All Heavenly destiny reduced to ashes
Chapter 418 - 61 Temporary Farewell (1/3)

Chapter 418: Chapter 61 Temporary Farewell (1/3)

The injured Nian Quan displayed even greater strength than before, defeating a student from First Middle School in one move. This surprised many spectators, even causing a few individuals in the VIP section to be visibly moved, whispering among themselves.

An elderly cultivator with white hair nodded slightly: "That Sword Intent just now... quite extraordinary. It’s not ordinary Water Element Sword Intent, but Heavenly River, or Nine Springs? I sensed a vast True Intent, and... sadness."

"Hmm. But the key is that bursting Technique," another cultivator, who looked younger but spoke in an even more seasoned tone, nodded: "It appeared to be merely using the wooden structure solidified in the hand to release a stronger Sword Qi Flow, but in reality, it was a Secret Technique that emphasizes ’piercing with a single-minded focus,’ which is helpful for breaking through to the higher stages of Qi Refinement, at least it’s a Foundation Establishment Secret Transmission."

His insight was indeed sharp; even though Piercing Armor True Strength was only a quarter of the Imperial Heaven Skills, he still saw through the essence of this Secret Technique: "This Nian Quan, not bad. Third Middle School has found talent, we should also get some outsiders from First Middle School to join."

Below the stage, An Jing and others celebrated together and then returned to the backstage rest area.

Nian Quan’s wooden-ized arm had cracked partially, currently oozing greenish-purple, woody-smelling poisonous blood, but he showed a relieved expression: "This time I unleashed all my Sword Qi, and I vaguely sensed a bit of the ’Wounding Sword Qi’ True Intent... This time, by forcing out a trace of Poisonous Fiend with full-force Sword Qi, my fingers have become a bit more flexible, and I can use some simpler Swordsmanships now."

Nian Quan drew his sword, executed several sword moves, and although An Jing saw many flaws, they were sufficient for an average Qi Refinement level student on the stage, as Sword Intent-infused moves could break Skills, and even if slow, were enough for defense.

"I have something tomorrow, I need to leave for a while."

However, An Jing would not be able to witness Nian Quan’s second round of the elimination matches tomorrow, as the three-day period had expired, and he needed to return to Embracing the Void to gather energy for a day before he could come back to Tianyuan.

But fortunately, it wouldn’t affect An Jing from watching the finals, so he smiled and said, "How about it, do you have the confidence to make me see you on the final day?"

"Just wait and see." Nian Quan was full of confidence: "Aside from the opposing team leader, it’s Yan Chengju with the Red Ruyi. I can’t lose to anyone else."

"My opponent tomorrow is him, and I’m very likely to lose—he’s hidden his strength well, always using Artifacts of other elements to hide his proficiency, while I’ve already played all my cards... but I’ll try my best to force out his real moves, then go to the loser’s group to build momentum."

"In the loser’s group, I will defeat others, recover my condition, grasp the Wounding Sword Qi as much as possible, and then, in the final, decide the winner or loser with Yan Chengju."

"Confidence is good."

An Jing’s biggest worry was actually Nian Quan’s mentality—honestly, even if he really lost and didn’t win the championship, so what? Nian Quan was just an ordinary student who was not very good at fighting a year ago, and now he has managed to fight to this level by learning the True Transmission of Sword Dao from Subdue Evil, already a minor war god.

Defeat is not scary, what’s scary is not being able to accept the loss.

Now, Nian Quan has picked up his mentality and is able to face defeat directly, which is enough.

Of course, winning would be best!

An Jing and Huo Qing said goodbye to Nian Quan and left Special City for a while.

"I also want to learn that Wounding Sword Qi, but unfortunately it’s too difficult."

On the way, Huo Qing was rather reflective.

In the last two days, apart from helping Nian Quan with moves, Huo Qing was also learning the techniques taught by An Jing—his Piercing Armor True Strength is now very proficient, markedly increasing his mastery and learning some tricks.

In An Jing’s view, with Huo Qing’s current level, facing the Big Spear and his group from before, although he still couldn’t beat them, he wouldn’t be without the power to counterattack—there’s a good chance he could knock one person unconscious and successfully escape, and if his own Formation were nearby, he might be able to fight and run at the same time, potentially stopping the Big Spear and his group completely.

However, Huo Qing had no clue about Wounding Sword Qi.

"Your talent doesn’t lie here."

An Jing, having shared generously, found that Nian Quan was quite smooth for him to learn. He had grasped the gist of it today and would practice it a bit when he went back. The day after tomorrow, he might be able to master it simply through his proficiency in Sword Qi.

Huo Qing, on the other hand, was somewhat at a loss—his talent in Body Cultivation was good, but when it came to the step of Control Qi and Leave Body, he wasn’t quite up to the mark.

An Jing felt that Huo Qing’s talent in the Formation Path combined with Body Cultivation was truly that of an Innate Martial Saint Body. He completely didn’t need to learn Qi Refinement; instead, he should study their Embracing the Void Martial Arts! No wonder Huo Qing’s previous cultivation seemed mediocre; he just wasn’t suitable for the Spirit Root Qi Refinement path!

"Speaking of which, should we make Huo Qing formally switch to Martial Arts Cultivation?"

At this moment, An Jing fell into deep thought—although Huo Qing had no Fate Pattern, he did have a Spirit Root! Even though a Triple Spirit Root was not the most efficient, it was roughly equivalent to some better Miscellaneous Fate and certain Lifebound cases, which should be sufficient before reaching Purple Mansion.

Embracing the Void couldn’t utilize Spirit Roots but relied on Fate Patterns; it was an issue of the Tianyuan Realm’s heavenly laws and environment. Although Tianyuan Realm seemed rather dismal, Spirit Qi was still usable in the safe zones. Huo Qing could totally become the first person in ’Spirit Root Martial Arts’.

An Jing subtly inquired, leaving Huo Qing baffled: "Switch to Body Cultivation? But aren’t I already a Body Cultivator?"

"Formation Cultivation and Body Cultivation don’t conflict. In fact, most Formation Cultivators are Body Cultivators—Skills depend on Great Formations, which if broken, make Skills useless, while Body Cultivation can withstand backlash and even break through in desperate times if needed."

"I see."

An Jing sighed with relief. "In that case, once your Houtu Skills make some achievement, I will teach you a Secret Body Cultivation Technique... a technique related to Formations that can temper the internal organs, using the body as a Formation."

"However, this Secret Technique consumes a lot of Essence Qi, so you can slow down your cultivation in the realms of Qi Refinement on regular days and accumulate more Essence Qi."

"Once various Secret Techniques are accomplished and a Formation is established, using the Formation to enhance the body, you can then realize an ’Immortal Foundation’."

Qi Refinement and Martial Arts do not conflict; if the former achieves minor success, it can hasten the latter, and accomplishments in the latter can also fast-forward the progress in the former. In the later stages, it is like stepping forward with both feet, though the initial stage does require double the resources and time.

With An Jing’s talent and resources from both realms, even in the initial stages, he could advance simultaneously.

Even if Huo Qing, while sharing resources with An Jing, didn’t possess such talent, it was natural that he prioritize Martial Arts, using Qi Refinement merely as raw material production—that way, once Martial Arts was achieved, topping up Qi Refinement achievements would be a breeze.

"No problem, hey, isn’t this similar to the Imperial Heaven Techniques you taught me? Both use Formations for Body Cultivation!" Huo Qing always had unwavering faith in An Jing, and An Jing, in turn, decided to teach Huo Qing more about his insights into Martial Arts on regular days.

Moreover, he indeed had some insights into the Path of Formation Martial Arts, which were why An Jing had such high hopes for him.

As the two cultivated in comparison, even though Huo Qing’s progress was slow, with his partner’s expertise in the Formation Path, he could certainly draw analogies from other cases, think of things that An Jing himself couldn’t, like with this time’s ’Imperial Heaven Formation, Houtu Elixir.’ If it were An Jing alone, his ’Knowledge-obstacles’ might prevent him from coming up with it, but with Huo Qing, they could make up for what was lacking.

Such friends who cultivated in comparison with one another were what one might call ’cultivation partners’.

During their conversation, the two had driven back to Iron Hand’s recycling shack.