Placing his guan dao into one hand, he kicked back both skeletons he faced a summoned up all the rest of his Qi as he condensed a spinning drill of Force Qi into the other hand.
The moment he finished this new, spur-of-the-moment creation, Qian Feng was mentally blown away by the aura it exuded, one of pure power, likely because of the sheer amount of Qi contained within it, even more than his guan dao(far more. As for why he didn't condense all the Qi into his weapon, well, Qian Feng didn't have the control to be able to wield his guan dao and spend so much energy on keeping the Qi where it was).
Not wanting to waste Qi in the process of keeping his new weapon materialized, Qian Feng rushed at one of the skeletons he pushed back and, as quickly as possible, stabbed it through the skeleton's head.
Thankfully, Qian Feng didn't have to suffer anymore since this attack succeeded, sending the skeleton's now ownerless bones scattering to the ground, where they turned into light and headed into the final skeleton.
Suddenly, a change far greater than the previous ones occurred when the final skeleton absorbed the final rays of light. Growing a foot and a half, the bones emitted constant light as they became seemingly infused with Qi, and the skeleton emitted a cursed aura.
This was going to be difficult.
Keeping the drill in his hand, Qian Feng rushed once again and attempted to stab it into his new foes' face, only to be promptly halted by a bone fist seemingly teleporting into his chest.
He was sent flying back, soaring through the air before landing back on the battlefield ground. Qian Feng just lay there for a moment, blanking at the intense pain in his chest - there seemed to be an evil sort of Qi devouring his life force, spreading from the point of impact.
Regaining his senses quickly, Qian Feng drove his Force Qi to expel the evil energy, shuddering as a dark purple gas came out, before tearing it to shreds with a bit of Force Qi, using the hand which was now empty(he had unconsciously dismissed the drill, which was good, as it meant less Qi consumption).
That was pretty much all he could do, though, as the empowered skeleton arrived in front of Qian Feng, who was still on the ground, and sent a kick careening down straight at Qian Feng's face.
Since he was not in the position to roll or stand up quickly, Qian Feng could only attempt a block as Earth Qi streamed towards the point of coming impact, the quantities of Qi so great it naturally formed a block of stone in the air, unaffected by gravity.
The difference was too great, however, and the incredibly strong skeleton smashed straight through all of Qian Feng's assorted Earth Qi, only pausing for a second before going back down again. Thankfully, that second was long enough for Qian Feng to have rolled and stood up in a battle stance, all pretenses of using a guan dao dropped as he stood with a fearsome drill covering his hand.
Having learned his lesson, Qian Feng waited for his opponent to come to him, which it did quicker than Qian Feng could ever hope to be able to in his cultivation realm.
Thankfully, he was already prepared, and was able to slam the drill into the skeleton's shoulder joint - if its strength and speed were enough to go by, Qian Feng had no doubt that his drill would shatter on the skeleton's head, since the head was already one of the hardest parts of the body bone-wise.
He managed to land the hit, and even better, since he attacked a weak point on the shoulder, he managed to dislocate the arm.
Thus reacting quickly, Qian Feng grabbed the dislocated left arm and tore with all his might, sending all his remaining Force Qi to his arm in order to bolster its strength, quickly succeeding to rip off the arm.
Despite this, Qian Feng was not in a very good situation. Sure, his opponent now had only one arm, but the young warrior was almost completely drained of Qi and his body felt weak.
Logically thinking, Qian Feng could not win a battlle of endurance, but did not have the strength remaining to end the fight, so by all means, Qian Feng would lose this. But, as someone who never gave up, Qian Feng used his last bit of Force Qi and summoned a guan dao, using every last bit of his strength to get into a battle stance.
Sideways dodge. Chop. Duck. Retreat. Thrust. Split. Advance.
Qian Feng slowly got into a trance, his guan dao becoming more and more refined. The Qi flowing from his spirit realm ebbed, its quantity becoming lower, but even as that happened, his guan dao sharpened further.
His consciousness was now almost fully retracted from the battle, the job now being handled by his battle instincts, honed through both Qian Feng's natural aptitude towards fighting and the perfect foundation the Iron Fox laid for him. His Qi control became more and more exquisite. As a true expert knew, skillfully-formed Qi objects leaked no aura - the aura was just a result of Qi particles escaping from the object. For maximum efficiency, an item should be "silent", a seemingly mundane creation.
Although Qian Feng was nowhere near this level which represented the pinnacle of Qi control, he was still improving, and immensely at that.
The tides which were previously drastically in the skeleton's favor began to turn, the ground becoming more evenly matched as Qian Feng grew.
Still, though, the young boy fought a losing battle. No matter the level of skill, he was running out of fuel, both in Qi and stamina. There would still be a noticeable energy consumption, no matter how good he was, and every single blow he blocked with his weapon drained even further - frankly, it was a miracle Qian Feng had managed to hold on.
Finally, his weapon sputtered out of existence, Qian Feng's reserves truly dry.
Logically, this was going to be a loss - Qian Feng's first since coming to this world. He was unarmed and exhausted against an enemy with infinite vigor and far more power than he, as well as still relatively early in his development. No matter how talented he was, this was a loss.
Broken out of his trance, Qian Feng collapsed to the ground, not even noticing as the skeleton's pale white blade came chopping down at his neck.
Evaluation complete. Weaknesses:
Lack of martial skills.
Lack of combat experience.
Low offensive power compared to defense.
Abysmal speed compared to defense.
Strengths:
High talent and growth factor.
Powerful will.
Exceptional progress in strengthening skill.
Extremely high-rated cultivation techniques.
Multiple affinities.
Good complementation between affinities.
Calculating possible solutions...
Calculated.
Qian Feng woke up blankly. For a moment, he was utterly confused as to where he was, surveying the unfamiliar battlefield with a bewildered look in his eyes, before everything came rushing back to him.
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The mansion. The trials. The third trial. The battle. The trance. The loss.
Not given any more time to ponder upon his situation, Qian Feng was interrupted.
Select your weapon. To do so, state the name of your type of weapon out loud or ask to see the options.
Forced back into business, Qian Feng responded:
"Guan dao."
With that, an ordinary metal guan dao appeared from the sky, falling onto the blood-crusted grass of the battlefield, coldly gleaming in the light.
Seeing this, Qian Feng felt invigorated and picked up his new weapon, belting out some simple forms to get used to its heft.
Next battle commencing. Reward: 10 points.
Points can be used to purchase things from the vault. These include martial skills, cultivation techniques, and items.
Begin.
Five large minotaurs dropped from the sky wielding giant axes. This would be fun.
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The days passed, Qian Feng bathing in blood regularly. He slowly got more and more used to the environment, and once he fully leaned into where he was, benefits started to crop up.
Obviously, undergoing life-and-death battles daily was incredible training technique-wise. Even if, as Qian Feng found out very early, he wouldn't acutally die, there was a certain panic associated with those kinds of situations that drove rapid improvement, even if there were no consequences to death.
He did slowly get accustomed to danger, though, and Qian Feng's soft, pampered personality from his previous life hardened, getting used to the abysmal conditions compared to his time on Earth.
His cultivation didn't improve, true, but Qian Feng's power within that cultivation level did. Constantly overdrafting his spirit realms did not increase his progress as a Martial Warrior, but it toughened them and increased their capacity, making him even more powerful for his cultivation.
But hands-down, the most benefits Qian Feng got were from the shop. Undergoing three years' worth of life-and-death battles net him a ton of points, especially given his rapid growth, and Qian Feng did not put those points to waste.
Cultivation techniques were useless to him, but martial skills and weapons were not. Qian Feng for the first time in this world, found a use for his overwhelming intelligence, in pursuing maximum efficiency.
He could not keep the items he gained in the battlefield, but those weapons and that armor would allow him to become that much faster in gaining more points, which he could use to purchase better martial skills and other things. So, those weapons would pay for themselves in time.
They did have a disadvantage, however - an advantage in gear would reduce his training progress by far, and the better his weapons the less he grew.
To counter this, Qian Feng highlighted everything he wanted to purchase with points. His plan was to cheat as much as he could with the best weapons possible, earning points as quickly as possible, before purchasing all he wanted and then going back to the basic, metal guan dao he initially received.
He had to admit, though, no matter how detrimental it was to his progress, the feeling of wielding peerless weapons against his enemies was great.
Unfortunately, after this battle, it was one Qian Feng would have to give up, for the sake of his growth. For it was after winning this fight that Qian Feng would be able to purchase the final, and most expensive item he wanted.
Fully decked out in a set of gleaming armor covered in glistening inscriptions and wielding a fearsome guan dao emitting a cold light, Qian Feng prepared himself to fight a dragon(truly the heavens were in his favor - how symbolic was it that the final fight before he had to give up his equipment would be against a dragon?).
In this period of a year and half, Qian Feng had still improved. He had learned many martial skills, and since he was rejuvenated after every fight, got plenty of opportunities to practice them.
A dense brown glow appeared over Qian Feng's armor as his first martial skill was used - Tortoise Bulwark. It was very useful and handy, as it was not armor but instead a buffing skill that could strengthen defenses without removing the "armor slot". If he was to find himself in a situation without armor, Qian Feng had a different martial skill for that now, but that was irrelevant.
Through literally over a year of practice, Qian Feng had improved this defensive mid-tier Earth skill to the Knowledge realm(sub-grades went low, mid, high, and peak). This sounded underwhelming, but for his cultivation level, just this proficiency would allow him to be unrivaled in his realm.
Next, as the dragon rushed at him, Qian Feng readied his most useful skill by far, Trigger.
Despite the simple-sounding name, this unique skill was incredibly powerful and would be the second-most expensive martial skill he bought after this battle, because of its sheer convenience and how well it blended with every fighting style - nearly everyone could benefit from knowing Trigger.
Trigger was special in that it was a growing skill. As one's control over Qi increased, so did the skill's power. There were many parts that could be improved, but at its peak state, Qian Feng estimated the skill would be comparable to a low-grade True martial skill.
Trigger was essentially a trap. The user placed a Qi mechanism on the ground and stored Qi of a certain type in it(yes, it worked for all affinities, which multiplied its value). The skill would react to pressure being placed upon it and respond with a terrifying force - Qian Feng had won otherwise difficult battles through Trigger alone.
All this utility, however, meant that Trigger was extremely demanding on Qi control, and thus mental resources. This resulted in Qian Feng finding it difficult to place too many at once, but regardless, Trigger was still invaluable to the young boy.
Thankfully, the dragon wasn't too powerful, and couldn't yet fly(really, it was more of an overgrown lizard - an enormously powerful one - but that didn't really bring that much glory with it) so Qian Feng didn't have to contend with the increased difficulty of hitting a flying creature with Trigger(he had tried it once with eagle-like beasts. It did not work out well).
Setting up his maximum of three at once around the area the dragon would need to cross to get to Qian Feng(it should be said that Qian Feng had been unable to name any creatures he had faced by the third battle), the warrior readied yet another martial skill, his last one.
As a cut was engraved into the dragon's front foot by Trigger, Qian Feng suddenly charged at his foe, his steps heavier than mountains, and sent a downwards slash covered in Force Qi.
Regrettably, and predictably, this did not kill it, but did manage to carve a large gash into the top of the dragon's head, whose defense was incomparable to the skeletons he had fought, and lost against, in the very first battle. Even the strongest skeleton would be torn to shreds in a few moments against this behemoth, but Qian Feng managed to inflict a wound upon it using the third martial skill he obtained, Harmony Blade. This was a relatively simple skill, and not much was to be said about it. It was mid-tier Earth grade and Force affinity. Its strongest point was its overwhelming sharpness, and was very useful in terms of offense. This, combined with the incredible sharpness of Qian Feng's Grade 5 guan dao, could easily pierce through the scales of the dragon.
Finally, the dragon retaliated with a chomp, which Qian Feng blocked with his armor-and-Qi-plated arm, before slicing into the beast's belly with an upwards, one-handed Harmony Blade, making even more blood splatter onto the ancient battlefield's already bloody ground.
This battle seemed glorious - a man fighting against a dragon, clad in gleaming, high-quality armor, and wielding powerful battle skills. However, to a true expert, this was a sad scene to watch.
It was evident to the experienced eye that the wielder of these items had grown reliant upon them - he had replaced skill with wealth. That was not to say that Qian Feng was a bumbling fool, just that no matter how skillful his movements were, they hinged on his armor. For example, how could Qian Feng dare to block that powerful chomp with the arm if not for his formidable armor? How could he make use of the fact that only one hand was available and strike the exposed stomach and cause a dire wound if not for the sharpness of his guan dao? If not for his gear, the very way he blocked would be an incomparably idiotic decision, but thanks to it, he didn't need to worry about compensating weakness with technique.
Qian Feng proceeded in this manner, winning and receiving the points he needed to purchase the final skill he wanted: Titan's Fortress.
This martial skill was the way he could perfectly execute his fighting style.
The store graded it as a Divine martial skill, which was why he needed to save up for a full year to get it. What Qian Feng didn't know was that any other martial artist would cough up blood if they heard that he only needed to work for a year in order to get a Divine martial skill, which was a grade of skill even some Martial Saints didn't have. Furthermore, this skill was far more useful than any other Divine martial skill, because of its properties.
First off, its effects were very good, and just based on that, it was ranked near the top in Divine martial skills(this grade of martial skill wasn't divided further into sub-grades, but instead just used and appreciated. Divine martial skills were so rare that people didn't even bother classifying them within their grade, and just thanked the gods that they had them). But it wasn't the energy conversion efficiency or what the martial skill did that made Titan's Fortress so good. Instead, it was the fact that it could be used by even a Martial Warrior, which was shocking to the point of reaching the heavens.
It should be noted that Divine martial skills had an extremely high requirement for use - usually someone at the peak Martial Saint level could only use one at its full capacity once.
But Titan's Fortress only needed an extremely low amount of Qi to activate, and as a result, even a Martial Warrior could experience the effects of a Divine grade martial skill, which was a treasure worthy of a dynasty centered around it.
The moment Qian Feng made the purchase, his mind was flooded with how the Titan's Fortress skill worked and how to use it, the sheer amount of information forcing him to sit down and digest it all.
When that was done, Qian Feng re-equipped all his basic equipment and started another battle.
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In a wooden mansion in the middle of the forest, a faint roar could be heard.
"I'm out!"