Mastering Sword Manifestation is crucial for completing this mission.
However, many issues arise. Not to mention how to activate and use Sword Manifestation, true qi is a problem.
Due to the combat earlier, Ling Feng's dantian is completely depleted of true qi, leaving none even for practice.
"Alas, I must learn the Five Elements Cultivation Art quickly. I don't have enough true qi."
"And the system, why did the companion I summoned attack me?"
[Tu Shan Hong Hong is a real, flesh-and-blood being. If you were summoning a companion normally, they wouldn't attack you. However, your summoning timing coincided with Tu Shan Hong Hong's enraged state.]
[Also, rest assured, host. If a summoned character or companion threatens the host's life, a forced recall function will activate. Trust the system's capabilities.]
"Why didn't you say so earlier, you bastard!"
[|･\`), the host didn't ask either.]
Ling Feng: ...Damn it!
Ling Feng irritably ran a hand through his hair. The system was right; he hadn't asked. His questioning about why the summoned character attacked him was for his future safety.
Otherwise, he might be killed by his own people before anyone else could.
Sighing, Ling Feng looked at the sky. The sun was still in the northeast, some time away from noon.
This was a good opportunity to try and get a grasp of the Five Elements Cultivation Art.
"System, how long will Tu Shan Hong Hong be unconscious?"
[If the host hadn't given Tu Shan Hong Hong water, it would have taken more than half a day. But now, it should be around four hours.]
"Hoo, is that so? Then please wake me up in three hours."
[Yes!]
With Tu Shan Hong Hong's estimated awakening time set, Ling Feng finally felt at ease.
Otherwise, if Tu Shan Hong Hong woke up without his knowledge, things would get complicated.
Ling Feng closed his eyes and began to slowly attempt the Five Elements Cultivation Art from memory, forming hand seals, adjusting his breathing, sensing the five elements around him, establishing connections, and channeling spiritual energy!
Ling Feng gradually became immersed, forgetting time, dedicating himself completely.
As time slowly passed, Ling Feng became increasingly proficient with the Five Elements Cultivation Art.
First was the easiest, wood element, then earth element, followed by water element.
Finally, there were minerals within the earth, which were metal elements. As for fire element, he couldn't attempt it now as there was nothing with fire attributes nearby.
Although he was only practicing the Five Elements Cultivation Art, Ling Feng's true qi in his dantian had unknowingly recovered to its peak, and his vortex-shaped dantian was almost full.
He had now reached the peak of the first level of Qi Refining. Once he entered the second level, his vortex-shaped dantian would expand by double.
[Host, three hours have passed.]
"Hoo."
Receiving the call at a soul level, Ling Feng stopped circulating his art, exhaled a breath of stale air, and slowly opened his eyes, which had been closed for three hours.
Ling Feng stood up, took out his Jianli Longyin, and was about to try Sword Manifestation.
Suddenly, his expression changed. Ling Feng realized that based on his memory, his true qi wasn't even enough to use Sword Manifestation once. The true qi reserve was still far from manifesting a thousand swords.
"It's over. Damn it, I'm almost at the second level of Qi Refining, and my true qi in peak condition is still not enough for one use of Sword Manifestation. Damn it! How am I supposed to complete this mission!"
[Host doesn't necessarily have to use the complete Sword Manifestation. To use the complete Sword Manifestation, the true qi reserve needs to reach the Foundation Establishment stage.]
[Host can manifest a few dozen swords. With the host's current situation, manifesting fifty low-grade spirit swords can be done three times.]
Ling Feng was slightly taken aback. That made sense. Sword Manifestation, Sword Manifestation; it didn't say it had to manifest ten thousand swords. It was just a name.
"Alright, two for practice, one to keep for combat."
"First, I need to set a target."
Ling Feng looked around, finally settling his gaze on an apple tree. He walked over, looked up at the large, round apples on the tree, patted the trunk, and smiled.
"Brother, it's you! No choice, you have the most fruit on your tree."
If the apple tree could speak, it would have cursed him.
"Damn it, is it my fault for bearing a lot of fruit!"
But obviously, it was just a normal apple tree and couldn't speak.
Ling Feng took a few steps back, stopping about six to seven meters from the tree. Ling Feng felt this distance was about right.
Ling Feng's gaze sharpened. Following his memory, he first concentrated his mental power, imagined the shape of a sword in his mind, and then began to release the true qi from his dantian.
After consuming about one-third of the true qi in his dantian, Ling Feng stopped releasing it, preparing for the real steps.
First, he formed hand seals with both hands, muttering incantations simultaneously, using his mental power to control the true qi outside his body, compressing it according to the sword template in his mind.
This step sounded simple, but for Ling Feng at this moment, it was far from easy.
As time slowly flowed, Ling Feng was already sweating, but no spirit sword had been successfully condensed yet.
Every time he was close to success, he would either form the next sword seal incorrectly, or get too excited as success neared, losing concentration and causing the condensation to revert back to true qi.
It had been over ten minutes, and there was no progress. Ling Feng was going crazy.
It was like doing a math problem, starting with no idea, then suddenly grasping a clue only to have it vanish, which was truly frustrating and headache-inducing.
"Ah!!! I don't believe it! Condense for me!"
This time, Ling Feng's mental power was exceptionally focused. He bit his lip hard to maintain his concentration.
Because he had tried so many times, Ling Feng was now much more familiar with the sword seals than at the beginning, no longer needing to go step-by-step.
Although the speed of forming the sword seals was still slow, this time Ling Feng successfully completed the entire set of sword seals.
Spirit swords appeared out of thin air before Ling Feng. However, because a long time had passed since Ling Feng began, the true qi in the air only allowed Ling Feng to condense ten spirit swords.
"Hoo, hoo, hoo, finally succeeded. It wasn't easy," Ling Feng said, looking at the ten white spirit swords floating before him, similar to Jianli Longyin, and revealing a slight smile.
"Alright, big brother apple tree, thank you for waiting! I finally know how to use this move. Now it's time to experiment on you. Go!"
Ling Feng turned his gaze back to the apple tree, forming the control sword seals. Controlling the swords was on a completely different level of difficulty than condensing them. Controlling them was much simpler, almost like controlling the spirit swords with his will.
Therefore, Ling Feng mastered the control sword seals almost immediately.
Under Ling Feng's control, the ten spirit swords began to tremble, and then with a 'whoosh,' they shot towards the apple tree. However, their targets were not the trunk, but the branches with apples.
Crack! Crack! Crack! ...
Although they were only spirit swords condensed from true qi, they were still very sharp and easily pierced the branches, causing them to break and fall.
Under Ling Feng's control, the spirit swords began to give the apple tree a haircut.
With each branch they pierced, the spirit swords became much more transparent.
The ten spirit swords had only severed twenty branches before disappearing without a trace.
The apple tree became bare, except for a few branches that were lucky enough to escape being cut. The rest were now lying on the ground.