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Chapter 72: The Secret of the Black Wooden Sword
Chapter 72: The Secret of the Black Wooden Sword
After leaving the outer sect, Chu Ning went to bid farewell to Qiu Shunyi.
The two had entered the sect together, but their fates had diverged drastically.
When Chu Ning found Qiu Shunyi, the latter was still in the fields, chanting incantations and using incantation gestures to stimulate the growth of this season's Chi ling mi (Red Spirit Rice).
Seeing Qiu Shunyi's slow progress, not even close to achieving instant stimulation yet, Chu Ning sighed.
He casually handed over twenty talismans to Qiu Shunyi, asking him to give ten to Lu Xingyuan, and also gave him several spirit stones.
He didn't give too much, understanding the dangers of displaying one's wealth.
Qiu Shunyi was, of course, astonished and envious that Chu Ning was about to leave the sect for the market.
Leaving Qiu Shunyi's spirit fields, Chu Ning returned directly to his courtyard.
As for the others, he didn't plan on saying goodbye.
Back in his courtyard, he eagerly retrieved the Silver Crystal Bamboo Shield from his storage bag.
This defensive artifact was the first proper artifact he had obtained.
Holding the Silver Crystal Bamboo Shield, which was currently palm-sized with a faint silver coating, Chu Ning channeled his spiritual energy into it as he recalled He Changyou's instructions.
As spiritual energy flowed into the shield, it immediately expanded to half the size of a person.
Simultaneously, a luminous shield appeared on the surface of the Silver Crystal Bamboo Shield, enveloping Chu Ning within it.
Just one glance was enough for Chu Ning to realize that this protective shield was far more effective than the protective talismans he had used before.
"This is the first proper life-saving artifact I've acquired," Chu Ning said with satisfaction as he withdrew his spiritual energy.
The Silver Crystal Bamboo Shield immediately shrunk back to palm-size, and Chu Ning returned it to his storage bag.
With his impending departure from the sect, Chu Ning decided to boost his strength.
He had been contemplating this on his journey, and now he prepared to cultivate divine arts first, optimizing his mental state before moving on to subsequent cultivation.
At that moment, Chu Ning's gaze casually swept over the black wooden sword within his storage bag, and his expression became pensive.
Immediately, he sat down cross-legged and began cultivating the Refining God Technique.
Chu Ning remained in this meditative state for a long while.
Afterward, he briefly cultivated the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art as a transition.
Then, he took out the black wooden sword from his storage bag once more and started cultivating the Refining God Technique again.
Chu Ning didn't know how much time had passed when he opened his eyes, a look of sudden realization on his face.
"So, the reason why my progress in the Refining God Technique has been inconsistent, sometimes fast and sometimes slow, is because of this black wooden sword."
At that moment, Chu Ning first gave a bitter laugh, but then it faded into joy.
During the past period, especially after talisman-making, Chu Ning had noticed that his progress in cultivating the Refining God Technique varied.
He had always assumed that it was influenced by the use of spiritual sense in talisman-making.
But then, a sudden insight struck him.
He recalled that due to his neighbors moving out, he hadn't been placing the black wooden sword beside him every night like he used to.
This realization led him to a hypothesis, which he tested and found to be true.
It wasn't surprising that Chu Ning hadn't considered this direction earlier.
The first time he had experienced an accelerated cultivation of the Refining God Technique was on the morning after his neighbors moved in.
That morning, as he cultivated, his spiritual sense had also liquefied.
Thus, Chu Ning attributed the accelerated progress to the liquefaction of his spiritual sense.
Only recently, when he occasionally didn't use the wooden sword during talisman-making, did he notice the inconsistency in his cultivation speed.
And now, he had finally uncovered the true reason.
"What material is this black wooden sword made of that it aids in the cultivation of spiritual sense?"
Holding the large black wooden sword in his hands, Chu Ning was both astonished and delighted.
During this period, he had deeply felt the challenges of improving his spiritual sense through the Refining God Technique.
Now, to discover that he had a treasure that accelerated his cultivation of the technique all along was certainly unexpected.
Chu Ning carefully searched through his knowledge of spiritual plants, trying to identify the wood used in the sword, but unfortunately, he couldn't find an answer.
Combining that with the black wooden sword would undoubtedly result in even faster progress.
Nevertheless, his immediate plan was to seclude himself for a few days to attempt a breakthrough to the sixth layer of Qi Refining!
Even though He Changyou and the others had assured him that the trip to Yanji Fang posed no danger, Chu Ning preferred to be cautious.
In addition to acquiring some life-saving items from his fellow disciples, the most crucial preparation was undoubtedly improving his cultivation.
Despite his recent focus on talisman-making and spell cultivation, Chu Ning had never neglected the cultivation of his key techniques and secret arts.
As he sank his consciousness into his sea of knowledge, he gained a clear understanding of his cultivation progress.
【Green Wood Eternal Spring Art (Lower Tier Yellow Rank), Second Layer (432/900)】
【Nine Transforming Body Refining Art, First Volume, Unwithering Bones 167/600】
【Refining God Technique, First Layer 133/1000】
At this moment, the proficiency of his Green Wood Eternal Spring Art had reached 432 in the second layer.
When his proficiency had surpassed 200 in the past, he had advanced from the fourth layer to the fifth layer of Qi Refining.
Chu Ning was now confident that an increase of 300 in proficiency would be sufficient to reach the threshold of 500 and propel him from the fifth layer to the sixth layer of Qi Refining.
His current goal was to cultivate with all his might.
With five days at his disposal, he intended to raise the proficiency of the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art by 68 points and break through to the sixth layer!
A deficit of 68 points was impossible to bridge through normal cultivation.
Even with the aid of the Green Wood Spring Art, Chu Ning could only gain 2 or 3 points per day.
Fortunately, he had another valuable resource—spirit stones!
Over the past few months, he had gradually accumulated a substantial number of spirit stones by selling talisman paper to Mu Ling.
Moreover, his expenses had been minimal.
Aside from the occasion when he asked Qiu Shunyi to purchase a few talismans from the market town to guard against Qi Chongmao, most of his spirit stones remained untouched.
Occasional usage for cultivation meant that Chu Ning still possessed over 200 spirit stones.
He had already conducted a preliminary experiment.
After reaching the fifth layer of Qi Refining, it took nearly two low-grade spirit stones to increase his proficiency in the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art by a single point.
Such a cost was prohibitive for ordinary chore disciples or even outer sect disciples.
However, there were indeed outer sect disciples with substantial spirit stone incomes, and the reason they didn't engage in frenzied cultivation was twofold.
Firstly, each person's absorption rate of spirit stone essence varied.
Disciples with inferior spiritual roots and lower-grade cultivation techniques absorbed spiritual energy at a slower rate.
Among the chore disciples in District Ding, many would undoubtedly achieve faster progress with spirit stones, but the improvement might not be significantly greater than that achieved through regular meditation.
After all, their absorption rates set a natural limit.
The second and more critical issue was the bottleneck problem.
Advancing to the middle stages of Qi Refining meant that each layer represented a hurdle to overcome.
Breaking through these bottlenecks wasn't merely a matter of absorbing a certain amount of spiritual energy.
The poorer one's talent, the more challenging the bottleneck.
A prime example was Mu Ling, who enjoyed resources far superior to most Qi Refining disciples within the sect, yet still struggled to progress beyond the sixth layer.
Fortunately, neither of these issues applied to Chu Ning, thanks to his Yin Wood spiritual body.
Seated cross-legged on his bed, Chu Ning's mental and physical state was at its peak thanks to his cultivation of the Refining God Technique.
He retrieved a pile of spirit stones from his storage bag and placed them before him, casually grabbing a handful.
With his Green Wood Eternal Spring Art activated, he began his cultivation!
(End of Chapter)
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