Cloud Sway Sword Art

Things like this sometimes happened in the Outer Court.

Everyone needed money, and everyone wanted to slay Shadow Demons for spiritual treasures. But going out to hunt demons was too dangerous. By contrast, the Shadow Demons that appeared when someone broke through during their own cultivation matched their strength, so there was at least a chance of fighting one off.

Plenty of disciples tried to break through alone. Some succeeded, but others failed!

The commotion over there had begun and ended quickly. Before long, all was quiet again.

The Shadow Demon had likely been wiped out by the Outer Court disciples.

On the way, Yu Xiu ran into Song Quan, a disciple he had once been on good terms with.

"Yu Xiu, have you reached the Qi Circulation Realm?" Song Quan watched from afar. When he spotted Yu Xiu, he was visibly surprised.

Yu Xiu replied, "I got lucky."

"It's good that you've entered the Qi Circulation Realm. We both joined three years ago, so we won't have to be assigned by the Outer Court to go down the mountain for mandatory training anymore. You..." Song Quan hesitated, then finally said, "Don't go down the mountain lightly. You'll miss out on contribution points, and with fewer resources, your cultivation will progress much more slowly. But it's still safer than down there."

With that, he turned and left.

"Song Quan." As Yu Xiu watched him go, he thought instead of another fellow from the Inner Court.

"Fang Jiming!"

The Outer Court disciples feared Fang Jiming like a tiger. They were even afraid to befriend Yu Xiu!

Sooner or later, he'd kill that bastard.

Yu Xiu didn't go to join the crowd. He headed straight for the Internal Affairs Hall.

When Yu Xiu arrived, he saw Outer Court disciples coming and going.

Some even had bloodstains on them and were visibly injured. They had clearly just returned from the mountain.

"The mountain really is dangerous." Yu Xiu thought to himself that until he entered the Inner Court, he absolutely couldn't go down the mountain lightly.

For one thing, the mountain was indeed perilous. For another, he had to watch out for that bastard Fang Jiming, who might secretly trip him up.

[Fate: God-Communicating] was a growth-type cheat, not an invincibility cheat. Real danger could get him killed.

Yu Xiu went straight to another storeroom. This was where Outer Court disciples exchanged contribution points for pills, medicine, and all sorts of spiritual treasures.

They also accepted spiritual treasures.

Once the disciple ahead of him had finished, Yu Xiu went up to the steward, who was over fifty, and took out the spiritual treasure formed from the Shadow Demon.

The steward accepted the dark-cyan, jade-like object. It was an irregular square, and when he examined it under the light, a mysterious substance seemed to flow within it, like a blue-green fish.

He smiled. "Jade Cyan. You're pretty lucky. This can help Life Spring Realm cultivators in the fourth stage of Ascending Dragon strengthen their Life Spring. It's worth a thousand taels of silver."

"Converted into contribution points, it'd be worth a hundred."

"A spiritual treasure for the Life Spring Realm! A thousand taels of silver! A hundred contribution points!" Yu Xiu was delighted. "I'll exchange it for contribution points."

Once he had his contribution points, Yu Xiu exchanged them for thirty Qi-Boosting Pills, the amount needed for Qi Circulation Realm cultivation. It cost him thirty contribution points.

Qi Circulation Realm cultivation focused on refining internal energy.

Where did internal energy come from?

It was refined from vital essence and blood and qi. Without pills to nourish the body, one's internal energy, vital essence, and blood and qi wouldn't keep up. If someone practiced for too long in that state, their vital essence and blood and qi would be depleted, harming their body instead.

That was why Qi-Boosting Pills were indispensable.

One pill could normally sustain five days of Qi Circulation Realm cultivation. Thirty pills would last Yu Xiu quite a while.

After putting away the pills, Yu Xiu turned and headed for the Library Pavilion.

Nearby, several disciples who were turning in a mission looked up at Yu Xiu without his noticing.

"Yu Xiu's got some luck. He actually broke through and entered the Qi Circulation Realm with the three-year deadline so close!" A gaunt young man sneered coldly.

"If he hadn't ruined Fang Jibai's plans, how would we have ended up in this mess?" another, delicate-looking young man muttered bitterly through clenched teeth.

"It's true that Fang Jibai used an evil technique to break through. But what I can't stand is Yu Xiu sticking his nose where it doesn't belong. He wasn't even the one whose life was going to be used for the breakthrough, yet he still had to jump in and ruin everything!" The third, a tall, prematurely weathered-looking young man, was seething with resentment.

"If you think this book is good, add it to your bookshelf so you can find it again next time."

"I'll go teach him a lesson." The fourth, a homely, dark-faced young man, started toward Yu Xiu to block his way.

But the gaunt young man stopped him. "Fang Jibai's affair has already made everyone treat us coldly. Don't go looking for more trouble. There's still time. We'll get a chance to make him pay."

They shot Yu Xiu a long look, then disappeared into the crowd.

"Yun Mo, Xu Fang..." Yu Xiu caught the malice in the eyes of those few young men as he glanced over.

Wherever people gathered, little cliques naturally formed.

This was especially true in sects, where disciples had to go out and slay demons. That only encouraged them to band together in groups of three or five, forming small cliques and even larger factions.

The dark-faced young man, Wu Zheng, and the gaunt young man, Xu Fang, along with the other two, had once been part of the same clique as Fang Jiming.

But Yu Xiu had stopped Fang Jibai from using an evil technique to break through, and the incident had spread. Although Wu Zheng and Xu Fang hadn't seemed to be involved, they had still been dragged into it by their association with Fang Jiming's clique.

The other disciples had shunned and distanced themselves from them. In the end, Wu Zheng and the others had come to resent Yu Xiu.

Yu Xiu wasn't surprised in the least by their hostility.

But he didn't care. Things were different now. With his current comprehension, it wouldn't be long before he left those fools so far behind that they couldn't even see his shadow.

If they left him alone, there'd be no problem. But if they insisted on coming to die, Yu Xiu wouldn't mind helping them along.

At the Library Pavilion, Yu Xiu picked out the ten chapters of the Cloud Sway Sword Art and the Qi Circulation Realm sword technique, Flying Rainbow Sword.

The white-haired library elder took one look and blinked. "You know how to choose. There's no harder cultivation method among the Qi Circulation Realm techniques here."

As he spoke, he handed Yu Xiu the complete manual. "Good luck."

Yu Xiu smiled, took the manual, and began reading on the spot.

With his comprehension at 94, he could easily tell which techniques were better and which were worse.

Just as the library elder had said, the Cloud Sway Sword Art was the hardest cultivation method in the Library Pavilion, but it was also the best.

He focused on nothing but reading.

[Cloud Sway Sword Art, Chapter One: Beginner (1/200)]

One look, and I've mastered the basics.

A comprehension of 94 really was off the charts.

Back when his comprehension had been 9, even reaching perfection in a Flawless Realm cultivation method had been difficult. It would have taken at least half a month of hard practice just to master the basics.

But now, after reading it once, he had mastered it without even touching a sword.

That was the difference!

[Cloud Sway Sword Art, Chapter Two: Beginner (1/200)]

[Cloud Sway Sword Art, Chapter Five: Beginner (1/200)]

[Cloud Sway Sword Art, Chapter Ten: Beginner (1/200)]

[Flying Rainbow Sword: Beginner (1/200)]

After returning the manuals, Yu Xiu went back to the Bamboo Cottage and began cultivating.

He swallowed a Qi-Boosting Pill, then began practicing the first chapter of the Cloud Sway Sword Art. Sword light flared as the internal energy in his body surged into motion.

The internal energy dissolved part of the Qi-Boosting Pill, and its medicinal power flowed into his internal energy.

[Cloud Sway Sword Art] +20

Cultivation +10

Cultivation +10

His progress was indeed astonishingly fast.

"If you think this book is good, add it to your bookshelf so you can find it again next time."