Chapter Eleven: Approaching Perfection

  "Lao Wu, well done!" As he walked into the crowd, Chang Yue, who had been keeping a distance from them all along, suddenly spoke up and revealed a faint smile on his face. Kong Zhuo was taken aback and also smiled slightly.

  Looking at others, except for Yu Xuanji's smile which seemed a bit forced, the smiles of everyone else were filled with sincerity and conviction, even with a sense of pride.

  Especially that week, Xue and Fang Shaobai were excited, "Hmph, this group of bastards, dare to underestimate us, now they know the severity!"

  She wrinkled her nose and said to Kong Zhuo, "But I really didn't expect it, Fifth Brother's swordsmanship is actually so amazing, you have such high-level swordsmanship but usually don't even give me any pointers!"

  There is a tone of complaint in it.

  Kong Zhuo burst out laughing, "This has nothing to do with me, my swordsmanship can be achieved through my diligent practice, you're so lazy, how could you possibly reach my level?"

  Fang Shaobai, who was standing beside him, suddenly trembled with his body, and if it weren't for the fact that everyone's attention was still focused on this side, he would have burst out laughing.

  Zhou Xue's expression was also very strange, I've seen shameless people before, but never as shameless as this. If Kong Zhuo were diligent, that old sow would have climbed a tree long ago.

  He stretched out his hand and pinched a handful of the fatty flesh around Kong Zhuo's waist, then let out a cold snort, turned his head away, and ignored him from then on.

  Kong Zhan smiled wryly and returned to his original position.

  This time, standing here feels different from just now when I was standing here.

  The eyes of several fellow disciples around him had a hint of recognition, a sense of recognition that was not there before. In an instant, Kong Zhuo vaguely understood what was going on.

  They are all core disciples of the inner door, no matter what their relationship is like, their status is roughly the same. Kong Zhuang usually only represents himself, but today, in this occasion, Kong Zhuang was challenged, and he represented the highest-ranking group of people among the third generation of Luo Fu Sect. If he lost, these people would also lose face, and now that he won so beautifully, it means that the strength of his fellow disciples, who are also core inner door disciples, will not be much different either. At least from now on, this group of people will be looked up to.

  This is the circle.

  They have their own small circle, just like the previous generation, also with more than a dozen masters and apprentices, divided into several small circles, and the strongest is the Luo Fu Five Swords led by Ling Ga Shangren.

  There were also ten people among them.

  They are roughly divided into three groups: one is Chang Yue, another is the six fellow disciples led by Lin Yufeng, and the other is Kong Zhan, Zhou Xue, and Fang Shaobai.

  But outside of these three circles, there is another secret small circle consisting of Chang Yue, Lin Shaofeng and Lu Wan. Lin Shaofeng and Lu Wan's strength clearly surpasses that of the others, so Chang Yue is also somewhat close to them. As for Kong Zhao, in the past, they were polite to him and joked with him because Kong Zhao was Mo Xiu's disciple, and his generation and status were the same as theirs. This politeness, this socializing was purely a matter of etiquette. Now, however, they have completely acknowledged Kong Zhao's strength, acknowledging that he has the qualifications to enter this originally three-person small circle, becoming one of the strongest figures among these ten disciples.

  This is a completely different feeling from before, purely based on strength and merit.

  So, although Kong Zhuang feels good now, it's not easy.

  This feeling is great, but wanting to stay like this forever requires maintaining the corresponding strength, which puts pressure on him, because he's not a diligent person, and he's very clear that cultivating such things relies most importantly on diligence, so his pressure is huge.

  The Kaishanmen Convention ended shortly after he stepped down.

  This was the last challenge and after him, there were fewer challengers, so soon after, Lingga Shangren announced that it had ended.

  And Kong Zhuo also returned to his original life, the only difference being that after that, except for Zhou Xue, no one else called him Luo Fu's pig again.

  ………

  …………

  Time flies like water, and in the blink of an eye, it flows very quickly.

  It's been half a year since the last Kaizangmen Conference.

  For half a year, everything has been as usual except for some changes in how others look at him that make him feel comfortable.

  However, among the third generation of Luhepai disciples, the number of core door inner disciples increased from ten to twenty-six.

  Apart from the five disciples of Luofu, Kong Zhuo's other uncles and elders also started accepting apprentices. This time, the disciples who opened the mountain gate had a solid foundation and good qualifications, which led to a sharp increase in the number of core inner door disciples.

  However, for Kong Zhuang, there was no impact at all. His master had not returned yet, and he did not want to be controlled by others, so nothing surprising or delightful happened.

  Standing in the chest-deep creek, Kong Zhuo held a green steel long sword and practiced the Bagua Nine Palaces Sword from head to toe with every move and gesture being very standardized.

  This time, there is no stagnation at all. Some moves require his hand to dance with the sword from the bottom of the water to the surface, and the speed of the sword and hand in the water is as stable and fast as it is in the air without water.

  This stream is 380 miles away from Qing Song Ping and is already at the deepest edge of the entire Luofu.

  A year ago, Kong Zhuang spent a lot of time finding this mountain stream that was suitable for him to practice his sword skills. From the shallowest point, which only reached his feet, to the current depth, which reached his chest, and if he went further forward, the water would be even deeper.

  His goal was to be able to stand in the water that would completely submerge him and practice his sword.

  Such a practice is bitter, but the progress is rapid. Without mentioning his rapid progress in swordsmanship, even his innate purple energy cultivation has made great progress.

  In just one year, he unexpectedly rose rapidly from the second layer of the Great Circle Realm to the third layer of the Great Circle Realm, which left him somewhat at a loss, but also ecstatic, because he could now practice flying swords and truly stepped into the threshold of becoming a Sword Immortal.

  When congenital purple energy cultivation reaches the third layer, it will produce a very big change. Simply put, part of the purple energy will merge with the cultivator's primordial soul, forming magical power and yuan Shen.

  At the same time, when you reach the third layer, your four-image five-line attributes will also slowly appear. In this way, you can cultivate your own magic weapon according to your original attribute.

  Of course, what is being referred to here are cultivators who follow a set path of cultivation. If you're someone with good luck, or if you happen to eat some kind of sacred fruit that changes your attributes, or enhances your abilities, or if your moral character suddenly improves and you obtain some sort of treasure, it's also completely possible for you to change your cultivation method to match this treasure.

  But now, for those like Kong Yan who cultivate within the school, apart from their own diligent cultivation, there aren't many other good methods.

  It seems that he is very satisfied with his current strength and performance. After practicing the Bagua Nine Palaces Sword, Kong Zhuo's face showed a hint of a smile. He walked up to the shore without resting, and with a slight movement of his left hand, a white light like a flying sword appeared around his left wrist. With a gentle flick of his wrist, the white light emitted a soft whistle and flew in the direction of his fingers. In an instant, it struck down a solitary pine tree several miles away, along with some rocks. With a flip of his hand, the white light returned and landed on the palm of his left hand, transforming into a short sword about one foot two or three inches long.

  This was the sword embryo condensed by Mo Xiu and given to him, although it was only slightly wrinkled, but also extremely sharp, with a chilling aura.

  Although his primordial spirit has not yet formed, he is already able to control his sword with his mind.

  If he can wield the sword with his mind, then it's no big deal to make it fly straight into the blue sky. With his estimate, it will be possible in just another year.

  One year later, his wish for freely soaring in the sky would be realized.

  Just thinking about it, he was excited, looking up at the blue sky, imagining himself flying with a sword in the clear sky, what kind of feeling would that be?

  It should be refreshing, right?

  He thought to himself.

  The sky gradually darkened, a mass of dark clouds covering the sky above his head at some point, suddenly, a loud thunderclap rang out beside his ear, followed by heavy rain pouring down, Kong Zhuo cursed and jumped up from the ground, then rushed into the thicket by the creek to find a cave to take shelter from the rain.

  However, it seems his luck wasn't too good, and after running a long way, he couldn't find any cave to take shelter from the rain.

  "Damn it! When I'm not looking for them, they're everywhere, just a few steps away. But when I need one, suddenly there's none!"

  Just as he was scolding, the sky suddenly flashed once, a bright lightning bolt flashed out of the cloud layer, and the direction was exactly on Kong Zhuo's side.

  "Impossible!" Kong Zhuo wailed, "I didn't do anything bad!" He shouted as he charged forward without hesitation.

  "Rumble!" A loud noise, just as his body had just left the ground, the lightning struck down, not hitting him, but striking a nearby hillside, cutting off an ancient pine tree at the waist, while at the same time, Kong Zhuo had already fallen into the mud and water.

  The rain grew heavier and heavier, as if the heavenly river had burst its banks.

  Kong Zhan suddenly fell to the muddy ground, just like he did ten years ago on that rainy night in the cold canyon.