Apollo raised the wooden sword in front of him. With his eyes closed, he began following the process from the Sword Serpent Transformation technique.
To reach the beginner stage, he had to feel the sword and become familiar with it. He had to make it an extension of himself, not just a simple weapon.
However, for the beggar, this was an easy task. With his mastery of the Simple Sword Technique, which allowed him to turn any weapon into a sharp sword, he immediately made the wooden sword a part of him.
Then came the second part: visualization. He had to visualize the mythological Great Serpent within the wooden sword. Apollo needed to engrave this image using Qi.
There were two types of Qi, which he had learned about on the first floor of the library: Unrefined Qi and Refined Qi.
Unrefined Qi referred to the Qi in the outside world. This Qi mingled with the air and was filled with impurities.
Refined Qi, on the other hand, was exclusive to cultivators who had reached Qi Condensation and above. This type of Qi was Unrefined Qi absorbed by cultivators, circulated through their bodies, and stored in the ball of Qi located in their dantian. It became stronger, and its quality was much higher than that of the unrefined variety.
Cultivators could use Refined Qi by drawing it from the ball of Qi in their dantian, rather than from the outside world. This much stronger energy was one of the requirements to learn the Sword Serpent Transformation.
Following the instructions from the book, the beggar began drawing power from the ball of Qi in his dantian. The Refined Qi flowed out of his body, covering the wooden sword through his fingers.
Apollo's eyes focused on the sword. He saw it change, transforming into something else. As the head of the serpent started forming, the beggar couldn't help but feel excited. Don't tell me I'll succeed on my first try?
However, his excitement quickly vanished when the wooden sword returned to normal, the Refined Qi disintegrating.
"Sh*t," Apollo cursed with a bitter smile. It was a wild dream to think he could learn a technique, reserved for a select few, in just one try. "Again."
This time, he became more focused. His only goal for now was to reach the beginner stage of the Sword Serpent Transformation, not to master it just yet.
He recalled his previous attempts, especially his mistakes.
Apollo corrected them, and soon, the wooden sword fully transformed into the great serpent. But alas, it only lasted for a few seconds before the weapon returned to normal.
"I didn't use enough Refined Qi," Apollo realized. He took a deep breath of the outside Qi and refined it in his dantian, filling the ball of Qi.
Besides visualization, he had to ensure the right amount of Qi was used, or the technique would break.
On his third attempt, Apollo finally managed to transform the wooden sword into a living blue Great Serpent, though the handle of the weapon remained unchanged. It behaved like a real snake, but Apollo knew it wasn't. It felt more like he was holding an automatic toy.
"Now what next..." the beggar muttered. Even though he had managed to transform the sword into a smaller version of the great serpent, he still hadn't reached the beginner stage. "Infusing more Refined Qi? This snake is such a glutton."
Apollo followed the process carefully. One wrong move, and he would have to restart while the Refined Qi from his condensed ball of Qi slowly diminished. To reach the beginner stage of the Sword Serpent Transformation, the great serpent should be detailed, at least two or three meters long, and able to change size depending on his will.
But so far, he could only change the sword into a mediocre snake.
It took around thirty minutes for the beggar to finally reach the beginner stage of the Sword Serpent Transformation technique.
Apollo waved the weapon in his hand, and the great serpent roared, its mouth wide open as it bit at the air, its razor-sharp teeth creating a loud snapping sound that reverberated through the training room.
With another wave, the great serpent's body elongated, thrashing around the room, its tail slamming into the floor with a resounding thud.
"This is great!" Apollo exclaimed, as the serpent's size shrank back down until it returned to being the wooden sword. Glancing at it, he smiled in satisfaction. At first, he had been somewhat against learning it, but once he did, he realized it wasn't so bad after all.
"Now that I'm done with this one... I should learn all of them!" Apollo muttered with excitement. The technique in his mind shouldn't disappear like before, right? The beggar had only learned the beginner stage, but fully memorized the technique. He would be greatly upset if he could only remember what he'd learned so far.
Picking up the book from the floor, he walked out the door. The moment his foot stepped back onto the dark floor, he braced himself for the worst.
"It's still there," Apollo sighed in relief, letting the book drop to the ground. His eyes landed on the floating techniques with renewed excitement. Now that he had figured out how to retain the techniques in his mind, he wouldn't be stingy with himself.
He walked to the nearest scroll, picked it up, unfurled it, and memorized it before walking back inside the training ground.
The second technique was a Cultivation Technique. As Apollo stared at the scroll in his hand, he felt conflicted.
This cultivation technique was called the Great Serpent Assimilation Cultivation Technique, and unlike battle techniques, this one focused on raising the cultivation of an individual—just like his Revised Revised Simple Breathing Technique.
In the beggar's opinion, the Great Serpent Assimilation Cultivation Technique was actually a great technique, much better than what he was currently using. Once learned, he would be able to use water-related battle techniques more easily. He could even control natural water without using Qi. Furthermore, the technique would allow him to reach the Core Creation Stage.
However, the downside was that he would have to give up his current cultivation and start over, though the scroll mentioned it wouldn't take long to catch up to his previous cultivation.
"Hmm, should I?" Apollo muttered, feeling conflicted. But all my efforts revising the Simple Breathing Technique will go to waste. If I cultivate this Great Serpent Assimilation, I'll have to start from scratch, the beggar thought.
He stared at the scroll for a moment before shaking his head. With a yawn, he walked back outside. Apollo was too lazy to start over. Besides, he wanted to see how much further he could revise his Simple Breathing Technique.