Chapter 306: Opening the Life Gate
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
“Let’s attack together!” Wei Yantao stared at Dong Xiuzhi, tightening his grip on the spiritual sword in his hand.
Dong Xiuzhi, upon hearing Wei Yantao’s words, revealed a mocking smile at the corner of his mouth. If Wei Yantao and Feng Xiupu were still in good condition, a three-on-one situation would indeed be somewhat different.
However, both Feng Xiupu and Wei Yantao were heavily injured at the moment. Whether they could retain even thirty percent of their combat strength was a significant question.
As for Chen Fei, his agility was indeed outstanding, much stronger than the last time they met. Last time, it was also because of his agility that he managed to escape from Dong Xiuzhi.
But by now, Dong Xiuzhi had already made up for this weakness. If Chen Fei were to escape alone, there might be a chance. However, thinking about continuing to escape with two burdens was wishful thinking.
Feng Xiupu turned to look at Chen Fei, his eyes filled with concern. Chen Fei was very powerful and shouldn’t be underestimated, especially considering he had seen Chen Fei’s strength when he killed three senior cultivators from the Long Rainbow Sect. However, Feng Xiupu had never truly witnessed that scene.
As for Dong Xiuzhi, he was close to the pinnacle of the early-stage Aperture Tempering realm. In terms of cultivation, he wasn’t much inferior to Wu Yongzhao and Liao Hanqin. The only difference was that he didn’t belong to the main lineage of the Divine Flame Sect, so he wielded a mid-grade spiritual sword instead of a top-grade spiritual weapon.
Cultivation at the peak of the early-stage Aperture Tempering realm, combined with a mid-grade spiritual sword, such a setup, while not claiming invincibility among early-stage Aperture Tempering realm cultivators, is definitely beyond what an ordinary early-stage Aperture Tempering realm cultivator can match.
It was precisely because of this level of strength that Wu Yongzhao had sent Dong Xiuzhi alone to chase after Chen Fei, while Ning Yongfei, a few miles away, served as an additional layer of security.
Wei Yantao took a deep breath, about to rush towards Dong Xiuzhi, when suddenly a hand blocked him. Wei Yantao looked at Chen Fei with some confusion.
“Rest for a moment, I’ll be right back!” Chen Fei’s words dropped, and his figure turned into a blur, disappearing from the spot. When he reappeared, he was already in front of Dong Xiuzhi, and his Qianyuan Sword was now filled with dense black elemental energy.
Wei Yantao hadn’t fully processed Chen Fei’s words when he saw Chen Fei charging ahead alone. Wei Yantao instinctively looked at Feng Xiupu, his mind momentarily struggling to keep up.
“Hahaha, you’re here!” Dong Xiuzhi, upon seeing Chen Fei approaching alone, couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
Arrogant and self-assured, Chen Fei’s talent was unquestionable, even to Dong Xiuzhi, who considered it visibly extraordinary. Dong Xiuzhi might admit that he lagged behind Chen Fei in terms of talent, but so what? No matter how strong one’s talent, it still required time to manifest.
Currently, time was on his side. He had practiced for decades longer than Chen Fei, and those decades were his greatest advantage!
With a single strike, Chen Fei’s Qianyuan Sword emitted a black light. Upon closer inspection, one would notice sixty sword pearls flashing within it.
The Zhongyuan Sword Formation didn’t necessarily have to be deployed in its entirety. If one had a high level of comprehension of the technique and strong control, they could condense the sword formation directly onto the blade.
Under a single sword strike, all the power converged. Except for the lack of an encircling effect, the concentrated power of the sword formation made it even stronger.
Wu Yongzhao was still over twenty miles away, and the two members of the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect were likely dead by now. The remaining members of the Divine Flame Sect could charge over at any moment.
So, facing Dong Xiuzhi, what Chen Fei needed was to subdue him.
“Roar!”
A sound resembling the roar of a dragon and elephant echoed behind Chen Fei. The speed of the Qianyuan Sword’s thrust increased once again, and a ferocious and chilling aura instantly spread in all directions.
Dong Xiuzhi, who had been laughing heartily, couldn’t help but freeze as Chen Fei executed this strike. His consciousness in his sea of knowledge was frantically sounding alarms. This strike possessed unparalleled power.
In Dong Xiuzhi’s eyes at this moment, it was as if a towering peak was pressing down on him, reaching the heavens and the earth. The surrounding air had solidified, making even the slightest movement seem extremely difficult.
Chen Fei had broken through to the Aperture Tempering realm two years ago. How could he possess such formidable combat power? When the three of them had surrounded Chen Fei initially, his performance had been extravagant enough, and he had even sent one of them flying with a single strike.
But now, at this moment, compared to back then, Chen Fei’s strength had once again skyrocketed. No matter how astonishing his talent and aptitude were, they still required time. How could Chen Fei achieve this in such a short period?
And what about resources? The resources from the Primordial Sword Sect couldn’t possibly have supplied Chen Fei to this extent!
“Defense!”
Dong Xiuzhi couldn’t comprehend it, but his body had already reacted. The radiance of his middle-grade spiritual sword flowed, causing Dong Xiuzhi’s aura to suddenly surge.
A middle-grade spiritual weapon, compared to a lower-grade spiritual weapon, was undoubtedly much more powerful. Regardless of other attributes, with a simple and straightforward calculation, a middle-grade spiritual weapon could increase the power of an Aperture Tempering realm cultivator by nearly five acupoints.
Therefore, Dong Xiuzhi, wielding a middle-grade spiritual weapon, had reached the standard of the mid-stage of the Aperture Tempering realm in terms of the number of acupoints alone, even if he lacked the integrated power of thirty-six acupoints of a mid-stage Aperture Tempering realm cultivator.
“Boom!”
Two spiritual swords clashed together, and a violent shockwave radiated outwards from the point of impact.
“Puff!”
In just an instant of stalemate, a spray of blood mist suddenly burst from Dong Xiuzhi’s mouth. He couldn’t control his own body and involuntarily staggered backward.
Even though Dong Xiuzhi had chosen a defensive stance as soon as he realized something was wrong, the power contained in Chen Fei’s strike was too overwhelming. It was so overwhelming that even if Dong Xiuzhi fought desperately to resist, he still couldn’t stop such force.
Far in the distance, Wei Yantao widened his eyes. After witnessing Chen Fei’s incredible display of power when he flew from a distance to stand before Dong Xiuzhi and deliver that one strike, Wei Yantao’s expression transformed into one of astonishment.
Seeing Dong Xiuzhi spit out blood and retreat, it only made Wei Yantao’s eyes widen further.
Wei Yantao began to wonder if he was experiencing an illusion. Countless thoughts in his mind were in sync with Dong Xiuzhi’s incredulity. The question that echoed in their minds was how Chen Fei could exhibit such combat power.
A mid-stage Aperture Tempering realm cultivator, armed with a middle-grade spiritual sword, was sent staggering back with a single strike by a martial artist who had only entered the Aperture Tempering realm two years ago.
No matter how you looked at it, this scene was nothing short of surreal.
Wei Yantao instinctively turned to look at Feng Xiupu and noticed that Feng Xiupu’s expression was also filled with surprise, though not as exaggerated as Wei Yantao’s.
Feng Xiupu was well aware that Chen Fei was already powerful, but that strength had undeniably grown significantly now. Compared to when Chen Fei single-handedly defeated three Aperture Tempering realm cultivators from the Long Rainbow Sect, injuring Dong Xiuzhi with a single sword strike seemed much more difficult.
Yet Chen Fei had accomplished it, which meant that since that incident, Chen Fei’s progress had not slowed down in the slightest. Instead, it continued to increase at an extremely exaggerated rate.
In the practice of cultivation techniques, it was commonly understood that the initial stages were easier, and it became progressively harder as one advanced. When a cultivator reached a certain level of strength, every bit of progress required tremendous effort and hardship.
Even with such dedication, there was no guarantee that the effort would yield results.
This was true for the Body Refining realm, and even more so for the Aperture Tempering realm. The rate of improvement in one’s strength would gradually slow down and might even come to a complete halt in the end.
Chen Fei, with his exceptional insight, had been foreseen by Feng Xiupu early on. However, Feng Xiupu had not anticipated that Chen Fei would exceed his estimation of a ceiling for improvement. In Chen Fei’s case, that ceiling was clearly underestimated.
Chen Fei remained expressionless, taking another step forward. The Qianyuan Sword was once again raised, and the speed at which the sixty sword pearls on its blade rotated continued to increase. The power of the Zhongyuan Sword and the Giant Spirit Sword’s fusion caused the spirit of the Qianyuan Sword to tremble incessantly.
“Open!”
Dong Xiuzhi roared madly, and the speed at which the techniques circulated within his body instantly soared to the extreme. It was as if a sealed point had been unlocked, and Dong Xiuzhi’s aura increased once more.
Opening the Life Gate!
Dong Xiuzhi would never resort to this particular technique unless it was absolutely necessary, as it would cause a significant depletion of the essence within his body. T
his depletion would render him unable to cultivate for five years, leaving him in a state of continuous weakness during that time. His combat abilities would be greatly diminished, and he might even experience a regression in cultivation if he didn’t properly nurture his body.
For someone aspiring to achieve higher levels of cultivation technique proficiency, five years was a cruelly long period. Dong Xiuzhi was currently at the peak of the Aperture Tempering realm, on the verge of breaking through to the mid-stage.
Opening the Life Gate now would signify that he couldn’t progress for the next five years, missing the best opportunity for advancement. Whether he could break through again after that was uncertain.
However, when facing Chen Fei, Dong Xiuzhi had no other choice. If he didn’t open the Life Gate, he would die. He was acutely aware of this fact.
The spirited pursuit he had initially felt had vanished, and now Dong Xiuzhi’s sole thought was to escape Chen Fei’s grasp.
Holding on against this one sword strike and then using his body technique and spiritual weapon to distance himself Dong Xiuzhi believed he still had a chance. He just needed to withstand this one strike.
Feeling Dong Xiuzhi’s aura once again intensify, Chen Fei was somewhat surprised. But as a cultivator in the Aperture Tempering realm, having life-saving techniques was nothing out of the ordinary. Dong Xiuzhi might have had a chance against others, but facing Chen Fei, there was no possibility.
“Whoosh!”
On the Qianyuan Sword, the sixty sword pearls suddenly divided, refining into threads of swords. Countless sword threads appeared on the sword’s body, densely wrapping around it. These intricate threads made the sword body layers upon layers, rendering the individual threads invisible. All that could be sensed was the violent vibration of the air around the Qianyuan Sword.
Within his sea of consciousness, Chen Fei’s core soul energy took on the form of a dragon and elephant, driven by a peculiar frequency that influenced his physical body.
His blood flowed like mercury, and Chen Fei’s body trembled ever so slightly. Although his physical appearance remained the same, at a glance, he seemed to transform into a colossal titan of the heavens.
“Boom!”
The Qianyuan Sword clashed with Dong Xiuzhi’s spiritual sword, causing Dong Xiuzhi’s arm to tremble violently. In the next moment, the Qianyuan Sword pressed down on Dong Xiuzhi’s spiritual sword, both of them striking Dong Xiuzhi’s chest simultaneously.
Flesh, blood, and bones shattered one by one, with no resistance possible. Despair filled Dong Xiuzhi’s eyes. He had a chance to escape as long as he blocked one more strike, but unfortunately, he couldn’t withstand this strike.
“Crash!
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The Qianyuan Sword swept through Dong Xiuzhi, then struck the ground. The earth trembled wildly, creating a massive rift that extended forward.
Amidst the blood mist, Chen Fei’s hair danced in the wind. He gazed ahead, and in the distance, a figure appeared – it was Ning Yongfei, who had followed closely behind..