Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Jing Yan was crouched on the bed in his room, eyes slightly closed.
With the flowing of the ultimate divine power of the Arch of Heaven, the Vital Qi inside his body began to surge and run.
Seven ivory Spiritual Stones sat on the bed in front of Jing Yan.
“I don’t have enough Vital Qi left!” Jing Yan said. The ultimate divine power of the Arch of Heaven had only been flowing for less than the time it took to finish a cup of tea, and Jing Yan already felt a lack of Vital Qi.
If Jing Yan hadn’t had any Spiritual Stones, he would have been forced to stop at that point. But now he had Spiritual Stones sitting right in front of him. They were meant for situations like this.
First things first, Jing Yan quickly grabbed a Spiritual Stone and held it in his hand. As he focused his consciousness, the ivory Spiritual Stone started glowing faintly. At the same time, Jing Yan quickly absorbed the Vital Qi contained in the Spiritual Stone.
With the addition of the new Vital Qi, the Arch of Heaven’s power began to flow much more quickly.
The Vital Qi from the Spiritual Stone poured continuously into Jing Yan’s body, pushing him closer and closer to the next rank.
Jing Yan had entered the Precelestial rank before he fell, so he was very familiar with all nine of the Heaven ranks below Precelestial. Now that he had the ultimate divine power of the Arch of Heaven, there were virtually no barriers to prevent Jing Yan from breaking through the ranks. As long as he had enough Vital Qi, he should be able to keep leveling up.
Time went on. One zodiac hour later, Jing Yan started absorbing from the second Spiritual Stone.
Two zodiac hours later, he was working on the third Spiritual Stone.
The sky was getting dark, and night was falling.
Jing Yan’s incredible concentration drove him forward, keeping his cultivation running silently until dawn.
Boom!
When the first ray of morning sunshine came in through the window, Jing Yan felt a flow of energy surging inside his body. The power swirled through the room, and Jing Yan’s clothes started to dance under its influence.
Two or three breaths later, the energy flow surrounding Jing Yan finally calmed down.
Thump!
Jing Yan opened his eyes and glanced around with a faint smile on his face.
“The Fourth Heaven Rank of Martial Arts!”
“Finally! My rank can go up again!”
Before, no matter how hard Jing Yan worked on his cultivation, he still couldn’t stop his rank from falling. But now, the feeling of improving his rank returned. Jing Yan was thrilled. If he hadn’t been in the Jing Clan’s mansion, he would definitely have shouted out loud to release the accumulated frustration in his heart.
“It cost six Spiritual Stones.”
Jing Yan glanced at the spot next to him where there had been seven Spiritual Stones. Now there was only one left. The other six had been consumed already. There was nothing left of them but dust. It was fortunate that Jing Chuanling had loaned Jing Yan the five Spiritual Stones. Otherwise, Jing Yan had no idea where he would have found the five Spiritual Stones. Without them, there was no way he could have returned to the Fourth Heaven.
“I just broke through, so I still need to consolidate the status,” Jing Yan remembered. He picked up the last Spiritual Stone and continued absorbing from it.
In reality, it wouldn’t have mattered much if Jing Yan hadn’t absorbed the final Spiritual Stone to consolidate his rank. After all, he had reached that rank before, so his familiarity with the situation would let him easily control the strengthened Vital Qi inside his body. On the other hand, it certainly wouldn’t hurt Jing Yan to consolidate it anyway.
Once he reached the Fourth Heaven, Jing Yan’s speed of absorbing Vital Qi from Spiritual Stones also increased significantly. Before, it would have taken him one zodiac hour to absorb the Vital Qi from a Spiritual Stone. Now it took less than half of a zodiac hour before the Spiritual Stone turned into dust in Jing Yan’s palm.
“Since I’ve reached the Fourth Heaven, I can use Low-grade systems of martial arts now.” Jing Yan pressed his lips into a thin line.
Previously, Jing Yan had studied several martial systems. Some were Low-grade, some were Middle-grade, and there were also some Top-grade ones.
Yet even Low-grade martial systems required the warrior to have a cultivation of at least the Fourth Heaven. Ever since Jing Yan had fallen to the Third Heaven, he hadn’t been able to use any martial system, since his Vital Qi wasn’t strong enough to support the kind of power that a martial system required.
“Stance of Autumn Wind and Falling Leaves!”
Slash!
He wasn’t holding a weapon, but that didn’t affect Jing Yan at all when he performed the sword skill known as the Stance of Autumn Wind and Falling Leaves.
“Huh?”
The second Jing Yan started performing the Stance of Autumn Wind and Falling Leaves, he felt a possible connection to the ultimate divine power of the Arch of Heaven. Jing Yan instantly grasped something obscure.
“Is this… Has the Stance of Autumn Wind and Falling Leaves been refined?”
“What? How on earth? The Stance of Autumn Wind and Falling Leaves, though a Low-grade martial system, has been cultivated by countless warriors. How can there still be so many imperfections in need of patching?”
Several seconds later, Jing Yan’s face changed slightly. Based on the information he’d received from the Arch of Heaven, dozens of flaws were suddenly revealed in the Stance of Autumn Wind and Falling Leaves. Shocking!
The Stance of Autumn Wind and Falling Leaves was a Low-grade martial system that had been cultivated and improved by numerous warriors. If Jing Yan hadn’t found all the flaws by himself and seen them with crystal clarity, he wouldn’t have believed that a sword skill like that would have so many flaws.
“Let’s give it a try!”
Although Jing Yan had spotted the flaws and knew how to fix them, he couldn’t be sure what the ramifications of the alterations would be until he tried the new skill out. He didn’t even know if the changes he had made would be beneficial or harmful to the martial system itself.
Jing Yan picked up a long stick lying nearby and started performing the martial system in his room.
Slash!
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Gradually, Jing Yan was utterly absorbed in the Low-grade martial system of the Stance of Autumn Wind and Falling Leaves. It was three zodiac hours later when he finally stopped and returned to reality.
“Astonishing!”
“Unbelievable! What kind of cultivation method exactly is this Arch of Heaven?”
Jing Yan released a long breath.
“I don’t know exactly how much more powerful the Stance of Autumn Wind and Falling Leaves has become, but its strength has at least doubled,” Jing Yan whispered with surprise.
In addition to his cultivation method growing stronger, Jing Yan’s awareness had also been noticeably improved. Even things that had been confusing to him when he was at the Precelestial rank had now been entirely clarified. The improved awareness directly affected Jing Yan’s five senses. He was still inside his room, but he could even sense how many worms were hiding in the dirt in the yard outside.
“Let’s go get some Spiritual Stones!” After the dust had settled, Jing Yan’s eyes brightened and a smile bloomed across his face. He left the room right away.
Even before he had returned to the Fourth Heaven, Jing Yan had made plans to collect Spiritual Stones. When he was only at the Third Heaven, he couldn’t take advantage of any martial systems, so he couldn’t do anything about it. Reaching the Fourth Heaven made his plan to collect Spiritual Stones possible again. Now, with the improved Stance of Autumn Wind and Falling Leaves, Jing Yan would be able to get Spiritual Stones even faster.
To the west of Dong Lin City, there was an enormous mountainous area where numerous Spiritual Beasts resided. Warriors from Dong Lin City and a dozen other nearby cities would go into the mountains to hunt for Spiritual Beasts in the massive area.
Spiritual Beast hunting was, no doubt, the best way for regular warriors to collect Spiritual Stones.