Chapter 61

Chapter 61: Copper Body Forged, Back to the Stone Forest

Half a month later, Zhao Chun finally neutralized the lingering wood qi in her meridians, acupoints, and dantian.

Alchemists refined spirit herbs into pills not only to strengthen their effects, but also to make them easier to absorb.

Take the Qi-Boosting Pill. Its main ingredient was Three-Leaf Spirit-Gathering Grass. Swallowing the herb directly would still replenish qi, but a cultivator might only absorb three parts out of ten. Refined into pills, the same medicinal power could be divided across multiple pellets, and more than seven parts out of ten could be taken in.

But pills came with a price. They carried impurities—pill poison—that accumulated in the meridians and acupoints, interfering with cultivation.

In moderation, a little pill poison could be expelled through breathing practice. But if someone tried to replace cultivation with pills, the poison would clog the meridians. Over time, breakthroughs would become difficult. Worse, qi might fail to enter the body at all, and one’s realm could even fall.

Zhao Chun’s constitution made her especially vulnerable. She had to take few pills, so she consumed spirit herbs directly instead. To others, it looked like wasteful extravagance.

Fortunately, Moistwood Fruit was gentle. She ate many before her dantian and meridians merely felt saturated. If it had been a harsher spirit herb, she might have burst apart on the spot.

With the wood qi fully balanced, Fire-Forging Furnace Art finally entered the beginner level.

Only then did Zhao Chun realize the truth: in the Heaven Pit, the art had already tempered her flesh, but the damage had been severe. Now that she’d fully recovered, a faint copper sheen surfaced across her skin, a soft metallic glow at her face—the sign of initiation.

A copper body meant stronger defenses.

It brought two other benefits as well. First, her control over fire-aspect qi became noticeably smoother, and her ability to suppress the two kinds of qi within her dantian grew stronger. Even so, she still needed to replenish wood qi from outside to keep the balance.

Second—and most pleasantly—her body became fully responsive after refinement. With both upper and lower dantian now flowing through her entire frame, her sword movements turned more agile, more precise.

Body refinement was refinement of force. With Tiger Strength Art layered on top of her tempering technique, her strength surged. Zhao Chun no longer felt power was her weakness. When she swung her sword, the air cracked with booming force—proof that, in sheer strength, she had surpassed most cultivators at the same realm.

Yet she had only recently advanced to the sixth level of the Qi Refining Stage. The late stage still lay ahead.

If she wanted to close that gap, she would need to sharpen her techniques.

Zhao Chun took up her sword and headed for the Threefold Stone Forest, seeking breakthroughs in real combat.

Before she even reached the small pavilion, she noticed something strange: a place that used to be nearly empty was suddenly crowded with disciples.

Inside, besides Tu An, two unfamiliar menial disciples had arrived as well. Even the short, round old man—who used to claim he only took the night shift—was stationed behind the counter in broad daylight, watching everything.

When Zhao Chun entered, Tu An’s eyes lit up. He set aside what he was doing and hurried over. “You’re back again.”

She nodded. “Why are there so many people all of a sudden?”

Tu An let out a long sigh, then laughed. “You’re an Inner Sect disciple, so you probably haven’t heard.”

“The Outer Sect tournament used to be held once every three years. Only one year has passed since the last one, but the elders want to change it to once a year—and add a lot more prizes. The moment the news came out, everyone started training like mad. Every training ground is packed. The Threefold Stone Forest is dangerous enough to keep most people away, but even here you can’t escape the crowd.”

Sect competitions were nothing new—small meets organized by instructors and courtyards, larger meets between courtyards, and the official Outer Sect tournament hosted by the sect itself, with generous rewards and the chance to catch an elder’s eye.

Zhao Chun had never participated. Her spirit-root change had pushed her directly into the Inner Sect, and Inner Sect tournaments were generally limited to Foundation Establishment disciples—leaving her outside the gate.

By one twist of circumstance after another, she’d never fought in a formal disciple competition.

“So that’s it,” she said.

“There’s more,” Tu An added, lowering his voice. “I heard it was an Inner Sect elder’s order. Private technique lectures were cracked down on, too—the Discipline Hall seized quite a few people who were profiting off them. So everyone’s been forced back into the training grounds.”

“And there’s a new rule.” His tone turned grave. “If an Outer Sect disciple ranks at the bottom in the Outer Sect tournament, they must accept a challenge from a menial disciple. If they win, they keep their status. If they lose, they’re demoted to menial, and the challenger takes their place in the Outer Sect.”

In the past, menials had almost no path forward unless they broke through to the Foundation Establishment Stage and became an Outer Sect elder. Now a road had opened. Outer Sect disciples grew uneasy, while the menials could barely contain their joy.

Zhao Chun nodded. Banning private lectures, changing the tournament schedule, adding rules of promotion and demotion—step by step, the sect was clearly cleaning up the Outer Sect’s chaos.

Li Shu was busy with the Hundred Sects Assembly. Qiu Silhouette was in seclusion. Zhao Chun couldn’t tell which of the remaining two elders was driving these reforms.

But for now, her own cultivation came first.

As usual, Zhao Chun handed over twenty Cui Stones and had Tu An record the debt. Then she left the pavilion and headed for the stone forest entrance.

With lectures abolished, disciples felt their progress slow. With punishments from the Outer Sect tournament looming, no one dared waste time. Training grounds filled with desperate effort.

Last-minute sharpening couldn’t compare to years of steady grind, Zhao Chun thought. This tournament would likely flush out the lazy and make room for those who truly pursued the Dao. Only then could the sect cast off the old and renew itself.

She stepped into the stone forest and focused inward, ignoring the others around her.

Last time, during the Forest-Piercing Trial, she had been alone. She could act freely. This time, with so many disciples entering together, the differences between them showed at once.

Zhao Chun had not yet reached the late Qi Refining Stage, so she entered along the mid-stage path. Fifth- and sixth-level disciples surrounded her. At a glance, she looked unremarkable.

Then she moved.

In a blink, she left the crowd behind. Before a Shadow Monkey could even close in, her sword flashed—and it fell.

Behind her, disciples still struggled to hold their footing while fending off Shadow Monkeys, their steps breaking apart in panic.

Even those skilled in movement arts could only chase her shadow. Compared to Zhao Chun’s near-instantaneous speed, they were slow by more than a full beat.

“Who is that?”

“I’ve never seen her before!”

Someone whispered, awed. But before the words fully left his mouth, Zhao Chun had already shrunk into a black dot and vanished deeper into the forest.

“I can barely kill one of those things,” another disciple thought wildly. “How is it dying under her blade like smoke?”

Such thoughts weren’t limited to one person. One disciple even lost focus mid-fight and took a claw across the flesh. Pain snapped him back to reality, and he could only grit his teeth and face the enemy in front of him.