Wind Cutter

"What... what exactly was in the inheritance?"

"Generally speaking, cultivation techniques and resources;

in other words, aside from his body, Yan Xuan inherited everything from that Eighth-Realm expert of the Alien Race!"

"Resources are one thing, but the Alien Race's cultivation techniques... can humans cultivate them too?" Chu Yuan asked, puzzled. Alien Race was a catchall term that covered many different groups;

most of them had little in common with humans in either appearance or bodily structure;

even those that looked somewhat similar... only looked similar on the surface.

How could someone take a cultivation technique from them and simply start practicing it?

"Practicing it directly is definitely out of the question, but that doesn't stop us from learning from it. Many of the cultivation techniques in Great Qin actually originated from the Alien Race;

after all, at their core, all cultivation techniques are just ways of extracting and absorbing energy;

better techniques do it more efficiently, while inferior ones are less efficient.

It's like storing water. A good technique is like opening the floodgates, while a low-grade one is like an old man taking a piss..."

"..." Jiang Fei's explanation and analogy left Chu Yuan speechless. He almost lost all reverence for cultivation techniques;

still, at least he understood what had happened to Yan Xuan;

Yan Xuan had gained an enormous opportunity, only to be attacked by someone who was probably an insider... No wonder he hated Great Qin so much!

Putting himself in Yan Xuan's shoes, Chu Yuan thought that if he'd ended up in the same situation...

He sighed. "I didn't expect you to know so much, considering your low realm."

"..." Jiang Fei's face darkened. "What's that supposed to mean? Have you ever seen an Air-Traversing Realm Warrior as young as me?"

Chu Yuan thought to himself, I see one every day when I look in the mirror...

"Let's go." Jiang Fei started the car;

"What about... Yan Xuan's family?"

"They disappeared. Thinking back, Yan Xuan probably took them away when he joined the Day of Vengeance."

The next day, Chu Yuan took the money Qi Da had given him and went straight to the Precious Jade Pavilion to buy the long sword he'd had his eye on;

the trouble had already been settled, and the Precious Jade Pavilion had reopened.

The same young woman who had helped him last time served him again. When she saw that he really had come to buy a martial weapon... she couldn't help giving him a few surprised glances.

But nothing else unexpected happened...

Chu Yuan couldn't wait to use that day's system conversion to transform it.

After what had happened with the Blood Sacrifice Array, he'd gotten into the habit of keeping one conversion available;

but conversions couldn't be saved up. He had to use each one before midnight, or it would go to waste.

Thinking back to when he'd transformed the Blood Sacrifice Array, Chu Yuan still felt a little uneasy;

if he'd already used up his conversion that day... there would have been nothing he could do.

Fortunately, he hadn't gotten anything worth transforming in those few days, and he hadn't been short on cultivation pills either...

The transformed spirit sword seemed more restrained and mysterious than before;

its hilt was pure black, its blade icy cold!

Faint azure runes seemed to flow across the blade... It looked magnificent;

Chu Yuan tried channeling Spiritual Power into it and found that it flowed without resistance, as if the sword were an extension of his arm;

he resisted the urge to control it as a Flying Sword, slowly sheathed it, and hung it at his waist.

"From now on, I'll call you Wind Cutter..."

Wind Cutter, of course, didn't answer...

Having fulfilled one of his own wishes, Chu Yuan was in a good mood.

He raised his wrist and checked his terminal. He had a message from Qi Da;

it said that the Secret Realm trial would begin the next day and told him to get to school in the morning so he wouldn't be late.

Chenyang No. 1 High School had three spots in this trial;

to save time, they wouldn't hold a tournament to decide who got them. Instead, Qi Da and the teachers from each class would discuss it and select the students directly!

But ordinary students still had a chance. They could challenge any of the three selected students, and whoever was selected had to accept;

Chu Yuan thought the arrangement was mostly for show... Most ordinary students hadn't even reached the Blood-Qi Realm, let alone learned any martial skills.

Even if they challenged the selected students and fought... it would be little different from a street brawl...

He had nothing else to do that day, so after thinking it over, he decided to visit Chu Ying's school;

for some reason, the girl had started showing signs of skipping class, and that was a bad habit.

Chu Yuan hadn't been trying to scare her before. Martial arts might be flourishing, but Warriors couldn't be illiterate;

otherwise, they wouldn't even understand their cultivation techniques or know the structure of the human body. No matter how talented they were, it would all go to waste.

Not everyone was like him, with a system that could directly implant information into their minds...

Second Experimental Middle School was also in the city, and Chu Yuan had initially considered using Smoke-Drifting Steps to get there;

but he thought it might draw too much attention in broad daylight... so he played it safe and took a cab.

Chu Yuan's Spiritual Sense could cover a radius of several hundred meters. He didn't enter the school; he simply spread his Spiritual Sense from outside and found Chu Ying's classroom.

Class was in session. Chu Ying was paying attention to the blackboard and taking notes, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary;

Chu Yuan wasn't in a hurry. He sat on a bench by the wall and practiced getting used to Wind Cutter;

he had already cultivated the Wind-Riding Sword Control Art to the second level;

but he'd only just begun to grasp the third level: Wind Chant.

This move was immensely powerful and could be used against a crowd or a single target... It was just a little too difficult.

Still, when Chu Yuan imagined himself flicking his hand and unleashing countless wind blades... it looked pretty cool;

a little extra difficulty was normal...

Time always passed quickly when he was cultivating;

it wasn't until students in uniform began passing by him in twos and threes that he realized school had already let out.

He spread his Spiritual Sense again and found Chu Ying;

she had packed her schoolbag and was heading for the school gate.

Chu Yuan didn't go to meet her. He stayed hidden and watched;

he saw Chu Ying reach the school gate, look around, and then let out a sigh of relief as she quickened her pace.

It looked like... she was avoiding someone?

Chu Yuan frowned and decided to keep watching.

"Oh, come on! You're back again? I told you, I'm not interested!" Chu Ying suddenly snapped;

Chu Yuan's heart jumped. At some point, someone had appeared in front of Chu Ying and blocked her way.

And his Spiritual Sense... hadn't detected the figure at all!

It was an old man wearing a loose-fitting martial arts uniform, with graying hair;

he looked at Chu Ying with a pained expression. "Do you have any idea how much you're wasting your talent?"

Chu Ying quietly took two steps back, and the strong smell of alcohol coming from the old man eased a little;

"All I know is that you want to ruin my college entrance exams...

Here's ten yuan for a drink. Stop bothering me."

"To hell with exams! Only mediocre people bother taking that stupid test!" The old man scoffed, then casually stuffed the ten yuan Chu Ying had offered into his pocket;

"Train in martial arts with me, and that brat won't dare bother you again!"

"Now that you mention it, I just remembered!" Chu Ying sneered. "You beat Du Kai so badly he ended up in the hospital, you know?"

"Pah, he was probably trying to extort you. I knew exactly how much force to use..."

"Don't make things up! You're the one who beat him up... What does that have to do with me!?"