Practice Makes Perfect

A layer of grey internal force covered Shen Ling's skin instantly. With this, he hit his chest hard.

To his utmost surprise, it didn't hurt.

This was so unlike the feeling of a fist hitting flesh. The feedback he got when he hit his chest felt as if he had hit a stone.

In all honesty, although the Iron Shirt's internal force didn't make him wear iron clothes, it had increased his defense.

Coupled with the fact that the Iron Shirt was a cultivation method, it also improved his physical ability while cultivating.

Especially his strength.

The effect of this on his body was even stronger than the Longevity Technique.

Since his strength had increased, the strength in each of his blades would also increase. The power in the Mountain-splitting Saber Technique would also increase greatly.

This was just like killing several birds with one stone.

After resting for a while, the excitement that Shen Ling felt in his heart subsided. Instead, he felt extremely hungry.

For a moment, a double image appeared right in front of him.

Hunger! Very hungry! 

He was starving!

"Xiao Huan!"

Shen Ling called out as he shook his head.

Immediately Huan rushed to where he was and looked at Shen Ling, who was laying on the ground, panting heavily. She asked anxiously, "Young Master, what is the matter? Do you need me to call the doctor?"

At this point, Shen Ling tried to keep his eyes wide open. He said in a low voice, "Go to the kitchen and get me some food first. The more, the better."

"Oh... Alright then."

Huan nodded quickly and ran out of the courtyard.

Soon enough, she brought over a plate of steamed buns and sausages stored in the kitchen.

Without hesitation, Shen Ling picked up the steamed buns and began to eat. With his other hand, he picked up a sausage.

"It's not enough, Xiao Huan. I need some more."

Shen Ling muttered under his breath as he ate wildly.

He knew that he must have used up too much of his physical strength. In addition, the Iron Shirt had been upgraded which made his body short of nutrients.

He needed to replenish his nutrition as quickly as possible. The more, the better.

"I'll go and buy more now!"

Xiao Huan looked at Shen Ling as she said these words. She didn't want to say that there was nothing else to eat in the kitchen.

Shen Ling nodded as he ate and Xiao Huan left once more.

After a long time...

The ground in the courtyard was filled with chicken bones. Shen Ling held the drumstick in one hand and the bun in the other. He was slowly tearing at the meat.

After eating crazily for some time, he was barely alive now.

"Young Master, it seems like you've grown a little taller."

Shen Ling had just finished eating and stood on his feet. Xiao Huan, who was serving him, raised her head to look at him.

Although she used to look up to him in the past, it seemed to her that he must have grown taller today. She couldn't even see the top of his head.

"Really? Have I?"

Shen Ling asked as he looked at himself and tugged at his clothes.

He pressed the clothes on his body to the legs and measured his height to be about five centimeters higher than when he had worn his clothes that morning.

He looked at his shoulders once more. Since his physical fitness improved, his shoulders seemed to have widened a little.

Right now, he was confused. He didn't know whether to be happy or worried about this change.

Truth be told, it was a good thing to be taller, but this was too much. Besides, he had some doubts in his heart. If he continued cultivating this Iron Shirt, he would probably become a muscular man with arms thicker than a woman's thigh.

He shook his head vehemently and gave up on the fantasy.

No matter the excuse, he had to cultivate this Iron Shirt.

Rather than worrying about things that were yet to happen, it was better to focus solely on cultivating.

After all, he was learning more cultivation techniques now and was spending shorter cultivation time for each technique.

In the future, he had to arrange his time reasonably.

He and Xiao Huan began tidying up the courtyard and made it clean again.

Once they were done, he put away the cultivation technique book that recorded the Iron Shirt and took out the Treading on Air book, and placed it on the table.

Treading on Air, as the name implies, was footwork.

For someone like Ling who had never for once cultivated footwork before, this book worth three thousand taels of silver was of great significance.

He opened the book and began studying it word for word for quite a long time before raising his head slowly.

Since he had a vague understanding of the knowledge about treading on air, he didn't understand how to start practicing. He was still very confused.

Without a master to guide him through, it was not easy to practice by just relying on a cultivation technique book.

He couldn't help but wonder how to go about it.

He picked up the book and started studying again. His eyes gleamed in thought.

After a while, he decided to choose the dumbest way.

And that was to try it out first!

Unlike other unorthodox martial artists, Shen Ling's greatest reliance was the proficiency panel that he always carried with him.

This helped him to know what the correct cultivation posture was and with this, he could not go astray.

After the first attempt, he gained nothing.

Same thing happened the second time.

And the third...

After a countless number of futile attempts, he held his head in annoyance.

He kept wondering why it was so difficult to cultivate these rank-five low-grade treading air steps.

Treading on air, treading on air...

Shen Ling repeated these two words and flipped through the cultivation technique book that recorded the treading air steps - again.

An hour passed quickly...

Just then, Shen Ling got an idea.

He stepped on the table in the courtyard and took a step into the air.

Bang!

He fell heavily to the ground with a thud.

However, it didn't hurt him.

He got up swiftly. With the protection that came with the Iron Shirt, it was as light as a handshake.

As soon as he got up, he couldn't hide the smile on his face.

Finally, he found what he had been missing all this while.

He had to step into the air!

He stepped to the table and fell to the ground countless times.

The bluestone on the ground cracked, and he finally saw the prompt he wanted.

'You have completed one successful session of cultivating Treading on Air, proficiency + 1.'

He made it!

Shen Ling looked at his proficiency panel.

'Cultivation method: Treading on Air [rank-three low-grade cultivation method, not yet learned, proficiency 1/100. ]'

Rank-three low-grade?

Shen Ling looked at his panel and shook his head in confusion.

Initially, he thought that this Treading on Air, which was labeled as rank-five low-grade, was a rank-five low-grade cultivation method. He didn't expect that it would be a rank-three low-grade cultivation method.

In that case, the time he had wasted earlier suddenly made much more sense.

He had obtained a rank-three low-grade cultivation method all for free.

He felt that it was too exciting.

He didn't know that because of the difficulty of getting started with the Air-treading steps and the loss of the inheritance, no one remembered the true grade of the cultivation technique of Treading on Air.

Among all the cultivation methods sold by the Chennan Trading Company, Treading on Air was the one with the worst sales in recent years.

The real value of a normal grade-three cultivation method was at least hundreds of thousands of taels.

A grade-five cultivation technique was also worth tens of thousands.

Shen Ling taking it for free was equivalent to the company making a profit.

Treading on Air.

As the name implied, the key lied in taking a step in the air.

Shen Ling had failed so many times in the past, but every time he did, he felt that he was a little closer to success.

As time passed, the gap between the stone slabs beside the table had already become the width of a pinky finger.

However, this didn't stop him from practicing.

He kept practicing.

Along with the notifications that showed from time to time, "You have completed one successful session of cultivating Treading on Air, proficiency +1", he finally increased his proficiency to 100/100.

The moon was high up in the sky and the stars shine brightly.

Shen Ling's Treading on Air...

It had finally been successfully practiced.