A month ago, on the night when Qin Tiexin brought back "Cun Bu·Blood Vortex Thorn" from the library, he knew that this sword technique would last him a long time.
The reason is simple - it's completely the opposite of his previous path.
He was used to heavy knives like Edgeless, and used to the wide opening and closing of Zhongyue's sword technique. Each knife was struck with all his strength. But the blood vortex stab required "subtlety" - the energy release was precise to the last minute, the movement distance was limited to three feet, and the tip of the knife was as stable as a nail in the air.
His first reaction is always to use too much force.
He thrust straight forward, and he should have moved forward three feet, but he almost hit the outer wall of cave abode with his first kick. He turned back to stab, his body rotated too much, and the tip of the knife went somewhere unknown. He stepped sideways, and he should have moved three feet forward, but he stepped forward more than five feet, and his posture was completely broken.
Although it occasionally succeeded a few times, most of the time the adjustment of strength was still not accurate enough.
Qin Tiexin It took ten days to separate the two concepts of "explosion" and "microcontrol" in my mind.
During these ten days, he stood on the flat ground outside cave abode every morning, closed his eyes, mobilized his energy, released it, felt the distance, and adjusted it. Over and over again, as if he was learning to walk again. The bluestone slabs under his feet were dug into by him, and the soles of his shoes were worn through twice.
Ten days later, he was finally able to do it - with his eyes closed, he could accurately control the amount of energy required to "move one inch".
Then there is a single movement plus a stabbing attack. A straight thrust with a collapsed step, a side thrust with a side step, a backward thrust... Each step must be perfectly coordinated with the thrust. The tip of the knife should be stable at the moment when the power explodes, and thrust out halfway through the movement. When it is in place, it will reach the end of the thrust.
This took another ten days. By the twentieth day, he could do all five basic footwork movements plus thrusting in a single move. Although he was not yet mature, at least he would not make mistakes.
But once you practice two-step combos, problems arise.
Bengbu came closer, then turned around and stabbed again - the first time he tried, Bengbu rushed over and couldn't keep up with the turn. His whole body was twisted there, the tip of the knife pierced the air, and he almost tripped himself.
Qin Tiexin frowned, rearranged his posture, and came again.
The third time, the fifth time, the tenth time... every time it was a little bit close. Either the first step Law Power was not controlled well, causing the second step to fail to connect; or the footwork was correct, but the timing of the thrust was completely messed up.
He is not impatient. This kind of delicate work cannot be rushed.
So starting from the 21st day, he practiced dagger every morning and went to the training ground for actual combat in the afternoon.
The first time he brought a short sword into the trial field, he chose a puppet at the seventh level of Qi Refining.
The result surprised him - he couldn't win.
It's not that the puppet is strong, but that his blood vortex stab cannot be used in actual combat. The movements that are usually well practiced on the flat ground completely change when facing a moving target. Bengbu rushes over, the puppet turns sideways, and his knife stabs in the air; he ducks to avoid the puppet's attack, but he dodges too far and has no time to follow up; the double-step combo cannot be used at all, and the interval between the two steps is too long, and the puppet has already changed positions.
I fought three times and lost all three times. In the end, I had to use brute force to dismantle the puppet.
Qin Tiexin stood in the trial ground, covered in sweat, panting heavily, looking at the puppet that he had dismantled into parts, and was silent for a long time.
He knew where the problem lay - not practicing enough. You can never master the sword technique of Blood Vortex Stab just on the flat ground. You have to hone it bit by bit in actual combat. The timing of movement, the angle of the thrust, the distribution of strength, every detail requires a lot of actual combat to form muscle memory.
For the next ten days, he went to the training ground to fight three times every day. His opponents were all puppets at the seventh level of Qi Refining. One game was ten points of good deeds, and thirty points per day. His good deeds points dropped, but the effect was visible to the naked eye.
On the first day, I was able to win two out of ten games, and I still relied on brute force.
On the third day, five out of ten games can be won, and the Blood Vortex Thorn can begin to be used in actual combat.
On the fifth day, I can win eight out of ten games, and the five basic footwork methods of single movement plus stabbing can be used stably in actual combat.
Starting on the seventh day, he was occasionally able to use two-step combos in actual combat - Bengbu would get close and force the puppet to block, and then immediately turn around to the side to strike a blow. Although the success rate was only 30%, at least he had taken this step.
By the tenth day, one month into his training, he was able to stably defeat the puppets at the seventh level of Qi Refining using only a short sword.
As for the eighth and ninth levels of Qi refining, they are still far behind. Qin Tiexin estimated that it would be useful to practice the Thirteen Blood Vortex Thorns to the third level or above. There is no rush.
Apart from his sword skills, Luo Ling didn't let him idle.
At the beginning of the month, Luo Ling sent two Jade Slip - "Initial Interpretation of Spiritual Pattern Array" and "Encyclopedia of Spiritual Pattern Array", allowing him to start learning the Spiritual Pattern Array.
Qin Tiexin spent three days reading "First Interpretation" and roughly understood what the spiritual pattern array is.
The spirit pattern array is to use three or more spirit patterns to form a combination and resonance. By analogy, the previous spirit pattern engraving was to "write three characters in three strokes and then line them up together". They are independent and do not interfere with each other. The spirit pattern array is to "write three characters in one stroke". The strokes are connected and the breath is connected. The spirit patterns are no longer isolated, but form a complete whole.
The benefits of the spirit pattern array are obvious: reduced spiritual power consumption, faster spirit pattern switching, and enhanced power. But the difficulty also increases exponentially - you must have a clear understanding of the relationship between the spirit patterns, which two spirit patterns can be adjacent, which two must be separated, how the energy nodes are distributed, and how the patterns are connected, all must be planned in advance.
Spirit pattern arrays with the same attributes are the simplest. For example, spirit patterns such as "Strong", "Tough", "Junjun" and "Rebound", which belong to the same category of "power" or "defense", have similar lines and can share channels for energy flow, so the difficulty of forming an array is relatively low.
But if there are spirit patterns with completely different attributes, such as "fire", "ice" and "thunder", it will be extremely difficult to carve them together into a formation. If you are not careful, the effect will not be as good as the separation of the three lines. In severe cases, the spirit patterns may even collapse and damage Law Artifact.
Generally speaking, a mid-grade Law Artifact with a spiritual material content of more than 50% requires at least a three-spirit pattern array. Otherwise, the full potential of the spiritual material cannot be used at all.
Qin Tiexin After reading "Preliminary Interpretation", I also turned to "Encyclopedia" - it records twenty or thirty common combinations of spirit pattern arrays, from the simplest three-spirit pattern array with the same attribute to the complex five-spirit pattern multi-attribute nested array, all with detailed analysis.
He focused on the combination of "Qianjun-Tenacity-Countershock". This is the three-spirit pattern array that is most suitable for heavy weapons and is what he is best at. The three spirit patterns all belong to the category of "force" and have similar energy properties.
Then comes practice.
The box of Guizhen Spiritual Gold given by Wu Zhen has always been in his hand. The practice metal mixed with Guizhen Spiritual Gold has the property of restoring it to its original shape, so it is perfect for practicing the Spirit Pattern Formation.
Qin Tiexin Start practicing with the three spirit pattern arrays of the same attributes.
The first week was miserable. It would be good if it could be done once out of ten. Either the spiritual power output was unstable halfway through the pattern and it broke, or the conflict between the energy nodes of the three spiritual patterns caused the entire piece of metal to explode. One time the explosion was so severe that metal fragments fell into his face, causing a gash.
In the second week, I started to find the feeling. Ten times can become three times.
In the third week, ten times can become five times.
By the end of the month, he will be able to achieve six out of ten times. Although there will still be failures, at least the success rate is more than half.
Wu Zhen came to see him once, picked up the successful pieces of metal, looked at them for a while, and said, "It's okay, keep practicing." Qin Tiexin knew that Wu Zhen's standard was 100% to 80% before he could take on the job, and he was still far behind.
In addition to the spirit pattern array, Luo Ling also gave him another Jade Slip - "Spiritual Qi Carving Knife Cultivation Method".
Luo Ling's original words were. "The accuracy of your carving of spiritual patterns is acceptable, but the carving with your finger is still too thick. It is no problem to use it on ordinary swords and shields, but when you encounter more delicate work in the future, such as daggers, darts, hidden weapons, etc., your finger is too thick and you can't carve it at all."
Qin Tiexin looked at his broad palms and thick fingers...
He put Jade Slip on his forehead and read it, and he probably understood it.
This cultivation method was summed up by Luo Ling himself. The core is to use Divine Sense to control the thickness of the Spiritual Qi carving knife on the fingertip. The thinnest point is thinner than the tip of a needle, and it must be kept stable without shaking. Only in this way can the spiritual patterns carved out be fine and accurate enough.
Since you have chosen to use your fingers instead of a carving knife, you must show a better effect than the carving knife. Otherwise, why use your hands?
Luo Ling also gave him a sack of iron ingots, which were dusty and half the size of a hand. He asked him to use his fingertip Spiritual Qi carving knife to carve the iron ingots into lions.
Qin Tiexin When he tried it for the first time, Spiritual Qi the carving knife penetrated the iron ingot with a "chi" sound, and the iron filings fell down, leaving a pair of holes in the iron ingot. He adjusted it by three points, and in the second try, he just carved out two lines, and his hand trembled, and the lines became crooked. The third time, he barely carved out the outline, but the force was uneven, one deep and one shallow, which was very ugly.
At the end of the day, he used up more than a dozen iron ingots, and the ground was filled with debris and scraps. On the last piece in his hand, you could barely see the outline of an animal carved on it - but no one could tell whether it was a lion or a dog.
According to Luo Ling, when the lion's mane is carved clearly, when can the spiritual materials be replaced for practice.
Qin Tiexin After practicing his sword skills and carving the spirit pattern array every day, he took an hour to carve iron ingots. After a month, he used hundreds of iron ingots, and cave abode had a small pile of scraps piled at the door. He could now carve out the general shape of an animal, at least it could be seen that it was a four-legged beast, but the mane was still a mess, and looked like tangled grass.
It's still far from Luoling's standards.
In terms of cultivation, progress may be fast or slow.
The cultivation of the fifth level of Qi Refining is slowly consolidating, and it is still far away from the sixth level. Even if Spirit Stone is used to assist in cultivation, the gap between five Spirit Root and odd and even Spirit Root becomes more and more obvious. The growth of the cyclone is minimal, like a drop of water dripping into a pond, and the water cannot be seen rising.
Qin Tiexin I heard that Li Yun is already in seclusion and preparing to break through the ninth level of Qi refining. She is a water attribute single Spirit Root, so her cultivation speed is naturally not comparable to his.
He didn't think much about it. Five Spirit Root is a natural thing, there's no point in rushing, just practice it slowly.
The body training progressed quite quickly.
He used up the last "Bone Forging Pill" he bought, swallowed the pill and sat cross-legged. The potion melted away, and heat flowed to his limbs. Two hundred and six bones, large and small, all over his body - from the skull to the toes, made a subtle buzzing under the wash of the potion. The small bone seams and joint connections that were usually invisible were all soaked and tempered by the heat flow at this moment.
After an hour, the medicine is completely absorbed.
Qin Tiexin Opened his eyes and stood up slowly. After moving his hands and feet, he felt different - not that his strength had increased, but that he was "transparent". All the bones in his body, large and small, had been tempered, and the surface of the bones was covered with a light jade luster, making the bones more compact and solid.
Six levels of quenching body, Dacheng.
Next, you can prepare for the seventh level of body tempering - blood refining.
Qin Tiexin stood at the door of cave abode, looking at Luoling Peak under the night. A month is not long, but it is not short. I have just started to learn the dagger technique, and the spirit pattern array is 100%. Spiritual Qi The carving knife is still carving different looking lions. The progress of Qi refining is slow, and the sixth level of body refining is completed.
Everything is far behind, but everything is moving forward.
He turned around and went back to the house, sat down cross-legged, and began his routine breathing exercises.
You can prepare to try blood training tomorrow.