"No matter what scheme there is, in front of absolute power, it becomes meaningless. I may have fought against late-stage Yin Yang Cleansers, but all of them were demons. Towards humans, I can't use the advantage of the bloodline. In the end, I'm still too weak…" After some time, he took a deep breath and mumbled.
Tianlong didn't feel anything after proving himself the strongest among Long Clan's youths.
There were too few competitors here and he had many factors that aided him. In the grand scheme of things, his strength was still weak.
"I need to become stronger…" With this thought, he started to analyse himself.
His cultivation base was at the great circle of the Qi Condensation realm with 361 Qi vortexes rotating in his acupoints.
His body refining realm was at the peak of the Blood Surging realm. Almost all of his blood had turned back red. There was only a slight difference in the colour of his blood and any other humans. When it completely reverts back, he would complete the Blood Surging realm.
Both of his cultivation bases were stuck at the peak of their respective realms. He had tried to break through them but backed off after understanding something was blocking him from the realm.
" Spells, I already have enough. As for my cultivation, I can't increase it for the time being. I should start refining my treasures. …"
With a motion of his hands, all of the treasures appeared in front of him.
All of them were extremely powerful but he could only display some of their might due to his low cultivation base.
Taking the Thunder Spirit Blade in his hands, he carefully unsheathed it. It had a thin frame and one sharp edge. Once he channelled some of his spiritual energy inside of it, violet electric sparks danced across its surface.
"This blade, the Iron Sand and the Weapon Essence from the Ju clan are all rich in Lightning energy. I'm sure they would love the Storm Dragon's blood…"
Biting his thumb, he dropped a bit of his newly acquired Innate rank Storm Dragon Blood in it.
Due to being a magical weapon, the blade had developed some sort of spirituality. As soon as the blood drops touched the surface of the blade, the blade made a crackling sound and started to tremble.
The trembling of its body indicated its fear towards the blood drop. It felt that the blood drop wanted to devour its consciousness and completely take over it.
"Hmph, you are just a simple weapon spirit. You should be proud that you are being refined by me…" Coldly harrumphing, he covered the blade with his Lightning Sense and started to suppress the will of the blade.
How could a mere semi-conscious weapon spirit compete with his will? It was quickly suppressed by him and could only let out small sword hymns.
Under the suppression, the drops of blood quickly spread out and covered the entire blade. Once Tianlong's consciousness went inside it, the blood made a sizzling sound and branded itself in on the blade.
Tianlong felt a minuscule portion of his spirit sense leaving his sea of consciousness and entering the blade. Immediately, the blade stopped trembling and completely submitted to him.
Its consciousness was wiped out and Tianlong had taken complete control over it. With a single thought of his, the blade floated in mid-air while releasing faint whistles.
With his mental command, he controlled the blade for a few minutes. After seeing that there was no problem, there was a contented smile on his face.
"Now only the Iron Sand and Weapon Essence are left…" Keeping away the sword, he took out the two treasures that his mother had given him.
Just like the previous time, he dripped his blood in it and sent his Lightning Sense inside to brand the treasures. Surprisingly, he faced no resistance while trying to refine them.
"They were just created recently, so despite their magical nature, they haven't produced a spirit…" He quickly determined the reason. This was good news for him.
After a few hours of careful refinement, he had two extra magical treasures.
The Weapon Essence was like molten metal. With a single thought, he could give it any form.
Turning it into a sword sheath, he sheathed the Thunder Spirit Blade. Even though the blade was made of a different material, the Weapon Essence assimilated the blade.
Tianlong turned it into a bracelet and wore it on his right hand. With a single thought, he could draw the sword. The weapon essence could be further used to create any weapon.
As for the Iron Sand, it was the treasure that required the most amount of blood from it. Each of the particles was imprinted with his spirit sense.
In the end, he chose to cover his torso with sand and wear it like armour.
Tianlong's face was slightly pale after finishing all the refining. He had wrested against Heaven's Will fragments just a few hours ago and assimilated the tribulation lightning sparks.
Now after losing some of his blood, he was slightly weakened.
"Now the only treasure that's left to be branded is the Silver Spruce Greatbow… But it seems that my cultivation level is still too low to brand it…" He clicked his tongue in disappointment.
As he was told, the Greatbow was something that his grandfather had created from the Silver Spruce Ash tree. A miraculous wood that contained both metal and wood essences that acted opposite to each other.
Looking at the beautiful Greatbow, he was filled with slight emotion. Upon its beautiful silver body, hundreds of different inscriptions were there.
These inscriptions were drawn in such a way that they formed the pattern of a five leaved vine wound around the bow.
"Sigh, I would have used the pressure from the Undying tree to brand it but I don't know if it'll cause any harm to the bow…" He heaved a sigh and chose to not brand it for the time being.
If he accidentally destroyed a token from his grandfather whom he had never met, he would feel terrible in his heart.
"I have trained in body refinement for far too long. For now, I'll just practise my swordplay."
With that thought in mind, he made the newly weapon essence bracelet in his hands to release the Thunder Spirit Sword.
Holding the now refined blade in his hands, he had a feeling that he was one with the sword.
Taking a sword stance, his mind flashed through the various attacks his mother had performed some time ago. Each of her movements, despite simple, carried some kind of law that he was unable to grasp.
"No, I mustn't copy her. She never taught me any sword techniques because she wanted me to forge my own path." He firmly shook his head.
Taking a deep breath, he emptied his mind. After riding the flying sword, his body was filled with sword energy.
Due to its presence, even with his eyes closed, Tianlong's mind flashed with hundreds of different sword stances that he had performed himself or had seen his mother performing.
It was a windy night of winter. The moaning winds and took the drifting snowflakes and scattered them all across the land.
As they landed on him, his originally ashen white hair turned completely white. Even the robe he wore was covered in snow.
But as if unable to feel coldness, he kept meditating like a statue while holding his sword in a single sword stance.
As time passed by, an invisible sharp aura started to come out of his body which destroyed any snowflake that tried to get close to him.
His mind seemed to have become one with the sword and the cold wind brushing past him. It was an incredibly miraculous state.
Swish!
Suddenly, he took a step forward and swung his sword downwards. With that simple movement of his, a line seemed to have been drawn in front of him.
A sword whistle that was accompanied by a sharp wind went straight in front of him and cut a straight line in the snow. The arc was simple and straightforward and didn't carry too much power.
However, all of its might was concentrated in a single sharp line. It was a form that made use of wind and sword energies.
"It is just like she said, as long as you have a sword in your heart, everything can become your sword… My heart is free from all worries, so it carries the wind. This wind, I can turn it into my sword!"
Softly mumbling, he started to perform all the basic sword movements that he had learned prior to becoming a cultivator. However, there was an exception this time as he was incorporating his wind energy in all of his movements.
With the swing of a sword, a wind was born.
Gradually as he lost himself in his swordplay, he felt that he didn't have enough words to express himself. The weapon essence bracelet in his arm quickly melted and took the form of a bone sword with thousands of red veins crisscrossing over it.
With the two swords in both of his hands, his mind was divided into two and started to perform the sword stances at double the speed.
"Not enough…" He softly said and let out and sharply exhaled.
With the stir of wind, a blade was born.
A wind blade materialised behind him and imitated his actions. Although it didn't have as much sharpness as the two other blades, it could easily stir up the wind.
Gradually the entire area around him was covered by wind blades. Every time performed a movement with his swords, all the wind blades around him would perform the same movement.
Dividing his consciousness into hundreds of parts, this was something only he could do due to his crazy attempt of possessing different creatures at the same time while refining the Seven-coloured Lotus and the Undying tree's vines.
It wasn't until midnight had passed that he snapped out of that state. When he opened his eyes, he saw that a thousand metres area around him was the only place without any snow or ice.
The thousands of sword slashes had razed the place completely.
"Shoot! I missed dinner!" All the sense of achievement from him vanished in an instant.
Even after becoming a cultivator, Tianlong hadn't stopped his voracious eating habits.
Having four to five meals a day was a must for him.
If he missed even a single meal, he would feel depressed.
It was especially the case now since he would be separated from his parents. Every meal missed was like precious family time wasted.
"I wonder if mom kept my portions sealed up…" No longer in the mood to practise, she quickly started to descend the mountain.
Gradually he left the area razed by his sword and stepped into the snow. Seeing that he was having a problem traversing the area, he transformed into a gust of wind and started to descent downwards.
However, just as he was halfway to his clan, he suddenly heard a faint sobbing voice. Due to the whistling of the wind, he wasn't able to discern the sound.
"Eh… Did someone's child get lost here?" Stopping in his tracks, Tianlong took a detour and decided to check on the voice.
The place wasn't that far from the clan and children often came to play in these woods. If a child really did get stuck here in this cold, he or she would most likely freeze to death.
Towards mortals and children, he had a soft attitude.
However, when he reached the place, he saw that the person was covered in snow. Yet from her figure, it was evident that she wasn't a little girl but a grown-up woman.
Although he couldn't see her face, he could sense the aura of Yin Yang Cleansing realm from her.
'It's best to not meddle in the affair of others.' Seeing that she didn't need his help, he chose to tactically retreat.
But the moment he generated a gale to drift away from this place, the wind shifted the snow from her face and revealed her face to him.
Once he saw her face, he could no longer stay unsympathetic.
His concentration faltered for a moment which caused his invisibility to be undone.
In that very moment, as if sensing his gaze, she swiftly turned her head and their eyes met.