Volume 1: Questioning the Past Chapter 21 Comprehensive Improvement
Gu Xiaoxing originally thought that he would be able to go down the mountain on the clouds as he came here, but he was led down the mountain on foot by Chen Changqing. Fortunately, both of them were not ordinary people, so even though the mountain where the Soul-Devouring Sect was located was incredibly high, they were able to go down the mountain at a fast speed.
Walking in the sect's mountains is like walking in fairyland. Many places are covered with misty clouds, and the caves for cultivation can be vaguely seen. Occasionally, you will come across rare grasses and flowers, but they are also new. Unlike Shiling Peak, in addition to the more intense spiritual power, there is more fairy air in the sect's mountains. It is rare to meet fellow brothers, as they are all in seclusion in their own caves.
What puzzled Gu Xiaoxing was that along the way, Chen Changqing kept asking about Du Siyu intentionally or unintentionally. He looked at him strangely and said jokingly, "You don't have any ideas about Du Siyu, do you? Senior brother, you have a bad eye!"
The two sides obviously became more familiar with each other during the conversation. Chen Changqing was not angry, but just said with a serious face: "My junior brother, please stop talking nonsense. Junior sister Du is as beautiful as a fairy. It is a great honor to be able to see her beauty. How dare I think of anything else!"
Is she as beautiful as a fairy again?
Can't you change the word?
Gu Xiaoxing curled his lips and didn't take it seriously. He just felt that the world had a very deep misunderstanding of the word "beauty". He even felt lonely as if everyone else was drunk but he was the only one sober.
“Who in the world can understand me?”
After leaving the sect's mountain gate, Chen Changqing bowed and said, "I have no way to repay you for saving my life. I will definitely give you a big gift one day."
In the blink of an eye, a few days passed and Gu Xiaoxing returned to his leisurely life of chopping wood. With his current level of cultivation, chopping twenty frames of firewood could be said to be a piece of cake.
Du Siyu changed back into men's clothes. Although she had broken through to the eighth level of Qi Condensation as she wished, she did not feel very happy. On the contrary, she felt inexplicably annoyed these days. For some reason, she always remembered the look of disgust that Gu Xiaoxing had when he looked at her, which was like a thorn that made her uncomfortable.
Even after she changed back to wearing women's clothes and dressing up carefully, the other party was still surprised at first, but the disdain in his eyes remained. This made her angry. When had she, Du Siyu, ever been disdainful of others? She began to wonder if Gu Xiaoxing had any misunderstanding about beauty.
Until several days passed, when she accidentally discovered Gu Xiaoxing staring at a chubby female disciple of the sect with shining eyes, Du Siyu was stunned. She seemed to understand something in a trance. After several more days of observation, she realized it!
It turns out it’s not my problem!
Suddenly, Du Siyu felt a sense of power but nowhere to use it. When she looked at Gu Xiaoxing again, she was no longer angry, but had a strange look in her eyes.
"Are you sick?" Gu Xiaoxing muttered secretly. He felt that the look in Du Siyu's eyes when looking at him was a little creepy. He quickly finished chopping the firewood, and after finishing everything, he hid in his house.
It has been a month since he joined the sect, and his cultivation has reached the peak of the fourth level of Qi Condensation. The second dantian palace in his body is also at the peak of the fourth level of Qi Condensation. In the past half month, in addition to his daily practice of the Yuling Jue, Gu Xiaoxing has also begun to study the magic techniques he has obtained. However, except for the Yuling Finger which seems to be closely related to the Yuling Jue and has made some progress, there is little progress in the Fangcun Step and the Soul Binding Rope.
"It seems to be because my cultivation is too low."
Gu Xiaoxing thought about it and took out a piece of spiritual marrow. There was spiritual liquid flowing in the sparkling crystal. Just by holding it, he could feel the huge energy contained in it. In fact, Gu Xiaoxing wanted to delay absorbing the spiritual marrow until three months later. He didn't want to participate in any outer sect competition.
In recent days, he could feel the importance that the other outer disciples attached to this competition, as it was related to their promotion to the inner sect. When fighting broke out, how could there be no danger? Besides, what was the point of fighting?
He had wanted to wait until the competition was over in March before improving his skills, but after half a month, the feeling of having magical skills but not being able to learn them made him feel like a cat was scratching him.
Gu Xiaoxing stared at the spiritual essence and spoke slowly: "If we only use one piece, it should not be possible to reach the seventh level of Qi Condensation..."
Finally, Gu Xiaoxing decided to absorb a piece of spiritual marrow to test the waters first. The threshold for the outer sect competition was the seventh level of Qi Condensation. As long as he didn't reach this level of cultivation, everything would be fine.
"Uncle Bai, it's not that I don't want to participate in the competition, it's just that Xiaoxing's aptitude is limited and I can't reach the seventh level of Qi Condensation within three months!"
Gu Xiaoxing murmured somewhat guiltily, but he did not hesitate any longer. He sat cross-legged and started to practice the Soul Control Technique, absorbing the power of the spiritual marrow.
The core of the palm of his hand instantly became burning hot, and strands of pure spiritual energy continuously overflowed and poured into the body, circulating through the meridians before being absorbed by the soul-eating insect.
The Soul-Eating Insect between the eyebrows kept trembling, as if it was extremely excited. Along with the sound of an insect chirping, the aura around Gu Xiaoxing suddenly rose, and he actually broke through immediately.
The fifth level of Qi Condensation!
It's not over yet. The spiritual marrow still contains a huge amount of spiritual power, which is continuously flowing into the body and then being sucked up by the soul-eating insects.
Time passed, and two hours had gone by unknowingly. Gu Xiaoxing's cultivation level continued to rise, from the early stage of the fifth level of Qi Condensation to the middle stage, and then to the late stage. It was a natural process. His spiritual marrow was like a spiritual spring, and spiritual power was continuously supplied. If it were an ordinary cultivator, improving his cultivation level so quickly would surely end up with a weak foundation and a chaotic sea of qi, which would be more harmful than beneficial.
On the contrary, the soul-devouring body is not as stable as that of an orthodox cultivator, so the concerns in this regard are much smaller. In addition, it is not the cultivators who absorb the spiritual power, but the soul-devouring insects. Although this also has disadvantages and will make the already unstable cultivation even looser, it will not harm one's own dantian and qi sea after all, and can be adjusted back through later practice.
With the continuous absorption, the light of the spiritual marrow in his palm gradually dimmed. After another hour, as the spiritual marrow turned into ashes, Gu Xiaoxing only felt a roar in his head, and then his whole body suddenly shook, with a sense of sudden enlightenment. When he opened his eyes, a gleam of light flashed in his eyes, and he could clearly perceive the changes in himself.
The field of vision became clearer, and not only that, the six senses of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and even mind seemed to have been elevated to a higher level.
"The sixth level of Qi Condensation?"
Gu Xiaoxing was originally at the peak of the fourth level of Qi Condensation, and was just one step away from breaking through to the fifth level. He thought that one piece of spiritual marrow could help him break through to the peak of the fifth level, which was already his limit, but he did not expect that he could actually break through to the sixth level directly.
“No wonder even Uncle Bai, who has such high cultivation level, says this item is rare.” Gu Xiaoxing was not self-conscious at all, as if he really regarded Elder Bai as his uncle. “But for the time being, I can’t use this rare item anymore. I’d better wait until after the competition . Otherwise, if I accidentally reach the seventh level of Qi Condensation, I won’t be able to avoid this disaster!”
Feeling guilty, he immediately coughed and said, "I'm sorry, Uncle Bai! My nephew is stupid and mediocre!"
Until another month passed, Gu Xiaoxing's cultivation had not improved at all, because he had completely given up practicing and was concentrating on studying magic.
In the lumberyard, he could take a step over a distance of ten feet in a small space, as if he had turned into a ghostly figure, erratic, and often he would appear ten feet away with just a light step. Then he paused slightly, and with a flick of his finger, thousands of pounds of black wood rose from the ground, as if held in the air by an invisible force. He suddenly pointed his finger, and the black wood shattered immediately.
He heaved a sigh of relief. After a month of study, he finally figured out the tricks of the Fang Cun Step, which was a small achievement. This set of footwork was extremely mysterious, and it was about going from extreme stillness to extreme movement. The seemingly easy and carefree footsteps were actually several bursts of cultivation in an instant. Just to achieve this, Gu Xiaoxing suffered a lot.
The severe pain caused by the instantaneous explosion of his cultivation power in his meridians was no less than a torture, not to mention that he had to endure several instantaneous explosions of his cultivation power afterwards. It was simply excruciating pain. Fortunately, he gritted his teeth and persevered, and gradually began to adapt.
The reason why Gu Xiaoxing was able to do this so quickly was that he relied on the Qi sea in his second Dantian. When the spiritual power in his body and the green smoke energy exploded together , the power generated was far beyond that of ordinary cultivators. It was still a bit lacking to use the cultivation level of the sixth level of Qi Condensation of the Soul-Eating Insect to perform this body technique.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg. If I can master the Fang Cun Step, I will be able to move around in a square inch!"
Gu Xiaoxing murmured to himself. The more he studied, the more he discovered the extraordinary nature of this footwork. It was like being able to shrink the distance into an inch.
"It is indeed the only way to save your life!" Gu Xiaoxing's eyes were firm. This was also the reason why he was willing to endure the pain and work hard to study this body technique. The world of cultivation was too dangerous, and one must have a few ways to save one's life.
"It would be nice if I could foresee the future and know the unknown... huh?" Gu Xiaoxing was startled and realized something. Then his eyes lit up and he slightly bent his fingers. Immediately, a long sword flew out of the storage bag and hung in the air in front of him. He tapped his toes lightly and stood on the sword. He waved his finger and the long sword was already carrying Gu Xiaoxing away.
It seems like the art of controlling the sword, but in fact it is not. It is the combination of the art of flying in the air and the art of controlling the spirit.
In the sect, as one's cultivation level increases, one can practice some magic. Of course, one needs to pay a price, which can be spirit stones or some contributions. The flying technique is an external sect magic that can be practiced at the fifth level of Qi Condensation. Gu Xiaoxing is already at the sixth level of Qi Condensation. After paying dozens of spirit stones, he learned this magic.
As the name suggests, the art of flying can make people fly in the air.
Gu Xiaoxing was resistant to this kind of flying magic at first, because the feeling of his feet not touching the ground made him scared and insecure. However, after getting used to it, he felt that the flying speed was too slow, so he thought of using the Controlling Spirit Finger to control the flying sword. With the help of both, the speed was much faster and it looked like he was flying with a sword.
During this month, among the several magic techniques, the Flying Technique and the Controlling Spirit Finger were the ones that Gu Xiaoxing practiced most smoothly. Apart from that, there was the Square Inch Step. As for the Soul Binding Rope, he still had no idea. He had to refine a part of his own spiritual power into a soul rope, which made him feel like he had no idea where to start.
But in terms of strength, it has been comprehensively improved. Gu Xiaoxing felt that he could easily beat a hundred of himself in the Black Wood Forest. He was so inflated that he became more and more annoyed with Du Siyu recently, and he was eager to try.
Then……
Then he was severely beaten up by Du Siyu without any explanation. Only then did he face the reality and realize that Chai Yuan was still surnamed Du. He no longer dared to show the slightest provocative look. However, he swore in his heart that one day he would get back at the man and hang him up and beat him up!
