In the valley.

Nangong Huang, Murong Xuan, and the other Daoists were battling the sword qi clone together.

A variety of sword Dao techniques were displayed during that battle. Among them were some Sage Techniques as well, which were extremely powerful and phenomenal.

Despite that, Chu Kuangren's sword qi clone was just too strong. Made purely out of sword qi, its surge of Sword-based Daoist Rhyme completely overwhelmed everyone on the scene, rendering the hundreds of methods that the Daoists tried ineffective.

The sword qi clone unleashed another sword qi attack, with Murong Xuan as its target this time. Along with a terrifying Sword-based Daoist Rhyme, the sword qi went straight towards him.

The force of the attack surprised Murong Xuan as he was no match for it at all. Just like that, his whole body was sent flying tens of meters away and smashed a large crater into the ground. The bones in his body felt like they were all about to shatter.

Murong Xuan immediately coughed up a mouthful of blood while the intense pain left him immobile. As he stared at the seemingly invincible sword qi clone, a thought suddenly popped into his mind… 'It's quite comfortable to just lie here.'

However, a soothing gust of wind that carried a surge of mysterious Daoist Rhyme and the force of vitality suddenly breezed past his body, rapidly healing his injuries.

Not long after, he was more or less recovered.

Chu Kuangren smiled at him from not far away. “Why are you still on the ground? Are you slacking off? That won't do. Carry on now, keep going at it.”

Murong Xuan's mouth twitched, but when he glanced at the sword qi clone, he was filled with the intent to fight again. He picked up his sword and rushed towards it.

“Divine Nine Suns Art, Seven Sol Slas.h.!.+”

With Daoist Rhyme swirling all over his body, a blazing surge of Daoist Rhyme immediately gushed out and formed into seven huge fireb.a.l.l.s, as if seven suns were hung in the sky. Then, one after another, he hurled the fireb.a.l.l.s at the sword qi clone.

However, the sword qi clone simply raised its arm and unleashed a stream of purple sword rays across the void, destroying the seven fireb.a.l.l.s one by one. Engulfed by the sword qi, the majestic flame palm qi swept across all directions like a solar storm.

The storm sent all the surrounding Daoists flying.

“D*mn it, it can do that too?”

“I can't believe it used Murong Xuan's technique to attack us just now. Seeing that it possesses such swordsmans.h.i.+p level, is that really just a sword qi clone we're fighting?”

“Yet it only contains one-sixtieth our Sect Leader's full strength…”

Everyone may be shocked, but they once again gritted their teeth and continued to attack the sword qi clone.

That battle lasted up to two hours.

In those two hours, every Daoist was critically injured at least twice, but the number of minor injuries they sustained was countless

After that battle, some of them laid on the ground with their spiritual power depleted.

“Alright, let's call it a day.” Chu Kuangren looked at the sunset and snapped his finger, dispersing the sword qi clone.

He then looked at Nangong Huang and the others and chuckled. “We'll continue this tomorrow morning here. It's alright, I did say you guys have a month to defeat my sword qi clone. Besides, today is just the first day, so don't fret.”

“There are still a lot of opportunities.”

As they looked at the smiling Chu Kuangren, Nangong Huang and the others wondered whether their Sect Leader was a devil in disguise.

'Please, give our kind and gentle Sect Leader back to us!'

“Alright, that's it for now. I'll see all of you tomorrow.”

After Chu Kuangren and Lan Yu left, the ones who were laying on the floor looked at each other. All they could see before them was darkness before them and deep down, they screamed in pain.

“Guys, this is only the first day and there are still three months left before the champions.h.i.+p. This means we'll have to go through this h.e.l.lish special training for a least two more months. By the G.o.ds, I might as well die now.” Zhuo Han wailed.

“No, we can't let our Sect Leader look down upon us.”

Jun Yi gritted her teeth.

When Chu Kuangren's disappointed look appeared in her mind, she made up her mind. “Even if we die, we'll have to persevere until the end.”

“You can't even die if you want to. The moment our Sect Leader uses his Spring Breeze Healing Technique, you'll still have to get up and face the torture again,” Nangong Huang said.

“Hey, do you guys want to head back?”

Murong Xuan asked.

“Nope, I have no strength left at all.”

“Same here. I'll ask someone to bring us something to eat later, as well as some fresh change of clothes as well,” Nangong Huang said.

Everyone sat there on the ground and began to recover their spiritual power. The moment they activated their techniques, everyone suddenly realized that something strange was happening.

“Have you guys noticed? Our spiritual power recovery rate has become faster,” Nangong Huang commented.

“I have the same feeling as well.”

“It's because of the Marrow Cleansing Pool.”

Murong Xuan replied as if he had figured something out. “It's because the Marrow Cleansing Pool has improved our bone structures. That's why the speed at which we utilize our techniques or recover our spiritual power has become faster and more efficient.”

“I see, not bad at all.”

Everyone nodded and looked at the Marrow Cleansing Pool from afar with awe in their eyes. They were not stupid, so they could naturally understand the Marrow Cleansing Pool's significance to their sect.

What was the main factor that determined a sect's potential and strength? The amount of talent they had, of course!

On the other hand, this Marrow Cleansing Pool was able to produce many talents and in bulk!

“I'm afraid this is probably the key to our Black Heaven Sect's prosperity!”

“This Marrow Cleansing Pool is just too important.”

“I can't believe the Sect Leader casually placed something important like this here. Isn't that a bit too sloppy for him?”

“I suppose there are no restrictions around it as well. Besides, this is something that even the Sages will be highly concerned about. They won't let anything happen to it.”

After a while.

Several disciples arrived with some food and fresh clothes.

They could not help but get stunned at the sight of exhausted Daoists lying on the ground as if they were sucked dry of energy.

'What kind of special training has the Sect Leader arranged for them?'

'It's that scary?'

Chu Kuangren and Lan Yu did not return to the Towering Heaven Palace after they left. Instead, they went to a clean pristine valley.

Fairfrost Sage was living in that valley.

“I see you've arrived, Sect Leader.”

The Fairfrost Sage's eyes lit up with delight when she saw Chu Kuangren's arrival.

“Yeah, I'm here to check on the growth of the spirit grain.”

“It's going well.”

The Fairfrost Sage then brought Chu Kuangren to a few acres of rice fields.

Spiritual qi was extremely concentrated in these rice fields.

This was a type of grain that contained spiritual qi within it.

Although the concentration of spiritual qi within the spirit grains was not as good as other Supreme Elixirs, its value was far greater than the Supreme Elixirs. Even the value of some Sage-grade Supreme Elixirs could not match it too.

That was because spirit grains could be grown on a large scale, it had a short maturity period, and compared to Supreme Elixirs, it was easier for cultivators to absorb.

In Firmament Star today, only very few sage orthodoxies possessed a supply of spirit grains and one of them was Thunder Temple.

That was why their fasting rice was hailed as the best in the world.

However, the spirit grains from Thunder Temple were far less valuable than the ones Chu Kuangren had asked Fairfrost Sage to plant.

The spirit grains from the Thunder Temple were only of the normal variant, while the ones Chu Kuangren got from the gacha roll were high-level spirit grains!

It was a Legendary grade item!

“I've already harvested them once. The yield we can expect to get per acre is around five hundred kilograms, and I have twenty acres planted here. As of now, there are currently ten thousand kilograms of spirit grains stored in the reserves.”

“How many times can we harvest it per year?”

“Under the buffs provided from Second Wood Qi Essence, I think we can harvest it four times per year, meaning a yield of forty tons yearly,” the Fairfrost Sage explained.

“Forty tonnes huh? That's far from enough.”

Chu Kuangren shook his head. There were ten thousand disciples in the Black Heaven Sect, so forty tonnes were inadequate.

“I guess we can only give it to some of the True Disciples for now. If we want to use it on a larger scale, then we'll have to expand our production size.”

“We can increase the scale of production, but my Second Wood Qi Essence can't facilitate the growth of that much spirit grains at once,” Fairfrost Sage said.

The Second Wood Qi Essence was the main technique that Fairfrost Sage cultivated, which could allow her to hasten the growth rate of spiritual herbs.

However, since Fairfrost Sage was doing all of it alone, her Second Wood Qi Essence could not facilitate the growth of that many spirit grains no matter how strong her technique was.

“It's alright, you can take your time.”