Feiyun Peak, one of the mountains of Qingyun Sect's Outer Sect.
Ye Chen sat cross-legged atop a cliff platform, his hands forming spells as he was in the midst of cultivating.
Next to him lay a fine steel sword, and not far ahead lay the vast sea of clouds between the cliffs, where the clouds and mist churned unpredictably.
After selecting a cultivation technique from the Martial Skill Pavilion, Ye Chen spent every day here diligently cultivating his True Qi and techniques.
Today marked the twenty-second day of his cultivation at this spot.
After a long period of sitting in meditation, suddenly, Ye Chen's body trembled as countless strands of Heaven and Earth True Qi rushed from all directions, swirling into a vortex as they poured into his body, finally all converging towards his Qi Sea.
Some time passed before Ye Chen exhaled a breath of impure air and opened his eyes, standing up. As he opened his eyes, a sharp light flashed and then vanished within his pupils.
"Twenty-two days, and I've finally made a smooth breakthrough to the fourth level of the True Qi Realm!"
With a grand gesture, Ye Chen released a burst of cyan True Qi from his hand, which swept up a large pile of rocks on the edge of the cliff, scattering them around.
Then, flipping his palm over, the four True Qi Vortexes within his Qi Sea suddenly shook violently, and a vast amount of True Qi burst forth directly, shattering the scattered rocks into tiny pieces.
Ye Chen stood with his palms retracted, as the faint cyan Qi light once again flew into his body. At that moment, a gust of wind blew through the cliffs, causing Ye Chen's hair to flutter and his robe to rustle loudly.
Beneath his robe, his once scrawny body had now become exceptionally well-proportioned and was filled with tremendous strength.
Just twenty-two days, and he had cultivated from the third level of the True Qi Realm to the fourth level. If word of this got out, it would probably shock all the official disciples within the entire Qingyun Sect!
"The Primordial Star Scripture truly is a Supreme Divine Art; the first layer, 'Meridian Refining Art,' is just too powerful!"
Ye Chen looked at his own palm and then at the shattered rocks by the cliff, murmuring to himself.
In these twenty-two days, with daily rigorous cultivation, he had successfully completed the cultivation of the Meridian Refining Art's Eight Extraordinary Meridians and had also cultivated thirty-three of the Meridian Wheels to the fifth.
On the day when the Eight Extraordinary Meridians were completed, Ye Chen clearly felt a qualitative leap in his physical condition.
With astute hearing and vision, a moist mouth and tongue, within a few meters' radius, every blade of grass and tree, even with his eyes closed, he felt as if he could sense their breathing.
This was a sign of the body being in an excellent state!
It wasn't just the condition of his body that had leaped in quality. After opening up the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, his cultivation of True Qi saw unexpected gains.
Not only was he refining more and more True Qi into his Qi Sea every day, but the speed at which he recovered after his True Qi was exhausted had also increased several times over.
It was precisely because of this that he could cultivate longer and more effectively each day than others and enter the fourth level of the True Qi Realm within just twenty-two days!
The further one went, the greater the quantity of True Qi needed to advance in the realm, but now Ye Chen had complete confidence that before the Outer Sect disciple assessment day of Qingyun Sect arrived, he could break through to the fifth, or even sixth, level of the True Qi Realm.
"To have such an effect simply after opening up the Eight Extraordinary Meridians..."
"I wonder, when I've completely finished cultivating the first layer of the 'Meridian Refining Art' and all thirty-three Meridian Wheels are fully opened, what new changes will occur in my body when running the 'Qi Meridians, Eight Extraordinary Meridians, and thirty-three Meridian Wheels' together."
Ye Chen was very much looking forward to this day.
What he was even more looking forward to was entering the Starlight Tower again and acquiring the second layer of the Primordial Star Scripture, the "Gang Yuan Chapter."
He was curious to see what incredible methods of cultivation the Primordial Star Scripture would teach him after the "Meridian Refining Art."
After feeling the changes that the breakthrough to the fourth level of the True Qi Realm brought to his body, Ye Chen picked up his fine steel sword, which was by his side.
He began to practice the "Torrential Rain Sword Skills."
The Torrential Rain Sword Skills, a set of incomplete cultivation techniques, clearly showed that the latter half of the manual had been torn off, leaving only a few pages.
Within these pages, three moves were recorded, namely "Torrential Rainfall," "Torrential Rain Splashing," and "Torrential Rain Filling the Skies."
During these days of practice, Ye Chen had gained a thorough understanding of this Yellow Class, mid-grade sword technique.
Initially, in the Martial Skill Pavilion, it was stated that although the Torrential Rain Sword Skills belonged to the Yellow Class, top-grade swordsmanship was downgraded to mid-grade due to only the first three moves being left. Among all the techniques in the second floor of the Martial Skill Pavilion, its attack power was said to be the strongest.
After actual practice, Ye Chen realized this statement was no exaggeration.
The first move "Torrential Rainfall" of the Torrential Rain Sword Skills, just as the first move, gave him a feeling equivalent to the power of a mid-grade Yellow Class technique.
This was a fast killing sword technique, where the moves were extremely quick, and one must be able to stab out seven swords in the blink of an eye for the technique to be considered greatly accomplished.
As the saying goes, "Among all the martial arts in the world, speed is the only unbeatable weapon." Being able to thrust seven swords in a blink of an eye, the opponent might well die under the sword without having the chance to react.
This was a true sword technique's killing move - like a torrential rain descending from the sky, striking to kill amidst a rapid fall!
Such a powerful sword technique correspondingly was very difficult to master, and after practicing it, Ye Chen finally understood why the Pavilion Guardian Elder had previously said that this technique was extremely difficult to practice, and that many disciples of Qingyun Sect could spend a month without any progress.
Indeed, this killing sword technique was incredibly challenging to master.
Even after Ye Chen's soul merged with this body and gained a wonderful comprehension power towards swordsmanship, it still took him thirteen days to complete the first move "Torrential Rainfall" of the Torrential Rain Sword Skills.
Whoosh!
On the stone platform on Feiyun Peak, Ye Chen, holding the fine steel sword, made a slight movement with his wrist, and the sword in his hand thrust out like lightning.
In the instant of the thrust, the entire tip of the sword vibrated, and in a moment, the sword light shone like stars.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
Ding!
Seven sounds of the sword rang out, and the fine steel sword pierced into the cliff face with an unbelievable speed.
In an instant, seven small holes were pierced through the cliff face.
These seven tiny holes, identical in appearance, were pierced into the cliff face, extremely fine and deep.
They represented the perfect concentration of strength, without a bit of waste, as all force was transformed into lethal power.
Looking up, one could see that there were many more such holes riddling the entire cliff.
All these holes were the product of Ye Chen's sword practice over the past few days.
After completing the first move of the Torrential Rain Sword Skills, "Torrential Rainfall," Ye Chen flicked his sword tip, and his technique instantly transformed.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
This time, he did not confine himself to the strategy of One Sword Seven Cuts; his sword left no trace, the previous strike still hanging on the left, while the next had already pierced towards the top.
Torrential Rain Splashing, rain falling in every direction, where the raindrops landed, the sword followed!
This was the second move of the Torrential Rain Sword Skills, "Torrential Rain Splashing."
This technique, appearing as if stabbing wildly at will, was deceptively strange and unpredictable, and the speed of the blade was even faster and more astonishing than the previous move, "Torrential Rainfall."
In the manual for "Torrential Rain Sword Skills," it says that when this move is mastered, ten sparrows could fly out of a bag, scattering in all directions, and with a single stroke of this technique, they could be slain.
The difficulty of perfecting this move was even greater than "Torrential Rainfall." It took Ye Chen a full seven days of training without gaining any insight into it.
It wasn't until the day he unblocked the Eight Extraordinary Meridians that his body's sensitivity to the external environment increased greatly, and he entered a mysterious state of swordsmanship, finally mastering the technique.
The state of swordsmanship that enabled him to master "Torrential Rain Splashing" was called "Sword Follows the Heart."
It is rumored that there are three realms in the practice of swordsmanship. The first realm is "Learn as You Go," where many sword cultivators, despite years of dedicated practice, still remain within this phase.
The second realm is "Sword Follows the Heart." Upon reaching this state, wherever the sword points is a technique infused with understanding, each move fluid without a fixed shape, achieving the optimal effect of the swordsmanship.
Ye Chen had stumbled into this realm by chance, which allowed him to succeed in the second move of the Torrential Rain Sword Skills.
The highest realm of swordsmanship, the legendary third realm, "Comprehending Sword Intent," surpasses the sword technique itself, aiming at the very essence of swordsmanship. In such a state, everything can become a sword, a part of swordsmanship.
This profound level of swordsmanship, as it is said, is so elusive that not many "Spirit Sea Realm" cultivators can achieve it, and among "True Qi Realm" cultivators, it is even rarer—one in ten thousand.
Although Ye Chen had attained the "Sword Follows the Heart" state, he was still far from "Comprehending Sword Intent."
Atop the cliff, as Ye Chen practiced the "Torrential Rain Splashing" move, his fine steel sword seemed to vanish, leaving only fierce streaks of sword light across the expanse of the rocky plateau.
After practicing for half an hour, Ye Chen finally stopped. Then, he began to train in another technique, the Yellow Class, mid-tier body method martial art called "Startling Goose Steps."
In the following days, Ye Chen continued his training at Feiyun Peak.
The days of practice flew by, and before he knew it, a month had passed.
The day to return the two Cultivation Manuals to the Martial Skill Pavilion had finally arrived.
After breakfast, Ye Chen left the courtyard, crossed the Mountain Gate Square, and headed towards the Martial Skill Pavilion.
As soon as he caught sight of the Martial Skill Pavilion from a distance, a figure stepped out to block his path, "Ye Chen, Brother Wang Yuan is asking for you at his courtyard; hurry up and get over there!"
The speaker was a young man with a horse-like face; Ye Chen recognized him—it was one of Wang Yuan's lackeys, named Ma Jiu.
This Ma Jiu, in the third level of the True Qi Realm, usually hung around Wang Yuan, acting arrogantly, dominating among the nominal disciples.
The past Ye Chen had suffered quite a bit of bullying from Wang Yuan and this Ma Jiu. However, Ye Chen was now at the fourth level of True Qi, had greatly accomplished the first two moves of the Torrential Rain Sword Skills and had some mastery over the third move, "Torrential Rain Filling the Skies." Compared to him, even Wang Yuan was insignificant, let alone Ma Jiu.
"Wang Yuan sure has a good memory, having you especially wait here for me!"
Ye Chen looked at Ma Jiu and sneered coldly.
He still remembered, a month ago, when he went to pick a Cultivation Technique at the Martial Skill Pavilion and happened to meet Wang Yuan, who also came to choose a technique. Wang Yuan had said that in a month, he would use him as a human punching bag.
Now the day to return the manual had come, and sure enough, Wang Yuan was not letting go, coming to find him.
"Go if you're told, what's there to fuss about! Brother Wang Yuan has just finished practicing a technique and needs you wastes as sparring targets. Keep blabbering, and I'll loosen your bones first," Ma Jiu rubbed his fists and stepped towards Ye Chen.
Ye Chen glanced indifferently at Ma Jiu, "Scram; if Wang Yuan wants a beating, let him come himself."
Both men had chosen new techniques a month ago at the Martial Skill Pavilion, and Ye Chen wanted to test his moves on Wang Yuan, both to avenge his earlier humiliation and to assess the power of his Torrential Rain Sword Skills.
The manner of Ye Chen infuriated Ma Jiu, "You fool, telling me to scram? You really have no idea how tall the heavens are or how deep the earth is!"
Slap!
His hand clawed out, aiming a swipe at Ye Chen.
Right as Ma Jiu's hand was about to reach Ye Chen, Ye Chen made no move to dodge; instead, he struck Ma Jiu's face with an open palm.
"Slap!"
The slap sent Ma Jiu flying several meters away, knocking out several of his teeth.
Ma Jiu, his mouth full of blood, crashed to the ground with a thud.
"You... you fool, how dare you hit me?"
Touching his face, Ma Jiu was still dazed. He looked at Ye Chen, his eyes full of disbelief, hardly able to accept that he had just been sent flying by Ye Chen.
"I told you to scram, and for Wang Yuan to come himself."
Ye Chen walked step by step towards Ma Jiu, crouched down, and patted Ma Jiu's face, "What's the matter, not convinced yet?"