In a secluded stone cave, Beigong Yu anxiously took out the Tier-3 Mortal-grade blade technique, the Gale Blade Art, and began to study it.
As he studied the Gale Blade Art, his mind suddenly grew hazy. When he opened his eyes, he found that his consciousness seemed to have arrived in a boundless starry sky.
"Where is this?"
"Is this the space of my cheat?"
Just as Beigong Yu stood there in doubt and astonishment, a towering giant with an expressionless face suddenly appeared in the boundless starry sky. Standing amidst the stars, the giant wielded an overbearing saber, practicing the Gale Blade Art.
"This is..."
Seeing this sight, Beigong Yu was incomparably shocked. The scene felt extremely familiar.
A moment later, Beigong Yu snapped back to his senses. Wasn't this precisely the Gale Blade Art?
Hum!
Amidst his astonishment, a chime resembling a morning bell and evening drum resounded in his mind, blasting his consciousness out of that starry sky and back into his physical body.
Countless insights into the Gale Blade Art poured into him like a divine enlightenment, and within a split second, he completely mastered them.
"This is already... the Great Completion realm?"
Hiss... Is this for real?
How much time had actually passed?
As far as he knew, according to the level of comprehension, martial arts, sword techniques, and blade techniques were divided from lowest to highest into: Foundation, Micro-realm, Minor Completion, Great Completion, Perfection, Momentum, Will, and so on.
For some proud prodigies, wanting to comprehend a sword technique or martial art to the realm of Perfection would be utterly impossible without decades of bitter cultivation.
Yet it had taken him less than a few minutes!
Furthermore, the blade technique, which originally had three stances, had been streamlined into a single stance.
This single stance was nameless.
Moreover, Beigong Yu had a premonition that although the Tier-3 Gale Blade Art had been streamlined into just one stance, its grade should have already reached the seventh or eighth Mortal grade.
In addition, the deeper one's comprehension of a certain martial art, sword technique, or blade technique, the stronger the combat power erupted.
Right now, through the deduction of that mysterious figure in the mysterious space, he had directly comprehended the Gale Blade Art to the realm of Perfection.
His combat power had increased by at least threefold.
And this was only at the realm of Perfection; if he took it a step further and comprehended "Blade Momentum," his strength would become even greater.
"What... just happened?"
Suppressing the excitement in his heart and muttering to himself, Beigong Yu thought back to the bizarre event that had just occurred.
"Could it be... besides helping me devour the mysterious energy within the corpses of beasts or humans, my mysterious cheat can also help me deduce blade techniques and mental cultivation methods? If that's the case, I've really struck it rich!"
With a pleasantly surprised murmur, Beigong Yu took a deep breath and unhooked the Tier-5 Mortal-grade crimson battle saber from his back.
As a result, he almost tripped and fell to the ground.
What was going on?
Why was his body feeling so... weak?
He couldn't even lift a battle saber weighing less than a hundred pounds?
Moreover, he felt an extraordinary sense of mental fatigue.
Could it... could practicing blade techniques consume one's vital energy, essence, and spirit?
He did not know if this guess was correct, but right now he was truly thirsty, hungry, and exhausted.
Without hesitation, he retrieved a beast-skin water pouch from his pack, drank some water, ate some dried meat, and immediately collapsed and fell asleep.
Fortunately, this place was very remote, and generally no beasts or humans came here. Coupled with the traps he had set up at the entrance, the moment there was any movement, he would be instantly awakened, allowing him to rest in peace for a while.
Three hours later, Beigong Yu woke up.
His condition had also recovered to its peak.
When he picked up the crimson battle saber once more, a profound and marvelous sensation immediately permeated his heart.
It was different!
It was truly different!
In the past, whenever he picked up the crimson battle saber, he felt it was merely a knife, a weapon, a dead object.
Yet at this moment, he felt that the crimson battle saber in his hand was alive!
That feeling of being as adept as moving one's own fingers, familiar down to one's bones, filled his heart.
At this moment, he was like a swordsman who had practiced the blade for hundreds of years, knowing the blade in his hand like the back of his hand.
He involuntarily began to execute the Gale Blade Art, which had been streamlined to a single stance.
He named this stance: Gale Single Slash!
A series of terrifying blade qi, resembling a violent storm, poured out from the crimson battle saber, slashing against the surrounding cave walls with loud bangs and leaving behind shocking blade scars.
A moment later, Beigong Yu withdrew his blade and stood straight.
However, when he saw the countless gullies and trenches of blade scars covering the entire cave wall, within which still lingered a fierce and overbearing gale blade qi, he was stunned.
Did he cause this just now?
Had he become this powerful?
He had a feeling that although he was currently only at the 5th Stage Marrow Refining Realm, once he unleashed the streamlined Gale Blade Art, even beings at the 6th or even 7th Stage Blood Refining Realm would no longer be his match.
If the scarred man were to revive, he wouldn't need any schemes or plots at all; he could just slice him down with a single slash!
His strength had greatly increased.
Then, it was time to continue killing beasts!
Beigong Yu slung the crimson battle saber back over his shoulder, took a few leaps, and vanished into the dense forest.
As for the swords and sabers he had obtained earlier, apart from the eighth-grade Mortal-grade sword that he carried with him in case his current blade broke and needed replacement, all the others were deeply buried inside the stone cave, waiting for him to retrieve and sell them when he returned.
This time, his destination was still a green wolf den.
During this past month, not only had he been slaughtering various beasts to raise his cultivation level, but he had also kept his eyes open in all directions, searching for the habitats of various beasts.
As it happened, in a small valley about eight or nine kilometers away from his current location, there was a green wolf den.
This green wolf den was stronger than the one he had wiped out yesterday, and the population was much larger.
There were roughly over fifty of them, and among them were quite a few green wolves at the level of seventh- and eighth-grade beasts.
Without obtaining the Gale Blade Art, he would never have gone to that wolf den.
Now, however, it was a good time for a harvest.
Nurturing strength through battle.
In the Body Refining Realm, all beasts were classified under the category of ordinary beasts.
At this stage, beasts were unranked and were simply divided by their grade levels.
Only when they began to absorb the essence of heaven and earth and their beastly bodies underwent a transformation did they enter the ranks.
At that point, they could no longer be called beasts, but Demon Beasts.
As far as he knew, Demon Beast ranks could be divided into Tier 1, Tier 2, and so on...
Each tier was further divided into levels one through nine.
For example, a Tier-1 Level-1 Demon Beast was equivalent to a human in the Spirit Vein Realm.
A Tier-1 Level-2 beast was equivalent to the 2nd-grade Spirit Vein Realm.
Tier-2 Demon Beasts were equivalent to the Spirit Gathering Realm, and so on; Demon Beasts could be divided into twelve tiers.
Once they stepped into the ranks of Demon Beasts, not only would their strength soar, but they would also gain a certain level of intelligence.
Beigong Yu covered the distance of eight or nine kilometers in just a few minutes.
Along the way, he also casually killed a few stray beasts.
This pushed his realm steadily closer to the late 5th Stage Marrow Refining Realm.
Moreover, whether it was his imagination or reality, the amount of energy he obtained when slaying those beasts seemed to have increased slightly.
Could it be... this devouring power would grow stronger as his cultivation level increased?
If that were truly the case, then he wouldn't feel sleepy anymore.
Soon, Beigong Yu arrived at a valley.
Crouching in a concealed spot, he raised his eyes and looked out.
In the valley, dozens of green wolves were scattered about. Some were basking in the sun, some were devouring the carcasses of beasts, and others were drinking water by a small stream.
Naturally, a few green wolves were standing on higher ground keeping watch.
Seeing this scene, a surge of excitement welled up in Beigong Yu's eyes.
If he killed these green wolves, his cultivation would definitely be able to advance to the 7th Stage Blood Refining Realm.
Awooo!
The moment Beigong Yu appeared, the green wolves in the valley caught the faint scent of blood on him. A wolf howl echoed across the valley, shattering its tranquility.
In an instant, the malevolent, bloodthirsty green gazes of all the wolves locked onto Beigong Yu.
"Kill!"
Seeing that a sneak attack was out of the question, he had no choice but to fight head-on.
In any case, he could nurture his strength through battle; as long as he was careful, his realm would break through rapidly, and by then, slaying seventh- and eighth-grade green wolves would not be difficult.
With a low shout, Beigong Yu slammed his feet into the ground and his body rapidly closed in on the nearest green wolf. With a single slash of his blade, the fifth-grade beast-level green wolf was directly decapitated, and two wisps of faint, pure mysterious energy instantly poured into his body.
Exhilarating!
Little wolf pups, whether this young master can successfully break into the 7th Stage Blood Refining Realm depends entirely on you lot.
Beigong Yu's eyes were sharp as blades, and a cold aura radiated from his entire body.
The long saber in his hand moved unpredictably, swift as lightning. One green wolf after another fell beneath his blade, and his cultivation realm was rapidly pushing toward the 6th Stage Viscera Refining Realm.