It's been around three months since Yu Zixing had successfully learned his cultivation method... and ever since then he's been completely invested in learning all the other techniques from Tang Jia San Shao's novels bestowed to him by Hao Yue.
During these few months Yu Zixing's progress could be considered quite staggering. By cultivating the Bridge Between Heaven & Earth, not only were the Mysterious Heaven Skill and Eternal Life Technique increasing his spirit power and vital energy respectively, but they were also slowly but surely enhancing some of his body's natural attributes.
The Mysterious Heaven Skil was steadily enhancing his Inner Strength and Endurance, while as the Eternal Life Technique was increasing his Vigor and External Spiritual Energy bit by bit.
Due to the sheer advantages bestowed by his Innate Divine Strength coupled with the increase of power slowly being provided by his cultivation method, Zixing had also even decided to start taking up forging.
Naturally among the many techniques bestowed to his mind by Hao Yue, some of which also happens to be the Clear Sky Clan's 'Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer' technique as well as several forging techniques from the era of Soul Land 3. With his current physical strength coupled with these forging techniques, Zixing had decided to take his first steps in the Soul Land world's way of forging.
In these short three months or so, Yu Zixing believed that based on his progress regarding his forging skills, he was but one step away from successfully becoming a 2nd Rank Blacksmith based on Soul Land 3's standards. The only thing he had to do to confirm it was to successfully Hundred Refine several pieces of rare metals.
Must know that one of the major reasons he could progress so fast in terms of forging, is also due to the simple fact that during his previous life as a nameless mercenary he would often forge his own tools and weapons which made it much harder for other people to trace their sources.
As for his current cultivation level and combat techniques...
....
Whoosh...
Within the large woodland area near the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's territory, a small blur could be seen jumping from tree to tree with barely any sound at all.
'SSSS'
When a small green snake slithered around one of the nearby tree branches..
Whoosh...
Kacha!
'SSSS!!'
The small green snake was instantly stabbed into the tree branch by what looked to be a newly forged silver kunai.
On top of another tree branch behind one of the trees, Yu Zixing suddenly emerged from blending into his surroundings as if he was some sort of chameleon.
This was none other than the Assassin Temple's 'Stealth' technique from the world of Sealed Divine Throne where an assassin would make themselves transparent and mask their presence.
"Although I had a feeling that using Tang Sect Martial Arts along with the Assassin Temple techniques would yield good results, I didn't think it would be this effective." Thought Zixing as he removed the mask covering the lower half of his face.
"Even the nearby animals hadn't noticed me despite the fact that I've been jumping around all over the place... truly using the lightness skill along with stealth was quite effective. Now if I were to master Hidden Weapon Techniques while in that state, I could probably become versatile enough to ambush several groups of enemies at once." Muttered the black-haired boy as he was writing down his experiences of today's training in a small notebook.
This had always been a habit of his from his previous life where during training he would always write down his experiences in a small notebook and reread them later for reference.
Zixing then jumped down from the tree branch and said: "Alright... next I should check the current limits of my Eternal Life Transformation."
Suddenly...
"ROAR!!"
A loud beastly roar was heard from deep within the woodland area.
Hearing the beast roar, Zixing quickly knelt down in reflex to avoid visibility as he thought: "That's a mature bear's roar... come to think of it I've heard rumors from the passing guards that there have been several reports of the clan's servants being injured by the wild beasts in this area."
Taking out one of the kunais from his pocket, the black haired boy thought: "I guess... it's an opportunity to try some things out?"
....
"ROAR!!!" Three large bears roared as they were decimating a group of wild wolves near what looked to be a fairly large cave.
"Whimper!"
"Whimper!"
"Whimper!"
The wolves whimpered in pain and fear as they tried their best to run away from the three large bears attacking them.
Zixing watched the entire scene unfold from atop a large tree branch under the state of stealth.
As someone who had quite a bit of experience hunting from his previous life, Yu Zixing could immediately tell...
"From the looks of those bears it's clear they've completely gone feral..." Thought the black-haired boy as he continued to calmly observe the situation.
"Alright... no better time than the present to try this out." Muttered the boy as he began to channel the energy of his Eternal Life Technique.
whoosh..whoosh..whoosh..
"ROAR!!!"
Without warning several daggers that looked to be made out of pure white colored energy suddenly descended and assailed the group of three large bears causing several bloody cuts on their large bodies.
These daggers were actually energy construct weapons created using a technique specifically tied to the Eternal Life Technique known as Eternal Life Transformation.
Eternal Life Transformation: Eternal Life Transformation consists of seven stages, each causing the solidified energy emitted by the practitioner to change color. The first stage is white, followed by yellow, then light green, light blue, light purple, silver, and finally gold. By condensing their internal Eternal Life True Qi into a solid form, it manifests as a weapon that resonates with the wielder's mind. With profound mastery, the weapon can be dynamically altered during battle, becoming an unpredictable weapon that overwhelms the enemy's defenses.
"Controlling the energy constructs created by Eternal Life Transformation are indeed much easier through the use of Hidden Weapon Hundred Separation." Thought Zixing as he formed several more white energy daggers within his hand.
whoosh..whoosh..whoosh..
"ROAR!!!"
As more and more white energy daggers descended and caused bloody cuts throughout the bodies of the three large bears, these three wild beasts began to panic as they turned around and started retreating.
Must know that the three bears did their best to try to block the descending daggers and yet each time they did so, the white energy daggers would suddenly move, turn and curve in unpredictable ways avoiding their claws and directly attacking their bodies making them feel completely powerless. This was the result of the combination between Eternal Life Transformation and Hidden Weapon Hundred Separation.
"I can't let these wild beasts cause trouble for ordinary people anymore." Thought the boy as he saw the three bears retreating.
whoosh...
He then turned into a purple blur as he rushed down at great speed leaving behind faint purple streaks and phantom like afterimages as he descended.
This was a movement technique that was a combination of the Assassin Temple's Assassin Style Movement coupled with the Tang Sect's Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track.
In but an instant Zixing appeared in front of the large bears with his fist at the ready.
"ROAR!" The bear at the very front roared at the boy with bloodshot eyes as it then was about to swing it's sharp claws at Zixing.
At this sight the black-haired boy simply maintained a calm expression as he then suddenly shifted forward in an instant through the use of Sliding Step.
In that very moment... Zixing concentrated some of his power and innate strength into his fist.
BANG!!!
"ROAR!!!" The large bear roared as it was sent flying...
CRASH!
...instantly crashing into the side of the cave... it was completely dead.
"whimper..."
"whimper..."
The remaining bears whimpered in fear after having seen the sight of their comrade being instantly blown away by the little human in front of them.
As for Zixing... he decided to spare these two remaining wild beasts from suffering and chose to end them swiftly.
whoosh...
puchi...puchi...
With a wave of his hand, a pair of white energy daggers instantly appeared and pierced through the necks of these two remaining wild bears.
The punch that Zixing executed earlier was a simple technique known as Through Point Strike which originated from the world of 'The Kind Death God' similar to the Eternal Life Technique.
"Haa..." After sighing at the sight of the three dead bears, Zixing then proceeded to lift one of the bear corpses onto his small back with next to no effort at all.
POP...
"Hawawa?" Asked Hao Yue as he suddenly popped out of Zixing's body.
Yu Zixing: "I'm fine Hao Yue... It's just... I didn't think hunting wild animals would already be this easy at only Spirit Rank 9... Looks like I'm gonna have to find other means to train my new techniques and abilities."
....
Now back in front of the rundown house, Zixing could be seen roasting a small piece of bear meat on top of a small campfire.
"I've already reached the peak of Spirit Rank 9 over two weeks ago and yet I can't seem to improve any further in my cultivation... I'm not really sure whether it's due to Hao Yue or my cultivation technique but I seem to be currently stuck at Spirit Rank 9. I've read from some books that training and combat can have a chance at stimulating one's breakthrough but I'm not really sure if I'm doing it right?" Muttered the black-haired boy as he continued to roast the bear meat on the fire.
"Alright... I'll try meditating again to see if there are any changes." Thought Zixing as he closed his eyes and began meditating after taking a bite out of the roasted bear meat.
whoosh...
The energies of heaven and earth once again began being absorbed into both his chest and lower body corresponding to his Lower and Middle Dantians respectively as the energies of Mysterious Heaven Skill and Eternal Life Technique revolved throughout his body.
After about half an hour, Zixing could feel the quality of his Spirit Power and Vital Energy being enhanced at a snail's pace. However that was all... there was absolutely no signs of improvement in his cultivation whatsoever. His spirit rank was still solidly stable at the peak of Rank 9.
"Still no improvement huh... I guess I'll go practice forging instead... Hm?!" As Zixing woke up from his meditation, he suddenly saw one of the clan's roaming guards approach him.
The guard performed a slight bow then extended his hand with a letter towards Zixing saying: "The Clan Master asked me to deliver this to you."
"Oh um... thank you." Replied the boy upon receiving the letter from the guard.
After the guard left, Zixing immediately opened and read the letter out of curiosity.
"This is... an invitation to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's... New Dragons Exhibition?!" Said the black-haired boy in surprise.