Chapter 429: Entering the Soul

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

“How’s your progress in the Soaring Heaven Technique cultivation?” Feng Xiupu stood beside Chen Fei and suddenly whispered.

“I’ve generally reached the perfection level,” Chen Fei looked at his master with some curiosity, wondering why Feng Xiupu brought this up out of nowhere.

“I have a question I’d like to test you on,” Feng Xiupu cleared his throat and said.

Lately, using the meditation cushion Chen Fei had given him, FengXiupu’s comprehension of the cultivation techniques had been progressing rapidly. It was akin to the foundational principles Chen Fei had instilled in him when he first began his training.

Being strong in combat wasn’t the true measure of one’s abilities; it was about being fast and enduring to live a long life.

Therefore, the inheritance specifically passed down by Feng Xiupu was the Soaring Heaven Technique, and he wanted to elevate it to its pinnacle. However, in recent days, Feng Xiupu had been troubled by several issues related to the Soaring Heaven Technique.

Originally, he had intended to ponder these issues for a few more days, but now Chen Fei was right beside him.

Advanced stage Aperture Tempering realm, every time Feng Xiupu thought about Chen Fei’s current level of cultivation, he couldn’t help but feel a peculiar sensation. It wasn’t jealousy or anything of the sort; Feng Xiupu was not capable of harboring such emotions.

If his disciple surpassed him, FengXiupu’s only feeling would be happiness. Feng Xiupu knew that with the talent Chen Fei had displayed, it was only a matter of time before he surpassed him.

What Feng Xiupu couldn’t have foreseen was that this day would come so quickly and unexpectedly, without any time for preparation. It was precisely because of this lack of preparation that the sudden news felt somewhat awkward to Feng Xiupu.

Fortunately, in recent times, Feng Xiupu had gradually come to accept it, especially after using the meditation cushion given by Chen Fei. Feng Xiupu felt that, well, it was quite satisfying for his disciple to surpass him.

So, with Chen Fei by his side today and some spare time, Feng Xiupu decided to directly ask the questions he had about his own cultivation.

Of course, on the surface, Feng Xiupu framed it as a test for Chen Fei, to see if Chen Fei had become complacent in his martial arts due to rapid progress.

“Oh, please go ahead, Master,” Chen Fei responded with a slight pause, then quickly grasped the situation. He couldn’t help but find it amusing internally, but he didn’t dare show it. Some face had to be saved for his master.

With questions and answers flowing between them, soon, everyone had gathered at the mountaintop of Half-Bottle Mountain.

The Mysterious City had already sensed something unusual. The majestic aura was trembling incessantly. However, before these auras could fully disperse, they were suppressed by the joint efforts of Tong Zhongqiu and Yu Shoucheng.

The Mysterious City was formidable. When Yu Shoucheng came from the Boundless Sea, he had to send people to scout the Mysterious City first before bringing the Yu family across.

But now, facing two Combined Aperture Tempering realm cultivators, the city’s power was immediately suppressed.

Tong Zhongqiu and Yu Shoucheng had no intention of breaking the Mysterious City. It was too vast a city to break down quickly.

Their only goal was to force the Mysterious City to provide them with passage, allowing them to smoothly proceed to the Boundless Sea.

“Boom!”

The formidable aura of the Combined Aperture Tempering realm forcefully penetrated the Mysterious City, causing the city’s chilling atmosphere to surge into the sky.

After a moment, the trembling city walls of the Mysterious City calmed down, and the city gates of the Mysterious City instantly swung wide open. A passage created entirely by the power of Tong Zhongqiu and Yu Shoucheng appeared before everyone.

“Enter!”

Tong Zhongqiu’s voice echoed from within the Mysterious City. The people from the Yu family and the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect entered first, followed closely by the disciples of the Primordial Sword Sect and the Sunken Water Pavilion.

With orderly movements, the people quickly disappeared from Half-Bottle Mountain.

Chen Fei stood at the end of the line, crossing through the city gate and once again seeing the same street from his previous visit to the Mysterious City.

However, the street was devoid of any people at the moment. The doors of the shops were open, and the residents of the Mysterious City stood on the storefronts, casting cold glances at everyone who entered.

Chen Fei glanced up at the sky, where Tong Zhongqiu’s figure floated.

This passage, created by the combined efforts of the two, traversed the entire Mysterious City. Only within this passage were they safe from the Mysterious City’s power, as outside of it, the city’s influence would easily cloud their senses.

Chi Defeng held his child, tightly gripping Lan Yunzhi’s hand, and didn’t dare to look around.

Even with the protection of the passage, Chi Defeng could still feel the chilling gazes of the city’s residents. Those were not the eyes of living beings, but something entirely different.

It felt like walking on thin ice, sending shivers down Chi Defeng’s spine.

Chi Defeng didn’t allow his child to open their eyes, fearing that it might leave a psychological scar on the child. Or rather, without proper protection, leaving a psychological scar was almost inevitable.

On the other hand, Si Yuanhai and Si Yinan, being from the Resisting Evil lineage, looked at the strangeness within the Mysterious City with a hint of curiosity.

Their own strength largely depended on their ability to control the level of illusions forcefully.

The oddities within the Mysterious City were undeniably powerful, and their characteristics were peculiar. Si Yuanhai could sense this clearly. However, it was apparent that they couldn’t currently control these anomalies.

The pace of the group’s advance was quite fast. After all, the atmosphere within the Mysterious City was extremely chilling, prompting an instinctive desire to get away from it.

As Chen Fei looked at the shops on both sides of the street, his eyes slightly brightened when he saw a particular store up ahead.

He pondered for a moment, and his shadow, which had been trailing behind him, stepped out of the specially created passage and left it.

As soon as the shadow left the passage, a powerful force pressed down on its spiritual senses. This was a characteristic of the Mysterious City, attempting to cloud one’s awareness forcefully.

However, the Chen Fei of today had grown his spiritual senses significantly compared to when he first entered the Mysterious City. It was impossible for the Mysterious City to cloud his perception.

Over the past half a month, Chen Fei had opened 103 acupoints. It couldn’t go any higher because after refining the Primordial Sword Scripture from five different inheritances, the maximum number of acupoints he could open had reached 103.

Only when the Blade-Slaying Sword broke through to the Great Perfection level and was then fused into the Primordial Sword Scripture could Chen Fei’s acupoints continue to improve.

While acupoints had their limits, there were no such concerns when it came to mental power.

Within the Illusion Realm, Chen Fei had been freely slaughtering Tier-2 Evils, benefiting from the origin of Evils. Now, his mental power had reached a position of 108 acupoints, which was the pinnacle of mental power in the Combined Aperture Tempering realm.

With mental power at this level, there was no further room for improvement unless he broke through to the Aperture Tempering realm.

Chen Fei’s shadow paused for a moment but had no further issues. His figure flickered, and he arrived in front of a shop, then entered directly.

Feng Xiupu was standing beside Chen Fei and couldn’t help but look at Chen Fei with curiosity, not knowing what Chen Fei intended to do when he saw his actions.

“There were some unfinished matters when I was in the Mysterious City,” Chen Fei explained in a low voice.

Feng Xiupu nodded without pressing for more information. After all, this was just a clone, and whatever happened wouldn’t affect Chen Fei.

That alone was sufficient.

Chen Fei’s shadow entered the shop, and the shopkeeper was taken aback when he saw Chen Fei. It hadn’t expected that at this moment, a human would appear in the shop.

Chen Fei leisurely walked up to a shelf, reached out, and directly took a piece of Tianhui Stone from the shelf, placing it in front of the shopkeeper.

“How much does this cost?” Chen Fei asked with a smile.

“Three thousand copper coins,” the shopkeeper replied, looking at Chen Fei. He felt like he had seen Chen Fei somewhere before, but at this moment, Chen Fei exuded no aura whatsoever.

Identifying the unusual in the Mysterious City had always been based on a person’s aura. Appearance was just a shell and held little significance.

Hearing the shopkeeper’s words, a faint smile appeared on Chen Fei’s face. The shopkeeper was still as deceptive as ever. When Chen Fei first visited this shop, the price for the same item was only two thousand copper coins.

Now, the price had significantly increased.

Chen Fei turned his head to glance at the other shelves. In the entire shop, the only genuine item was the Tianhui Stone in Chen Fei’s hand. Everything else was fake.

Chen Fei couldn’t discern this before, but with his improved cultivation, he could see through it all now.

“I’m missing one piece of Tianhui Stone, and I’ll take it,” Chen Fei turned to the shopkeeper and said with a soft smile.

Hearing that Chen Fei didn’t even bother to haggle, the shopkeeper’s friendly demeanor changed in an instant. Uncontrollable greed flashed in his eyes.

“This is the money, take it.”

Chen Fei extended his palm, as if he were holding something, and handed it to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper instinctively looked at Chen Fei’s palm, then saw Chen Fei slowly open his hand.

A radiance seemed to burst forth in the shopkeeper’s eyes as he realized that the brilliance came from the copper coins, which were too dazzling.

“Alright, alright!” The shopkeeper received the copper coins with a smile. He was about to speak when he noticed that Chen Fei had already turned and left.

The shopkeeper watched Chen Fei’s departing figure, his expression turning cold. The Tianhui Stone was indeed genuine. Should he forcibly detain Chen Fei? However, the other party had already paid three thousand copper coins, and it might not be allowed by the Mysterious City’s rules to forcibly detain him.

*Buzz!*

The entire shop suddenly vibrated. Chen Fei had left the shop, and the shopkeeper was caressing the copper coins in his hand. He suddenly felt that something was amiss with their texture.

The shopkeeper lowered his head in confusion, looking at the copper coins in his hand. The aura was correct, but for some reason, the more he looked at these copper coins, the stranger they seemed. A faint sense of alienation slowly crept over the coins.

The shopkeeper fumbled with the other copper coins, and gradually, they began to distort in his eyes, appearing dreamlike and surreal, a feeling of unreality suddenly welling up in his heart.

The next moment, the three thousand copper coins disappeared from the shopkeeper’s hands.

The shopkeeper was stunned, staring blankly at his own hands.

“Roar!”

A loud roar suddenly erupted from the shopkeeper’s mouth, and his friendly demeanor had long turned into a ferocious one.

Outside on the street, Chen Fei’s clone had already returned to the main body. Chen Fei shook the Tianhui Stone in his hand, a smile playing on his face.

Back when he was in the Mysterious City, he had almost been scammed by the shopkeeper of this store. Just a few glances at the items, and they demanded payment. If his clone hadn’t been in the shop at the time, Chen Fei would have had quite a hard time getting out of there.

Today, upon returning to the Mysterious City, Chen Fei decided to use the Dream Entry Technique to draw the shopkeeper into a dream.

Back then, the shopkeeper had heard the sound of so many copper coins. Chen Fei had indeed paid, and now he had simply taken back the stored goods..