Chapter 13: Azure Steel Thirteen Transformations

Su Chen heard the elder say that, and understood most of it; his mouth twitched a few times, and he now felt like he had been taken in.

"The so‑called talent is actually easy to grasp: two people with exactly the same Spiritual Root will never absorb the Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth at the same rate. In the world there can only be infinitely close cases, but never exactly identical, just as time has no two identical moments."

Su Chen nodded slightly, and his mind cleared.

Ma Zhicheng saw him nod and continued: "Therefore, those with superior Spiritual Roots can be called the heavens' favored ones, those with high talent are called geniuses; if both Spiritual Root and talent are outstanding, a rarity in the world, they are a heavenly prodigy; and above that, a person who possesses an unparalleled physique—I've never seen anyone—would be the heavens' cherished child."

Ma Zhicheng nodded at Su Chen with some regret: "It's a pity you don't possess any unparalleled physique, otherwise…"

Su Chen felt a bit puzzled: in his previous life he clearly had an unparalleled sword body, so why could he not see it now, or is his sword body gone in this life?

Ma Zhicheng quickly set aside his regret and said reassuringly: "I was being greedy, but even so, Chen'er your talent is still among the best on the Fenglin Continent."

Mid‑sentence, he flicked his large sleeve, and the five cultivation manuals landed in his hand.

"You may pick the one you most wish to cultivate; this is the finest method I specially selected for you, because you have a Heavenly Spirit Root talent and can freely practice any of the five‑element or exotic Spiritual Root techniques."

Su Chen took the five manuals and began leafing through them.

The five methods are, respectively, "True Fire Triple Transformation", "Azure Spirit Strength", "Heartbreak Manual", "Water Mastery Technique", and "Azure Steel Thirteen Transformations".

Su Chen flipped through a few pages, promptly passed over the first four misleading methods, and focused on the last one, "Azure Steel Thirteen Transformations".

"Sword‑guided radiance, intersecting sword light forming shadows, sword shadows coalescing into Qi…" This was clearly a sword‑style technique manual.

Su Chen's eyes showed contemplation; this conflicted somewhat with his previous "Heaven-Reaching Sword Technique", but to avoid suspicion he could only cultivate the sword technique.

Of course, there were other options—he could choose to cultivate multiple methods simultaneously—but that would waste a great deal of his time.

Ma Zhicheng saw Su Chen stare blankly at "Azure Steel Thirteen Transformations" and regretted having taken it out; the method is only a fragmentary text and is extremely difficult to practice.

The method had been given to him by a close friend on the friend's deathbed, with the instruction to pass it on without breaking the lineage, but the technique has too many flaws, and he feared it would hinder Su Chen's future.

At that thought, he was about to remind him, when Su Chen hesitantly said, "Master, may I take it back to consider and choose later?"

Ma Zhicheng finally exhaled lightly, nodded, and with another flick of his large sleeve, three small stones, a book, and a short sword appeared in his hand.

Su Chen respectfully took the three items, his confusion deepening; judging by his master's demeanor, it seemed there wasn't even a storage Magic Treasure here.

However, he kept his doubts to himself, because in the master's eyes he was merely a mortal and could not ask overly strange questions.

"It seems I'll have to find an opportunity to probe indirectly," Su Chen thought to himself.

After Su Chen left, Ma Zhicheng suddenly began dancing on the spot, his movements bizarre as he shouted, "This is a Grade‑A Heavenly Spirit Root talent, and it became my disciple Ma Zhicheng's student—what a huge profit…"

Ma Zhicheng at that moment resembled a child who had been suppressed for a long time, finally given his parents' permission to go out and play.

……

Su Chen, led by Yun Xiaoxiao, arrived at his residence—a wooden house with a small courtyard.

The wooden house was fairly spacious, though a bit rundown.

Su Chen sat cross‑legged, and after confirming no one was nearby, he relaxed, immediately took out the five manuals and made copies of all of them.

Having finished copying, Su Chen glanced at the short sword in his hand, his mouth twitching; this sect is truly poor.

On the way to his residence, Yun Xiaoxiao told him the sword's grade; it hadn't even entered the recognized ranks, meaning it wasn't even a lowest‑grade Spiritual Artifact.

Su Chen never imagined the sect could be this destitute, but the book was fairly normal, containing some basic five‑element spells and techniques similar to voice transmission and sound‑shielding, which were actually more than what Su Chen had in his previous life's bloodline.

As for the three stones, when Su Chen took them out, Yun Xiaoxiao pouted and scolded the master for favoritism, because when she first became a disciple, the master gave her only two stones, while the others went to a senior brother—who was even worse, receiving only one.

Su Chen, upon hearing this, was first speechless and then a bit puzzled; in his previous life he had only seen a thing called idle fish from his master, whose function was quite similar to these spirit stones. Yet feeling the Spiritual Qi within, Su Chen thought the Qi in idle fish was more Condensed, purer, and vastly larger.

The Spiritual Qi in the spirit stones was pitifully scarce; moreover, when he arrived in this world he had noticed that the Spiritual Qi of this realm differed greatly from that of his own world, just as the difference between these spirit stones and idle fish.

Su Chen speculated that the discrepancy stemmed from the differing Spiritual Qi of the two realms, but since both could be cultivated to become stronger, he didn't mind much.

After tidying everything, Su Chen realized this world lacked storage bags, so he uploaded the five copied manuals to System Space, leaving the other four on a nearby table. He planned to first understand this world's so‑called Spiritual Qi, try cultivation, and then return the manuals to his master.

Having organized everything, Su Chen opened "Azure Steel Thirteen Transformations" and began to study it carefully.

Three hours later, Su Chen rubbed his forehead and let out a long sigh. When cultivating the Heaven-Reaching Sword Technique, he needed no careful contemplation—it seemed to flow naturally. Yet cultivating "Azure Steel Thirteen Transformations" was obscure and difficult to comprehend.

"System, why is the Heaven-Reaching Sword Technique so easy for me to grasp, while Azure Steel Thirteen Transformations is so hard?" Su Chen began to ask the system directly in his mind.

The system's mechanized voice replied again: "The techniques you receive as rewards will be automatically comprehended by the host, but cannot be manifested…"

Su Chen, seeing the system give no further answer about Azure Steel Thirteen Transformations, felt a bit enlightened.

After previous communications, he discovered the system would not answer anything unrelated to itself.

Fortunately, now that he knew the reason, he no longer hesitated and continued delving into Azure Steel Thirteen Transformations, mainly to avoid suspicion from others.

After all, although both are sword techniques, the difference between the Heaven-Reaching Sword Technique and Azure Steel Thirteen Transformations is substantial.

The Heaven-Piercing Sword Technique is domineering and powerful, emphasizing a single sword that shatters ten thousand methods and cuts down all foes.

Whereas Azure Steel Thirteen Transformations focuses on the sword's infinite variations, using those endless changes to counter opponents.