Spirit Cultivation

Xuefeng woke up early in the morning, got dressed and left his room. He didn't want to wake the ladies up, so he walked quietly.

There was barely anyone on the streets at this hour. ​​

"Greetings Young Master." Guards that stood by the gate of Clan Leader Mansion greeted him politely.

He nodded and entered the mansion. Walking by the kitchen he grabbed something to eat before going upstairs towards his father's study room.

Wherever he went, he was greeted by bowing servants. At first, he thought it was kind of weird, but now he got used to it already.

When he arrived in the study room, he didn't see anyone inside as he expected. His parents were probably sleeping.

He sat down on the sofa and to busy himself, he started reading the new Spirit Art Ling modified. He already absorbed it into his mind before he left his courtyard.

The whole manual was explaining the sword moves in detail. There were nine of them in total and the basics were basically the same as with the Rank 5 Sword Serpent Steps Spirit Art but it gained an additional four sword moves.

Each move was stronger than the previous one. If one watched those attacks from afar, one would think they are easy, but in actual fact, they were hard to comprehend. Even with Ling's help, he had troubles understanding how to use his Spirit Qi in the correct patterns.

After reading everything one more time, it was time for practice. He saw earlier in the family meeting that his father's study room was quite spacious. It even had a big black wall with a few scratches on it. From what he saw, they were definitely sword marks.

If even father's sword can't destroy this rock, then he would be fine to train his sword moves on it. His first art that Ling created was already overpowered. He worried that this one would be even stronger so didn't want to test in near Wuying.

He didn't want to destroy anything in here as he did in his own courtyard, so he didn't use his Black Flames Slayer sword. He waved with his hand and a Rank 3 sword he took from Spirit Treasure appeared.

He already moved every Spirit Artefact from Ling's Space into the Storage Ring so he can access them freely without wasting Ling's time. They were all under rank 4 so they could be stored in the ring. The others in rank 5 had to stay in his dantian.

Before he even started, he also activated his Rank 4 Endurance Aura. Practising Sword moves not only drain his Spirit Qi but also stamina. With Endurance Aura turned on, he could withstand more training.

He didn't notice but in the corner of the room, a man stood silently watching his performance. His father who was standing there from the moment his son arrived, somehow hid his presence going unnoticed under Xuefeng's sight.

Xuefeng turned towards the blackish wall and focused on the blade in his hand. His mind visualized the first move and his body responded. He used only his body strength the first time to try things out.

His sword cut elegantly through the air creating nothing but a swoosh sound. He repeated the motion a few times to familiarize himself with it before he tried adding the unique Spirit Qi patterns.

Instantly, the sword blackened from the thick Black Spirit Qi around it before Xuefeng released the Sword move. This time it wasn't just a small swoosh but a wild cry as if a flying serpent flew across the room.

The Spirit Qi wave created by the powerful strike crashed into the wall shaking it for a second. Clan Leader's mouth opened wide as he watched with shock.

Imagine, what would happen if he directly struck the wall with this attack.

"Wow, so powerful…" He commented out loud as he looked at his hands not believing it was his doing.

He felt immense power in his body the moment he was attacking. He checked his Spirit Qi status and noticed he only lost about 5% of his whole capacity. That was not that much for a powerful strike like that.

"I need to test its power on something. If father can only make scratches on the wall and I can create a scratch as well, it means I'm as powerful as him. Let's try this again." He said to himself.

Liu Xiaobei had a weird expression on his face because what his son said was right. Even he can only make a scratch with his most powerful attack. If his son can outdo him in his second day of cultivation, it would be really shameful. Even if his cultivation is currently recovering, his superior Spirit Arts are not.

Xuefeng lifted his sword and came closer to the wall. He poured even more of his Spirit Qi into this move and entered into action. He didn't have Ling's Movement Spirit Art yet, else he could gather momentum before releasing an attack.

The blade was now even darker and increased in size because of the dense Spirit Qi around it. He swung with the blade in the same motion as the first time and an even louder roar resounded in the empty study room.

The blade tip hit the hard surface of the wall engraving itself 10 centimetres into the wall before stopping its charge. The powerful wave behind the strike also rebounded from the wall blowing straight into his body.

Fortunately, he had his Endurance Aura activated and he was not blown away. He was also holding on to the handle of the sword which was stuck in the wall, keeping him in the same position. The power this time was so strong the whole mansion shook for a moment.

"What a sturdy wall. I could only make a small hole inside of it. I hope my second move can make at least a whole swing, creating a whole mark." He frowned, preparing to start practising his second move.

"Cough, cough…" Liu Xiaobei couldn't stop himself anymore and coughed. He was really defeated by his son like it was nothing.

Xuefeng turned around and spotted his father walking from the corner.

"Oh, you woke up already. I was using your wall for training. Did you see my attack just now? I learned it today." His eyes shone brightly as he pointed towards the hole in the wall.

"Yeah, I saw everything. Where did you learn an art like this?" His father asked curiously. He knew all the Spirit Arts in the clan, but he had never seen one like this. He thought for a moment and added: "It somewhat resembles the Sword Serpent Steps but I don't remember seeing it that powerful."

"Yeah, I remodelled Sword Serpent Steps a bit and this is what I got. It should be more powerful like this." Xuefeng commented casually.

"What do you mean by remodelled?" Clan Leader's left eye twitched as he asked. It required great knowledge to create a Spirit Art and even more if you want to modify someone else's creation.

"Well, I just randomly changed some Spirit Qi patterns so it will run more smoothly." He said nonchalantly as if it was an easy task for him.

Liu Xiaobei looked at this son of his and didn't know what to say. There was a chance he had a special secret he was hiding and there was also a possibility that he was a cultivation genius. Both options were good for him, so he didn't complain.

"Do you know how this rock is called?" He asked him as he touched the hole his son made.

"No idea." Xuefeng shook his head.

"It's called Black Lava Rock and it is tempered with high temperatures of earth flames all year round under volcanos. It's the hardest rock you can find in this country. Now you can imagine how hard it is to even scratch it. Even the best experts in the Kingdom would have a hard time destroying this rock." Liu Xiaobei explained.

"So if I manage to do it, I will be better than most experts in the Kingdom?" Xuefeng asked excitedly. He felt like his new Sword Spirit Art was capable of doing that.

"Not really. Experts like that know a lot of tricks that can help them in battle and would crush you in seconds. If you can't even hit your enemy then even if your Spirit Art is powerful it would be useless. You need to gather a lot of battle practice, so you can use that art correctly." Clan Leader warned him.

"Okay, I will work hard. By the way, I visited you because I'm in need of Spirit Stones. I can increase my practice with them." He remembered what he actually came here for.

"Yeah, I already prepared it for you, but I didn't have time to deliver it. Here, take them into your Ring." He waved with his hand and box after box appeared on the ground. Each contained a massive amount of small blue crystals.

Xuefeng didn't know its value and just took them all into his ring. If his father could take out this much, then it wasn't a huge number for him. At least that's what he thought.