Chapter 124
A moment later, he reacted and asked anxiously, "Sect master, did you make a mistake?"
"What mistake?" Pei Xuan clearly did not expect Li Ming to say such words.
Seeing the sect master looking at him as if nothing was wrong, Li Ming could only say, "I'm afraid that I can't do this. Senior Brother Li Zhengxuan and Senior Brother Luo Ming can handle this. My meager strength is still far from enough…"
As his words trailed off, even Luo Ming found himself looking at Li Ming with a strange gaze.
Pei Xuan chuckled. "You're really letting down your name like this." He narrowed his eyes and said in a gentle tone, "When necessary, you can use the name of your sect. But in the same way, you must not back down from what the sect needs you to do."
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Li Ming's heart skipped a beat.
He was dead! The sect master must have discovered his feats in the Departing Moon Sect!
The sect master's gentle gaze felt no different from a sharp knife to Li Ming, causing his heart to tighten. He immediately retracted the words he was about to say.
"Yes, yes, yes! Of course! I was muddle-headed just now! It is naturally our duty as disciples of the sect to bring it glory. I am willing to give up everything for our sect!"
The sect master laughed and said, "There's no need to sacrifice everything. As long as you fight with all your might, you will benefit greatly."
Li Ming felt incredibly awkward, but fortunately, he was able to keep an expressionless face, concealing any flaws.
"Sect master, I thought that the slots for the Sword -Testing Conference were already filled?"
"Hehe, each of the local sects has a few spots. Alright, if there's anything you don't understand, you can ask your Senior Sister Li Fengying."
"I've already given her full responsibility for the logistics of this competition." Pei Xuan waved his hand and dismissed the two of them.
From the beginning to the end, Luo Ming did not say a word. He was like a wooden statue. Li Ming was too out of it to even say goodbye to him and simply went on his way.
Li Ming still had not come back to his senses when he arrived at the entrance of the valley. He never thought of participating in this Sword -Testing Conference. Although he coveted the prizes, he knew his limits.
When he was refining medicine, he had heard that this coming Sword-Testing
Conference was going to be the largest one in the history of the Heavenly Profound Continent, and it was also the one with the most people participating.
Although he had performed well in the Departing Moon Sect, it was mostly due to luck.
There were many young disciples on the continent, but those who could reach the golden core realm at such a young age were all people like Senior Brother Li Zhengxuan. The golden core realm was a watershed. If one could not cross it before the age of 30, then it would be difficult to make it much further.
Even though Li Ming had great confidence in Li Zhengxuan, his confidence would be greatly reduced if he were to compare Li Zhengxuan to the entire Heavenly Profound Continent. After all, Dongfu was only one of the thirteen towns on the Heavenly Profound Continent. Clans of all sizes were scattered all over the continent.
There were many sects and clans on the Heavenly Profound Continent.
Most of these clans were cultivators from generation to generation. They were no different from ordinary sects, but they were more old-fashioned and would not accept foreign cultivators.
Compared to sects, clans had far fewer resources and magical arts. However, they also had their own specialties. They did not have many cultivation techniques, but they had been improved by generations.
While the disciples of sects would have many cultivation techniques and magical arts to choose from, allowing them to become skilled in many things, the disciples from clans would master one or two magical arts to an extremely deep level. There were gains and losses to be had between the two.
If a cultivation clan had an outstanding disciple, the resources they received would be far more than that of an outstanding disciple in a sect.
There were so many experts. How could he, a mere foundation establishment disciple, participate? Li Ming's mouth twitched.
In fact, he did not have high hopes for Luo Ming either. If there was any hope for the sect, it would probably lay with Li Zhengxuan.
Thinking of Li Zhengxuan, Li Ming could not help but feel a strong desire in his heart. How did he come out of the sword cave? This was also why Li Ming held some interest in this Sword -Testing Conference.
When the tablet spirit mentioned his senior brother, it would occasionally reveal a look of admiration because he had driven out all the yin fiends in the entire sword cave.
Forget it. Since it was practically just a formality, Li Ming made up his mind. Yes, he naturally had to put on a good show so that he would not be punished by the sect master.
Thinking of this, Li Ming threw this matter to the back of his mind and continued to do his own things.
Walking into the yard, he saw Lin Xue practicing her swordsmanship. She was sweating profusely and looked focused.
Li Ming did not say anything. He just watched quietly and nodded lightly. Lin Xue's progress was very fast. Her [Blue Flower] sword art had already taken some shape.
To be honest, she was not very talented in the path of the sword. When Li Ming first taught her, he was only doing his part as a senior brother.
However, as Lin Xue's progress got further and further, the effort she put in far exceeded Li Ming's expectations, his attitude towards Lin Xue gradually changed, and he began providing her with more and more care.
The [Blue Flower] sword art was known for its gentleness. The deep blue sword light was sometimes thin and long, sometimes layered like an exquisite painting, and sometimes unrestrained like a huge painting.
Lin Xue's current [Blue Flower] lacked killing intent, but it was lingering, feminine, and flexible. It had reached an outstanding level.
What surprised Li Ming the most was that her sword actually possessed a tenacious quality.
She was like a quiet and shy spider, lying on the porcelain and spitting out blue silk threads that weaved into a large blue net that enveloped the other party.
This [Blue Flower] really suited her!
Li Ming praised her in his heart and was happy for her. As long as she was given time, Lin Xue would definitely become a powerful sword cultivator.
As for the other variant in the original version of the [Blue Flower], Li Ming felt that there was no need to force it. Such a thing largely depended on the person's temperament.
Lin Xue was not a straightforward person, so it would be difficult for her to understand this step.
Li Ming was not a person who followed the rules. On the contrary, he felt that if Lin Xue continued to develop like this, she would definitely find her own path.
Li Ming pondered for a moment and searched for sword arts that were useful to Lin Xue. Most of these sword arts were suitable for women.
Just as Lin Xue finished her cultivation, she looked up and saw Li Ming standing beside her. She could not help but catch her breath and say timidly, "Senior brother…"
"Mm." Li Ming responded.
Seeing Lin Xue's eyes start to become teary again, Li Ming felt a headache coming on. He quickly stuffed the jade slips into her hand and said seriously, "This is homework! Look at them! Don't be lazy! Continue practicing!"
After saying that, he fled back to the small house.
This girl was pretty much perfect, if not for the fact that she was easy to cry.
Li Ming shook his head. He could not do anything about Lin Xue.
Forget it, I should just let her cultivate on her own. She's already cultivated very well so far. Li Ming's mind was filled with all kinds of thoughts.
Soon, Li Ming threw this matter to the back of his mind and began his daily training..
Chapter 125
His current cultivation was not very balanced. He spent most of his time using the cultivation chant.
The [Soul-Refining Art] and the [Vajra Seal] were both cultivation techniques that would cost him a lot of time.
Because of that, the time that he had for cultivating magical arts. While he had cultivated the spiritual plant aspect of the five-seeds cultivation technique, as he did not have the subsequent parts of it, he could not make any more progress in it. However, he would still spend some time every day to cultivate his finger techniques to prevent them from deteriorating.
As for the [Departing Water Sword Art], after he had merged it with his sword intent, he realized that there was a huge difference between his. version of it and the description on the jade slip.
The things in this book were no longer suitable for his new sword intent. Unfortunately, it was very difficult to fuse sword intents together, let alone separate them.
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The only thing that made Li Ming happy was that his sword intent was much stronger than before.
As for the others, they were all pill refinement and artifact refinement techniques.
When it came to pill refinement, there was no need to talk about it. Shi Fengrong did not have that much time to teach him, so she simply gave him jade slips.
She even removed the restrictions on some jade slips that required cultivation so that Li Ming could read them at will.
This undoubtedly benefited Li Ming greatly. He became much more familiar with the usage of the stalagmite fire, and he had discovered many of its secrets.
Although he still could not fully understand many things due to his cultivation realm, his state of mind and knowledge were different from before.
As for artifact refinement, he could be considered even more of an expert, just that his specialty lay in refining materials.
As for the others, there was no need to say anything. They were too bad. However, he felt that using his fire seed to refine a magic treasure might be a good choice.
When he was free, he would also look through some jade slips on artifact refinement techniques that his Second Martial Uncle had collected.
From this point, it could be seen how rare the magical arts he had mastered were!
However, there was not much he could do. However, he could not tell the sect master. Otherwise, he would definitely be scolded.
His senior brothers and sisters would definitely teach him a lesson, telling him to focus on practicing his sword and not be too greedy.
A powerful swordsman should have the confidence to slash through everything with one sword.
However, Li Ming was not too keen on such a path. During this period of time, he did not study sword arts that much. He was a pragmatic person through and through. Everything he did was driven and decided by what he needed.
Ever since he was almost hunted down previously, he had done what he could to ensure that he would not fall into such a dire situation again.
If he wanted to earn spirit stones, he would work steadily.
He had spent a lot of time on formations before, but because he lacked effective methods, even though he was studying them, he did not have much interest in it.
But now that he had the formation plates, Li Ming's train of thought became clear.
Outside the window was a brand new world.
Li Ming opened his eyes. The dark golden color on his body gradually faded.
If someone were to cut Li Ming's skin, they would discover that there were pieces of golden fragments under his skin.
The "Bodily Golden Robe" of the [Vajra Seal] became increasingly solid the day, and the demonic pattern seemed to complement the [Vajra Seal] really well. Even Li Ming was shocked by the progress of the [Vajra Seal].
He originally thought that this [Vajra Seal] was a slow cultivation technique, but he did not expect that with the addition of a demonic pattern, there would actually be such a huge change.
According to this progress, it would not be long before he could cultivate to the fourth level, "Red Lotus Flowing Gold." Unfortunately, Li Ming knew nothing about this, he only knew to refine his body.
While he did have the Bodily Golden Robe now, and ordinary flying swords would find it difficult to break through his skin, his encounter with the yin fiends made him aware of how vulnerable he still was.
Even though his body was invincible, he still had no way to fight back against a divine sense attack.
Li Ming suddenly felt a sense of sadness. He had enough divine sense, but he did not know how to use it.
At the same time, he had cultivated his physical body to the level of Bodily Golden Robe, but he had no idea how to use it. He knew the properties of the materials like the back of his hand, but he could not refine decent magical treasures.
Fortunately, he had already learned how to make formation plates. At least the formations he had learned had some use!
"Start working!" the tablet spirit shouted.
Without waiting for Li Ming's reply, he threw the crystal out, and the man and the demon disappeared.
"Don't forget our deal. Fifty heavily-injured yin fiends." The tablet spirit then emphasized, "Alive!"
"I know," said Li Ming lightly. Li Ming was very self-aware. He had to pay back his debt, and it was a debt he owed the tablet spirit. It was not that easy to get benefits from the tablet spirit.
These few days, he had already refined a large number of various types of formation plates. It was now the perfect time to use them to test their effects.
"There's one over there." The tablet spirit immediately perked up and floated to a corner. Li Ming followed closely behind.
A yin fiend silently floated in the corner. Li Ming realized that the mist on this yin fiend was much thicker than the previous one.
"What's going on? It looks even more difficult to deal with than the previous one."
The tablet spirit's eyes were fixed on the yin fiend, and its saliva was about to flow out. It did not turn around and asked, "Where do you think we are? The yin fiends can absorb yin qi here every day, so of course they grew quickly." Li Ming was enlightened.
This yin fiend was much stronger than the previous one. Soon, it noticed Li Ming and let out a shrill cry before charging at him.
Almost at the same time, it shot over a divine sense spike. However, Li Ming was prepared this time. He chuckled and flipped his palm. A formation plate appeared in his hand and he casually threw it out!
As soon as the formation plate was thrown out, it was as if it had been thrown into water. Ripples appeared in the void before it disappeared without a trace.
The yin fiend that was not far from Li Ming suddenly stopped. It was motionless as if it had lost consciousness.
Because he wanted to see the effect of the formation, Li Ming was not in a hurry to attack. Instead, he wandered around. The yin fiend in the formation did not react at all and only circled in place.
Li Ming could no longer hide the excitement in his eyes. His guess was right!
The tablet spirit had once told him the requirements for a yin fiend to form. Moreover, with the experience of the yin fiend using the divine sense spikes to attack him, Li Ming was certain that these illusion-type formations were very effective against the yin fiends.
These yin fiends were all born from yin qi. Although they could use divine sense spikes, their intelligence was not high, and they were easily confused by illusions and formations.
The formation that he threw out was called the Maze Formation. It was the most basic bewitching talisman that was specially used to make the enemy lose their sense of direction.
Due to the material, Li Ming could not make a more complicated Maze
Formation.
A second-grade illusion formation was not very effective in actual combat. For cultivators above foundation establishment, it was almost ineffective.
Moreover, the effect of a second-grade Maze Formation activated by formation plate would be greatly reduced..
Chapter 126
However, such a weak Maze Formation actually managed to trap a yin fiend.
At that instant, Li Ming felt a sense of accomplishment!
Ever since the tablet spirit told him that if he could not increase the capacity of his spiritual energy, then he could at least increase the efficiency at which he used it. At the moment, all he knew and was good at were the lowest-level magical arts.
Moreover, the speed at which his cultivation increased was very slow because high-level magical arts and formations required a huge amount of spiritual energy. This had always disappointed him.
However, it was impossible to take out the demonic pattern and demonic core. If he could not solve his problem when it came to his storage of spiritual energy, it meant that he would only ever be able to use low-level cultivation techniques.
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Left with no choice, he could only cast his gaze toward those low-level magical arts and formations. He vaguely felt that if used well, some low-level magical arts and formations could also display extraordinary power.
And this line of thought proved itself correct at this very moment!
A mere second-stage formation was actually able to trap a yin fiend.
His accurate judgment made him excited and also caused him to completely forget about the tablet spirit. His attention was currently completely focused on the trapped yin fiend. He wanted to see how long the yin fiend could be trapped inside the Maze Formation. He wondered what means the yin fiend would use to free itself from the formation.
Seeing that Li Ming was currently motionless, the tablet spirit became unhappy, but it forced itself to endure it. It also wanted to see what Li Ming was doing.
The yin fiend within the formation went berserk. This could be seen from the churning yin qi around it. Ever since it became trapped inside the formation, the yin fiend had shot out five divine sense spikes in quick succession, but they all missed and shot in all directions. This meant that the yin fiend had completely lost its ability to distinguish directions while inside the formation.
Chi!
The yin fiend suddenly let out a sharp cry. Amidst the surging yin qi, five gray needles shot out in all directions!
Crack, the formation broke apart. The five yin needles did not stop there either. Instead, they continued to fly in different directions at varying speeds.
Li Ming's expression changed as one of the yin needles shot straight at him!
He quickly made a hand seal and activated the formation on the turtle shell. A translucent shield appeared in front of him. Tink! The turtle shell shield shook, and the light of the shield dimmed significantly, but he remained safe.
Li Ming was shocked. The power of this gray needle was indeed extraordinary! He knew very well how strong the defensive power of this shield was, yet it had almost been blown apart. If it had hit his body, there would definitely have been a bloody hole left behind!
Gritting his teeth, he threw out a [Dragon-Binding Formation] formation plate!
As soon as the formation plate left his hand, it immediately turned into three thin green ropes. As if the ropes had gained a life of their own, they all shot toward the yin fiends. The five tiny yin needles had obviously consumed a lot of the yin fiend's energy. Its body had withered, and it failed to avoid the green ropes. The three green ropes were like three small snakes, firmly constricting the yin fiend.
This was a very strange thing. The yin fiend was formed from yin qi, but the green ropes were able to bind it as if the yin fiend was a physical entity.
Li Ming was relieved.
This [Dragon-Binding Formation] was a high-grade formation among the jade slips he had obtained. He had spent a large amount of resources to refine it. It was also one of his greatest trump cards. He did not expect it to have to use it so soon.
"Do you need my help again?" Li Ming, who had calmed down, turned his head and asked the tablet spirit.
"No need." The tablet spirit curled its lips and walked to the tightly wrapped yin fiend. The yin fiend seemed to be extremely afraid of the tablet spirit, and it kept screaming.
The tablet spirit was unaffected by all the screaming. It walked towards the yin fiend and stretched out its hand to probe the yin qi.
Soon, the yin fiend's screams became weaker and weaker. The gray fog on its body surged towards the tablet spirit's palm at an astonishing speed. "It's been a long time since I've had something so delicious!"
In the blink of an eye, all the yin qi was absorbed into his body.
The three green ropes no longer had anything to bind and shattered.
"Good, 49 more!" The tablet spirit's face seemed to have flushed red, and his smile also became even more charming.
Fortunately, Li Ming had prepared many formation plates for this trip to the sword cave, and the Dragon-Binding Formation was just one of them.
Gradually, Li Ming began to familiarize himself with the characteristics of the yin fiends. The yin needles were the killing move of the yin fiends. Once they used it, they would become weak. He learned that illusion formations were extremely effective against yin fiends. This made Li Ming sigh at how everything in the world had a counter. It was really mysterious.
The deeper Li Ming's understanding of yin fiends became, the more skilled his hand movements became.
He paid special attention to how the yin fiends used their divine senses. The yin fiends' usage of their divine sense was actually very crude and primitive. When he was facing his tenth yin fiend, Li Ming only needed to compress the yin qi into a needle to use the divine sense spike.
After many practices, Li Ming could use it freely, but the power still made him a little dissatisfied.
This thing could be used for sneak attacks, but it was useless when the target was on guard. The first time, Li Ming was caught off guard and suffered a huge loss.
The tablet spirit showed his disdain and contempt.
Li Ming immediately turned his gaze to the yin needles shot out by the yin fiends. He quickly realized that the power of these yin needles far surpassed his divine sense spikes.
That was why he had forced the yin fiends into a corner and had them release tiny yin needles to investigate the move. His divine sense was much stronger than the yin fiends, so he could roughly figure it out after repeatedly checking.
At the core of the yin needles was the divine sense, and surrounding the needles was a thick layer of yin qi. The power of the yin needles far surpassed the divine sense spikes. This move consumed a lot less energy than the divine sense spike, but its power was incomparable.
The tablet spirit was greatly invigorated. He had swallowed more than ten yin fiends in quick succession. A faint ring of light had even appeared on his face. At the same time, his blood-red eyes and the blood-red crystals on his ears had become even more dazzling.
In stark contrast to the tablet spirit, Li Ming's current mood was extremely terrible.
He had spent so much effort to figure out the secret of the yin needle, but in the end, he could not use it. How could he not be frustrated?
Controlling his divine sense was not difficult for him, but he was not a yin fiend after all. How could he have such pure and dense yin qi?
If he wanted to use Yin Needle, he needed yin qi. No matter how good he controlled his divine sense, without yin qi, Li Ming could not shoot out yin needles.
Wait a minute!
Li Ming, who was following the tablet spirit with his head lowered, suddenly thought of something and stopped in his tracks.
The tablet spirit floating in front of him was stunned. He also stopped and turned around with a blank expression on his face.
Li Ming remembered the yin beads.
Was there not a wisp of yin qi in the bead? The yin qi contained within the yin bead was also much denser. The more Li Ming thought about it, the more excited he became. He took out a yin bead and thought about it carefully.
His divine sense probed the yin bead. The yin qi in the yin bead was different from the yin qi around the yin fiends. Its yin qi was more condensed and more solid. Li Ming still needed some time to learn how to control it with his divine
sense..
Chapter 127
The name he assigned to the smaller version of the Yin Needle was Yin Thorn.
Li Ming fell deep into thought. He was not afraid of getting lost, but he was afraid of not having any direction. Now that he had a direction, his plan was more than half complete.
The tablet spirit looked at Li Ming and revealed a contemplative expression. He did not say anything, and Li Ming unconsciously followed his footsteps.
Li Ming did not even realize that the path he was walking was constantly heading downwards.
The tablet spirit suddenly revealed a smile.
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Chi!
Li Ming shuddered and snapped out of his thoughts. He raised his head and
saw a yin fiend charging at him!
However, he had already grown familiar with facing yin fiends, so he did not panic. He swiftly threw out a formation plate. This formation plate was a Maze Formation, and it was very effective against yin fiends. It did not have high requirements for materials, so Li Ming had prepared it the most.
The Hundred Treasures Pouch on his waist was heavy and filled with all kinds of low-level formations. If he had not cultivated the Vajra Seal to the Bodily Golden Robe level, and if his strength had not increased greatly, he would have probably been pressed to the ground by the weight of the formations.
As expected, the yin fiend stopped moving when it met the Maze Formation.
However, this yin fiend's performance gave Li Ming a great shock. Yin qi surrounded its body, and three gray yin thorns shot out in all directions. The illusion formation was swiftly torn into pieces like a piece of paper.
Only then did Li Ming realize that the yin qi on this yin fiend was much denser than the previous ones he faced, and it was also much more condensed. In fact, because it was so dense, the yin fiend's body appeared a pitch-black color.
Damn it! This yin fiend isn't going to be easy to deal with!
From the corner of his eye, he saw that the tablet spirit had already dodged to the side, a malicious smile on his face. Li Ming could guess with his toes that the appearance of such a yin fiend had to have something to do with the damn tablet spirit!
However, at this moment, he could not care less. After the yin fiend shot out three yin thorns, it was safe and sound.
In stark contrast to the yin fiend, Li Ming could not help but feel uneasy! In the Hundred Treasures Pouch, there were only a few ordinary formation plates, such as the Maze Formation and the Dragon-Binding Formation. However, they had all already been used.
Li Ming staggered and narrowly avoided the yin fiend. However, when the yin fiend brushed past his body, it stirred up a gust of cold wind, causing all the hair on his body to stand on end.
Before he could retreat, three yin thorns suddenly shot out from the yin fiend's body!
So close!
Li Ming, who did not have the time to dodge, could only activate the Tortoise Shield of the Fallen Moon Black Tortoise Armor!
The extremely hard shield shattered like a piece of glass after a single yin thorn struck it. The yin thorn that struck the shield shattered as well, but the other two yin thorns continued to pierce through the air toward his face.
Li Ming was scared out of his wits. At this crucial moment, his attention was unprecedentedly focused. He utilized every sliver of spiritual energy and divine sense that he had!
He did not have the time to summon his flying sword!
There was no time to take out the token!
There was no time to take out the yin fire bead!
At this moment, there was only one move he could resort to.
This move was the [Vajra Seal]!
"Grh!" Li Ming let out a muffled groan, and his entire body suddenly lit up with a golden light, which immediately dimmed right after. This light came and went quickly, giving people the feeling that it was but a fleeting light.
A golden light flashed, and Li Ming's entire body became like a dark golden statue. His eyes were wide open, and his face was expressionless. He was like a Buddhist warrior who had descended to the mortal world, filled with rage and anger!
Li Ming did not have time to think. He stretched out his hand and grabbed the two yin thorns with his dark golden palms!
Strangely, his movements were very slow, but he gave off a heavy pressure. The formation on the bracelet was called heavy weight!
Right at this moment, the third- grade Windrunner Boots on his feet suddenly lit up.
Li Ming grabbed the yin thorns.
Following two crisp sounds, the yin thorns seemed to have been crushed by a heavy hammer. They turned into yin qi and scattered in all directions. His hands trembled, and his ten fingers were in extreme pain. The Vajra Seal circulated in his body and nearly collapsed.
However, he also knew that he could not relax at this time. He had to clench his teeth and push on!
Using [Windrunning] and [Shifting], Li Ming's figure became like that of a ghost, drawing a few arcs in the air and creating some between him and the yin fiend!
Panting, Li Ming stared at the yin fiend in front of him!
The series of soul-stirring changes just now had left him with a lingering fear. He did not know how he had managed to hold on, and his heart pounded like a drum.
He was too nervous just now and did not have time to be afraid. But now, when he had slightly sobered up, the fear in his heart surged again.
What a terrifying yin fiend!
The yin fiend seemed to have gotten a better understanding of Li Ming's strength. This time, it did not charge at him. It was currently in a stalemate situation with him. The surging yin qi in the surroundings gradually calmed down and stopped moving.
Li Ming did not dare to be careless. The yin fiend in front of him was like a fully drawn bow. If he made any move, it might attack!
When Li Ming reached out and touched the water-drop sword, the fear in his heart suddenly decreased sharply. His wildly beating heart also returned to calm.
He suddenly realized what a flying sword meant to a sword cultivator.
However, now was not the time to think about this. The most important thing now was to get rid of this detestable yin fiend in front of him!
With the flying sword, Li Ming was relieved. He did not hesitate anymore and mercilessly launched an attack.
This move was the Seven Vortexes!
The yin fiend that had been prepared also launched an attack.
Sharp yin thorns shot out of the yin fiend's body. The yin thorns smashed into the Seven Vortexes.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The continuous explosions sounded like firecrackers being lit up.
The seven sword light vortexes were destroyed in an instant, but the sword light vortexes did not weaken at all. Instead, they became even stronger!
The seven sword light vortexes and light pillars shattered. The surroundings were in chaos, and there were air currents everywhere. In this chaotic airflow, sword energies of different sizes cut and twisted in the air like sharp blades from top to bottom!
The pitiful yin fiend was in the center of this power, and it was instantly turned upside down by countless sword light fragments.
Li Ming was ecstatic. He had not expected Seven Vortexes to become so powerful after being shattered.
The yin qi on this yin fiend was extremely dense. The damage caused by the sword light to it far exceeded that of ordinary yin fiends. Looking at the yin fiends struggling in the rapid flow, Li Ming let out a sigh of relief. He had finally gained the upper hand. What a terrifying yin fiend!
Thinking back to the yin fiend he had killed with a single slash, the two were on completely different levels.
Suddenly, the yin fiend let out a shrill cry. The surrounding yin qi gathered towards it at an astonishing speed.
Li Ming was shocked.
The primal chaos energy was nearly exhausted, and even the broken sword energy had become dull. The yin fiend withdrew the yin qi on its body and its body suddenly solidified. When the sword light slashed on his body, it was like slashing on cowhide, emitting crisp crackling sounds.
What should he do now?
Chapter 128
This yin fiend's endless moves left Li Ming dumbfounded, and he could not help but complain inwardly. Although he did not know what was going on with this vin fiend, he decided to strike first.
One more time, Seven Vortexes!
The seven sword energies swirled around the yin fiend. The seven vortexes immediately grew larger, and the rapidly spinning blades brought with them ear-piercing sounds that made one's hair stand on end.
The yin fiend, which had been enveloped by the seven vortexes, continued to shrink. It had already shrunk to the size of a basket. The yin qi around it had already become so dark that it was like flowing ink.
Li Ming gritted his teeth, and the spiritual energy in his body began to flow backward!
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"Break!" he shouted.
The seven giant vortexes exploded at almost the same time, turning into fragments that flew everywhere!
The location where the yin fiend had been took the most damage. In an instant, hundreds of sword lights shot out and struck the yin fiend.
Chi, chi, chi!
Ripples appeared on its pitch-black body.
A trace of blood flowed out of Li Ming's mouth. He had just forcefully reversed the flow of his spiritual energy and caused damage to his meridians. However, his eyes lit up. This was the strongest seven vortexes he had ever unleashed!
He understood that he could sometimes further increase the might of his sword moves.
The second [Seven Vortexes] had caused quite a bit of damage to the yin fiend. It had become incredibly stable. Its body, which had compressed again and again, was now like a thick puddle of ink. It floated in the air and looked strangely solid.
It was only in the midst of the sword light that filled the air that its pitch-black body began to show signs of instability. Occasionally, drops of pitch-black aura would seep out of its body. However, before it landed, the yin qi would have already dissipated.
The attack that Li Ming just unleashed had completely infuriated the yin fiend!
Li Ming could clearly feel that its anger emanating from its divine sense!
At this moment, a pitch-black yin qi separated from the yin fiend's body. To Li Ming's surprise, the yin qi did not dissipate after leaving its body.
Suddenly, Li Ming's heart skipped a beat!
He could feel that a trace of the yin fiend's divine sense had actually burrowed into the yin qi!
Yin Thorn!
Thinking about the power of the yin thorns earlier, and then thinking about the pitch-black yin qi in front of him, he knew how powerful it would be if such yin qi was used to perform Yin Thorn…
Li Ming quivered!
What should he do? Should he use a talisman? Or maybe the yin fire bead? The yin fire bead! Li Ming suddenly remembered. He had been thinking about how to use the yin qi in the yin bead to cast Yin Thorn. He had been troubled by the fact that the yin qi in the yin bead was too dense and difficult to control.
He stared at the small ball of dense yin qi floating in front of the yin fiend and carefully sensed the changes within it.
Li Ming suddenly had a feeling that the yin fiend in front of him was like an excellent teacher. It was teaching him step by step how to use yin qi and divine sense to condense a stronger Yin Thorn.
He inexplicably took out a yin bead, and like the yin fiend, he injected his divine sense into the yin bead bit by bit.
The tablet spirit, who had been watching the show from the side, was shocked. He looked at Li Ming in a daze.
What was he doing?
Although this was the first time he used his divine sense, his control over his divine sense far surpassed the yin fiend. He was not wasting much time at all.
His divine sense was stronger than the yin specter, and his control was also better. However, he had not known how to utilize these properties of his. But when he saw the actions of the yin fiend, he felt as if he had been suddenly enlightened.
A thread of his divine sense that was like a thin needle entered the yin bead.
However, he did not expect the yin qi in the yin bead to be so dense and his divine sense to be weak in comparison. He did not hesitate and quickly summoned several strands and had them merge into one. It was only then that he managed to have his divine sense bore into the yin bead!
When his divine sense entered the yin bead, he immediately felt a shocking change!
It was as if he had arrived in a hazy world. His entire body was surrounded by dense yin qi, cold and strange.
Li Ming was a little absent-minded. When he felt a solid touch from the bottom of his feet, he came back to his senses!
The sliver of divine sense that had entered the yin bead earlier was also emitted from his body. It had clashed with his own divine sense, which was why he suddenly fell in a trance.
It felt like a lot had happened, but in fact, it all took place in an instant.
A black Yin Thorn formed in front of the yin fiend. When the Yin Thorn took shape, Li Ming suddenly felt a strange, cold aura.
Fortunately, his Yin Thorn was also completed at the same time. It was strange that although the yin bead still looked like the same bead, it had turned from grayish-white to crystal clear without any impurities.
Although he was refining it step by step according to the yin fiend's method, Li Ming still did not have the slightest confidence. He made a prompt decision and raised his hand to throw the crystal-clear pearl out.
The yin fiend launched its attack at the same time.
The pitch-black Yin Thorn shook, and a whimper suddenly sounded. It was like the cry of a baby, and a gust of cold wind suddenly blew!
Seeing the terrifying aura of his opponent, Li Ming lost even more confidence. He forced himself to calm down and held the water-drop sword in his right hand. He made up his mind that if the situation went awry, he would use the Heaven-Burning Water even if he had to suffer some injuries!
He had just reversed the flow of his spiritual energy and had already injured his meridians. If he used Heaven-Burning Water, his injuries would only be worse. But he had no other choice.
Only then did he realize that his greatest reliance was still the Heaven -Burning Water. Although the tablet spirit had described the yin fire bead as very powerful, he had never used it before. Moreover, when this yin fire bead was being refined, it had almost been scrapped. He was not sure if the power of this bead would be greatly reduced because of this.
He had already experienced the power of talisman weapons, but he needed some time to activate them. How could he use them at a critical moment?
He could not help but let out a bitter laugh. Although performing the [Heaven-Burning Water] was not too difficult, it was still limited by his cultivation level. If he was not careful, he would suffer a severe backlash.
He secretly decided that after he returned, he would start thinking about his life-saving measures.
After getting into position, Li Ming was completely focused on the black Yin Thorn.
The crystal clear bead drew an arc in the air, letting out nary a sound nor a wave of power.
On the other hand, the black Yin Thorn exuded a shocking aura. The surrounding yin qi seemed to be drawn toward it. The cold wind blew against Li Ming's clothes, causing his heart to turn cold.
The whistling wind could make any person's hair stand on end. Those with weak wills would not be able to resist at all.
The tablet spirit in the corner stared at the collision between the pearl and the yin fiend's Yin Thorn with a dumbfounded expression..
Chapter 129
There was no intense collision as expected, no dazzling brilliance, only the sound of a bubble being popped.
However, following this slight sound, the buzzing sound that filled the sky suddenly stopped. At the same time, the bone-chilling sensation that he had been feeling suddenly disappeared.
Holding the water-drop sword, Li Ming, who was prepared to take on a fight to the death, was left not knowing what to do.
The crystal bead that had been hit turned into a transparent ball of light, and the terrifying black yin thorn disappeared in the blink of an eye like a clay ox entering the sea.
The ball of light carried the remnants of its power as it charged toward the yin fiend. The yin fiend seemed to have been hit by an immobilizing spell and was motionless.
Box
The yin fiend that was hit by the light ball did not even make a sound. Like a snowman, it quickly melted at a speed visible to the naked eye. It disappeared along with the ball of light, leaving no trace behind.
The moment the ball of light dissipated, Li Ming's mind suddenly shook.
A moment later, Li Ming finally reacted. He stared blankly at the empty ground.
Wha- What was going on?
When the ball of light and the yin fiend disappeared, the eyes of the tablet spirit standing behind him suddenly constricted, but it quickly returned to normal.
"Tablet spirit, what, what's going on?" Li Ming turned around and asked. He thought of many possibilities, but he really had no idea what was going on.
"You're just lucky." The tablet spirit revealed a disdainful expression.
Li Ming did not believe the tablet spirit's irresponsible words. He took out another yin bead and sent a trace of his divine sense into it. When it turned into a crystal clear pearl again, he threw it out.
Pa, the crystal clear bead fell to the ground. With a flash of light, the bead disappeared without a trace.
Other than a moment of absent-mindedness, there was nothing else. Li Ming stood rooted to the ground, not moving at all.
"Haha!" The tablet spirit laughed loudly.
Was it really luck? Li Ming was skeptical. Could it be that this thing was only useful against yin fiends?
"It wasn't easy to encounter a good yin fiend, but it was destroyed by you just like that." The tablet spirit looked disinterested. It casually threw out a few spirit crystals. Li Ming felt the world spin and he returned to the stone room.
The moment the tablet spirit returned to the sea of consciousness, it sat cross-legged in front of the tombstone and closed its eyes to rest. Li Ming felt that this fellow must have eaten too much and was slowly digesting its food.
After returning to his familiar stone room, Li Ming finally felt exhausted. Throughout the day, his nerves had been extremely tense, especially after the last encounter with the yin fiends, which made his nerves even more tense.
He did not care if the floor of the stone room was cold or not. He lay directly on the ground and fell asleep.
A gentle green light lit up in front of Li Ming's chest. The green light turned into a thin stream and flowed into his body.
The tablet spirit sat on the tombstone, its gaze cold as it looked into the distant void.
The Sword Testing Conference this time could be said to be a wave after wave, and many outstanding young talents emerged. The unique energy of the youths made this Sword Testing Conference even more lively.
Young cultivators mostly focused on offense rather than defense.
This was only the preliminary Sword Testing Conference. The number of young cultivators rushing towards Dongfu was still increasing.
One by one, unfamiliar names quickly became recognized by everyone.
Li Ming opened his eyes and got up from the cold and wet ground. He stretched his body and felt that his entire body was filled with strength. The entire stone room was deathly silent.
From then on, he no longer relied on the spirit vein in the stone room but instead treated it as his own alchemy field.
Firstly, it was very quiet here, and no one would disturb them. Secondly, it was also a good place to cultivate water-attribute cultivation techniques.
He stared at the spirit pill in the spirit spring and took out the water-drop sword to soak in the spirit spring and nourish it. Although this method did not have much effect, it could cause a fundamental change to the water-drop sword.
Then, Li Ming sat down cross-legged and began to ponder.
Entering the sword cave this time was a massive gain for him.
The usage of formation disks, the functions of different types of formation disks, and the spirit sense spikes he had secretly learned from the yin fiends. Although he had yet to fully understand it, he knew this route was feasible. It was just that he still could not figure it out.
Most importantly, he realized that he had yet to find a way to save his life.
The combination of low-level moves could have a very good effect, but there were conditions. One had to be sufficiently prepared.
However, under such circumstances, he needed more time to think about how to combine these spells.
Moreover, this seal soldier was a one-time use, so it consumed a lot of energy and wasn't the best choice.
Only the water-drop sword was the most reliable. However, he could only be somewhat at ease by relying on the water-drop sword.
A true sword cultivator was full of confidence in his flying sword and sword technique, just like Senior Brother Li Zhengxuan. However, Li Ming was not one of them. He did not feel that he was a pure sword cultivator. This confidence was indescribable.
His gaze landed on the yin fire bead.
Last time, he spent so much effort to successfully refine one. Of course, he was unwilling to use it. He never knew how powerful the yin fire bead was.
Ever since he had refined all sorts of materials in East Floating, his control over the Stalagmite fire had reached a new height. With the help of the fire formation, he was confident that he could refine the yin fire bead into a relatively perfect product.
He had never thought about this problem before. It was not until he entered the sword cave this time and experienced so many dangers that he realized the importance of life-saving methods. If he could have a few more trump cards at the critical moment, the outcome would be completely different.
Li Ming walked into a remote valley about a hundred miles away from Divine Will Mountain. The ancient trees here towered into the sky, making it the best place to hide.
Last time, the yin bead had posed a huge threat to him. He knew that this thing could not be exposed, so he was even more cautious.
He steadied himself and took out the yin fire bead. The cloud patterns on it were stunning.
This time, he decided to study it carefully. Soon, he chose a method called [Finger Projection]. This was precisely what Li Ming wanted: a simple finger technique with great power.
Thus, he began to practice [Finger Projection] in the valley.
[Finger Projection] was not difficult. There were only five moves in total, but the spiritual power involved was much more complicated. Fortunately, although Li Ming's cultivation was not high, his control over spiritual energy was outstanding. He could still manage the level of control that this technique required..
Chapter 130
He only used four hours to practice [Finger Projection] to the point where he could use it.
When he felt that it was about time, he stopped.
He really wanted to know what effect it would have if he used this finger technique to control the yin fire bead.
The yin fire bead between Li Ming's fingers turned into a white light and entered a big tree in front of Li Ming that had a girth that would span the arms of seven to eight people.
The milky-white flame spread towards the tree at an unbelievable speed. In the blink of an eye, it wrapped the tree tightly, not letting go of the leaves.
Box
The originally lush tree lost all its vitality at this moment. As it was burned by the milky-white flames, the green leaves turned pale.
Soon, the entire tree turned pale white without a hint of green. The pale tree emitted a suffocating cold aura, and snowflakes floated around it.
The snow-white leaves began to shatter inch by inch as if they had been blown clean by the wind.
A gust of wind blew, causing snow to fall. Pieces of white snow fell from the trees and drifted with the wind.
A lush tree shattered before Li Ming's eyes, turning into a white powder that scattered with the wind.
Li Ming was dumbfounded.
He absent-mindedly returned to his courtyard. The power of this yin fire bead was genuinely shocking. If it hit him, Li Ming believed that even golden core cultivators might be unable to withstand it.
However, since it was a life-saving trump card, the more powerful it was, the better!
From then on, he wholeheartedly refined yin fire beads. With the help of the Three-Revolutions Fire Formation, the refinement of the yin fire bead was very successful. This yin fire bead was utterly different from the ones he had refined before. It was completely white and flawless.
However, every time Li Ming refined a pill, he had to sit cross-legged and regulate his breathing. This treasure truly lived up to its name. The consumption of spiritual energy and divine sense was shocking.
Li Ming looked at the 20 yin fire beads in his hand, full of confidence.
From time to time, he would imagine just how terrifying it would be if he threw out all twenty of them at once.
With a decent stock of yin fire beads, Li Ming cared much less about the Yin Thorn now. Strangely enough, the tablet spirit seemed to have forgotten that it still lacked a lot of yin fiends and did not urge him to venture further into the sword cave.
However, before he could adequately experience the joy of refining the yin fire bead, he immediately became unhappy.
Damn it!
His cultivation actually stopped increasing!
What was going on? This sudden attack made him feel like lightning struck him, and his mind went blank. After carving the demonic matrix, the speed at which his cultivation increased had already slowed down a lot. However, he was not worried because he knew his cultivation was still increasing.
However, if his cultivation completely stopped increasing…
He simply did not even dare to think about the consequences!
Ever since the tablet spirit had reminded him, Li Ming had become very careful with the spiritual energy in his body. This also made him extremely sensitive to the changes in the spiritual energy in his body. He could sense even the slightest changes in them.
Currently, he was still in the foundation establishment realm, and his strength was advancing by leaps and bounds. He would spend a long time every day practicing the Soul-Refining Art. He wanted to make up for his shortcomings through his own efforts. As long as he could increase the strength of his spiritual energy, that would be enough.
Previously, while the demonic matrix did cause his spiritual energy to slow down in terms of its growth, his cultivation was still steadily increasing. However, after five days had passed, his spiritual energy actually did not increase at all. This was something he had never experienced before!
Li Ming was extremely anxious!
If his spiritual energy could no longer grow, then his cultivation would remain at the foundation establishment realm forever! The unprecedented panic made him rush into his sea of consciousness.
The tablet spirit sat cross-legged with its eyes closed. No matter how Li Ming shouted, it remained motionless like a statue. The tablet spirit was currently meditating, and it was not appropriate for him to ask the sect master and martial uncle for guidance.
He would not take any chances and simply assume that Second Uncle and the others, who were famous figures among demon hunters, would not be able to recognize demonic patterns on his body.
If his cultivation remained at the foundation establishment realm…
Then what of his dream? How could he find the person who had changed his appearance and erased his memories?
Li Ming collapsed to the ground as if all his strength had been sucked out. Ever since he found out that his appearance had been altered and his memories erased, he had been reminding himself to find the reason for that dream.
However, this belief that had kept him going was completely shattered at this moment. He was at a loss.
Late at night, he lay on the roof, the sound tablet ringing in his ears. He held his head with both hands and stared at the sky in a daze.
His thoughts began to drift. When was the last time he laid down like this? Ever since he made up his mind to find the answer to this question, he had never had the chance to sit on the roof and listen to the sound tablet again. Various cultivation techniques and chants kept appearing in his mind, constantly reminding himself to work harder…
The sky was filled with stars.
The exhausted Li Ming was like a child. He curled up into a ball and fell asleep as the sound tablet played.
He was not dreaming.
On the second day, the sun shone on the earth. It was very warm.
When Li Ming opened his eyes, he felt refreshed. The depression from yesterday was swept away. He couldn't help but want to laugh when he thought of his pitiful look yesterday.
It did not matter if his cultivation was stagnant. As long as he cultivated diligently, he would definitely be able to find the key to the problem. After a night of rest, he was full of energy and full of fighting spirit.
Even if he could no increase his spiritual energy, he still had his divine sense, array formations, spirit plants, pill refinement, weapon refinement, and other things!
He looked at the spiritual energy in his body again. There were still no changes in it, but he did not become as depressed as last night. Instead, he was able to remain extremely calm. He woke up from his meditation and thought about it carefully. He wanted to focus on the next step.
Not long after, he decided on his main direction: Formations!
Formations became even more important when his cultivation had stagnated. Formations were an unavoidable problem if one wanted to break through the bottleneck.
Formations were also very useful in refining pills and weapons. No matter which path one took, they could not be without spirit crystals. Li Ming was also faced with an unavoidable problem, which was how to earn spirit crystals.
Different from spiritual energy, his divine sense did not stagnate. It was just that he had a treasure mountain but did not know how to use it.
He only had only two techniques related to divine sense, one was the divine sense spike, and the other was the yin thorn. The divine sense spike was not very effective, but the yin thorn was very effective. However, Li Ming gave up on both.
The Yin Thorn had a high requirement for the purity and density of yin qi. Li Ming could only use yin beads in this regard, but yin beads were too conspicuous and would easily attract attention. However, when it came to life-or-death encounters, the Yin Thorn was not as useful as the yin fire bead as their power was simply incomparable..
Chapter 131
Li Ming still held some hope for the [Vajra Seal]. He planned to look around a bit more and see if he could find any suitable body refinement cultivation techniques.
Perhaps, he could use the Golden Bodily Robe and Heavy Weight to deal with the two Yin Thorns.
Hehe, I can also consider medicine talismans! He could refine spirit pills and magical treasures by himself. As for talismans, he could only draw talismans.
The more Li Ming thought about it, the more excited he became about the idea.
There was always hope to be found. Even if he could no longer increase his spiritual energy, he still had other options he could opt for.
Box
There are times when people are pushed into a corner, and rather than cower, they instead burst out with even greater potential.
Early in the morning, Li Yingfeng opened the door and saw Li Ming standing at the door. She could not help but be startled and blurt out: "Junior brother, why are you still here?"
Li Ming made an "Uh" sound and was left somewhat speechless. It seemed that Senior Sister Li Yingfeng had really been frightened by the black lotus seed he had refined.
Li Yingfeng immediately felt that his reaction was inappropriate and quickly added, "Aren't you going to the Sword Testing Conference? You should hurry up and prepare for the upcoming competition!"
Li Ming shrugged. "The sect still has eldest senior brother to rely on. To be honest, I really won't be able to do much in the competition."
When Li Yingfeng heard what he said, she frowned. "Little junior brother, you really shouldn't look down on yourself too much. You were able to comprehend sword intent at the foundation establishment realm. With such talent, other than eldest senior brother, who else in the sect can compare to you? How can you give up on yourself and your own progress?"
Li Ming was sweating profusely. He knew that his senior sister was thinking for him, but he could not explain himself either. He could only bite the bullet and say, "I'm not giving up on myself. It's just that I've been a little tight on money lately."
"Where did you use those spirit crystals? Didn't you earn quite a sum of spirit crystals not too long ago? How did you already use them all up?"
He couldn't say that there was a bottomless hole in his Sea of Consciousness that could 'eat' all of the spirit crystals. In fact, a few thousand pieces of third-grade spirit crystals was indeed a huge fortune for him. In the past, this was something he would not even dare to dream of.
Even in the entirety of Dongfu, that was a terrifying number. Yet just now, Li Ming told her that all the spirit crystals had been used up, how could Li Yingfeng not be shocked?
"One can never have enough spirit crystals."
Unable to resist Li Ming's pestering, Li Yingfeng finally agreed to his request to help people refine things again. Because of his previous reputation, Li Ming immediately attracted many cultivators the moment he opened shop.
Li Ming did not know that he was now regarded as the best of all the production cultivators in Dongfu. When he cut a fourth-grade cold magnet in half and refined a fourth-grade black lotus seed, Li Ming's fire control technique became even more sought after.
Because of how popular he was, the payment methods that Li Ming had declared to be used for his services, such as spirit crystals, jade slips, and magical treasures, were selling like hot cakes.
Even after a whole day of work, Li Ming did not show any signs of fatigue. He handed a jade slip to Li Yingfeng and said, "Senior Sister, please help me check how many spirit crystals all of these materials cost."
Li Yingfeng took the jade slip and skimmed through it. "All of this should cost about 50 third-grade spirit crystals. Eh, little junior brother, you're actually interested in formations?"
None of the items on Li Ming's list were of high grade. They were all of the first grade. 50 third-grade spirit crystals could easily buy all of the materials he needed.
Li Yingfeng became even more curious in her heart as to how her little junior brother had squandered the several thousand third-grade spirit crystals he had previously received.
"Indeed, I do find formations quite interesting. Here's 50 third-grade spirit crystals."
"No problem." Li Ying Feng readily agreed.
She was familiar with all the shops in Dongfu, so it was not difficult for her to purchase the items on the list. In terms of cultivation, her junior brother's aptitude was far superior to hers, so she believed that he had his own plans.
Fifteen days had passed, but Li Ming's cultivation level had not changed at all. The tablet spirit was still meditating. It was unknown as to when it would wake up.
Li Ming shook his head and threw all these distracting thoughts to the back of his mind. He looked back at the small courtyard. This courtyard was the courtyard behind the shop. Of course, it could not be compared to the courtyard in West Wind Valley. It was just a small courtyard. There were jade stones, gold threads, green bamboo, and everything else.
Most of these materials were first or second-grade materials. Their value was not high, but the quantity was fairly shocking.
Li Ming kept flipping through the materials, occasionally summoning the Stalagmite fire to refine them into the required shape, and occasionally stopping what he was doing, falling deep in thought.
Materials flashed in his hands one by one. Some were carefully placed in the corner, while others were casually thrown on the ground.
After struggling for more than two hours, he only came back to his senses when the sound tablet's reminder ended.
When it was time to earn spirit crystals, he stood up reluctantly. In the past, he did not care about formations because they were very difficult to learn. But now that he was fully focused on studying them, he discovered many mysteries within them.
Sword scriptures and magic scriptures were often ambiguous and required one to comprehend on their own. On the other hand, formations were a subject that involved the five elements of Yin and Yang. It was extremely complicated, but with a closer look, Li Ming could find some patterns in them.
After Li Ming left, Li Yingfeng came to clean up.
She sighed as she tidied up. No wonder her junior brother complained that he did not have enough spirit crystals. How would he ever have enough spirit crystals they flowed out of his pocket like water? Whatever Li Ming needed, Li Yingfeng would buy for him. She had come to know of Li Ming's daily expenses like the back of her hand.
Every day, Li Ming would spend thirty to forty third-grade spirit crystals, or sometimes even hundreds of them, on materials. Moreover, most of the materials Li Ming needed were low-grade. If they were middle-grade, the price would have been exponentially higher.
She had never heard or seen formations like the ones her junior brother was making.
His way of learning was different from others, and the crystals he earned were different as well. She wanted to persuade Li Ming to be thrifty several times, but when she thought of the spirit crystals that Li Ming could earn every day, she swallowed down her words.
Li Ming would come here to do business every day for six hours at most. The rest of the time, he would spend among the mountains of materials.
She paused and looked at a formation plate under her feet. In the beginning, he only made formation plates. But as time passed, he made fewer and fewer formation plates. In the end, he stopped making them altogether.
Why did he suddenly think of making formation plates? Were they for the Sword Testing Conference?
Li Yingfeng picked up the formation plate from the ground and looked at it carefully but found that she could not understand the runes that made up the plate.
She could not help but smile. Whether it was Senior Brother Li Zhengxuan or Junior Brother Li Ming, they were both geniuses. How could ordinary people like her understand the thoughts of geniuses?
The formation plates that Li Ming made were the first formation plates that Li Yingfeng had personally seen. She carefully placed the formation plates in the corner. After helping Li Ming clean up these past few days, she could easily distinguish which ones were useful and which ones were useless..
Chapter 132
Li Ming's business today was ordinary. Over the past two days, his business had begun to decline. This was inevitable. The reason why he could have such a vast harvest early on had largely been due to the sword-testing conference.
Those who could provide good goods were mostly cultivators from outside.
Cultivation was built on spirit crystals. Li Ming had known this for a long time, but he realized it more directly after learning formations. All formations were made of spirit crystals!
It seemed that this path would not last long, and his research was about to end.
However, he would soon participate in the sword-testing conference, so he did not have the time to think about how to earn spirit crystals. It was better to wait until the sword-testing conference concluded.
Box
After Li Ming finished all of this, Li Fengying handed him a jade scroll.
"What is it?"
"Information about the participants of the sword-testing conference." Seeing Li Ming's strange gaze, Li Fengying hurriedly explained, "The sect master instructed me to be a logistics personnel. How can I just sit here? Oh, right, I've got some more information about the sword-testing conference."
"Oh." Li Ming put away his things and said casually, "Did you give it to eldest senior brother or Luo Ming?"
Li Fengying's expression became gloomy, veins popping out on her forehead. It would have been fine if Li Ming had not mentioned it, but since he did, she could not help but become furious.
The sect leader had instructed her to manage the logistics, and she had specially given the information she had gathered to her two senior brothers, Luo Ming and Li Zhengxuan. Senior Brother Li Zhengxuan was nowhere to be found, and Senior Brother Luo Ming looked at her with a strange expression.
"What's the use of this?"
She was about to go crazy from anger.
When she saw Li Ming's nonchalant expression, the dissatisfaction in her heart immediately rose to the highest point. She sneered and turned around to leave.
Li Ming couldn't figure it out. He didn't understand how he had offended his senior sister.
After returning to his room, he took out the jade slip and began to flip through it.
There was a lot of information inside, especially information about those experts. It could be seen that Senior Sister had put a lot of effort into this. The more Li Ming looked, the more interested he became.
For example, He Fang of Bright Moon Lake was known as the strongest among the younger generation of Bright Moon Lake. Although he looked gentle on the surface, he had earned the title of the strongest youth of Bright Moon Lake by fighting.
Since two years ago, he had been challenging sects one by one without losing a single time. It was because of this that he was known as the number one expert of Bright Moon Lake.
Bright Moon Lake had beautiful mountains and clear waters, and was filled with spiritual qi. It was many times more prosperous than Dongfu, and there were many sects. The title of number one expert was genuine.
After reading the information about Fang Qi, Li Ming had a vague premonition that this person would become a strong opponent for his eldest senior brother in the future.
As for himself, he was not really bothered. If it was not for the sect master's order, he would not have even joined the sword-testing conference.
If he had the time, he might as well earn more spirit crystals.
Next, he saw Nangong Yun, Hai Jun, and the others. None of them were easy to deal with. However, there were a few people whom Li Ming felt very familiar with Sha Ning from the Departing Moon Sect and a few others. He even saw
Jiang Peng from the Xuanjian Sect whom he had met a long time ago. However, Shi Xiang, who had given him the Ice Crystal Sword, did not appear.
Eh?
Li Ming's gaze fell on a figure wearing a black veil and a bamboo hat. Wasn't this the person who cut the cold magnet here last time? This person was actually a contestant!
He did not know anyone else.
However, when he saw everyone's strength, he was speechless.
golden core realm, they were all at the golden core realm! The cultivators who could pass the preliminary sword-testing conference were all golden core cultivators.
Such a lineup made Li Ming no longer have any thoughts of even trying. He even began considering whether or not he should admit defeat right from the start.
However, the sect master's kind face suddenly flashed across his mind. He trembled violently and woke up abruptly. He quickly threw this thought out of his mind.
A minor injury was a small matter, but if the sect master hated him, he would never have a good life!
Looking at this extravagant name list, he muttered in his heart that in his sect, only his eldest brother could win. Even Senior Brother Luo Ming might not win.
Fortunately, there were no nascent soul cultivators. Otherwise, he felt that his heart might really just stop beating.
Then, there were the rules of the sword-testing conference. Senior Sister Li Fengying also guessed that these three people definitely would not pay attention, so she listed them out in detail. There was nothing he could not understand about the rules. After the preliminary sword-testing conference ended, the Sword Test Conference would officially begin.
The first and second matches were all one-on-one fights without any rules! At that time, Senior Tian Song Zi would open the East Hall's Great Pine Pavilion so that everyone could enter.
In the East Hall's Great Pine Pavilion, participants were allowed to attack any contestant until the opponent lost the ability to fight. The remaining ten people would be the final champions.
In order to ensure that the participants didn't die, there would be ten or so nascent soul cultivators monitoring the entire process. As for who was strong and who was weak, It was up to these nascent soul experts to Judge.
Tsk, tsk… there are actually ten nascent soul powerhouses as judges. This lineup is really big enough!
Li Ming could not understand why they had to spend so much effort and money to organize such a sword-testing conference. What was the use?
Well, maybe these big shots had their own plans. Li Ming casually looked down and suddenly became interested.
Then came the reward for the sword-testing conference.
Li Ming's eyes sparkled as he looked at the rows of rewards. His saliva almost flowed out.
A fourth-grade Green Peak Sword, a fourth-grade Immortal Beast Belt, a fourth-grade Golden Crown, a third-grade Water Sleeved shirt, a third-grade Heavenly Silkworm Armor, a third-grade Frost Python Spirit Armor…
There were a total of ten top-grade magic treasures. They were selected according to the final score. Li Ming finally understood. No wonder so many cultivators rushed over to Dongfu to participate in the sword-testing conference.
This was called motivation! His heart was itching. He stared at these things without blinking. His heart was burning with envy. He only hated himself for being too weak.
These top ten talismans were all the best of the best. They were at least one or two grades higher than the ones he had snatched from the profligate sons of Departing Moon Sect. There were a few rewards that made Li Ming want to sell his body to exchange for them.
Li Ming greedily glanced at the rewards for the top ten. He was still not satisfied and continued to read.
Forget it. Even if he couldn't get it, it was still a good thing to take a look. Li Ming comforted himself.
These few days, he had been immersed in the world of formations and had consumed a lot of energy. Now that he could finally rest, he was in a very good mood..
Chapter 133
He looked at the list casually, calculating the price of the prizes from time to time and drooling.
Suddenly, his gaze fell on a reward. He was stunned and immediately jumped
Li Ming's eyes were fixed on the jade slip, not leaving them for even a second.
[Elementary Understanding of Formations], ranked 56th, second-grade magical treasure. The description of this jade slip was very simple. It was a basic jade slip for elementary formations, suitable for beginners to cultivate.
However, what caught Li Ming's attention was the two small words "Kunlun," which pointed out its origin!
Box
His heart skipped a beat!
That was from Kunlun! It was an item of Kunlun!
This name seemed to have a magical power that made Li Ming's heart beat wildly. After all, the Heavenly Origin Supercontinent he was in, the origin of the nascent soul cultivators who had come to investigate it all came from a place called Kunlun!
In the heart of every sword cultivator, Kunlun was a place they all dreamed of reaching. It represented power and strength. It was where the strongest sword cultivators resided. It was the true ruler of the entire cultivation world.
There were not many rumors surrounding Kunlun. In the eyes of most cultivators, Kun Lun was simply an unattainable existence, too mysterious.
To be honest, when Li Ming first saw the name, he was stunned.
To an ordinary disciple of a small sect on the Heavenly Origin Supercontinent, this word felt so distant and unfamiliar.
However, when he came back to his senses, he could not suppress the excitement in his heart.
The bigger the sect, the more importance it placed on the cultivation of new disciples. They would make some jade slips for the new disciples to use for their cultivation.
The cultivation techniques recorded on the jade slip were all-encompassing and varied.
Because the jade slips were all made by specialized people, their annual production was limited. There were not many left, and very few circulated.
The basic jade slips of each sect were different and they each had their own characteristics. Even if it was within the same sect, there would be different versions of jade slips according to the person in charge of making it that year.
A small sect like the Divine Will Sect naturally did not have any basic jade slips.
Every large sect would recruit a large number of new disciples every year. The more people they had, the more resources they had. However, in ordinary small sects, the elders would personally teach them.
The Kunlun elementary understanding of formations jade slip was something that Li Ming never even dreamed of acquiring.
However, although this jade slip came from Kunlun, it was only a very basic one. Therefore, it was only ranked 56th among the rewards this time.
Most of the people in this Sword-Testing Conference were golden core cultivators. As a result, such basic jade slips would not be of much help to them. Moreover, this jade slip was about formations. If it was a basic sword technique jade slip, there would definitely still be many people who would drool over it.
Kunlun Sword Technique…
However, to Li Ming, the attraction of this jade slip was massive.
In the Divine Will Sect, there was not a complete set of formation jade slips. Everything he had learned had been gathered from others, which made him feel very strained.
If he could get his hands on a jade slip like this, it would be a huge boon to him.
Without thinking, he decided to do his best to get this jade slip!
However, he quickly calmed down and began to think about how he might do so.
In this test, this jade slip was not eye-catching. Most likely, not many of the participants would be interested in this jade slip. However, no matter what, he had to pass the first two tests before he was qualified to even choose what he wanted.
When he thought of the names of those golden core cultivators, Li Ming could feel his hair stand on end. However, he was not willing to miss this opportunity just like that. He was very unwilling!
After thinking for a long time, he finally made up his mind. He did not care anymore. He would fight it out!
This basic jade slip changed Li Ming's view of the Sword -Testing Conference completely. He felt that he actually had to prepare himself.
The number of cultivators in Dongfu was constantly increasing. Yesterday's preliminary sword test had already ended. There were still five days until the peak of the Sword-Testing Conference. Dongfu was not disturbed by the large influx of cultivators. After all, there were more than ten nascent soul experts guarding it. This made it the safest place on the Heavenly Origin Supercontinent.
"Do you want one? This is the latest name list for the sword-testing conference. With this name list, you don't have to worry when its time for the matches!"
"We will provide you with detailed information about the participants of this Sword -Testing Conference, as well as the comprehensive strength rankings of countless top-notch experts. This will be your most reliable helper when betting on the contestants!"
Li Ming heard these shouts as he walked around. His heart stirred. The competition list was released two days ago. However, this ranking was very interesting.
He had only taken two steps when he heard a shout. It was still the same ranking, but it was completely different from the previous rankings.
After walking for a short while, Li Ming heard four or five different lists. All of them had the same price of one third-stage spirit crystal.
Only later did he understand that all the gambling houses in Dongfu were open. Not to mention those who liked to gamble, even those commoners had more or less placed their bets to have some fun.
Supply would generally emerge when there was demand for something.
Li Ming had already made up his mind to thoroughly study his opponent's background, so he simply bought the different rankings and analyses one by one.
He took a look and realized that this ranking was really something.
The person ranked first was none other than He Fang, who had yet to lose. In almost every version, He Fang's ranking was the highest. It could easily be seen that was the most popular.
Starting from the second name, the names of each version were different. However, the names of those in the top ten were more or less the same.
However, what surprised Li Ming was that very few locals could enter the top ten.
Only Zhang Haowen had a common explanation in several versions: Tian Songzi's disciple, absolute home advantage!
Li Ming was furious!
Suddenly, he thought of himself.
He continued to read. There was nothing. There was nothing…
When he looked over, he realized that his name was at the end. Beside him, there was a description: The only foundation establishment cultivator in the Sword -Testing Conference.
Li Ming was stunned for a moment before he flew into a rage! He took a look at the other versions and realized that his name was always the last for the same reason.
No way, Senior Brother Luo Ming is also in the foundation establishment realm, so why do these say that I'm the only foundation establishment cultivator?
Li Ming felt that it was unfair and grew furious. Soon, he found Senior Brother Luo Ming on the rankings.
He… He's reached the golden core stage!
Li Ming was shocked!