This was a matter of perception.

Based on Fang Yun’s understanding of his own talents, he was extremely confident.

Flames ignited in his hand. Now that he had adjusted his state, Fang Yun began the process of refining the Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact, the Earth Yellow Sword.

The entire refining process took three and a half days.

"Success!"

Fang Yun examined the results of his refining with satisfaction.

This time, based on the primary characteristics of the supplementary materials, he had refined the type of Piercing Long Sword he was best at making.

Many of his Upper Grade Magical Artifact Yellow Iron Swords shared this characteristic.

This Earth Yellow Sword, with its five Spirit Patterns, possessed extremely strong piercing power.

With the bonus from his four-star Combat Talents, it should be able to easily break through the defenses of a late-stage Foundation Establishment Demon.

Fang Yun dripped a drop of his essence blood into the Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact-level Earth Yellow Sword.

Then, he began to practice controlling it simply.

Under his control, the Earth Yellow Sword flew and spun around him at extreme speed. He had already become completely familiar with a Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact he had just acquired.

Never mind other early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators; even a mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator wouldn’t dare to dream of such a thing.

「A little less than half a month later.」

Bai Heyan came looking for Fang Yun.

He had already tried to find Fang Yun a few times, but Fang Yun was in seclusion, so he had to let it be.

He knew that when Fang Yun was in seclusion, he was either practicing Alchemy or Artifact Refining.

"Elder Bai."

"Fang Yun, about reinforcing the Shen Family... you were reckless."

Before long, Bai Heyan brought up the matter of the reinforcement mission.

Although the final outcome had been good, he still felt he needed to lecture Fang Yun.

He had also spoken with Fang Yun’s master, Xiong Xingfeng, about this matter, and Xiong Xingfeng had expressed support for Fang Yun’s actions.

Xiong Xingfeng also shared his view that he was extremely confident in his disciple’s strength, and that past events had proven his disciple’s capabilities multiple times.

"Elder Bai, I wasn’t reckless," Fang Yun denied. "When I went to reinforce the Shen Family, I had already made ample preparations."

"Is that so? Were you also prepared for a potential ambush?"

"Yes." Fang Yun nodded. "If they were going to ambush me, it could only be near the Shen Family’s territory. When I entered their territory, I advanced while concealed."

He was telling the truth.

Upon entering the Shen Family’s territory, he had indeed advanced while concealed.

But his methods were even more extreme. Not long after leaving the Celestial Cloud Sect, he had put on his Half-Hidden Spirit Boots, unafraid of the Spiritual Power consumption.

As Bai Heyan pointed out Fang Yun’s recklessness, Fang Yun answered each point one by one.

In truth, it wasn’t that he had prepared long in advance, but that he was *always* prepared.

The more they talked, the less Bai Heyan had to say.

He had originally come to lecture Fang Yun, but Fang Yun’s preparations had been so thorough that he was left speechless in the end.

Fang Yun understood what Bai Heyan was ultimately trying to say.

So he finally said:

"Elder Bai, you don’t need to worry too much about me going out. I make thorough preparations, and I possess considerable strength myself. As for Alchemy, you can rest even more assured. I will not waste my talent."

"...Fine."

Faced with Fang Yun’s explanation, Bai Heyan could only nod in the end.

In truth, if he could have his way, he would still prefer Fang Yun to spend more time on Alchemy.

But he couldn’t say this out loud. If Xiong Xingfeng found out, he might just show up at his door looking for a fight.

As far as he knew, Xiong Xingfeng hadn’t told Fang Yun to spend more time on Artifact Refining either. Instead, he let Fang Yun allocate his time as he saw fit.

Thinking of this, Bai Heyan had to admit that Xiong Xingfeng seemed a more suitable master for Fang Yun than he would be.

’If an old man like me says too much, I might just annoy him.’

Fang Yun saw Bai Heyan to the entrance of his cave. After the stone door closed, he resumed his cultivation.

...

「Late May.」

It was almost time for this month’s Talent Point settlement.

Fang Yun was already looking forward to it.

’An early-stage Foundation Establishment Demon provides 50,000 base Talent Points. A mid-stage one has to give at least 100,000, right?’

Unlike the Qi Refining Stage, which has ten minor realms, the Foundation Establishment Stage only has four: early, middle, late, and peak.

If a mid-stage Foundation Establishment Demon only gave 20,000 more base Talent Points than an early-stage one, Fang Yun would honestly find that a little hard to accept.

The moment the calendar turned to the beginning of June,

Fang Yun immediately opened the translucent screen to check last month’s settlement.

——

Killed Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Demon x2, Talent Points +240,000

...

Sect Influence: 62%

Talent Point Bonus: 366%

Settlement: Talent Points +1,759,439

——

"Excellent."

Fang Yun was very satisfied with the base Talent Points gained from killing the mid-stage Foundation Establishment Demons. A single one provided 120,000 Talent Points.

This month, the base Talent Points he gained from killing Foundation Establishment Demons reached a high of 340,000.

His Sect Influence had increased by one percentage point last month, which was also something Fang Yun had hoped for.

The influence had increased three days ago. This showed just how difficult it was to raise it by a single percentage point, as it had been over half a month since he killed the four Foundation Establishment Demons.

A settlement of over a million Talent Points!

This was the first time his Talent Point settlement had reached seven digits.

With the Talent Points from this settlement, he could draw for Combat Talents over 1,700 times, but he wasn’t just going to draw for Combat Talents this time.

Among his three Combat Talents,

The one closest to upgrading to a five-star Combat Talent was now his Sword Talent, which was just ninety-nine fragments away from leveling up.

The one furthest away was his Shoe Talent, but the gap wasn’t large. It was at most twelve fragments behind the Sword Talent.

In total, he needed just over three hundred and ten Combat Talent fragments. That was why, before heading to the Shen Family’s ancestral land, Fang Yun had hoped to kill two early-stage Foundation Establishment Demons.

Because after killing two early-stage Foundation Establishment Demons, the base Talent Points he would gain, including the bonus, would be enough to upgrade all three of his Combat Talents to five stars.

The side effects of upgrading Combat Talents were a bit intense.

At this moment, Fang Yun began to draw one by one.

After three hundred and three draws, his Sword Talent was ready to upgrade.

After the strange sensation faded, an extremely intense, scorching heat followed.

"This feeling is still so unpleasant."

Thankfully, he had already reached Foundation Establishment, and his tolerance had increased significantly.

"Continue!"

After drawing five more Combat Talent fragments, his Shield Talent was the second to upgrade.

After drawing another nine Combat Talent fragments, his Shoe Talent also upgraded to five stars.

The display on the Combat Talent interface had changed significantly:

[Weapon] Sword Talent ★★★★★ (7/5040)

[Weapon] Shield Talent ★★★★★ (3/5040)

[Weapon] Shoe Talent ★★★★★ (0/5040)

Only after the final wave of scorching heat subsided did Fang Yun check his Combat Talent interface.

All his Combat Talents were now five-star.

The bonus from five-star Combat Talents would still be barely usable even after he broke through to the Core Formation Stage. As a mere early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator, the boost in strength he received was already immense.

Fang Yun couldn’t wait to test the approximate effects of his five-star Combat Talents.

But before that, he had to use up his remaining Talent Points.

He had drawn for Combat Talents a total of three hundred and seventeen times, leaving him with over 1.4 million Talent Points still unused.

He switched to the Life Talent interface.

Fang Yun directly drew for Life Talents 14,427 times.

The final result was that the fragments for his three Life Talents were distributed relatively evenly.

Each Life Talent had received over four thousand fragments. However, to upgrade from a five-star to a six-star Life Talent required a massive number of fragments.

As of now, he had only completed a little more than a tenth of the progress required.

It would likely take over twelve million Talent Points for all his five-star Life Talents to possibly be upgraded to six-star.

Most months, he only earned around 70,000 to 80,000 Talent Points. He was still more than ten million Talent Points away.

’I have a long way to go.’

After a quick glance at the Life Talent interface, Fang Yun closed the translucent screen.

First, he would test the effects of his new Spiritual Artifact.

Fang Yun fully activated the five-Spirit-Pattern Earth Yellow Sword. The most direct sensation was that its Spiritual Power consumption was lower.

’As expected of a five-star Combat Talent. The Spiritual Power reduction must be ninety-five percent, right?’