Chapter 425: Should He Break Through to Fifth Rank?

Wang Song of the 《spirit realm》 Online Guidance Center quickly received Li Na’s notice and soon sent over the detailed information and quoted prices for two fourth-rank martial arts manuals.

One was the fourth-rank 《Yanyun Eighteen Spear》, priced at five thousand taels of gold.

The other was the fourth-rank body-protection technique 《Iron Python Body-Protection Qigong》, priced at eight thousand taels of gold.

Wangchuan gritted his teeth and agreed to the deal.

Then Wang Song made a suggestion on his end:

“We also support exchanges using martial arts manuals... Caobang’s 《Xuanwu Art》 is quite good. We can accept it at a rate of one manual for one thousand taels of gold.”

Wang Song had offered an entirely new method of trade. He also explained that no matter how many copies of 《Xuanwu Art》 Wangchuan had, they would all be exchanged at that price. The more, the better.

It was obvious that this was because internal cultivation methods were extremely difficult to obtain, and they wanted to acquire a large number of copies of the internal cultivation method 《Xuanwu Art》 from Wangchuan.

At the same time, they also knew that 《Xuanwu Art》 had a shortcut to cultivation, one that could speed up breakthroughs and help players raise their strength much faster.

Wangchuan agreed.

With the power he now held, as long as he did not throw 《Xuanwu Art》 around like toilet paper and turn it into a common, worthless manual, Caobang would never be able to trace it back to him.

The moment the 《spirit realm》 Online Guidance Center heard that he was willing to hand over thirteen copies of 《Xuanwu Art》, they became excited at once and proactively stated that the Center still had some quite decent cultivation methods, including fourth-rank and fifth-rank niche cultivation methods, that they could trade with him in hopes of obtaining even more copies of 《Xuanwu Art》.

Wangchuan refused decisively.

“There’s no rush.”

“I only want these two techniques for now. Once I’ve cultivated them properly, we can continue trading.”

Wangchuan understood the principle that biting off too much would only choke him.

He also knew that 《Xuanwu Art》 was extremely valuable and in enormous demand. If it truly spread too recklessly, trouble would inevitably follow.

He did not want to create unnecessary trouble for himself.

The Center was still unwilling to give up and sent over information on several other cultivation manuals, each of them tempting him in all sorts of ways.

In the end, however, Wangchuan still restrained himself.

He was going to become Luo Tiancong’s direct disciple...

He could not afford to stir up unnecessary problems at a time like this.

The various Caobang halls had already received carrier pigeon messages from headquarters, ordering every Hall Master to make up the losses from the second half of this year during the first half of next year.

The Sanhe Commandery Hall had already become a thorn in the side of every other hall.

This was not the time to hand others a weapon they could use against him.

...

Wangchuan immediately began training.

He spent a full day bringing 《Iron Python Body-Protection Qigong》 to Entry Level.

Unlike 《Dragon-Elephant Body-Protection Technique》, 《Iron Python Body-Protection Qigong》 was a method that combined horizontal training with the outward release of internal energy. It could reduce a certain proportion of damage from enemy attacks. Even at Entry Level, it could weaken ten percent of incoming attacks. In the early stages, its usefulness might not be especially obvious, and the defensive effect might not seem impressive, but the farther one cultivated it, the stronger its defense became.

Its drawback, however, was equally obvious: the consumption of internal energy was astonishing.

Wangchuan already had 《Golden Bell Shield》. He had no need to raise 《Iron Python Body-Protection Qigong》 to any especially profound level. He only needed it as a transitional technique, something to boost his attributes a little.

Because he already had experience cultivating 《Dragon-Elephant Body-Protection Technique》, he decisively called Ye Baiyi over.

Ye Baiyi only had the cultivation of a second-rank martial artist, and he had already spent quite a bit of time going into the mountains to catch venomous snakes for Wangchuan. It was only right to give something back to him in return...

Once Ye Baiyi received the order, he immediately prepared to cultivate the palm technique 《Wudang Sanshou》.

His third-rank palm art had already reached Practice Makes Perfect, and its attack power was not weak. Going all out, he could probably unleash a little over sixty points of attack. That was because 《Xuanwu Art》 had only been cultivated to Practice Makes Perfect and still could not raise attack power.

Even without activating 《Dragon-Elephant Body-Protection Technique》, Wangchuan’s own defense was already close to thirty points. Once he activated 《Xuanwu Art》 together with 《Iron Python Body-Protection Qigong》, his defense soared to seventy points...

After trying for a while, Ye Baiyi realized that his attacks could barely break through the Hall Master’s defenses or cause him any meaningful damage. He immediately began attacking with all his might, and the experience for 《Wudang Sanshou》 started soaring.

Wangchuan occasionally lost 1 to 3 points of health by force, but everything remained well within control.

The experience growth of 《Iron Python Body-Protection Qigong》 was very slow.

It gained only one point of experience for every twenty punches or kicks he received.

Fortunately, he had 980 health points.

Without the slightest hurry, he endured more than two hundred attacks, then sat down cross-legged and circulated 《Qingcheng Heart Method》 to recover his health.

Ye Baiyi was overjoyed.

How long had it been?

The experience of both 《Basic Fist Technique》 and 《Wudang Sanshou》 was rising ferociously. One of them was clearly on the verge of a breakthrough.

After a short while, the two of them resumed training.

Ye Baiyi broke through very quickly.

His attack power became stronger.

Ye Baiyi decisively switched to a staff technique and continued training...

Every hour, one of his cultivation methods would break through and reward him with attribute points.

“Hall Master.”

“I finally understand how you felt when you had the Lu Family’s young master spar with you last time...”

“This is incredible!”

After several hours of continuous sparring, Ye Baiyi threw his head back and laughed.

“This subordinate has a chance to break through to Third Rank today!”

“Then hurry up and train,” Wangchuan said with a smile.

“Once my 《Iron Python Body-Protection Qigong》 breaks through to Practice Makes Perfect, it won’t be nearly so easy for you to train anymore.”

“Yes!”

Ye Baiyi gritted his teeth and continued.

Some time later—

“Ding!”

System prompt:

“《Iron Python Body-Protection Qigong》 has risen to Minor Mastery. Reward: +1 Stamina.”

Wangchuan took a glance.

The defensive effect of 《Iron Python Body-Protection Qigong》 had increased from weakening ten percent of enemy attacks to weakening twenty percent.

When Ye Baiyi’s attacks landed on him, more than ten points of attack were reduced at once, making the blows feel soft and limp by the time they struck his body...

Continue training!

Wangchuan spread his body-protection qigong and let Ye Baiyi alternate between different martial arts as he attacked.

They trained all the way into the next day.

Under Wangchuan’s help in sparring, Ye Baiyi finally broke through smoothly into the Third Rank.

Wangchuan, too, finally held out until the second system prompt arrived:

“Ding!”

“《Iron Python Body-Protection Qigong》 has risen from Minor Mastery to Practice Makes Perfect. Reward: +2 Stamina.”

Wangchuan looked at it and saw that his Stamina attribute had finally reached three digits, officially breaking through to 101 points.

Now, only his Strength attribute remained at 91 points.

As long as he increased Strength by another 9 points, he would officially enter the ranks of fifth-rank martial artists, reach the threshold set by Gang Leader Luo Tiancong, and gain the formal qualification to become his disciple.

However...

Wangchuan suddenly hesitated again.

The end of the year was almost here.

Once this year passed, the Sanhe Commandery Hall would have to face challenges from every direction in the new year.

The Beggar Sect would once again have the opportunity to challenge the Sanhe Commandery Hall.

Should he meet them as a fourth-rank martial artist, or as a fifth-rank one?

Against any fourth-rank martial artist, he had the confidence to stand on equal footing.

But against a fifth-rank opponent...

That was another matter.

Every fifth-rank martial artist was an old hand of Jianghu, the sort of figure who already stood at the elder level.

Among them, there were surely no shortage of experts who had cultivated ultimate arts.

After thinking it over again and again, Wangchuan decided to first raise 《Yanyun Eighteen Spear》 and 《Mountain-Splitting Staff Art》, then move closer to Fifth Rank before deciding anything else...

As time passed, the fourth-rank 《Yanyun Eighteen Spear》 and the fifth-rank 《Mountain-Splitting Staff Art》 successively rose to Practice Makes Perfect.

Master Artificer Tower of Sanhe Commandery, together with the major families, held an auction.

An invitation and a catalog of the items up for bidding were delivered into Wangchuan’s hands.