In the days that followed, Young Master Nan, who was almost always stationed at the viewing platform to keep an eye on the betting odds, did not see Miao Dingyi again.
Instead, Lan Qiaoyan and Miao Yilan would occasionally make appearances every two or three days.
When the mother-daughter pair arrived, they wouldn’t stay long.
Seeing that the light dot representing Shi Chun on the Mountain and River Map hadn't budged, they'd sit for a while and then leave.
The light dot representing Shi Chun was easy to find, sitting at one edge, unmoving, almost as if it were dead.
Feng Chi, hidden in his cloak, noticed this, and Elder Ke, who was so angry he could grind his teeth, noticed it too.
They both had the same guess: those two were likely trying to wait until the conference ended...
Inside the cave, it was dim and gloomy, and outside the sun rose and set with the passing of days.
Shi Chun, who had been silently sitting without eating or drinking for an unknown period, finally opened his eyes, exhaling as he concluded his cultivation, showing a hint of joy in his eyes.
If cultivation could be described by capacity, he felt as though a bucket, representative of his mild success in the Advanced Martial Realm, was about one-third full.
This was the result of absorbing Sun Shigang’s demonic flames during his cultivation.
Such rapid progress was remarkable.
Words like 'advancing at a thousand leagues in a day' fit perfectly, especially for someone like him who had been stuck at the same level for two or three years.
Internally, he was truly ecstatic.
However, this method of cultivation had both obvious drawbacks and perks.
It required a constant supply of demonic qi for absorption.
Once the source of demonic qi was gone, he would once again face the dilemma of stagnation in his cultivation.
He instinctively thought of Xiang Lan'er, easily accessible.
But on second thought, he dismissed the idea.
Absorbing Xiang Lan'er would likely sever his connection to the demonic path allies, preventing him from tracing it further to secure resources for future cultivation.
Besides, Xiang Lan'er's cultivation wasn't high.
Judging by the strength of her inner demonic flames, she was likely inferior to someone like Sun Shigang.
His small achievement stage cultivation had only been filled to less than a third.
That meant he needed the demonic cultivations of at least two or three more practitioners like Sun Shigang to reach the next level.
Just Xiang Lan'er wouldn't suffice.
He thought of Feng Chi—indeed, not weak, a good target.
He also thought of Elder Xia Fuli from Wukang Mountain, a master of the Human Immortal Realm.
If that elder were also a demon cultivator imbued with demonic flames, Shi Chun felt his mouth watering.
He’d need to find a chance to use his right eye's ability to check on Elder Xia.
While he was indulging in such pleasant fantasies, he suddenly realized something was off.
As a member of the demonic path, was it right to constantly covet his colleagues? Wasn't that rather dishonorable?
There was another thing that puzzled him.
According to Sun Shigang, only those who practiced demonic cultivation had demonic qi.
So why did he have no demonic qi himself? Could it be that what he cultivated wasn't a demonic technique? Could he actually be someone from the righteous path?
Just when he felt a tinge of identity confusion, he quickly dismissed it.
With the experience of people like Feng Chi, it was unlikely they would have been wrong.
Furthermore, his cultivation method did indeed fancy demonic qi.
A righteous path practitioner's fondness for demonic qi would be quite absurd.
Upon reflection, he figured he’d just ask Xiang Lan'er and her associates for clarity.
Once he had mentally organized his thoughts on cultivation, he reached for the blade beside him and murmured, "At the Advanced Martial level, I should now be able to showcase the power of the 'Void Demon Blade.' Why does this name seem a bit off? Am I misunderstanding it due to my limited literacy?"
Just when he thought he had set aside his identity confusion, it began to bubble up again from the depths of his heart.
Eventually, he suppressed these thoughts once more.
He picked up the blade and quickly moved toward the cave’s entrance.
As he moved, he unsheathed the blade with a swish and slashed at the stone wall by the cave’s entrance.
In the canyon, there was a weathered large stone pillar, about one zhang high and one zhang wide.
Wu Jinliang, wearing only his underpants, was sunbathing there, his broad forehead and bright eyes basking in the sun.
The time for the sun to shine into the canyon wasn't long.
In places where there weren’t many people, Wu Jinliang preferred the unrestrained feeling, the attire of Exile Lands, which was less restrictive than conventional wear, suited him.
At least for now, he found it more comfortable than the confines of propriety.
Waiting alone for a long time was quite boring.
As someone meant to be a guard, he couldn't enter a meditative cultivation state, nor could he wander off.
Even spreading his fingers and gazing at the sun through them became something to while away time.
In the rustling wind of the canyon, only the sound of the wind was heard, until an unusual noise appeared.
He turned his head toward the semi-sealed cave entrance, where there seemed to be some strange sounds.
Bang! The stone wall by the entrance suddenly exploded, almost simultaneously with a loud crash.
Amid the chaos, he lifted his giant blade, shaped like a bed board, to shield himself, blocking some of the flying debris.
When he glanced around, he saw the figure darting out from the chaotic spray of rocks.
Shi Chun stood on solid ground, glanced at the blade in his hand, then looked back at the dust-rising cave entrance, just as a gust of wind blew, dispersing the dust cloud.
Wu Jinliang, barefoot, jumped down with his blade to stand in front of Shi Chun.
Meanwhile, a gust blew away the clothes he'd left on the stone pillar.
Hastily, he tossed the blade aside to chase his clothes, then returned while dressing, asking, "Finished your seclusion? I was so bored I almost laid an egg."
Shi Chun nodded and asked, "How long was I in seclusion?"
Wu Jinliang exclaimed dramatically, "Twenty-four days, not a day less! I've been counting on my fingers every day. Plus the half month we hid before, it’s been 39 days, and including the day we entered, exactly 40 days. The three-month Heavenly Rain Meteor Conference—over a month has passed. Do we still have time to go for first place?"
He unloaded rapid-fire complaints, showing just how stifled he'd been.
Once dressed, he searched around for shoes.
Remembering they were still on the large stone pillar, he turned back, fetched them, and once fully clothed, Shi Chun said, "Pick up your blade, take a strike from me."
Wu Jinliang was puzzled, "Why?"
Shi Chun: "Before, my cultivation wasn’t enough to unleash the blade's power. Let’s see how it fares now."
With a grin, Wu Jinliang admitted, while holding his massive blade aloft, "Your cultivation technique has fine moves, but as for your blade techniques, I don’t mean to underestimate you. Your blade moves aren’t as good as my 'Sea-Sweeping Blade'.”
Stooping to retrieve his weapon, he hefted it onto his shoulder with bravado, declaring, “Come on, then."
Shi Chun tossed away the scabbard, channeling his internal energy into the blade as per the technique's instructions.
With a sudden burst, he dashed to Wu Jinliang's side, swinging upward from below in one smooth motion.
Wu Jinliang snickered and let his broad blade fall like a great falling gate.
Clang! A metallic clang blasted through the canyon like thunder.
Wu Jinliang's grin vanished; he scrambled backward, shaking his numbed hand.
The blade was gone, flung high into the air before clanging to the ground several zhang behind him.
He paused, startled, looking between the fallen blade and Shi Chun, shaking his tingling hand, “What’s this witchcraft? What level are you at now?”
If both were supposedly at small success in the Advanced Martial Level, how could his massive blade be knocked aside so easily, to the point he couldn’t even hold it steady?
His hand, beyond numb, felt a ripping pain.
He glanced down, his mouth twitching at the sight of a small tear in his palm.
Though not large, it deepened his bewilderment.
Shi Chun replied, "What level do you think?"
Wu Jinliang nodded slightly, acknowledging that they had barely just broken through, both likely still at small success.
He leapt back to retrieve the blade, dragged it back, and challenged, “I was careless, I only used sixty percent of my strength, come on, let’s go again.”
Shi Chun pondered, saying, "Sixty percent, you say? I wasn’t sure of the power, testing it out, I only used thirty percent."
"..."
Wu Jinliang was stunned, looking at the tear in his palm, and stammered, "Chun, are you faking it, are you pretending?"
Shi Chun countered, "What was it like when you took my swing earlier?"
Unsure of his blade's power, his cultivation technique only detailed the method but not the strength.
His eighth uncle, who taught him the technique, hadn’t reached the Advanced Martial level, so he couldn’t explain.
Now, Shi Chun had to discover the power himself.
Wu Jinliang considered his earlier experience, the oddity of it, "Now that you mention it, it didn’t feel quite right. Not like mere weapon collision; I'd say it felt like... an explosion, yes, like an explosive force ripped through my blade..."
"Explosion, ripped through..."
Shi Chun muttered to himself, his eyes scanning the surroundings.
He vanished and reappeared in front of a relatively smooth stone wall in the canyon.
Before activating his technique, he first utilized his qi to trigger the swirling azure mist.
With his right eye's ability activated, he fully invoked the demonic cultivation behind his blade.
As his vision adjusted, a swirling azure mist enveloped the blade.
Why was there azure mist within him? He instinctively glanced down at his body, captivated by the scene in his dantian.
Amidst swirling clouds and mists shimmered a faint shadow of an azure lotus—definitely not demonic flames—a lotus? What was happening?
There was no one to provide an answer.
Wu Jinliang, unaware of what he dawdled on, began approaching when Shi Chun suddenly dashed forward, gripping his blade with both hands, striking the stone wall with all his might.
Boom! Like a bolt from the blue, a thunderous sound erupted as a massive section of the stone wall exploded, sending a storm of fragmented stones flying skyward.
"Damn..."
Wu Jinliang yelped, quickly shielding himself with his massive blade like a board, ducking beneath it as the clatter of stones battered against it, causing it to tremble under the onslaught.
Once the chaos subsided, he cautiously peeked out from behind his blade.
What greeted him were eyes wide with disbelief: a cavity the size of a house gaped in the cliff face, surrounded by cracks, bits of stone still occasionally falling loose.
Was this cleaved by a blade? It challenged his understanding, looking more like the effect of a fist's punch, rather than a blade's strike.