The Predicament of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill, Thoughts of Forging a Sword

After leaving the forest behind the mountain, Lin Ye returned to his home in Holy Soul Village.

Because he had spent quite some time on the back mountain and in its forest, Old Jack had already returned by the time Lin Ye got home. However, he was muttering curses under his breath, clearly in a bad mood.

"Grandpa, what's wrong?"

When Lin Ye returned home and saw the unhappy expression on his grandfather Old Jack's face, he could not help asking.

"Don't even mention it! That Tang Hao is utterly selfish!"

Hearing Lin Ye's question, Old Jack angrily kept pounding his cane against the ground as he said indignantly.

"Going to the Soul Master Academy is an opportunity countless people dream of. For Little San, it is also a wonderful chance to rise above others."

"If he can become a Soul Master, he will never have to worry about his future. Yet Tang Hao actually refuses to let Little San go just because he wants Little San to cook for him!"

"And he even turned around and accused me, saying I was acting for my own benefit, that I insisted on sending Little San to the Soul Master Academy because I wanted Holy Soul Village to produce a Soul Master. What a joke!"

"Could going to the Soul Master Academy possibly harm Little San? He's so shortsighted! So shortsighted!"

The more he thought about it, the angrier Old Jack became, and he could not help cursing aloud.

"Grandpa, don't be angry."

Seeing how furious Old Jack was, Lin Ye could not help trying to comfort him.

"Hasn't Uncle Tang Hao always been like this? There's no need to make such a fuss. Still, I think Uncle Tang Hao only said that because he couldn't accept it for the moment. Tang San definitely wants to attend the Soul Master Academy. There are still three months before the academy opens, so Uncle Tang Hao should come around."

"Ah! I hope so..."

Old Jack shook his head.

"No matter what Tang Hao is thinking, I still need to visit the neighboring village tomorrow and ask about this year's Work-Study Student quota. I should give them a heads-up and make preparations in advance."

More than ten days passed in the blink of an eye.

During those ten-odd days, Lin Ye cultivated the three cultivation methods his father had left behind through the jade pendant—the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill, Phoenix Dance Six Illusions, and Nine Swords of Dugu—while also studying the two books he had found in the wooden box, learning about soul beasts and the Soul Master world.

Lin Ye's talent was quite good. In less than three days, he had gotten started with all three martial arts. By now, he had already achieved some results in cultivating them.

Early morning, with the first light of dawn.

As usual, Lin Ye left the wooden house. After bidding farewell to his grandfather Old Jack, he arrived at a forest not far below the back mountain.

With the trees providing cover and few people ever passing through, it was an excellent place Lin Ye had found to practice martial arts.

Standing in an open clearing, Lin Ye lowered himself into a horse stance and assumed a strange posture. He pushed both hands forward, planted his feet firmly against the ground, and stood like a wooden post nailed into the earth as he began breathing in a bizarre yet rhythmic pattern.

One exhale~ one inhale~ over and over again! As he continued breathing, Lin Ye's skin gradually took on a crimson hue, while faint wisps of vapor constantly steamed out through the pores of his skin.

Within the somewhat cool forest, the mist was especially conspicuous.

Besides the abnormal changes in his body, sounds also emerged from within Lin Ye. They were like the deep, drawn-out trumpeting of an elephant raising its trunk, though far lower and even somewhat faint. Yet in the quiet woods, they could be heard clearly.

This was the Dragon-Elephant Stance Method from Lin Ye's Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill!

The Dragon-Elephant Stance Method was one of the methods recorded in the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill for circulating one's blood and qi. Combined with a special breathing technique, it could temper the body and increase strength. It was also one of the most fundamental secret techniques of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill.

Besides the Dragon-Elephant Stance Method, the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill also contained secret techniques such as the Dragon-Elephant Body Refining Fist, Dragon-Elephant Devouring Method, and Dragon-Elephant Hibernating Dragon Technique. All were supreme arts used to temper the body and increase strength.

With so many miraculous secret techniques, the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill was naturally no ordinary martial art.

According to the information in Lin Ye's mind, the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill had thirteen levels in total. Each level cultivated granted the strength of ten thousand jin. If all thirteen levels were mastered, one could attain an indestructible golden body and even shatter the void to ascend!

When he had cultivated the Nine Yang Divine Skill in the past, although Nine Yang True Qi constantly nourished his body and gave Lin Ye physical abilities far beyond ordinary people, those abilities relied more on the enhancement of Nine Yang True Qi.

Without using Nine Yang True Qi, Lin Ye's physical condition was only about that of an adult, with roughly two hundred jin of force in a swing of his arm.

But after cultivating the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill, in just over ten days, Lin Ye's strength had increased severalfold.

Now, even without the enhancement of Nine Yang True Qi, Lin Ye's strength exceeded five hundred jin. With Nine Yang True Qi empowering him, wielding a thousand jin of force with a wave of his arm was no challenge at all!

As he cultivated the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill in the forest through the Dragon-Elephant Stance Method, Lin Ye finally could not hold on any longer after nearly an hour had passed.

Although circulating blood and qi through the Dragon-Elephant Stance Method could indeed temper the body and increase strength, the process also consumed a great deal of blood and qi. With Lin Ye's current physical condition, he could only barely endure for around half an hour, and that was with Nine Yang True Qi accelerating his body's recovery.

If he wanted to persist longer, Lin Ye would need to constantly consume more food rich in life essence—or rather, meat—and use the Dragon-Elephant Devouring Method to convert it into blood and qi!

After withdrawing from the Dragon-Elephant Stance Method, Lin Ye did not feel stiff despite having maintained a single stance for so long, thanks to the circulation of blood and qi. So, after simply stretching his body in the forest, Lin Ye began practicing his next martial skill.

As Nine Yang True Qi circulated within him, Lin Ye leaped into the air. His body suddenly shot upward, and he seemed weightless as he floated gracefully onto the crown of a large tree.

Then, light as a drifting feather, Lin Ye continuously darted across the tops of one tree after another. This was the second martial skill he cultivated, Phoenix Dance Six Illusions.

Phoenix Dance Six Illusions was a movement technique that could make the user's body as light as a feather, allowing them to flit across the crowns of trees. Once the body became light, it could naturally unleash unimaginable speed.

At Lin Ye's current speed, he could easily cross more than ten meters in a single second. It was terrifying, and this was only after he had just begun the first level of Phoenix Dance Six Illusions' six levels!

After practicing Phoenix Dance Six Illusions, Lin Ye landed back on the ground, snapped off a branch, and began practicing swordsmanship among the trees once more.

Lin Ye gripped the branch as though it were a longsword. While moving continuously through the forest, he swung the branch again and again—cleaving, slashing, thrusting, lifting, shaking... all kinds of techniques flowed skillfully from his hands.

These were all the basic techniques recorded in the Nine Swords of Dugu. Only after mastering these basic techniques could Lin Ye begin learning the nine sword forms recorded in the Nine Swords of Dugu.

More than half an hour passed in the blink of an eye.

Because Lin Ye had devoted himself entirely to sword practice and exerted nearly his full strength with every move and stance, by the time exhaustion set in, he was drenched in sweat and breathing heavily.

"That's enough for today. Time to go home!"

After finishing his practice of the Nine Swords of Dugu, Lin Ye threw down the branch in his hand, wiped the sweat from his forehead, left the forest, and headed home.

When he returned home, his grandfather Old Jack had already prepared breakfast.

After eating, Old Jack left the house to work in the fields.

Normally, Lin Ye would spend this time reading the two books his father had left behind: Complete Guide to Soul Beasts and Common Knowledge of the Soul Master World.

However, after more than ten days, Lin Ye had already finished both books. What he wanted to do now was something else.

During this time, Lin Ye had been constantly cultivating martial arts. Of the three martial arts, his cultivation of Phoenix Dance Six Illusions and Nine Swords of Dugu had gone smoothly, but the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill had presented him with a bottleneck.

As Lin Ye's body grew stronger, cultivating the Dragon-Elephant Stance Method to increase his strength required more blood and qi. Yet even though his grandfather Old Jack was the village chief, their daily meals were still simple and plain, at most with a few extra fish. There was truly very little meat.

So Lin Ye could only find a way to solve this problem himself.

The solution Lin Ye came up with was hunting on the back mountain. With his current speed and strength, he could easily venture deep into the back mountain to hunt. What Lin Ye lacked now was merely a weapon—or rather, a sword!

With a suitable sword, Lin Ye could use Phoenix Dance Six Illusions to easily enter the depths of the back mountain and then find suitable prey.

With Lin Ye possessing the Nine Yang Divine Skill and the strength gained from cultivating the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill, even fierce beasts like lions and tigers would be easy for him to kill!

And Lin Ye knew exactly where he could obtain a suitable sword: Tang San's home!