Spirit Cultivation

"Senior Chen, we saw Young Master in the training grounds. He is there with his two beauties for practice." Two men approached Senior Chen while he was cultivating in his room. To spare the space, there was a limit to courtyards in the clan territory. Only the best experts could get one.

Senior Chen was still not qualified to possess one even if he was superior in battle prowess than others. He opened his eyes and look at these two men. They were the ones he asked to observe if Liu Xuefeng appears in the Training Grounds. ​​

He really regretted not getting his dream sword and only waited to find a chance to get it.

"That's perfect. Here, your reward." He threw them a bag of 10 spirit stones.

Although it was a small sum, they didn't need to do much to get it. "Thank you, Senior." They bowed and left soon after.

"Let me see, what are you made of." Liu Chen smiled as he stood up and left his room in the direction of the Training Grounds.

....

"What Spirit Art did you choose to practice? I'm not proficient with Swords so Princess will instruct you later. You need a lot of battle practice to become a good swordsman." Wuying asked while they were walking towards Spirit Puppets.

Their purpose was to train Spirit Arts as they were tough to destroy. There were 5 ranks of them and each rank represented a defence of that rank Spirit Beast. If you attack a rank 5 puppet and destroy it, this means your Spirit Art is capable of penetrating rank 5 Spirit Beast skin.

There were multiple of them positioned around the field. The best aspect of them was their regeneration from damage. Even if you cut them in half they would still regenerate after a while.

"I actually created my own Art once again and it's super powerful," Xuefeng said proudly. There was no one close to them, so only the ladies heard him.

"What? You created a Spirit Art?" Princess asked dumbfounded. She didn't see the clone art but Wuying did. When she heard he created another one she wasn't that surprised anymore.

"Yeah, you want to see?" He pulled out his Rank 3 sword and approached the closest puppet.

Testing this sword art against a black wall in his father study didn't actually show him its power. Now it was time to let everyone witness it.

He approached the puppet and prepared himself for the strike. He channelled his Spirit Qi and performed the move. A wild serpent cry sounded in the fields as a black blade cut the puppet in half. He didn't feel much resistance from it as if he wasn't cutting a rock hard artefact but a butter.

Everyone present in the Training Grounds turned in his direction to check what is this about. When they saw a Rank 3 Spirit Puppet lying on the ground cut in half their mouth twitched. You would have to master Rank 3 Spirit Art to create such an effect.

"How is our Young Master so strong already? Didn't he start cultivating a few days ago?" One swordsman asked jealously. He was practising rank 3 art as well but all he could do was create a scratch.

"Well, we can't compare with black talents. We shouldn't envy him but train more." His buddy shrugged and returned to his routine.

"Aren't I awesome?" He turned towards the ladies seeking a praise. The bracelets hindered his movements a little but he could still achieve his desired effect.

Princess was looking at him with shock in her eyes. She knew how hard is it to master a Sword Spirit Art as she had spent countless hours repeating and perfecting hers.

"Did you just learn a sword art in not even one day? And you even said it was you who created it?" She asked to confirm what she just witnessed.

"Yeah." Xuefeng nodded shamelessly.

"Freak," Princess said only one word.

"I will take that as a compliment." He laughed.

"Does this Sword Spirit Art have only one move or more?" Wuying asked suddenly.

"It should have around 9 but I only practised one till now. I wanted to master the second one today." He answered regretfully as he still didn't test his second move.

Seeing his regret, they cursed at him in their minds. They trained for years but he only needed one day and he was still dissatisfied. After all, Spirit Arts were not the same as normal attacks. You are only using your Spirit Artefact power without any Spirit Arts. If you connect them both, it would create a powerful effect.

"Young Master, how about we have a duel?" Suddenly a male voice sounded from behind them.

When they turned around they saw a handsome black-haired man with dark blue eyes approaching them.

"Look it's Senior Chen. He is going to have a duel with Young Master." One of the men who received spirit stones from Liu Chen shouted to gather everyone. The duel would be an unofficial one so if Young Master decides to not give him the Sword it will be all for nought. They wanted to gather as many people as they could so they could pressure him later.

"Xuefeng, you don't need to accept his challenge as you are one stage lower than him." Wuying reminded before Xuefeng said anything. She knew this guy's battle experience would definitely help him win versus Xuefeng.

"Who is talking about a challenge, it would be just a friendly spar. How about it? Are you going to hide behind a woman?" He turned towards Xuefeng and snickered.

"Well, we can have a duel but we will not fight. We can just compare the strength of our Spirit Arts. What do you think?" Xuefeng proposed after he thought for a moment. If my sword art can create a hole in the hardest material in this country then a mere puppet would not be a problem.

The moment he said it, ladies understood what he was planning and didn't stop him. If that was not a fight, he might have a chance to win.

"Perfect! What are the rules?" Liu Chen gladly accepted. Xuefeng just started cultivating and he wanted to compare strengths of their Spirit Arts, laughable.

"We will both strike the Rank 5 Spirit Puppet once and the one who deals more damage to it wins," Xuefeng stated one rule.

"Deal. What are the stakes?" Liu Chen asked sneakily.

"What stakes?" Xuefeng asked confused and thought 'Wasn't that a friendly duel?'

"Don't you think it would be a little boring to duel without any prize? How about we put our rank 5 Swords as a prize?" Liu Chen proposed with a smile.

"Liu Chen, don't go overboard!" Wuying called out angrily. She finally knew why he wanted to duel. It was all to steal Xuefeng's Black Flames Slayer!

"Miss Wuying, it's a matter between us, men. Don't meddle in our affairs." He wasn't a match for her but he wasn't scared either.

"You…" She wanted to trash him but she was stopped by Xuefeng hand.

"Show me your sword. I don't think its worth is the same as mine." It wouldn't be hard to figure out that he had the Black Flames Slayer, especially after the incident in his courtyard, so he didn't hide that fact.

"I know. I will also give you 100,000 spirit stones in addition if you win. How about it?" Liu Chen was already prepared for this and threw a rank 1 bracelet at Wuying. She confirmed It was filled to brim with spirit stones.

"So, do we have a deal?" Liu Chen pulled out his rank 5 sword before placing it on his shoulder. It was the same sword he saw in the Spirit Treasury.

'You can agree. There is no way he will overpower my art. If you use the second move in addition to your Black Flames Slayer power, you have 99% chance to destroy the puppet entirely.' Ling suggested after analysing the situation.

'What is in the 1%?' Xuefeng asked curiously.

'You can get crushed by a sudden meteor rain before you even finish your move.' Ling laughed.

Xuefeng decided not to comment on her joke.

"Okay, I agree." He answered confidently.