Chapter 77: Chapter 77: Killing Formation Practice

Alchemy was tedious, and so was cultivation. Wang Ping’s solution to the tedium was to grow flowers in his small courtyard.

An entire winter passed in the blink of an eye for a cultivator. Recently, Wang Ping had made it a habit to meditate for a full night in front of the giant locust tree after dark, to integrate the Spirit Communication Talisman within his body.

Just as 7:00 AM arrived, the attendant at the gate brought breakfast, and he rose, ending his practice.

The cluster of buildings outside the Mountain Peak Dojo had grown denser, now able to accommodate thirty attendants meditating and practicing Qi Cultivation simultaneously. These disciples were all carefully selected before being sent up the mountain, because with Wang Ping practicing Qi Cultivation on the peak, combined with the effects of the Spirit Gathering Array, the Spiritual Qi was several times richer than anywhere else.

Breakfast was corn porridge, a boiled egg, and a plate of wild vegetables stir-fried in lard. Yu Lian had a plate of fresh shrimp.

After a comfortable breakfast, Wang Ping spent a little under half an hour sipping tea and tending to his flowers with Wood Spirit Qi. Once he was well-rested, he led Yu Lian and flew toward the Great Sea south of Shang’an Prefecture, landing on a small island covered in sword marks.

This was where Wang Ping practiced the Seven Star Sword Array. The sword marks on the island were left from his previous training sessions.

"I’m going to play in the sea!"

The moment they landed on the island, Yu Lian reverted to her original thirty-foot length. Her grayish-white Scale Armor trembled slightly, as if she were stretching, and then she dove headfirst into the sea.

"Fellow Daoist, I’ll have to trouble you for your guidance again today." Wang Ping tossed out a thorn vine seed and animated it into a soldier over twenty feet tall, handing the Purgatory Banner to it to hold.

"Fine."

Tongyu Taoist replied pompously.

Wang Ping exhaled, calming his mind and body. He then took out seven Sword Talismans he had made from his storage pouch and unfurled them. These Sword Talismans were all drawn on Talismans refined from locust tree branches, and they were exceptionally easy to handle.

Now, whenever he had free time, he would refine pruned locust branches into Talismans. He would then inscribe them to create various other Talismans, with Sword Talismans being the most common. He currently had fifteen of them.

With Wang Ping’s current abilities, he could actually control ten Longswords at once, but he had tried it once and found it a bit frantic.

The moment the seven Sword Talismans appeared, the surrounding Spiritual Qi was instantly assimilated by the Spirit Communication Talisman and converted into Wood Spirit. Then, the Longswords materialized out of the Wood Spirit Qi. They were still in an energy state, as Wang Ping had not yet purchased any hundred-year-old iron bamboo—a single stalk of which cost ten standard gold ingots.

"Go!"

Wang Ping shouted.

The Longswords whistled through the air, striking the island’s only mountain peak. With a sound like grinding metal, the top of the peak was sliced off cleanly.

"Yu Lian!"

Wang Ping called out to Yu Lian. She immediately shot out of the sea, controlling a wave to strike the severed boulder and launch it into the air.

The next moment, another Longsword soared up and pierced the boulder.

With a dull THUD, a large hole was stabbed through the boulder. It was then pierced by the other five Longswords that followed close behind. The boulder shattered into countless pieces, which were continuously sliced by the Longswords as they fell, turning them from chunks of rock into rubble.

SPLASH!

The falling rubble created countless ripples on the sea’s surface, as if a sudden downpour had started.

After completing their ferocious task, the Longswords silently returned to Wang Ping’s side under his control, positioning themselves steadily in the formation of the Seven-Star Killing Array.

That’s right—silently. They didn’t have the powerful, oppressive presence or the ear-splitting sonic booms of an Artifact Cultivator’s weapons, yet their speed was in no way inferior. This was the magical effect of Wood Spirit Qi.

"You’ve mastered the basic killing techniques of the Sword Array. Now you need to unleash the true power of your Wood Spirit True Essence. I once saw your Grandmaster use his Sword Array. Any Cultivator grazed by his Longsword, even if the wound wasn’t fatal, would die within fifteen minutes. His Longswords were suffused with dense Wood Spirit, which could poison a person without them realizing it and even cause deadly vegetation to grow inside the victim’s body!"

Tongyu Taoist commented from the side, "You don’t have to use multiple Wood Spirit properties at once in the beginning. Start by mastering one property, like its simplest one: poison."

Wang Ping nodded upon hearing this. After three months of practice, his proficiency with the Sword Array had reached 22%. ’No, that’s not quite right. It’s more like I’m stuck at 22%.’ This was likely the limit of a normal Sword Array; to increase his proficiency further, he had to add specific attributes.

To that end, he had spent the last half a month frequently venturing deep into the mountains to observe the Wood Spirit Aura of highly poisonous plants. He had already made some progress. As long as he could manifest that poison through his Spirit Communication Talisman, with his current level of strength, any ordinary Cultivator would die instantly upon the slightest contact.

At this thought, Wang Ping focused his mind, recalling the toxic properties of a Four Symbols Poison Strain plant he had recently observed. He then took out a blank Talisman, condensed his spiritual sense, and used his Wood Spirit True Essence to simulate the poison, drawing it onto the blank Talisman in the form of a Curse Talisman.

He then retreated several yards and struck the seven Longswords with this Talisman.

"Again!"

Wang Ping shouted, this time controlling the Longswords to slice at the ground. Several streaks of cold light flashed silently, and seven gashes, each over twenty feet wide, appeared on the ground. A dark green substance was corroding the sand and rock within the gashes.

"Hahaha!"

But Tongyu just laughed mockingly at Wang Ping. "Your Grandmaster could imbue his swords with poison with a single thought, yet you have to first draw a Curse Talisman. Is your opponent an idiot? Do you think they’ll just wait patiently while you draw it?"

Wang Ping replied, slightly embarrassed, "I was just testing its power. Besides, Grandmaster is a Four Realms Great Cultivator, while I’ve only just entered this realm. How can we be compared?"

After speaking, he recalled the Longswords to his side. He used his spiritual sense to connect with the Spirit Communication Talisman in his Qi Sea, sensing the poison on the Longswords’ surfaces and memorizing the feeling. He then sank into quiet contemplation for a few minutes before waving his hand to dispel the poison clinging to the Longswords. With a single thought, a new layer of poison coated their surfaces.

"Not bad, not bad. I suppose you have a bit of talent after all."

Tongyu Taoist had probably recited the *Human Dao* too many times in his previous life, as he always spoke with the tone of a wizened old master.

Wang Ping once again controlled the Sword Array to strike the ground. Cold light flashed, and identical sword gashes appeared in an instant, but this time the poison on their surfaces was much weaker.

"Taking the first step is good. Keep practicing."

This time, Tongyu Taoist didn’t mock Wang Ping. He spoke with a hint of reminiscence, "When I first entered the realm, I nearly crippled my own cultivation practicing an Exorcism Technique. At that time, I even considered trying to directly refine other flesh and blood, like the ever-popular blood-red skeletons."

Wang Ping silently recalled his Longswords, dispelled the Wood Spirit Poison, and then manifested it once more...

「Two hours later...」

Having finished his daily Sword Array practice, Wang Ping used the Cyan Wood Technique to clean up the poison on the island, then took Yu Lian and returned to Qianmu Mountain.

Back at the Dao Field, it was exactly Noon. An attendant brought his meal, which was quite lavish: white rice, stir-fried pork, a chicken leg, and a bowl of vegetable soup. Yu Lian, who had eaten her fill in the sea that morning, skipped lunch and was instead lying on the eaves, basking in the sun.

「Afternoon.」

Wang Ping spent the entire afternoon refining Power Pills.

Every time he performed Alchemy, he would think, ’I need to animate a puppet as soon as possible. That way, it can help me with Alchemy, and even draw some of the more common Talismans.’

However, his request for wood-attribute Celestial and Earthly Treasures at the Daoist Scripture Hall had been posted for a month, yet there had been no news at all.