A Little Xu Yuan Shock

[Item: Damaged Mid-Grade Dharma Artifact Longsword]

[Condition: Barely usable]

[Current Entry: Emergency Repair (Green) (Upgradeable)]

[Entries That Can Be Added: 1/1]

"You can too?!" Xu Yuan was utterly astonished. He had never expected that not only could the entries enhancing himself evolve—even the entries he added to artifacts could evolve as well.

[Emergency Repair (Green) → Meticulous Repair (Light Blue)]

[Required: Fifty low-grade spirit stones.]

[After a meticulous repair, this dharma sword has been restored to its original condition. Moreover, due to adjustments to the materials used in the sword, it now contains a trace of fire spiritual energy.]

"So expensive."

Xu Yuan grumbled on instinct, but immediately realized he was being ungrateful. Mid-grade dharma artifacts generally sold for three or four mid-grade spirit stones in Biyou Market. Being able to repair this mid-grade dharma artifact for merely fifty low-grade spirit stones was already a blessing from heaven.

"Only..." Xu Yuan looked toward his bedside. Three spirit stones and twenty-five spirit crystals—how should he put it? There was still a small gap between that and fifty low-grade spirit stones.

"Tch, no money."

Curling his lip, Xu Yuan decided that what the eye did not see would not vex the heart, and stuffed the dharma sword back where it had been.

Then he shouldered his pickaxe, draped himself in his coat, and rushed out of the house in a blaze of energy.

After advancing his entry, he felt as though every inch of him was brimming with inexhaustible strength. It was only right that he head into the mine and dig for half a day and a night.

The next morning, when Xu Yuan emerged from the mine, his eyes were full of exhaustion. Under the gazes of the Biyou Market cultivators beside him, who looked at him as though he were livestock, Xu Yuan collected one low-grade spirit stone and started down the road home.

But after taking only a few steps and leaving the edge of the mining grounds, Xu Yuan—who had seemed ready to collapse a moment ago—suddenly straightened his back. There was not the slightest trace of exhaustion left in his eyes.

"I really am first-rate livestock now."

With a self-mocking laugh, Xu Yuan reflected that after advancing to the Martial Dao Sacred Embryo, his endurance had improved by leaps and bounds. By his estimate, he could dig almost without sleep or rest for three consecutive days, then recover fully with only four or five hours of sleep.

And at the previous level of labor intensity, sleeping a little over an hour each day would be enough for him.

With energy like this, no wonder Xu Yuan mocked himself as livestock.

Under the Martial Dao Sacred Embryo entry, he was in truth a demonic beast clad in human skin.

Passing through the market, Xu Yuan bought several catties of demonic beast meat. After putting it away at home, he headed toward the spell arts hall, arriving just in time for class.

His Spirit-Martial Unity was now nearly fully cultivated, but he still needed to attend lessons on spiritual energy control.

Of course, the most important thing was that he had already spent twenty spirit stones. If he did not come, he would always feel as though he had suffered a huge loss.

After the theory lesson came practical training as usual. Xu Yuan swept his gaze around casually and discovered that most of the students here were still stuck on how to guide out spiritual energy and vital blood simultaneously.

Steadying himself slightly, Xu Yuan withdrew his gaze and began practicing as well.

But to avoid arousing suspicion, he did not unleash the terrifying vital blood of the Martial Dao Sacred Embryo, continuing instead to use roughly the same level of vital blood as before.

After practicing for a while, Xu Yuan watched the two forces separate and merge at his whim. Then a thought suddenly struck him, and he walked over to the weapon rack nearby.

Casually taking down an iron staff, Xu Yuan closed his eyes slightly. In the next instant, just as the instructor had demonstrated on the day Xu Yuan first came to the spell arts hall, two forces surged from his palms into the two ends of the iron staff, then fused together in the middle.

Swinging up the iron staff, Xu Yuan smashed it down onto the ground. With a thunderous boom, dust, sand, and stones flew everywhere. He had forcibly smashed a three-foot-wide shallow pit into the perfectly good bluestone floor.

"This..."

Xu Yuan looked at the mark from his training, then raised his head to find everyone in the hall staring at him as though they had seen a ghost. The instructor's tall figure had also appeared before him.

"How many spirit stones? I'll pay for it."

"You actually mastered it?"

"Let's make it cheap—one low-grade spirit stone."

"Mm, I had a bit of insight just now, so I gave it a try. Didn't expect it to work."

The two, completely on different wavelengths, exchanged a few words. The instructor gave Xu Yuan's shoulder a hard pat. "Come inside with me."

"And you lot." The instructor turned and barked at the students present. "You were all born from the same sort of parents. He didn't grow an extra pair of hands or feet, so how did he learn so fast? Think carefully—have you not been putting in enough effort, or have you been spending all your time on women's bellies?"

After that reprimand, the students present were all somewhat displeased. The only two women spat on the ground, returning his vulgar words in kind.

Yet when they remembered Xu Yuan's terrifying progress, the little bit of anger in their hearts simply could not flare up.

Could it be that we really haven't worked hard enough?

Following the instructor into the inner courtyard, Xu Yuan saw the girl who had previously been recruiting students at the entrance. Here, she did not call him Instructor or Teacher, but instead called out crisply to the middle-aged man, "Dad."

Then she tilted her head and glanced at Xu Yuan, seemingly curious why her father had brought someone else in today.

"Go prepare some tea."

After instructing his daughter, he finally invited the somewhat baffled Xu Yuan to sit down.

"I'm only paying you back one spirit stone. There's no need for such a grand fuss, right?"

The instructor shot Xu Yuan a glance, as if telling him to stop playing dumb, then asked, "When did you gain insight?"

"Actually, last night." Xu Yuan moved the time up a little. Watching the other man's expression change several times before finally turning into a bitter smile, he heard him say, "His grandfather's grandmother's grandfather—today, I've finally seen a genius."

After saying that, the man's large eyes glared at Xu Yuan for a long while, as though considering something. In the end, he took out a jade slip from his sleeve.

"Here are some of my insights into cultivating Spirit-Martial Unity, along with an exclusive cultivation method. It can help you rapidly raise your cultivation in a short time without leaving any hidden troubles behind."

Xu Yuan glanced at the jade slip on the table, then looked up at the instructor before him and shook his head. "No money."

"No charge." The instructor swept out a hand. Then, under Xu Yuan's baffled gaze, he drew another item from his sleeve. "Together with this—my Hu Family's ancestral technique for the first three stages of body tempering—I can give it all to you."

"You mean...?" Xu Yuan looked at him in confusion. Just then, the little maid who had been pouring tea returned. She looked at the two men in discussion, then at the items on the table. At last, an inexplicable emotion flickered through her eyes before she quietly stepped aside.

"I can give all of this to you. I trust that with it, you'll quickly get through this weak period of yours. And my request is very simple."

The instructor stared straight at Xu Yuan. "If one day you can enter the inner mountain and become a true disciple of the Hidden Moon Sect, then when you choose a cultivation art in the Dharma Repository, I hope your first choice will be the Water-Fire Harmonizing Body Tempering Art."