Just with this Magical Artifact, An Chen had already recouped his investment.
Subsequently, An Chen's vision blurred, and he arrived at a new level.
The new level again materialized three figures; these three were all at the Qi Refinement Stage Fourth Level, but they were the weaker kind, like those who had just broken through.
Although there were three of them, An Chen felt that these three combined might not be as powerful as that one Tiger Yao Beast.
An Chen wasted no words, dispatching two with two slashes, then facing the last one alone.
This time, he was a bit more careful, parrying the longsword the person swung, then slicing off his right forearm, kicking him to the ground, and then slicing off the other forearm.
An Chen put away his blade, punched him fiercely in the face several times, and the person fainted.
An Chen then broke his two legs, exhaled a breath, and walked to the side to sit down.
Alright! Time to Cultivate!
It must be said that human vitality is clearly not as strong as that of Yao Beasts.
The enemies on these few levels could barely last half a day, which made An Chen's Cultivation feel very unstable.
An Chen continued to Cultivate and Breakthrough four more levels, spending another six days inside the Pagoda of Spiritual Connection, reaching the fifteenth level.
In these four levels, he gained one round of Body Tempering energy, two rounds of Realm-boosting energy, and another round of energy that integrated into his Spiritual Root, seemingly helping to improve the Spiritual Root, but An Chen barely felt any effect.
When the Spiritual Root's grade is high, this kind of energy seems to have very little effect on its improvement.
However, what made An Chen happy was that after so many days of Cultivation and gains, he was only a step away from the Qi Refining Sixth Level.
Although there were no time-keeping tools inside the Pagoda of Spiritual Connection, An Chen could "time in his head," and while not perfectly precise, the error for a day would not exceed five minutes.
It was exactly the fifth day since his Transmigration, and if he remembered correctly, it was 5:30 PM.
The Qingfeng Secret Realm would open punctually at 9:00 AM the day after tomorrow.
An Chen planned to stay in the Pagoda of Spiritual Connection for at most one more full day.
To be honest, he was already enjoying it so much that he didn't want to return to Qingfeng Sect; Cultivating in this Pagoda of Spiritual Connection was too enjoyable.
Of course, he was now finding it a bit difficult to stay.
As the levels increased, the enemies grew stronger, and An Chen found it increasingly challenging to deal with them.
Before, the only enemy of the same Realm he faced was the Scarlet-Eyed Snake.
He truly lacked experience in evenly matched battles.
However, he had managed to cope before, one way or another.
But the Qi Refining Fifth Level Peak Nameless Ones that materialized on the fifteenth level made An Chen frown deeply.
An Chen estimated that he could probably only reach around the fifteenth or sixteenth level, which corresponded to the Qi Refining Fifth Level Peak.
Levels beyond that would feature powerful enemies at the Qi Refining Sixth Level.
This time, An Chen took out the longsword that the Pagoda of Spiritual Connection had previously rewarded him with.
His previous blade was a bit insufficient.
That blade was a Low Grade Magical Artifact for the Qi Refinement Stage, at most a toy for Su Xiaojiu, and it was a bit inadequate for dealing with Qi Refining Fifth and Sixth Level enemies.
Although An Chen still couldn't fully wield the Qingfeng Swordplay, he had learned the movements of the first three forms, just unable to unleash the killing move of the final sword.
An Chen wanted to try.
If he failed, he wouldn't lose anything.
This time, the enemy wielded a long spear; as the saying goes, "a longer inch is a stronger inch," and An Chen would be at a disadvantage using a short blade now.
While a short blade has an advantage in close combat, real-life combat is not as easy as in movies and TV shows.
A skilled spear user would not allow others to get close so easily; more often than not, they would take a life with a single spear thrust before the enemy even approached them.
The Nameless One stood with one foot forward and one back, twirled his spear, and slowly moved forward tentatively, but his speed was slow, appearing cautious.
This time, An Chen did not wait for the opponent to initiate the attack as before, then counter-attack defensively; instead, he took the initiative to strike.
The blade techniques An Chen had previously learned, in his own view, could be summarized as first finding the enemy's weakness, then striking quickly to subdue them.
Both waiting for movement to counter and taking the initiative to attack were suitable, but An Chen preferred the former.
However, the Qingfeng Swordplay was more aggressive; the first three forms were not too obvious, but the latter three were almost purely offensive.
Seeing An Chen charge, the Nameless One's spear shot out like a Dragon, striking fiercely.
But whether it was that set of blade techniques, the first three forms of Qingfeng Swordplay, or Qingyun Step, they all greatly improved An Chen's evasion ability, and An Chen easily dodged this spear thrust.
The Nameless One quickly retracted his spear and retreated, then swept his long spear, attempting to clear an area in front of him to create space for himself.
However, An Chen had already employed Qingyun Step, taking a step and moving rapidly to the side, swinging his sword to strike.
The Nameless One did not expect An Chen's speed to be so fast; after his horizontal spear sweep, he was already somewhat unable to stop it. By the time he brought the spear shaft horizontally in front of him to block, An Chen had already reached him.
An Chen continuously attacked with his sword, but this Nameless One also reacted quickly, changing his footwork and rapidly retreating, actually extending the long spear that was retracted in front of him, re-establishing the combat range.
From this, An Chen could tell that this materialized Nameless One possessed extremely strong combat experience, or rather, the Pagoda of Spiritual Connection had endowed him with extremely strong combat experience.
Although the distance was slightly extended, An Chen was not to be underestimated; he continuously attacked with his sword while evading.
The first three forms of Qingfeng Swordplay also shared a common characteristic: each sword strike was stronger than the last. Although the process before the final sword was a build-up of momentum, it also possessed considerable lethality.
As An Chen struck out with one sword after another, whirlwinds formed around him, and the pushing and pulling forces generated by the whirlwinds made the Nameless One's body somewhat unstable.
It was this instability of the Nameless One's body that exposed many weaknesses.
An Chen seized the moment his body swayed, lunged forward with a sudden thrust, stabbing his sword towards the Nameless One's ribs, but the Nameless One also reacted quickly, pushing his back foot firmly on the ground to stabilize his body, and pressing his long spear downwards to try and block An Chen's movement, while also parrying An Chen's longsword.
However, An Chen suddenly released the longsword in his hand, lowered his body, and simultaneously dodged the spear shaft by turning sideways, almost skimming the ground as he approached the Nameless One's legs.
A short blade suddenly appeared in his hand, and the moment he approached the Nameless One, An Chen sprang up from the ground, circling the short blade around the Nameless One's leg, and a curved line of blood bloomed on the Nameless One's calf.
The Nameless One cried out in pain, his calf went limp, and he almost knelt down. An Chen took this opportunity to stab the blade into the Nameless One's back, then twisted it fiercely.
The Nameless One's tightly tensed muscles immediately relaxed.