Chapter Six: The Qing Shan Sword Manual and Sword Training

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“Notice: The guild is purchasing fragments of the River God’s Divine Seal for 10 gold and 100 guild contribution points each. Interested parties, please contact the personnel supervisors of the guild.”

Less than two hours after acquiring the item, Su Yu received this guild notification.

“The guild’s response is pretty fast.”

Without hesitation, Su Yu randomly contacted a personnel supervisor named Yan Ning through the notice:

“Supervisor Yan, I have one here!”

If it were a complete Ancient River God Seal, there would be no way he would sell it, and even slightly larger pieces would give him pause. But this was just a small fragment, one of over eighty pieces, so there was no need to keep it—he certainly didn’t have the ability to collect all the other fragments.

Ten gold—that would greatly ease his financial pressure.

And 100 guild contribution points were no small matter either; they could be exchanged for quite a few good items.

Fifteen minutes later, after handing over the fragment to the guild, he smoothly received 10 taels of gold and 100 guild contribution points.

With money in hand, he immediately headed to the Thousand Feathers Trading Company to start shopping.

First on his list was a beginner-level sword manual—the Green Mountain Sword Scripture.

Green Mountain Sword Scripture (Beginner): A sideline sword technique consisting of ten levels, known for its lightness and speed.

Each level increases flying sword damage by 15, attack speed by 10, and flying sword flight speed by 10 km/h.

Training requirements: Innate Constitution 12 points, Innate Comprehension 15 points.

He only wanted to see if he had any talent in this area and didn’t need to buy a top-tier manual.

If he had no talent, it wouldn’t be a loss; if he did, he could find a higher-level basic sword technique later to supersede it.

Then, he casually selected a second-tier flying sword—the Bluefish Sword—for 2 taels of silver.

Bluefish Sword (Second-tier Flying Sword): Crafted from the spinal bones of the Bluefish spirit.

Attributes: Attack power 20-25, attack speed 12-15, flying sword speed 13-16, basic sword technique bonus 15%.

Equipment requirement: Basic sword technique level 8.

This flying sword was the lowest among second-tier flying swords, possessing only attributes without any special features or spells.

But it was cheap—only 2 taels of silver.

With the flying sword ready, the main event followed: he spent a full 5 taels of gold to purchase five scrolls of first-grade cultivation handbooks.

First-Grade Cultivation Handbook (Wandering Immortal): A cultivation manual by wandering immortal masters. The level cap increase depends on the grade of the cultivation method: Mystical +1 level, Advanced +2 levels, Intermediate +3 levels, Beginner +5 levels.

These were jade scrolls. Returning to his residence, Su Yu opened the handbook, revealing tiny characters written in spiritual light. As he opened the jade scroll, the luminous characters slowly rose, merging into a flowing stream of light that entered his brow.

“Notification: Reading a First-Grade Cultivation Handbook increases the Purple Origin Qi Refinement Technique level cap by 3.”

“Notification: Unknown factor, Purple Origin Qi Refinement Technique level cap increased by 6.”

“Perfect!”

Su Yu cheerfully took out the second handbook and began reading.

After reading three scrolls in one go, his Qi Refinement heart method’s limit increased by 18 levels, adding to his existing 15 levels, bringing the Purple Origin Qi Refinement Technique’s maximum cultivation level to 33.

He kept the remaining two scrolls for now, waiting to see if he had talent in swordsmanship.

Next, he took out the Green Mountain Sword Scripture jade scroll to study, then opened his attribute panel. His gaze landed on the green plus sign behind the sword scripture. Focusing his mind, streams of killing experience and cultivation points poured into it, continuously raising the sword technique’s level.

As the most basic heart method, upgrading a beginner-level Taoist skill requires only half the cultivation points and Taoist energy compared to an intermediate level.

To raise the Green Mountain Sword Scripture from level one to ten required only 330,000 cultivation points and 10 Taoist energy.

At level ten, the Green Mountain Sword Scripture grants: flying sword damage +300, attack speed +200, flying sword speed +200 km/h.

Moreover, as the scripture levels up, it unlocks a few basic abilities.

At level one, it unlocks [Sword Radiance]: sharp sword energy envelops the flying sword, extending attack range. Each level increases the sword radiance by 1 centimeter.

With talent, each level increases sword radiance by 2 centimeters.

At level ten, it unlocks [Sword Qi]: condenses mana to slash out sword energy to hit enemies from a distance. Sword Qi deals damage equal to 10% of maximum attack power. Each level adds 5 meters to Sword Qi’s range, consuming 50 mana points.

With talent, Sword Qi deals 20% of maximum attack power as damage, and each level adds 10 meters to its range.

In addition, the sword technique includes ten sword moves, namely—

Azure Dragon Welcomes Guests: a sudden thrust to pierce the enemy, consuming 5 mana.

White Carp Leaps the Waves: an upward sudden strike from bottom to top, consuming 5 mana.

Vast Blue Waves: a powerful horizontal slash, consuming 10 mana.

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Tiger Roars on the Hill: gathering momentum before unleashing a fierce strike, consuming 15 mana.

Flying General of Dragon City: a powerful downward strike from the air, consuming 15 mana.

Galloping Horses: combined with movement, the sword style flows like vast drifting dust, consuming 25 mana.

Clouds Scatter Across the Sky: the sword splits into multiple illusions, real and fake, difficult to defend against, consuming 25 mana.

One Sword Comes from the West: a midair leap attack with no room for a follow-up, consuming 50 mana.

Burning Rolling Clouds: adds fire elemental spell damage, consuming 100 mana.

Great River Flows East: a move with overwhelming momentum, consuming 30% of mana. This move should only be used when absolutely necessary.

Su Yu equipped the Bluefish Sword, lifted his hand, and a wisp of blue sword light appeared in his palm. Stretching out a finger, he launched Azure Dragon Welcomes Guests; the flying sword flashed and disappeared, and a small hole appeared in the wall the next moment.

“White Carp Leaps the Waves!”

Following the hand seals memorized from the sword moves, the flying sword spun around after returning and then thrust upward fiercely.

He quickly followed with the third move, Vast Blue Waves. The flying sword flew back to his hand with a gesture, then swept horizontally, the sword light fanning out.

Tiger Roars on the Hill.

Flying General of Dragon City.

He shifted his body and mana sideways, executing Galloping Horses.

Staying at home, Su Yu practiced every sword move as recorded in the manual.

After finishing the practice, he sheathed his sword and stood, frowning as he recalled the previous session. He pondered for a moment, then practiced from start to finish again.

His frown was due to his keen awareness that something was amiss. At first, he couldn’t pinpoint it but wanted to practice more until he mastered it.

His hunch proved correct: he did have talent in swordsmanship.

With each practice, he clearly felt his sword skills improving rapidly; his fluency in connecting moves increased, and the earlier issues gradually disappeared as the moves became more refined.

He even rested for a day, skipping leveling sessions in the afternoon to practice at home.

For now, he focused on mastering all moves until they were second nature, so that in real combat, he could better control the flying sword and reduce errors.

He practiced until his mana was completely exhausted, then rested to recover mana while reflecting on what went wrong during practice, noting mistakes to correct next time.

Although Su Yu sensed that his so-called “golden finger” might grant him exceptional talent in cultivation and combat, he did not slack off. Instead, he worked even harder to turn talent into true strength.

Every renowned top-tier expert balances both talent and effort.

Talent without effort at best grants some strength, allowing one to become a skilled fighter, but never a top master.

Especially the Heavenly Tribulation looming over all cultivators—talent alone cannot overcome it. Even with a strong innate spiritual physique or powerful divine beast bloodline, one must still expend effort to cultivate those advantages.

Su Yu was born ordinary, without parental or clan support, and lacked special bloodlines or physiques. To rise, he had to rely solely on his own hard work.

Yet, without talent, even effort alone rarely leads to the top.

Luckily, he had some talent—he would not waste it.

“This is still not enough.”

On the third morning, feeling he had mastered the ten moves thoroughly, Su Yu applied to the guild’s logistics department for five Swordmaster Shadowstones, spending 25 guild contribution points.

Shadowstones are like recording videos from a past life, capturing a swordmaster’s techniques and insights. Others can practice swordsmanship by following the Shadowstones.

Moves can be mastered through practice; combat experience is gained through fighting; but combat skills require guidance from experienced mentors for rapid improvement.

These were rare and expensive outside, costing twenty to thirty taels of silver each.

But the guild had many swordmasters, so such Shadowstones were abundant there, purchasable with guild contribution points. Three of the five were sword cultivators practicing the Green Mountain Sword Scripture, perfectly matching Su Yu’s attributes.

Five points per Shadowstone—this shows the high value of 100 guild contribution points.

He stayed home, spending hours watching each Shadowstone three times before picking up his flying sword to practice again.

Compared to before, when he simply mimicked sword movements to drive the flying sword, this time he began practicing deeper swordsmanship techniques.

Starting with the first move Azure Dragon Welcomes Guests, the next wasn’t the second move White Carp Leaps the Waves, but the seventh move Clouds Scatter Across the Sky.

The first move is a sudden thrust; the second requires sheathing the sword and thrusting upward—a superfluous motion.

A swordmaster featured in the Shadowstone explained:

“The first phase of swordsmanship is proficiency—fully mastering all sword moves.”

“The second phase is smooth transitions, eliminating unnecessary movements.”

“The seventh move, Clouds Scatter Across the Sky, projects multiple sword shadows that are real and illusory, difficult to defend against. This move can directly transition into the first move without any additional sheathing.”

Clouds Scatter Across the Sky’s ending stance can vary—up, down, left, or right—deciding the next move’s flow.

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If ending to the left, it can transition to Vast Blue Waves’ horizontal sweep.

Ending downward, it flows into White Carp Leaps the Waves’ upward thrust.

Ending upward, it connects to Flying General of Dragon City’s downward strike.

He practiced nonstop from morning till night, rested briefly, then practiced again at night.

The benefit of mastering all moves thoroughly is that any combination or transition can be executed without hesitation, making the moves more potent.

After five or six days of continuous practice, Su Yu could seamlessly mix all moves.

At this point, mere practice was insufficient; he needed real combat tests.

Early the next morning, he spent 1.42 million cultivation points and 20 Taoist energy to raise the Purple Origin Qi Refinement Technique to level 20.

This granted +800 Vitality, +1600 Mana, +800 Mana Power, and +4 mana recovery per second.

Then, he purchased 200 top-grade Mana Recovery Pills, each restoring 1000 mana points at 150 Wen each, totaling 30 taels of silver.

Prepared for everything, he mounted his paper crane and set off leisurely.

Returning to the Silty Sand River nearly a week later, the river surface had long calmed. Two tower boats sailed side by side on the river. They used demon-attracting incense to lure water-type spirit beasts, which attacked the boats but were repelled by thick defensive barriers.

As his cultivation advanced, his vision sharpened; he could clearly see crew and passengers on the boats from two or three kilometers away.

“Having money really is nice!”

The gap between veteran players and newcomers was stark, obvious at a glance.

He had to rely on himself from day one, while the wealthy sat on the boats since day one and likely would continue doing so.

He could earn about 500,000 killing experience per day grinding at double experience, while sitting on the boat required no effort and still yielded over 500,000 or even more. If one used an advancement jade talisman daily to gain double experience, earning a million killing experience per day wouldn’t be a problem.

Occasionally, bosses would appear, providing an additional ten to twenty Taoist energy points—much better than his situation.

So, even with his golden finger boost, among the newcomers arriving with him, he was definitely not in the top tier in terms of heart method levels.

But it wasn’t a big problem—early-stage Taoist skill upgrades didn’t require much, so rapid leveling was normal.

Once reaching level thirty and above, whether in basic Qi Refinement methods or sword techniques, those with capital would begin learning other methods like Thunder Magic. At that point, the demand for cultivation points and Taoist energy would skyrocket, and the gap would widen further.

More precisely, the gap in strength would widen, with elites gradually standing out.

However, the difference in basic Taoist skill levels would gradually narrow, not too significant.

Many factors affect strength; Qi Refinement skill level is only one aspect.

The paper crane flew lazily for some distance before Su Yu spotted a familiar group leveling by the riverside.

They had lured dozens of level 20 to 30 spirit beasts. Several veterans cast spells in unison, unleashing a brutal barrage.

Su Yu descended. Qiao Bin looked up, surprised, then smiled and greeted him:

“Little brother, still alone?”

Su Yu cupped his fist in response:

“Yes, still alone.”

After brief small talk, Su Yu found a spot, stood on a rock, stretched out his hand, and summoned the Bluefish Sword. It circled him twice, then with a finger pointed, transformed into a streak of blue light that shot at a carp spirit several dozen meters away.

Starting with Azure Dragon Welcomes Guests, the sword pierced the carp spirit’s back, spraying a splash of blood.

-70 damage.

Bluefish Sword’s attack power is 25; with the second-tier flying sword’s 15% basic sword technique damage bonus, that’s an additional 45 points, totaling 70 damage.

The carp spirit winced in pain, shaking its thick tail to turn and spewed a water arrow. Su Yu’s mind shifted, and his protective mana shield rose to block the arrow.

Quickly changing to Clouds Scatter Across the Sky, he stabbed three times, leaving three deep sword scars visible to the bone on the carp spirit’s back.

The last strike was to the right, followed smoothly by Vast Blue Waves’ horizontal slash, which cut off the carp spirit’s last bit of health, earning him 32 killing experience points.

“Just four moves, and only 40 mana consumed.”

“This is more cost-effective than using spells.”

Without resting, he pointed again, and the flying sword floated onto another fish spirit’s back.

This time, after Clouds Scatter Across the Sky, he didn’t follow with Vast Blue Waves, but a full-power One Sword Comes from the West.

A double critical hit exploded, slicing the fish spirit into two halves instantly.