Chapter 4: Fierce Progress

  Although he didn't want to sleep, Zhou Heng still forced himself to rest, as he was currently in a critical period of growth.

  Waking up at dawn, Zhou Heng got up and hastily ate breakfast before starting to ponder and refine the Nine Styles Sword Technique in his mind.

  He didn't have high expectations, he just put his mind on the first style of swordsmanship.

  This is a gradual process, to practice the second form of swordsmanship, you must first master the first form, and cannot skip it, this is the conclusion he drew after observing the nine forms of swordsmanship in his mind countless times.

  From early morning to late at night, Zhou Heng was always pondering the first style of swordsmanship, constantly refining its subtleties, and each time he practiced, he had a new epiphany, becoming more and more in harmony with heaven and earth, and in tune with nature.

  Despite this, he was still unable to fully utilize his first style of swordsmanship.

  The moon was high in the sky, Zhou Heng stopped his research on swordsmanship and sat cross-legged, cultivating the Liuyang Jue instead.

  Buzz!

  At midnight, the black broken sword vibrated on time, releasing a large amount of free energy. Zhou Heng naturally wouldn't be polite, and after absorbing it with the Whale Swallowing Technique for half an hour, these energies were absorbed clean, and his cultivation had a significant improvement.

  "At this rate, in just five or six more days, I'll be able to reach the peak of the first layer of Body Refining!" Zhou Heng couldn't hide the joy on his face.

  As for the black-colored broken sword, he didn't have a single clue about it, but that didn't stop him from making an inference. For the past decade, the black-colored broken sword had been absorbing the true yuan force he cultivated, as if it was forging a key.

  When enough true yuan power is accumulated, the key will be forged, unlocking the black 'color' broken sword's heterogeneity, passing on to him nine styles of mysterious and inexplicable swordsmanship, and providing him with a large amount of free energy every day.

  The past decade was a long and arduous testing period. If he had given up halfway due to disappointment and frustration, then the current outcome would have never been achieved!

  Fortunately he persisted, otherwise he would have been a useless person all his life.

  Plum blossoms' fragrance comes from bitter cold, after ten years of hiding and enduring, Zhou Heng cultivated unparalleled patience and tempered his will to be unyieldingly firm.

  He indeed started ten years later than others, but as long as the Black Sword can continue to exert its divine effect, he will only need four months to catch up! And afterwards, his path of cultivation will be infinitely wider than that of others!

  "In three months it will be the year-end ceremony, I don't know how many people are waiting to see me make a fool of myself and get expelled from the family tree!"

  "After all these years, this useless image of me has also become deeply ingrained in people's minds. Who has ever looked at me with a straight face?"

  "I have thought countless times that one day I will stand proudly in front of everyone and slap them hard with facts, now the opportunity has finally come!"

  "It's at the year-end celebration that I'll make a stunning debut!"

  "Continue practicing that mysterious sword technique!"

  Suddenly, three days passed again. The black-colored broken sword did not disappoint Zhou Heng. Every midnight, it would release a large amount of free energy, allowing Zhou Heng to successfully advance his cultivation to the peak of the Refining Body stage.

  Next is to break through the small boundary, if he doesn't step over this threshold, his cultivation will no longer be able to make any progress.

  Relatively speaking, such a breakthrough is easy, all in the Refining Skin realm, as long as there is enough strength to break through at once, and there is no great difficulty. However, breaking through the Great Realm is extremely difficult, and just refining the 'Flesh' realm can make 90% of warriors disheartened.

  It was just an hour of work, but Zhou Heng only felt a lightness throughout his body, and he had already advanced to the second layer of Body Refining.

  "Is it that easy?"

  "Although it's great to break through small boundaries, isn't it a bit exaggerated for me to be so relaxed?"

  After the breakthrough, Zhou Heng did not feel an increase in power, which was normal. The breakthrough of the boundary only gave him space to continue improving, and this benefit would be slowly revealed through the accumulation of cultivation, rather than being immediately apparent.

  He gave the Nine Heavenly Sword Style a name, called Ling Tian Jiu Shi, but he spent most of his time every day practicing the first sword style, yet he still couldn't even draw the sword out of its scabbard!

  This Ling Tian Nine Forms cannot be seen by outsiders, so Zhou Heng did not go to the square again. Every day, he just stayed in his own yard, like a madman, jumping up from time to time and waving his wooden sword.

  As for his absence, the younger generation of the Zhou family were convinced that he knew he couldn't reach the 'flesh' boundary before the end of the year and had given up struggling in vain, and they couldn't help but mock him again.

  Zhou Heng wouldn't care about others' opinions, quietly waiting for the day to break out of his cocoon and become a butterfly.

  Another ten days later, his cultivation had advanced to the late stage of Refining Body Second Layer. He only needed two or three more days to reach the peak and break through to Refining Body Third Layer! What made him even more delighted was that he had finally achieved a breakthrough in his study of Ling Tian's First Style, and could barely execute half a move.

  Zhou Heng had no one to practice with, so he couldn't gauge the power of this half-style sword technique. He also couldn't just find someone in the Zhou family to spar with casually, and could only continue practicing alone.

  "It'll take at least another half month for me to fully master this sword technique!" Zhou Heng couldn't help but shake his head, wondering if he was too stupid or if the Ling Tian Jiu Shi was just too profound.

  "Can't find a family member to spar with, then go to Pingtian Mountain to practice with wild beasts! Only through real life-and-death battles can one improve their mastery of swordsmanship! This is experience that no one can teach!"

  "But I must wait until I reach the 'flesh' boundary, otherwise it's too dangerous!"

  "Rest assured!"

  Zhou Heng didn't think about those things, and instead focused on cultivating his sword skills. As a result, his cultivation progress became extremely simple, requiring only half an hour of time each day to refine the free energy released by the Black Colored Severing Sword.

  If others knew that he could cultivate for half an hour a day to offset the bitter cultivation of ordinary people for a month, it would definitely make anyone jealous to the point of red eyes!

  After ten years of hard work, Zhou Heng finally reaped a bountiful harvest.

  Two more days passed and he reached the peak of Refining Body Second Layer. Just a little over an hour later, he broke through again and entered Refining Body Third Layer.

  Counting from start to finish, it's only nineteen days!

  This speed is so fast that it's astonishing!

  Zhou Heng didn't become complacent, although his current cultivation progress was fierce, but after all, he started too low, and taking out the third layer of body refinement had nothing to be proud of.

  Looking at the Zhou family rules, if one has not reached the 'flesh' boundary by the age of 18, they will be removed from the family register. This can be seen that Zhou Heng's cultivation is still pitifully low and far from meeting the minimum requirements.

  In the blink of an eye, the scorching September had passed, and the crisp October had also gone halfway. Zhou Heng's cultivation was still advancing rapidly, having reached the peak of the third layer of body refinement, facing his first major challenge since starting his cultivation journey.

  Break through the boundaries!

  Zhou Hengyuan had thought that it would at least take him ten days, or even longer, because his incredibly talented father had taken a whole nine days, but unexpectedly, he crossed this threshold in just half a day!

  He was stunned for a while before accepting this fact, and then when he turned his head to think again, Zhou Heng found that it wasn't without reason.

  That's because he has been studying Ling Tian Jiu Shi for a month, and even if he only gained a little inspiration, it made him feel like he had grasped the most mysterious truth in the world, and everything in front of him was no longer a secret.

  Black Sword, absolutely top-notch!

  Martial arts climbing, the first difficulty lies in the accumulation of true yuan power. However, it's not so much a difficulty as it is a long time, theoretically, as long as you're willing to 'spend' time, you can reach the peak of a certain realm - except for special cases like Zhou Heng's where true yuan power will be consumed.

  And the second difficulty is naturally breaking through the Great Boundary, which is actually the most deadly!

  The accumulation of true yuan only requires the accumulation of time, but breaking through to a higher realm requires enlightenment of one's nature; if it is not thoroughly understood, then it will never be thoroughly understood, and one will remain stuck in the same place for their entire life!

  From this point of view, understanding 'nature' is actually more important than diligence!

  So on the path of martial arts, those who reach the pinnacle are basically geniuses. Occasionally, there are also diligent types who climb to the summit, but they must have obtained great opportunities, otherwise, no matter how hardworking, it is useless.

  Hei Jian suddenly solved both difficult problems at once!

  The hardships I've endured and the injustices I've suffered over the past decade are not unjust!

  It's time to go to Pingtian Mountain Range!

  A warrior who has not experienced actual combat can only remain at the level of discussing military tactics on paper, and once they encounter a life-or-death struggle, it is highly likely that they will not even be able to exert one-tenth of their true strength before dying under the enemy's sword.

  The strong are not made through training, but through battle!

  Zhou Heng tidied himself up, bowed, shouldered an iron sword and quietly left the Zhou family home, walked out of Yuanshi Town and entered the dense forest of the vast Pingtian Mountains.

  The last time I left Yuanshi Town was when?

  Zhou Heng thought back to when he was very young, his father had taken him into the Pingtian Mountains to hunt for demonic beasts. But after he contracted the "Mao" disease that made it impossible for him to cultivate, Zhou Dinghai began searching all over the world for spiritual medicine for him, and naturally didn't have the time to accompany him anymore.

  I don't know where Father is now? Zhou Heng couldn't help but feel a strong sense of longing for his father.

  The Pingtian Mountains are vast, and Zhou Heng is unclear just how big they are. He only knows that in these mountains there are not only countless wild beasts, but also the existence of ferocious beasts!

  Yao beasts are born with the ability to cultivate, they can either absorb the essence of the sun and moon or hunt each other to strengthen themselves. The energy contained in their flesh far exceeds that of ordinary wild beasts, making them a great tonic for warriors.

  The demon beast is also an extremely dangerous existence, just like humans are not the opponent of fierce tigers, and under the same circumstances, warriors are not the opponents of demon beasts. Zhou Heng had to reach the "flesh" boundary before entering the Pingtian Mountains because he was afraid of encountering a demon beast, which was an existence that he could not resist.

  Half a day later, he was deep in the mountains, where tigers roared and monkeys howled, filled with a primitive atmosphere.

  "Ahh!" A loud roar, a huge black bear suddenly rushed out of the bushes and pounced on Zhou Heng with its paw.

  Zhou Heng couldn't help but reveal an excited expression, and with a "ding" sound, his long sword was unsheathed, and the first move of Ling Tian Jiu Jian had already begun to unfold.