The Green Bamboo Academy was an academy that was comparatively smaller than the Martial Hall Palace, but it was still the best place one could rest in the Green Bamboo Town. In the academy, green bamboo rustled about in the wind; the silent elegance of the environment gave people a feeling of utmost comfort. The disciples here were also much weaker than the disciples of other towns.
From Luo Yongcheng, Xiang Shaoyun found that the Green Bamboo Academy did not even dare to participate in the Battle of Towns because their disciples were too weak. Each time they had participated in the past, they ended up losing all their participating disciples. Thus, they had eventually stopped joining. As for the reason for them being so weak, it was improper for Xiang Shaoyun to ask too much about it.
Luo Yongcheng brought Xiang Shaoyun to a residence and told someone to prepare some fine liquor and dishes to welcome Xiang Shaoyun.
The two chatted as they drank. Luo Yongcheng was trying to figure out where Xiang Shaoyun came from and his reasoning for wanting to eliminate the Redwolf Bandits.
Xiang Shaoyun only gave some noncommittal replies. As for his reasoning for wanting to eliminate the Redwolf Bandits, he gave an honest reply, "If I tell you I only accepted the bounty to temper myself, will you believe it?"
"Of course I will. I can't think of any reason otherwise," Luo Yongcheng said. He sighed and continued, "How good would it be if the disciples of our academy are half as brave as you. Without risking their lives, how are they supposed to go far in cultivation?"
Xiang Shaoyun only drank silently and did not say anything to that.
Luo Yongcheng raised his head and gazed at Xiang Shaoyun. "Young brother, you have an impressive combat power. But I don't think your Transformation Realm cultivation is quite sufficient. Yes, you can kill Li Hao the Seven Sabers, but you need to watch out for the bandit leader and the two vice leaders. All three of them are late-stage Transformation Realm experts. This is especially so for the leader. He has a terrifying king weapon with him, which is the reason nobody dares to provoke his Redwolf Bandits."
"King weapon?" Xiang Shaoyun cried out, emotions finally showing on his face.
"That's right. Without the king weapon, our Green Bamboo Academy wouldn't be so afraid of them," Luo Yongcheng said. He paused slightly before adding, "It is a very sinister weapon, capable of severing one's soul, and its attacks are extremely tricky to guard against."
"There is such a weapon?" Xiang Shaoyun was astonished.
He was aware that a weapon capable of harming one's soul was definitely not an ordinary king weapon.
"That's right. In fact, we have reported this to the Cloud Margin City a long time ago. Hopefully, they will send someone over to take the king weapon away from the Redwolf Bandits. Only then will the Green Bamboo Academy stand a chance against the bandits. Otherwise, it will be very hard for us to maintain the peace of the Green Bamboo Town," Luo Yongcheng said. He emptied a glass of liquor before continuing, "I was wondering if you were a disciple of Cloud Margin Pavilion sent here to deal with the Redwolf Bandits, but it seems you have no idea of what's going on here, huh?"
Xiang Shaoyun nodded. "I really wasn't aware of it all. Thank you for telling me, senior. Otherwise, it will be hard for me to complete the mission."
"Wait, you're still planning to complete the mission?" Luo Yongcheng was flabbergasted.
He thought that Xiang Shaoyun would change his mind after knowing the truth, but it would seem he was wrong.
"Of course. I have never stopped doing something I have set my mind on," Xiang Shaoyun said firmly.
Luo Yongcheng looked at Xiang Shaoyun with an approving gaze when he heard those words. Soon, Luo Yongcheng left, leaving Xiang Shaoyun resting alone in the residence. Xiang Shaoyun sat in the courtyard and circulated his cultivation method, activating all nine of his stars. He started to absorb the astral energy from nine corresponding stars up in the sky.
This was a night with a starry sky, an optimal time for cultivation. The twinkling stars in the sky appeared so very tiny, but the power contained within them was one everyone wished to obtain.
With his unique physique, Xiang Shaoyun was able to absorb a large amount of astral energy when he cultivated. Strands of sparkling and translucent energy latched on to his body, turning him into a brightly lit person. He looked incomparably exalted and divine.
The stars within him pulsed, and the astral energy coursed through his meridians like rivers. His acupoints all shone brightly, and even the dragon in his lightning bone had awakened. Combined, they all painted a picture of an ancient river of stars within his body.
The river of stars formed some sort of resonance with the stars in the sky above, causing Xiang Shaoyun's absorption speed to grow even faster. The nine stars shone brighter while the lightning energy in the lightning bone grew more concentrated.
After an entire night of meditation, morning arrived. Xiang Shaoyun finally woke up from his meditation after taking in the purple qi of the first rays of the sun. He felt completely refreshed, his exhaustion from yesterday gone without a trace.
"I've improved a lot this time, haha!" Xiang Shaoyun clenched his fists and laughed.
His astral energy absorption rate had always been faster than a regular person's. But without the battle he got himself into yesterday, he wouldn't have been able to absorb astral energy at the speed he had last night.
The one night of meditation had brought him into the mid second-stage from the initial second-stage. This rapid advancement was a result of the time he had recently spent tempering and suppressing his cultivation base. At this speed, he would probably need only about three months to reach the third stage. And if he could fight more intense battles, the speed would be even faster.
Today, Xiang Shaoyun did not plan to go look for the Redwolf Bandits, as he was going to practice an ultimate technique. This so-called ultimate technique wasn't exactly a battle technique. Rather, it was a state of mind, known as human weapon unity. Human weapon unity was a state where a cultivator became one with his weapon, allowing him to unleash an even greater combat strength.
Generally speaking, to enter this state, a cultivator had to know his weapon like the back of his hand. Moreover, a high level of compatibility between the cultivator and the weapon was required. Normally to unlock this state, in addition to a combination of numerous other factors, the cultivator needed a fate weapon they had personally nurtured and used in countless battles. They also needed to be familiar with the weapon's battle technique.
Since Xiang Shaoyun needed time to grow his cultivation level, trying to enter this state was one of the only ways he could still grow stronger rapidly. And the reason he suddenly decided to cultivate this mode was due to what he had heard from Luo Yongcheng.
The leader of Redwolf Bandits had a weapon capable of harming one's soul. He had to be prepared to face that. Simply put, during his battle with the Redwolf Bandit leader, he had to kill the leader as quickly as he could. By not giving the leader a chance to use the weapon, he would be able to reduce the harm he would suffer from the fight.
The Overlord Skyslaying Saber had been stored in the astral cosmos sea for a while now. Apart from undergoing the baptism of the gold lunar liquid, the saber had also undergone the nourishment of his astral energy and his vitality. A sort of connection had formed between him and the saber.
Although something still seemed to be missing, Xiang Shaoyun was confident he stood a chance at entering the human weapon unity state in his current condition. After wiping some of his own blood essence on the saber, he started swinging the saber around randomly, trying to capture the sensation of human weapon unity.
It was too bad this sensation was not something one could capture just because one wanted to. Fortunately, there was a place within the Green Bamboo Academy that would be optimal for Xiang Shaoyun to capture that feeling.