Chapter 198: Chapter 194: The Spiritual Sword Divides the Light
Chapter 198: Chapter 194: The Spiritual Sword Divides the Light
After Qin Zheng left, only Zhou Yi and the Spirit Ginseng child remained in the spiritual land.
Day after day of contemplating the Dao and Qi Cultivation, the hardships of long-term ascetic practice slowly became habitual.
The vast inheritance of the Cultivation World contained within the Wanjuan Daozang always yielded new insights with constant recitation, akin to studying an endless science, ever closer to the truth of the world, never again feeling monotonous.
Cultivation that aligns with the Dao brings joy to the cultivator, pure and heartfelt, reaching deep into the soul.
By comparison, it is probably even more refreshing than celebrating a victory!
"No wonder immortals meditate in seclusion for thousands of years, to cultivate constantly is to continuously enjoy."
Zhou Yi also contemplated Qin Zheng's Qi-Blood martial arts in his spare time, discarding the original process of cleansing bones and muscles, and integrating the nourishing methods of martial Medicinal Decoctions, no longer limited to Demon Beast Essence Blood.
Be it nourishing Medicinal Decoctions or eating ginseng and Lingzhi raw, both could strengthen and grow Qi-Blood, including eating meat and rice, which essentially liberated from the shackles of Spiritual Energy.
Thanks to his daily diet of Spirit Rice and thousand-year-old ginseng pickles, Qin Zheng finally achieved his Qi orifice within a year.
The flaw is that the power falls short of the original Cultivation Techniques, and after achieving the Qi orifice, the Qi is only equivalent to just entering the Innate stage, far from the realm of fighting with great demons.
"However, compared to the original Body Tempering martial arts, the Qi-Blood martial arts has too many advantages."
"No need to experience the various bottlenecks like tempering muscles and forging bones, just focus on accumulating Qi-Blood to achieve the Qi orifice, it's practically a direct shot to the Innate!"
Since Zhou Yi doesn't have a Spirit Root and follows the path of warrior entering the Dao, comparing the two, the flaws of the Qi-Blood martial arts were evident.
Resources!
In the mortal world, spending a few hundred Silvers allows one to learn the art of Body Tempering from a martial arts school, while the resources needed to accumulate the first strand of Qi-Blood far exceed the former by tenfold, with even more required to continuously condense and temper the Qi-Blood.
"Are the common folk playing with an old version, while the big spenders upgrade more swiftly?"
Zhou Yi slightly shook his head, spending over ten years to once again optimize the Qi-Blood martial arts.
After reciting the Wanjuan Daozang for hundreds of years, every Daoist Cultivation Technique talks about the Dantian, so Zhou Yi's understanding of the Dantian is profound.
From a high vantage point, the modified Qi-Blood martial arts made breaking through to the Qi orifice easier, requiring less accumulated Qi-Blood, and the power of the technique was reduced a level, which accordingly lessened the resource requirements.
"Were the mighty ancient techniques gradually transformed into today's techniques as Spiritual Energy waned and resources depleted?"
Zhou Yi's eyes dimmed with new insights into cultivation techniques, such as the Celestial Records' "Return to the Origin," which could attempt to draw in vast amounts of starlight to swiftly cultivate a Star Body.
"After nearly thirteen hundred years of contemplating the Dao, I am finally able to optimize Cultivation techniques and secret arts!"
"Could it be dangerous?"
"For instance, the meridians could break, the Dantian might shatter, or the foundation of the law body could become unstable..."
Zhou Yi thought over his options, planning to follow the steps of the sages and cultivate step by step. The difference was only three or four hundred years, insignificant compared to the consumption of morning divination, so why take the risk?
With this thought, he took out the divination container and gently shook it, expending five hundred years of lifespan to use the Minor Subtraction Technique.
The divining slip landed securely.
An average fortune.
All is safe.
...
Fifty years passed in the blink of an eye for Zhou Yi.
The mortal world had already experienced the change of two generations.
Twenty years ago, a great change occurred in Cloud Continent; the Great Qian Dynasty that stood for 1132 years had finally fallen.
Emperor Tai Shi, the new ruler of Qing Kingdom, Qin Zheng, personally led his troops to conquer the capital of Da Qian and after thirty years of campaigning, became the leading dynasty of Cloud Continent.
It wasn't until the remaining twelve nations acknowledged Qing Kingdom as the sovereign that the expansion and conquest ceased!
...
Early morning.
Zhou Yi, as usual, drew in the purple qi of the morning sun, and after finishing his cultivation, took out the divination container to divine.
Divining six times daily had become a habit, even as the foremost in the world, he never slackened.
The divining slip landed.
The light bloomed dazzlingly, slowly condensing into two words.
Light Dividing!
"Nearly four hundred years have passed, and now an excellent prophecy emerges. With the Wanjuan Daozang at my disposal, it's certainly not the cultivation techniques and secret arts, the only thing related is... the Sect's Supreme Treasure, the Light Dividing Sword!"
Zhou Yi's face showed joy, the more he cultivated the Mountain and River Cauldron, the more he knew the difficulty of acquiring the Sect's Supreme Treasure.
For ten thousand years, righteous and demonic paths have ruled over the Nine Continents, with each sect openly possessing only one, which shows its preciousness.
"I have waited for so long, and finally, today has come. Inheriting scriptures are free to be read, the Sect's Supreme Treasure is just at hand to pick, and in a few hundred years' time, graves are there to be dug... "
Zhou Yi spat out the Xuanwu Divine Armor, which transformed into an ordinary looking tortoise shell, then cast another divination secret technique, known as the Minor Extension of Divine Calculation.
This technique originated from the Dan Ding Sect, using tortoise shell magic artifacts to divine the will of heaven, though far less effective than the Minor Calculation of Heaven Technique, its power can be increased by the quality of the magic artifact.
The Black Tortoise Carapace could be said to be the finest tortoise shell in the world!
Zhou Yi invoked spells, with luminous rays falling upon the tortoise shell, and when his mana was nearly exhausted, his soul trembled slightly, conjuring several messages out of thin air.
"Green State, Sword Casting Hall!"
"Time for the lad to work, pack up the belongings and change the territory."
...
Green State.
Hundreds of years have passed, and the calamity where Jian Xuan slaughtered countless cities has been smoothed over by time.
Zhou Yi disguised as a wandering Taoist, holding a fortune-telling long banner, and quickly inquired about the location of the Sword Casting Hall.
Spirit Sword City.
Famous and prestigious, with nearly three hundred years of inheritance, Green State's undisputed number one martial faction. With branches in every state and province, it boasts over a hundred thousand swordsmen and a million disciples; the position of the sect leader is comparable to that of the emperors of various countries.
"Over two hundred years, indeed an interesting time."
Zhou Yi cast an Invisibility Technique, floating in the air, looking down at the city below.
Bustling and noisy, the street people all wore swords, clearly all martial practitioners of the pugilistic world.
Countless black smokestacks stood in the city, with unceasing clanging sounds. All shops in the city were forging swords, filling the air with the choking scent of sparks.
His Divine Sense swept back and forth across the city, finally detecting a nearly extinguished mana fluctuation in a shop at the southeastern corner.
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"Found it."
Zhou Yi's light evasion technique landed him at the entrance of the shop, and just as he was about to step inside, a young boy hurried over.
"Uncle Li, I have gathered enough money."
As he spoke, he dashed into the Li family's smithy, paid five hundred coins, and from the pile of scrap metal in the corner, picked out a rusty iron sword.
"Hehe."
The boy's face showed delight, wrapping the iron sword in a rag a few times before dashing off and disappearing into the crowd.
No matter how the boy twists and turns, seeming to know some anti-surveillance tricks, he can't shake off Zhou Yi, who is following behind him.
Until a standalone small courtyard house.
The boy pushed the door open, cheerfully greeted his elder sister, and slipped into his own hall.
Taking out the iron sword from his chest, before he could even admire it, a voice reached his ears.
"Fellow Daoist, this item and I are predestined, might you be willing to part with it for me?"
The boy turned to the source of the voice and saw a jade-faced Taoist appear out of thin air before him.
"Ghost!"
He shouted, employing his qinggong to flee outwards, only to hit an invisible yet solid transparent wall, bounced back with a bang, and fell to the ground with a thud.
Zhou Yi waved his hand, pulling the iron sword towards him, channeling mana into it. The reddish brown rust flaked off, instantly transforming into a brand new three-foot green blade.
"It still has some spirit left in it. If another hundred and eighty years passed, it would have fully degraded into an ordinary magic artifact!"
"A treasure that once shocked the Nine Continents, has it really fallen into my hands so easily?"