Chapter 170: Ten Seasons Sword Art
Xiang Yu delivered a punch that sent Meiling sliding several meters backward. He felt a surge of satisfaction at how he was completely overwhelming her in terms of raw physical strength now. Yet, even as this thought formed, his instincts screamed danger. He barely managed to twist his body, evading an incoming attack by mere millimeters.
Meiling appeared before him in a blur of movement, her sword already swinging downward. The blade pressed against him with tremendous force. Though he managed to resist the pressure, his arms trembled with the effort. With a heave, he threw her off, creating momentary distance between them.
She recovered instantly, spinning gracefully like a dancer before executing a perfect sword technique. The edge sliced straight for his neck. Xiang Yu concentrated his dragon essence on the threatened area, scales forming rapidly across his skin. The blade rebounded off the hardened surface, but not before leaving a deep cut.
Before he could recover his balance, Meiling made another lightning-fast swing. This time, her sword found no resistance, cleanly separating his head from his shoulders.
Xiang Yu’s awareness snapped back to his form in the spiritual sea. He blinked, orienting himself as he glanced at the infant soul still diligently practicing nearby. Analyzing the fight in his mind, he recognized his progress—he had lasted significantly longer against the simulation than in previous attempts.
He could now confidently say that his physical strength now matched that of a peak Golden Core cultivator, but his skill remained inadequate. If he just had one perfected technique, he felt certain he wouldn’t lose to her again.
Sighing, he reset the simulation and selected peak Core Formation Meiling as his opponent. To his surprise, he managed to overwhelm and defeat her in mere seconds. He tried several more times with the same result—instant victory. Curious, he moved on to the early Golden Core version. This provided slightly more challenge but remained entirely doable.
After these easy victories, Xiang Yu decided to return to the peak Golden Core version, but with the usual modification. He edited her skills to match his own. This proved to be the ideal training environment. Their battles now stretched for almost an hour at times. Though he completely dominated her in physical power, she compensated through qi enhancement techniques, creating an evenly matched fight that pushed his abilities to their limits.
For a full hour, he continued this rigorous practice—fighting intensely, then taking time between matches to analyze and digest the benefits. When his allocated simulation time concluded, Xiang Yu didn’t immediately leave the spiritual sea. Instead, he settled into a meditative posture mirroring the infant soul’s position.
Unlike the soul, however, he wasn’t cultivating his mind. He focused on technique research. With his high enlightenment, along with the natural boosts from his physique and phoenix bloodline, it would be a waste not to take advantage of it.
Waiting passively for techniques to appear wasn’t an option now that he understood their critical importance in combat. His earlier assumption that superior strength alone guaranteed victory had been thoroughly disproven.
Entering a deep meditative trance, Xiang Yu began formulating various techniques, concentrating specifically on swordsmanship. He had observed countless sword moves from both Meiling and his junior sister, providing abundant inspiration. Methodically, he analyzed every movement he had witnessed, experimenting and testing different variations, restructuring problematic sequences, editing inefficient motions, repeatedly practicing promising combinations, and brute-forcing solutions when inspiration failed.
After countless attempts and refinements, something finally crystallized in his mind:
[Sacred-grade Ten Seasons Sword Art: Beginner (10/100)]
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Xiang Yu observed the technique he had created with deep satisfaction. This "Ten Seasons Sword Art" represented the perfect synthesis of all his sword insights combined with his elemental mastery. The technique focused on infusing his sword techniques with elemental energy, significantly increasing damage while adding various elemental effects.
The "ten seasons" referred to the ten elements he had mastered: fire, water, earth, wood, metal, wind, ice, lightning, dark, and light. This comprehensive sword technique would substantially amplify his elemental sword attacks, as well as finally allowing him to properly utilize his physiques’ ability to seamlessly switch between elements at will.
He nodded appreciatively as he studied the technique’s structure. Being sacred-grade, once perfected, it would serve him well for a considerable time. Having accomplished this significant development, he checked on the infant soul one final time before departing from his spiritual sea.
Upon returning to his physical form, Xiang Yu immediately turned his attention to farming. He tended to his spirit animals first, ensuring they were properly fed and comfortable. Next, he moved to his plants, which showed promising growth. After watering them thoroughly, he took up a hoe and began expanding the garden area.
Though he didn’t plant anything in the newly prepared soil, he worked it meticulously, breaking up clumps and removing stones. He thought ahead to when the trade agreement with the Golden Edge Sect would be finalized, planning to acquire and plant higher-level herbs in this expanded area. Although higher level plants would consume more energy, straining the spirit vein, he didn’t think it would be an issue, after all, he already knew how to upgrade the spirit vein.
The farming duties consumed approximately an hour. Afterward, Xiang Yu transitioned to alchemy, having recently restructured his daily schedule once again. Now he dedicated the pre-dawn hours to alchemy and farming. After sunrise, he would focus on weapon refining and talisman making. The afternoon following lunch would be reserved for formation making and medicine.
He had already discussed with his martial aunt his intention to practice medicine on sect disciples. She agreed to establish a clinic for him at the mountain’s base, where he could examine and treat disciples. Evening would be the optimal time for this practice, as cultivators typically returned exhausted and sometimes injured after a full day of training—benefiting both the sect and Xiang Yu’s medicinal skill development.
Xiang Yu began refining pills. First, he produced one hundred seventh-grade healing pills specifically for his bloodline training. Now that his bloodlines had upgraded, he suspected the eighth-grade pills might no longer suffice.
Still, he limited the quantity, recognizing that his regenerative capabilities had also improved so he might not need as much. Besides, he already had a plan on how to stimulate the bloodlines without causing much harm. A smile crossed his face as he set the pills aside.
Though it wasn’t yet time for his medicine practice, Xiang Yu still made some midnight flowers and refined several qi absorption pills, intending to use them on his remaining normal animals to transform them into spirit beasts. After successfully converting ten beasts more, he shifted his focus to production for the sect, continuing with eighth-grade pills as he had previously decided.
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Author’s Corner
The bloodlines and other stuff increase Xiang Yu’s base strength not refining so that’s why it exploded so high.