After resting and letting his food digest for over half an hour, Li Wen felt his stamina had largely recovered. He stood up and gripped his saber once more.
This time, he did not activate Absolute Focus.
The skill's drain and the burden it placed on his body were too great. He was still unable to use it frequently in a single day.
But even so, after the afternoon's epiphany and the evening's grueling practice, his mastery of the Tiger Saber Skill had already reached a new level.
The gleam of his blade flashed once more.
His movements lacked the frenzied 'analysis' from his evening session under extreme focus, but they gained a steadiness and fluidity born from a solid foundation.
With a proficiency base of Major Achievement 50/100, every one of his movements became more natural, his application of force more precise and efficient.
The trajectory of the blade slicing through the air was no longer a rigid, standard arc. Instead, it adapted to the flow of battle, carrying a certain fluid, anticipatory quality.
His slashes were like cracking thunder, his blocks like a great mountain, his spins like the flowing wind.
The twenty-six forms of the saber skill seemed to have been deconstructed and scattered, only to reconnect naturally with each breath. The transitions between stances became smoother and more seamless.
He felt he could finally glimpse the outline of the Perfected realm of advanced saber arts—a state of "unbroken stances, flawlessly whole."
Immersed in this steady improvement, time flew by.
An hour later, Li Wen sheathed his saber and stood tall. His forehead was beaded with sweat, but his breathing was far more stable than it had been at the end of his evening practice. His body only felt a normal exhaustion.
[You have trained the Tiger Saber Skill for one hour. Saber Skill Experience +5]
[Technique: Saber Skill · Advanced (Major Achievement 50→55/100)]
The results were significant! His training efficiency in this autonomous state far surpassed any of his previous practice sessions. This was all thanks to the boost in his comprehension from the fusion of two souls.
His saber practice came to an end for the moment. Li Wen didn't continue to drill his techniques. Instead, his gaze shifted to the classmates inside who were still circulating their basic cultivation techniques.
After sliding his saber precisely back onto the weapon rack, he returned to his mat.
He held his breath, focusing his spirit. His knees bent as he sank lower, his hands forming the Starting Hand Seal for the Splitting Blade Golden Killing Skill.
He did not activate Absolute Focus. That skill was too much of a luxury right now; it consumed too much qi and blood, and he didn't have enough Qi and Blood Potions to replenish it.
A familiar breathing rhythm drove his qi and blood to circulate with difficulty through his body.
Every deep inhalation guided his thin qi and blood to surge through his limbs; every heavy exhalation attempted to expel the energy that was inevitably lost during circulation.
That familiar, sharp, tearing sensation began to permeate his body, stimulating his muscles and bones. It brought a faint warmth that signaled improvement, but it was also accompanied by an intense… sense of depletion!
If circulating a basic technique was like "cruising down a smooth highway with the AC on" for his well-resourced classmates, then for Li Wen, it felt like "laboriously pushing a leaky, beat-up old car up a rugged, steep mountain road."
More than half his qi and blood energy irreversibly leaked away during circulation, wasted due to his shallow understanding of the Cultivation Technique and his inability to fully command his own body.
It was frustratingly inefficient.
His body grew hot, and sweat began to bead on his skin.
A straining sensation in his joints and ligaments intensified, accompanied by a deep, aching pain.
His breathing gradually became rapid and shallow, his heart beating like it was about to burst from his chest.
The qi and blood in his body felt like a creek about to run dry, circulating ever more slowly as the resistance grew stronger.
'No... I can... hold on a little longer...' Li Wen gritted his teeth, veins pulsing at his temples from the strain.
He was at his limit. Every muscle in his body was screaming, but a stubborn ferocity surged within him, forcing him to hold the crumbling posture.
A faint sound, like a subtle snap, came from somewhere in his ligaments—his body's final warning!
WHOOSH!!!
He violently expelled a large cloud of hot, white, turbid air from deep within his chest, and his body abruptly went slack as if all its bones had been removed.
The hand seal he had been maintaining instantly fell apart. His legs, aching and weak, nearly gave out from under him. He stumbled forward a couple of steps before catching himself with a hand on the ground, panting heavily. Each breath felt like a knife scraping his raw, burning throat.
He had lasted only about fifteen minutes before the last drop of his strength was completely wrung out of him.
The amount of energy and focus he had expended in those fifteen minutes felt no less than what he'd used during the overload of his Absolute Focus saber practice that evening.
Sweat had long since soaked through his practice clothes, which now clung to his body, cold and clammy.
Wearily wiping the sweat from his face, relying on sheer willpower to keep from collapsing to the floor, Li Wen struggled to summon the panel:
[You have arduously cultivated the Splitting Blade Golden Killing Skill. Cultivation Technique Experience +3]
[Cultivation Technique: Splitting Blade Golden Killing Skill · Basic (Initiate 87→90/100)]
Seeing his Initiate proficiency jump from 87 to 90, with the 100-point threshold for Minor Achievement so close, a complex expression finally appeared on Li Wen's exhausted face—a bitter smile tinged with relief.
'The progress is tangible, that's for sure. The clarity of mind from my soul fusion has certainly helped with the efficiency of understanding the Cultivation Technique at this initial stage, but…'
"Haaah..." He let out a long breath, heavy with exhaustion. His profound gaze swept over the other students who were still cultivating, their breathing steady and deep, a faint red glow of qi and blood flowing around them.
'My rate of progress today... it's ultimately because I'm cashing in on a long period of accumulation. Once this bonus is spent, given my current resources, my speed will probably fall right back to that... pitifully low level.'
Immense potential and the shackles of his reality intertwined like fire and ice in the depths of his exhausted body and mind.
He clenched his fist, feeling the defiance simmering beneath his weakness, then slowly let it go.
'My golden finger has been activated, and the path lies at my feet. The only thing left to do is walk it… more desperately, more intelligently.'
Outside the window, the night was as black as ink, concealing the boy's solitary figure and the ambition in his heart—heavy, yet burning with an incredible fire.