Swordsmanship's Thirteen Forms

"Ah, Cousin, are you here to collect the sect quota too? This is Senior Brother Qin, my new neighbor," Lin Qingxuan introduced happily.

"I came to see what tasks I could take on," the man said with a warm smile.

"Oh, Cousin, then go on in. We'll head back to our cave dwellings first."

"Right, Senior Brother Qin, this is my cousin Fu Jingwen. He just entered the Yellow Mountain Sword Sect as well. You two should have plenty in common—my cousin is also a First-Rank Alchemist."

"Hello, Brother Fu." Upholding his principle of treating others kindly, Qin Huaian greeted him. Fu Jingwen was already at the seventh layer of Qi Refining. Still, he did not agree with the latter half of Lin Qingxuan's words. They were both grown men; there was no need for so much common ground.

"Brother Qin, are you also a First-Rank Alchemist?"

Hearing Lin Qingxuan's words, Fu Jingwen froze. He looked at Qin Huaian with some disbelief. Qin Huaian appeared to be only around twenty—could he really be a First-Rank Alchemist too?

Fu Jingwen knew exactly how much effort his family had expended for him to become an alchemist. Not only had they consumed countless resources, it had also affected his own cultivation progress to some extent.

"I merely happen to know how to refine a few simple first-rank pills," Qin Huaian said with a smile.

Mm, this feeling of quietly showing off was pretty nice.

"Haha, Brother Qin, I'll go take a look at the task hall first. Later, I'll come find you to discuss the Dao of Alchemy."

"All right, Cousin, hurry up and go. We're leaving," Lin Qingxuan said with a beaming smile.

Qin Huaian also nodded farewell to Fu Jingwen, then headed toward the outer sect disciples' cave dwelling district.

Fu Jingwen looked meaningfully at the pair's retreating backs. That girl Qingxuan had always been sheltered by the family and had little scheming in her. She was rather warm toward everyone.

Qin Huaian looked like the sort of pretty boy girls liked. He would have to look into him carefully later, lest Qingxuan suffer a loss.

Naturally, Qin Huaian had no idea what Fu Jingwen was thinking. He quickly returned to his cave dwelling. After parting with Lin Qingxuan, he shut himself in and prepared to refine pills.

Although he had not found any particularly formidable cultivation methods or secret manuals in the Library Pavilion, reading those books had given him a deeper understanding of cultivation.

The factors that most determined a person's cultivation were fourfold: spirit root aptitude, comprehension, cultivation method, and resources.

Spirit root aptitude referred to the compatibility between one's body and spiritual qi. The higher the compatibility, the faster one cultivated. Under the same conditions, if a low-grade spirit root absorbed spiritual qi at a rate of 1 to 2, then a middle-grade spirit root would be roughly 3 to 5, a high-grade spirit root roughly 7 to 10, and a Supreme Spirit Root could reach the terrifying rate of 15 to 20. A mixed spirit root might not even reach 0.5.

Cultivators with different spirit root aptitudes differed enormously in cultivation speed. Even among those with the same aptitude, there were superior and inferior grades. It was simply that ordinary spirit root testing instruments were not precise enough and could only distinguish a rough range.

It was said that there were even more heaven-defying Heavenly Spirit Roots, but such spirit roots had not appeared in the Cultivation World for thousands of years and existed only in ancient records.

Another factor affecting cultivation was comprehension. Comprehension could neither be seen nor touched. It was mainly reflected in one's ability to comprehend cultivation methods and all kinds of cultivation skills. Each person's comprehension differed in every aspect.

For example, someone might have extremely high comprehension of a certain type of cultivation method and easily grasp it to the major mastery or even perfection level, yet be utterly clueless when it came to skills such as alchemy and artifact refinement.

If one could comprehend a foundational cultivation method to a profound realm, cultivation speed would increase greatly. For instance, he himself had already comprehended the Azure Splendor Art to the perfection level, making his cultivation four or five times faster than when the method had merely been at the beginner level.

Cultivation methods were also an extremely important factor. Methods of different grades had an enormous impact on cultivation speed. Of course, that did not mean the higher the grade, the better. If one's comprehension was insufficient, one might not even be able to get started on a high-grade method, and might be better off cultivating a lower-grade one.

There was no need to say much about resources. If one spared no expense and piled up spirit stones and pills, even someone with a mixed spirit root could be pushed into the Late Qi Refinement Realm. Of course, after a mixed spirit root had been piled up to the late stage of Qi Refining, without some heaven-shaking opportunity, that would basically be the end of the road.

Spirit roots were innate. As far as Qin Huaian knew, there was no way to improve one's spirit root aptitude.

Qin Huaian now had the Seed Space and the Mirror Body, which was equivalent to having heaven-defying comprehension. Though this comprehension was somewhat expensive.

Therefore, what he needed most now was a powerful cultivation method. The Azure Splendor Art and the Everlasting Spring Art were of roughly the same grade; they should both be Yellow-rank cultivation methods.

He also needed to earn a large number of spirit stones to cash in on his "heaven-defying comprehension."

Unfortunately, when the Mirror Body was deducing a cultivation method, it could not be used to cultivate at the same time. Qin Huaian spent most of his time having the Mirror Body deduce cultivation methods; otherwise, his cultivation speed would have been even faster.

Qin Huaian took out the cultivation method he had just received from the resource collection area from his storage pouch: Spirit Drawing Art (Wood Attribute). This was the common foundational cultivation method for outer sect disciples of the Yellow Mountain Sword Sect, and it was considered rather superior among Yellow-rank cultivation methods.

The other manual was Basic Swordsmanship. As a sword cultivation sect, the Yellow Mountain Sword Sect gave every disciple a copy of Basic Swordsmanship upon entry.

Basic Swordsmanship was said to have been personally compiled by the Yellow Mountain Sword Venerable. Opening the book, Qin Huaian saw the following written on its first page:

"This old man distilled a lifetime's learning in the Dao of the Sword and forged it into thirteen foundational sword forms. Though they are foundational, I hope all disciples of my sect will study diligently and train bitterly. Know that the Great Dao is simplest."

Qin Huaian stored both Spirit Drawing Art (Wood Attribute) and Basic Swordsmanship into the Seed Space.

"Unknown book Spirit Drawing Art (Wood Attribute) detected. Record it?"

"Unknown book Basic Swordsmanship detected. Record it?"

After recording the two cultivation methods, Qin Huaian did not choose to deduce Spirit Drawing Art. At present, the Azure Splendor Art had already been deduced to the perfection level. If he switched to deducing Spirit Drawing Art, another Yellow-rank cultivation method, it would cost a great many spirit stones again.

He did not have many spirit stones left.

He would cultivate Basic Swordsmanship first and improve his ability to protect himself.

"Deduce Basic Swordsmanship."

[Consume 1,000 spirit stones. The Mirror Body can deduce Basic Swordsmanship to the beginner level. Time required: 2 days; consume 2,000 spirit stones to halve the time.]

"Consume 1,000 spirit stones to deduce it."

It actually required so many spirit stones. But considering that this swordsmanship had thirteen forms, each calculated separately, it seemed acceptable.

While the Mirror Body was deducing it, Qin Huaian took out the spirit herbs he had exchanged for and prepared to begin refining pills.

He was now quite proficient at refining Qi Recovery Pills. One batch took roughly half a shichen.

Qin Huaian refined six batches of Qi Recovery Pills every day and spent all his remaining time cultivating.

Two days later, Basic Swordsmanship had been deduced to the beginner level. Waves of knowledge appeared in Qin Huaian's mind, as if he had practiced the thirteen sword forms millions upon millions of times.

Qin Huaian walked out of the cultivation room and into his small courtyard. He took out the middle-grade Dharma Artifact flying sword issued by the sect and began to practice.

Pointing sword, thrusting sword, sweeping sword, intercepting sword, lifting sword, hanging sword... The flying sword moved as readily as his own arm and fingers, and one sword move after another flowed forth naturally.

After performing the swordsmanship several times, Qin Huaian was extremely excited. He felt that the 1,000 spirit stones had not been wasted.

"Deduce Basic Swordsmanship."

[Consume 2,000 spirit stones. The Mirror Body can deduce Basic Swordsmanship to the proficient level. Time required: 4 days; consume 4,000 spirit stones to halve the time.]

"Consume 2,000 spirit stones to deduce it."