Chapter 71: Heavenly Sword, Return to Origin

Before long, Xu Jiayi returned to the counter with the processed materials.

Xiang Minghui gratefully thanked Li Jing numerous times for the snakeskin and snake teeth, then left hurriedly and heatedly, even forgetting the five flying swords he had brought with him still on the counter.

Looking at him, it was clear that he was eager to return home and "gamble" once more, refining an object to see if he could make a splash with the materials he had just obtained.

Li Jing was quite worried, not to mention Xu Jiayi.

Xiang Minghui was clearly a textbook gambler.

Li Jing was very concerned.

Would Xiang Minghui end up on the rooftop before he could make use of the favour Li Jing had extended to him?

Li Jing gave the snake meat to Ji Qing separately, took Xu Jiayi’s Immortal Message number, bid her farewell, and left the Spiritual Objects Market.

Following the pre-arranged schedule, Li Jing and Ji Qing hailed a cab and went to a hot pot restaurant.

Even though Ji Qing had been away for more than a week, the business of the hot pot restaurant was not affected.

When the two arrived at the hot pot restaurant, it was close to ten o’clock in the evening. Most of the seats were occupied, with only two or three tables empty.

If this had been any other hot pot restaurant, it would probably have closed by ten in the evening.

Ji Qing became the center of attention the moment she appeared.

The regular customers greeted her warmly, and the staff came over one after another to pay their respects to the lady boss.

With flowing kindness and a bright smile, Ji Qing dealt with the customers and staff, and sat down with Li Jing at an empty table in a corner of the hot pot restaurant.

Sitting at the empty table, Li Jing quickly transferred 500 yuan to Ji Qing and asked her to order the food.

As a man, he couldn’t possibly say that he wanted to have a meal with Ji Qing, could he?

Seeing Li Jing being so practical, Ji Qing took out her mobile phone without ceremony, scanned the ordering QR code, and started to consider what to eat.

Li Jing, on the other hand, picked up his mobile phone and logged onto the Immortal Learning website.

Now that he had a flying sword, it was time to arrange Sword Controlling.

Sword Controlling is the most popular discipline within Object Control, developed for the various characteristics of flying swords.

It stands alone in terms of price among the Second Realm offensive and defensive arts, costing a million to obtain, which is 200,000 higher than the most expensive offensive and defensive arts.

It’s worth mentioning.

There isn’t just one kind of Sword Controlling, there are many subcategories to it.

Some Sword Controlling is good at killing.

Some Sword Controlling excels at speed.

Some Sword Controlling excels at defense.

After considering various types of Sword Controlling with different strengths, Li Jing finally chose the "Heavenly Sword Art" which is known for its lethality and emphasizes the unity of man and sword.

He pressed the purchase button with a pang in his heart.

Bank balance: -1000000

The mantra popped up, and a notification sound rang in his ear.

"Active skill Heavenly Sword Art found, would you like to log in?"

Log in!

"Successfully logged in the active skill, Heavenly Sword Art."

Having mastered the Heavenly Sword Art, Li Jing felt a faint connection between himself and Qingfeng in his mind’s eye.

Without thinking too much, Li Jing chose to upgrade.

This time, he did not max out the Heavenly Sword Art in one go like he usually would.

His skill points were now down to only 5 points.

It’s unknown when he would be able to upgrade and gain more skill points.

His need for the flying sword itself was only auxiliary, just to avoid being at a disadvantage if he ran into a Third Realm opponent without a flying sword.

He chose to add 3 points to the Heavenly Sword Art, raising his proficiency to the entry-level. Li Jing could clearly feel that the connection between him and Qingfeng had become much stronger.

Looking at the remaining balance of 560,000 in his account, Li Jing continued to browse the Immortal Learning website.

He had no intention of keeping the remaining 2 skill points.

Keeping money in his pocket served no purpose.

His daily expenses were not that many.

In less than half a month, he should be receiving his first salary from his part-time job.

Instead of looking into Third Realm offensive and defensive arts, Li Jing chose to search for auxiliary arts.

He had a specific skill in mind.

The encounter with Qu Lianghong could be attributed to his good luck, or to Qu Lianghong’s lack of power.

If he were to face an opponent who was skilled at the spiritual level...

Not to mention that he was only in the Second Realm at the time, even if he had reached the Third Realm, he might have been taken unawares.

Spiritual level techniques are known for their difficulty to be detected and for catching people off guard.

In theory, even if one is prepared, it’s hard to successfully defend against these techniques.

To resist effectively, he needs to enhance his Primordial Soul Strength.

The stronger the primordial soul, the harder it is for confusion and mental techniques to take effect. If the gap in Primordial Soul Strength is significant, it can even rebound on the caster.

There are three ways to enhance Primordial Soul Strength.

First, enhance your realm.

Second, consume spiritual objects with nurturing effects on the primordial soul.

Third, learn psychic auxiliary techniques to consolidate and enhance the primordial soul.

Li Jing didn’t need to consider the first two methods.

Increasing his realm by itself would bring about the growth of his primordial soul, but the problem was that he needed a breakthrough in his realm.

As for spiritual objects, they seemed too extravagant.

Most spiritual objects that nourish the primordial soul are extremely precious high-quality items, and their effects are relatively limited after consumption.

What he could consider was only the third method.

Psychic auxiliary arts are rather niche.

Because they are of limited use in actual combat, unless one specializes in psychic techniques, learning them or not wouldn’t make a big difference.

Of course.

This only applies to those below the Third Realm.

Upon reaching the Fourth Realm, cultivators can leave their body with their primordial spirit as necessary, and use their unscatable primordial spirit to fight, injuring the enemy without them knowing.

In terms of choosing psychic auxiliary arts, Li Jing, as always, went for the most expensive one.

In arming himself, he had not the slightest stinginess.

After spending some time browsing through the auxiliary spiritual magic, Li Jing finally settled on the "Returning to Origin Skill".

The price was five hundred and ten thousand.

Purchase!

The mantra popped out, and the notification sound echoed in his ears once again.

"Detected Passive Skill, Returning to Origin. Do you wish to learn?"

"Successfully learned Passive Skill, Returning to Origin."

After acquiring the Returning to Origin Skill, Li Jing allocated his remaining two skill points to it.

As the Returning to Origin reached minor proficiency, he felt that his primordial spirit had become much more stable, and his perception of his surroundings had become much clearer.

What surprised Li Jing was,

Apart from the stability of his primordial spirit and enhanced perception, the flow rate of the spiritual power within his body had also accelerated.

The increased flow rate of spiritual power resulted in a slight increase in the effectiveness of his always-active passive skills, the Clothing Protection Spirit and the Vanishing Skill.

This unexpected gain left Li Jing both surprised and delighted.

Indeed, the slight improvement brought by the Returning to Origin Skill could not compare to the Spirit Control Skill.

But the Returning to Origin Skill was still in its minor stages. When it’s fully developed, even if it doesn’t reach the height of the Spirit Control Skill, the difference might not be significant.

And this means that once he fully develops the Returning to Origin Skill, his magic skills will receive further enhancements!

More importantly,

With this discovery, he saw a new path.

Improving the strength of the primordial spirit helps in controlling the power within the body.

No!

Strictly speaking, the enhancement brought about by improving the strength of the primordial spirit is not at the control level, but in accelerating the flow of the spiritual power within the body.

Compared to the enhancement brought by the Spirit Control Skill, these are two different concepts.

These two support each other.

If it weren’t for the minute effectiveness of Spirit Control Skill, the accelerated flow of spiritual power, before he could adapt to it, would likely become more difficult to control.

After pondering for a while, Li Jing put away his phone.

At this moment, Ji Qing, who was sitting next to him, had finished ordering as well.

Seeing Li Jing stop studying his phone, she blinked her eyes curiously.

"Were you studying Sword Controlling?"

"Yes."

Li Jing nodded with a smile.

"Ah."

Ji Qing took a breath, looked around, and said in a low voice,

"I’ve been wondering since we were at home, with your abilities, there’s no reason why you could defeat a Three Realm human-shaped demon. You just bought a flying sword in the Spiritual Object Market that I reckon you can’t use yet, does that mean you have already stepped into Three Realm?"

"Does it matter whether or not I’ve entered the Three Realm?"

Li Jing replied with a smile, counterintuitively.

"Is there a rule that says you can’t study Sword Controlling unless you’ve entered the Three Realm?"

"Hey! I was just casually asking, why do you have to be so on guard?"

Ji Qing gave a wry smile and said,

"I know the rules, I won’t ask what I shouldn’t."

Even though she said it like this, she shifted her body a little closer and whispered,

"However, there’s one question, I hope you can answer."

"What question?"

Li Jing turned his attention towards her.

"Um... how should I put this?"

Ji Qing showed a thoughtful expression and then suddenly blurted out playfully,

"Don’t you think that compared to a flying sword, tower-type precious items suits you better?"

"..."

Li Jing.

There indeed were tower-type precious items. Actually, they were quite popular.

But there was no way he’d choose them.

If he chose a tower as a precious item, wouldn’t he become the real Pagoda Bearer?

More importantly,

In the future, when he passes the test to become a patrol inspector, he can legally obtain a standard flying sword.

If he chose the tower-type precious item, then he would need to learn another Control Objects Skill.

When the time comes, after getting the flying sword for free, he would need to spend money to learn Sword Controlling again.

Not to mention the extra "tuition," he would also have to consume skill points. It just doesn’t seem worth it, however he looks at it.

Ignoring Ji Qing’s obvious teasing, Li Jing pulled out his phone again, looked up the Immortal Message from Chen Yuran, and began to compose a message.

"Yuran, are you back home?"

Not long after the Immortal Message was sent, Chen Yuran replied,

"The bureau is severely understaffed right now, and the city-wide search is still going on. I have to wait till tomorrow night at the earliest to leave. Do you need something?"

Upon receiving the response, Li Jing couldn’t help but be amazed.

Well, well!

Is this the everyday life of a patrol inspector?!

Chen Yuran has been on duty since the night before yesterday, and the earliest she can leave is tomorrow night, and it’s not even certain whether she will be able to take time off.

Which means, she will be on duty for at least three days and nights?!

Even the cattle in the production team aren’t this hardworking!

Thinking that he would also become a patrol inspector in the future, Li Jing’s expression soured. He then began typing a reply in the Immortal Message.

"Never mind, I was just asking. You go ahead with your work, don’t worry about me. I’ll prepare chicken soup for you when you come back tomorrow night."

...