Chapter 360
Thus, Lin Hui decided to infuse it directly with Star Force and use that as the true internal driving force behind the Pine Wind Sword Technique. However, he quickly discovered a problem. Star Force remained stable as long as it stayed within his original soul. But once he mobilized it and guided it into his current body to circulate like Internal Force, it began to drain away at a frightening pace. Previously, he had only used Star Force to strengthen his body and improve his aptitude, spending it the moment he mobilized it, so he had never noticed the flaw. Now that he was trying to use it as a substitute for Internal Force, the issue was glaringly obvious.
Combined with the recent situation at the Pine Wind Sword Hall and the other martial establishments throughout Xidong City, Lin Hui suspected that this might be an extreme world, pushed to its absolute limit through something akin to setting restrictions. Even Internal Force was not allowed to exist here. He had tried every cultivation art he knew from the Mistborn world to condense Internal Force and weave an External Web, yet he could not produce even the slightest trace of either. It was only because his Star Force came from the Wind Disaster source force, making it virtually inexhaustible, that he could use it to temper his body and improve his aptitude at all.
Swish!
Lin Hui casually sheathed his sword. Although it was still made of wood, it was far more refined than the crude practice weapon he had used three years ago, and it even came with a fitted scabbard. Today had been his usual routine of Star Force body tempering and perfunctory sword practice. In the morning, he studied literature at the academy, and in the afternoon, he came to the sword hall. That had been his schedule for years. Because his time was so limited, he had not interacted much with the other students at the sword hall. His only real exchanges were with the hallmaster’s daughter, Xiao Shishi, and a buck-toothed girl nicknamed Er Hei. The rest of his time was devoted entirely to cultivation. As the effects of his body tempering began to show, he finally experienced the true benefits of having good aptitude.
Although this body could not cultivate Internal Force or True Force, its mind-spirit could still be tempered. So, he also took up a mind-spirit Divine Method. During the many years he had served as Vice City Lord of Black Cloud City, he had collected complete texts of various factions’ Divine Methods. After careful consideration, he had settled on the Nine Flowers Divine Method as a transitional experiment, mainly because it was the one he knew best.
Lin Hui extracted the Mind Tempering portion of the art to exercise and strengthen his mind-spirit, which amounted to being strengthened by special effects alone. The Demonic Incense increased his mind-spirit power by one standard unit every day, but that kind of brute-force enhancement did not give him perfect control. Tempering that control was the critical weakness he needed to make up for, which was why he had taken up a Divine Method in the first place. Aside from that, he spent the vast majority of his time cultivating the Grand Yin-Yang Time Reversal Sword Art. This sword art did not rely on the external environment; it depended solely on strengthening oneself. As long as he had Star Force, cultivating it only required him to find the strings of time to begin. As for how to find those strings of time...
Smack.
Smack, smack.
A series of crisp slaps suddenly interrupted his train of thought. He glanced toward the wall on the right side of the drill grounds. Just beyond it lay a mass grave, overgrown with weeds and swarming with mosquitoes. Usually, very few people went back there. But now...