Swiftly cleaned up the battlefield.
Dragging the corpses to a nearby forest, Jiang Dali carelessly tossed them aside and collected items such as silver taels, antidotes, and decent weapons for himself.
Among them, the darts forged by the Life-stealing Scholar, although just ordinary mortal weapons, were still useful to him.
The iron fan in the hands of the Life-stealing Scholar was, however, a third-grade weapon. These peculiarly shaped weapons were not easy to forge, and if sold in the right place in the Martial World, they could fetch a good price, so Jiang Dali kept that as well.
As for the common hand axes and long knives of the other two ruffians, he couldn't be bothered to take them along.
After attending to these matters, Jiang Dali promptly ceased his hesitation, sat down cross-legged, consumed 50 Cultivation Points, and was instantly promoted to the Inner Qi Realm.
Inside his Lower Elixir Field, a stream of Inner Qi spontaneously generated, continuously nurturing. In an instant, his entire body seemed to be filled with strength.
"You have enlightened yourself and cultivated Inner Qi, officially stepping into the Inner Qi Realm. Your reputation in the martial world +50, you have self-created a Basic Internal Skill."
Jiang Dali opened his eyes with delight, a bright gleam in his gaze.
He immediately checked his attribute template.
Indeed, he noticed that his attribute template had undergone changes.
"Jiang Dali [Black Wind Village Third Master (Inner Qi Realm minor BOSS), Qi-Blood 3500/3500, Inner Qi 100/100)"
Realm: Inner Qi Realm (2/300)
Status: Black Wind Village Three Masters/Green Clothes Iron Word Killer
Reputation in the Martial World Title: Slightly Notorious (420/500)
Pet: Sword Gate Demon Hawk
Martial Arts: Hidden Weapon: Mortal Middle Grade "Sky Rain" (Realm 3 slightly successful)
Fist and Foot: Basic "Four Directions Fist," Basic "Six Paths Leg," Basic "Eight-direction Palm"
Saber Skill: Mortal Middle Grade "Tiger Evil Golden Ring Saber" (Realm 3 slightly successful)
Cross Training: Mortal Lower Grade "Iron Cloth Shirt" (Realm 3 slightly successful)
Qinggong: Mortal Lower Grade "Eight Steps to Catch a Cicada" (Realm 2 Initial Insight)
Internal Cultivation Methods: Basic Internal Skill
Cultivation Points: 3
Potential Points: 52"
Firstly, his reputation in the martial world had already increased to 420 points, and he wasn't far from the next promotion.
Secondly, his strength had grown to a true Inner Qi Realm, on par with Qiu Xue Mei, who had died by his hand before, capable of mobilizing Inner Strength to enhance the lethality of martial arts techniques.
Such a realm also essentially marked his departure from the novice stage of the Martial World, making him a true Martial World person.
In comparison, Black Wind Village's Great Master, Xiong Ba, was not in the Inner Qi Realm.
However, as a BOSS of the Black Wind Village, his Qi-Blood was very strong, and he practiced the very tough and well-versed external power of the Iron Cloth Shirt, with combat power not inferior to some who had just entered the Inner Qi Realm.
"Back in my previous life, wanting to cultivate to the Inner Qi Realm was so easy. Just like those players, they basically possess what is called good innate talent and physique from the start, which simply means they level up fast.
That's why in the Martial World, those famous sects and even the smaller ones were very welcoming to players, willing to teach all sorts of martial arts and even precious internal mental methods."
Jiang Dali lamented, "It's not like me, who inexplicably remained in this world to become a mountain bandit, was immediately labeled as having a dodgy background.
Even without the label, those sects wouldn't take me in, wouldn't teach me internal mental methods.
So, it took me two years to slowly reach this stage. If it wasn't for actively taking on many tasks and completing them for cultivation points, the process would have been even slower..."
After the breakthrough in strength, reflecting on his past two years of experiences, although Jiang Dali felt sentimental, he had no regrets.
Because cultivating and enlightening himself with internal mental methods was also a very formidable type of Cultivation.
In the previous life, all players that wanted to cultivate internal mental methods only needed to do some tasks, accumulate travel expenses, wait out some time, and they could join some sects to learn internal mental methods, with a much faster breakthrough speed.
Almost no one would naïvely train basic skills from scratch, slowly improving their cultivation until they enlightened themselves with internal mental methods.
Until a player proclaiming to be the One God emerged out of nowhere.
He not only became the first player to enlighten himself with Basic Internal Skill, but also took advantage of this to blend the strengths of multiple teachings, learning the Nine Yang Divine Skill and the Pure Yang Wuji Skill. His Inner Strength was astonishing, making him one of the most powerful among the players.
In the end, many finally uncovered the secret of One God.
Originally, as long as one didn't take any shortcuts and could self-realize Basic Internal Skill, one would be able to adjust one's own Internal Cultivation Methods. By continuously absorbing the advantages of other Internal Cultivation Methods to fill the gaps and improve their own, one would eventually create the strongest Inner Strength that best suited oneself.
Such self-created Inner Strength had the strongest killing power, was the most in harmony with oneself, and also had a very large growth potential, forging one's own unique path.
By comparison, Players who joined sects and learned the sects' Inner Cultivation Methods were, after all, walking a path laid out by others; creating their own Martial Arts was still a distant dream, and it was even harder to integrate the advantages of other Inner Cultivation Methods while practicing one.
Over the past two years, Jiang Dali also had other opportunities to join sects to learn Inner Cultivation Methods, but he hadn't made that choice. He wanted to self-realize the Inner Cultivation Methods to walk his own path in the future.
At this moment, having broken through to the Inner Qi Realm, Jiang Dali intensified his consolidation.
He used up all 50 Potential Points on his Basic Internal Skill.
Immediately, the data for Basic Internal Skill on the attribute template flickered, and a line of text faintly appeared behind the Inner Cultivation Methods (Initial Insight) 50%.
Jiang Dali felt the energy in his Lower Elixir Field as if it had suddenly increased by more than half, involuntarily giving him an urge to urinate.
He stood up.
Jiang Dali let out a fierce shout, his whole body shaking, his tendons and muscles swelling, his bones crackling in succession, and in an instant, he grew more than two feet taller, his muscles bulging like Vajra descending to earth, violent and cool.
With a loud burst—
His clothes were directly ripped apart, and the outer layer of tiger skin suit seemed to be tightly wrapped around him.
Jiang Dali felt a surge of Inner Qi darting around in his Dantian within his body, his entire body filled with strength, but this Inner Qi seemed to be rapidly depleting as well.
Moreover, the Inner Qi didn't seem to be able to be transferred to limbs or even the head and other parts; it could only roam through the meridians near the Dantian, like a kinetic energy power house for the body.
"Ha!"
Jiang Dali punched and kicked, causing the wind in the forest to whoosh furiously.
An iron-blue fist slammed into a fir tree with the thickness of a bowl.
With a crackling sound of snapping,
The fir tree was directly broken off, wood chips flying everywhere.
Crack crack crack—
Jiang Dali punched and kicked rapidly, and after about a dozen punches, the Inner Qi felt completely drained, leaving him feeling utterly empty.
However, the surrounding fir trees and even thicker trees were also severely damaged.
"Not bad, although it's just Basic Internal Skill, and the increase in killing power isn't much, the Inner Qi is mild, and the endurance is very poor. But after all, it is Inner Qi; it probably enhanced my strength by a good thirty percent."
As someone with experience, Jiang Dali quickly came to a judgment and analysis in his mind.
Although there is no trash Martial Arts, only trash people.
The Martial Arts of this world are also graded.
Self-realized Inner Cultivation Methods, although they have a good potential space for growth and a path for growth in the future.
In the early stage, however, due to the low level of the Inner Cultivation Methods and lack of distinctiveness, the enhancement of fighting power was limited.
If he had learned a secret technique like the Nine Yang Divine Skill now, once he started practicing, his combat power could directly increase by three or four times, a huge difference.
...
Mounting his horse, Jiang Dali continued on his way to Black Wind Village.
As the saying goes, a deep river runs quiet, and skills will never weigh one down.
Now with another breakthrough in strength, Jiang Dali pondered that even if Great Master Xiong Ba really harbored ill intentions just like the Life-stealing Scholar, he could manage it.
Not fearing to go alone with a saber to the mountain.
Black Wind Village might be a small sesame-sized force, insignificant in the vast Divine Martial World.
But Jiang Dali already had plans to use the Mountain Village as his base, as a springboard for future conquest and dominance over the Martial World.
After all, the mountain bandits in the Mountain Village were ready-made subordinates at his disposal.
The Mountain Village had a strategic location, self-sufficiency, and was also a base for the would-be Heavenly Emperor's selection.
Most importantly, tomorrow the first batch of Players would descend, and the majority of these Players would first come into contact with small forces like Black Wind Village.
Long ago, Jiang Dali had seen these Players as a sustainable resource for cultivation and plundering, in short—fodder...