Comprehension 94

The Shadow Demon had existed for so many years. Surely someone had already tried this method!

Yu Xiu fell into deep thought.

But why had he never heard the transmission elder of the lower court mention it?

Was the transmission elder simply lacking in knowledge, or had this cultivation method not yet been created?

Or had someone already created it, but it was still unknown to the world?

I seem to be overthinking this!

My comprehension can stack infinitely. When it reaches ten thousand, or a hundred thousand, if others can't create it, does that mean I can't?

Sooner or later, he would refine his own Shadow Demon into an external avatar.

55 points of comprehension!

Yu Xiu turned his thoughts to the second sword art at the Flawless Realm.

The ten chapters of the Indeterminate Sword Art.

Just running through the thought once, Yu Xiu understood everything.

Simple. Far too simple!

He had actually been stumped by such a technique before, unable to bring it to perfection!

Well, times had changed.

With 55 points of comprehension, let's see your limit!

The sword in his hand swept through the air.

Indeterminate Sword Art, Chapter One +4

The +4 didn't mean that 55 points of comprehension was his limit.

The Indeterminate Sword Art itself had only been four proficiency points short.

[Indeterminate Sword Art, Chapter One: Perfected (Sword Sense +3)]

Fast. Far too fast.

One pass, and it was perfected.

Right after that,

[Indeterminate Sword Art, Chapter Two: Perfected (Sword Sense +3)]

[Indeterminate Sword Art, Chapter Three: Perfected (Sword Sense +3)]

In only half a night, the tenth chapter of the Indeterminate Sword Art was perfected.

[Comprehension: 85]

[Lifespan: 160]

[Realm: Flawless, perfected (limit exceeded, breakthrough available)]

[Sword Sense: 76]

85 points of comprehension. A lifespan of 160 years!

Yu Xiu let out a breath.

As for his realm, although the panel still showed Flawless, perfected, the words "limit exceeded" had been added afterward.

The meaning was simple. Judging by his circumstances, Yu Xiu more or less understood: his strength had exceeded the limit of the Flawless Realm.

Because he had practiced two sword arts at the Flawless Realm, his strength was greater than that of someone who had practiced only one.

Needless to say, with 85 points of comprehension, there should be no one in the Outer Court whose comprehension surpassed his.

A lifespan of 160 years!

To put it this way, even cultivators at the fourth stage of Ascending Dragon, with their Life Spring illuminated, lived only 120 years.

But this still wasn't Yu Xiu's limit.

He had three more sword arts at the Flawless Realm, all at the Great Accomplishment stage and close to perfection, that he hadn't practiced yet.

Then I'll strike while the iron's hot and perfect them all!

Yu Xiu's spirits soared. With just a turn of his thoughts, he had the Three Winters Sword, Wild Goose Returning Sword, and Drifting Wind Sword all clear in his mind.

Simple. Unprecedentedly simple.

As simple as one plus one equaling two.

He casually swung his sword, practicing each of the three sword arts once. All three were perfected.

[Three Winters Sword: Perfected (Sword Sense +3)]

[Wild Goose Returning Sword: Perfected (Sword Sense +3)]...

Comprehension +3

Lifespan +3

Can't find it by searching the book title? Try searching for the author instead. Maybe it was just renamed!

Comprehension +3

Lifespan +3...

The three sword arts added 9 comprehension, 9 years of lifespan, and 9 Sword Sense.

[Comprehension: 94 (85+9)]

[Lifespan: 169 (160+9)]

[Sword Sense: 85 (76+9)]

How astonishing was a comprehension of 94?

Yu Xiu only had to recall the Flawless Realm sword art, the Three Winters Sword, and all sorts of flashes of inspiration sparked in his mind. He felt he could alter the third move, remove the fifth move entirely and fold it into the sixth.

Thinking it over again, he even felt that the sixty-nine moves of the Three Winters Sword could be simplified to sixty-one. Not only would its power be greater, its variations would become even more unpredictable.

He thought it, then did it. He immediately performed the simplified sixty-one-move Three Winters Sword. In front of the Bamboo Cottage beneath the moonlit sky, the air seemed shrouded in cold light. An almost imperceptible chill spread, as though the world had gone straight from early summer into the depths of winter.

"The power really is greater." Yu Xiu made his judgment, but rather than feeling pleased, he was a little disappointed.

That was because his simplified Three Winters Sword hadn't been recognized by the panel as a new martial art. His comprehension hadn't increased, nor had his lifespan.

Clearly, it was still the Three Winters Sword, merely altered. Its essence hadn't changed.

There's no need to rush into creating a sword art!

The Qingwei Sword Sect was a great sect, its cultivation methods and martial arts as vast as the sea. All told, there might not be a hundred thousand, but there were at least seventy or eighty thousand.

Once he had perfected all of them and his comprehension had climbed past a hundred thousand, or even two hundred thousand, by then...

What cultivation method in this world would he be unable to create? What martial art would he be unable to master?

He might even be able to create an entire immortal path from nothing.

No rush. No rush.

Yu Xiu put away his long sword and stood quietly for a moment. First, he needed to settle his qi and blood; second, he had to suppress the breakthrough stirring within him.

He had perfected the Flawless Realm and even exceeded its limit. The vast essence and blood energy in his body were all bound within him, as if they might turn into inner qi at any moment and carry him into the second stage, Qi Circulation.

But Yu Xiu kept it all suppressed.

Should I find the transmission elder to protect me during the breakthrough, or...? Yu Xiu's thoughts shifted.

If he asked the transmission elder to protect him, the Shadow Demon inside him would naturally be killed the moment it showed itself. But the spiritual object left behind when the Shadow Demon died would belong to the transmission elder.

The problem was that Yu Xiu was short on money!

He had spent his entire family fortune to enter the Qingwei Sword Sect and cultivate. Three years had passed since then, and he had spent even more of that wealth to exchange for a second cultivation method at the Flawless Realm. That had completely emptied his coffers.

And he would need even more money in the future.

Cultivation at the Flawless Realm focused on the body, sinews, bones, blood energy, and essence, so he needed nourishing food and medicinal supplements. All of that cost money.

After entering the second stage, Qi Circulation, food and medicinal supplements could still work, barely, but progress would be slow. To cultivate at a normal pace—or speed things up—he would need pills.

Pills cost even more.

Besides, he needed more cultivation methods and sword arts to raise his comprehension and lifespan. Those would cost money too...

Cultivation really was all about money!

I'm doing it!

Shadow Demons were meant to be killed by Shadow Demons!

Even if its strength matched his,

the Shadow Demon still wouldn't be his match.

With his comprehension, if the Shadow Demon used his sword arts against him, it would be no different from suicide.

Hmm, I wonder if the Shadow Demon can fully inherit my sword arts!

Yu Xiu thought it over and decided to test it.

As far as his current comprehension could tell, there were still many ways to modify the Three Winters Sword.

He immersed himself in it, practicing again and again. In the end, he simplified its sixty-one moves to fifty-eight.

That's enough for now!

He put away his sword and went to sleep.

The next day.

Today is the day I break through.

He completely released his suppression of the breakthrough.

He merely stood still, and the abundant essence and blood energy in his body surged and churned, then merged together to form the first strand of inner qi.

Then the inner qi grew more abundant, circulating through his body on its own.

At the same time, Yu Xiu noticed that the panel had changed.

[Realm: Ascending Dragon, First Stage, Flawless, perfected (limit exceeded, breakthrough available)]

[Realm: Ascending Dragon, Second Stage, Qi Circulation, early phase (50/500)]