C17 Basic Saber Technique!

The Chu Family was renowned for their pills and herbs, but that didn't mean they were ignorant toward cultivation and martial skills. After all, sheer brutal strength was the only thing that could help a family survive for generations.

The Chu Family's ancestor was a saber-wielding expert. After hundreds of years of inheritance, most of the disciples in the Chu Family used saber techniques.

The patriarch, Chu Tianyun, was known as Wordless Blade. Any enemy who witnessed his saber play died before being able to utter a syllable. This was enough to show how powerful the Chu Family was when it came to the saber technique.

In the Martial Skill Pavilion of the Chu Family, saber techniques took up most of the space.

Meanwhile, Chu Zhongtian had no specific bents for the weapon or the martial skill he wanted to learn. However, since he was a Chu Family member, reality had chosen the weapon and technique he would use.

Also, out of the five Wang Family members who died in the cave, the ordinary man—or the Chu Zhongtian of Wang Family—was holding a steel bade. So, it was perfect for him.

The Chu Family was established with pills; on the other hand, the Wang Family was famous for its weapons. Wang Family's weapons weren't just famed in the Qi Country—they were also eminent in the surrounding ten kingdoms.

The reason for their reputation was that they had mastered an exceptional tempering technique. With the help of this technique, they could temper refined materials several times. This tempering would, in turn, improve hardness and sharpness.

Qi Refiners used spiritual power, which was a ruthless and overpowering force. Ordinary weapons simply couldn't withstand it; only weapons that had undergone special tempering could truly display the might of spiritual power.

As a way of standardization: Qi Refiners used ten times tempered weapons, and Body Refiners used a hundred times tempered weapons. Body Refiners used a hundred tempered weapons simply because ten times tempered weapons couldn't handle their power.

As for those above the Body Refining realm, no weapon in the mortal world could withstand their power. This was because, in the realm above the Body Refining realm, a cultivator's Qi/power would go through another transformation. As for what kind of transformation it was, Chu Zhongtian had yet to learn about that, so he had no idea for the time being.

Using his dominant hand, he gripped the handle of the sword just below the hilt or guard. With his other hand, he held the pommel of the sword; then, he calmed himself.

He took a step to the right with his left foot, turned his body left, and shifted his center of gravity to his left leg. At the same time, he shouted softly.

At this moment, in Chu Zhongtian's mind, there were at least dozens of saber techniques, and there was even a high-level saber technique there. However, he didn't choose any top-tier skill. Instead, he picked the most basic saber technique.

As a modern man, Chu Zhongtian understood the importance of a strong foundation. At the same time, he also knew that the simpler a technique before mastery, the stronger its power after mastery.

Compared to other weapon techniques, the basic saber technique was way easier. It only had 14 moves in total.

These moves looked simple, but familiarizing his untrained and honestly frail body with them was anything but easy. He was akin to an overly obese person on his first day of yoga class.

Unexpectedly, after he got a bit familiar with the moves, he found that the moves weren't particularly hard to execute or practice. Well, that was apart from the last two moves, which were being a PITA. In the end, he chalked his quick success to him having two souls and attacking too much importance to a single skill.

Chu Zhongtian practiced every move and stance with great effort. To attain the realm of being one with the sword, he practiced while trying to keep a sense of the blade at all times.

Of course, attaining such a realm after a single practice session was just wishful thinking on his part.

How could he, a Level-2 Qi Refiner, attain something that even peak Body Refiners had a hard time achieving?

Moreover, one had to pass a realm before they could become one with the word. The realm of Sword Intent.

After trying more than ten times, he found that becoming one with the sword was simply impossible for him right now. Thus, he gave up on this unrealistic fantasy and focused on practicing the basic saber technique.

Three days later:

Chu Zhogntian had spent the last three days practicing the 14 moves of the basic saber skill. Right now, he was at a half-and-half—he was proficient in the first seven moves; he knew squat about the other seven. This disappointed him to no end. The last seven moves seemed simple, but they were actually related to the previous seven moves. He needed more time to practice.

While practicing the saber moves, he also tried to use power to increase the offense strength delivered by these moves.

However, the power in his meridians could only support the first three moves. From the fourth move onwards, he was like a gun shooting blanks.

After what seemed like a long time, he exhaled and retracted his saber. Chu Zhongtian looked at the cave he had stayed in for more than a month and shook his head with a complicated expression.

"I should leave now." After a month, the Red-eyed Blood Wolf's aura was no longer lingering around the cave. The day before yesterday, when he went out to pick fruits, he found distinct evidence of other strange beasts stalking the area. Moreover, due to a lack of spirit stones, he used the scattered Qi to cultivate, thinning out what little scattered Qi the cave had. So, it was indeed time for him to leave.

He didn't have many things he could take with him. He put a silver note worth 500 gold coins into his pocket and held a ten refinements steel knife in his hand. This was all he had.

Chu Zhongtian looked at the familiar cave and took a deep breath. Then, with a solemn expression, he turned around and left.

After leaving the tunnel, he took a deep breath. The fresh air and natural breeze improved his spirit quite a bit. Chu Zhongtian did not leave immediately after leaving the tunnel. Instead, he enveloped his steel blade with spiritual power and cut the stones around the cave entrance into pieces. Then, he used these stones to block the cave entrance.

After completely blocking the cave entrance, he disguised it with shrubs and herbs. Now, he was confident that no one could find it, so he turned around and left.

The reason he did was nothing more than semantics. He felt that he would never forget this place since he shed his mortal self here.

Another reason was that this cave was a well-hidden place. Without a map, finding it was near impossible, so it could make a good stronghold.

Chu Zhongtian was no longer the weak, cripple of the past. What he wanted to do next was to live a challenging life. If he encountered a crisis that he could not solve in the future, this stronghold could be his safehouse.

Since Chu Zhongtian would occasionally venture out for fruits, he was familiar with the surrounding area. He used that familiarity to leave the Level-9 beasts' territory.

Despite being a Level-2 Qi Refiner, he was anything but strong. However, compared to a month ago, his strength had improved significantly. The most significant aspect being his speed.

Currently, his speed was at least ten times faster than a month ago, but Chu Zhongtian was not satisfied with this. There were many movement skills in the Chu Family; sadly, even the trashiest skill there required one to be a Level-4 Qi Refiner.

To become a Level-4 Qi Refiner, a cultivator had to create a self-sufficient loop using their meridian network—a loop that could generate its own spiritual power. Thanks to this loop, Level-4 refiners had at least ten times the power and power recovering ability Level-3 refiners had.

So, increased speed required increased power.