010. Skillfully Cutting Rocks with Blade Qi and Intent; The Reason for Cultivating Qi Path
Qitian's stone selection this time seemed completely random, like trying his luck, but it was actually not the case.
Qitian lacked the means to detect Gu worms, as did most people.
However, the stubborn stones enveloping Gu worms, influenced by the law fragments within the Gu worms' bodies, gradually became distinct.
Experienced masters could guess the likelihood of finding a Gu worm based on its shape and appearance.
Qitian also had some experience in this area, but it was useless here.
Why?
Because the gambling rocks in the casino had already been appraised by the casino's own rock gambling masters and graded. Unless Qitian's experience surpassed these professional masters by a whole realm, his experience played a minimal role.
However, Qitian had the advantage of rebirth.
Before rebirth, Qitian had intentionally collected many biographies and records, gaining knowledge about many important Gu worms obtained from rock gambling.
While it was impossible to know the records of every single stubborn stone that yielded a live Gu, he knew that in the low-grade section of the Youlan Rock Gambling Den, there was a legendary Gu inside a giant Frozen Ice Stone.
Because this stubborn stone's appearance was too poor, it barely qualified as low-grade, and the difficulty of cutting it was too high, it had sat there for decades without anyone choosing it.
It wasn't until several years later that the clan elder managing the stone den gave it to his grandson as target practice. Ultimately, the elder's grandson luckily obtained this legendary Gu, eventually becoming the Lan Clan Young Master, and the Lan Clan Village also became a large-scale village under his leadership.
However, Qitian didn't want this Gu exposed, so he planned to cut the stone himself.
Qitian picked up a Purple Gold Stone with his left hand, simultaneously activating Gu worms. A streak of blade qi appeared in his right hand. Guiding the blade qi with blade intent, the outer shell of the Purple Gold Stone was precisely shaved away layer by layer.
"Good blade skill! Could this person be a master of the blade?"
"Such exquisite control! Impossible to achieve without immense practice!"
Qitian's superb rock cutting technique quickly attracted the attention of bystanders.
Many gazes were cast towards him.
Sparking hushed discussions among the people.
Even several rock cutting masters began to discuss.
"This youth can actually control blade qi so exquisitely; he probably has other auxiliary Gu worms."
"Cutting rocks with blade qi is too crude. This is just the simplest Purple Gold Stone. If it were... What? He's cutting Profound Ice Stone just as exquisitely!"
Although Qitian had dabbled in Blade Path, his attainment wasn't high. His exquisite control relied more on the Blade Intent Gu and his rich experience.
Intent is a branch of Wisdom Path. Blade Intent Gu significantly boosts Blade Path Gu worms, especially in terms of fine control.
Of course, Qitian's technique only seemed superb in the eyes of these mortal Gu Masters. To Gu Immortals, achieving this level merely required some time; after all, this wasn't Qitian's area of expertise.
Soon, Qitian finished cutting nine stubborn stones; they were either empty or contained a stone-within-a-stone.
Only the last, enormous Frozen Ice Stone remained.
Continuously activating two Rank 3 Gu worms previously had consumed Qitian's primeval essence and mental energy. Other Rank 3 Gu Masters might need over half an hour to barely recover, but Qitian merely adjusted slightly and returned to optimal condition, beginning to cut this stubborn stone untouched for decades.
The Frozen Ice Stone slowly shrank. Due to its hard texture and large volume, and Qitian lacking Gu worms specifically suited to counter it, the process seemed particularly laborious.
Finally, a blue stone block was revealed within the Frozen Ice Stone.
"After so much effort, it turned out to be a stone-within-a-stone..."
"Good thing I didn't choose it, otherwise it would have been a waste of effort."
Qitian was secretly overjoyed but showed a look of disappointment on the surface.
"Since it's my first time cutting stones, this stone-within-a-stone is quite pretty. I'll keep it as a memento."
Saying this, he calmly put away the blue stone block and left the casino.
Others merely thought this blue stone block was just a slightly prettier stone, but Qitian knew this stone-within-a-stone was a newly identified type of gambling rock confirmed only decades later – Ancient Ice Stone.
Ancient Ice Stones were formed long ago, and there was a certain possibility they contained Ancient Gu worms.
And enveloped within this Ancient Ice Stone was an Ancient Qi Path Gu worm.
Returning to his lodging, Qitian borrowed specialized Gu worms from the caravan's rock cutting Gu Master and cut open the Ancient Ice Stone.
Looking at the Gu worm in his hand – the size of an infant's fist, shaped like a cluster of gnarled old tree roots – Qitian couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief.
"The Connected Qi Linked Branches Gu is finally in hand."
Although he was quite certain, complications like those Fang Yuan faced obtaining the All-Out Effort Gu weren't impossible. Fortunately, he succeeded on the first try.
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Ten days later.
Desolate Stone Beach.
Stubborn stones of all sizes stretched for hundreds of li here; it was a natural stone field.
Such stone fields were not uncommon in the White Head Mountain region. The stubborn stones in many stone dens mostly came from these natural fields.
During its peak period, dozens of clans had elders stationed at this desolate stone beach, including several large-scale clans.
But after several centuries of glory, due to over-exploitation in the last hundred years, even low-grade stubborn stones were rarely seen here now.
Coupled with the continuous emergence of new stone fields, this place had declined; one wouldn't see a soul here for half a day.
Speaking of which, the formation of stubborn stones was somewhat similar to coal and oil on Earth.
At this moment, a refined-looking youth held a jade blade, standing alone before a giant rock. The rock was three zhang high, like a small hill.
This person was precisely Qitian.
The jade blade in his hand was not a Gu worm but was refined from the blade leg of a Jade Spider thousand beast king, its strength comparable to a Rank 3 Gu worm.
Qitian stood ten steps away from the giant rock, took a deep breath, and swung the blade, releasing a streak of blade qi.
Tzzt
The blade qi struck the giant rock, leaving a deep mark on the hard surface, fully three cun deep.
Qitian released blade qi again, this time three consecutive streaks. After being released, the three streaks instantly merged into a single, larger, more condensed streak of blade qi.
This time, the mark left was one chi deep.
"Three streaks of blade qi merged into one reduces loss along the path while concentrating the attack. The damage caused is definitely incomparable to three separate streaks. Truly worthy of being a legendary Gu, but the power of the Connected Qi Linked Branches Gu is much more than just this!"
This time, Qitian released three streaks of blade qi along with blade intent. Simultaneously, Xiao Qing, coiled around his sleeve, spat out three clouds of cyan toxic qi, which wrapped around the three blade qi streaks respectively, rapidly merging into them, forming pale cyan blade qi before converging into one.
This time, the mark was only two cun deeper than the previous one, but the opening was wider and tinged with pale cyan.
If this strike hit a Gu Master or beast king, the effect would be more pronounced; after all, poison is more effective against living beings, especially poison transformed from the venom of the Blue Bamboo Snake.
This final move was very strong, enough to pose a threat to Rank 4 Gu Masters. Coupled with Qitian's rich experience, Qitian could even contend with ordinary Rank 4 Gu Masters.
However, this move consumed a lot of energy. Even with Qitian's Rank 3 upper stage cultivation, the Snow Silver primeval essence condensed using the Seven Fragrances Liquor Worm (obtained and refined during this period) and the Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus, it still consumed nearly half his primeval essence.
Qitian had three major opportunities in his previous life. The first was the inheritance of the Qi Clan Blessed Land; the second was the dream realm of the Qi Clan's First Generation Ancestor.
The Qi Clan's First Generation Ancestor was a Qi Path Grandmaster in his early years, reaching Rank 7 cultivation, later obtaining a portion of Spectral Soul Demon Venerable's inheritance and switching to cultivate Soul Path.
Of course, one could also see the importance of the Soul Path inheritance obtained by the Qi Clan's First Ancestor from this.
Qitian gained tremendously from entering the ancestor's dream realm. Not only did his main cultivation in Soul Path reach peak Grandmaster, but his Qi Path also reached quasi-Grandmaster level.
This was why Qitian wanted to cultivate Qi Path in this life; of course, the Connected Qi Linked Branches Gu was also one of the reasons.
This Connected Qi Linked Branches Gu, as far as Qitian knew, was a unique copy / of an extinct line.
Connected Qi Linked Branches Gu allowed various types of qi to merge seamlessly, whether they were the same type of qi or different types.
In his previous life, although Qitian had the Gu recipes for Rank 4 to Rank 6 Connected Qi Linked Branches Gu, he lacked the Rank 3 version as a base material. In the end, he could only create a substitute based on the recipes, whose effect was significantly inferior to the real Gu.
This killing move was named Qi Yuan Slash by Qitian. It was currently just a prototype; in the future, various Qi Path Gu worms could be added to increase its power.
Currently, its core, the Connected Qi Linked Branches Gu, was only Rank 3, limiting the move to the level of a "Three Yuan Slash". If the rank of the core Gu was raised in the future, this move could be upgraded to the level of Five Yuan Slash, Ten Yuan Slash, even Hundred Yuan Slash or Thousand Yuan Slash.
More importantly, once it was upgraded to Rank 4, it could merge Rank 4 level qi; at Rank 5, it could merge Rank 5 level qi.