Jiang Ding's Version of the Sword-Tempering Art

Jiang Ding opened the new version of the sword-tempering art.

The requirements remained unchanged. The top-tier version used Law-Breaking Immortal Gold and Grand Pure Divine Iron; the budget version used Millennium Soul-Nourishing Wood and No. 21 Synthetic Geng Metal. The First-Order Spirit-Gathering Array at the core of the inscription was still the Great Sun Sword Pavilion's unique Great Sun Spirit-Gathering Array. Nothing had changed.

But some of its contents had changed.

"Three levels: talisman swords, wooden swords, and iron swords..."

Jiang Ding's heart stirred. This borrowed the underlying idea of the Seven Profound Sect's Divine Firmament Hundred-Step Flying Sword, but the content was entirely different—far more refined and complicated.

"Legend has it that the heavenly treasures of a certain world and that world's artifact-refining methods can mutually enhance one another to some degree. Could the Array Spirit have extrapolated this based on that?"

Looking more closely, it was staggeringly complex, surpassing the likes of the Divine Firmament Hundred-Step Flying Sword and Song Clan Hundred-Step Flying Sword by dozens of times over.

Yet it gave him a strange sense of familiarity. Many profound problems he had thought impossible to understand suddenly became clear after he pondered them several times.

As though... this technique had naturally been created for him!

Without cultivating it, he had already reached the state of great harmony required by the technique. Every word and action of his naturally aligned with its highest realm, returning to simplicity.

"This is incredible. It can create an immortal path prodigy favored by heaven and earth in a specific field in such a short time!"

The more Jiang Ding read, the more astonished he became. "If there were several such techniques, then even a foolish person could draw inferences from one instance to another and reach a genius's level in academic subjects, couldn't they?"

"Mm, there are hidden dangers too. If one relies on it too much, academic grades will explode upward for a time, then completely stagnate. They will lose all drive and instinct to explore the unknown, and must have an even deeper extrapolated technique."

"After all, once one has already 'naturally aligned with the immortal path,' where would there be any need to work hard?"

Jiang Ding searched the library and, sure enough, found papers describing this phenomenon.

It mostly appeared among youths from great lineages. Whether they craved the title of prodigy, were too lazy to work hard, or their lineage required it for one reason or another, they ultimately remained forever stuck at some early-stage realm.

Academically, it was called—Enlightenment Poison.

Jiang Ding's heart turned cold. He returned his gaze to the technique and read it carefully, striving to memorize every bit of it and ponder it at all times.

Who knew how long passed before he suddenly heard a crack.

Jiang Ding woke as if from a dream. He only felt his internal force circulate through his entire body on its own, at least twice as fast as before. The vortex in his dantian became faster and more stable, tempering the quality of his internal force bit by bit with greater efficiency.

While breathing, walking, sitting, or lying down, his internal force flowed naturally through his meridians, requiring no conscious effort to mobilize it.

"Young Eagle Takes Flight Sword Art has reached major accomplishment!"

Jiang Ding was exhilarated. Carefully sensing the changes in his internal force, he said, "The efficiency of generating internal qi has increased, and the efficiency of nourishing and tempering my meridians has increased. I can now temper more than forty tiny branch meridians a day—double the previous amount."

"Not only that, the quality of my internal force is also improving bit by bit. The efficiency will be even higher later on."

"At most twelve days, and I'll reach the 'Lesser Celestial Circuit' realm."

He cultivated while comprehending the technique, only leaving the library reluctantly after eleven that night.

In the small courtyard, sunlight nearing noon spilled beneath the shade of the trees.

At a square table, a sword-bearing youth in Azure Garment wrote and drew continuously on paper with a talisman brush. Before long, a large circle of densely packed, twisted diagrams and characters spread across the page.

Internal force poured into it. A wisp of spiritual light flashed and vanished, and the talisman paper actually floated slightly in the air.

"The First-Order Floating Formation is finally complete."

Jiang Ding felt sixty percent of the internal force in his body vanish, only for it to continuously recover beneath the vortex empowered by his major-accomplishment technique realm. He was delighted.

"Next are the Great Sun Sword Pavilion's unique First-Order Great Sun Spirit-Gathering Array and First-Order Flight Formation. Add the special Sharp Metal Formation I've already mastered, combine and fold the four formations into one, and that becomes the talisman sword from the Great Sun Seed-Sword Tempering Art!"

Jiang Ding pondered.

These two formations were naturally much harder than the Sharp Metal Formation and Floating Formation, but with his growing comprehension of the sword-tempering art, he was confident he could inscribe them one by one.

"A talisman sword has the power of a flying bird's impact. If I replace it with first-order top-grade metal-attribute talisman paper, its sharpness and speed will rise further. It will be usable."

Knock, knock, knock!

Jiang Ding revealed a surprised expression.

"Come in."

The door opened, but it was not Huang Deyou's short, plump figure. An ordinary-faced youth walked in uneasily, keeping his head lowered and not daring to look at anyone.

"Boss, I have a request." Han Lin gritted his teeth.

Even he felt it was difficult to say. Someone had taken you in and allowed you to practice martial arts, yet you still wanted to push your luck and climb up their nose. It truly was shameless!

"Go ahead."

Jiang Ding glanced at the time. Good, it was past twelve—not working hours.

He felt deep sympathy for these oppressed common people at the bottom of society. If he could help with a wave of his hand, he would certainly do so.

"Boss, I obtained an internal cultivation technique, but no matter what I do, I can't get started. Please give me some guidance..." Han Lin's face turned even redder, his voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz, too embarrassed to meet anyone's eyes.

"Let me see it."

Jiang Ding neither agreed nor refused, casually taking the book the other handed him.

Azure Origin Art.

After spending over ten minutes reading it from beginning to end, he had a clear understanding.

The technique was not difficult. It contained some unfamiliar special terms, but they were easy enough to understand from the context.

This was a special wood-attribute technique with some healing effects. Its principles were upright and peaceful, making deviation into madness unlikely. It involved one thousand and eighty meridians.

This already counted as a top-tier internal cultivation technique in the Yue Kingdom.

This fellow was quite lucky.

Jiang Ding glanced at the honest-looking youth before him.

"There are two ways for internal force to arise."

Jiang Ding slowly said, "One is to hone the body, tempering muscles, bones, and skin. Once this reaches its limit, essence overflows naturally and transforms into internal qi, naturally producing internal force. This method is superior, and its internal force is more compatible with oneself."

This method was the mainstream within the Immortal Sect.

"The other is to follow the visualization diagram provided by the technique and visualize an intangible 'qi' within the body's memory. This is called the Qi-Sensing Realm. After visualizing it for a long time and growing ever more proficient, one can eventually turn false into true, and internal force will truly arise within the blood and qi."

"Azure Origin Art takes the latter path. There is an Azure Cloud True Immortal Enlightenment Diagram at the end of the technique. This too is a viable path. Compared to the former, it carries certain risks, but it may not necessarily be inferior..."

Jiang Ding did not ask what Han Lin failed to understand. Instead, he explained everything from beginning to end.

What surprised him was that Han Lin possessed an eidetic memory. He remembered everything after hearing it once, then in turn asked about certain crucial points he had not understood.

Jiang Ding explained carefully, but a certain technique structure surfaced in his mind.

Spiritual-Root Qi-Conversion Structure!

It also existed in the internal cultivation technique Wild Wolf Force he had obtained from Long Shi. One was earth-attribute and the other wood-attribute, but both used spiritual qi naturally absorbed through spiritual roots and transformed it into internal force.

The grades of the two techniques differed, yet this aspect was exactly the same.

Those with four spiritual roots cultivated ten to twenty percent faster; those with three spiritual roots cultivated forty to fifty percent faster; those with two spiritual roots cultivated twice as fast!

If all internal cultivation techniques had this structure, then the better one's spiritual roots, the faster one cultivated.

"Could... some immortal cultivation sect have deliberately released these to use in selecting disciples?"

Jiang Ding guessed.

His heart chilled. From now on, he needed to act even more carefully and not casually expose artifacts from the Immortal Sect.