Chapter 2147: Autumn Wind

Yushi Moli slipped into a mental state that blurred the boundaries between him and the world. As the sword form in his mind grew clearer, it exuded strange ripples.

Autumn Wind?

He suddenly felt a familiar presence from the sword. Did it come from the technique that he’d created by accident?

Guided by the thought, his mind immersed itself in the meaning behind Autumn Wind. He simulated the move again and again, throwing his efforts into perceiving the technique.

Trickles of blood gathered outside his body, gradually forming a thick layer of bloody scabs that enveloped him. When he came back to his senses after an indeterminate period of time, blackish-red scabs flaked off his body whenever he moved. The skin underneath was pristine and glistened like jade.

“This..” Yushi Moli stared at his hands and marveled at the vigorous strength coming from him. A knowing smile spread across his face. “This is the effect of the Boneforge Pill, I really owe the elder a big, big favor!

“Luo Qing said that this pill is worth ten thousand gold coins. The effects are great, it’s worth way more than that! I’ve doubled my strength compared to before, which is so much more than what I can achieve in a year. I would never reach this level if I continued to train according to my old methods!”

Being different from the Yushi Moli of before, he understood that his previous training methods were incorrect. Not even the medicinal baths would keep him alive for much longer.

“Weird, I should’ve died a few days ago based on my old ways. How am I still alive?” His mind wandered down strange paths again.

When he stood up and stretched, Yushi Moli further discovered some changes in certain key joints and bones. His previous training had forced them into very awkward angles and positions, causing a sliver of deviation from what should’ve been smooth sword techniques.

It was these incorrect practices that damaged his body. Seeing as he was only thirteen years old, a period in which his body was developing, his old training regimen was more accurately described as a self-devastation regimen.

“It’s incredible that I’ve survived till now,” he laughed at himself.

Thanks to a pill worth ten thousand gold coins, the misaligned bones and damaged membranes of his body had somewhat recovered. He moved much more easily than before.

“I can’t continue in the same way. Although it appeared to make me stronger, it was a slow form of suicide!” Yushi Moli shook his head rapidly. The training of martial cultivators should not be thus. He’d been too influenced by his idol worship of Long Qianjue.

“I need to stop this training that weighs my body down. I need to stop. I’m going to stop!”

Important things bore repeating thrice. Four years of diligent training had only made his body slightly stronger than his peers. If it wasn’t for the spontaneous comprehension of autumn wind and an inexplicable calmness from the bottom of his soul, he would’ve died when Luo Qing ambushed him.

The Autumn Wind technique also had nothing to do with his previous training. It was facilitated purely by talent from the depth of his soul.

His previous regimen could strengthen a mortal’s body, but it was useless compared to what cultivators underwent! If he wished to grow stronger, he needed to use the proper way. For the moment, the most direct process he could utilize was the Boneforge Pill.

“Although it hurts a lot, I can manage it. The sword of heaven and earth helps suppress the pain and fully digests the pill’s effects.” Yushi Moli was mortified when he thought of how he’d been earlier.

Just some aches and pains had nearly caused his body to fall apart? How humiliating! Certain people would laugh their heads off at him if they knew!

Eh? Certain people? Who people?

“I’ll practice the Galewind Step next! Today is the first day. I’ll head into Qingqiu Mountain after nine days and start hunting beasts!” An urgent desire rose from his heart—he needed to grow stronger!

“The Boneforge Pill is a good supplemental option if I can’t buy the Qi Elevation Pill!” Yushi Moli walked out of the meditation chamber, showered, changed his clothes, and entered the mountain.

The sun was already setting to the west. He took a seat between the trees, warmed by the golden rays of late autumn. As he paged through the book, he memorized the key points of the lower human rank body method and its movements.

“Okay.” With how strong Yushi Moli’s mental force was, he possessed a nearly photographic memory. He moved in uncoordinated fashion, twisting his body to follow the instructions in the book. “This is really hard!”

He quickly found out that it was much more difficult than what he’d imagined. A lower human rank body method was vastly different from a basic sword technique. The basic sword techniques weren’t ranked, and thus even mortals could try them.

But a method that was ranked—even lower human rank—was out of reach for ordinary people. They required the facilitation of true qi! Only with the circulation of true qi could the full force of body methods and martial techniques be deployed.

Since Yushi Moli lacked true qi, he seemed clumsy and off balance when he practiced Galewind Step, despite the strength of his soul.

After a while, he plopped to the ground and wiped off the sweat on his face.

“The Galewind Step is really hard. The steps need to be bolstered by true qi before they can be completed..” Yushi Moli found himself in a quandary. “But.. it was the same case when I first started practicing the sword! If I don’t succeed the first time, I’ll try a second time, then a third. I’ll succeed one day!”

He stood up with determination and started practicing again. Although martial techniques required the usage of true qi, he still felt that he would be able to master them.

....

Another three days passed by in the blink of an eye. Yushi Moli took three more Boneforge Pills during this time and his body and strength improved noticeably once more. He was now on par with an adult man in their prime.

Thanks to the Sword Chart of Heaven and Earth, the effects of the three pills were nearly fully absorbed and almost none went to waste. His misaligned bones and latent injuries were mostly recovered.

For the past three days, he spent mornings practicing the sword and afternoons on the Galewind Step. But no matter how hard he tried, he didn’t even set foot into understanding the technique.

“Weird, it’s been three days already. With uncle’s temper, he would’ve come and lectured me in person once he found out that I didn’t listen to him.” Yushi Moli found his uncle’s absence increasingly odd as time went on. Ouyang Du was the person he was closest to in this world and it was highly unusual that they hadn’t seen each other in three days.

Not only was he not used to this situation, but he was also starting to worry.

“Uncle didn’t look too good when he left. Did something happen?” Yushi Moli could barely sit still when his thoughts traveled here. He might’ve once had more people he cared about—his younger brother and father, but their images were dimming in his heart. The only person left was the uncle who treated him well.

Unfortunately, it was already afternoon. If he visited Aurora City now, he wouldn’t make it back before tomorrow.

Yushi Moli was beginning to reject the city lord’s residence entirely—not because his father had ignored him during this month, but because as time went on, he felt more and more that it wasn’t his home. That that person wasn’t his father, and it’d be slightly awkward if the two of them met.

“I won’t make it back tonight if I go now.. so let’s go tomorrow morning.” Yushi Moli shook his head and practiced the Galewind Step again. “I’m making no progress despite matching my movements and gestures to what the book describes. It really does need true qi.”

The boy frowned.

“The basic sword techniques can also be combined with true qi, but why are mine as powerful as an upper human rank cultivator?” Yushi Moli still recalled Luo Qing misidentifying him as an upper human rank cultivator before he died.

A tendril of brisk autumn wind fluttered by, refreshing his thoughts when it breezed through his hair.

“That’s right, autumn wind!” He chased after the tendril, stepping forward and reappearing three meters in a different spot.