In a modern city, in an old-fashioned apartment. Ah! Zhou Qing held a short sword with a length of over one foot and a width of two fingers, its entire body crystal yellow with a few black dots on it. "Last month I finally reached the realm of 'Guiding Qi into the Body', not easy at all, can now control flying swords, but this flying sword is too difficult to handle! Top-quality red copper five hundred pounds, red steel three hundred pounds, gold, silver, and jade powder used tens of thousands, resulting in a single sword with poor quality." Zhou Qing was a cultivator who followed the 'Practicing Tool Sect', which as its name suggests focused on practicing tool-making techniques. In the cultivation world, it was an extremely small sect, so small that other cultivation sects didn't even know it existed. Zhou Qing was also lucky, having just entered university with youthful passion and a desire to do good deeds, studying Lei Feng. After using a bottle of mineral water to save a beggar on the side of the road, he became the successor of the 'Practicing Tool Sect'. He was taken in as an apprentice by the beggar who called himself Ling Yun Dao Ren, but after learning from him for a month, Ling Yun left behind a book titled "The Complete Guide to Practicing Tools" and passed away. It turned out that Ling Yun had gotten into a fight with a disciple of the Shu Mountain Sword Sect over a piece of yellow cloud crystal on Mount Changbai, resulting in severe injuries after being beaten by several disciples. Zhou Qing saved him when he was on his last breath. Thus, Zhou Qing became the legitimate successor and sect leader of the 'Practicing Tool Sect', although it was just an empty title.

  I thought I was like the protagonist of countless fantasies, having a legendary encounter and becoming invincible, but it turns out I still have to humble myself and be a normal person.

  The cool night was like water, with a bright moon hanging high in the sky, emitting a soft and gentle light. It was already midnight. On the balcony, Zhou Qing took out several crystal-clear jade stones. He pinched a few hand seals and set up a small hidden array to prevent his breath from leaking out during cultivation. From the very beginning of his cultivation, Zhou Qing had made up his mind that unless he became extremely powerful, he would never reveal himself. Otherwise, he would end up like Ling Yun, that old ghost.

  Zhou Qing sat cross-legged in the array, his five hearts facing upwards. A stream of moonlight shone on his head and he vanished into thin air. A thread of cool breath flowed along the meridians to the dantian, Zhou Qing immersed himself in this watery moonlight, using the lunar spirit's energy to temper his flesh, expand his meridians, and increase his true strength.

  "Lead the air into the body", people who cultivate Tao, first cultivate a mouthful of true energy in their own body. Ordinary people practice Qi, and after five years of cultivation, they will have a sense of Qi, and after ten years, it will circulate throughout the whole body. However, to lead the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into the body, tempering the physical body, requires decades of hard work that cannot be counted.

  Zhou Qing is also a rare talent, in just five years, relying on the "Practicing Instrument Scripture" which is a second-rate cultivation method in the spiritual world, he forcibly broke through the hundred meridians of his body and reached the realm of drawing in air. The Practicing Instrument Scripture's method of cultivating energy is second-rate, but its array method is first-rate, and the Practicing Instrument is established on the basis of the array method. However, the methods recorded in the "Practicing Instrument Compendium", including array method, alchemy, talisman practice, and sword practice, are extremely brilliant methods for refining instruments. But as the saying goes, "a clever wife cannot cook without rice", to refine even a slightly better flying sword requires tons of steel, iron, and copper.

  Zhou Qing was unable to, after graduating from university, relying on his own knowledge of antiques, started a business dealing with ancient jade and other artifacts. Firstly, it was for the sake of making money, as in this day and age, without money, nothing can be done. Secondly, he wanted to see if he could dig out a few treasures that had been passed down by the previous generation of masters from among the piles of antiques. It's worth noting that each generation of practitioners of the Qian Fa sect has been weak, but their ability to appreciate and identify precious artifacts is unmatched by other schools.

  After several years of struggling, Zhou Qing's net worth had also reached tens of millions. In modern times, he couldn't be considered a rich man, but his food and clothing were no longer a worry. However, to craft a decent magical artifact, aside from the heavenly treasures, jade stones that stored true yuan and could be carved with array patterns were good materials. A high-quality jade stone would cost at least tens of millions. Over the years, Zhou Qing had only collected a few small pieces of blue田jade, enough to set up a few arrays with limited power.

  Upon waking from meditation, Zhou Qing felt that his true yuan had become even more substantial. "Ah! The heavens are vast and slow, not rushed or hasty. One day I will surely achieve the Great Dao!" His ten fingers intertwined, "Quickly!" A flying sword shot out from the top of his head, transforming into a yellow light that revolved around his body. "The materials aren't good, but being able to cultivate it to this point is already passable. My power isn't enough yet; if I could emit the Triple Flavor True Fire to refine away the impurities, perhaps it would be possible for me to ride on it." Zhou Qing thought to himself. He yearned for the day when he could tread on the flying sword and roam freely above the white clouds, traveling to famous mountains and great rivers.

  "Huh? The aura has a slight fluctuation, someone is using magic!" Being able to draw in the heavenly and earthly aura into his body, Zhou Qing naturally had a good understanding of the aura. Although it was just a slight fluctuation, he still sensed it.

  In modern society, whether it's cultivators or demons and monsters, they've all blended into the city, restraining each other. Several larger sects even have their own industries in the mortal world. After all, resources aren't as abundant as they were in ancient times. Back then, a cultivator could refine a flying sword by searching for iron ore, collecting five metals, and jade stones themselves. Nowadays, mineral deposits belong to the state - if you want them, pay up! It's true that without money, even immortals can't survive. The extremely rare natural treasures have been swept clean by major sects over thousands of years. Cultivation has an extremely low cost-benefit ratio; often, a single stalk of spiritual medicine that took over a thousand years to grow would be devoured in just a few bites by cultivators. There's not enough to go around! When something rare appears, it's inevitable that there will be fighting and snatching - Lingyun lost his life because of this.

  Adjusted the cinnabar, drew a hidden escape symbol on his chest, hid his breath, and stuck a divine movement symbol on his leg. Zhou Qing hurried quietly to the fluctuating location.

  "You little scoundrels, how dare you deceive me so!" The python spirit was furious. For a 500-year-old mature ginseng, it had been chased for thousands of miles by the fourth son of the two Shu Mountain Sword Sects. It was originally a white python in the deep mountains, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon, cultivating for over 200 years, and finally shedding its body to transform into a human form. On Mount Tian, it discovered this mature ginseng, just as it was about to pick it up and take it, two Shu Mountain disciples arrived to rob it. Although its Taoist cultivation was more than twice as deep as theirs, the opponent's flying swords were too formidable. The male and female duo were both around 20 years old; the man wielded a green flying sword, with a length of several zhang (a unit of measurement) between the flashes of green light. The woman also had a similar sword, but its light was purple. The intertwined purple and green lights shattered the demonic energy into powder.

  "Heavenly medicine, how can it fall into the hands of evil demons and monsters!" The girl was slender, with willow eyebrows and a beautiful face, dressed in very fashionable attire, a perfect urban beauty!

  "Sister, what's the point of arguing with him? Killing him would be doing the world a favor by ridding it of evil." The young man said with an air of arrogance and impatience.

  "Hah! Hah! What a noble and righteous family, even murder and robbery can be justified with grandiose words!" The python spirit was furious and laughed in anger.

  "Die!" The young man roared in anger! "Twin Swords Unite!" The two men and women shouted simultaneously. Suddenly, the purple and blue lights surged with increased power, rushing towards the python spirit. The air emitted a piercing whine, as if space was being torn apart. The python spirit's face turned extremely solemn, and with a strange noise, it spat out a green ball the size of a chicken egg from its mouth - its own carefully cultivated demon pellet!

  Boom! The sword and the dan collided! A massive yuanqi explosion erupted, sending three figures flying out over ten feet away. The python spirit's face was as white as paper, its lower body originally two human legs now transformed into a giant white snake tail! Its dao cultivation had at least retreated by half! The python spirit let out a bitter laugh! Looking at the unconscious girl on one side and the young man with his sword stuck in the ground, a thread of fresh blood flowing from the corner of his mouth. Both were severely injured, the python spirit shook its tail, summoning a whirlwind to carry it away! The python spirit was not a benevolent being, initially wanting to go forward and kill them, but fearing the young man's dying counterattack, plus fighting in the city, although it was in the suburbs, it was afraid of being outnumbered by cultivators. After thinking for a moment, it decided it wasn't worth it! It flashed away!

  As the python spirit dissipated, the young man let out a sigh of relief and picked up his flying sword that had been knocked off by the demon pellet. He walked over to the girl's side to check on her injuries. "Fortunately, she just fainted from the shock. That damned python spirit! It managed to hurt both me and my junior sister. Once we recover, I'll gather a few more senior brothers and we won't rest until we flay that beast alive!" Just as he was thinking this, a sharp pain struck his chest. He looked down to see a yellow flying sword with black spots protruding from his heart, making it hard for him to breathe. With great difficulty, Zhao Liang turned his head and vaguely saw a figure in black clothes with their face covered before everything went dark.

  Originally, Zhou Qing's strength was far below Zhao Liang's, but after a fierce battle, Zhao Liang was seriously injured. Taking advantage of this, Zhou Qing deliberately hid his aura and launched a sneak attack, succeeding with one move. He quickly retrieved the two flying swords.

  Body searched, two wallets, a secret book, several pieces of jade. In an instant, everything was taken away, the whole process didn't take one minute! Someone's coming! Two divine movement talismans were slapped on his legs, Zhou Qing successfully flashed away.

  Quickly using the array method to seal the spiritual energy of the two flying swords, Zhou Qing made a big circle and went online at an internet cafe in the city for a while, but didn't find anyone following him. Only when the sky was bright did he leave the internet cafe and return home.

  Murder and robbery, doing such things requires caution! If the opposing school finds out, I estimate that my own bones will be beaten to smithereens! Returning to his residence, Zhou Qing was over the moon with excitement! The harvest is not small! After getting excited for a moment, he calmed down. Zhou Qing began to think: As an ordinary person's identity, it's unlikely that suspicion would fall on himself, so there's no need to rush into action, wait until the storm passes before making a move. He hastily gathered up his usual practice materials, talismans and cinnabar.

  For the next month, Zhou Qing did nothing and didn't practice his skills. He just ran around the antique market every day, doing business. Eating and sleeping, he was doing ordinary people's things. Being careful is better than being bold, Zhou Qing thought to himself. Before long, a month had passed without incident. In the second month, Zhou Qing carefully practiced his skills at night. After practicing for a month, nothing happened. Only then did he put his mind at ease.

  Inside, Zhou Qing picked up a sword that was like autumn water, two feet long, and emitted a blue light all over its body. He carefully examined it. "What a good sword! The whole body is made of Taiyi Golden Essence, even the hilt is made of purple sandalwood heart that's over 100 years old!" Zhou Qing sighed. To know that this purple sandalwood heart has an extremely restraining effect on vengeful spirits and ghosts, making it into a wooden sword or token is even better than using peach wood that's over 100 years old. But what's rare is the Taiyi Golden Essence, which requires 500 kilograms of good steel to be refined with the three flavors of true fire, and it's already good if one kilogram can be refined. Normally, when making flying swords, just adding a few grams would double the quality of the sword. These two two-foot-long precious swords together weigh at least ten or twenty kilograms. How much steel is needed for that! Especially the three flavors of true fire require a master who has achieved "Practicing Qi to Transform Spirit" to emit it.

  The Taoist practice of qigong is divided into four stages: "Guide the Qi to Enter the Body", "Practice Qi to Transform Spirit", "Practice Spirit to Return to Emptiness", and "Practice Emptiness to Unite with Dao". Ultimately, one achieves the state of Golden Immortal of Great Luo, indestructible for ten thousand kalpas, eternally imperishable.

  The difference in each stage is enormous. The cultivator of "Guiding Qi into the Body" refines the primordial energy of heaven and earth to temper their physical body, making it as strong as a green jade, able to split open mountains and crack rocks. In the later stages, they can even control flying swords and travel thousands of miles in a single day.

  "Qigong transforms the spirit" is different, using one's own spiritual thoughts as a guide, the physical body as a medium, without relying on any tools or instruments, can drive various energies in the universe, and with a flick of the wrist, can emit thunder and lightning, three flavors of true fire.

  "Practicing the Spirit to Return to Emptiness" can achieve immortality and escape the six paths of reincarnation. "Practicing Emptiness to Unite with the Dao" is even more extraordinary, able to move mountains and fill seas, and in an instant, one can travel throughout the five lakes and four seas, the eight wildernesses and six harmonies. Each stage of breakthrough is probably not much different from Jingwei filling the sea or Yugong moving mountains.

  "Shu Mountain Sword Sect is indeed rich and powerful! Thousands of years of accumulation are not in vain. Even the imitation Purple and Green Double Swords are incredibly strong. If they were the real Zi Xuan Sword and Qing Suo Sword, I'm afraid even a master of the 'Practicing Spirit Returning to Void' would have a hard time matching them. No wonder that year, even the Ten Thousand Year Blood Demon was defeated under the combined might of the two swords. I wonder if all Shu Mountain disciples use such good flying swords when traveling the world? That old ghost Ling Yun deserved his death. Hmph! Having snatched two excellent flying swords and a secret manual, my strength has increased greatly, and it's also a way to avenge that old ghost Ling Yun."

  But Zhou Qing was wrong, although they were imitations, there were only a few of them in the Shu Mountain Sect. After all, Taiyi Golden Essence wasn't easy to obtain, and thousands of years of accumulation only yielded a few dozen kilograms. Only exceptionally talented disciples could get it, and Zhao Liang and his sister's parents had great influence and wealth in the mortal world. The Shu Mountain elders were very fond of them, so they were granted two swords. Otherwise, with their cultivation level at the middle stage of Qi Refining, how could they have heavily injured a White Python with over 200 years of Dao experience? Forming a Demon Dan was already the strength of the late stage of Qi Refining. One before and one after, their cultivation levels differed by three times or more.

  "The Sword Qi Ling Kong Jue" As he flipped open the old-fashioned thread-bound book, even with Zhou Qing's exceptional calmness, he was still shocked. This is a profound sword immortal cultivation technique! Using the sword as a medium to communicate with heaven and earth, absorbing energy, the better the sword, the faster the absorption speed, much faster than the physical body. No wonder the ancient sword immortals were invincible! "I said those two kids reached the middle stage of Qi gathering in just over a decade?"

  A surge of energy flowed, and the Qing Suo sword was absorbed into his body. The Zi Ying sword was for women to use, and Zhou Qing wasn't foolish enough to absorb it as well. Although he had the spirit of not wasting anything, with his current cultivation level, he couldn't erase the array on it and re-craft it, so he could only put it aside.

  For the next few days, Zhou Qing did not leave his house and focused on practicing the "Sword Qi Ling Kong Decree" with the Qing Suo sword. The material of the flying sword that was not of pure quality was also refined into a four-inch square seal, which was recorded in the Practitioner's Compendium as an ancient treasure. Zhou Qing was most interested in the Tian Xuan Da Sheng Guang Cheng Zi's Heaven-Defying Seal, which could be large or small, covering thousands of miles when large and being as small as a mustard seed when small. With one strike, even a practitioner who had reached the level of Returning to Void would be destroyed by the seal. This seal was called the Small Heaven-Defying Seal, and not mentioning the material problem, Zhou Qing's cultivation at the initial stage of Qi Refining had used up more than half of his true yuan to refine his physical body through the transformation of a small amount of heavenly spiritual energy. The other small half was barely enough to engrave a Xu Mi Zi array on it, making the seal large or small. However, even with Zhou Qing's full effort, the seal could only expand from four inches square to one meter wide. It was far from covering thousands of miles. A few pieces of jade stone he had obtained were also good quality, among which one piece obtained from his sister was actually ink jade, an excellent material for making stealth talismans. Zhou Qing would not waste it.

  The river wind whispers, the remaining glow of the setting sun flows down onto the river's surface with a sprinkle of golden light. Zhou Qing is filled with emotions, thinking back to his five years of cultivating the Tao, every matter handled with caution, truly as if treading on thin ice. Zhou Qing deeply understands that this world of cultivators is one where strength is revered, secular laws are no stronger than scrap paper in the eyes of cultivators, and there are even strong ones who can kill someone on the street with just a word, after all, they come without a shadow and leave without a trace, how can the police investigate?

  "Hmph!! What I desire, is to do as I please, but alas, without great power, everything is just empty talk. From now on, I will seize everything to increase my strength. What morality and righteousness, what great dao, all go to hell! As long as my power is strong enough, I am the dao. I am heaven, why are heaven and earth so strong? It's because they are not benevolent, they treat all things like straw dogs! What gods, demons, immortals, buddhas... are all illusory things without compare. Only that eternal power is the true foundation!!" Zhou Qing's mind was churning like a stormy sea, raging. But his expression remained very natural.

  Strolling along the river, I walked and walked until I arrived at a street lined with antique shops. This is C City's largest center for trading antiques, jade, and porcelain, and it also has some reputation in H Province. As night began to fall, people on the street gradually headed home, and the owners of each shop pulled down their iron gates. Street vendors were carefully packing up their goods. Zhou Qing walked quickly to a storefront near the street. "He Zi Bo, when did you get back?"

  "Hmm, I just returned from Tibet yesterday and brought back some small items. I was just about to call you tonight to come over and take a look. And here you are! Come on in, let me close the door."

  He Zibo is Zhou Qing's university classmate, who has been determined to be a collector since childhood. After graduation, he opened this antique shop with his girlfriend, unlike Zhou Qing who wandered around.

  "What about Yang Jing?" Zhou Qing walked into the house, looked around and asked. "She went out with a few sisters to stroll around the street. She won't be back until after 9 pm tonight. Come take a look, I brought some good stuff from Tibet this time."

  A dark blue ****, densely covered with Sanskrit scriptures. It is an object used by Tibetan Buddhist monks to pray for blessings. Among them, there are also those who have high attainments and add Buddha's power to make it a magic weapon to subdue demons and evil spirits. Zhou Qing's mind swept over it, but didn't find any fluctuations in the magical powers, so he knew it was just an ordinary object, although its age was ancient and its craftsmanship was exquisite, making it a fine piece of folk art. Several small, delicate and beautiful Tibetan knives, some antique decorations with a strong Tibetan flavor.

  She casually picked out a few pieces, along with that dark blue one. Zhou Qing pushed them to one side and said to He Zibao: "These few items are for me, how much do they cost?"

  "Day! Every time it's like this, why don't you call Zhou Bopi?!" He Zibao laughed and scolded, "However, you little guy always manages to get a good price, damn, more expensive than what I sell for, really don't know how you find those big fools...like this, cost price, 2300."

  "Alright! I'll take it away, and give you the money tomorrow!"

  "Don't be in a hurry, let's have a couple of drinks before we go, I just so happen to have a few bottles of beer here."

  Zhou Qing heard this and hastily shook his head, "I'm not drinking with you, Yang Jing will skin you alive when she gets back." He Zhibo had a terrible tolerance for alcohol, yet he treated it as if it were his lifeblood. Because of this, he didn't know how many times his wife had scolded him. Thinking about Yang Jing's ferocity, Zhou Qing couldn't help but shiver, grabbed his things and made a run for the door, leaving behind the words "Brother, you're really asking for trouble!" He Zhibo was instantly overcome with gloom.

  After several months of cultivation, the "Sword Qi Ling Kong Jue" had achieved some success. The true yuan in his dantian was thick and rich, and his physical body had become more than twice as strong. It was astonishing that just a few months could surpass his own five years of bitter cultivation, and Zhou Qing deeply felt the importance of the cultivation method. However, Zhou Qing was not very satisfied.

  Lingyun Old Man said, "Although the Shu Mountain Sword Sect is a major sect, its ranking is still below that of Kunlun, Tianshi, and Miao Shan. Although their method of cultivating energy through swordsmanship advances quickly, it's ultimately a side door, with an unstable foundation. No choice, if I were to cultivate on my own, I'd probably need several decades to reach the middle stage of energy manipulation... Hmm, might as well go out and take a walk, run into some Kunlun disciples and steal some techniques from them. After all, this isn't the first time I've done something like this. They're an ancient Daoist sect that's been passed down through generations. There must be some good stuff."

  Ding! Ding! Ding! ****As Zhou Qing slowly turned, a pleasant sound was emitted. A sense of serene Zen flowed in her heart. Weird... I've picked up treasure, Zhou Qing thought.

  "Calm the mind and quell the evil spirit, this is a treasure of Buddhism! How can't you see even half a hint of spiritual power fluctuation? Especially since it seems to be engraved with ancient Sanskrit that has been lost for ages! It's really strange to the extreme!"

  Can't figure it out, then don't think about it. Zhou Qing was a naturally eccentric person, but not an extremist. Knowing that this thing wasn't ordinary, after continuously changing the hand seals of thirty-six kinds of ritual treasures, yet there was no reaction at all, he couldn't help but sigh. His mind once again immersed itself in the "Sword Qi Ling Kong Jue", and a little bit of heaven and earth spiritual energy dissolved into Zhou Qing's dantian...