Chapter 366: Reversal

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Previously, when Chen Fei saw the Yashan Army besieging Shang Wu City, he had some doubts in his mind. Clearly, there was a much weaker Qinhai City nearby, yet the Yashan Army chose to target the stronger Shang Wu City.

Although Shang Wu City possessed more resources compared to Qinhai City, it wasn’t to the extent that the Yashan Army needed to go all out to capture it.

Now, as Chen Fei looked at the contents of the jade scroll, he began to understand. Inside Shang Wu City, there was actually a small entrance to a hidden place, controlled by Shang Wu City.

Calling it a hidden place might not be entirely accurate; it was more like a small cave dwelling. While the cave dwelling was much smaller than the mystic realm, the spiritual energy within was just as dense, if not more so. What was even more crucial was that this cave dwelling had been owned by someone in the past.

Chen Fei wasn’t sure if the cave dwelling had always been inside Shang Wu City or if its location had shifted and was discovered by the cultivators in Shang Wu City in recent times.

The forced opening of the cave dwelling led to a rapid change in the surrounding natural energy. Although the cultivators in Shang Wu City immediately concealed it, it was still discovered by the wandering Liang Zhongpu, leading to the subsequent siege of Shang Wu City by the Yashan Army.

The Yashan Army’s original intention was to participate in exploring the cave dwelling, but they were directly refused by Shang Wu City.

Shang Wu City had great confidence, and in a real battle, they proved to be more skilled, forcing the Yashan Army to retreat.

Even the head of the Yashan Sect, Qi Yuanlu, was injured and needed to recuperate in Qinhai City.

“Master Xi Lian…”

Chen Fei’s gaze became contemplative, feeling that this name sounded somewhat familiar. Suddenly, his eyes brightened, and he finally remembered the origin of the name, Master Xi Lian.

He was a solitary cultivator who had passed away more than a hundred years ago.

It wasn’t easy for strong individuals to emerge among solitary cultivators, but it didn’t mean that no strong cultivators could arise from their ranks. The difficulties faced by solitary cultivators lay in two main areas: acquiring comprehensive cultivation techniques and obtaining resources for cultivation.

Obtaining a complete cultivation technique as a solitary cultivator was exceedingly difficult. Those that could be fully cultivated to the later stages of Aperture tempering realm were rare and hard to come by, let alone those that could be cultivated to the Aperture tempering realm itself. Access to cultivation resources was also limited for solitary cultivators since many valuable resources were controlled by sects. In cases where their strength didn’t match up to the sects, solitary cultivators wouldn’t dare to compete for these resources.

Therefore, among solitary cultivators, those who could reach the middle aperture tempering realm were few and far between. As for reaching the later stages of aperture tempering realm, most would need to establish their own sects and transition from being solitary cultivators to sect leaders.

As for the Combined aperture tempering realm, those who could reach it were truly top-tier existences that could dominate an area spanning thousands of miles.

For instance, the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect didn’t always have two Combined aperture tempering realm cultivators at the same time. More often than not, they only had one Combined aperture tempering realm cultivator overseeing the sect’s spiritual fortune.

Thus, the likelihood of a solitary cultivator reaching the Combined aperture tempering realm, within a few hundred years, was extremely rare.

Furthermore, reaching such a level as a lone cultivator, without establishing a sect, was even rarer.

Master Xi Lian was one such cultivator.

However, rumors had it that Master Xi Lian originally had many followers, and the number of his followers was vast. After all, having a Combined aperture tempering realm cultivator as a patron meant that even mediocre sects had to give them face.

With so many followers together, even if they weren’t part of a sect, they formed a loose organization that easily occupied large swaths of resources.

But later, it’s unclear what happened, and the people around Master Xi Lian gradually decreased, as if they had disappeared into thin air.

By the time Master Xi Lian’s life was nearing its end, the number of his followers had become scarce.

As for the caverns, in fact, Master Xi Lian had many of them. He had a unique hobby of collecting mystic realms and refining them into caverns.

Furthermore, each cavern contained some unusual items. As long as one could break the restrictions within the cavern, they could obtain those items.

Most of these items were considered extremely rare resources for cultivators at the Aperture tempering realm.

Thirty years ago, one of Master Xi Lian’s caverns was opened, and someone obtained his cultivation technique inheritance from within.

It was the most sensational yet also the most brutal incident. Many Aperture tempering realm cultivators died, and even many major sects, including the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect, were involved.

According to the message left by Master Xi Lian in that cavern, there was only this one place where his cultivation technique inheritance resided; the other caverns contained only small items left for future generations.

The biggest prize had been taken, but Master Xi Lian’s caverns still held great value. The items inside didn’t attract those at the Combined aperture tempering realm, but they were undoubtedly appealing to those at the Aperture tempering realm.

The Yashan Army hadn’t spread this news, probably because they hadn’t given up on this particular cavern. Unexpectedly, it had now fallen into Chen Fei’s hands.

“Could those missing Aperture tempering realm cultivators from the Yashan Army have gone to seek reinforcements?”

A thought suddenly crossed Chen Fei’s mind, and it seemed entirely possible. If the Yashan Sect could secure Master Xi Lian’s cavern, there might be treasures inside that could help them cultivate an Aperture tempering realm late-phase cultivator.

The difference in strength within a sect, depending on whether or not they had an Aperture tempering realm late-phase cultivator, was quite significant. It would be understandable for the Yashan Sect to make a move for this reason.

“Shang Wu City!”

Chen Fei put away the jade scroll in his hand and began refining elemental stones and spiritual pills.

His spatial grid couldn’t hold any more items, and he couldn’t carry around such a large package. So, he took this opportunity to refine some of these items.

For the first time, Chen Fei felt a bit frustrated with the limited size of his spatial grid. However, he didn’t know when he would have the chance to purchase a second spatial grid.

With a high level of comprehension in his cultivation technique, sufficient core soul energy, and a robust physique, Chen Fei’s speed in refining spiritual pills and elemental stones reached astonishing levels.

In less than three days, Chen Fei directly opened another acupoint, bringing the total to forty-two.

Chen Fei didn’t stop and continued to cultivate.

Forty-three acupoints, forty-four acupoints, forty-five acupoints!

It took nearly nine more days, but Chen Fei managed to open three more acupoints, reaching a total of forty-five. At this point, his spatial grid finally had a bit more space.

It took more than ten days to open four acupoints in succession. If this cultivation speed were to be revealed, it would likely cause quite a stir.

After storing everything in his spatial grid, Chen Fei stopped cultivating and decided to go take a look at Shang Wu City.

Chen Fei was still very curious about Master Xi Lian’s cavern. After all, it belonged to a legendary Aperture tempering realm cultivator. Compared to Dragon-Elephant True Immortal’s low-key presence when Chen Fei first met him, Master Xi Lian had a more legendary life story.

Chen Fei bid farewell to the people from the Ruan family. Although they knew Chen Fei would definitely leave, when he actually said he was going, Ruan Qiaojun and Chu Lan were still filled with reluctance.

However, Ruan Qiaojun couldn’t leave her family behind to follow Chen Fei, and Chu Wennian was loyal to the Ruan family, so he naturally stayed. Chu Lan also followed her grandfather.

In the slightly tearful eyes of Ruan Qiaojun and Chu Lan, Chen Fei waved to them and disappeared on the spot.

A moment later, Chen Fei appeared outside Linshui City.

This place was hundreds of miles away from Shang Wu City, but with Chen Fei’s current speed, it wouldn’t take long to get there.

His figure turned into a shadow, and every time his toes touched the ground and lifted again, he had already covered a mile. He moved effortlessly, like he was floating above the blue sky.

Whether it was high mountains or rivers, lakes, and seas, nothing could impede Chen Fei. Only when one reached this level of cultivation could they possess the ability to confront the forces of nature without losing their life.

In less than an hour, Chen Fei saw the massive city in the distance, and it was indeed Shang Wu City.

Chen Fei’s figure leaped, and at a distance of less than three miles from Shang Wu City, his footsteps suddenly came to a halt.

On a hilltop, Chen Fei looked at Shang Wu City from afar, his brow slightly furrowed. The more he looked, the deeper the furrow in his brow became, and a very strange feeling began to creep into his heart.

Chen Fei couldn’t quite describe this feeling. His core soul energy in in his sea of consciousness trembled slightly, as if it were warning him, but he couldn’t detect any specific situation.

The speed of his Thousand Thread Technique, unconsciously increased as it subtly searched for some information, but it came up empty-handed. It was as if everything were just a figment of Chen Fei’s imagination.

However, Chen Fei didn’t believe it was just a figment. The unusual state of his consciousness was surely related to something happening in Shang Wu City, or it wouldn’t affect his consciousness like this.

Chen Fei’s gaze shifted, and he noticed a large merchant caravan in the distance, slowly approaching Shang Wu City.

There weren’t many caravans traveling outside these days, but there were still some, and they all had their own powerful backgrounds. Otherwise, they could easily be taken advantage of in the cutthroat world.

Since the siege by the Yashan Army was lifted, some caravans had started to resume their regular trade with Shang Wu City. The distant caravan was just one of them.

Chen Fei’s gaze closely followed the caravan as it gradually entered Shang Wu City. The speed was not fast because there were guards at the city gate who needed to inspect the goods.

There were also many soldiers patrolling on the city walls of Shang Wu City.

Everything appeared to be quite normal, with nothing out of the ordinary.

Chen Fei furrowed his brow tightly, and a figure separated from his body, revealing the doppelganger of the Soaring Heaven Technique.

Chen Fei’s doppelganger leaped into action and sprinted toward Shang Wu City. For the current Chen Fei, a distance of three miles was almost traversed in an instant.

Standing in the midst of the crowd, Chen Fei looked up at the massive city gate of Shang Wu City. In a moment of confusion, the city gate seemed to transform into a ravenous mouth, and a sense of dread welled up from the depths of Chen Fei’s heart. He instinctively closed his eyes.

“No, something’s wrong!”

In his sea of consciousness, his core soul energy trembled violently, and the roaring voice of the Dragon Elephant echoed within. Chen Fei’s eyes snapped open, and the Shang Wu City before him had completely transformed.

On the city walls, there were no soldiers to be seen, not a single soul! And there was no one around Chen Fei either; it was completely deserted!

What’s more, the one standing here was not Chen Fei’s doppelganger but Chen Fei’s true self.

And his doppelganger was still hundreds of meters away..