red body flowed with light, like a soldering iron heated red in a furnace and suddenly plunged into a blood pool, tempered into three parts ferocity and seven parts chill.

Looking closely, its blade was broad and heavy, its form spreading into a domineering arc from the guard.

It resembled the iron wings of an autumn goose spread across the sky, solitary, lofty, and grim, faintly carrying the majesty of the heavens.

A blood groove rose along the saber's spine, running from hilt to tip like the hard, ringing bones of a goose.

This design not only reduced the blade's weight, but also added several strokes of ruthless sharpness to its lines.

It sat in his hand as steady as a mountain, yet when swung, it displayed unexpected nimbleness.

It was truly a weapon made for hacking and slashing across the battlefield. Every inch of its steel frame and iron bones spoke of a force weighing a thousand jun, making one imagine its heroic bearing as it galloped through battlefields, severing halberds and splitting armor.

Its weight and proportions clearly made it the blade of a hero who possessed both bold courage and responsibility, perfectly suited for wielding the Ninefold Thunderclap Saber.

Chu Fan glanced at the Mountains and Rivers Map panel—

[Spiritual Essence: 41.3]

[Cultivation: Foundation Establishment First Stage, Blood Nourishment 99%]

[Skill: Ninefold Thunderclap Saber (Not Yet Entry) Progress: (5/10) (Trait: None)]

Three days had passed, and he could be said to have reaped a full harvest.

Eating a Roast Chicken every day had also made his Spiritual Essence rise much faster.

Unfortunately, he had too little Silver money. Though he could now afford Roast Chicken every day, he could not buy rare things like mountain ginseng or Precious Fish.

Not to mention rare treasures like the Crimson-Scaled Blood Python meat Zhao Tianxing had given him before.

The Blood Nourishment realm was only one strand of Qi and Blood Force away from a breakthrough.

Only the Ninefold Thunderclap Saber progressed slowly, leaving him helpless.

Training in the Ninefold Thunderclap Saber differed from the Blood Soul Nine Swords.

Whether it was the Blood Soul Nine Swords or the Seven Stars Bead Cut, anyone could begin practicing them from scratch, just as one could begin Twelve Forms Boxing from scratch.

But the Ninefold Thunderclap Saber had a threshold—one had to first comprehend Saber Force.

Without passing this hurdle, those who had not condensed Blood Qi would find Entry all but impossible!

According to Cao Shi, it was best to condense Three strands of Qi and Blood Force and break through to the Blood Nourishment realm before practicing the Ninefold Thunderclap Saber.

When Cao Shi had gone to find him at the Chopping Wood Courtyard that day, he had given the same instruction.

At the time, Chu Fan had thought Cao Shi wanted him to focus first on cultivating Twelve Forms Boxing.

After all, those five hurdles had all been set for Foundation Establishment.

And Twelve Forms Boxing was itself a profound method for charging through the five hurdles and building one's foundation.

Before his foundation had even been laid, he wanted to practice the saber—the Chopping Wood Trio in the Chopping Wood Courtyard had even laughed at him for reaching too high.

Cao Shi's willingness to teach him the Ninefold Thunderclap Saber so early likely meant that he considered Chu Fan quite talented with the saber and thought it would do no harm for him to lay some groundwork first.

No matter what, practicing the Ninefold Thunderclap Saber was better than chopping wood every day.

Now that he had truly begun training, Saber Force had indeed stalled his progress...

Even after practicing the saber for an entire afternoon, he could barely gain a single point of experience.

Training like this was truly twice the effort for half the result, far more difficult than Twelve Forms Boxing!

To learn the Ninefold Thunderclap Saber, one had to first comprehend Saber Force.

Otherwise, everything was empty talk.

Only after grasping Saber Force could one penetrate the ninefold force.

If Qi and Blood Force had not yet condensed, how could one possibly sense Saber Force?

Without understanding Saber Force, even powerful Qi and Blood Force could not be fully unleashed.

It was like a Black Bear grabbing a saber and hacking wildly. Fierce though it might be, it was still nothing but brute force.

And brute force was limited in the end.

Even with the Mountains and Rivers Map, he was still like this.

For anyone else to cultivate this saber technique before the Blood Nourishment realm, it would be harder than ascending to the heavens.

Thus, over these past few days, all Cao Shi had taught him was theoretical knowledge and the rudimentary saber moves of this technique.

In the end, these past few days of training had merely been groundwork for truly learning the saber later.

Fortunately...

Three days ago, he had already condensed the second strand of Qi and Blood Force.

He was only one step away from breaking through to the Blood Nourishment realm.

After three days of training and pondering, his understanding of Saber Force had also deepened by several layers.

Chu Fan tightly gripped the long saber's hilt and slowly circulated his two strands of Qi and Blood Force...