Jiang Chen thought to himself that forging the Flawless Sword Body was certainly no easy task.
To be honest, the initial strands of sword qi had been quite powerful, but they were still merely a foundation. As his strength increased, the damage they caused him and the impurities they refined away became less and less, until there was almost nothing left.
Therefore, in the early stages, every one thousand strands of sword qi would raise the destructive power by a tier. After three thousand strands, the increase would happen every one hundred strands...
If the power had remained at the original tier, Jiang Chen could have easily withstood a thousand strands a day without any pressure at all.
It would merely have been a matter of time.
Yet, with the difficulty scaling up in this manner, Jiang Chen's current pressure was quite substantial, but the improvements were also increasingly impressive.
"If the Flawless Sword Body can be successfully condensed before the Foundation Establishment Realm, laying a top-tier foundation for my breakthrough, then once I reach the Foundation Establishment stage, my roots will be rock-solid, and my combat prowess among peers of the same realm will be utterly tyrannical!"
"I might even... be able to kill enemies across realms!"
Of course, for Jiang Chen, the second possibility was still far too difficult.
Killing enemies across realms!
These four words were by no means simple. One had to know that on the path of immortality, no matter how brilliant and talented you were, at that particular realm, you were ultimately just at that realm.
The gap between minor realms was as vast as a sea of clouds!
And the further along one went, the truer this became!
Every single gap between minor realms in the Foundation Establishment stage was extremely difficult to bridge.
Therefore, which of the prodigies capable of leapfrog kills was not a peerless genius?
"Hoo..."
"The Wuji Sword Sutra and the Flawless Sword Body—if everything goes smoothly, once I enter Foundation Establishment, my foundation will probably be comparable even to those of grade-two or perhaps grade-one standards, wouldn't it?"
"Strength!"
"I am still not strong enough!"
Jiang Chen thought to himself. For him, the simplest way to increase his strength was to maintain his efforts and check in every single day.
After reviewing all this information, Jiang Chen summoned the Wuji Immortal Sword once more.
This Wuji Immortal Sword could understand Jiang Chen's thoughts and take action according to the instructions conveyed by his intent.
The Wuji Sword flew back and forth around Jiang Chen, occasionally patting him on the head like a playful, mischievous child.
From the sword's actions, Jiang Chen could roughly guess what it meant.
It was as if it were saying: Master, I am very hungry, what you give me to eat is not nearly enough!
If one relied on spiritual energy sensing, this sword was truly nothing more than a piece of scrap iron.
It was the kind that, if left lying by the roadside, nobody would even bother to pick it up—the sort of thing even a menial laborer passing by would be too lazy to scoop up and toss away.
Yet such a divine weapon had a terrifyingly voracious appetite for Sword Essence. Had Jiang Chen not kept it in check and precisely calculated just enough leftover Sword Essence each day for it to devour,
otherwise, the Sword Essence he possessed would certainly not have been enough.
Jiang Chen briefly examined the quality of the Wuji Sword. Although his current strength was not yet high enough and he had not yet entered the Foundation Establishment stage, making it impossible for him to accurately gauge divine weapons,
he could at least get a general sense of it without any problem.
Jiang Chen could practically confirm that the so-called nurturing with Sword Essence was, to put it bluntly, a process of growing stronger alongside his own strength. If one's strength were weak, leaving it there to be nurtured for a lifetime would never allow it to rise to another tier; but with strong strength, its grade would shoot up in a matter of minutes.
As for the exact grade... Jiang Chen could not quite make it out; he only knew it was ridiculously awesome, and that was about it.
Soon, Jiang Chen cast the matter to the back of his mind. Unless faced with a life-or-death crisis, he would not casually take this sword out—it was simply too dangerous.
Afterward, he turned his attention inward to examine his own state.
"I've reached the Qi Refining 7th Layer, but I've hit a bottleneck now."
"My resources are insufficient and my realm is not yet fully consolidated. For the next period of time, I will likely remain steady at this realm, and there won't be another explosive growth spurt."
Suddenly, the door to his room was gently knocked upon. Jiang Chen knew it was the deacon who had guided him earlier.
He opened the door, and there stood the middle-aged man, wearing a smile and holding a small porcelain bottle as he said, "Jiang Chen, it seems your strength has been advancing by leaps and bounds during this period."
The deacon was unable to specifically discern Jiang Chen's cultivation level. After all, the Foundation Establishment stage had not yet reached the point where one could easily peer into another's spiritual energy concentration and cultivation strength; he could only make a rough estimate based on the fluctuations of spiritual aura around him.
And Jiang Chen had concealed his cultivation extremely well.
However, a flash of greed crossed the depths of the middle-aged man's eyes. Of course, it vanished in an instant, but it was captured precisely by Jiang Chen.
"Thank you, Deacon Xie."
Jiang Chen stepped forward with a smile, took the porcelain bottle, and quietly heightened his vigilance in his heart.
Ever since their parting last time, Deacon Xie had sent him around thirty Defective Qi-Consolidating Pill every single month.
Although this quantity was not particularly large for Jiang Chen at present, it was better than nothing and provided at least some help.
Even though Deacon Xie acted impeccably on the surface, Jiang Chen always felt that the other party harbored ill intentions. When traveling outside, one had to remain cautious.
Hearing this, Deacon Xie smiled faintly and then said, "You are a menial laborer under my charge, and now that I see talent in you, making a bit of an investment is only natural."
"If you achieve greatness in the future, I'll still need you to look out for me a little."
The two exchanged some polite pleasantries.
Without chatting for much longer, Deacon Xie excused himself on the pretext of having matters to attend to and departed first.
Jiang Chen did not know that the moment Deacon Xie left, an expression of undisguised greed and urgency immediately surfaced on the man's face.
Nor was Deacon Xie aware that Jiang Chen was watching his retreating back with a meaningful gaze.
"I've been targeted, it seems."
Jiang Chen shook his head and sighed softly.
As soon as Deacon Xie departed, a lovely figure emerged from the neighboring room—it was none other in fact than the female cultivator Liu Yun.
She walked over to Jiang Chen's side and exclaimed, "Wow, Senior Brother Jiang, even Deacon Xie is sending you medicinal pills."
"He's been sending them for two months straight now."
Pausing for a moment, Liu Yun clicked her tongue twice and remarked with emotion, "Deacon Xie is notoriously stingy—oh, and strict, too. That Wang Hu fellow you dealt with earlier was one of his menial laborers."
"Forget about Deacon Xie voluntarily handing out pills; that Wang Hu has to regularly hand over a sizable stash of pills to him every month."
Starting from a month ago, Liu Yun had witnessed Deacon Xie sending medicinal pills to Jiang Chen to show goodwill, which had shocked her immensely at the time.
She hadn't expected him to send them again in the second month.
As she smiled, Liu Yun suddenly looked a bit conflicted, and then said with a faint smile, "Jiang Chen, when you're out and about, you need to be careful."
"This Deacon Xie..."
Jiang Chen smiled and brushed it off with a couple of perfunctory words: "Deacon Xie is a pretty good person."
Naturally, he understood what Liu Yun meant, and he also knew that Deacon Xie was no good, but on the surface, he preferred to act as if he knew nothing at all.
Hiding one's strength and biding one's time was not cowardice; when the moment arrived where a direct confrontation became unavoidable, he would not be afraid in the least.
Seeing this, Liu Yun tactfully dropped the subject and did not dwell on it further.
She had given the warning that needed to be given, and that was all she could do.