17 The Soul's Foundation Slowly Builds Strength, Flight Displays Power, and Victory is Finally Achieved

In Nanqiu Courtyard, in a secret room.

Qi Tian sat cross-legged on the mat, having just used a Gu worm. He opened his eyes.

"Enhancing the soul is indeed not easy. After a month of effort, I've only managed to accumulate the souls of ten people. And that's with the use of some tricks to strengthen and refine the soul."

In his previous life, Qi Tian reached the highest achievement in the Soul Path. As a master of the Soul Path, he had great expertise in cultivating and refining Gu worms, and he understood souls very well.

Thus, when refining and strengthening his soul, his efficiency was much higher than an average Gu master's.

However, even with that, a clever woman can't make a meal without rice.

The Gu worms he bought for twenty thousand Yuan stones, though not inexpensive, were still insignificant in terms of soul accumulation.

Fortunately, Qi Tian wasn't planning to immediately cultivate the Soul or Slave Paths. This slow accumulation would suffice for refining Gu and using his killing techniques for now.

Especially his current killing move, the Qi Yuan Slash. With the increase in Gu worms, the consumption of his soul and mind was also rising.

Knife Qi Gu, Knife Intent Gu, Qi Source Gu, Lock Qi Gu, Chase Qi Gu, Same Qi Branch Gu, along with the previously purchased Cold Qi Gu—all of these consumed a significant amount of his Gu power and mental energy, especially since Qi Tian was still only at the peak of the Third Transformation.

To use the Three Yuan Slash to its fullest would consume thirty percent of his Snow Silver true essence.

In addition, controlling six Gu worms while keeping the Tian Yuan Lotus activated to replenish his true essence made Qi Tian have to add a multi-tasking Gu. But this also increased his true essence consumption.

Considering that a battle wouldn't be won with just one killing move, Qi Tian could fully use his killing technique twice in one fight. Therefore, he hadn't yet used his Qi Yuan Slash at full power in the training arena.

The Same Qi Branch Gu and the Eagle Wing Gu were reserved as trump cards. Qi Tian wouldn't easily reveal them before facing off against the likes of Ju Kaibei and Yan Tu.

"I've been in seclusion for so long. With over twenty days without a match, my record has likely turned into two losses. I bet there are many people outside wanting to challenge me now. It's time to make my move!"

Qi Tian's recent extravagant purchases had naturally caught the attention of many.

After hearing that Qi Tian had just entered the Fourth Inner City in the training arena, many people started eyeing him, especially given his wealth, which might stir the greed of some Third Transformation Gu masters.

However, Qi Tian's strength in the Fifth Inner City made many hesitant.

Of course, martial arts weren't allowed in the merchant city, so they wouldn't act recklessly, but in the training arena, they could challenge him openly, as long as they could defeat him.

Since Qi Tian had been in seclusion for a month, many believed it was out of fear, waiting to defeat or even kill him after his reappearance to seize his Gu worms and Yuan stones.

Most of those who thought this were Gu masters of the middle to lower ranks of the Third Transformation.

As for the older, more powerful masters, they wouldn't target a newcomer in the arena over a mere profit. If they won, great, but if they lost, it would just make them stepping stones for Qi Tian. Still, they would want to test his strength.

When Qi Tian emerged from seclusion, it was his first battle in the Fourth Inner City.

The training arena was bustling, with many spectators discussing.

"That guy from the Fifth Inner City has quite a reputation. Coming to the Fourth Inner City, will he act cautiously?"

"Yeah! This place is no Fifth Inner City. Many strong masters are here. Sun Lei won't be so easy to deal with."

"Facing Sun Lei? This kid's in trouble!"

…

This was a medium-sized training arena, with a standard sand terrain.

Qi Tian's opponent, Sun Lei, was short, not even a meter tall, resembling a dwarf.

In this world, whether a commoner or a Gu master, most people were over 1.5 meters tall. Sun Lei, being under 1 meter, clearly used Gu worms to alter his body.

Body modifications were common among Gu masters.

Power-based Gu masters often modify their bones and muscles to increase their physical strength. Many flying Gu masters would hollow out their bones to reduce their weight.

Qi Tian, by coincidence, had transformed his body into one of Ice Muscle and Jade Bones, perfect for Ice Path Gu masters, but it provided no benefit to his cultivation of the Qi Path.

It would cost a lot of Yuan stones to reverse this transformation, and there was no better option at the moment, so he simply left it as it was. The reason he chose the Cold Qi Gu was to complement his Ice Muscle and Jade Bones.

After assessing the dwarf-like Sun Lei before him, Qi Tian came up with a plan.

"Sun Lei is so short; he must have used a bone-shrinking Gu or similar to modify his body. This likely means he's a Gu master who can tunnel underground. The sandy terrain gives him an advantage in that respect. This could be troublesome!"

"I've heard of Qi Tian from the Fifth Inner City. He has a fearsome reputation, skilled in offense. Many Gu masters have died at his hands. But why should I fear him? As long as I go underground, he can't do anything to me."

The two of them thought to themselves.

"However, why should I fear him? As long as I go underground, he can't do anything to me."

The match began, and Sun Lei immediately burrowed into the sand.

Qi Tian tried to stop him but couldn't, so he had to track Sun Lei's position.

However, the sand on the surface remained still, and Qi Tian quickly activated his Gu worms to investigate.

Unfortunately, he was disappointed.

Qi Tian had two Gu worms for reconnaissance: the Chase Qi Gu and the Mist Sparrow Gu.

The Mist Sparrow Gu couldn't see underground, so it couldn't detect any activity there. The Chase Qi Gu could track Sun Lei's aura, but this time, it failed.

Sun Lei, knowing Qi Tian had a Chase Qi Gu, had already prepared countermeasures. Although Sun Lei didn't use a Lock Qi Gu to seal his aura, he had released a Stink Bomb Gu, which left a foul smell in the arena, disrupting Qi Tian's Chase Qi Gu.

Gu worms each had their own peculiarities. Once a Gu master's worms were exposed, the enemy could find ways to counter them, or at least be prepared. This was why Qi Tian kept his crucial techniques hidden.

Suddenly, Qi Tian felt a wave of danger coming from below and quickly dodged. He saw a shadow dive into the sand.

"Thankfully, my survival instincts from my past life saved me this time! But relying on instinct alone won't let me avoid every attack. What should I do?"

"Against a Gu master who can tunnel underground, there are a few ways to deal with it. One is to use reconnaissance Gu to locate the enemy. This way, I can attack and defend, ensuring I can't be beaten. But underground Gu masters usually take great care in hiding themselves, and I can't locate him now."

"The second is to use methods to destroy the conditions for tunneling. However, I don't have a binding or hardening Gu worm to seal the ground, and directly destroying the terrain isn't ideal, especially since this is sandy ground. Unless I remove all the sand."

"The third option is to outlast them, waiting until they run out of true essence. Even though Sun Lei is short, tunneling uses up true essence, and it's hard to recover it underground. Plus, the tunneling Gu worms of the Third Transformation are much weaker than those of the Fifth Transformation, especially in terms of how long they can stay underground. So, I have to be on constant alert for surprise attacks."

"The best option is to fly using the Eagle Wing Gu. If I do that, I can outlast him. I'm at the peak of the Third Transformation, and with the help of the Tian Yuan Lotus, victory is assured. But using flight would expose my ability, and future opponents will definitely target this weakness."

"Forget it! If I have to expose it, I will! After all, trump cards are meant to be used."

Though Qi Tian considered many strategies in his mind, only a split second had passed in the real world.

Qi Tian spread his wings and soared into the air, holding a jade knife and coldly staring down at the ground.

"What? This... this works?"

"I didn't expect this kid has a flying Gu. But flying Gu isn't that easy to control. Let's see if he can outlast Sun Lei."

The audience, who had fallen silent after Sun Lei tunneled underground, now murmured among themselves.

Flying Gu were precious, but they weren't hard to find in the merchant city. The real difficulty was that controlling flight was quite troublesome, requiring a lot of training, and it took a long time to master.

Most Gu masters were very cautious with flying Gu. They would need two or three years of training just to fly for travel. To use it in battle, it would take even longer, at least five years.

After all, humans walking on the ground are not naturally flying creatures.

Mastering flight and using it in battle would be a huge leap in combat ability for a Gu master.

Of course, Qi Tian was just hovering in the air, not showcasing his full flying skill, but even so, just staying steady in the air like this was something that would take at least a year or two of training.

Although many people were better than Qi Tian at flying, at least from what was shown, his youth and solid combat performance made it no surprise that the spectators were shocked.

"I'm done! I surrender!" In the end, it was Sun Lei who conceded. After all, his strength was mainly in surprise attacks, and without the chance to ambush Qi Tian, he chose to surrender to avoid being killed, showing a bit of self-awareness.