Chapter 078 – Seventh Rank

“Worf worf worf!”

A dog’s barking rang out in the snow-covered courtyard. A half-grown black mastiff, nearly as tall as a person at the shoulder, stood chained with a thick metal collar around its neck. The other end of the chain was fastened to a large iron block.

Li Yuan glanced at the mastiff. “It’s snowing, and you’re this excited?”

The dog fixed its gaze on him, eyes bright with submission, mouth parted in what looked almost like a grin, blood-red tongue panting in shallow, raspy bursts.

This was one of Li Yuan’s finds at the black market—though hardly the kind of beast he’d originally wanted.

He had hoped for a gentle-natured creature, adept at reconnaissance, and stealthy...or something akin to a walking fortress that could both guard the home and provide backup in a fight. He’d searched for half a year, never coming across a demonic beast that met more than two of those criteria at once.

Then one day, while passing the black market unmasked, he bumped into this demonic beast which showed an unexpected fondness for him. It wasn’t stealthy, nor was it particularly docile, but it did excel at sniffing out threats and guarding territory. Besides, dogs were known for loyalty; that trait alone helped compensate for its lack of a gentle temperament.

And so he gritted his teeth and paid 400 taels of silver for it. Of that, 100 taels came from Xue Ning; the other 300 taels he’d squirreled away looting Ren’s corpse.

The common name of this demonic beast, a blackrock mastiff, hinted at its nature. It disliked roaming and preferred to defend a single place. It had a keen sense for hostility and a far sharper nose than common dogs.

Li Yuan had once taken it up into the depths of Little Ink Mountain to hunt a black bear. He deliberately woke the bear in its den, gave it half an hour’s head-start to flee, then set the mastiff on its trail. Before long, the dog tracked the bear down and dispatched it.

When he first acquired it, the blackrock mastiff was in a weakened state at 10~20, a far cry from its peak condition of 20~60. But after nursing it back to health for months at his home, it had largely recovered.

Li Yuan named it Cinder. He didn’t keep Cinder chained because it was aggressive, quite the opposite actually. The mastiff was already fully tamed and recognized both Yan Yu and Xue Ning as its mistresses, behaving obediently around them. Rather, he locked it up because they lived in the inner district. If it roamed outside unsupervised, it might very well harm someone...or be harmed itself.

This notorious mastiff ended up drawing attention. People were astonished to see a fierce ninth rank demonic beast act tame as a house dog.

Li Yuan simply explained that he used to be a hunter, so he knew a few tricks for handling animals. And apparently, that worked on demonic beasts too.

So, a rumor started going around that he was skilled at taming beasts.

Li Yuan didn’t mind; it was harmless information that fit neatly within his sphere of abilities.

Beyond the mastiff, Li Yuan had also purchased two new martial skills and two new weapons, both intended for once he broke into seventh rank. Weapons made for eighth rank martial artists wouldn’t do justice to his full strength. The total for both weapons was 96 taels of silver. He had purchased one short blade that fit inside his sleeve, and a bone-crafted bow.

As for the two martial skills—

The first was Scent Seeking, an eighth rank skill, generally considered useless. It had lingered in the black market for ages with no buyers, and whoever was selling it probably didn’t know its origins. The skill itself was standalone, requiring the user to be at least eighth rank with a tracking-type skill at Master level.

Even then, mastery of Scent Seeking did nothing to enhance raw combat power; it merely sharpened the user’s sense of smell to an extraordinary degree. In simpler terms, you’d have the nose of a dog. Hardly anyone would go out of their way to learn that.

But Li Yuan was intrigued. After haggling for ages, he drove the asking price down from 300 to 100 taels of silver and finally bought the manual.

The second skill he acquired was called Chasing Wind, Piercing Willows, Twelve Linked Arrows—shortened to Twelve Linked Arrows for brevity. This was also a standalone eighth rank skill. The requirements stated that one had to be at least eighth rank in cultivation and already possess a ninth rank generic archery skill at Master level.

Sadly, most people in Gemhill County trained in blades or swords; archers were few and far between. Even among the archers, it was nearly impossible to find someone who had perfected their archery to the Master level.

Moreover, Twelve Linked Arrows offered no seventh rank follow-up skill. As a result, it sat unsold for ages. Eventually, Li Yuan, after some deliberation, haggled the price down from 400 to 150 taels of silver and bought it.

So, aside from acquiring eighth rank demonic beast meat, Li Yuan’s haul so far consisted of the blackrock mastiff, two skills, and two new weapons.

As for cultivation techniques, he did come across a few. But all of them lacked a path beyond the ninth or eighth rank, not to mention being unreasonably expensive.

In the course of his training, Li Yuan sensed that his body had a limit on the number of different types of shadow blood it could hold, definitely no more than five. He was fairly certain it wasn’t three because he could still feel unused capacity within himself. That meant his maximum was likely four or five.

Right now, he already had two types of shadow blood, one capable of reaching seventh rank, and the other stuck at ninth rank. He needed to be cautious with whatever he chose next.

His plan for a third cultivation technique was that it should at least allow him to advance to sixth rank. Then he would attempt to replace the Return-Willow Technique’s shadow blood with that new legacy. If it worked, he’d know for sure that he could swap shadow blood at will; that would free him to pick up further techniques without so much worry.

But if it failed, he’d have to save that final slot for a top quality technique that offered higher-level breakthroughs. Such was the dilemma of the average martial cultivator.

Without a follow-up manual, there was no chance to climb higher, no matter how talented or hard-working you were. If you reached seventh rank but had no sixth rank technique, then even if a better legacy suddenly appeared, you couldn’t just start over—you’d already locked in your shadow bones. If you were at eighth rank, you’d have to endure the long, painful process of discarding the old shadow blood to train in a new technique from scratch.

In this world, talent and perseverance mattered, but family background and lucky encounters could be equally if not more decisive. Born into a clan with a complete, high ranking legacy, you’d breeze ahead. But most people had to stumble their way forward, hoping luck would guide them into the right opportunities. It seemed unfair, but such was the world they lived in.

Since Li Yuan still couldn’t be sure whether he could truly swap out his shadow blood, he chose to tread carefully, unwilling to gamble on a random cultivation manual.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Now, Li Yuan stood in the snowy courtyard. He wasn’t holding his Spirit-Release Technique manual because he’d memorized it by heart, able to recite every line.

A toad ascends to the heavenly gate, gathering breath as heavy as mountains. A great river flows through the four lands, exhaling the spirit as the moon bends into a bow.

The last part described the final step to break through the seventh rank—exhaling the spirit as the moon bends into a bow. But first, one had to inhale if they intended to exhale later.

Li Yuan watched as snow fluttered across the courtyard. He suddenly shed his coat and outer pants, changing into a cheap cloth shirt and trousers. Tilting his head back, he inhaled sharply, and the swirling snow seemed to be dragged toward him from all sides of the yard.

Countless white ice crystals danced on the current of his immense breath, almost as if they were tunneling straight into his body. His blood was compressed by this process, surging wildly to every corner of his being. The power hidden in the eighth rank demonic beast meat he had consumed now ignited, fueling this rapid influx. The shadow blood expanded further and deeper, saturating his limbs.

Ordinary blood was being forced out in the process. A faint flush of crimson seeped through his pores, staining his cheap garments until they looked like blood-soaked cloth. This was hardly the first time he’d ruined a set of clothes while trying to reach the seventh rank, though he was sure this time would be the last.

Holding his breath, eyes shut, Li Yuan triggered the mental patterns he’d gleaned from the seventh rank mnemonic diagrams, and they automatically guided the shadow blood’s circulation.

“Hngh...!”

Two streams of white mist shot from Li Yuan’s nostrils, like hot air rising from a forge. After a few more explosive exhales, he drew in one more deep breath.

This time, he paused for a good while, feeling as though a raging fire blazed inside him. His once-fragile mortal bones were undergoing a transformation under the continuous burn. This was the first phase...

“Hah!” He let out a mighty shout, black hair whirling in the wind, eyes flashing like bolts of lightning. As he exhaled, clouds of dense white steam billowed around him, reminiscent of a newly forged sword thrust into cooling water.

𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

At that precise moment, Li Yuan sensed a sudden surge of power throughout his body. Once the breath was fully expelled, the boost ebbed away, indicating that the Spirit-Release Technique bestowed a temporary increase in strength when

releasing

the spirit.

He glanced at his status window.

He had saved up 752 stat points, and a new entry had appeared in his technique list for the seventh rank Spirit-Release Technique!

“At last...I’ve made it to seventh rank. Breaking through was no joke.” Li Yuan sighed, then glanced at the Spirit-Release Technique's mastery at (1/500). “But now that I’m here, let's skip straight to the finish line!”

He immediately tapped on the

+

symbol and allocated 499 points.

In an instant, Li Yuan absorbed a flood of memories of himself training tirelessly over five years—devouring eighth rank demonic beast meat, practicing the cultivation technique day in and day out until his blood and energy reached their upper limits.

Under the hammering of the technique and the nurturing of the shadow blood, his mortal bones had completely changed. The shadow blood now had a source, endlessly reproducing from deep within his shadow bones. It no longer depleted, remaining a permanent part of him.

Meanwhile, the Return-Willow Technique’s shadow blood was compressed into a tiny droplet, settling near his abdomen in a dormant state, yet still under his command.

Li Yuan closed his eyes, savoring this transformation. After a long while, he opened them again with a smile and checked his status window.

His seventh rank Spirit-Release Technique's mastery was now maxed out at 500 points! Though his heart ached seeing his reserve drop back down to 253 stat points, he still felt it was worth it!

“It’s time to learn the third form of the Spring-Autumn Blade, Leaping Abyss. Only then can I unleash my full power.”

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Ten days later, Li Yuan glanced at his status window once more.

A new entry for Spring-Autumn-Blade, Leaping Abyss had appeared in his skill list! He'd also accumulated 70 more stat points, bringing his reserve back up to 323 points.

“Let’s max it out,” Li Yuan thought, tapping the

+

symbol repeatedly.

Basic Leaping Abyss (1/10) ➔ NEW! Intermediate... (1/20)

➔ NEW! Advanced... (1/40)

➔ NEW! Expert... (1/80)

➔ NEW! Master... (1/160)

In a flash, he instantly used 309 stat points while the skill description became—

Master Leaping Abyss (160/160)

Gripping the short blade hidden in his sleeve, Li Yuan checked his overall combat power, which had risen to 180~278.

He closed his eyes briefly, recalling Tie Sha’s combat power appeared to be around 215~235.

Surely Tie Sha’s weapons were better than the ordinary seventh rank blade Li Yuan was using. Still, the comparison gave Li Yuan a renewed sense of security.

“It’s time to see my master...” he murmured, sheathing the short blade. He patted his Cinder on the head. “Watch the place while I’m out.”

The big black mastiff let out a soft whimper, gaze full of worship for its master.