Skystride Hundred Transformations

There were a total of four books and one map in the cultivator's storage bag.

Seeing that it was a map, Qin Huaian was overjoyed. The map was not particularly detailed and appeared to have been hand-drawn, but Cloudfield Market was clearly marked upon it.

The map covered roughly the Qi Kingdom, the Chen Kingdom, the Jin Kingdom, and the outer regions of the adjacent Million Mountains.

The Qi Kingdom lay in the middle, the Jin Kingdom to the east, and the Chen Kingdom to the west. The map marked the capitals of all three nations, as well as Cloudfield Market, the Qi Kingdom's cultivation market, and Donglai Market, the Jin Kingdom's cultivation market.

All three countries were connected to the Million Mountains to the south. Small lettering on the map marked the area where they were located. This was likely one of that cultivator's strongholds, which was why this location had been highlighted. Two winding routes were also drawn from this place to the two cultivation markets.

Both routes chose the shortest path out of the Million Mountains before continuing through human territory to reach the two markets.

This place was southeast of Cloudfield Market, roughly two thousand li from Cloudfield Market and five thousand li from Donglai Market.

"Wonderful, there's even a route map. Brother Qin, if we follow this route, we should be able to get out soon." Wang Baole was extremely excited. At last, they could see hope of leaving and would no longer have to wander around blindly.

Qin Huaian stared at the fat man. "Two thousand li, most of it through the Million Mountains. Take a guess—how many demon beasts do you think we'll encounter?"

The little fat man immediately wilted. They had not even traveled very far today before running into a late-stage first-rank demon beast and nearly leaving their lives here.

Without Divine Movement Talismans, at their speed, traveling two thousand li through the Million Mountains would take at least five or six days.

"Let's look at the other books."

One was Everlasting Spring Art, a basic cultivation technique containing methods for both the Qi Refining Realm and the Foundation Establishment Realm.

"Good stuff!" Qin Huaian said. His Azure Splendor Art only contained Qi Refining Realm content. His original self had cultivated too slowly before and had never considered seeking a Foundation Establishment Realm technique. But at Qin Huaian's current cultivation speed, reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm would not take long.

One was Skystride Hundred Transformations, a technique for training movement arts and footwork. It was extraordinarily useful to Qi Refining Realm cultivators who could not yet fly. Once cultivated to the utmost limit, it could increase one's speed more than fivefold.

One was Fundamentals of Pills, divided into two sections. The first used both illustrations and text to introduce the appearance and effects of various commonly used spirit herbs, as well as methods for processing medicinal ingredients. It was far more comprehensive and detailed than Qin Huaian's Introduction to Medicinal Herbs.

The second section contained pill formulas and detailed refining techniques for several types of pills, including fasting pills, qi-restoring pills, blood-clotting pills, body-tempering pills, Foundation Establishment Pills, and more.

In truth, pill formulas were not difficult to obtain in cultivation markets, but becoming an alchemist was exceedingly difficult. Not only did one need talent for alchemy, one also needed enormous quantities of spirit herbs for practice. It could be said that every alchemist was built atop a mountain of spirit stones.

The final book had Great Jin Customs Record written on its cover. It recorded the pleasure quarters throughout the Jin Kingdom, along with some amusing tales that had taken place there.

When they flipped open the book, it too was filled with illustrations and text. The little fat man immediately turned red to the ears. He wanted to turn away, yet his gaze could not pull itself free. Muttering curses, he said, "This cultivator was no decent bird either."

"Hahaha..." Qin Huaian laughed loudly. "Fatty, this isn't suitable for children. I'll keep it for now."

As he spoke, he put it away to one side.

Then he said seriously to Wang Baole, "Fatty, you don't have a storage bag yet, right? How about this: the storage bag is yours, and the spirit stones are mine. You don't need to repay the talismans and pills I lent you either. You can copy out a set of the books."

"No, no, Brother Qin. You saved my life. All this stuff should be yours—I can't take it."

"Quit hemming and hawing. I already have a storage bag, so this one is yours. As for the books, you can copy a set once we reach the market."

After traveling together for so long, Wang Baole could be considered Qin Huaian's first friend in this world. Moreover, Wang Baole was simple and honest, a decent person. Although Qin Huaian had been the main fighting force along the way, Wang Baole had also been indispensable. Since they had obtained these things through shared hardship, Wang Baole naturally deserved a share.

Besides, Qin Huaian had the seed space, and he already had a storage bag to use as a cover. One more would not be of much use. Spirit stones, on the other hand, were of great use to him, so he did not stand on ceremony with the little fat man over them.

"Then many thanks, Brother Qin. From now on, you're my own blood brother."

"I haven't been a big brother for many years," Qin Huaian teased.

Wang Baole froze slightly, not understanding why Qin Huaian had said that. He replied earnestly, "Big Brother Qin, from now on, my life is yours. If you tell me to go east, I'll never go west. If you tell me to—"

"Enough, stop with the nonsense. Let's think about what to do next." Qin Huaian patted Wang Baole's shoulder.

"We follow the map toward Cloudfield Market?" Wang Baole asked.

"Fatty, do you have any Divine Movement Talismans left?"

"No. The last one was the one you gave me, Big Brother Qin."

"I only have two left as well. If we run into demon beasts, even escaping will be a problem. We might as well cultivate in this tree hollow for a while first—raise our cultivation, or learn the movement art in Skystride Hundred Transformations. Sharpening the axe does not delay the chopping of wood."

"Alright, Big Brother Qin."

"You read it first." Qin Huaian tossed Skystride Hundred Transformations to the little fat man. Grasping a mid-grade spirit stone in his hand, both his main body and mirror body began cultivating the Azure Splendor Art.

Three days later.

"Big Brother Qin, I've learned it." The little fat man woke Qin Huaian from cultivation.

"You learned it? How long has it been?"

"Three days. I've already learned this movement art. All that's left is to practice it more. There's too little space in the tree hollow, so I can only practice dodging and shifting in a small area. Once we get outside, I'll practice my running speed as well."

Qin Huaian took the small booklet of Skystride Hundred Transformations. "Go practice first. I'll study it too."

The little fat man had learned it so quickly, so it should not be difficult, right? He would try cultivating it himself first.

Opening the booklet, he found it was not very thick. It contained illustrations and text depicting body postures and routes for circulating spiritual power.

Half a day later.

"Deduce Skystride Hundred Transformations." Qin Huaian was slightly exasperated. He had not even understood half of it. What kind of gibberish was this thing written in?

[Consume 50 spirit stones. The mirror body can deduce Skystride Hundred Transformations to the beginner level, requiring 2 hours; consume 100 spirit stones to halve the time required.]

"Consume 50 spirit stones to deduce it."

[Consume 100 spirit stones: the mirror body can deduce Skystride Hundred Transformations to proficiency, taking 4 hours; consume 200 spirit stones to halve the time.]

Three days later, Qin Huaian had consumed 750 spirit stones, deducing Skystride Hundred Transformations to Great Accomplishment.

He opened the panel:

Cultivation: Qi Refinement (Level 4, 26/100)

Cultivation Art: Azure Splendor Art (Perfected)

Fireball Technique: (Perfected)

Spirit Eye Technique: (Great Accomplishment, can be optimized)

Skystride Hundred Transformations: (Great Accomplishment, can be optimized)

Qin Huaian rose to his feet and activated Skystride Hundred Transformations. In an instant, his figure flashed through the tree hollow, splitting into streak after streak of afterimages. Qin Huaian gauged it—the speed was roughly five times what it had been before.

At that moment, Wang Baole opened his eyes as well. He stared at Qin Huaian, dumbfounded. "Brother Qin, you're incredible! In just three days, you've trained your dodging speed to be this fast!"

Qin Huaian stopped and fixed his eyes on the chubby boy. "Fatty, how many times faster do you get when you activate it?"

"After I activate it, my speed is about three times what it was before. We'll need to test it somewhere open to know for sure."

Qin Huaian was speechless. His cheat did not seem as powerful as he had imagined. Could it be that the chubby boy was a martial arts prodigy, one in ten thousand?

"Come on, let's go outside and try it."