Hiss, hiss...
One beam of light after another, each as thick as a thumb, struck the ground. Dirt flew, the impacts rang out without pause, and small pits appeared across the earth.
Seeing that the pits were several inches deep, Chen Changming was thrilled. In just a few breaths, he had used Spirit Finger Flick over a hundred times and earned his first enhancement!
After the enhancement, Spirit Finger Flick's power had greatly increased. Its strength no longer diminished within five meters, and its attack power had risen at least two or three times over!
At the same time, Spirit Finger Flick consumed more spiritual energy.
Fortunately, Chen Changming's dantian was brimming with spiritual power, far surpassing that of ordinary disciples, so he had yet to run dry.
"Spirit Finger Flick, a thousand times!"
"Spirit Finger Flick, ten thousand times!"
After half a month of relentless practice, Chen Changming finally entered a period of explosive progress!
After Spirit Finger Flick had been enhanced three times, the beams of spiritual power it fired had grown three times thicker, and its power had increased enormously. Its strength no longer diminished within thirty meters, while its attack power had risen dozens of times compared to the first enhancement!
Chen Changming conducted an experiment. When Spirit Finger Flick struck a mountain twenty meters away, it sank ten meters into the hard rock face!
If it hit steel, it could pierce straight through with ease.
"What incredible attack power!"
Chen Changming was astonished. If he kept cultivating, just how powerful would Spirit Finger Flick be after a fourth enhancement?
He could hardly imagine it! At the same time, he was filled with anticipation!
Spirit Finger Flick was now so powerful that Chen Changming planned to keep it as his trump card, never revealing it unless absolutely necessary!
Over the next six months, Chen Changming focused his cultivation on Evergreen Art and Spirit Finger Flick, while also practicing Five Tigers Soul-Severing Blade. As for Cloud Rain Art, he used it while tending to his spirit fields.
In the third month, his Evergreen Art reached ten thousand uses, earning him a third enhancement.
This enhancement came at exactly the right time for Chen Changming. Evergreen Art had once again increased the capacity of his dantian to store spiritual power, raising it at least tenfold compared to before.
That also made it much easier for him to use Spirit Finger Flick. He no longer had to worry about running short of spiritual power.
In the sixth month, when the two plots of Spirit Rice ripened, Chen Changming finally brought his spiritual cultivation to fifty thousand uses and received a fourth enhancement.
After the fourth enhancement, the beams of light no longer lost power within a hundred meters, and their attack strength had increased by at least seven or eight times.
If he wanted to ambush and kill someone now, he could take them down in one strike from within five hundred meters, so long as they were off guard!
Even if his enemy stood at the farthest range of five hundred meters, Spirit Finger Flick would still hit with power comparable to its third enhancement, making it deadly all the same.
However, the tremendous increase in power also came with a terrifying increase in spiritual energy consumption. With his current reserves, Chen Changming could unleash Spirit Finger Flick at full power only twenty times.
"If my cultivation advances further and my spiritual power increases, maybe I'll be able to use Spirit Finger Flick twenty-five times..."
Chen Changming mused to himself.
The more he practiced Spirit Finger Flick, the more confident the young man became. He had even begun imagining the effects of its next enhancement.
The fourth enhancement had required fifty thousand uses. The fifth would require at least a hundred thousand, a daunting number for him at present.
After all, Spirit Finger Flick now consumed a great deal of spiritual energy, sharply reducing the number of times he could use it each day and bringing with it a frightening cost in time.
Chen Changming was already very satisfied with Spirit Finger Flick's current power, so he had no plans to deliberately focus on cultivating it further.
His next step was to practice Detoxification Art and enhance it at least twice.
Having settled on his future cultivation plans, Chen Changming went outside to the spirit fields and harvested all five mu. Then he went to tell Tian Shouyi.
"Take these two Storage Bags and fill them yourself. Just deliver them to Elder Luo and tell him you're with me."
Tian Shouyi glanced lazily at Chen Changming, swallowed a Spirit Gathering Pill, then closed his eyes and began cultivating.
Seeing the man so busy cultivating made Chen Changming quite happy.
Tian Shouyi was an outer disciple who had been stuck at the fourth level of Qi Refining Realm for years, and was just a little short of the fifth. That was why he was taking Spirit Gathering Pills in an attempt to break through.
Chen Changming took the Storage Bags back and carefully examined them. Before long, he had mastered how to use them.
He poured spiritual power into a Storage Bag, then focused his mind, and the Spirit Rice went inside. It was very simple.
He put four thousand jin into one Storage Bag, then loaded the remaining five thousand jin of Spirit Rice into the other.
Chen Changming went to the Logistics Hall and handed over the two Storage Bags.
"Kid, it's been half a year. You still haven't broken through to the second level?"
As soon as they met, Elder Luo teased him with a smile.
"I'm hopeless. I still haven't broken through."
Chen Changming shook his head, deliberately looking dejected.
In truth, he didn't feel the slightest bit discouraged. Though he had never taken part in actual combat, he was confident that he could successfully kill a third-level Qi Refining Realm servant disciple in an ambush.
That was the confidence he had now!
But he couldn't let that confidence show in front of others. He could only keep lying low and grow stronger in silence.
Looking at the dejected young man, Elder Luo felt sympathy for him. "Don't lose heart. Just do your best."
As he spoke, he accepted the Spirit Rice and transferred the contribution points to the young man.
"Thank you, Elder Luo."
Chen Changming thanked him and turned to leave.
After making his way through the city, he arrived at the Treasure Hall, where all kinds of treasures could be exchanged, including the Storage Bag Chen Changming urgently needed.
He needed a Storage Bag to carry Spirit Rice down the mountain and sell it.
For a hundred contribution points, Chen Changming exchanged for a Storage Bag with a capacity of about five cubic meters. It could hold more than five thousand jin of Spirit Rice.
Back in the mountains, he harvested the ten mu of spirit fields in the forest, then sowed seeds in the two plots again and watered them. After finishing all that, he returned to his room and began cultivating Detoxification Art.
He had already mastered Detoxification Art over the past six months. All that remained was to practice it for real.
This minor spell was more complicated than Cloud Rain Art. Chen Changming didn't manage to succeed even once during an entire night of practice.
Dawn light streamed through the window lattice, casting golden rays across the floor. The young man smiled, got up, slung the cloth bag over his shoulder, and headed out.
There was no need to rush with Detoxification Art.
Today, he was going down the mountain to Lingyun City, where he would find a way to sell the Spirit Rice he had on hand.
It took him two hours to leave Lingxiao Sect. From the sect's outskirts, it took another three hours to reach Lingyun City.
Standing outside Lingyun City and gazing at its towering, magnificent walls, the young man sighed with emotion. If he had a Spirit Boat, he could probably get here in half an hour!
He would have it all one day.
The young man thought silently, then entered Lingyun City.
Chen Changming was still wearing the uniform of a Lingxiao Sect servant disciple, so the guards dared not inspect him as he entered the city.
"This place is nothing like Xiliang City..."
As soon as he entered, Chen Changming noticed the difference. Lingyun City was a city of cultivators, and cultivators could be seen everywhere.
Most cultivators in the Qi Refining Realm had cultivation levels higher than his.
The streets were lined with tall buildings, one after another, selling all kinds of cultivation resources. On some streets, many people had set up stalls along the roadside, selling spirit herbs, pills, talismans, magical treasures, and more.
Chen Changming was dazzled, deeply shaken by everything he saw.
Here, he felt like a fish returning to water. The feeling was far more immediate and intense than it had been in Lingxiao Sect!