Chapter 50: Practicing Martial Arts

With this thought, Fang Yun's expression turned serious. The outside world was too dangerous, and his cultivation level was too low, with few combat techniques at his disposal. However, if he wanted to continue advancing his cultivation, he would have to venture out. So, the next step was to prepare some combat techniques.

Besides, Fang Yun only had fourteen spirit stones in his possession. He didn't know how many spirit stones the subsequent parts of the Changchun Technique would cost, but the more spirit stones he had, the better. Otherwise, it could become problematic if he didn't have enough when the time came.

Fang Yun glanced at the spirit fields. It seemed the only way to earn more spirit stones was through the spirit rice. He had no idea how much the spirit rice he was cultivating would be worth in the outside world. That would have to wait until he left to find out.

As for combat techniques, talismans were too ordinary—there were likely plenty available in the outside world, making them unreliable for combat. Similarly, his spirit-imbued long blade had the same issue, and it was important not to forget that the long blade was only a broken artifact. It might be fine for dealing with cultivators at the first or second level of Qi Refinement, but it wasn't reliable for higher levels.

Moreover, there was a more critical reason: both the talismans and the long blade were the last remnants of the Fang family's resources. He couldn't take them with him when he left the island. This was a rule passed down by the Fang family for hundreds of years, ensuring their survival. The fear was that if a cultivator took these items and died outside, the Fang family would lose everything.

Although Fang Yun, as a transmigrator, hadn't fully integrated into the Fang family or completely considered himself one of them, he couldn't bring himself to take these last family heirlooms away from Lingshui Island.

Thus, aside from talismans and the long blade, Fang Yun needed other combat methods. These methods had to be strong enough for him to leave the island. Despite this realization, after searching through everything he owned, he couldn't find anything suitable for combat. The only thing even remotely related to combat was the vine that was still growing.

Apart from that, there were the martial arts techniques practiced by the family's warriors. However, when Fang Yun recalled the vine technique used by Master Qingmu, it had failed even against a broken artifact. It was impossible to use it against a more formidable opponent.

Likewise, mundane martial arts techniques were only useful against ordinary people. Fang Yun had no hope of using them against cultivators.

After thinking about it for a long time without coming up with a solution, Fang Yun decided to set aside the idea for now. He was still young, and he could work on his combat spells later. For now, he had no intention of leaving until he had enough strength.

Since that was the case, he decided to focus on the farming tasks at hand. By stockpiling enough life energy, he could easily advance once he obtained the necessary cultivation technique.

After coming to this realization, Fang Yun shifted his primary focus to caring for the spirit rice. In his spare time, he would also visit the canyon to check on the vine, which was in its maturing stage.

Meanwhile, Fang Yun also found time to visit Fang Lin to inquire about the martial arts techniques used by the family's warriors. Fang Lin was puzzled by the clan leader's request but, remembering the lesson from their last encounter, he didn't question it further.

The Fang family had accumulated a large number of martial arts techniques, and since the clan leader wanted to study them, Fang Lin saw no reason to refuse. Fang Yun took dozens of martial arts manuals from Fang Lin, including thirteen internal energy cultivation methods. The rest were a variety of techniques for combat moves and light body techniques.

The principles behind internal energy cultivation were similar to what Fang Yun had known in his previous life. Initially, it involved absorbing the essence of food and transforming it into internal energy, which was the stage of postnatal warriors.

The difference lay in the fact that after reaching the innate stage, warriors could absorb the vital energy of heaven and earth to perform a variety of true energy techniques, which could be quite powerful.

Although both innate warriors and cultivators with spiritual roots absorbed energy from heaven and earth, the energies they absorbed were not the same. The vital energy of heaven and earth was a general term for various beneficial energies, while spiritual energy was a more refined and higher form of energy.

It was precisely because of this that there was a difference in strength and the essence of life between the two. After flipping through a few internal energy manuals, Fang Yun understood why innate warriors couldn't defeat even the lowest-level cultivators.

Given that, these internal energy techniques were of no use to him. He put the internal energy manuals back into the cave and then reviewed the other combat techniques, as well as the light-body techniques he had been interested in before.

The combat techniques didn't hold any special significance, and considering that cultivators primarily fought at a distance, these close-range techniques were of little use. Fang Yun chose a swordsmanship technique just to have something to use with his spirit-imbued long blade, though it likely wouldn't be very effective.

After selecting the swordsmanship technique, Fang Yun turned his attention to the light-body techniques. These were the most useful to him. He circulated his magical power through the meridians in his legs, feeling energy flow out from his feet and interact with the surrounding air. Instantly, Fang Yun felt much lighter. He moved his feet slightly, and his entire body shot forward.

By manipulating the magical power through his meridians, Fang Yun could also change his movements. With the light-body technique, his speed increased significantly compared to before, and his agility improved immensely. This pleasantly surprised him. Even ordinary warriors' light-body techniques produced such strong effects. The light-body spells used by cultivators must be even more powerful, which made Fang Yun somewhat eager to learn them.

Thanks to his magical power, Fang Yun quickly mastered the martial arts techniques, much faster than a warrior relying on true energy. Moreover, since he had already opened all his meridians when he became a cultivator, Fang Yun had fully mastered these techniques even before transplanting the spirit rice.

He glanced at the status panel.

Fang Yun

Cultivation: Qi Refinement, Level 3

Magical Power: 67

Life Energy: 240

Spells: Earth Power Technique (Proficient 58%), Spirit Rain Technique (Proficient 63%), Growth Technique (Entry-level 99%), Metal Energy Technique (Entry-level 2%)

Martial Arts: Gale Blade Technique (Familiar 1%), Lingxi Light-body Technique (Familiar 3%)

Controlled Plants: Vines (5), Spirit Rice (500)