Chapter 483: Seizing the Flag

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

The spatial grid directly stores Chen Fei’s most powerful move, which is the method he initially experimented with, utilizing another aspect of the spatial grid-

Chen Fei discovered this method when he was still a Body Tempering realm martial artist. However, back then, Chen Fei didn’t use it because, after all, his techniques at that time were not strong enough to be of much use.

Moreover, there was only one spatial grid at that time, used to store Chen Fei’s various belongings, which was far more appropriate than storing a technique with relatively weak power.

But now, with an additional spatial grid and Chen Fei’s increased attack power and recovery ability, he can naturally use one spatial grid to store a technique.

This technique can become Chen Fei’s killer move at critical moments.

Chen Fei also tried whether he could use the spatial grid to directly absorb someone else’s attack but found it impossible because there are imprints of others’ mental energy in their techniques, making it impossible to forcibly contain them.

As Chen Fei breathed, his previously shattered body gradually recovered, and the terrifying cracks continued to close and heal.

This is thanks to the terrifying self-healing ability of the Suppressing Dragon Elephant. If it were any other cultivator at the Combined Aperture Tempering realm, they might collapse before even unleashing their technique due to the strain.

Chen Fei’s gaze turned towards the spatial grid containing the wooden chest. After a moment of contemplation, he chose not to retrieve the chest. Currently, Chen Fei did not have a Qiankun Bag, and when entering the Strange Heart Realm, he had to leave one spatial grid empty to store the Evil’s Origin.

As long as Chen Fei continued to benefit from the Strange Heart Realm, one of the spatial grids had to be prepared there. Even if he acquired a Qiankun Bag later on, it wouldn’t be suitable for storing Chen Fei’s ultimate move in this particular spatial grid for an extended period.

“Will it take five thousand high-grade elemental stones to purchase another spatial grid next time?”

Chen Fei couldn’t help but grin. This amount of elemental stones seemed quite substantial for him at the moment.

Moreover, based on Chen Fei’s understanding of the interface panel, it might not even be enough to trigger the option for a third spatial grid.

It might require the appearance of a new type of rechargeable item to activate the panel’s response.

Chen Fei had already healed most of his injuries. From the outside, it was hard to tell that he had been injured at all. Currently, the Suppressing Dragon Elephant was working to heal the hidden injuries within Chen Fei’s body.

For cultivators, these minor hidden injuries were often the most troublesome. If not handled properly, they could directly affect the growth of one’s cultivation realm.

Chen Fei slowly sat down in the courtyard, cross-legged, and took out the jade slip for the Profound Slaying Sword, examining it carefully.

Chen Fei examined the Profound Slaying Sword meticulously. With his current mental strength, it took him a full hour to thoroughly read through the entire Profound Slaying Sword technique.

After setting down the jade slip, Chen Fei closed his eyes, allowing all the information about the Profound Slaying Sword to circulate in his mind.

Difficult!

Just as Tong Zhongqiu had warned before, the cultivation difficulty of the Profound Slaying Sword was indeed far beyond that of typical martial arts. Even mental cultivation techniques were not easy, but the level of difficulty of this Profound Slaying Sword was truly exaggerated.

It was no wonder that Zhao Tianxuan, despite having possessed the Profound Slaying Sword for a long time, had only achieved mediocre progress and was now trying to sell it everywhere.

Otherwise, if Zhao Tianxuan had successfully cultivated it himself, he would probably have used the Profound Slaying Sword as a powerful technique to secure victories in crucial moments.

However, now Zhao Tianxuan was more focused on how to extract greater value from the Profound Slaying Sword, as mastering it was proving to be incredibly challenging.

Master the formation with divine control, merge it with the sword!

To succeed in the Profound Slaying Sword, the practitioner needed to, in an instant, construct a formation with their mental power, then meld that formation into a sword, and finally, strike with one sword to cleave the divine.

Based on Chen Fei’s observations from reading the jade slip, in the initial stages of the Profound Slaying Sword, it involved forming one formation and striking with one sword. At this point, it didn’t possess significant power; it mainly represented an entry-level understanding of the technique.

As one advanced further, they needed to command nine formations to merge into the sword, and the speed had to be swift. Otherwise, as the subsequent formations hadn’t fully formed yet, the previous ones would collapse.

Achieving the mastery of merging nine formations into the sword marked the true training stage of the Profound Slaying Sword.

However, the power of the sword at this stage was still relatively weak. Although it was already challenging to cultivate, its effectiveness was quite ordinary.

As one progressed deeper into the Profound Slaying Sword, it involved thirty-six formations, seventy-two formations, and ultimately, one hundred and eight formations merging into the sword.

The number of formations corresponded precisely to the number of acupoints in the human body, and the difficulty of cultivation matched that of the Combined Aperture Tempering realm. The further one progressed, the more challenging it became.

Chen Fei wasn’t sure at what level Zhao Tianxuan had reached, and he might not have even reached the thirty-six formations. By the time the Profound Slaying Sword reached thirty-six formations, its power had become quite substantial.

At the very least, it surpassed the current strength of Chen Fei’s Mirror Image Godslayer Sword, which had been enhanced by the Slaughter Spirit Technique. If one could cultivate it to seventy-two formations, its power would rival that of the original Godslayer Sword.

The original Godslayer Sword was formed by severing one’s own source of mental energy and then forging it into a blade. It was akin to directly using one’s own mental energy source to strike the opponent, which made it incredibly powerful. When it came to a life-or-death situation, this was the way to go, and its power was naturally formidable.

As for the final version with one hundred and eight formations merging into the sword, its power surpassed that of the original Godslayer Sword by a considerable margin.

According to the Profound Slaying Sword, when this sword was unleashed, individuals of the same realm would undoubtedly suffer severe damage to their mental energy, potentially piercing through it, with little room for escape.

However, like all mental energy techniques, the Profound Slaying Sword had an unavoidable drawback, namely the burden it placed on one’s own source of mental energy.

Despite the Profound Slaying Sword’s best efforts to minimize this, when a mental energy technique clashed with someone of the same realm or even a higher realm, the practitioner’s own source of mental energy would still experience a recoil.

Dealing with someone of the same realm was somewhat manageable, as the one hundred and eight formations merging into the sword would initially bear the brunt of the recoil. With each layer of reduction, the force reaching the source of mental energy would be significantly weakened.

However, the mental energy remained fragile, and there was still a recoil. Consequently, in the midst of a battle, unleashing one or two strikes with the Profound Slaying Sword would often be the limit.

As for using the Profound Slaying Sword against opponents of higher realms, the recoil endured, even with the formations bearing some of the burden, could lead to severe damage to one’s own mental energy, and potentially worse consequences.

It was unlikely that anyone would use a mental energy technique to fight opponents of higher realms.

However, despite the drawbacks shared by all mental energy techniques and the difficulty of mastering the Profound Slaying Sword, it was undoubtedly a good martial art.

“If it causes recoil, how about combining it with the Mirror Image Technique, creating the Mirror Image Profound Slaying Sword?”

Chen Fei’s mind quickly connected the dots. The Mirror Image Technique was a method that projected illusions using one’s mental energy source.

While the power would still diminish somewhat when combined with the Profound Slaying Sword, with the additional boost from the Slaughter Spirit Technique, it would undoubtedly surpass the current Mirror Image Godslayer Sword.

What Chen Fei needed was this extra bit of power. With this added strength, when facing third-tier Evils in the Strange Heart Realm, the speed at which he could wound them would exceed their own rate of recovery.

Moreover, with the fusion of the Mirror Image Technique, Chen Fei would no longer have to worry about his mental energy being damaged regardless of how he used the Mirror Image Profound Slaying Sword, eliminating any quantity limitations.

Chen Fei’s mental energy was protected by the Suppressing Dragon Elephant, making his defenses far stronger than those of the average initial Combined Aperture Tempering realm cultivator. However, regardless of his strength, Chen Fei was unwilling to take risks with his own mental energy source.

Thinking it over, Chen Fei proceeded to merge the Mirror Image Technique with the Profound Slaying Sword, creating a new martial art.

“Discover the martial art, will it cost five high-grade elemental stones to simplify the Mirror Image Profound Slaying Sword?”

“Simplifying the Mirror Image Profound Slaying Sword… Simplification successful… Mirror Image Profound Slaying Sword -> Mirror Image Technique!”

The cost of simplification was a bit steep, on par with the previous Primordial Profound Art. Upon reaching the Combined Aperture Tempering realm, the cost of simplifying martial arts had unexpectedly risen to a new level.

This meant that Chen Fei still had some savings, or else he wouldn’t even be able to afford the simplification cost.

As Chen Fei operated the Mirror Image Technique, insights related to the Mirror Image Profound Slaying Sword emerged in his mind. Due to the low level of the Mirror Image Technique, the combination of these two martial arts had not truly reached its potential.

Now, with the emergence of martial insights, this newly fused martial art was finally starting to take shape.

In his sea of consciousness, Chen Fei swiftly formed a mental energy formation, then melded it into a sword. A beam of sword light flashed through the void and disappeared without a trace.

A smile couldn’t help but play on Chen Fei’s lips. Using mental energy to control formations and merging them into a sword was truly an interesting concept.

Considering his current pace of cultivation, even though the Mirror Image Profound Slaying Sword required a fair amount of proficiency, Chen Fei estimated that he could reach perfection in just a few months.

In just a few months, he would be able to master a martial art to such an extent, a feat that would likely make Zhao Tianxuan’s blood boil if he found out.

As days passed, a month quickly went by. The Primordial Sword Sect gradually adapted to its new gate, and at the same time, at Primordial City, situated beneath the sect, began to settle into a more orderly state with the stability of the sect.

During this month, within the Primordial Sword Sect, someone successfully advanced from the Body Tempering realm to the Aperture Tempering realm. It was Chen Fei’s senior brother, Guo Linshan.

Inspired by Chen Fei’s achievements and his own solid foundation, Guo Linshan broke through to the initial stage of the Aperture Tempering realm in one fell swoop.

Many disciples not only went to congratulate Guo Linshan but also took the opportunity to extend their congratulations to Feng Xiupu.

Among the disciples of the sect, with Chen Fei reaching the Combined Aperture Tempering realm and another disciple reaching the Aperture Tempering realm as well, these accomplishments made the Primordial Sword Sect stand out like a towering tree, unmatched by any other within the sect.

Chen Fei’s rise to become a formidable Combined Aperture Tempering realm cultivator could be attributed to his innate talent, while Guo Linshan’s breakthrough to the Aperture Tempering realm was a testament to Feng Xiupu’s effective teaching methods.

In a short period of time, more people started visiting Feng Xiupu. Previously, most of them sought to get closer to him, but now they hoped to have their own disciples accepted by Feng Xiupu.

They didn’t necessarily aim to cultivate disciples to the level of Chen Fei in the Combined Aperture Tempering realm. Simply achieving a breakthrough to the Aperture Tempering realm would be considered a perfect outcome.

Chen Fei remained secluded, entirely immersed in his martial arts cultivation.

The Primordial Profound Art was steadily approaching perfection, and the Mirror Image Profound Slaying Sword had reached a level of mastery where Chen Fei could utilize the thirty-six formations merging into the sword.

Without pausing, Chen Fei continued his training.

In the third month, the Mirror Image Profound Slaying Sword reached perfection, with seventy-two formations merging into the sword. With the addition of the Slaughter Spirit Technique, its power exceeded that of the Mirror Image Godslayer Sword by a significant margin.

By the fifth month, the Primordial Profound Art had reached perfection. Chen Fei’s efficiency in absorbing the natural elemental energy had increased substantially. Simultaneously, the strength of his elemental power and the speed of his body techniques had also improved.

Chen Fei’s overall strength had taken a significant leap beyond his previous capabilities.

In the eighth month, the Mirror Image Profound Slaying Sword finally reached perfection with one hundred and eight formations merging into the sword, completely surpassing the power of the Mirror Image Godslayer Sword!

Simultaneously, the method for competing in the third-tier lower-grade secret realm was finally revealed.

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