Level 20

Jiang Che bought the cultivation technique for the second level of Qi Condensation Shield without another word.

[Current remaining skill points: 100.]

Qi Condensation Shield, second level: Flowing Cloud Force Release (Form characteristics: the shield became a blue-gray vortex of mist that clung to the body, rotating slowly with the rhythm of breathing, like clouds curling and unfurling, no longer confined to a fixed form.)

Jiang Che gained a rough understanding of Flowing Cloud Force Release's specific effects. Simply put, there were two.

1. It abandoned rigid blocking in favor of "force release," allowing incoming attacks to be diverted.

2. Qi Force Resonance: it could briefly synchronize his true qi with the frequency of an enemy's attack, absorbing 10% of a spell's energy per use and converting it into 1% true qi stored in his Dantian.

Practicing this cultivation technique required walking with his eyes closed and sensing air currents. The principle was that the shield did not guard the body, yet the body moved like a swimming fish: if the enemy did not move, neither did he; if the enemy stirred, he turned first.

Withered yellow leaves spiraled down. Jiang Che stood in a clearing in the woods, watching who knew how many leaves drift down before his eyes.

He still felt nothing.

The so-called "sensing through air currents" sounded mysterious, but in practice, it was harder than he had imagined.

Jiang Che had already stood there for three full hours, his feet planted in the fallen leaves as though rooted there, his eyes half closed as he tried to catch every tiny change in the air around him.

But those leaves either fell straight to the ground or were blown into disarray by the wind, without any discernible trajectory.

That day, Jiang Che spent a full six hours in the woods.

Three thousand fallen leaves dropped before his eyes.

Never mind sensing their trajectories-even when he tried counting the leaves, he lost track along the way.

That day, his neck and shoulders ached with fatigue, yet he gained nothing. But this did not discourage Jiang Che. Cultivation was not accomplished overnight.

On the second day, the third, and the fourth, Jiang Che gradually began to get the hang of it. He started trying to blindfold himself with a cloth.

Since he could sense through air currents without relying on sight, he might as well cut it off completely.

The coarse cloth over his eyes was soaked with sweat and dried by the wind, over and over, countless times.

Jiang Che paced through the woods like an invisible caged beast.

The sun set and rose.

Five days later.

The wind suddenly stopped, without warning.

The last leaf suspended in midair fell straight down. Blindfolded, Jiang Che could almost hear the extremely faint hiss of the leaf slicing through the air.

The mist of true qi surged in that direction instinctively.

For the first time, he "saw" clearly.

Not the shape of the leaf itself, but the web of air currents it displaced as it fell. Like the hidden surges stirred by a pebble underwater, they appeared thread by thread within the range covered by his true qi.

The instant that leaf touched Jiang Che's shoulder, he lowered it almost instinctively.

Jiang Che reached up and took the fallen leaf off his shoulder.

From that day on, he no longer used his eyes to "watch" the falling leaves, walking through the woods every day.

At first, seven or eight leaves would always hit him. Gradually, that became two or three, until eventually, the falling leaves could no longer hit him at all.

On that same day, Jiang Che successfully cultivated his Soul Power to level 20.

"Finally, level 20! I'll go get my second soul ring first."

As Jiang Che understood it, hunting for a soul ring should take priority. Without obtaining a soul ring, he could not increase his Soul Power, and even a single day's delay was an enormous loss.

Jiang Che had also long since decided which Soul Beast to hunt.

His target was the Razor Kelp of the Calm Sea Plain.

Jiang Che had prepared everything ahead of time and placed it all in the System Storage.

Vast Sea City, the harbor.

"Sir, could you lower the price? Renting a boat from you is far too expensive."

Jiang Che had earned quite a bit of money in the Underground Arena, but even he was startled by the price the old man quoted.

He had money now, but that did not mean he was willing to be taken for a ride.

The old fisherman said helplessly, "Young man, I can tell at a glance you're not from around here. I'm not just making up prices. You're going to the Calm Sea Plain! Who knows what state the Soul Beasts will have battered my boat into by the time it comes back? Some people rented my boats, and neither they nor the boats ever returned."

"Sir, how about this? I'll add another ten Gold Soul Coins. Would you take me to that stretch of sea?" Understanding the old man's difficulties, Jiang Che raised his offer. Besides, Jiang Che had no experience operating a boat.

As the saying went, with enough money, you could make ghosts turn the millstone.

The extra ten Gold Soul Coins clearly tempted the old fisherman. "Young man, what are you going to the Black Sea for?"

"My Soul Power is level 20 now. Naturally, I'm going to hunt for my second soul ring," Jiang Che explained.

"What? Hunting for a soul ring? You're already level 20 at such a young age?" Surprise appeared on the old man's face as he looked at the youth before him.

Still, Jiang Che saw doubt in the old fisherman's eyes.

It could not be helped. Jiang Che's face was too youthful. He was tall, but clearly not yet an adult. Reaching level 20 at his age was truly rare.

Jiang Che promptly summoned the hundred-year yellow soul ring beneath his feet.

Only after actually seeing the hundred-year soul ring beneath Jiang Che's feet did the fisherman believe that this youth was different.

He had worked at this harbor his entire life and seen plenty of Soul Masters, but those like Jiang Che, whose first soul ring was a hundred-year soul ring, were rare.

Soul Masters were exalted and noble in the eyes of commoners. After learning that Jiang Che was a Soul Master, he became much more respectful toward him.

"Lord Soul Master, I agree to your request." The fisherman patted his chest in assurance. "Lord Soul Master, I can't guarantee anything else, but my boat is very well built. Even Soul Beasts several hundred years old can't shake it."

"And I know a little about the Calm Sea Plain. I might know where to find the Soul Beast you want, Lord Soul Master."

"Sir, do you know where Razor Kelp can be found?" Jiang Che asked curiously.

"The Razor Kelp I've seen were only a few decades old. A hundred-year Razor Kelp could probably grow seven or eight meters long. Those are very rare."

"What about thousand-year Razor Kelp?" Jiang Che asked.

"What? A thousand years!?"

Jiang Che's words truly frightened the fisherman.

Thousand-year Razor Kelp-it was not that thousand-year Razor Kelp was so terrifying, but finding one meant doing more than roaming the outskirts of the Calm Sea Plain. They would have to venture deep into it.

If they truly encountered a thousand-year Soul Beast, his little battered boat would be unable to withstand it.

"Lord Soul Master, why are you going to hunt a thousand-year razor Sea Soul Beast? I'm no Soul Master, but I do know a little about them. Shouldn't a Soul Master's second soul ring be a hundred-year soul ring?" the fisherman asked, beginning to shrink back.

"Don't worry, sir. Leave the fighting to me. If it really doesn't work out, we'll just run. I'll give you another ten Gold Soul Coins."

The fisherman swallowed. Thirty Gold Soul Coins amounted to several years of earnings at sea. With that money, he could live a better life.

At that thought, the fisherman gritted his teeth fiercely. "Then I'll risk it. Wait here for me. I'm going to buy a secret weapon for dealing with Soul Beasts."

"What secret weapon?" Jiang Che asked curiously. Could ordinary people really deal with thousand-year Soul Beasts?

"You'll find out when the time comes, Lord Soul Master." Leaving Jiang Che in suspense, the fisherman headed toward Vast Sea City without looking back.