The present [Mysterious Heavy Sword] was once refined into a mid-ranked treasured item but had ultimately failed. Nonetheless, this was made of rather sturdy materials.
Crucially, this sword was hefty enough and could amplify the intensity of attacks.
Furthermore, Chen Yu had already cultivated a swordplay technique before.
“I’ll choose this.”
Chen Yu held up the talisman that he had in his hand and drew it towards the counter with the [Mysterious Heavy Sword].
Buzz buzz!
All of a sudden, an array of scarlet-red beams lit up, which was then extinguished in a flash.
Meanwhile, the talisman in Chen Yu’s hand started to emit smoke.
Joy spread across Chen Yu’s face as he reached out to fetch the [Mysterious Heavy Sword] on the counter.
As soon as it was in his hands, Chen Yu’s arm dropped a bit as the sword brought on a heavy sense of solidity.
He reckoned that this sword weighed at least six hundred and twenty-five kilograms.
In general, individuals in the Body Tempering stage wouldn’t even be able to lift the sword with one hand. It would be pretty good if they could even lift a corner of it.
Those in the late Connective Meridian stage could maybe brandish it, but with high difficulty.
Those in the Visceral Tempering stage could swing it around, but would not handle it gracefully.
Even Chen Yu could feel how significantly heavy this sword was, but this should not affect him while killing enemies in actual combat.
“Just wait till my [Bronze Statue Technique] reaches the Bronze Muscle level or the Bronze Bone level, by then I’d be capable of brandishing this sword without a problem.”
Chen Yu thought to himself.
“Oh! This is the [Mysterious Heavy Sword]?”
By the door, the sixty-year-old elder showed surprise on his face.
He was quite shocked to see Chen Yu hold the sword so effortlessly. To his knowledge, an Acquired Qi Transformation Realm expert had tried this sword out before, but he had to give it up as it affected his flexibility.
After obtaining the [Mysterious Heavy Sword], Chen Yu returned to his dwellings and began to break into the sword.
Before this, he had casually cultivated a mid-ranked martial technique named the [Wind Chopping Sword]. He had not practiced it much but had mastered its initial form.
Chen Yu practiced with the [Mysterious Heavy Sword] in his courtyard for several hours.
Unfortunately, this sword was after all, quite bulky, and did not fit with the speed the [Wind Chopping Sword] pursued.
Bang bang! Bang bang!
Chen Yu tried to prompt his heart, and all of a sudden, his speed and strength increased somewhat.
Wind Chopping Sword!
The ‘Mysterious Heavy Sword’ transformed into the blurry shadow of a broken silver sword. Only the whistle of a storm could be heard. Wisps of intangible sword qi sliced through the leaves ahead to form four similarly partitioned pieces.
He hadn’t even consumed the Inner Breath.
Chop!
Chen Yu absorbed the Fiendish Cloud Inner Breath and soon, there was a humming noise. A thick layer of silvery-black luster congealed on top of the [Mysterious Heavy Sword].
At that moment, he felt the hefty sword become even heavier, like a rough bull frantically trying to escape its cage.
Bang—
On the ground, a lumbering silvery-black sword crescent with a soul-frightening hiss slashed through a ravine, which was half a meter deep and one or two meters long. Sparks flew everywhere while fragments of rock swirled in the air.
“What powerful might!”
Chen Yu was speechless. The inner sect encampment he was at was on a layer of hard rock and it was very difficult for ordinary weapons to slash through it.
After trying out the Mysterious Heavy Sword, Chen Yu got up the next day and made a beeline for the Heavenly Martial Pavilion.
After the Great Outer Sect Tournament, Chen Yu had received thirty thousand contribution points and had exchanged these in the Sect Affairs Hall.
Moreover, before he had slaughtered the Bandit King and the Bald Bloody Hand, receiving four thousand five hundred and two thousand [Martial Tome Currency] respectively. He had sufficient contribution points.
Even taking into account his expenditure, he still had thirty-six thousand contribution points remaining!
He then directly entered the second floor.
Chen Yu selected a copy of the [Iron Astral Sword], a high-ranking martial art swordplay technique, and spent five thousand contribution points.
[Iron Astral Sword] was distinctly different from the [Wind Chopping Sword] as it emphasized stability, severity, and power. When cultivated to its initial form, its sword network could morph into astral winds and crush people. The sword astral could also protect one’s body. It was complete as it had both offensive and defensive moves.
If this martial art was to be cultivated to perfection, the dancing sword astral would be equipped with all sorts of offensive abilities.
“This fits very well with the Mysterious Heavy Sword.”
Chen Yu was rather satisfied with this high-ranking martial arts technique.
He continued searching on the second floor for a short while.
“I haven’t seen the [Bronze Statue Technique].”
Chen Yu hadn’t forgotten the aim of his trip.
He found a middle-aged attendant and inquired after the second volume of the [Bronze Statue Technique].
“Oh, are you Elder Mao’s disciple?”
That middle-aged attendant was polite as he made Chen Yu wait.
A moment later, from some obscure corner, the middle-aged attendant took out a wooden box and drew out another volume of the [Bronze Statue Technique].
Chen Yu took a glance. It was the second volume of the [Bronze Statue Technique].
“For how many contribution points?” Chen Yu asked.
The middle-aged attendant laughed and replied, “This kind of abandoned physical cultivation technique is simply useless in the modern world. You can just give me a couple of thousand contribution points as you wish.”
Abandoned and useless?
A strange look appeared on Chen Yu’s face as he couldn’t help but feel sorry about the decline of the physical path.
Of course, no matter how declined the path was, the [Bronze Statue Technique] was ranked highly. The middle-aged attendant was just paying respect to Elder Mao when he mentioned paying ‘a couple thousand contribution points’.
He wouldn’t be surprised if this required ten or twenty thousand points if regular procedures were undertaken.
“Alright.”
Chen Yu took out four thousand contribution points and exchanged them for the second volume of the [Bronze Statue Technique].
And so, he traded for the [Bronze Statue Technique] and the [Iron Astral Sword], spending nine thousand contribution points at the Heavenly Martial Pavilion.
Chen Yu worked out he had twenty-seven thousand contribution points and more than one thousand substandard Metastones left.
This was therefore what he was worth.
…
Back at his residence, Chen Yu thumbed through the second volume of the [Bronze Statue Technique] first.
“The second volume of the [Bronze Statue Technique] states that one could form a ‘Bronze Statue Body’ after joining the faction of Bronze Statues. This was divided then into two levels: Bronze Astral Statue and Bronze Statue True Body…”
Chen Yu read through it briefly.
To him, the second volume was still quite far away from him.
From the descriptions, the faction of Bronze Statues probably referred to Bronze Skin, Bronze Muscles, and Bronze Bone.
Above this was the true Bronze Statue Body, which was separated into the two levels of Astral Statue and True Body. Chen Yu reckoned that this probably corresponded to the Acquired Qi Transformation Realm and the Innate Qi Transformation Realm.
[Bronze Astral Statue]: The powerful Bronze Statue gives the body an additional imperceptible force field, resembling an armor made of astral qi. It could withstand treasured weapons, clear tens of thousands of troops, and shatter all kinds of attacks. It could even reflect the opponent’s attack.
Withstand treasured weapons?
Chen Yu took in a gulp of cold air. One could pretty much run amuck once they perfected this physical technique as they would become akin to a vicious being armed with iron thorns.
Above this was the [Bronze Statue True Body], and the description for this was more magnificent than the previous one!
[Bronze Statue True Body]: One’s mind becomes one with the bronze statue when using will to polish themselves. As they understand the true meaning behind bronze statues, they will become a ‘Living Bronze Statue’. Once the true body is completed, they would become invincible towards the elements, as well as all kinds of toxins. With extraordinary strength, they can force ghouls to retreat. In this state, one could magnify their body using the mysterious true body technique. They could also defy all kinds of forces as they possess some sort of mighty powers.
The level of the True Body came with capabilities and phenomena exceeding what Chen Yu had ever witnessed.
“From the looks of it, the first volume is just an introduction. The second volume is the main section.”
Chen Yu then put the tome away.
His heart was settled now that he had collected the whole [Bronze Statue Technique].
A few days later, Chen Yu began cultivating the high-ranking technique [Iron Astral Sword].
Previously, he had casually practiced the [Wind Chopping Sword] and the style of this was light and brisk. [Iron Astral Sword], however, had a completely different style as it emphasized substance, force, and stability.
Throughout the cultivation process, Chen Yu compared the two and comprehended the meaning behind the swordplay technique.
Also, it was as if there was an instinct in his body enabling him to rapidly and perfectly coordinate all of the external moves together.
First off, he coordinated them on ‘form’ so that he could understand their meaning even quicker.
Gradually, as Chen Yu practiced, he first coordinated the moves perfectly, then slowly forgot the moves, using some kind of bizarre instinct in his body to agree with the technique’s true meaning.
In the courtyard, the youngster’s swordplay technique was sometimes quick and agile as the wind, and sometimes steady like a mountain.
Five days later, Chen Yu’s [Iron Astral Sword] had reached its initial form.
Swish swoosh!
A sheet of dark-silvery sword images and astral winds danced around as he swung the [Mysterious Heavy Sword]. These compressed further to form a sheet of lustrous silvery sword astral.
The basic form of a sword astral!
“Perhaps I am a gifted genius when it comes to swordplay techniques?”
Chen Yu was rather surprised.
After all this time, he was cultivating the [Iron Astral Sword], a high-ranked martial art, but the progress was even quicker than when he was practicing the [Wind Chopping Sword].
And right now, [Wind Chopping Sword] had broken through to perfection!
In fact, Chen Yu’s body was constantly transforming and growing after merging with the mysterious heart. His body now possessed some sort of instinct even greater than a wild beast’s.
With ease, he perfectly coordinated the swordplay technique’s ‘form’ before using his body’s instinct to discover the technique’s true meaning.
Another secondary reason was that the forceful inner meaning within [Iron Astral Sword] was very compatible with Chen Yu’s great physique, as well as the [Bronze Statue Technique].
Of course, Chen Yu was only ‘casually cultivating’ these two martial swordplay techniques. A high-ranked martial art like the [Iron Astral Sword] possessed its own Inner Breath techniques, which could act as one’s main cultivation. But the resulting Inner Breath was far inferior to Fiendish Cloud Inner Breath.
Chen Yu was only cultivating the technique’s martial moves and comprehending its true meaning to balance some of the supplementary utility techniques for his Inner Breath.
This day, Chen Yu stopped his practice and headed towards the Sect Affairs Hall.
“I have already gathered the remaining ingredients in the amounts you require, except for the Barbaric Cow Marrow.”
An attendant then took out some materials.
As it turned out, a couple of days ago, Chen Yu had deposited some contribution points and Metastones at the Sect Affairs Hall. Using the pretext of an assignment, he was acquiring valuable materials for Body Tempering medicines.
This was the privilege of being an Inner Sect disciple – he could distribute assignments at the Sect Affairs Hall.
Now he had finished gathering the other materials with just the main ingredient Barbaric Cow Marrow missing.
“Altogether it’s three hundred contribution points and one hundred and eighty substandard Metastones.”
The attendant handed the materials over to Chen Yu.
Chen Yu then walked out of the Sect Affairs Hall and sighed in a low voice. “Ah, I’m still missing the Barbaric Cow Marrow.”
Back then, he had obtained some Barbaric Cow Marrow from Tong Yuling’s family but had used all of it after reaching the [Bronze Statue Technique]’s Initial Bronze Muscle form.
One hour later, Chen Yu found Tong Yuling, who was part of the Inner Sect like him.
“Barbaric Cow Marrow? My family has recently used up all that we had.”
Tong Yuling said as she shook her head.
Chen Yu’s brows furrowed. Without the Body Tempering Medicinal Fluid, his cultivation of the [Bronze Statue Technique] would begin to slow down.
“However, I do know where the ‘Ferocious Red-Horned Ox’ is.”
Tong Yuling said with a bit of hesitation.
“Oh?”
Chen Yu’s eyes sparkled. If he could find Barbaric Cow Marrow mediums then, later on, it would be easy for him to handle this main ingredient.
“But this ferocious ox is dangerous and irritable. Back then, my family had to pay the great cost of dispatching two Visceral Tempering experts and six or seven late-stage Connective Meridian cultivators just to kill one. Furthermore, we suffered considerable losses with one of the Visceral Tempering experts being heavily injured. He still hasn’t recovered yet…”
Tong Yuling warned him.
“I understand.”
Chen Yu hadn’t given up yet.
Right now, he possessed the [Mysterious Heavy Sword], a precious weapon. His swordplay techniques were in the first stages of success, just right for going outside and polishing.
“How about this. I just happen to be needing the blood of a ‘Ferocious Red-Horned Ox’. We can work together to kill one.”
Tong Yuling smiled in turn.
She had noticed the long-shaped package Chen Yu was carrying on his back.
“Alright.”
Chen Yu was delighted. Nowadays, Tong Yuling had broken through to the Visceral Tempering stage and would be a great assistance.
The next day, after appropriate preparations, Chen Yu and Tong Yuling departed from Yunyue Sect on horseback.
Soon after their departure, two figures with conical bamboo hats flashed through a nearby forest. Judging from their physiques, these were two young men.
“He actually has a Visceral Tempering companion with him?”
One of the young men with the conical bamboo hats said with slight surprise.
“What are you afraid of? She’s a girl who had just recently promoted to the Visceral Tempering stage. We’ll take our opportunity and attack when they’re kissing, hehe…”
The other young man seemed rather unbridled.