The announcement of the grand tournament list caused an uproar throughout the city!
"The City Lord's Mansion is actually participating in this tournament too?!"
"I heard the top three in this tournament can directly join Bright Moon Academy to cultivate?"
"How is Su Qinghe from the Yun family not on the list?! There are rumors that Su Qinghe went to the Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain a few days ago, returned heavily injured, and his cultivation was completely crippled. Could Su Qinghe already be good for nothing?"
"However, the competition for this tournament is bound to be intensely fierce. Zhou Wenjing, the proud daughter of the heavens from the City Lord's Mansion, is already at the Third Layer of Life Palace, and her cultivation has actually caught up to what Su Qinghe's used to be."
"No way! We must go and watch this tournament in person. The scene is bound to be spectacular, and even high-level masters from Bright Moon Academy are coming."
"..."
Countless people were buzzing with discussion at that moment, and Yangzhou City was unprecedentedly lively.
In the Yun family's martial arts training ground.
At this moment, three youths were undergoing arduous cultivation, and the one guiding them was Su Qinghe.
"Nantian, your martial arts techniques are bold and unrestrained, and your momentum is certainly powerful. Yet they lack a focal point. If you can fuse your entire spiritual qi into a single point when executing the All-Heavens Palm and the Scorching Sun Art, you will inevitably increase their power by twenty percent."
"Xiaoyi, your movement technique is better suited for skirmishing, wearing down the opponent's spiritual qi, finding openings, and killing with a single strike. Pay attention to concealment and suddenness."
"Che-di, your goal is to break through your realm as quickly as possible. Do not think it is impossible; that is simply because you have not unlocked your potential. The same goes for all of you."
Su Qinghe looked at the three youths in front of him and gave them pointers one by one.
"This is a supportive cultivation technique, the Three Mysterious Transformations of Creation!" As he spoke, Su Qinghe produced a brand-new manual—the very technique he had excerpted from the *Great Heavenly Creation Scripture*.
The Three Mysterious Transformations of Creation! A supportive cultivation technique that could elevate a cultivator's realm in a short period of time.
This technique had a total of three transformations! The first transformation could raise one's realm by one level, the second transformation could raise it by three levels, and the third transformation could directly raise it by an entire major realm, allowing one to fight opponents of higher realms—truly defying the heavens.
Of course, such a heaven-defying technique consumed a tremendous amount of spiritual qi. With Su Qinghe's current level of spiritual qi, he could only drive the first transformation.
Do not underestimate this single minor realm; when opponents were closely matched in strength, the boost of a single minor realm would leave the adversary instantly dumbfounded.
The three of them were completely dumbstruck. Hearing what Su Qinghe said, their understanding of cultivation had been entirely upended.
"Alright, let's begin training!" Su Qinghe shouted, pulling the three youths back to their senses.
"The first lesson of today's cultivation: seal off the spiritual qi throughout your bodies, and spar in pairs until you are completely exhausted."
"Spar without spiritual qi until exhaustion?!" Skepticism filled the eyes of the three.
Seeing their expressions, Su Qinghe knew that in their past training, the three had never pushed themselves to true exhaustion. The exhaustion he spoke of here referred to physical exhaustion with no spiritual qi mobilized.
With a wicked smile, Su Qinghe said, "Nantian, spar with Xiaoyi. Che-di, I'll accompany you. Begin now!"
As his voice fell, Su Qinghe sealed off the spiritual qi in his entire body, stamped hard with both feet, and charged straight toward Yun Che.
On the other side, Yun Nantian did not hesitate either, directly sweeping a high whip kick toward Yun Yi.
The sparring match between Su Qinghe and Yun Che was less of a fight and more of Su Qinghe feeding moves to Yun Che. Are you kidding? Given Su Qinghe's combat experience, it was a complete, dimensionality-reducing strike.
Every punch, kick, and shift in footwork forced Yun Che to defend with all his might, and even so, there were several times when Yun Che was left completely defenseless. After a few breaths, his face was bruised and swollen, and his physical strength gradually reached its limit. Immediately following that, Su Qinghe closed in and ended the battle with a straight punch.
Looking at the other side, Yun Nantian and Yun Yi were trading blows evenly. Without utilizing spiritual qi, pure physical combat came down to physical strength and combat experience.
Yun Nantian launched a horizontal cutting attack, which Yun Yi evaded with flexible footwork, instantly following up with an airborne flying kick that briefly pushed Yun Nantian back. But Yun Nantian was no pushover; as his body retreated, he smoothly pivoted and delivered an airborne back-spinning kick that struck Yun Yi squarely in the chest. With his momentum spent and reacting too slowly, Yun Yi was kicked flying over three zhang away.
"Alright, rest for a moment. Reflect carefully on how this combat differed from your past experiences." Seeing this, Su Qinghe spoke up to halt their sparring.
In the distance, Yun Tian and the others were concealed to the side, watching the battle from beginning to end without making a sound.
"Could Qinghe be trying to improve their physiques through physical confrontation, so that they can subsequently circulate cultivation techniques to widen their meridians and increase their inner spiritual qi capacity?" Yun Tian murmured.
"Indeed. However, this method is extremely arduous. Legend has it that ancient body-refining cultivators would constantly push their physical limits, something ordinary people simply cannot endure."
"Let's go. We trust Qinghe." The figures gradually faded into the distance.
Su Qinghe was well aware of Yun Tian and the others' departure. This stemmed from his extraordinary spiritual perception. Even though Su Qinghe was currently only at the Life Palace Realm, his spiritual power vastly surpassed that of ordinary Spirit Movement Realm cultivators, allowing him to rival peak Spirit Movement Realm experts.
If Yun Tian and the others knew that Su Qinghe could perceive their presence, their jaws would likely drop in unison. After all, cultivating spiritual power was far more difficult than cultivating spiritual qi.
"In your combat just now, there was no spiritual qi enhancement, no martial arts techniques—only physical confrontation and a contest of experience."
"Clearly, you are extremely, extremely weak in terms of physical cultivation." Su Qinghe stated unsparingly.
"Brother Su, I don't understand how physical combat helps us improve our cultivation," Yun Yi scratched his head, a puzzled look on his face.
"I suppose none of you understand, but today I will tell you: in ancient times, there were those who achieved saint hood through the physical body!"
"Furthermore, in that prosperous cultivation continent, there are countless body-refining practitioners. To put it without exaggeration, powerful body-refining practitioners can crush Sea Crossing Realm experts with their physical bodies alone." A trace of reminiscence flashed in Su Qinghe's eyes; in the God Realm, body-refining practitioners were indeed immensely formidable.
A single stone stirred up a thousand ripples!
The eyes of the three were filled with deep shock and incomparable yearning.
"Brother Su, just tell us what we need to do!" Yun Nantian looked at Su Qinghe with a resolute expression.
"Good! Now, put on your weighted loads and run one hundred laps around the martial arts training ground." As he spoke, Su Qinghe produced eight weighted wristbands.
"Nantian, your load is eight hundred catties. Xiaoyi, six hundred catties. Che-di, five hundred catties. I will accompany you—my load is fifteen hundred catties."
Disregarding the gasps of the three, Su Qinghe handed out the wristbands and started running immediately. After adapting to the weights for a moment, the three youths chased after Su Qinghe.
At first, the three were able to keep up with Su Qinghe's pace, but after thirty laps, they gradually began to struggle. Meanwhile, Su Qinghe had already lapped them by more than a full circle.
Only then did the three truly feel the effect of the weighted loads manifesting as their bodies grew fatigued. As their physical strength steadily waned, all three slowed their pace. Yet watching Su Qinghe—who seemed entirely unaffected by the weights, growing faster instead and already outpacing them by more than ten laps—they felt a profound sense of awe.
When they reached the sixtieth lap, Yun Che stumbled and nearly dropped to his knees. At this moment, the four-hundred-catty load felt as heavy as ten thousand catties.
"No, I must persevere! The reason Brother Su is so strong is partly talent, but even more so, it is a cultivator's perseverance and determination!" The voice in his heart roared. Yun Che let out an angry shout and pushed forward.
Meanwhile, although Yun Nantian and Yun Yi were not in as sorry a state as Yun Che, they were also nearing their physical limits.
At this point, Su Qinghe had already completed one hundred laps, standing in place as he sensed the subtle changes within his body.