Chapter 10 Start Cultivating_1
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Gaining experience does not cause one's body movement techniques to disappear, while devouring experience will cause the original cultivation techniques to vanish directly, unable to be re-cultivated with any success.
However, the characteristics of the cultivation technique will be absorbed by the "Bull Demon Technique."
Fortunately, this devouring is not passive but active, that is, one can choose whether or not to engage in it, otherwise Ling Xiao really wouldn't dare to practice it.
Both of these extraordinary techniques are capable of growth, and upon reaching the highest stage, they are earth-shakingly powerful.
So it's a definite that he has to cultivate them, but the method is a bit odd; Ling Xiao can only start by cultivating other martial arts first.
Luckily, he possesses the Mountain and River Martial Soul, which can copy martial arts, and he has not been shy about stealing them from the Ling Family's Book Collection Pavilion.
Now he can pick a few to start cultivating.
Seeing the secret manuals in the Mountain and River Map's book collection room, Ling Xiao started excitedly rolling around on his bed.
Tianfeng City, where they are located, belongs to the Northern Han Kingdom, where a basic martial arts manual could be sold for ten taels of silver, an elementary martial arts manual for one thousand taels of silver, and an advanced martial arts manual sells for as much as one hundred thousand taels of silver.
Why can't someone poor like Ling Xiao even afford basic martial arts?
Because he could never save up ten taels of silver in his lifetime.
Having decided to go all out, Ling Xiao planned to sell some basic martial arts to at least get his grandfather's rib injury treated properly.
If the Ling Family was unkind, they couldn't blame him for being unjust.
This past year at the Ling Family, he didn't just freeload; he had to practice martial arts and do chores without receiving a single tael of silver, getting only some rations in return.
And it wasn't even enough to fill him up.
For such a Ling Family, he truly had no respect at all.
So secretly selling martial arts secret books wasn't a big deal to him.
Of course, for safety's sake, he still planned to start with basic martial arts; after all, there were so many basic martial arts, not only possessed by the Ling Family, that it would be hard to be discovered.
With this thought, he hurried out the door to Tianfeng City's auction house.
Generally speaking, one only needs to deposit basic martial arts at the auction house, and if sold, the auction house will directly transfer the silver to your bank account.
There's no need to wait around every day.
Therefore, after leaving ten basic martial arts manuals at the auction house, Ling Xiao returned to the Ling Family to heal his grandfather, which was crucial.
But improving his own strength was equally important.
If his strength was insufficient, his grandfather's injury was bound to happen again.
After returning to his room, Ling Xiao began choosing from amongst the more than nine thousand martial arts manuals.
Though biting off more than one can chew is generally not good, martial arts are a bit special; many martial arts can complement each other, not only not holding each other back but also accelerating the cultivation process.
So he definitely wanted to pick several to cultivate together.
Moreover, to enhance "Soaring Cloud Step" and to satisfy the "Bull Demon Technique," he must continually cultivate more martial arts.
With advice from the Mountain and River Map, the selection process was cut short considerably; left to make his own choices, it might have taken him a day and night to decide.
But with the Mountain and River Map's suggestions, it took him less than a quarter of an hour to select five martial arts.
This might be considered a set of martial arts, as the Mountain and River Map even gave this set a name called "Soul of Fist."
Simultaneously cultivating these five martial arts could increase the cultivation speed by ten to thirty percent, and the accumulation speed of True Qi by ten to thirty percent.
When using martial skills based on fist techniques, the power could increase by one to two times!
The five types of martial arts that comprise "Soul of Fist" are "Fierce Tiger Descending Mountain Step," "Falling Star Fist," "Bursting Qi Technique," "Crimson Sun Technique," and "Qi Recovery Technique."
Upon closer analysis, it becomes apparent that these five types of martial arts are all centered around "Falling Star Fist," with the other four serving as support.
The advanced body movement technique "Fierce Tiger Descending Mountain Step" is a robust technique that, when executed, increases strength, momentum, and speed with each burst forward, just like a Fierce Tiger descending the mountain!
Of course, this advanced body movement technique will eventually be in service of "Soaring Cloud Step."
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The intermediate Internal Cultivation Mind Technique "Crimson Sun Technique" increases True Qi, and crucially, when martial skills are utilized, it can enhance the effects of severe fire burns and also boost the power of fist techniques.
The intermediate secret techniques "Qi Recovery Technique" and "Bursting Qi Technique," one is for recovering True Qi, and the other for instantaneously bursting forth True Qi.
The latter can maximize the power of "Falling Star Fist" in an instant, but the downside is that it consumes a considerable amount of True Qi.
And the former, "Qi Recovery Technique," can largely compensate for this flaw.
That's why the Ling Xiao Association chose these five types of martial arts.
As for why they chose "Falling Star Fist" for the punching techniques, the reason is simple—it's one of the most powerful in the intermediate martial arts, and Ling Xiao favors straightforward, explosive combat.
Its power is even comparable to some Advanced Martial Arts, of course, with the same downside as "Bursting Qi Technique": the excessive consumption, which is why martial artists at the Awakening Stage generally don't prefer it.
But Ling Xiao is different.
Not only does his Mountain and River Martial Soul make his True Qi more robust than that of martial artists of the same strength, but he also specifically chose "Qi Recovery Technique" to make up for the deficit.
For other martial artists, even geniuses, cultivating three types of martial arts simultaneously is already defying the heavens, yet he can do so relying on the analytical and demonstrative effects of the Mountain and River Martial Soul.
He's fully capable of cultivating five types of martial arts at the same time.
And they're five mutually supportive forms of martial arts at that.
This is the advantage!
From now on, he, Ling Xiao, is no longer the meek little beggar that anyone could bully; his path in martial arts will be smooth sailing.
After choosing the "Soul of Fist" set of martial arts, Ling Xiao began his cultivation.
Of course, while it is said to be simultaneous cultivation, he is after all just one person, so he still has to follow a sequence. It's just that he cultivates each martial art faster than others.
First off, he chose to cultivate the "Crimson Sun Technique."
The reason is simple: the "Crimson Sun Technique" can boost True Qi and strengthen the body.
This is vital for both body movement techniques and martial skills, as after all, the foundation of a martial artist is True Qi.
Even the divisions of the martial artist realms are actually based on the different phases of True Qi.
Ling Xiao closed his eyes and started to cultivate according to the Crimson Sun Technique.
As True Qi circulated within his body, he was excited to find that whenever it encountered an obstruction or difficulty, the Mountain and River Martial Soul would automatically engage and help solve the problem, providing the correct True Qi circulation pathways.
This meant that Ling Xiao was almost impossible to fall into qi deviation, and there are no so-called shackles in his cultivation of techniques.
Difficulty in breaking through certain stages of cultivation that might take other people months or even years could not faze him.
He had a green light all the way, an unimpeded path.
His talent was already not weak, but now he appeared as an absolute genius.
All this stemmed from the special effects of the Mountain and River Martial Soul.
As a result, Ling Xiao couldn't help but value and take an even greater interest in the Mountain and River Martial Soul.
Martial Souls are already very mysterious, but the Mountain and River Martial Soul seems even more enigmatic than most. Just how magical can it be?
Ling Xiao was eager to find out.
But to uncover this secret, his current strength clearly wasn't enough.
And cultivation was the key to unlocking the secrets of the Mountain and River Map.
Because while cultivating the "Crimson Sun Technique," he could distinctly feel that the Mountain and River Map was also undergoing some wondrous changes.
Of course, the most obvious was the ongoing disappearance of the cloud layer.
In the small village within the Mountain and River Map, another spot had appeared.
It was an altar, but instead of a Divine Statue, what was inside was a flame!
A dazzling flame!