Chapter 72: Breaking Through the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining

  The first one-eyed dragon, Da Han, died, and the remaining few fugitives did not last long, soon being beheaded by Fang Yan and his two companions.

  "This battle, a total of 120 points of merit value were obtained." Fang Yan drew out the blood blade with a drop of blood, and the cold system prompt sound kept ringing. After killing five desperate fugitives, there were still several disciples of the two royal families who had not completely lost their breath on the ground. Fang Yan went forward again and gave them another sword, accumulating 60 points of merit value in mid-air.

  "This time we really made a big haul, nine heads of fugitives, this time, we are sure to pass the assessment." Looking at the blood-soaked heads, Fang Qing was injured but had an excited face.

  "We're all injured now, and there's no supplies here. Let's find a hidden place to recover from our injuries first. I'm worried that Gao Jin and his men will gather more people and come back to finish us off with another attack." Fu Qingxuan's face was filled with worry, her complexion somewhat pale. In the previous battle, she had almost been killed by one of the desperate fugitives' dying counterattack.

  "Alright, let's find a place to rest for a while." Fang Yan had originally intended to continue pursuing Gao Jin and Wang Chu, but Fang Qing and Fu Liuxian were both seriously injured, especially Fang Qing, whose chest was pierced by an enemy sword. If they didn't find a place to retreat and recover, their lives would be in danger.

  Actually, Fang Yan chose to find a place to cultivate mainly because the system prompted him that he had grasped the heart of the brave, and his cultivation experience value doubled. He was very curious about this point. Whether the doubling of cultivation experience value is permanent or just for today, he must figure it out, otherwise, if he misses it, he will have no place to regret later.

  The nine fugitives' heads were sprinkled with preservatives and collected, while Fang Yan and the other three found a relatively secluded forest to lie in wait.

  Fu Qingxuan and Fang Qing each closed themselves off on a large tree to recover from their injuries. Fang Yan activated the repair system to repair his wounds, then began to cultivate using his merit points.

  "After cultivating for an hour, I've actually accumulated 320 experience points." Fang Yan stopped his cultivation and checked the experience points required to level up, and suddenly felt a sense of surprise.

  Not using merit points to cultivate for an hour, his cultivation base of eightfold Qi Refining stage is 80 experience points. Using merit points to cultivate for an hour is 160 points. At this moment, it's 320 points, which is double the amount gained from cultivating with merit points.

  "Is this the reward for comprehending the Brave Heart?" Fang Yan pondered for a moment, and couldn't help but hum a gentle tune as he opened up the system interface in his mind to take a closer look at the suddenly acquired Brave Heart skill.

  Now, Fang Yan's cultivation is at the 8th level of Qi Refining, and upgrading to the 9th level requires a total of 51,200 experience points. Practicing for six hours a day would take over 20 days. With the comprehension of the Brave Warrior's Heart, the experience point doubling skill, the time was directly shortened by half, requiring only about 10 days. Adding the experience points he had accumulated in the first half of the month, at this moment, to upgrade to the 9th level of Qi Refining, he only needed 5,760 experience points, which would take six days. Now, within three days, he could enter the 9th level of Qi Refining. This was undoubtedly a major breakthrough, making up for Fang Yan's urgent need for cultivation time.

  "Comprehend the Brave Heart skill, doubling the experience value. Note that the Brave Heart level can be upgraded with the host's mental state, and each upgrade doubles the experience value based on the original value. There are a total of nine levels, with the highest being nine times. Fang Yan tapped on the newly comprehended Brave Heart skill, and the cold system prompt sounded in his mind."

  "This Brave Heart thing is really a good thing, it can increase experience points by up to nine times. The time spent cultivating is shortened by nine times. Unfortunately, later on, the amount of experience points required for each level up is just too terrifying."

  Fang Yan calculated that advancing to the 8th or 9th rank of the Violent Qi Realm at his current cultivation rate would take many years. Thinking about Xia Nianxiu, who was only in her early twenties and already a strong cultivator in the Xiantian stage, with this Xianxia system, even geniuses from this world didn't have much advantage. The only advantage was that there were no bottlenecks to cultivation, as soon as experience points were full, they would break through.

  "Now the only thing that can be done is to upgrade the Brave Heart level to 9th, which will have a 9-fold increase in experience value. But how do I upgrade this thing?" After the Brave Heart, what realm is it? How to make this skill upgrade, Fang Yan's current realm level can't even be queried, Fang Yan could only shake his head helplessly and say.

  Fang Yan scanned his surroundings, saw Fang Qing, Fu Qingxuan was still in seclusion cultivating, and there was nothing unusual around him. He then began to cultivate, what he needed to do now was to seize the time to raise his cultivation to the 9th level of Qi Refining stage.

  Practicing for six hours a day, I can break through my current realm in three days. If I practice for twelve hours a day, I can break through in just one and a half days. In these two days, Fang Qing and Fu Qingxuan's injuries will also be mostly healed, and they can continue to fight.

  Immediately, Fang Yan was operating the Pure Yang Art, and the point value of his work was transformed into pure energy pouring into his body as he operated the Pure Yang Art. Next, the experience points of the characters on the system interface were jumping non-stop.

  Sleepless and restlessness, a day and night's time slipped away quietly.

  Fang Yan was like an old monk in meditation, cultivating for a day and a night. For a whole day, he didn't take a single drop of water, yet he showed no signs of fatigue, instead looking refreshed and invigorated. If not for his stomach protesting, he could have continued cultivating like this indefinitely.

  "My stomach is protesting, I need to get some food. Luckily, I have a spatial backpack with several days' worth of dry rations." Fang Yan opened his tightly closed eyes, and the sharp glint in them flashed by in an instant. He saw that Fang Qing and Fu Qingshuang had also woken up from their meditation, looking much better than yesterday. Suddenly, he said, "Everyone must be hungry, I still have some dry rations here, let's make do with it for now, and after a day's time, we can explore this Gourd Valley."

  While speaking, Fang Yan took out two dry rations from the space backpack and threw them to Fang Qing and Fu Qingxuan. Because the two were busy treating their injuries, they didn't go around looking for food.

  After eating dry rations, Fang Yan, Fang Qing and Fu Qingshuang began to meditate and heal their wounds.

  The sun, moon and stars alternate, in the blink of an eye, night falls, the sky in Gourd Valley is exceptionally dark, the thick fog disperses, and the dense stars can be vaguely seen above.

  Fang Yan was practicing with all his might, and every point of merit was converted into experience points for upgrading.

  "Ding! Congratulations, host successfully upgraded to Qi Refining Stage 9th layer. To reach the next level, you still need 48,760 experience points."

  In the practice room, Fang Yan suddenly felt his body lighten, and the primordial energy of heaven and earth rushed in from all around, pouring into his body. His breath was constantly strengthening, and then the cold system prompt sounded in his mind.

  "It's finally the 9th layer of Qi Refining, it wasn't easy." Upon hearing the cold system prompt, Fang Yan couldn't help but feel a wave of emotion as he woke up from his meditation.

  Fang Yan stretched his waist and let out a long sigh. He felt a foul odor emanating from around his body, knowing it was the impurities being expelled by this body. Pinching his nose, he circulated his energy to shake off the impurities, then took out a clean shirt from his spatial backpack and changed into it. Seeing Fang Qing and Fu Qingshuang still in meditation, he didn't disturb them but instead found another secluded spot to resume his own cultivation.