Chapter 94: The Royal Capital

  With the help of Xueyue Condensing Yuanling Dan and Lianqi Dan, Qin Tianyi could clearly feel the crazy growth of his true energy.

  On the first day, he swallowed two Blood Moon Essence Pills and twenty-two Refining Qi Pills, causing his cultivation to rise to the peak of the early Great Swordsman stage in one go.

  On the third day, relying on a strong spirit to precisely control one's own true energy, the true energy transforms into an aura, stimulating the body externally, and enters the external aura stage.

  After that, for ten days, he took two or three Blood Moon Spirit Pills and nearly thirty Refining Qi Pills every day. His true energy grew at a visible rate, and on the eighteenth day of his closed-door cultivation, he broke through the outer boundary of the Lingshen realm, internalizing the Lingshen energy to protect his entire body, including all vital organs.

  The aura condensed, combined with the powerful defense provided by the X-01 biological mech, even if a swordsman-level strong person hit his body and immediately unleashed shock, vibration, and soft three-force impacts on his body, they couldn't cause fatal injuries to him again.

  ...and cultivators below the Sword Master level...

  Even with a sword in hand, Qin Tianji was able to remain fearless and composed.

  By the twenty-first day, Qin Tianyi had the heart to continue his closed-door training, but the fifty-six Blood Moon Condensed Yuan Ling Dan in his hand had been completely consumed. Moreover, the large amount of Lianqi Dan he had accumulated had also been squandered, and even if he had the heart to continue cultivating, the resources were no longer sufficient.

  Looking at the empty porcelain bottle in his hand, Qin Tianyi felt a little regret.

  "The Blood Moon Essence Pill is indeed a treasure worth thousands of gold, for if a cultivator were to swallow hundreds of Refining Qi Pills in succession, they would be able to elevate their cultivation from the initial stage of Great Swordsmanship to its peak. However, this would undoubtedly leave behind endless flaws, with chaotic true energy and no possibility of breaking through to the realm of Sword Mastery in a short period of time. On the other hand, the effect of the Blood Moon Essence Pill is to purify and refine, and when taken together with Refining Qi Pills, not only does it not cause my true energy to become stagnant, but I also feel a sense of ease and fluidity, like clouds drifting across the sky. The only thing that requires some attention is adapting to the sudden surge in true energy, but for me, who has currently reached 2.3 spiritual frequency, this is not a difficult task."

  Standing outside the cave he had opened up himself, Qin Tianyi slightly stretched out his hand, a stream of aura gathering and transforming on his palm, sometimes forming a knife, sometimes condensing into a sword, sometimes turning into a spear, fully demonstrating his precise control over the aura at this moment.

  If an ordinary inner disciple's top swordsman wants to achieve this, without three to five years of hard practice, it is simply impossible. Even for those highly talented individuals with exceptional comprehension skills, they would likely need one or two years to reach this level.

  However, relying on the spiritual advantages of the Shinto practitioners, in just a few hours, Qin Tianyi had already grasped the various changes in the flow of true energy within his body.

  "The number of Tianlong grass is not low, I don't know if it can meet the standards of the deputy dean who issued the task, but... even if I couldn't be taken as a student by any deputy dean, what's the big deal? My current cultivation has reached the peak of Neigang, with 30% of my true energy liquefied. After activating the X-01 biological mech, I am not inferior to any Sword Master-level strongman. Combined with the Tianji Flowing Light Sword Technique, ordinary swordsmen are nothing to be feared. If Gu Wushuang really wants to fight me to the death, I'll directly challenge him to a duel at the Dou Shentai, one on one, life and death decision. At that time, relying on the explosive power comparable to a great swordsman's single strike, I will directly knock him out!"

  Qin Tianyi was more than 80% confident that he could kill Gu Wu Shuang with one blow at this moment.

  Of course, he did not intend to act rashly until he was 100% sure, and besides, he did not want to entrust his fate to the so-called rules of the Dou Sheng Tai.

  Once he unleashes a blow comparable to that of a great sword master, at that time he will no longer have any power to resist, his life and death completely in the hands of others.

  Looking back at the cave where he had lived for 21 days, Qin Tianyi didn't hesitate for a moment. With a swift movement, he flew out of the mountain range and disappeared into the distance.

  He was already in the area near the outer periphery of the Sunset Mountains, completely ignoring the many ferocious beasts that might appear in this range, and sprinting at full speed. In less than half a day, he was about to emerge from the outer periphery of the Sunset Mountains. Here, some signs of human activity could already be vaguely seen.

  "There is no horse, next, can only find a small town, and then buy another one, otherwise walking to Shenyuan Academy would be very troublesome."

  Muttering to himself, Qin Tianyi had already taken the small path leading in the direction of Dashanwang City.

  ……

  "We finally arrived at Wangcheng!"

  At the entrance of Wang City, two warriors in a hurry, with a dusty and tired look.

  "I heard that the selection from the Imperial City has already begun, and whether we can join the Divine Void Academy depends on our performance this time. In the grand competition held in the Imperial Capital, only those who rank among the top thirty will be eligible to take the qualification examination for the Divine Void Academy."

  The older of the two warriors said.

  "I've been preparing for this months ago. If I can get this qualification, it will be a huge benefit for us ordinary warriors. Even if we can't enter the Divine Void Academy in the end, being able to receive training from the Great Xia royal family for three months will still allow our cultivation to advance by leaps and bounds. Our Gujing Sect's Zhou Qi senior brother was able to break through from 7th level swordsmanship to 8th level last year precisely because he received personal guidance from a powerful sword master during those three months of training, becoming a strong contender for the position of next sect leader! Last time it was Senior Brother Zhou Qi who got this lucky chance, this time it should be my turn, Zhou Ming!"

  The younger warrior's eyes were filled with frenzy, and his words seemed to have absolute certainty.

  "That's not it, this time I've made quite a lot of preparations, not only did I borrow a mid-grade treasure sword from my master, but also embezzled 1.8 million taels of silver from the sect, planning to make a big show at the King's City Trading Festival, if I can buy a Return to True Pill, break through to the high-level swordsman stage, in the King's City Grand Competition, there will be a great hope to enter the top thirty."

  "One hundred and eighty million taels of white silver!? It seems that Lao Ge Luo Cheng will definitely make a big splash at the Trade Fair!"

  "One hundred and eighty thousand taels, at most, would only give me some clout in the primary trading halls. Compared to those intermediate trading hall's great swordsmen and the high-level trading hall's master-level strongmen, my little fortune isn't even worth mentioning."

  A man named Luo Cheng sighed.

  "Mid-tier and high-tier trading fairs... I really want to go take a look, it's said that this time, the royal family has taken out several spiritual artifacts from the treasury, as well as materials for refining spiritual artifacts, heavenly treasures, among which are some meteoric iron that even spiritual swords can't scratch. If we can buy them and refine them into spiritual swords, the effect..."

  "The meteoric iron that the spiritual sword cannot hurt can at least be refined into a medium-grade spiritual instrument, this is already a treasure, let's not think about it anymore, and focus on whether we can buy the Return to Reality Pill instead."

  "That's also true..."

  The two of them said a word and quickly passed through the city gate, heading towards the inner part of the royal city.

  These days, martial artists like Luo Cheng and Zhou Ming are not in the minority. The entire imperial capital is bustling with excitement as the Divine Void Academy's recruitment of new disciples is imminent, attracting a large number of martial artists from all over the world. Whispers like these have spread to almost every corner of the imperial capital, and even Qin Tianji, who has just arrived, heard several discussions among passing martial artists on his way here.

  As he watched Luo Cheng and Zhou Ming disappear at the city gate, Qin Tianyi felt a hint of emotion in his heart: "The status of Shenyuan Academy in the six countries of the southeast is supreme, because Shenyuan Academy is about to recruit students. At this time, the warriors of the six countries in the southeast are probably all busy with this matter. If I were still like the former Yunlei Sword Sect's young master with only eighth-level swordsmanship, I would also have to think of a way to get the qualification to go to Shenyuan Academy for the assessment."

  Qin Tianyi was moved for a moment, and then he burst out laughing again.

  In fact, although he has now entered the Shenwu Academy, his identity and status are not much different from those of these warriors in front of him.

  All these warriors were thinking hard about competing for the quota to enter the Divine Void Academy, but what he wanted to grasp in his hands now was the quota to go to the Divine Void Sect.

  "Although there is still some time before the Flying Heaven God Ship of the Divine Void Sect comes to the Divine Void Academy to take the disciples to the Divine Void Sect for assessment, I must also make preparations as soon as possible. The three-stage trading conference in the Great Summer Imperial City, even just the primary stage, has treasures like the Return to Truth Pill on sale. As for the intermediate and advanced stages of the trading conference, the things being traded will definitely be no worse."

  Muttering to himself, Qin Tianyi had already thought of a plan in his heart.

  After entering the capital of Dashu, Qin Tianyi slightly inquired and got the news that the three-stage trading conference would be held for three days at the primary level, two days at the intermediate level, and one day at the advanced level. Today is the second day of the primary trading conference.

  In the primary trading market, the items being traded are basically things like Washing Marrow Dan, Returning to Truth Dan, Transforming Qi Dan, Middle-grade Treasure Swords, High-grade Treasure Swords, Supreme Mastery Techniques, and Top-tier Sword Arts that would be very helpful to intermediate and advanced swordsmen. To Qin Tianyi's current eyes, they're not even worth a glance.

  He stayed in the Sunset Mountains for nearly twenty days, and as soon as he left the mountains, he hurried on his way, seeing that there were still two days before the intermediate trading conference began. He let himself relax a bit and rested well at the inn.

  On the third day, when the intermediate trading meeting officially began, he withdrew from his room and went straight to the venue of the intermediate trading meeting.

  Intermediate Trading Hall, as long as you have the cultivation of a Great Swordsman or pay one Condensed Qi Pill, you can participate. Qin Tianyi slightly released his Great Swordsman aura and naturally entered the Great Swordsman trading hall.

  As most of the warriors who came to participate in the assessment were rushing towards the Shenxu Academy, they basically all had the cultivation of high-level swordsmen. Some older warriors even had the strength of ninth-level swordsmen or great swordsmen. In this situation, the scale of this intermediate trading conference was not small.

  Qin Tianji entered the trading fair and saw hundreds of people displaying their goods on the ground, waiting for others to buy them. At the same time, they wrote down the items they needed to purchase. Of course, there were more idle warriors like Qin Tianji who just came to browse and see if they could find any good deals.

  Qin Tianyi wandered around for two days, but didn't have the good fortune to discover some long-dusty treasure. The things the vendors were selling might be treasures for high-level swordsmen or great swordsmen, but for someone as wealthy as him, they weren't worth mentioning.

  Although he didn't get anything good, through this intermediate trading conference, he has some understanding of the quality of the trading conference. He believes that tomorrow's advanced trading conference will definitely have what he needs.