Chapter 304: Pretentious
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
The pill furnace formed by the sword array circulated gently as Chen Fei carefully controlled it, responding to every change in the properties of the medicinal herbs. Acquiring these spiritual materials had not been easy, and even a slight loss would be significant.
Today’s gains were so substantial, but it would become increasingly challenging to find more in the future. At most, he might find some ordinary spiritual herbs. In the latter half of today, Chen Fei often came up empty-handed.
Ordinary spiritual herbs were still valuable, as they could be used to refine
Spirit Snow Pills. However, in comparison, they seemed much cheaper.
As time passed, even ordinary spiritual herbs were likely to become scarce. After all, within the mystic realm, aside from dozens of Aperture Tempering realm cultivators, there were also numerous Visceral Tempering realm disciples.
In less than a quarter of an hour, a rich fragrance wafted through the cave as the pill furnace was opened. Due to the simple refinement process, it took relatively little time. With a light touch of his finger, Chen Fei directly swallowed the medicinal liquid.
With the addition of the sap from the Strange Locust Tree, the medicinal liquid was absorbed into Chen Fei’s abdomen in just a moment. His core soul energy suddenly cleared, and his head began to feel slightly bloated.
Within his core soul energy, alternating sensations of coldness made his mind sensitive. The Thousand Threads Technique began to operate involuntarily, helping Chen Fei absorb the medicinal power.
An hour later, Chen Fei opened his eyes and exhaled lightly. When he was in the Body Refining realm, it took him a full three days to absorb a single Dreamlike Lotus that wasn’t even complete.
Now that he had advanced to the Aperture Tempering realm, these spiritual materials for core soul energy no longer posed any pressure to Chen Fei. In just an hour, he completed all of the absorption.
His core soul energy didn’t skyrocket, but it increased by approximately ten percent, which was enough to increase the number of acupoints he could control by two.
Chen Fei had just refined the medicinal liquid using only one core soul energy spiritual material and a few common spiritual herbs. The remaining four core soul energy spiritual materials, with another growth of about thirty percent, should pose no problem.
In other words, after absorbing these spiritual materials, Chen Fei’s core soul energy would be sufficient to control around thirty acupoints. He wouldn’t need to worry about insufficient core soul energy in the short term.
This was the value of the mystic realm; it could save countless hours in just one day.
Compared to the potential dangers one might encounter, these gains were enough to dispel concerns. After all, cultivation was never without risks. Even practicing a technique carried the possibility of going astray, let alone other perils.
Chen Fei didn’t waste any time and continued to refine the medicinal liquid.
The things he gained needed to be immediately converted into strength, which was the best choice. This mystic realm was dangerous, and the growth of core soul energy not only increased the number of acupoints he could control but also enhanced his combat power.
Apart from that, having strong core soul energy allowed for more precise and effortless execution of techniques.
After nearly four hours, Chen Fei swallowed and refined all the core soul energy spiritual herbs. As expected, his core soul energy continued to surge, increasing by more than thirty percent, approaching forty percent.
The rapid increase in core soul energy made Chen Fei’s entire sea of consciousness feel inflated. His entire body also had a floating sensation, which was a side effect of rapidly boosting core soul energy in a short period.
Fortunately, Chen Fei only needed a moment to adapt and gradually eliminate this unusual feeling.
Outside, it was already the darkest moment before dawn. Chen Fei was ready to refine the other several top-grade spiritual materials as well.
These spiritual materials were of extremely high quality. According to Chen Fei’s estimation, if he were to swallow all of them, he didn’t want to be overly optimistic, but there was a reasonably good chance of opening two or three more acupoints.
“Hmm?”
Just as he was about to toss the spiritual materials into the pill furnace, Chen Fei’s hand trembled slightly, and a stone floated in front of him. Twin Stones could sense each other within a certain distance, and the other one was with Feng Xiupu.
Chen Fei had been running around all day, and the Twin Stone had remained silent until now. Unexpectedly, it was showing a reaction at this moment. According to the Twin Stones’ properties, Feng Xiupu was probably within twenty to thirty miles of Chen Fei right now.
As Chen Fei was contemplating whether to find Feng Xiupu now or wait until daylight, he suddenly stood up and looked outside the cave.
The night was as dark as ink, and even with the vision of a core soul energy expert, one couldn’t see very far. Chen Fei hadn’t seen anything; instead, he had sensed it. There had been a fleeting presence of a sharp aura.
The distance was too great, and Chen Fei only had a vague perception. Even if it weren’t for the Twin Stone drawing his attention, he might have ignored the fleeting aura if he were in the middle of refining pills.
However, precisely because of the Twin Stone, Chen Fei realized that the sharp aura matched Feng Xiupu’s location.
“It seems like the aura of a high-grade spiritual weapon.”
Chen Fei frowned. The distance was too far, and the time was too short for him to make a definite judgment. Even after concentrating his core soul energy for a while, he couldn’t sense the presence of that aura again.
It was as if everything that had just happened was just a figment of Chen Fei’s imagination.
However, Chen Fei’s core soul energy had just surged tonight, and his core soul energy was in an extremely sensitive state. If this sensing was considered a mere illusion, it wouldn’t make much sense.
Let’s take a look!”
Chen Fei pondered for a moment, gathered all the spiritual materials into his spatial grid, and then his figure flickered as he dashed towards the location indicated by the Twin Stone’s resonance.
Several dozen miles away.
Chen Fei’s sensing had not been wrong. Right now, a battle was erupting here, but the battle’s aura was contained within a radius of about a mile. Beyond that, it couldn’t transmit any further.
Due to the formation, this place was enveloped by a formation that suppressed all aura fluctuations in the surroundings. The formation had no offensive or defensive capabilities; its sole purpose was to conceal any aura fluctuations within its boundaries.
Chen Fei could sense the sharp aura because the formation had just been activated, and because of the sharpness of the high-grade spiritual weapon. Of course, Chen Fei’s recently enhanced core soul energy, which was in an extremely sensitive state, also played a role.
All of these factors came together, and through a fortuitous combination of circumstances, Chen Fei had captured this aura. But if it weren’t for the Twin Stone’s activity, Chen Fei wouldn’t have paid much attention even if he had sensed this aura.
Because the distance was too great, and whatever happened there wouldn’t have any bearing on Chen Fei.
“Wu Yongzhao, Elder Liao will soon discover the situation here. When that happens, you won’t be able to escape!” Zhu Zixiang glared at Wu Yongzhao, who was surrounded by the members of the Divine Flame Sect, and spoke in a low voice.
“They won’t discover this place now!” Wu Yongzhao shook his head slightly and said with a smile, “And by the time they do, perhaps they will have already followed in your footsteps!”
“Arrogant!”
Zhu Zixiang shouted angrily, channeling his elemental power into the spiritual sword in his hand, causing it to suddenly burst with dazzling light.
“Everyone, join forces with me to fend off the enemy. Elder Liao is nearby; he must already be on his way,” Zhu Zixiang exclaimed with fervor. For a moment, everyone was captivated by the brilliance of his spiritual sword. Only Wu Yongzhao sneered and disappeared from the spot.
When Wu Yongzhao reappeared, he was already over a hundred meters away, slashing his sword towards an empty spot.
The high-grade spiritual sword emitted a terrifying aura. Before the blade even reached its target, the air rippled, and the sharp howling was deafening, as if it intended to tear everything in the vicinity apart.
“Boom!”
With a deafening explosion, a figure was sent flying from the void, crashing violently onto the ground. It rolled dozens of times before coming to a stop, and a mouthful of blood spewed out, creating a mist of blood.
This figure turned out to be Zhu Zixiang. When almost everyone was drawn to the brilliance of his spiritual sword, Zhu Zixiang had already escaped hundreds of meters away in an instant.
Among those present, only Wu Yongzhao saw through it, intercepting Zhu Zixiang and injuring him with a single sword strike.
Zhu Zixiang slapped the ground with both palms, flipped to his feet, and looked at Wu Yongzhao with incredulity in his eyes. Zhu Zixiang had never expected that his Golden Cicada Shedding technique would be so easily thwarted by Wu Yongzhao.
With just another moment, Zhu Zixiang could have distanced himself by another hundred meters, and then he might have had the opportunity to employ other techniques, accelerating his speed to escape completely. But unfortunately, Wu Yongzhao didn’t give Zhu Zixiang that chance.
“Abandoning your own sect members, you folks from the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect truly are a bunch of hypocrites,” Wu Yongzhao remarked, shaking his head. He lightly tapped his high-grade spiritual sword with his finger, producing a clear, melodious resonance.
The initial sound of the sword was barely audible, but in the blink of an eye, it grew louder and eventually transformed into a resounding toll, resembling the majestic chimes of a great bell.
Under the influence of this sword resonance, Zhu Zixiang’s internal organs quivered incessantly. His suppressed injuries suddenly erupted, and a mouthful of congealed blood surged up his throat, only to be forcibly suppressed by Zhu Zixiang himself.
Wu Yongzhao appeared before Zhu Zixiang like a phantom, his spiritual sword flashing. Zhu Zixiang let out an angry shout, activated his cultivation technique, and his face turned blood-red. He swung his longsword at Wu Yongzhao.
“Bang!”
A muffled sound rang out as Zhu Zixiang involuntarily staggered backward. Each step left a depression in the ground. His previously flushed complexion had turned deathly pale. Despair filled Zhu Zixiang’s eyes.
In terms of cultivation, Wu Yongzhao had a slight advantage, and his middle-grade spiritual sword was far inferior. However, with just two simple moves, Zhu Zixiang was on the brink of severe injury.
Death might be just a few moves away. The gap in strength between the two sides was nothing like what one would expect between martial artists of the same level.
Zhu Zixiang was in grave danger, and the same applied to the others.
In this place, besides Zhu Zixiang, there was another Aperture Tempering realm cultivator from the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect, Ke Liangde.
When Wu Yongzhao accused Zhu Zixiang of abandoning his fellow sect member, he was referring to Ke Liangde, who was now also the primary target of their coordinated attack.
The remaining two were Feng Xiupu and Wei Yantao, both from the Primordial Sword Sect.
However, in comparison to Zhu Zixiang and Ke Liangde, Feng Xiupu and Wei Yantao were each dealing with an opponent of their own level, and their situations were still somewhat manageable.
But if Zhu Zixiang were to be slain and Ke Liangde met the same fate, then Feng Xiupu and Wei Yantao would be in imminent peril as well.
Since the Divine Flame Sect had surrounded and was intent on eliminating these four individuals, they had no intention of allowing any of them to leave and potentially spread the events that had unfolded here..