Engraving Restrictions

He shook his head secretly, knowing that Earth Shrinking Step was truly difficult to master. Whether a cultivator has mastered this spell is not determined by whether they can cast it, but by whether they can control it at will. Otherwise, if one were to cast Earth Shrinking Step to escape from an enemy but suddenly appeared right in front of them, it would be suicide. Similarly, if one cast Falling Rock Art and it fell on one's own head instead of the enemy, it would be self-destruction rather than an attack.

Yan Chihuo knew that with his current level, it was impossible to cast Earth Shrinking Step at will within his cave dwelling. He immediately walked outside and attempted the spell once more.

However, as soon as he started, he realized this spell was incredibly difficult to practice. He cast it dozens of times in a row; sometimes he would dash nearly a hundred feet, while other times he would move less than ten. The direction was even harder to control, and on one occasion, he even ran in a complete circle.

Knowing that continuing to practice this way would be useless, he went to see Ping Qi. Upon hearing this, Ping Qi laughed, "Earth Shrinking Step is not so easily mastered, and your current method only makes it even harder."

He said, "I will teach you a set of footwork. This footwork is useless in combat, but it will be of some help in practicing Earth Shrinking Step. In fact, not just for earth-attribute spells, but for any difficult-to-master spells of other attributes, there are corresponding footwork and fist techniques to complement them. Just like the Ape Lord Sword Art in your hands—while it has little use in combat, if you wish to become a sword cultivator, you must master this sword art to its peak."

After speaking, he demonstrated the footwork and gave Yan Chihuo detailed guidance. Seeing that Yan Chihuo had mastered the movements and only needed to improve his proficiency, he said, "Wait until you can perform this footwork instinctively, even in your sleep, before you start practicing Earth Shrinking Step again. Furthermore, when practicing, first mark out a hundred-foot radius. Once you can control your direction within that range, shrink the area. When you can cast it freely within a three-foot range, you will have mastered this spell for the Body Tempering Stage."

After returning, Yan Chihuo followed Ping Qi's instructions and practiced the footwork. The movements were quite difficult, specifically designed to train a cultivator to maintain body balance under various extreme conditions. Once mastered, this footwork would indeed make it easier to control his direction while casting Earth Shrinking Step.

From then on, he spent his days practicing the Spirit Jade Vajra Art and this footwork. At the same time, so as not to neglect his artifact refining skills, he continued to practice carving Forbidden Cloud Patterns onto sand, stone, wood, and earth.

Although artifact refiners claimed that carving forbidden patterns onto such mundane materials was a waste of effort and had never been successful, Yan Chihuo believed that someone must have succeeded before. It was likely that those individuals were so advanced in both cultivation and artifact refining that they simply disdained crafting such Talisman Artifacts.

Yan Chihuo was different; he lacked sufficient Jade Crystal to practice his refining skills, so this was a necessity. Moreover, he discovered that by carving forbidden patterns onto sand, stone, and wood, he not only improved his refining skills but also gained benefits for his Spirit Jade Vajra Art and earth-attribute spell cultivation.

In reality, no one in the cultivation world had ever used this method to improve their refining skills because no one could see the Forbidden Cloud Patterns clearly enough during the Body Tempering Stage. Of course, if one's cultivation reached a certain level, such as the Dao Foundation Stage, one could naturally carve perfect Talisman Artifact patterns. But even before reaching the Dao Foundation Stage, once one reached the Qi Gathering Stage, the forbidden patterns for Dharma Tools became impossible to carve on such materials. Consequently, the patterns carved by refiners would inevitably have flaws, and before long, the mundane material would be unable to withstand the backlash of the forbidden pattern and would crumble into dust. Thus, their refining skills would not improve, nor could they gain insights into the changes within their techniques and spells.

However, Yan Chihuo possessed extraordinary eyesight. Although he could not see the Forbidden Cloud Patterns perfectly, the minute details he could perceive were far beyond those of other cultivators, which was the reason for his remarkable achievements in carving. At the same time, because he practiced on sand, stone, and wood, his grasp of the Forbidden Cloud Patterns became more refined, which naturally led to a deeper understanding of his spells and techniques.

Of course, this was also why he only carved earth-attribute patterns. If he were to carve patterns of other attributes, while there would be no difference in the refining process, he would never gain any insight into wind-attribute spells or techniques.

Three months passed in a flash, and Yan Chihuo made significant progress in both artifact refining and the Earth Shrinking Step. He had fully mastered the footwork and begun practicing the spell. Although he could not yet fully control the spell within a hundred-foot range, he was no longer stumbling around like a headless fly, and he had gained a preliminary grasp of the general direction.

As for carving forbidden patterns on sand, stone, and wood, he had miraculously succeeded yesterday in carving a layer of the Falling Rock Art pattern onto a stone the size of a fist. However, that was a one-time occurrence; he tried over ten more times afterward without success. Furthermore, after he cast the Falling Rock Art three times using that stone, it crumbled into powder. Such mundane materials could ultimately not withstand the backlash of spiritual power for long.

Even so, Yan Chihuo was extremely satisfied. To his knowledge, this achievement was something no one in the Cloud Soaring Sect had reached in thousands of years. He buried this matter in his heart, not even telling Ping Qi. This was the result of his years of experience as an assassin: the fewer people who knew his secrets, the greater his chances of survival.

Next, he used the Poison Dissolving Art to wash away the forbidden patterns on his Soul-Breaking Sword and carved sixteen new layers. This was a composite forbidden pattern that integrated the Falling Rock Art, Stone Armor Art, and Imprisoning Earth.

To his surprise, he felt no lag when casting these three spells through the Soul-Breaking Sword, and their power had not diminished. After much thought, he concluded there were two reasons: first, his skill in carving forbidden patterns had greatly increased, allowing the composite pattern to perfectly fuse the three spells; second, his understanding of spells had reached a new level, which was likely closely related to his daily practice of carving patterns.

Another year and a half passed, and he finally mastered the Earth Shrinking Step to the point where he could control it freely within a seven-foot radius, though he could not progress further. For him, this was already remarkable. At this stage, he could cast the low-level Earth Shrinking Step instantly; within the Cloud Soaring Sect, he had never heard of anyone in the Body Tempering Middle Stage reaching such a level.

The forbidden patterns on the snake scale had reached twenty-three layers, but Yan Chihuo hesitated to carve the twenty-fourth. If a Talisman Artifact was filled with twenty-four layers, it became a perfect Talisman Artifact, also known as a "half-step Dharma Tool," with power far exceeding those with only twenty-three layers.

Yan Chihuo did not want to be rash in carving this twenty-fourth layer, as the quality of the carving directly affected the quality of the artifact, especially for a half-step Dharma Tool.