Reviewing his battle with the dead-leaf snake, Liu Changxu realized that his combat skills had serious shortcomings.
His Fireball Spell was too slow to cast! Its power was lacking! Fighting enemies with it was an uphill struggle.
It seemed that, from now on, besides working hard on his cultivation art and continually breaking through to higher stages, he could not neglect practicing his spells. Only by mastering them to perfection could he improve his chances of winning a magical battle.
Liu Changxu currently practiced the Essence-Nurturing Qi Refinement Art, an Upper-Grade Yellow-Tier cultivation art with no elemental affinity.
Its advantage was that it placed no requirements on a cultivator's spiritual root attributes. Anyone could practice it, regardless of their spiritual roots, and the magical power it produced was balanced and mild, making it well suited to Qi Refinement cultivators.
Its disadvantage was that cultivators who practiced it had rather mediocre combat abilities.
The Liu Household of Peach Blossom Mountain was merely an ordinary Qi Refinement lineage, and it had not been established for long. Its collection of cultivation arts was small, and their grades were not particularly high.
The highest-ranked cultivation art in the Liu lineage's collection was only a low-grade Profound-tier art. It contained only the Qi Refinement portion, and it did not match Liu Changxu's spiritual root attributes.
The Essence-Nurturing Qi Refinement Art that Liu Changxu practiced was already the best suitable art in the Liu household's current collection.
The vast majority of cultivation arts available for purchase elsewhere were Yellow-tier arts. Most arts of the Profound tier and above were held by major sects and lineages.
These sects and lineages regarded cultivation arts of the Profound tier and above as the foundation of their traditions and legacies, and absolutely forbade them from being circulated outside.
Immortal cultivation arts were divided into four tiers: Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow.
Among them, Yellow-tier arts were the poorest in quality. Compared with cultivators who practiced higher-tier arts, those who practiced Yellow-tier arts encountered more bottlenecks, had greater difficulty advancing, and generally cultivated magical power of inferior quality, leaving them at a serious disadvantage in battle!
However, because Yellow-tier arts were relatively easy to obtain, less difficult to practice, and consumed fewer cultivation resources, the vast majority of rogue cultivators and cultivators from small lineages had no choice but to settle for them.
Profound-tier arts were the standard cultivation arts practiced by disciples of major sects and lineages. They were relatively difficult to cultivate, but presented fewer bottlenecks and produced magical power of decent quality.
Earth-tier arts were far superior to Profound- and Yellow-tier arts in both the quality of magical power they produced and the ease of advancement. Usually, only outstanding disciples of major sects and lineages could practice them, and they were regarded as the foundations of a sect's tradition! Most Nascent Soul Cultivators practiced Earth-tier arts.
As for Heaven-tier arts, even a major sect or lineage was fortunate to possess one or two. Some did not possess a single one. These arts were regarded as the most essential inheritances of a sect, and only the sect master's branch or the innermost core disciples could practice them. They were often abstruse and difficult to understand, and required special, precious spiritual treasures to aid cultivation.
After gaining some initial familiarity with Demon Hunting, Liu Changxu combined the experience passed down by his elders and fellow lineage members with the few insights he had gained from his own hunts, developing some methods of his own for finding demon beasts and spiritual treasures.
When observing distant terrain with a Spirit Eye Technique, the first thing to examine was the concentration of spiritual energy. The denser it was, the more likely there were spiritual herbs, spiritual treasures, and demon beasts present. A first-rank Spirit Vein was likely to harbor first-rank demon beasts, spiritual treasures, or spiritual herbs, while a second-rank Spirit Vein often harbored their second-rank counterparts. Thus, the search should focus on places with Spirit Veins and spiritual energy.
The Spirit Eye Technique Liu Changxu practiced was the Yellow-tier Golden Light Eye. He formed a hand seal, and a trace of golden light appeared in his eyes as he scanned the mountains ahead!
The distant mountains immediately became crystal clear in Liu Changxu's eyes. He also spotted faint wisps of spiritual energy in various colors drifting through the air, the most abundant being green, wood-attributed spiritual energy.
Suddenly, Liu Changxu noticed something unusual about a small tree, one foot tall, in a patch of forest halfway up the mountain ahead. The wood-attributed spiritual energy around it was relatively dense.
Liu Changxu immediately cast his Lightness Spell and headed toward the tree. Each stride carried him thirty feet, and he crossed the rugged hillside as though walking on level ground, moving with astonishing speed. Even sheer cliffs that ordinary mortals could barely traverse were easy for him to climb.
Liu Changxu soon reached a point five hundred feet from the small tree. Having learned his lesson earlier, he was now extremely cautious.
After carefully observing and identifying it, Liu Changxu discovered that it was a spiritual tea tree called cloudmist tea. Drinking this tea regularly could clear the mind and refresh the spirit, while slightly enhancing a cultivator's spiritual sense and comprehension. The older the tree, the better the quality of the Spirit Tea it produced!
Although this tea tree was only a little over ten years old and produced few Spirit Tea leaves, it was still a precious spiritual plant.
Liu Changxu became even more cautious. There was bound to be a demon beast guarding this tea tree.
Sure enough, after a careful examination, Liu Changxu discovered an inconspicuous little cave three hundred feet from the tea tree. A green demon fox, three feet long, emerged from it.
Clearly, the demon beast had also noticed someone approaching. This green fox had reached the Middle-Grade First-Tier. Upon spotting Liu Changxu, it approached him with a vicious gleam in its eyes.
When it came within seventy feet of Liu Changxu, the green fox spat out several wind blades in succession, sending them hurtling straight at him!
Liu Changxu immediately took the Dragon Spring Sword and the Tortoiseshell Shield from his Storage Bag and charged at the green fox.
Against a nimble demon beast like the green fox, whose body lacked defensive strength, a magical sword was still the most effective weapon.
The green fox's wind blades were swift. After blocking them with the Tortoiseshell Shield, Liu Changxu swung the Dragon Spring Sword, slashing repeatedly at the fox!
The green fox made full use of its agility, dodging constantly and launching wind blades from time to time.
The green fox excelled at illusions and searching for spiritual treasures of heaven and earth. Its wind blade spell was not particularly powerful.
Seeing that its wind blades were ineffective, the green fox suddenly began an Illusory Dance around Liu Changxu!
Liu Changxu felt as though three green foxes were darting around him! He could not tell which one was real!
Liu Changxu had heard from his elders that fox demon beasts generally possessed illusion-type bloodline abilities. Clearly, besides wind blades, this green fox's bloodline abilities also included Illusory Dance.
With no other option, Liu Changxu treated all three green foxes as real and attacked them indiscriminately!
For a time, Liu Changxu's magical power consumption rose sharply. Fortunately, the green fox's bloodline ability, Illusory Dance, also consumed a great deal of magical power. Moreover, it could not launch wind blades while performing Illusory Dance, or the dance's illusion effect would fail!
Man and fox entered a stalemate. Whoever could make their magical power last to the end would be the victor.
The green fox was the first to falter. Its Illusory Dance began to slow, and the two illusory foxes it had conjured dwindled to one.
Liu Changxu's spirits lifted. He took a Middle-Grade First-Tier Green Vine Talisman from his Storage Bag and activated it against one of the green foxes, binding it! Then he swung the Dragon Spring Sword, swiftly slashing at the other fox.
In fact, the green fox bound by the Green Vine Talisman was an illusion. Liu Changxu had broken the green fox's Illusory Dance.
The real green fox also suffered a wound to its leg from Liu Changxu's magical sword. Having lost its advantage in speed, it was soon slain by him.
Liu Changxu was delighted to have killed the green fox. This was the first demon beast he had slain on his own. With excitement written all over his face, he placed its carcass in his Storage Bag.
The green fox's most valuable part was its fur. Magical robes made from green fox pelts were not only beautiful but also offered a measure of protection, making them highly popular among female cultivators.
When I get back, I'll give the fox pelt to Mother. She'll definitely be delighted!
Thank you to all my readers for your support. Since this is my first time writing a novel, I lack experience, and there are many shortcomings. I hope you will continue supporting me and offer plenty of valuable suggestions!
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