Chapter 126: Cultivation

Ye Cheng stood within the bamboo grove, a gentle breeze rustling the countless leaves that drifted to the ground. With a silver spear in his hand, he practiced in quiet meditation, his eyes slightly closed.

This was his fourth day of training. For the preceding three days, Ye Cheng had practiced the Thousand-Shadow Spear Technique incessantly from dawn until dusk, repeating the movements no fewer than a hundred times. He had gained an increasingly precise grasp of the vibrations within the spear shaft, to the point where he felt he understood its essence by heart.

"How can I truly neutralize that recoil force?" Despite his constant practice, Ye Cheng felt as though he were perpetually brushing against the solution, yet a thin veil always remained, preventing him from dissipating the backlash caused by fusing his blood-energy with the spear.

Suddenly, Ye Cheng’s eyes snapped open. Gripping his silver spear, he thrust it high above his head, pouring all his blood-energy into the shaft. As the energy entered the spear, it dispersed in all directions, threatening to splinter into a thousand frantic currents—an inevitable consequence of the Thousand-Shadow Spear Technique’s mechanics.

Ye Cheng gritted his teeth, struggling to control the flow. He refused to let it dissipate; his only hope was to force these currents to fuse into a single, concentrated point, thereby maximizing their lethality.

"Hum, hum!"

As Ye Cheng forcefully compressed the blood-energy, the thousands of conflicting currents clashed, and the resulting recoil caused the silver spear to vibrate with a resonant, metallic hum.

"Still not enough!" Ye Cheng’s face tightened in frustration. He could feel that by forcing the fusion, the recoil became far too violent, severely eroding the martial art’s true potential.

"Boom!" Unable to withstand the backlash any longer, Ye Cheng unleashed his strike. A thousand spear-shadows erupted, coalescing into a single, massive projection. Though the form was highly unstable, the strike still punched clean through a slab of bluestone several meters thick, located just a short distance away.

This bluestone was a standard tool for warriors to test their strength; even a master at the peak of the Blood-Energy Realm could usually only leave faint marks upon it. The very arena used for the competition to determine the Heaven-Chosen candidates had been constructed from this material.

Though Ye Cheng was dissatisfied with his attack, the fact that he had pierced the stone spoke volumes of its power.

"Kid, that strike of yours barely utilized thirty percent of this technique’s potential. You have the proficiency, but you lack the guiding principle," a voice drifted from atop the massive bluestone, where an old man lay sprawled with casual ease. It was Elder Mu.

"Teacher, I know, but I cannot find a way to resolve the conflict between the blood-energy currents. Forcing them together only increases the friction," Ye Cheng admitted.

"Why must you force them? You can only do that once your cultivation realm is high enough. Since you aren't there yet, why not go with the flow?" Elder Mu looked at Ye Cheng, a faint smile on his face as he offered the hint.

"Go with the flow?"

Elder Mu nodded, pointing a finger toward the bamboo leaves still drifting through the air. "Look at those leaves."

"Wait! They weren't shredded?" Ye Cheng exclaimed in surprise. As his spear-shadow had flown out, the shockwaves had turned the rocks along its path into powder, yet the countless bamboo leaves, though tossed and turned by the turbulent air, remained unscathed by the spear's edge.

"That's it! Why didn't I try to fuse them naturally? Forcing them only triggers conflict. If I let the blood-energy follow the vibrations of the spear, they can achieve resonance with one another—that should neutralize the recoil!"

Seeing this, a sudden realization struck Ye Cheng. Over the past few days, he had fully mastered the rhythm of the vibrations triggered by his spear. Building upon that foundation gave him newfound confidence.

He acted immediately. Without hesitation, he poured his blood-energy back into the silver spear. Gripping the shaft tightly, he felt every micro-tremor. Following his new insight, he stopped forcing the currents to fuse and instead allowed the thousand-fold blood-energy to converge naturally in harmony with the spear’s vibration.

"Hiss... Hiss!"

This time, after a subtle tremor, the thousand currents of blood-energy converged. To his surprise, they drew in the essence of the surrounding heaven and earth, which merged into the silver spear, causing a tyrannical aura to erupt from the weapon.

"So powerful!"

In that moment, heaven and earth seemed to exist within his mind. Ye Cheng slipped into a hazy state of "self-forgetfulness." It felt as if all things in existence were present, yet the world around him blurred, leaving only the silver spear in his grasp.

The blood-energy currents within the spear no longer required his conscious control; mediated by the essence of the world, they converged automatically.

"Snap!"

The silver spear rang out.

Ye Cheng, spear in hand, transformed into a spiraling force. A massive projection of blood-energy encased him, and he tore through the air like a streak of light.

His entire consciousness was fused with the spear. He even felt a strange sensation—as if he himself had become a peerless divine weapon.

"Hmm, this brat’s comprehension is on par with my own back in the day. He catches on at the slightest hint. It seems this small place won't be able to hold him for long." Elder Mu watched Ye Cheng’s current momentum, a look of satisfaction crossing his weathered face. Within his pleased expression lay a flicker of expectation that was difficult to discern.

"Perhaps, one day, this little guy might even be able to help me."

Elder Mu rose, his ethereal spirit-body drifting down from the thick bluestone. As he landed, Ye Cheng’s form, now one with the spear, pierced directly through the stone.

"Boom!" The terrifying force caused the bluestone to explode. Without a shred of resistance, it disintegrated into a sky full of dust and gravel under Elder Mu's approving gaze.

"I did it!" Feeling the impact of that strike, Ye Cheng laughed in excitement, raising his silver spear high with exhilaration.

"The third level of the Thousand-Shadow Spear Technique is truly terrifying. With this level of attack power, even a master at the peak of the Origin Realm would be severely wounded," he thought, turning to look at the pulverized stone, feeling a sense of awe.

"Not bad, kid. That strike reached about ninety percent of the technique's potential. Your comprehension is even better than I expected," Elder Mu said, stroking his white beard with satisfaction.

"It is all thanks to your guidance, Teacher. Otherwise, at my own pace, it would have taken me another half-month to reach this level," Ye Cheng laughed.

"I can only give you pointers; the cultivation must come from you. As the saying goes, the master leads you to the door, but the practice is up to the individual... Wait," Elder Mu broke off, suddenly sounding startled. "That young lady is coming. I’m off."

"Make sure you seize the opportunity, kid. I find that girl quite pleasant," Elder Mu teased, before vanishing into a stream of light that dove into the jade stone.

"Uh..." Ye Cheng rubbed his nose and gave a bitter smile. He cast his gaze into the distance, where a graceful figure appeared at the end of the bamboo grove, walking with a sense of urgency.