The Wizard: Grinding Experience Starting with Knight Breathing Techniques 110

“What? Snow Wraiths?” Li Wei was slightly surprised.

Silver Mountain Earl nodded. He brought Li Wei to the castle’s prison.

Silver Mountain Castle’s prison wasn’t as desolate as Black Snake Castle’s. It held numerous criminals.

The prison was divided into two levels. The first level held common criminals, while the second level, Li Wei discovered, held Knights, even peak-level Knights.

Li Wei couldn’t help but sigh, thankfully he had been cautious in his weaker days; otherwise, being imprisoned by the Silver Mountain Earl would have been disastrous.

Truly a veteran grand noble, one of the Northern Seven Knights, indeed formidable.

Finally, the Silver Mountain Earl led Li Wei to the most secluded corner of the second level.

Unlike the other cells, this cell was built entirely of hard, massive stones, further encased in an iron mesh, extremely secure.

With Li Wei’s artisan skills, he immediately recognized that the iron mesh contained a trace of mithril, though minimal, it was undeniably present.

Inside this cell was a humanoid monster, its clothes ragged, pale blue skin exposed, much of its body decayed, even revealing bone.

The humanoid monster was clawing at the prison wall, occasionally striking the mithril iron bars, emitting puffs of blue smoke before recoiling.

Li Wei looked closely, and he saw the monster’s face.

It could no longer be called a face. It resembled the decaying corpses in *Resident Evil* or *The Walking Dead*, pale blue bone and teeth exposed through the decaying flesh.

The monster’s eye sockets also glowed with a blue fire, similar to that of the Mo brothers. (A reference to characters likely from another work)

These were the terrifying undead monsters, Snow Wraiths, gradually appearing in the mouths of people, especially the Northern nobles.

At first glance, they looked like zombies.

“Master, have you discovered anything?” the Silver Mountain Earl asked.

“Judging from their clothing, they were once living people, wearing clothes from the Eternal Night Kingdom. Their power source should be the Frost Hearts within their bodies,” Li Wei said.

“Correct. And through my experiments, these monsters indeed fear mithril artifacts. I merely incorporated a small amount of mithril into these iron bars, and they dare not touch them. Once they do, it burns their bodies,” the Silver Mountain Earl said.

“However, if the mithril content is too low, they ignore the fear it induces. The higher the mithril content, the greater the damage inflicted.”

“I once tried binding a piece of pure mithril to one; it quickly burned a large hole through its body.”

“If attacked with ordinary iron weapons, even if the monster’s legs are severed, it can use that mysterious power to slowly heal.”

The Silver Mountain Earl’s expression was grave. These monsters defied common sense. Even Great Knights were not entirely safe. Ordinary people stood no chance.

They didn’t eat or drink, feared not death, and as long as the Frost Heart remained within their bodies, they were practically immortal.

Unless completely crushed into fragments, missing limbs were inconsequential. Some said powerful Snow Wraiths, even with their skeletons scattered into fragments, could slowly regenerate, though their strength would significantly decrease afterward.

It was utterly illogical.

Hearing this, Li Wei’s mind stirred.

“My Magma Shark and Magma Mountain use similar energy; does this mean they, too, can regenerate severed limbs?”

He dismissed the thought and said, “My Lord Earl, what are your plans? It seems the Snow Wraiths’ southward march is inevitable.”

The Silver Mountain Earl sighed, “Yes, uniting everyone is too difficult. All I can do is reinforce Ice Wind City’s defenses, to protect my people when the Snow Wraiths arrive.”

“Thankfully, I have the mithril equipment you forged. Equipping our elite soldiers and Knights with this equipment, each can fight ten – it’s just the mithril production that’s a problem.”

Li Wei sighed, “Ice Wind City is fortunate to have a leader like you, my Lord Earl.”

After leaving Silver Mountain Castle, Li Wei pondered the Snow Wraith matter.

Overall, the Snow Wraiths weren’t exceptionally strong. Their strength lay in their immortality. However, for him, with his full set of mithril equipment, they weren’t much of a threat.

Having witnessed the Snow Wraiths, Li Wei’s fear of the unknown lessened. They were weaker than evil spirits, essentially enhanced zombies, but lacked the infectivity of zombies.

These were monsters spawned by the Demon Tide.

“If I have the chance, I should visit the Eternal Night Kingdom. First, to observe the situation there, and second, to gather more Frost Hearts to increase my Hell’s Seal proficiency.”

“The materials for the other Seals are hard to find. I’ll first max out the Flame Stream Seal and Hell’s Seal and see the effects.”

“With Magma Shark and Magma Mountain, plus my own strength, and by being cautious, I should objectively be safe in the Eternal Night Kingdom.”

Li Wei went to the Shining Tavern to collect the rewards from his requests.

In terms of breathing techniques, he acquired a *Flying Fish Breathing Technique* and a *Mountain Monster Breathing Technique*.

The *Flying Fish Breathing Technique* is a basic bloodline breathing technique, speed-type. Judging from the small person illustrations, Li Wei estimated it could be cultivated to a fifth-order limit.

Flying fish, legendary fish said to traverse the ocean and soar through the sky, supposedly feeding on “cloud qi.” (cloud-like energy)

“Not bad. Cultivating it to its limit can break the limit of the Sea Demon Breathing Technique.”

Currently, the Sea Demon Breathing Technique’s limit-breaking progress is (1/5). One *Flying Fish Breathing Technique* increases the progress by two points.

The *Mountain Monster Breathing Technique*, however, surprised Li Wei. It had thirty small person illustrations. Mountain monsters are creatures from regional folklore, possessing the power to move mountains and shake the earth.

Similar to the *Human-Faced Spider Breathing Technique*, the *Mountain Monster Breathing Technique* is likely a top-tier basic bloodline breathing technique, cultivatable to a sixth-order limit.

This is a strength-type breathing technique. A sixth-order limit equates to three points of limit-breaking progress.

His Giant Rhinoceros Breathing Technique precisely needed three more points to break its limit.

“Perfect, the Giant Rhinoceros Breathing Technique can break its limit immediately.”

Li Wei was secretly delighted. At his current cultivation speed, maxing out the Mountain Monster Breathing Technique should take at most three months.

The breathing technique harvest pleased Li Wei.

He finally had a lead on the Ice Ape Blood needed for the Giant Breathing Technique cultivation.

The lead came from a wandering Knight from the Eternal Night Kingdom. He was a mercenary fighting the Snow Wraiths.

He had heard that in one region of the Eternal Night Kingdom, the natives worshipped a totem called the “Great Ice Ape King”.

Li Wei readily paid the wandering Knight the bounty and learned the location of the native tribe.

“Eternal Night Kingdom, Ice Pillar Archipelago,” Li Wei firmly imprinted this name in his mind.

“Now I have another reason to go to the Eternal Night Kingdom.”

“Both the Undead Core and the Ice Ape Blood can only be obtained in the Eternal Night Kingdom.”

Only the Undead Dust and the Vortex Worm Eggs remained elusive.

The Vortex Worm Eggs were particularly difficult to find. Li Wei had searched for years without success.

“If all else fails, I’ll have to grind it out,” Li Wei sighed helplessly.

As for the clues on the Four Great Families, he had no gains.

These days, Li Wei found a place to stay in Ice Wind City.

In two days, he mastered the *Flying Fish Breathing Technique* and the *Mountain Monster Breathing Technique*.

Li Wei————

Flying Fish Breathing Technique: First Order (1/1000)

Mountain Monster Breathing Technique: First Order (1/1000)

……

The potion needed for the Flying Fish Breathing Technique was “Rain Swallow Nest,” a coastal specialty.

Rain Swallows supposedly prey on large-winged fish, small fish capable of gliding hundreds of meters on the surface, using the wind. The Rain Swallows digest them, then regurgitate the digested remains to form the “Rain Swallow Nest.”

It’s a delicious delicacy, expensive, but not a problem for Li Wei. Some pharmacies in Ice Wind City sold dried Rain Swallow Nests.

Therefore, cultivation was effortless.

The potion needed for the Mountain Monster Breathing Technique was ground “Stone Turtle Shell,” also a common material.

Generally, as long as it wasn’t a high-quality breathing technique, these basic ones had relatively easily obtainable ingredients.

With the potions, after mastering them, the grinding experience would be fast.

Nothing urgent was happening in his territory, so Li Wei wasn’t in a hurry to return, preferring to stay in Ice Wind City.

Every afternoon and evening, Li Wei would spend some time at the Shining Tavern, eavesdropping on the patrons’ conversations.

He hoped to overhear useful information, such as about the Four Great Families.

Of course, most of the time, it was useless chatter.

The same old topics: the southern war, rumors of evil spirits in certain areas, and the Wilderness Brothers Association causing trouble somewhere.

This routine lasted many days.

Li Wei never stopped his daily cultivation.

Flame Stream, Hell, Black Snake, Black Whale, Flying Fish, Mountain Monster, Golden Cross Slash…

If he had free time, he’d grind the Vortex Worm and Giant techniques.

A month later, Li Wei’s Flying Fish and Mountain Monster techniques reached the fourth order.

After completing his trade with Silver Mountain, he went to the tavern as usual to eavesdrop.

His advanced vibrational perception allowed him to hear useful information.

During this time, he had inadvertently “picked up” some money in the wilderness, inadvertently punished several robbers and “confiscated” their ill-gotten gains, and inadvertently learned about a certain noble’s many mistresses, including some of Silver Mountain Earl’s scandals.

“Silver Mountain is actually fond of men? I knew it, such a handsome man…” Li Wei said in a gossipy tone.

“Good thing I always wear a mask,” Li Wei added thankfully.

He was eavesdropping again today.

“We can’t stay in Ice Wind City anymore.”

“Why?”

“I heard… I heard, don’t tell anyone else, I heard that an evil spirit entered Ice Wind City and attacked a priest at the Ice Wind Cathedral. The priest… died horribly, seemingly strangled, his eyes bulging out.”

“How do you know it was an evil spirit? Could it be a bandit, trying to make it look like an evil spirit? Such things have happened many times recently.”

“Impossible. Which bandit could enter the heavily guarded cathedral? And, the Archbishop of the Ice Wind Cathedral reportedly intervened personally. The evil spirit even tried to possess the Archbishop, but was severely injured by him. Now the evil spirit has escaped, we don’t know who it’s possessed. That’s the most terrifying part, because once an evil spirit successfully possesses someone, if it doesn’t act up, you can’t tell the difference.”

“Really? Then we really should leave for a while.”

In a private booth, Li Wei, drinking alone, suddenly frowned.

“Evil spirit?”

“It actually appeared in Ice Wind City.”

At this thought, Li Wei immediately returned to his inn, packed his bags, and prepared to leave.

(End of Chapter)

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