Now that he had successfully reached foundation establishment, it was time to consider what came next.
The first thing he had to consider was his cultivation technique.
Having tasted its benefits, Naruto would certainly continue practicing the Nine Heavens Wind and Thunder Art. Only this technique could refine Nine Heavens astral wind and divine thunder, and it would grant him other powerful divine powers later on.
But the Azure Essence Sword Art was also formidable, mainly because the sword formations available after core formation were ridiculously powerful.
Layers one through three were for the qi refining stage, while layers four through six were for the foundation establishment stage. The pattern continued all the way to deity transformation.
But this sword art had one intolerable flaw.
Starting from the fourth layer, anyone using the Azure Essence Sword Art to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth would experience a strange loss of cultivation every few days.
Some of the magical power refined through the technique over the preceding days would inexplicably dissipate on its own.
It was utterly baffling.
At the fourth layer, the rate of loss was not too frightening. Only a tenth of the newly refined magical power would dissipate, and an ordinary cultivator could make up for it with a little extra effort.
But upon reaching the fifth and sixth layers, the loss of spiritual power would become alarming. The proportion lost would increase by a tenth with each layer, consuming an ever greater share of the magical power painstakingly refined.
In other words, the fifth layer of the sword art would cost two-tenths of the newly refined magical power.
The sixth layer would cost three-tenths.
And after reaching core formation and beginning the seventh layer, even more magical power would surely be lost.
But once a