At the moment he saw the system prompt, Jiang Chen was stunned for a moment, but he quickly composed himself and acted as if nothing had happened.
He let out a long breath. "Haa..."
Nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine sword qi!
Although the system did not explicitly state the rank of the sword qi, how could such a powerful system brother possibly arrange trash for him?
Through the Wuji Sword Sutra, although tempering and cleansing his physical body had certain effects, no matter what, it was far inferior to the proud talents who had the right to use the Sword Pond to temper their Flawless Sword Body with sword qi!
Now that he also had sword qi, the speed at which his subsequent cultivation realm stabilized would be much faster, and his cultivation would progress by leaps and bounds.
Jiang Chen could not help falling into deep thought.
"Damn it, this cultivation speed is increasing too fast; my resources are starting to fall behind a bit."
On the path of cultivation, the most important thing after all was resources!
"If those resources of Wang Yuan's were viewed by ordinary handymen at the Qi Refining 1st Layer, they would be a huge sum, but to me, they are tasteless to eat yet a pity to discard."
"However, relying on the system's daily baseline rewards, it's just barely enough. In a few days, Wang Hu is coming to cause trouble for me anyway, so I can just loot him then."
Jiang Chen made up his mind.
The resources required on the path of immortal cultivation were simply too vast. Countless people with some degree of talent were precisely burdened by insufficient resources, ultimately failing to reach the realm they should have attained.
Relying solely on the daily baseline rewards would definitely not be enough for Jiang Chen; he had to take matters into his own hands and provide for himself!
He also needed to quickly raise his strength. Once he broke through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, he would be able to join the outer sect. By then, resources would be more abundant, and the channels for acquiring them would be much wider.
Having finished all this, Jiang Chen walked leisurely back to his room.
As for the two fellows sent by Wang Yuan, they still stood guard in shifts, and Jiang Chen ignored them as usual.
Upon returning to his small cabin, Jiang Chen peered into his sea of consciousness and discovered that densely packed, layer upon layer of countless sword qi stood right there in his mind.
Within the sea of consciousness, these sword qi were quite gentle, not violent at all, and did not display their sharpness.
Even so, just by looking at them, Jiang Chen could feel an incomparable biting chill.
"Haa... Let's start with one."
Jiang Chen was ready to directly try the sensation of tempering his body with sword qi. At the same time, this was also the fastest way to stabilize his own fluctuating cultivation realm.
With a thought.
In an unseen place, a crimson sword qi fiercely slashed from behind Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen's whole body shook, his face twisted in pain, and a huge scar appeared right where the formless sword qi had slashed him.
Incomparably painful!
Jiang Chen only felt that this surging, sea-tide-like pain was about to swallow him whole!
Yet he did not hesitate, immediately urging the sword qi in his sea of consciousness once more to slash himself a second time!
A third time!
Just like that, three consecutive crimson sword qi slashed out. Unable to support himself any longer, Jiang Chen collapsed onto the floor, feeling as though he might pass out at any second.
To Jiang Chen's pleasant surprise, however, a mere three sword qi slashes had already allowed his physical body to undergo a qualitative leap!
Still, holy shit, this hurt like hell.
Maintaining this weakened state, Jiang Chen collapsed onto the floor, not recovering until nightfall.
Over the next five days, Jiang Chen did nothing else except continuously and further squeeze the potential of his physical body—going from three sword qi a day at the beginning, to four, and later on to five.
He took almost no rest at all!
The moment his physical body recovered, he immediately began tempering it again.
At the same time, Jiang Chen finally understood just how monstrous this Flawless Sword Body truly was, and how terrifyingly high the difficulty of achieving it was...
Naturally, if those Grade A and Grade B disciples were to see what Jiang Chen had been up to these past few days, their jaws would definitely drop to the floor.
*Brother, it's already not bad if we can use ten sword qi to cleanse our physical bodies in a whole month, but you've almost caught up to two months of ours—or even exceeded it—in just five days?*
Using sword qi to cleanse and temper the physical body required not only talent, but also perseverance and... the burning, all-or-nothing determination to become a powerhouse.
After finishing his tempering on the fifth day, Jiang Chen collapsed onto the floor as he had the previous few times and fell into a deep sleep.
Early on the sixth morning.
Wang Yuan's two lackeys were still staring intently at the room, and it was visibly apparent that their conditions had deteriorated significantly.
Ten consecutive days!
It was already approaching eleven days!
Without sleep or rest, they had simply stared at this Jiang Chen.
If they were at the Qi Refining 2nd or 3rd Layer, it would have been fine; their energy would be more abundant, and going half a month without rest wouldn't have done any real harm. But right now, the two of them were still mere nobodies at the Qi Refining 1st Layer—the burden of this was simply too heavy for them.
"Why hasn't Big Brother Wang Yuan's cousin arrived yet? If he doesn't come soon, are we just going to keep staring like this forever?"
"This damn fellow, for a full ten days, aside from going out to complete tasks, he just stays cooped up inside his room and never comes out!"
"I genuinely don't understand how he manages to sit still like that."
One of the lackeys spoke with a trace of helplessness, grumbling inwardly, though he dared not voice it aloud.
If walls had ears and Wang Yuan overheard him, he would be in for a world of hurt.
The other lackey was just about to say something when suddenly, he heard a boisterous commotion coming from afar.
Indeed, dense footsteps trampling on the dirt path were immediately followed by all sorts of voices.
"Hurry, keep up! There's a good show to watch—Wang Yuan actually got his cousin to come over."
"Wang Hu! A powerhouse at the Qi Refining 5th Layer! Tsk tsk, that new guy is going to get it now."
"Shh, keep your voice down. Wang Hu has a terrible temper, and those two brothers are equally unhinged. Who knows, he might just cripple us on the spot!"
"..."
Walking at the very front was Wang Hu.
Following right behind him was Wang Yuan, whose face now wore an expression of incomparable excitement. For ten whole days, the pent-up frustration of being brutally beaten by Jiang Chen had lingered in his chest, refusing to dissipate!
Today, his big brother had finally freed up his hands to teach this ignorant, heaven-defying punk a lesson!
Meanwhile, in the adjacent row of rooms, a group of female cultivators who basically slept during the day were also woken up by the commotion. Rubbing their sleep-filled eyes, they stepped out the door and froze at the sight before them.
"Sisters, what... what is going on here?"
One female cultivator, clearly still half-asleep, asked in gaping astonishment.
Another wore a relaxed expression and slowly said, "Oh, what else could it be? That over-ambitious new handyman is about to be reckoned with."
"Wang Hu, Wang Yuan's older brother, has come over. He's in big trouble now."
Pausing for a moment, she looked toward Wang Hu, licked her lips, and said with a hint of pity, "What a pity. Wang Hu must have plenty of resources on him—I really wish he'd favor me just once~"
In the eyes of these female cultivators, there were only resources and spirit stones.
Whoever had the most resources and spirit stones was the one most likely to be latched onto by them!
Another female cultivator laughed. "You little slut, look at what you're even worth. Do you think you're worth more spirit stones from him?"
"If you ask me, it's definitely going to be me."
With that, the two of them began to bicker.
However, these whispering voices quickly ceased as Wang Hu blocked the entrance of Jiang Chen's room.
Everyone's footsteps came to a halt. No one spoke, and they simply watched the scene unfold, wanting to see what on earth would happen next.
"Jiang Chen, get your ass out here and cripple your own hands and feet yourself, and I might spare your life!"
"Otherwise, I'll make you regret ever coming into this world!"