Chapter 202 - 200: Qi Refiner
Compared to Song Changming, his minor achievements seemed insignificant.
Previously, he considered Song Changming his opponent, planning to improve his strength before going down the mountain to regain his lost prestige.
But now, he felt he had been somewhat naive.
Song Changming had surpassed Nan Chen Guang, slain an Earth List martial artist, and battled Celestial List experts, reaching the pinnacle of the Earth List and aiming for the highest Celestial List.
In comparison, he only had the title of a distinguished disciple of the Wangyue Pavilion, which made him feel somewhat inadequate.
This seemed to be an undeniable fact.
The two were not on the same level as martial artists!
Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but feel a bit disheartened, but upon further reflection, losing to Song Changming didn’t seem so disgraceful.
After all, he was at the top of the Earth List and could spar with Celestial List experts.
Wasn’t it perfectly normal to lose to him?
Thinking this way, he felt much better; why be hard on himself...
Silently, he crossed out the option of going down the mountain to challenge Song Changming.
Meanwhile, on the mountain, a pagoda stood.
Under the pagoda, a plaque bore the word "Yuehan".
Fairy Yuehan, the vice pavilion master of the Wangyue Pavilion, ranked fifteenth in Zhuji Pavilion’s Celestial List, showing her profound strength.
"Yan’Er, is this Young Master Song who gave you the Dragon Transformation Pearl?" The cold and graceful Fairy Yuehan asked, gazing at the name on the Secret Chronicles from the upper floor of the pagoda.
"Yes, it’s him." Liu Yan’Er nodded.
Inside the pagoda, facing her master, she did not wear a veil, revealing her fair and beautiful face.
"Hmm..." Fairy Yuehan nodded without saying more.
"Make good use of this Dragon Transformation Pearl, and you might have a chance to break through!"
Liu Yan’Er showed a hint of confusion.
Break through? To where?
...
The days passed one by one.
As time went on, the fervor brought by Song Changming slaying the king gradually subsided.
But his achievement of reaching the top of the Earth List remained unchanged.
In the blink of an eye, more than half a year had passed.
This year’s annual evaluation, unsurprisingly, was quite outstanding.
[Annual Evaluation: Renowned Across the World!]
[Martial Arts Aspect: This year, your martial arts cultivation advanced steadily, with both body refinement and qi refining blooming, achieving five thousand pounds of strength, forming an inner qi vortex, and mastering the Seventh Grade Fire God Saber Technique, Level Eight Flying Thunder Technique, and Celestial Essence Body Refining Technique...]
[Battle Achievements: This year, your battle achievements were remarkable, slaying the mighty Second Prince, dueling martial arts expert Duan Fangshuo, defeating...]
[Power and Prestige: This year, you became renowned across the martial realm as a rising star...]
[Family Aspect: The family dwindled with no successors in sight...]
[Completed Events: 1. Stepping out of Donglai Prefecture, a new journey! 2. Slaying the Second Prince, settling grievances! 3. Contending in the Earth List, reaching the top!]
[Please choose your annual rewards.]
[1. Life Span +6000. 2. Life Span -2000, obtain a related green physical trait ’Qi Refiner’. 3. Life Span -2000, enhance inner qi cultivation. 4. Life Span -400, attribute points +4]
[Note: You can choose two of the four options as rewards.]
"Indeed, the more you stir things up, the more high-profile you are, the higher the annual evaluation..."
Song Changming browsed through this year’s annual evaluation, having summed up the basic pattern.
What he didn’t expect was that stepping out of Donglai Prefecture counted as an event.
Perhaps it was akin to leaving a novice village, a minor achievement...
High evaluations lead to high rewards.
This time was another fortunate choice between four rewarding options.
Able to choose two of the four options as rewards.
Song Changming looked ahead, thought for a moment, and finally chose the second and third rewards.
A new physical trait and an opportunity to directly enhance inner qi cultivation.
Choosing a new physical trait needs no more explanation.
Whenever such basic reward options appeared, Song Changming would pick one.
Positive physical traits are equivalent to innate talents, affecting both current strength and future growth limits, truly worth having abundantly.
After all, who would complain about being too much of a genius, too unique?
As for choosing the third reward to enhance inner qi cultivation, he mainly wanted to see how much inner qi enhancement he could get at the cost of two thousand life span points.
The panel description was simple, making it hard for him to estimate the reward’s value.
Upon confirming, the rewards quickly arrived.
His panel showed the fifth related physical trait immediately.
Qi Refiner (Green): Naturally more adept at qi refining, enhancing the efficiency of qi refining and control over inner qi.
Song Changming’s eyes lit up as he read the new trait’s description.
This trait was great, straightforward in effect—meant to enhance qi refining efficiency!
With this ’Qi Refiner’ physique trait, his progress in qi refining was inherently faster than others!
Producing more cultivation results with less time.
For a long time to come, he would be spending time on qi refining.
So this new trait provided considerable help to him.
Moreover, the ’Qi Refiner’ trait also improved his control over inner qi.
This could provide excellent support for deploying inner qi in practical combat.
Greater inner qi control meant higher inner qi potency with less consumption, and less likelihood of losing control over inner qi.
In short, with this trait, his incompetence was more adept than other martial artists in the aspect of inner qi.
Once the new trait appeared on the panel, Song Changming immediately sensed the difference.
As he raised his hand, an invisible gust of wind floated up, lingering for a long time.
This was him activating inner qi and using the Wind Dragon Divine Saber Technique to easily convert the inner qi into wind attribute blade qi.
Retaining it firmly in his palm without holding a saber.
Something he couldn’t manage before.
Undoubtedly, the new trait played a role, exceeding his expectations!
Afterward, he tried qi refining again.
The most direct feeling was that it was much easier, taking roughly a quarter less time for one round compared to the past.
As he developed this new trait further, these effects would manifest even more prominently on him.
Next, he collected the second reward.
Once he confirmed it, he suddenly felt like his body had become a bottomless pit, with surrounding natural energies pouring into him continuously.
Without needing him to refine, these natural energies were quickly refined within his body, transforming into strands of precious inner qi that merged with his being.
This process happened swiftly, with a continuous flow of inner qi filling him, originating endlessly.
"This is so awesome!" Song Changming’s eyes expressed delight.
The previous qi refining cultivation was arduous and slow, and now it was immensely satisfying.
Soon, the newly acquired inner qi accumulated and overflowed, inducing a qualitative change from the quantitative change.
Thus, the inner qi spiraled and consolidated, forming naturally and effortlessly.
The inner qi transformed into a second qi vortex within him!
"It’s ... accomplished?"
Song Changming murmured to himself as he introspected through spiritual power, observing the two martial arts qi vortexes within him.
The formation of the second qi vortex gave him a slight sense of unreality.
But that was the reality; what could have taken years to accumulate and precipitate was directly achieved through this annual reward!
The cost of two thousand life span points was considerable, but attaining a martial arts qi vortex years ahead made it immensely worthwhile.
"Thus, I could be considered to have reached the Qi Refining Second Layer Realm!"
Song Changming grasped with virtual hands, inner qi transforming into extraordinarily potent qi, bursting forth from his palms.
Bam!
It was like two Palm Thunders exploded, causing the air to ripple and the shockwave to spread out.
Song Changming grinned; just with these two annual rewards, the Second Prince wasn’t killed in vain!
Or, should I say, it was super worthwhile!
"Maybe, when encountering great evildoers in the future, eliminating them wouldn’t be such a bad thing..." Song Changming contemplated.
Participate in major events; the bigger the event, the higher the score.
Battle achievements: the higher the enemy’s fame or strength, the higher the battle score.
This was a method Song Changming discovered to increase his annual evaluation.
Previously, with insufficient strength, he didn’t dare think too much about these matters.
Now, as his strength increased, he could consider these methods to raise his annual evaluation.
...