Chapter 11: The Strange Quirk of the Qi Nourishing Art, and the Start of the Outer Sect Trial

"Practicing in the wrong direction?!" The Inner Sect Senior Brother's brow immediately furrowed.

A flicker of displeasure rose in his heart.

The Raging Flame Sword Art had been personally passed down by his master — it was as orthodox as a technique could get.

His master was an Inner Sect Elder, a powerful cultivator at the late stage of the Wheel Sea Realm. Even if he himself was wrong, his master couldn't possibly be.

"Junior Brother, I think we should just forget it——"

Was this person trying to swindle spirit stones? Forget it — he'd better find someone else.

Just then.

Lin Xiao moved.

The longsword in his hand radiated a crimson glow, and the temperature inside the entire private room began to rise.

He unfurled the Raging Flame Sword Art move by move, each strike brimming with spiritual vitality.

Qi condensed into flame.

Sword shadows blazed and flickered.

After only a few moves, the Inner Sect disciple felt as though that junior brother had fused with the very flames themselves.

The entire sword art seemed to come alive — he had never felt the Raging Flame Sword Art executed with such perfect harmony.

Major mastery of the sword art — no, this was already approaching perfection.

The Inner Sect disciple's eyes trembled with shock.

In terms of pure comprehension of the sword art alone, this junior brother was already no inferior to his own master.

"Fire is, more often than not, fierce and unyielding — charging forward without hesitation," Lin Xiao said, executing another move.

"But that is only the most common understanding and level of it."

The Inner Sect disciple had been about to nod in agreement at the first half of the sentence.

But when he heard the second half, he froze.

Could fire really be understood in another way?!

Wasn't fire simply like that?

"Then watch carefully!" Lin Xiao said calmly.

He swung his sword once more.

The lights in the private room suddenly went out, leaving only a faint crimson glow emanating from the longsword in his hand.

Swoosh!!

A sword cry rang out.

Visibly, the Spiritual Qi within the room distorted in a rippling pattern, spreading outward in all directions like waves on water.

The Inner Sect disciple felt an immediate sense of crisis and instinctively leapt backward.

Only when he slammed into the wall of the private room did he stand there wide-eyed, rooted to the spot.

At that moment, the lights in the room restored.

The junior brother had already extended the longsword back toward him.

"A single spark can start a prairie fire!" Lin Xiao declared, expressing the insight behind that one strike.

The Inner Sect disciple swallowed hard, the shock in his eyes still not fading.

He quickly took back the sword and gave Lin Xiao a deep bow. "I apologize once again for my earlier skepticism. Junior Brother's understanding of the Raging Flame Sword Art is the most remarkable I have ever witnessed in my life — even my master falls far short. Wu Zongcheng of the Inner Sect's Crimson Flame Peak thanks Junior Brother for the guidance!!!"

"No need for formalities — it was just a normal transaction." Lin Xiao opened his palm and gave it a little wave.

The meaning was clear.

I've demonstrated the sword art, you seem quite satisfied — so shouldn't you be paying up now??

"Oh right, here you go, Junior Brother!" Wu Zongcheng produced ten mid-grade spirit stones and handed them over.

One mid-grade spirit stone was equivalent to one hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

Ten of them amounted to one thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

"Didn't we agree on Low-Grade Spirit Stones only?" Lin Xiao asked.

"Junior Brother showed me a deeper layer of the Raging Flame Sword Art, and I gained tremendous insight from it. The extra spirit stones are what Junior Brother deserves." Wu Zongcheng said graciously.

"Very well then." Lin Xiao didn't refuse.

He was genuinely short on spirit stones right now.

Cultivators could absorb Spiritual Qi from spirit stones to aid their cultivation — the higher the grade of the spirit stone, the greater the efficiency.

With ordinary Low-Grade Spirit Stones, the absorption and conversion rate of a standard technique was less than half.

But Lin Xiao had discovered that his modified version of the Qi Nourishing Art could achieve a conversion rate of over seventy percent from Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

That was quite remarkable.

Each spirit stone yielded roughly thirty percent more than what others could extract.

Multiply that across a thousand, or ten thousand spirit stones.

"By the way — if you ever feel like you've hit a wall with your sword art, you might want to seek out a water-element sword art. It could be what helps you break through!"

With those words, Lin Xiao walked straight out of the private room.

That final piece of advice was a bonus, offered in appreciation of the extra mid-grade spirit stones.

Whether the other party would heed it was none of his concern.

Wu Zongcheng fell into deep thought at Lin Xiao's parting words.

Why would studying a water-element sword art help when you've hit a wall?

His cultivation technique and sword art were both fire-attribute — learning a water-element sword art would seem to go completely against the grain.

The principle that water and fire don't mix was something anyone would understand.

Oh!

Wu Zongcheng slapped his forehead — he had completely forgotten to ask that junior brother's name.

He had never seen this junior brother among the Inner Sect members.

Could he be an Outer Sect Disciple?!

A third-stage Spirit Gathering Realm cultivation would make him one of the standouts among Outer Sect Disciples.

If he recalled correctly, the Outer Sect Trial was coming up in a few days.

If this junior brother truly was an Outer Sect Disciple, he would surely be promoted directly to the Inner Sect.

It seemed the Inner Sect rankings were about to see some major upheaval.

After leaving the private room, Lin Xiao didn't continue taking on commission plaques.

He wandered around the Trading Plaza for a while, then spent four thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones to purchase a mid-grade spirit sword.

A spirit sword was different from an ordinary sword — it could nurture itself and amplify the power of sword arts.

It was even said that top-tier spirit swords could give birth to sword spirits.

So the price was anything but cheap.

Lin Xiao had only managed to secure it after haggling for quite some time.

The moment the spirit sword was in his hands.

Several fragments of memory surged into his mind.

This spirit sword had passed through the hands of two previous owners.

One had died in battle; the other had fallen on hard times and sold it off.

Two Earth Grade lower-tier sword arts had been comprehended from it.

All things considered, Lin Xiao had still come out well ahead.

In the days that followed.

Lin Xiao kept to a very regular routine.

Inside Pyre Heaven Sword Tomb, he did nothing but touch swords, practice sword arts, study techniques, and deepen his Sword Intent.

Whenever he managed to get an approved outing, he would venture deep into the Demonic Beast Forest to challenge the various Wheel Sea Realm demonic beasts.

During this time, Lin Xiao noticed a not-insignificant problem.

His modified Qi Nourishing Art, after he entered the fourth stage of the Spirit Gathering Realm, had begun developing laterally.

Meaning that no matter how much Spiritual Qi he absorbed, the vast majority of it went toward increasing the volume of his Spiritual Energy.

Rather than advancing toward a higher realm.

From a long-term perspective, this was actually beneficial.

But as for why it was happening, Lin Xiao had no idea.

After all, almost no one had ever cultivated the Qi Nourishing Art to such a high level.

The Qi Nourishing Art was the most foundational of cultivation techniques — most people would rush to replace it the moment they reached the Spirit Gathering Realm.

Lin Xiao had also considered replacing the Qi Nourishing Art.

But after purchasing two Human Grade peak-tier techniques, he found that their cultivation speed fell far short of his modified Qi Nourishing Art.

Even after applying his comprehension to refine those techniques, the speed still didn't measure up.

And so, Lin Xiao kept the Qi Nourishing Art.

He'd find something more suitable later.

Today, the sun shone bright and clear.

The Outer Sect of Sword Demon Sect was buzzing with excitement.

Even the Servant Disciples had been given a rare day off.

"Oh thank goodness, I finally got out of that place."

"Same here. You all finished your monthly quotas — this is actually my first time leaving Pyre Heaven Sword Tomb."

"When will I ever become an Outer Sect Disciple?"

"Today might be the day — the Outer Sect Trial is open to Servant Disciples too, which means we Tomb Guardians can participate as well."

Nearly a hundred new Tomb Guardians made their way cheerfully toward the Outer Sect Trial grounds.

Many of them were leaving Pyre Heaven Sword Tomb for the very first time.

The monthly task of cleaning ten Sword Tombs had simply been too grueling.

Over these past few months.

Out of more than a hundred people, those who had managed to complete the monthly task every time could be counted on one hand.

Lin Xiao, for his part, wasn't particularly concerned about the Outer Sect Trial.

What he cared about more was what would happen when he went to find Old Geng after the trial was over.