Spells Grinding: From Basic Sparks to Divine Arts

Chapter 286: Flight Speed

Early the next morning.

At the entrance of the White Jade Market.

Qin Lu looked at the members of the Qin Sect who had gathered to see him off, a sense of warmth filling his chest.

His gaze swept over the crowd, landing on the stern young man and the honest, simple-minded middle-aged man standing together. He couldn’t help but chuckle softly.

“Nie Feng, Old Cao. When I return, I hope to see two new Foundation Establishment cultivators standing before me!”

Hearing this, Nie Feng cupped his hands, his expression solemn. “Rest assured, Sect Leader. I will enter Secluded Cultivation to make the attempt within days!”

“That’s right! Sect Leader, just wait and see!” Cao Yunxi added, brimming with confidence.

Both of them had received a [Foundation Establishment Pill] from Qin Lu. With such a precious resource in hand, their determination was absolute.

Seeing their confidence, Qin Lu nodded with satisfaction.

He controlled his body to rise slowly into the air, hovering above the group. He looked down at the dozen faces below, his eyes lingering for a moment on Gu Yue, who stood to the side in her pristine white robes.

“Alright. I am setting off now,” Qin Lu announced, his voice clear and resonant. “During my absence, all sect affairs will be decided by Gu Yue. Her word is my word. Do you all understand?”

“Understood!” the group responded in unison.

Qin Lu’s gaze locked with Gu Yue’s. No words were spoken, but everything that needed to be said passed between them in that silent exchange.

“I’m off!”

With a light shout, Qin Lu turned his back on the market. His figure accelerated sharply, shooting into the sky like a streak of lightning. Within moments, he was nothing but a speck on the horizon, leaving the members of the Qin Sect gazing up in his wake.

…

Qin Lu’s destination was incredibly far.

He had to traverse the entirety of Flowing Cloud Prefecture, cross several other prefectures, and finally reach Jishi Prefecture on the far eastern border of the Nine Truths Region. Only then would he be close to the Weitian Realm.

The scale of this world was staggering. A single Golden Core sect’s territory could span tens of thousands of miles. A prefecture was vast beyond measure.

Even Qin Lu wasn’t entirely sure how far the Weitian Realm actually was.

He only knew his first stop: Qinghua City.

Hailed as the heart of the Nine Truths Region, it was the most prosperous and bustling cultivation metropolis in the known world.

Whoosh—!

Standing atop the [Silver Sand Sword], Qin Lu pierced through clouds and soared over mountain ranges, a streak of silver light cutting across the sky.

He kept his altitude moderate—about five hundred meters above the ground.

Below him, the landscape unfolded in a breathtaking panorama of verdant forests and winding rivers. The world was pristine, untouched by industrial pollution, a sea of vibrant green.

His choice of altitude was deliberate.

Five hundred meters gave him a strategic balance. Flying too high exposed him to aerial predators and high-altitude winds, making accidents fatal and rendering his escape techniques less effective. Flying too low, however, made him a target for ground-based ambushes.

After all, “killing to seize treasures” was the universal sport of the cultivation world. Caution was survival.

Despite his vigilance, a sense of exhilaration welled up in his chest as he soared freely through the heavens.

“Hehe! Sword Riding really is the best way to travel. It’s faster than a spirit boat, costs zero Spirit Stones, and most importantly… it looks incredibly cool.”

Flying solo, unburdened by the sluggish medium-sized spirit boat, his speed was significantly higher.

Although Qin Lu had broken through to the Late Foundation Establishment stage, his flight speed wasn’t godlike. He had calculated it before: his raw flight speed under his own power was roughly 120 meters per second.

That was fast—comparable to a race car—but standard for his realm.

However, Sword Riding on the [Silver Sand Sword] pushed that limit further, reaching speeds of over 140 meters per second. That was faster than the high-speed trains of his previous life.

The trade-off was stamina.

Sword Riding consumed Spiritual Qi at a voracious rate. With his current reserves, he could sustain this speed for about eight or nine hours before running dry.

Once depleted, he would need to land and meditate for two hours to recover.

Based on his stamina calculations, he could maintain a cycle of “fly eight hours, rest two hours.” This meant he could cover over twenty thousand miles in a single day.

“Tsk, tsk…”

Qin Lu looked down at the silver blade beneath his feet, shaking his head in wonder.

“At this speed, I could circle the Earth’s equator in four days back in my old world.”

“But here? Four days isn’t even enough to fly out of a single Golden Core sect’s territory…”

“This world is truly terrifyingly vast.”

He tilted his head back, gazing up at the endless blue sky. A thought suddenly struck him.

“Come to think of it… I’ve never actually flown to the upper limits.”

“Is there really a Heavenly Court or a Celestial Realm up there?”

“Should I… go take a look?”

Once the thought took root, it was impossible to shake. It was like a hundred tiny voices whispering in his ear, urging him on.

After a moment of hesitation, Qin Lu gritted his teeth.

Why not?

He shifted his stance, angling the [Silver Sand Sword] upward.

Let’s see what’s up there!

WHOOSH!

Qin Lu shot straight up, the air screaming as he parted it.

Since transmigrating, he had never tested the ceiling of the world. His usual flights capped out at two or three thousand meters. The realm above was a complete mystery.

He ascended rapidly.

As he climbed, he strained his eyes, looking toward the horizon, hoping to see the curvature of the planet.

But the higher he went, the more shocked he became.

Ten thousand meters. Twenty thousand.

The horizon remained a flat, endless line. There was no curve.

“At this height… I feel like I’m seeing only the tip of the iceberg of this world…”

Qin Lu suppressed his awe and pushed the sword faster, climbing higher.

Fifty thousand meters. Eighty thousand.

Inevitably, his speed began to drop.

“Something’s wrong. It’s getting… cold.”

Qin Lu wrapped his arms around himself, shivering violently.

At an altitude of over a hundred thousand meters, the temperature plummeted. The air itself seemed on the verge of freezing solid.

This wasn’t normal cold.

With his cultivator’s physique, Qin Lu could take an ice bath in the dead of winter without blinking. But this cold gnawed at his bones, bypassing his natural defenses. His body trembled uncontrollably.

“No. I can’t go any higher. If I do, I’ll freeze to death.”

Qin Lu hurriedly halted the flying sword.

He looked up. The sky above was unchanged—the same vast, indifferent blue he saw from the ground.

But looking down, the world was gone.

Below him lay a sea of clouds, thick and solid as land, stretching endlessly in all directions. The mountains, the rivers, the cities—all swallowed by the white abyss.

“Forget it. It seems the starry sea is still too far away for me.”

Qin Lu sighed, shaking his head with a wry smile.

He turned the sword around and began his descent, ending his brief exploration of the heavens.