Advancing by leaps and bounds

At White Stone Ferry, Li Xin and the others all watched the woods anxiously.

Someone could not help suggesting in a low voice, "Second Manager, why don't we set sail first?"

Li Xin glared at the assistant and cursed, "What kind of bullshit are you spouting!"

The assistant lowered his head, not daring to make a sound. The others had thought leaving first sounded good too, but now none dared speak.

Li Xin also wanted to get away from danger, but he understood that sailing at night was extremely dangerous too. One mishap could bury them in the river.

Even if he survived by luck, if he abandoned Zhou Wuji to flee for his own life and Zhou Wuji returned safely, he would have bitter fruit to swallow.

Besides, Zhou Wuji was Daoist Yiyuan's personal disciple. Daoist Yiyuan would not spare him either.

Whatever choice he made, all he could do now was stay and wait for news.

Just as the wait became unbearable for everyone, they saw a figure moving at the edge of the woods.

It was too far away to make out his appearance, but they could see he was alone, his wide sleeves fluttering. It had to be Zhou Wuji.

Li Xin and the others were overjoyed. Since Zhou Wuji had returned safely, the rogue soldiers must have been dealt with. None of them had to die!

A few quick-witted men hurried forward, calling, "Daoist Zhou, you're finally back!"

"If you hadn't come back soon, we were all going to come get you..."

Li Xin also strode forward, his face full of excitement as he asked, "Daoist, are you all right?"

Once he drew close, Li Xin smelled blood on Zhou Wuji. Looking at his Daoist robe, he saw patches and spots all over it.

Though he could not see clearly, he immediately understood that those had to be bloodstains. His heart tightened involuntarily, and his expression stiffened.

Zhou Wuji paid no attention to Li Xin's expression. He said, "I'm fine. The rogue soldiers have been dealt with. Quite a few people died in White Stone Village. Go take care of things."

Zhou Wuji had checked earlier. The village had only a dozen or so households, forty or fifty people. All the adult men had been killed, leaving only women and children.

Plundering valuables had been secondary for these rogue soldiers. Their main concern had probably been keeping their whereabouts secret.

Small villages were very insular. Once all the men were killed, they were easy to control.

He was not the sentimental sort, and none of this had happened because of him.

Still, seeing ordinary lives treated like grass left him somewhat downcast.

He had recited the Supreme Rebirth Incantation to deliver the villagers' souls, then cast the Golden Light Incantation twice to keep lingering resentment from turning them into vengeful ghosts.

He could leave the remaining aftermath to Li Xin and the others.

Naturally, Li Xin agreed repeatedly.

Returning to the cabin, Zhou Wuji first checked the Seven Star Sword's edge. Finding no nicks or damage, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Though the Seven Star Sword was a precious blade, the rogue soldiers' weapons had not been poor either.

If their edges had truly clashed, damage would have been inevitable. Only his skillful swordsmanship, using the flat of the blade to strike sideways whenever weapons met, had kept its edge intact.

Although no blood clung to the blade, Zhou Wuji still wiped it twice with a clean handkerchief before sheathing it.

The sword could be wiped clean, but his bloodstained Daoist robe was harder to deal with.

He had left in such a hurry that he had not brought a single change of clothes.

For now, he could only make do.

While no one was aboard, Zhou Wuji hauled up the chest of gold he had sunk in the water.

With the situation critical earlier, he had tied the chest with the Ice Silkworm Silk he carried and thrown it into the water, winding the other end around the window frame.

Ice Silkworm Silk was woven from special silkworm silk and spider silk. Barely thicker than a hair, it could bear three or four hundred jin. It was very handy for a bit of binding, fishing, or the like.

It was another of the little things Zhou Wuji liked carrying with him.

If the boat really had sailed and the silk slipped loose, no one would have been able to find the gold.

Zhou Wuji was not particularly greedy. It was simply that this chest of gold was crucial to his receiving the precepts and seal.

Both receiving the precepts and being granted a seal required setting up an altar. High-grade ritual altars were expensive, and inviting a register-bestowing Daoist to preside cost even more.

Learning spells also required tuition.

To become the master of Hidden Dragon Temple, he would also have to pull strings and grease palms at every level. Those personal connections required spending real gold and silver.

He had accompanied his master to Cloud Dragon Lower Court before, and his master had explained the process of advancing to the eighth rank many times. He knew the ins and outs quite well.

Two hundred taels of gold might not even be enough...

Feeling the soaking-wet chest and checking that the gold was safe, Zhou Wuji could not help wanting to sigh. If only he had a Law Artifact that could carry belongings with him.

Unfortunately, even his master, powerful as he was, had none. Such a powerful Law Artifact was even further beyond his reach.

After the intense fighting, Zhou Wuji felt a little hungry. He took another Grain Avoidance Pill, then sat cross-legged with his eyes closed to regulate his breathing.

Only after circulating his True Qi through a hundred and eight circuits did Zhou Wuji restore it to fullness, sweeping away his mental and physical fatigue as well.

Zhou Wuji glanced ashore. Everyone was still busy. Judging by the time, more than two hours should have passed.

He took off his bloodstained Daoist robe, shoes, and socks, then lay down on the bed, truly relaxing in body and mind.

With nothing else to do, Zhou Wuji opened the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment.

Fourteen rogue soldiers were listed on the blank page, but none had names.

Clearly, if he did not know their names, neither did the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment.

The Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment could only weigh these rogue soldiers' fates.

The leader's fate weighed two taels and seven qian. There were also two taels and two qian, two taels and one qian, and another two taels and one qian. The rest were all below two taels.

Judging by his previous experience, two taels and seven qian was clearly quite valuable-at least much better than Zhang Wuding's.

Tonight's battle had made Zhou Wuji even more certain that swordsmanship was his best choice for now.

The Origin Profound Spirit that the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment converted from fates could only improve swordsmanship and spells, not raise his True Qi's level.

In truth, he had no other choice.

Tonight had actually been quite perilous. Had he not ambushed seven rogue soldiers in the woods beforehand, even if he could have won a frontal battle, he would have paid a considerable price.

Ultimately, his swordsmanship was still not strong enough.

Zhou Wuji immediately converted the four fates above two taels into Origin Profound Spirit and invested all of it in the Xiaoxiang Sword.

A small world unfolded. With a sword in hand, Zhou Wuji began training tirelessly, day and night.

Through constant practice, Zhou Wuji gained a deeper understanding of all eight moves of the Xiaoxiang Sword, making tremendous progress in wielding his sword, spatial positioning, circulating Qi, and other aspects as well.

When Zhou Wuji opened his eyes, he lightly rolled out of bed. Without even looking, he reached out and drew the Seven Star Sword beside his pillow.

In the space of a breath, he had thrust nine times in succession.

He sheathed the sword, then drew it again and unleashed another nine successive thrusts. This time, however, he coordinated them with his footwork, shifting his steps nine times over the course of the nine thrusts.

Without needing to look, Zhou Wuji casually sheathed his sword. The entire sequence was poised and effortless, natural and fluid.

He silently savored that feeling of effortless freedom for a while, feeling refreshed and exhilarated inside and out.

Going from seven successive thrusts to nine meant his speed had increased by another twenty percent. But that twenty percent was an improvement across the board.

It was not just speed. His footwork and movement, his circulation and allocation of True Qi, and even the angles and speed of his thrusts were all under precise control.

Sure enough, in the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment, Xiaoxiang Swordsmanship had advanced as a whole to minor attainment.

So-called minor attainment meant achieving a certain degree of accomplishment beyond proficiency.

If proficiency made one an expert, minor attainment meant taking another step to become an outstanding expert.

This improvement in his swordsmanship had also directly improved his understanding and control of Heavenly Pivot True Qi.

This was mainly because the Xiaoxiang Sword and Heavenly Pivot True Qi were extremely well matched. Raising the level of his swordsmanship had, in turn, driven progress in his Heavenly Pivot True Qi.

His five senses had also sharpened somewhat. By the moonlight shining through the window, he could clearly see the shape and details of the teacup on the table.

Zhou Wuji felt he had made tremendous progress this time. With his current swordsmanship, even if he fought all fourteen rogue soldiers head-on, he should be able to win, right?!

Taking on a ten-man squad of fully armored soldiers head-on was already a formidable level of martial strength.

The better his swordsmanship became, the more Zhou Wuji understood how formidable seventh-rank martial artists were. Though he did not know how strong Zhang Xinhu was, using his master as a yardstick, he still fell far short.

There were still ten rogue soldiers' fates in the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment. He could not waste those either.

Without needing to test it, Zhou Wuji knew his swordsmanship had already reached a very high level. These rogue soldiers' fates were too low; even all ten together would not be enough to improve a single sword move.

After some thought, he decided to improve the Rejuvenation Technique first.

If he could train this low-level healing spell well, it would still be of some use.

The Golden Light Technique was for warding off evil and driving away ghosts. With the Seven Star Sword, he had no use for it at all.

Or should he wait for now, until he had learned a new spell?