ambush

He also tested out the offensive part of the skill and succeeded after a couple of tries.

The glowing golden ball would be impossible to dodge for regular mortal humans since Fang Qiu was throwing the "star" using the full strength of a peak foundation cultivator which, even without qi was incredibly fast.

Yet any normal foundation realm cultivator would be able to dodge it effortlessly unless they were within close range of Fang Qiu.

Fang Qiu even guessed someone would be able to dodge it point-blank if the opponent was a lightning element cultivator, since they all had innate reaction speed and movement speed, so the skill certainly had its flaws.

But looking at the destruction where the "star" landed....

A piece of land the size of his courtyard was reduced to rubble, some of the large rocks that were previously there even straight up disappeared, probably pulverized from the blast at point blank range.

The explosion also left a decently sized crater, but this was to be expected from a trump card skill that used up nearly half his qi.

A regular punch without qi could already leave a hole in a tree at his realm, let alone a destructive offensive skill.

Another reason he went to the forest today was to try out a basic archery manual he bought from Steward Chen.

Archery manuals could multiply the power of his skills if combined well, but they could also increase his killing power using regular shots without skills.

Fang Qiu had only used a bow in the past before he became a cultivator, so he needed this archery manual to learn how to use neutral qi and incorporate it into his shots.

If he were to shoot regular arrows like before using his new bow and stronger body, he would easily be able to pierce a tree, but the arrow would be destroyed, and a foundation realm cultivator would barely be harmed by it if he didn't strengthen his attack using qi.

The basic archery manual wasn't even considered yellow rank, yet it cost about the same as a mortal rank manual!

It went over all the fundamentals of archery written down by a space element predecessor who reached false immortal realm by the time he wrote the manual. It even explained how to incorporate the manual's teachings in his warp path attacks.

So, even these mere fundamentals were very profound and managed to grasp the essence of archery.

After another week of practicing in the woods on a daily basis…

Thunk*

After shooting his last arrow through a couple of tree trunks Fang Qiu took some time to inspect his gains.

His comprehension of the star path had reached ninety percent, the final bit of comprehension would have to be gained through his own enlightenment or insight.

He could now finally be considered a powerful foundation realm cultivator!

The main way cultivators increased their comprehension without external treasures was by going through dangerous battles, or by practicing their skills until they broke through naturally by gaining deeper insight.

Right now, Fang Qiu could use [star grasping hand] without failing and he wasn't far off from reaching intermediate mastery over the skill. This was considered very fast but wasn't considered without cost looking at the hundreds of craters around him.

Most cultivators would only be able to use it once or twice before having to replenish their qi for a while, but Fang Qiu could keep casting the skill every couple minutes as long as his spirit beast kept eating and occasionally using [dig in] on corpses of some of the beasts Fang Qiu hunted and bought the last couple days.

Reaching intermediate level would increase its power by another notch whilst using the same amount of qi. So, to Fang Qiu it was all worth it though all the food cost him over a spirit stone daily with all the food he needed to replenish his qi.

"Good thing my void storage increased in size when I reached foundation realm, or there is no way I would be able to carry all this food to and from the forest every day."

The hand was also being used by Fang Qiu constantly unless he was asleep in order to increase the mastery and getting used to always using it. The small amount of qi its usage consumed could be offset by the panda or Fang Qiu eating occasionally.

Other star path cultivators would only use the hand when casting the skill and deactivate it afterwards since it used up qi constantly.

But Fang Qiu only had a single arm, so this hand was meant to be used as his second arm, not a temporary thing to use as part of a skill.

His archery manual had also reached beginner mastery by now and he could make use of most of the techniques described within.

Whilst going over his progress in his mind and sitting down for a bit he suddenly heard a rustling sound...

"Hehehe little brother, that's an impressive skill you have there, using it as a replacement for the lost arm so you could remain an archer.

Sadly, it seems constantly keeping the hand activated finally drained all your qi and you are all out of arrows.

I might only be a second-tier foundation realm cultivator, and I can tell your cultivation realm is higher than mine by quite a bit. But even a qi refining brat would be able to kill a peak foundation realm cultivator without any qi reserves!

let alone me, a powerful second tier foundation realm sect elder!

Remember this for your next life, the person who took your life is the great Gao Jiang!"

A shabby looking middle-aged man ranted whilst revealing himself from the bushes.

"Is this old man retarded? Yes, I deactivated the star path hand, but only because I was thinking about some insights I gained during practice!"

Taking another bite from his drumstick he really felt pity for the man.

"Old man, don't you know the saying 'a drumstick in hand, I will rule over this land'?"

Seeing the old man's confusion Fang Qiu was dying of laughter on the inside. "Pffffft, I think he believed it! Let's see what other bullshit I can make him believe before he attacks me."

"Old man, if you don't believe me, watch this!"

After which...the drumstick.... disappeared!