Chapter 4: Self-Created Methods

  As soon as he arrived at the Scripture Pavilion, he calmed his mind and began to study various ancient texts and jade slips. He recorded their contents into his Wisdom Brain, which would create a more perfect and suitable technique for himself. After all, his Wisdom Brain understood his body better than Ye Tianfan did. After a day and night of hard work, he finally finished recording the techniques from various aspects. Because Ye Tianfan had a sudden idea to create a comprehensive technique that included attacking, defending, and physical skills, it took him almost half the time to complete. Recording these techniques also made him understand their uses and appreciate his choice even more. He realized the importance of balance, and that both offense and defense were necessary to achieve it, with physical skills being the balancing point.

  This further refined his understanding of Tai Chi, and he made progress in controlling the Five Elements. The rotation of the Five Elements became more smooth and effortless. Three days later, the technique was finally created. Since this technique is based on Tai Chi, it was named Tai Chi Sword Technique. Because Tai Chi Sword Technique is a comprehensive technique that includes both offense and defense, there was no need to create another defensive technique. Therefore, he went on to create a faster body technique, borrowing from the principle of "fast hitting slow" in Tai Chi, creating the Tai Chi Step, which uses slowness to overcome speed. Now that the technique had been created, all that was left was to practice it.

  Thinking of this, he suddenly realized that he didn't even have a sword, how could he practice? "Sigh, I'll just practice my footwork for now." As soon as he thought of it, Ye Tianfan slowly circulated the Five Elements True Essence to the meridians in his feet. The next moment, a faint light flashed and Ye Tianfan had already moved to the left upper side ten meters away. Another flash, and he was already at the right upper side fifteen meters away. After moving continuously for over a dozen steps, he had already exited his courtyard and arrived outside. Fortunately, there was no one here, otherwise they would have been startled.

  "It's great, my speed has increased by at least twice, and this is still due to lack of practice. Once I get familiar with it, I can increase it by another fold. It's just that it consumes too much true energy. Fortunately, I have five types of true energy, which is five times more than a cultivator of the same realm. Otherwise, I would really be at a loss. Even for me, if it were someone else, their true energy would have been depleted long ago." After saying this, he sat down cross-legged to recover his true energy. After recovering, he started practicing again, and after depleting his true energy once more, he continued practicing until he was proficient. "Since the footwork is so extraordinary, I wonder how the swordsmanship will be?" Ye Tianfan had already begun to fantasize, full of anticipation.

  "No, I need to hurry up and find a sword, practice as soon as possible." After thinking about it, he walked towards his grandfather's room. As soon as he entered the house, he called out sweetly: "Grandfather!" Then he said eagerly: "Grandfather, I want a sword, I want to practice sword fighting, can you give me one?" Ye Qin smiled and said: "Of course, not just one sword, even ten swords are fine, but I don't know why you suddenly want to practice sword fighting, can you tell grandfather about it?" Ye Tianfan had an impulse to reveal everything, but the words got stuck in his throat. He now had more experience than Ye Qin and deeply understood the saying "a single spark can start a prairie fire" and that there was no wall that didn't leak air. If he revealed the truth, it might bring disaster to the entire family, so it was better for him to take on everything himself.

  "Grandpa, look at my cultivation," Ye Tianfan said, releasing a faint aura of pressure. "Golden Elixir stage peak, how is that possible?!" Ye Qin asked, trembling with shock, knowing it took him over 100 years to reach the Golden Elixir stage and he was considered talented, but compared to Ye Tianfan, he was far inferior. As he thought about this, his eyes burned with intensity, staring at Ye Tianfan.

  Unable to withstand Grandpa's scorching gaze, Ye Tianfan continued, "Grandpa, four years ago, I met an old man with a white beard outside. He said he wanted to take me as his disciple. I didn't pay attention and turned to leave because I knew I was a Five Elements cripple and couldn't cultivate. I thought he was joking and didn't take it seriously, but he became anxious and subdued me without warning. A stream of divine consciousness entered my mind, and at the time, I was very scared. However, he didn't harm me; instead, he imparted a vast amount of knowledge and techniques to me. The knowledge was too much for me to handle, and I fainted.

  When I came to, the person had already left, leaving only one sentence in my mind: 'I have passed on our sect's techniques to you, so even if you don't want to be my disciple, it's not possible. Don't tell anyone about me, and after reaching the Nascent Soul stage, go find me at our sect.' Although I thought he was being unreasonable, I decided to try out his techniques with an open mind. As soon as I looked at them, I was drawn in. The techniques were tailor-made for me. Without realizing it, I started practicing them and found the effects to be unexpectedly good.

  Now, after four years of practice, I have reached the peak of the Golden Elixir stage. Using a technique to conceal my aura, I've been hiding my true cultivation level, making myself appear like an ordinary person. The reason I want a sword is to practice the sword techniques left behind by my master, so that when I reach the Nascent Soul stage and go find him at our sect, I'll have the ability to protect myself.

  I hope Grandpa can keep this secret, not telling anyone except Mom and Dad."

  Upon hearing this, Ye Qin felt a mix of emotions and was momentarily stunned. He unconsciously replied to Sunzi's words, "Alright, Grandfather won't say anything." Only after speaking did he remember that Sunzi was still there, and thinking about his own awkward situation earlier made him want to find a hole to crawl into. Fortunately, Ye Qin's face was already thick-skinned enough, and the room was somewhat dark, so he thought Sunzi hadn't seen anything. Unfortunately, he didn't know about Ye Tianfan's extraordinary abilities, which allowed him to see clearly in the dark as if it were daytime. Otherwise, his face might have turned even redder. Although this was the case, Ye Tianfan had no intention of exposing him. After all, they had to maintain the old man's dignity, just in case Grandfather got angry.

  To change the subject, Ye Qin said: "Come on, good grandson, I'll take you to the armory to find a suitable weapon for you." He didn't wait for Ye Tianfan's response and walked out of the courtyard. After crossing two bridges, they arrived at the armory. On both sides of the armory stood a Golden Dan period cultivator guarding it, showing how much importance was placed on the armory. Ye Qin turned around and said: "Good grandson, this is the armory, come on, follow me in." He led the way forward. Ye Tianfan responded with a "yes" and followed him in.

  As he entered, looking at the spiritual artifacts, he felt particularly shocked. More than 500 spiritual artifacts, although most were only low-grade, a small portion were mid-grade, and there was not a single high-grade artifact. Of course, there was one high-grade artifact, it was the tribe's treasure, and only each generation's tribe leader could possess it. "You choose," Ye Qin said. Looking at so many spiritual artifacts, he didn't know which one to pick, and after choosing for a long time, he still hadn't picked one. Just as he was getting bored, his eyes caught sight of the rusty sword in the corner, and he couldn't look away. Seeing his grandson looking at the rusty sword, he explained: "That sword is made of unknown material, can't tell its grade, it's just very hard, not much use." Meaning to tell him not to choose that sword.