After completing the exercises, Su Yu sheathed his sword and stood still, frowning as he recalled the moments before. He pondered for a while and then practiced once more from start to finish.
He frowned earlier because he sensed some issues with keen insight, but wasn't sure at first, so he wanted to practice more and address them once he was proficient.
The facts proved Su Yu's guess; he indeed had talent in swordsmanship.
With each practice round, he could clearly feel his swordsmanship improving rapidly. His proficiency increased quickly, and the connection between moves became more seamless, while the issues he previously felt began to fade as the moves became more natural.
Later, he simply took a rest for a day and didn't level up in the afternoon, staying home to practice instead.
Real combat was another matter; the first step was to practice all moves to perfection, so they flowed as naturally as directing his arms, reducing mistakes in real combat.
He practiced until all his mana was exhausted, then rested to recover and contemplated the previous exercises—what was poorly done and where mistakes occurred, keeping them in mind to correct in the next practice.
Though Su Yu could sense that perhaps due to his Golden Finger, he had extraordinary talent in cultivation and combat, he didn't become complacent. Instead, he worked even harder to transform this talent into strength.
Any renowned top-tier master balances talent and hard work.
Having talent without effort might grant certain abilities from talent alone but never creates a top-tier master.
Especially the Celestial Tribulation looming over all cultivators; talent alone could not cross it, even with a powerful innate spirit body or fierce beast lineage. It requires effort to uncover physique and lineage.
Su Yu was born ordinary, with no parental or familial support, nor any lineage or physique. To stand out, he must rely on his hard work.
But without talent, becoming a top-tier expert is challenging despite efforts.
He was fortunate to have some talent, which couldn't be wasted.
"This still isn't enough."
On the third morning, feeling that he had mastered the ten moves thoroughly, Su Yu applied to the guild's logistics department for five Memory Stones of swordsmanship masters, spending a total of 25 guild contribution points.
The Memory Stones are akin to video recordings from his previous life, capturing the skills and insights of swordsmanship masters, allowing others to follow them to practice.
Moves can be practiced to mastery through hard work, and combat experience can be explored through fighting, but to quickly acquire combat skills, guidance from seasoned experts is necessary.
These aren't sold often, and if they are, they're expensive, costing at least twenty to thirty taels of silver each.
However, the guild has many swordsmanship masters, and such Memory Stones are abundant, requiring only some guild contribution to obtain. Among them, three sword cultivators practiced the Cyan Mountain Sword Formulas just like him, making the attributes perfectly compatible.
Five guild contribution points for one, demonstrating the high value of the 100 guild contribution points.
Continuing to stay home, he spent several hours viewing the five Memory Stones three times each before taking up the flying sword to practice again.
Compared to earlier when he solely followed the sword moves to wield the flying sword, this time he attempted to practice deeper swordsmanship techniques.
First, the initial move "Cyan Dragon Welcoming Guests," and the next move was not the second move "White Carp Leaping Through Waves," but the seventh move "Chaotic Clouds Covering the Sky."
The first move "Cyan Dragon Welcoming Guests" is a sudden thrust, and the second move "White Carp Leaping Through Waves" requires drawing back the sword from below, which adds extra motion, as one master skilled in the Cyan Mountain Sword Scripture mentioned in the Memory Stone:
"The first stage of swordsmanship is proficiency, fully mastering all sword moves."
"The second stage is fluent transitions, removing unnecessary parts."
"The seventh move 'Chaotic Clouds Covering the Sky' splits into multiple illusory sword shadows that are hard to defend against. This move can seamlessly transition from the first move without any extra drawing-back motions."
The finishing move of "Chaotic Clouds Covering the Sky" offers multiple choices; one can move up, down, left, or right, with the next move determined by the finishing position.
Finish on the left, one can choose "Vast Waves Sweeping Across" to sweep horizontally.
Finish below, connect to "White Carp Leaping Through Waves" to strike from bottom to top.
Finish above, then employ "Dragon City Flying Sword" to chop down fiercely from above.
He practiced consistently from morning until evening, resting briefly before continuing in the evening.
The advantage of memorizing all the moves thoroughly is here; there will be no hesitation in any transition, making the moves more potent.
Practicing fervently for five to six days, Su Yu was now able to seamlessly mix and connect all the moves.
At this point, pure practice was no longer beneficial, needing real combat testing.
On the next early morning, he spent 1.42 million cultivation points and 20 Dao points to elevate the Purple Essence Qi Refining Skill to the twentieth level.
Qi and Blood +800, Mana +1600, Mana Power +800, Mana Recovery +4 points/second.
Then he procured 200 pieces of top-grade Spirit Revitalizing Pills, with each pill restoring 1000 points of mana, costing 150 wen each, totaling 30 taels of silver for 200 pieces.
He made all preparations, then leisurely left on the paper crane.
Returning to the Chensha River, nearly a week passed, and the river surface had long returned to tranquility. Two tower ships sailed side by side, attracting many aquatic race creatures with the Demon-Attracting Incense, yet the thick defensive barrier of the ships withstood all attacks.
As his cultivation advanced, his eyesight improved, allowing him to clearly see the crew and newcomers on the ships from two to three kilometers away.
"It's truly delightful to have money!"
The gap between veteran players and newcomers was quite apparent at a glance.
On the first day, he had to rely on himself, while the wealthy had been taking carriage rides since the first day and probably would continue to do so.
He tirelessly accumulated about five hundred thousand killing experience in a day with double experience, whereas those on the ship, doing nothing, could easily gather five hundred to six hundred thousand or more. If they used a Refining Jade Talisman for double experience daily, they could accumulate a million killing experience in a day.
And occasionally attracting bosses could earn them around fifteen to twenty Dao points, much more enjoyable than his situation.
Thus, even with the Golden Finger's bonus, among the newcomers of his batch, purely by the level of Heart Skills, he certainly wasn't in the first tier.
However, it wasn't a significant issue; early on, the Dao skill level requirements weren't high, so rapid leveling was normal.
Once reaching above the thirtieth level, regardless of Basic Qi Refining Heart Skills or Sword Formulas, those with resources would need to learn other methods, like Thunder Skill. At that time, the demand for cultivation points and Dao points would become exorbitant, and the gap...would widen further.
More accurately, the disparity in strength would further widen, as elites would begin to stand out and separate from others in terms of gaps.
Yet, the gap in basic Dao skill levels would indeed gradually shrink, not differing greatly.
There are many factors affecting strength, and Qi Refining Heart Skill level is merely one aspect.
The paper crane leisurely flew a distance when he suddenly noticed a group of acquaintances leveling by the riverbank ahead.
They attracted dozens of creatures between the 20th and 30th levels, and several veterans simultaneously unleashed a barrage of spells.
Su Yu descended, prompting Qiao Bin to look up and show mild surprise before smiling and greeting him:
"Still going solo, young brother?"
He cupped his hands in return:
"Yes, still solo."
After a few casual exchanges, Su Yu casually found a spot, standing atop a rock. With a gesture, the Cyan Fish Sword flew out, circled around him twice, and at his command, transformed into a cyan light bursting forward, directly impaling a Carp Spirit dozens of meters away.
Initiating with "Cyan Dragon Welcoming Guests," one thrust pierced the Carp Spirit's back, causing a splash of blood.
-70
The Cyan Fish Sword's attack was 25, the second-tier flying sword's base Sword Formulas damage bonus was 15%, adding 45 damage, totaling 70 damage.
The Carp Spirit, in pain, swung its large tail around, opened its mouth, and shot a water arrow. With a thought, Su Yu raised a protective shield to block the water arrow, swiftly transitioning to "Chaotic Clouds Covering the Sky," delivering three consecutive thrusts, leaving three deep sword marks on the Carp Spirit's back.
The last strike, on the right, seamlessly transitioned to "Vast Waves Sweeping Across," cleaving off the Carp Spirit's last bit of health for 32 points of killing experience gained.
"In total, four moves, consuming only 40 points of mana."
"This is more cost-effective than using magic."
Without resting, he gestured again, and the flying sword rose from another Fish Spirit's back.
This time, after "Chaotic Clouds Covering the Sky," instead of "Vast Waves Sweeping Across," he executed "One Sword from the West" with full force, causing a double critical hit and slicing the Fish Spirit into two parts.