[Sand Iron Skill 4.0: Heart and Spirit consumption removed.]

"Excellent!" Seeing the update notes appear on the panel, a sharp glint flashed in Qi Yun’s eyes, and he couldn’t help but let out a low cry of approval.

Although the Sand Iron Skill was powerful, it had always suffered from two rather tricky flaws.

The first was its immense True Qi consumption. The more Sand Iron one controlled and the greater the distance over which it was used, the more the consumption of True Qi would multiply.

It might have looked easy when he crushed Chu Tiankuang and the other four to death.

In reality, casting that spell had depleted nearly eighty percent of his True Qi.

And this was considering he cultivated the Innate Qi Heart Method, which already granted him a far greater amount of True Qi than other Cultivators at the same realm.

Even with that advantage, he could barely sustain the spell’s cost.

The second was the heavy consumption of Heart and Spirit.

The amount of True Qi determined the scale and maximum power of the Sand Iron, while the strength and focus of one’s Heart and Spirit directly dictated the subtlety and flexibility of its transformations.

The True Qi consumption was manageable.

But if one’s Heart and Spirit was overdrawn, not only was recovery extremely slow, it could even lead to an unstable realm.

But after this update, things were different!

Qi Yun opened his Storage Pouch and slowly unfurled his right hand. Like a docile stream of black water, countless fine-as-dust particles of pitch-black Iron Sand poured out from the pouch, spiraling and gathering above his palm.

In the span of a breath, a longsword of Sand Iron had taken shape. It was of a simple, ancient style, entirely pitch-black, and shimmered with a cold metallic light. The lines of the blade were fluid, every detail rendered with perfect clarity.

It moved with his thoughts, as effortlessly as a limb.

The control was incredibly smooth. With a mere turn of his thoughts, the longsword performed all sorts of intricate maneuvers—thrusting, cleaving, or spiraling around his body. The faint sluggishness and the fatigue of his Heart and Spirit were completely gone.

"Marvelous!" Qi Yun grasped the floating hilt and gave it an elegant flourish. Feeling the unprecedented ease of control, a host of new, ingenious ideas instantly sparked in his mind.

’If it can form a longsword, then maybe it can also do this...’

As the thought crossed his mind, more pitch-black Iron Sand surged from his Storage Pouch, rapidly attaching itself to the Sand Iron longsword in his hand.

In the blink of an eye, a colossal black sword materialized before Qi Yun—as wide as a door panel, nearly as tall as a man, and emanating a heavy, dark gleam.

’This is a moment I’ve dreamed of since I was a child.’

With a look of longing in his eyes, Qi Yun took a deep breath, leaped up, and landed steadily atop the massive blade’s surface.

Feeling the sharp spike in his body’s True Qi consumption, Qi Yun suppressed his excitement and activated a Spell with both hands.

The humming intensified. The massive Sand Iron blade began to tremble slightly, then slowly, steadily...

It lifted off the ground, ascending into the air!

"It worked! I’m flying on a sword!"

A smile touched his lips, but just as Qi Yun tried to gain more altitude, a powerful gravitational force suddenly struck from below, frantically tugging at the giant sword and the True Qi within his body!

Geomagnetic force?

Realizing the source of this gravitational pull, Qi Yun immediately abandoned the idea of soaring through the sky. He had only ascended a little over ten meters, yet he had already consumed more than forty percent of his True Qi. If he continued, once his True Qi was depleted, he would fall dozens of meters to the ground.

Slowly guiding the colossal black sword to a steady landing, Qi Yun let out a long breath and leaped off.

Although his plan to fly on the sword hadn’t been realized.

It had at least proven that his theory was sound.

The only constraint was his insufficient amount of True Qi.

’It’s fine. I’m only at the Qi Refining Fourth Layer. The greatest strength of the Innate Qi Heart Method is its abundant True Qi.’

’Once I reach the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, the Qi Refining Eighth Layer, or even Great Perfection...’

’My amount of True Qi will surely be enough to sustain the cost of flying on my sword.’ 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"Soaring through the sky and burrowing into the earth... These are feats only a Foundation Establishment Master should be capable of!" Clenching his fists, Qi Yun half-closed his eyes, calming his turbulent emotions.

’Of course, this method of flying is nowhere near a Foundation Establishment Master’s ability to transform into a rainbow and travel a thousand miles in an instant.’

’But during the Qi Refining Stage, control of the skies will absolutely be one of my trump cards!’

"Heh."

An irrepressible chuckle escaped him. The update to his Sand Iron Skill gave Qi Yun a little more confidence for the coming struggle over the Enlightenment Bell.

’It’s about time. If I’m late, I’m bound to fall into someone’s scheme.’

Looking up at the sun, Qi Yun took a step forward. His figure abruptly scattered into countless streams of air, dissipating into nothingness.

...

Near Qingquan Mountain, Jing’an Town.

Days of continuous rain had left the small town feeling even more deserted. People hid in their homes, resting their chins in their hands as they watched the downpour, wondering when it would finally end.

SPLAT—

The sound of steady footsteps broke the dreary silence of the rain.

A figure wearing a wide conical hat and a worn-out straw raincoat, their face hidden completely behind a black cloth, trod along the muddy, yellow-brown road and arrived at the town’s only entrance.

They tilted their head up slightly to glance at the old town plaque reading "Jing’an Town," which hung from a crooked wooden post, then took a step to enter.

WHOOSH—

From under the eaves and behind debris on all sides, four large nets suddenly sprang forth! They reeked of a dense, wicked aura and, as if part of a long-laid plan, descended right on top of the figure!

The nets glowed faintly with a sinister light and were blood-red from top to bottom. Every single cord had been soaked and dyed with tainted blood, and even the downpour did nothing to impede them.

A black bell hung from each of the net’s four corners. As they swung, a Demonic Sound pierced the ears, damaging one’s Heart and Spirit.

In an instant, the figure in the raincoat was thoroughly ensnared, rendered immobile.

"Qi Yun! Let’s see you try to escape this time! Hand over the Star-Attracting Talisman, and I’ll give you a quick death!"

On the rooftops of the previously empty town, seven or eight figures bizarrely materialized.

These people exuded a grim aura, their gazes as cold and sharp as daggers. Soaked to the bone by the rain, they had clearly been lying in ambush for a long time, and now they stared intently at the figure in the net.

But in the face of their demands to surrender, "Qi Yun" seemed not to have heard a thing, simply standing there, stock-still.

"What’s going on?"

Among the ambushers, a tall, gaunt man with a sinister face, Sun Changxing, frowned and whispered to his companion, Li Ran.

Li Ran frowned as well, staring down at the strangely silent figure. He hesitated before speaking.

"Could he have been... instantly paralyzed by the Demon Luo Blood Net and the Soul-Catching Demonic Sound? Scared stiff?"

As the seconds ticked by to the patter of the rain, the figure in the net remained completely still.

Sun Changxing and the others grew restless. They exchanged a glance, then leaped directly from the rooftops and started walking toward "Qi Yun."

"Be careful. This kid is an expert at the Illusionary Body Concealment Technique. Don’t you dare undo my Demon Luo Blood Net."

Li Ran shouted a warning, then raised the long saber in his hand and swung it at "Qi Yun’s" ankle, clearly intending to cripple his legs first.

But in the instant Li Ran raised his saber,

the "Qi Yun" trapped in the Demon Luo Blood Net suddenly collapsed. With a soft RATTLE, he dissolved into a lifeless pile of cold, black Iron Sand, which scattered across the ground and was quickly soaked by the muddy rain.

"What... What the hell is going on?! Jiang Mingyong, didn’t you say you watched Qi Yun come this way with your own two eyes?"

Watching "Qi Yun" dissolve into black sand before everyone’s eyes, Li Ran turned in a shocked rage to look at Jiang Mingyong, the man responsible for tracking their target.

Jiang Mingyong, now the center of attention, looked as if he had just seen a ghost. He had clearly watched Qi Yun set foot on the path to Jing’an Town with his own eyes.

He hadn’t dared to blink the entire way.

Except... except for that brief moment when his view was blocked as the target passed through that dense grove of grapevines...

Wait!

The grapevine grove?!

...