Chapter 68: Rising Another Level

  The raven spread its massive wings, turned around and skillfully dodged the slash from the side, its sharp claws grasping towards Rega from an unexpected angle.

  "Good move!"

  Lei Ga had witnessed the true strength of Wu Ya's sharp claws. Once caught, it would be either a loss of skin or flesh. He hastily gathered his seventh-stage Dou Qi to protect himself, and the Crow Sword in his hand danced up and down, its seemingly clumsy body moving like a nimble snake.

  "Wow!"

  The crow also seems to appreciate Lega's technique, and after a loud cry, it increases the power and frequency of its attacks.

  Lei Ga calmly and unhurriedly raised his sword to block, after a few moves he turned from defense to offense, the crow retreated step by step in dismay, finally suddenly flying high into the air, using its huge wings to cover up the sunlight.

  "Hah, Crow brother, are you going to admit defeat?" Leiga asked, looking up at him.

  "Wow!"

  A crow cawed loudly, suddenly retracting its wings and diving towards Rega like a free fall. The sun's rays burst out from behind it, forcing Rega to squint his eyes shut.

  The crow seized the momentary opportunity to reopen its wings, gliding to Leiga's back, and with a heavy claw, kicked towards Leiga's rear heart.

  Lei Ga was caught off guard, lost his balance, and stumbled forward a few steps before regaining his footing.

  Behind him was just a slight pain, but no scars could be seen. The crow had been holding back its strength all along, and so had Laga himself.

  "Okay, I lost."

  Lei Ga couldn't help but laugh, "Brother Ya, I didn't think you were so sinister. However, next time, you'd better be careful."

  "Wow!"

  The crow looked at Lega with an arrogant face, as if saying, "Not convinced? Keep fighting!"

  Lei Ga waved his hand, "I still need to go back and study the underwater breathing medicine, let's stop for today, we'll have a rematch tomorrow, how about it?"

  "Wow!"

  The raven croaked once, as if in response. It landed again on Legolas' shoulder, its movements as soft as a feather.

  With the help of underwater breathing medicine, and being able to spar with crows every day, Leiga deeply believed that his strength would rapidly increase.

  They returned to the Crow's Nest Tavern just in time for dinner.

  After dinner, Lei Ga crawled into the storage room and found the alchemy book marked with underwater breathing medicine. He studied it seriously. The text was easy to understand, but the actual operation was not simple at all. The ratio of fish oil and seaweed grass had to be very accurate, and the steps for making the essence solution were so cumbersome that Lei Ga slapped his forehead.

  After a whole night of busy work, wasting countless drops of still seawater oil and algae grass, Leiga finally refined a bottle of underwater breathing agent, but it can only last for three minutes.

  He was quite disappointed with this result, and even at breakfast time he was listless.

  Xie Pu asked the reason, and then asked in surprise: "Are you saying that you only used one night to refine the underwater breathing potion that can be refined by a mid-level alchemist?"

  "It can only last for three minutes."

  Lega said with a frown, "I've always been unable to grasp the perfect ratio of solution, fish oil and seaweed, nor the best timing for blending and distillation."

  Xie Pu's mouth twitched, "Just one night, what more do you want?" Even a genius alchemist like Xu Lingtian wouldn't have reached this level on his first try at alchemy, would he?

  Lei Ga was only thinking about the alchemy steps and didn't notice Xie Pu's astonished expression. "Right, boss, can you train me today?"

  "Not today... I'm busy, tomorrow then."

  "Alright, boss."

  Lei Ga didn't rush, he buried his head and finished a dish of venison, then drank the deer blood tiger whip wine in the cup. He gave a signal, turned around and went to the tavern hall, cleared his mind, completed his daily tasks, and wiped the tables, chairs, benches, and cups 100 times each.

  After finishing his work, Leiga decided not to go to the White River for now, but instead returned to the storage room and started reading alchemy books from beginner level, one by one.

  The crow flew into the storage room and bit his collar to pull him out, wanting to go with him to temper.

  Lei Ga's eyes remained still, intently staring at the words and diagrams in the alchemy book, completely unaware of the raven's presence.

  The crow couldn't help but let out a loud cry, which finally brought him back to his senses.

  Lei Ga apologized and said: "Crow brother, I'm really sorry, there's no way to fight with you today, let's do it tomorrow."

  The crow cried out in a spoiled childlike tone and flew out of the storage room.

  Lei Ga couldn't help but give a faint smile and continued to bury his head in his books.

  Time slipped away unnoticed in the words and lines, the third sleepless night began.

  Lei Ga has already read the advanced alchemy manual, although the text becomes increasingly obscure towards the end, but he is now confident in how to produce a bottle of underwater breathing potion that meets the standard.

  He readjusted the proportion of materials and extended the length of the distillation tube. The second bottle of underwater breathing agent was finally refined successfully, with an effect that lasted for ten minutes this time.

  Lei Ga was still unsatisfied and continued to make adjustments, finally refining a twenty-minute underwater breathing agent at dawn.

  This is already the bottleneck he can currently reach, and to refine a thirty-minute underwater breathing agent like Xu Lingtian, it's estimated that he still needs to practice for a very long time.

  Although it was a few minutes short, fortunately, I had already grasped the experience of refining, and from now on, I will prepare ten bottles of underwater breathing agent every day to assist in training.

  At breakfast, Lai Ga told Xie Pu the news. Xie Pu's mouth was wide open, staring at him in disbelief. Lai Ga took the opportunity to ask about training, and Xie Pu again put it off until tomorrow.

  Lei Ga didn't say much more, but as usual finished off the first-class venison and drank up the deer blood tiger whip wine, then went to the tavern's main hall to finish his daily work.

  After that, he took the Crow Sword and the newly refined underwater breathing potion, calling out to the crow to go practice at the White River.

  The crow deliberately ignored him and was still angry about yesterday's appointment.

  Lei gave a faint smile, "Brother Ya, I'll catch some fish for you to eat, consider it as an apology gift, okay?"

  "Wow!"

  The crow turned its head away with a proud expression, as if saying "This bird can't be bought off with just one fish".

  "Alright then."

  Lei Ga sighed, "I'll practice sword on my own and roast fish for myself."

  As he spoke, he turned around and walked out of the Bao Ya wine house.

  The crow pulled its neck and looked at Rega's back, making sure he wouldn't turn around, then hastily spread its wings and flew out...

  The arduous but not tedious training has officially begun.

  Leiga slept only three or four hours a day, waking up to Shep's merciless kick every morning. After eating deer meat and drinking tiger whip wine made from deer blood, he would ask Shep if he could teach him something that day. Shep always replied "tomorrow", after which Leiga would go wipe down the tables, chairs, and cups, completing his daily chores. He would then head to the White River to practice basic sword techniques at the river bottom for three hours before returning to shore to engage in actual combat with the crows. After that, he would return to the Crow's Nest Tavern, eat dinner, and go read books in the storage room - every time forcing himself to put down the book and go to bed.

  Day after day, night after night.

  It's been a month, and Leiga can clearly feel that his body has become much stronger. His originally weak physique is now full of solid muscles, and his strength has increased by a significant margin. When fighting against the crow, the crow often can't even make a move before being forced to fly into the dense forest, standing on a branch and shouting loudly.

  The ruthless winter has arrived, the low temperature is frightening, and the tavern that was originally not very welcoming to customers has become even more deserted. Xie Pu doesn't seem to be in a hurry, every day he just writes and draws at the bar, calculating something.

  A sudden blizzard has wrapped Wuya Ridge in silver and white, with snowdrifts reaching as high as the knee. The White River, which had been rolling ceaselessly till now, also froze overnight into a thick layer of solid ice.

  But such conditions for Leiga, on the contrary, are extremely rare training opportunities. The crow has not accompanied him to practice for several days, partly because of the temperature, but more because it feels that it can no longer beat Leiga, so it is disinterested in sparring.

  Lei Ga didn't force the crow either, and as usual came to the side of the White River, took off his clothes, used a giant sword to chop open an ice hole, and then jumped in directly.

  The seven-tiered Dou Qi had reached the critical point of impacting the eighth tier, and it was about to level up. Training couldn't be interrupted no matter what.

  After practicing under the ice layer for more than an hour, Leiga felt that his aura seemed to have new growth. He put aside all distractions, grasped the hilt of the Black Crow Sword with both hands, and infused his aura into the black sword body, trying his best to explore the source of his aura.

  The brightness of the red Dou Qi suddenly increased, and Lei Ga let out a loud roar. The Black Crow Sword instantly transformed into a ball of light and shadow, rotating with his body. A swift and fierce "New Moon Strike" was unleashed, imbuing the sword scar's power with the red Dou Qi, bursting forth from three positions - top, middle, and bottom. The massive Dou Qi fluctuations caused the entire riverbed to shake violently, and the frozen river surface cracked and shattered into fragments, slowly flowing away with the river water.

  Finally! I've reached 8th dan!

  Lei Ga stood at the center of the riverbed, gazing at the crimson glow enveloping him, and couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief, feeling elated. How many people were stuck at the bottleneck between the seventh and eighth stages, unable to break through no matter how hard they tried for their entire lives? And yet, he had managed to shatter this barrier in just one short month after advancing three levels in a row!

  Thanks to the books, materials and alchemy tools left by Xu Lingtian, it would have been impossible to cultivate at the bottom of the White River, and it would have been impossible to save ten times the time needed to do things in just one month.

  Of course, the one who deserves the most gratitude is still Xiè Pǔ. Although he always makes excuses to avoid training, thanks to his guidance, Léi Jiā was able to comprehend a new realm; also thanks to his daily supply of venison and tiger whip wine made from deer blood - just thinking about that wine makes Léi Jiā feel like his nose is bleeding profusely.

  With two more levels, I'll be able to advance to a hero. By then, I should also leave Crow Ridge and go find Douton to demand justice.

  Everyone... I've already started counting down your death date, get ready...