I Cheated While Cultivating

Zhou Heng had a thought in his mind, and a piece of paper that glowed silver emerged in his mind.

It was filled with ample words and drawings.

This was the martial art that he had drawn from the Lucky Bag.

Solo Nine Swords—Broken Sword Style!

This could overcome the sword techniques from various schools and sects!

This martial art skill was a big name in Zhou Heng’s previous life.

When he was young, he used to demonstrate it by using a branch. Some of the movements were very challenging, and he had not been able to perform them, such as the action of holding a sword and bringing it down in a forceful sweep…

The more he thought of his past struggles, the sadder he became.

Of course, in a world where martial arts could lead them to the realm of immortals and divinity, Solo Nine Swords certainly could not overwhelm all the martial arts in the world. However, it was useful to tackle the martial artists who were below the sixth class and were ranked at the bottom three classes.

Previously, when he opened the Lucky Bag and drew the Broken Sword Style, he had wanted to explore its cultivation. But this had been delayed by a series of events.

After everything settled down, he finally had the time to understand this martial art skill.

Zhou Heng shifted all his focus to that piece of paper. He read out each and every word from it. He studied the drawings that depicted the stances and concentrated on them.

It was a very mysterious martial art skill. It was also known as ‘Variation Theory’. It was actually considered a seventh-class martial art. Unranked martial artists like Zhou Heng typically did not have the foundations of ‘Variation Theory’. Therefore, they usually found this hard to learn.

The distributable points that he gained previously were only limited to the ninth-class and were not applicable for the eighth-class.

Just as he was at a loss…

“You’re gaining some insight on the Eighth-Class Solo Nine Swords—Broken Sword Style’s authentic secrets. The level of proficiency has increased by 0.001.”

“You’re gaining insights from Eighth-Class Solo Nine Swords—Broken Sword Style’s authentic secrets. The level of proficiency increased by 0.002.”

“You’re gaining insights from Eighth-Class Solo Nine Swords—Broken Sword Style’s authentic secrets. The level of proficiency increased by 0.001.”

The level of proficiency was increasing gradually!

Zhou Heng’s eye brightened instantly. He started to gain insights for some of the parts which he had no knowledge about in the beginning. As long as he continued to be enlightened, he would be able to pick up the technique sooner or later!

Was it true that as long as he worked hard, he would gain fruitful results?

This was totally a cheat code!

His heart burst in excitement. He continued to gain insights in full concentration.

“You’re gaining insights from Eighth-Class Authentic Secret for Solo Nine Swords—Broken Sword Style. The level of proficiency increased by 0.003.”

“You continue gaining insights from the authentic secrets of martial arts and have triggered Heavenly Reward. The insights gained from Eighth-Class Solo Nine Swords—Broken Sword Style increased by 0.1.”

“You continue gaining insights from the authentic secrets of martial arts, and have triggered Heavenly Reward. The insights gained from Eighth-Class Solo Nine Swords—Broken Sword Style increased by 0.12.”

Finally, after what seemed like eternity, Zhou Heng heard the notification, and it was like heavenly music.

“Congratulations! The level of proficiency for Eighth-Class Solo Nine Swords—Broken Sword Style has reached 1, and you have officially acquired the martial art!”

Eighth-Class Broken Sword Style. Novice Level: 1/1000.

Finally, he had officially possessed Broken Sword Style!

At that time, he could finally relax himself. He lifted his head and glanced around his surroundings. He realized that the sun was rising, and it was already dawn.

He had actually stood outside for the whole night.

But it was worth it all for being able to learn the skills of an eighth-class sword technique.

Moreover, Zhou Heng had not only learned Solo Nine Swords, he also felt that his insights for Thirteen Autumn Rain Swords had increased a lot.

After all, Solo Nine Swords was a sword technique that enabled one to take advantage of an opponent’s moves by exhausting their variations and identifying the flaws in them. Then, the user would take advantage of the weaknesses and launch a counterattack before the enemy could do anything so that they could overcome the enemy to win.

The sword theory and changes contained therein could be applied in various sword techniques.

Just then, another notification came in!

“Congratulations! You’ve acquired the skills for Eighth-Class Solo Nine Swords—Broken Sword Style and automatically increased the level of proficiency for the lower level but similar martial art known as Thirteen Autumn Rain Swords. The level of proficiency has increased by 3500!”

Ninth-Class Thirteen Autumn Rain Swords. High Level: 500/4000.

The bonus points brought by higher level martial arts to lower level martial arts was a bit ridiculous, no?!

Zhou Heng was stupefied.

At the same time, he could not be more grateful to Sun Zhengfeng and his eight generations of ancestors.

‘I really have to thank you!’

Not long ago at night, Sun Zhengfeng had failed in his attempt to ambush Zhou Heng, because of it, he and his eight generations of ancestors would even be thanked for the effort soon in the future. But for now, he had returned to the North District at Yellow Wood City.

It was a rather busy area.

A majority of the people who lived here were wealthy and noble. Even their mansions were luxurious.

Given the price of every mansion, Zhou Heng would have to save for a few hundred years without eating and drinking to own one of them.

The Sun family was a well-known, large family.

The all-black, masked Sun Zhengfeng snuck into the Sun family’s courtyard through the back door. As he came into the courtyard, his black outfit had changed into regular green robes.

He was in his thirties, with fair skin and soft features. He did not look like a swordsman at all. Instead, he looked more like a scholar.

If Zhou Heng and Lin Cang were here, they could easily recognize him at just one glance. He was that same, pale person who needed to use the washroom. They had bumped into him at Jade Fragrance Mansion.

Sun Zhengfeng walked along the long corridor and reached a wing room.

The wing room was filled with various bladed weapons.

There were long swords, short swords, broadswords, iron swords, bronze swords, wooden swords, and jade swords…

Sun Zhengpin sat in front of the table inside the room. He was in his twenties. He was handsome and dressed in white. His hair had been tied back with a white jade crown. He looked dashing and was polishing a long sword carefully as if stroking the skin of a young girl.

“Second Brother, you still love swords this much, huh?”

Sun Zhengfeng walked into the wing room and sat opposite Sun Zhengpin. He smiled as he said, “You’ll be competing with Zhou Heng from Prosperity Martial Arts School in two days, right?”

“He’s merely a yokel who came from the valley. How could that even bother you, Big Brother?” Sun Zhengpin said nonchalantly and continued wiping the tip of his sword. He did not even bother to lift his head to look at Sun Zhengfeng.

“I tested him with one of the techniques from Thirteen Autumn Rain Swords. In fact, I actually ambushed him.” Sun Zhengfeng giggled as he said, “He managed to avoid it. He was unharmed even when he was ambushed by a ninth-class martial artist with a perfect Thirteen Autumn Rain Swords. You’re not even a ninth-class martial artist, do you really think you can win against him in a public competition?”

“What are you trying to say?” Sun Zhengpin put down the sword in his hand, lifted his head, and stared at Sun Zhengfeng.

“What am I saying?” Sun Zhengfeng grinned, rose and said, “I’m saying that you can’t compare to him. You’re the second young master of the Sun family, and you’re inferior to a yokel from the valley! Rubbish!”

“You’re calling me rubbish?!” Sun Zhengpin jerked to his feet, gritted his teeth and said, “I’ve been learning martial arts since the age of nine, and at the age of nineteen, I’ve attained perfection for Thirteen Autumn Rain Swords. I’m expected to reach the ninth class before I turn thirty. Who are you to call me rubbish when you’re only a ninth class at almost forty!”

“How could you take up a job that pays only ten taels of silver for the sake of a woman?! Not to forget, you’re going to work as a temporary guard for someone! You’ve disgraced the Sun family! What are you if not rubbish?!”

Sun Zhengfeng pointed at Sun Zhengpin’s nose and said coldly, “The woman from the Wang family is just keeping you hanging, can’t you see?! Ten taels of silver to recruit a temporary guard? She just wants to make you cheap labor.”

“You don’t understand, she’s not that kind of person!” Sun Zhengpin shook his head and said in a deep voice, “I know her. This is a test for me. You’ll never understand that!”

“Damn you! You idiot!” Sun Zhengfeng cussed. As soon as he spat out the words, he felt that it was wrong for him to say that. Feeling resigned, he slammed the table and snorted coldly, “Sun Zhengpin, do you know that even the apprentices from Prosperity Martial Arts School despise you? They do not think that you’re a match for Zhou Heng. I’m advising you to give up while you can before you embarrass yourself before the public!”

“I’m no match for a yokel?!” Sun Zhengpin suddenly raised his voice.

“Hah. You’re not convinced yet, right? Actually, you should be thankful,” Sun Zhengfeng snorted, “If not for that kid being that strong, I would have killed him on the spot and disguised myself as him. During the competition, I would have competed against you!

“Then, I’ll be using Zhou Heng’s identity to become the temporary guard for Ms. Wang. Take a guess. Do you think your beloved Ms. Wang would actually still think of you by then?

“You may even have to call her sister-in-law in the future!”

“Shut up!” Sun Zhengpin was infuriated to the point of having the veins on his forehead bulge. He gritted his teeth and said, “Alright! I’ll kill that kid myself during the tournament! I’ll prove you wrong! I’ll make Ms. Wang see just how strong I am!”