Martial Immortality: Starting with the Spirit Beast Scroll

Chapter 292: Chapter 280: The Way of Slaughter

In the blink of an eye, another two months passed.

Zhao Lin had opened eleven qi apertures and was about to enter the Qi Refining Second Layer.

This cultivation speed wasn’t particularly outstanding. It couldn’t compare to disciples with high-grade Spiritual Roots and was only average among those with mid-grade Spiritual Roots.

But Zhao Lin knew this was all due to his slow progress in the first two months holding him back.

He had opened three qi apertures when his meridians were first unblocked, another three in the first two months, but in the most recent two months, he had opened five.

The difference was significant.

Of course, only he knew the hardships involved.

While others cultivated for one shichen, he had to cultivate for three. He had also once suffered the painful lesson of a failed forceful attempt to open an aperture, which resulted in his meridians feeling like they were being burned and boiled.

Although his body healed quickly on its own, the experience had been extremely unpleasant.

Zhao Lin roughly estimated that his current cultivation speed was now approaching that of someone with a high-grade Spiritual Root, all thanks to the Pipa Catfish’s Essence Soul.

However, the most dazzling disciple was still Lin Chaoran.

Just as everyone had expected, he broke through to the Qi Refining Third Layer, leaving everyone else far behind.

After this, however, his cultivation speed also slowed down.

This was normal: the higher one’s cultivation, the more qi apertures needed to be maintained, and the difficulty increased with each level.

During these two months, besides advancing his cultivation, Zhao Lin had also cultivated the two most basic forms of Magic, the Qi Observation Skill and the Spirit Blade Skill, to the "Initiate" level.

The Qi Observation Skill could be used to inspect a cultivator’s cultivation level and observe Spiritual Qi. It was a required Magic for all sects, and the very first one to be learned.

At the Initiate level, the Qi Observation Skill could only determine the general minor realm a Qi Refining Realm cultivator was in. To see their specific layer, one had to cultivate the skill to the "Proficient" or "Minor Achievement" levels.

If one reached the "Mastery" level, not only could they observe Spiritual Qi, but they could also see Corpse Qi, yin qi, demonic qi, Evil Qi, Gang Qi, and other such external energies.

If cultivated to the Major Achievement or Perfection stages, it could even be used to survey ley lines and peer into the cultivation of higher-tier cultivators, even those several levels above.

The Qi Observation Skill was a supportive type of Magic, but the Spirit Blade Skill was a true art of slaughter.

Zhao Lin chose to cultivate the Spirit Blade Skill, naturally, out of consideration for his identity as a Martial Cultivator.

Spirit Blade Skill was a general term for a class of Magic.

If one controlled the blade with Water-element Spiritual Power, it was the Water Blade Skill. If driven by the Wood Element, it was the Wood Blade Skill.

In fact, the Spirit Blade Skill could be cultivated using any of the five elements—Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth—as well as the Wind and Ice elements.

Only the Thunder Attribute, despite its power, was too direct and lacked variation, so no Thunder Blade Skill existed.

This Magic emphasized flexibility and adaptability, so after careful consideration, Zhao Lin decided to cultivate the Wind Blade Skill.

Although the Wind Blade Skill was a Tier One Skill, its power was not to be underestimated if cultivated to the Major Achievement or Perfection stage.

The tier of a Magic was determined by its Mana requirements; the power of a Tier One Skill was not necessarily weaker than that of a Tier Two Skill.

According to the instructing senior brother, if the Spirit Blade Skill was cultivated to Perfection, it could even slay a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator in a single strike.

This showed that if a Low Tier cultivator mastered a Low Tier Magic to its ultimate extent, they could still challenge a high-tier cultivator.

Of course, the difficulty of cultivation multiplied with each level of a Magic. Cultivating a Tier One Skill to Perfection was nearly as difficult as achieving Foundation Establishment.

Overall, Zhao Lin was fairly satisfied with his cultivation progress.

His only trouble was that the Spirit Beast Scroll was still "out of commission," and he had no idea when it would recover.

...

"With the Spirit Blade Skill, agility is paramount; power is secondary. When casting, you must lock onto the target with your Divine Sense. Only then can you control it freely, as if it were an extension of your own arm."

"Otherwise, it’s just a dead blade. Your enemy isn’t a training dummy! A flying blade that cannot change its path poses no threat!"

Inside the Demonstration Pavilion, a cultivator in his thirties with a medium build, a stern face, and sword-like brows was speaking with great confidence.

Below the stage sat a dozen or so disciples. Half were new disciples who had just joined this year, while the other half were "senior disciples" who had been in the sect for one or two years.

The Magic taught at the Spirit Dao Institute was divided into two types: "required" and "elective."

Aside from a few required skills like the Qi Observation Skill and the Body Protection Skill, disciples could freely choose which Magic to study based on their own attributes and preferences.

There were many Tier One Skills, such as the Diving Skill, Exorcism Skill, Wind Stabilization Skill, Cloud Transformation Skill, Five Elements Skill, Earth Spike Skill, Water Illusion Skill, Fireball Technique, Healing Skill, Divine Movement Skill...

Of the countless Daoist techniques, combat arts were only a small fraction.

By the same token, there were thousands of cultivators in Han Chi County, but most were engaged in professions like tending Spirit Fields, beast taming, cultivation of plants, or Artifact Refining. Fewer than one-tenth were truly proficient in combat.

Compared to combat, disciples were more willing to study Magic related to Daoist arts. This allowed them to cultivate peacefully and stably while also earning Spirit Stones—killing two birds with one stone.

On the other hand, cultivating combat arts meant relying on one’s fighting prowess to obtain resources, which often involved being sent on dangerous missions, greatly increasing the risk.

Unlike the others, Zhao Lin, as a Martial Cultivator, had almost no choice.

It was hard to imagine a Martial Cultivator raising bees and silkworms in a garden or fussing over flowers and herbs; that would be tantamount to abandoning his own specialty.

’Since I’m a Martial Cultivator, I must walk my own path single-mindedly. Looking left and right will only serve to disrupt my Dao Heart!’

Moreover, Zhao Lin had another motive for cultivating the art of slaughter.

Every three years, the Chenghua Sect held a sect-wide "Dharma Scuffle."

Those who distinguished themselves in the scuffle could obtain benefits such as Spirit Stones, magic treasures, pills, and merit points.

When Zhao Lin first heard this news, he was secretly pleased. ’I might not be good at other things, but I have a natural advantage when it comes to combat.’

However, when he learned the details of the Dharma Scuffle, his heart sank.

It turned out the sect’s Dharma Scuffle was divided by age groups. To participate in the junior division, one had to be a disciple of the Spirit Dao Institute under the age of twenty.

Zhao Lin was about to turn thirty-two, so he definitely couldn’t enter that division.

There was also an elite division, which was open to all cultivators under the age of forty.

Those who could enter this division were basically young cultivators at the eighth or ninth layer of Qi Refining—every one of them a sect elite and a prodigy of the Dao.

Compared to people like that, Zhao Lin’s advantage was nonexistent.

But after thinking it over and over, he still decided to set his sights on it.

The reason was merit points!

These so-called merit points could be understood as a type of currency valid only within the sect, and a high-value one at that.

Merit points could be exchanged for pills, Cultivation Techniques, and Spirit Stones, and even for cultivation caves, but the reverse was not possible.

By excelling at Alchemy, cultivating Spirit Grass well, or creating a new talisman art... only by making contributions to the sect could one obtain merit points.

Participating in the sect’s Dharma Scuffle was the only method Zhao Lin could currently think of that suited him for acquiring merit points.

His purpose for wanting merit points was none other than the Foundation Establishment Pill!

Cultivation was inseparable from pills. Especially in the middle and late stages of Qi Refining, pills like the Yuan Condensing Pill and the Yellow Valley Pill could help cultivators break through the bottlenecks between layers.

And the Foundation Establishment Pill could greatly increase the success rate of achieving Foundation Establishment.

The Chenghua Sect had numerous disciples; it was impossible to supply every single one with a sufficient amount of pills.

Aside from geniuses with an Earth Spirit Root like Lin Chaoran, who didn’t need to worry about pills, most disciples could only rely on accumulating merit points to exchange for the right to receive them.

Zhao Lin had always been one to plan ahead. From the very beginning of his cultivation journey, he had already set his sights on the Foundation Establishment Pill.

"All disciples, gather in the square... That includes instructing and administrative disciples."

Just then, a voice like a great bell resounded throughout the Spirit Dao Institute.