Chapter 309: Half Bottle Mountain
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Chen Fei sensed the situation of the Qianyuan Sword, pondered for a moment, and continued to absorb the spiritual essence from the middle-grade spiritual sword. Chen Fei intended to elevate the Qianyuan Sword to the level of a middle-grade spiritual sword.
A middle-grade spiritual sword, without considering other characteristics, could increase one’s cultivation by approximately five additional acupoints. Not to mention the other enhancements that a middle-grade spiritual sword could provide to one’s cultivation techniques.
As long as the Qianyuan Sword was promoted to the next grade, Chen Fei’s combat power could undoubtedly take another significant leap.
The method of improving one’s spiritual weapon by absorbing the spiritual essence of other spiritual weapons was quite wasteful. Few cultivators chose to do so.
The most common choice was to sell surplus spiritual weapons and use the proceeds to purchase spiritual materials to assist in the growth of their spiritual weapons, as it offered the best cost-effectiveness. Alternatively, one could purchase pre-made spiritual weapons, which required, at most, some time for refinement—a viable option.
However, it was evident that the two spiritual weapons Chen Fei had acquired were of dubious origin and could not be sold without great risk. In that case, it was better to let the Qianyuan Sword directly absorb them.
While direct spiritual essence consumption was wasteful, it was highly efficient and significantly reduced the time required for a spiritual weapon to grow. Aside from the monetary cost, there were no other drawbacks.
*Crackle!*
As the Qianyuan Sword continued to consume spiritual essence, its blade began to vibrate continuously. The spiritual fluctuations became turbulent, even bordering on frenzied.
A transformation from the inside out began, and Chen Fei could even sense the joy emanating from the Qianyuan Sword.
*Buzz!*
It was unknown how much time had passed, but the trembling Qianyuan Sword suddenly grew still. A radiant light flowed from the hilt of the sword all the way to the tip.
As the light pearl at the sword’s tip flickered, ripples spread out in all directions, with the sword’s tip at the center. A tremendous devouring force emanated from the Qianyuan Sword, causing the surrounding elemental energy to boil and rush into the sword frantically.
Chen Fei stood beside the Qianyuan Sword, watching its transformation, and a faint smile appeared on his face.
In less than fifteen minutes, the boiling elemental energy gradually calmed down, and the sword blade, which still had a small portion of spiritual essence remaining, trembled suddenly, completely transforming into ordinary iron.
All of its spiritual essence rushed into the Qianyuan Sword, which instantly absorbed it all, no longer taking its time as before.
Stepping forward, Chen Fei grasped the Qianyuan Sword, and an unprecedented force connected with his internal elemental energy. It felt as though his elemental energy had expanded.
Chen Fei realized that this was likely the enhancement in cultivation brought about by a middle-grade spiritual weapon. Techniques performed with this level of elemental energy indeed had a significant boost compared to before.
Chen Fei gently stroked the Qianyuan Sword’s blade, calming its somewhat restless spirit, and gradually gathered all its spiritual essence.
Chen Fei placed the Qianyuan Sword into a specially crafted scabbard. As long as he didn’t purposely reveal it, others would find it challenging to discover that the Qianyuan Sword had transformed into a middle-grade spiritual sword.
And when the time came for Chen Fei to reveal it, it would likely be a life-or-death battle, so whether others knew or not wouldn’t matter.
What did it matter if the dead knew a lot?
Two days had passed in the blink of an eye, and a group of Aperture Tempering realm cultivators stood at the foot of Half-Bottle Mountain, gazing up at the mountain peak emitting a mysterious aura.
Due to Liao Hanqin’s promise of a generous reward, disciples from various sects in the Body Refining Realm had diligently searched for possible traces, but the members of the Divine Flame Sect were still nowhere to be found.
Liao Hanqin decided to venture up Half-Bottle Mountain, not only in search of the Divine Flame Sect members but also for the treasures that might be nurtured on the mountain.
The entire mystic realm was enriched with elemental energy due to the advancement in levels, but the place with the most concentrated elemental energy was Half-Bottle Mountain. Standing at the foot of the mountain, one could sense that the elemental energy was one or two levels higher than in other areas.
One could only imagine the richness of elemental energy on Half-Bottle Mountain itself.
In places with abundant elemental energy, the probability of the birth of rare natural treasures increased. With so many Aperture Tempering realm cultivators in the mystic realm, ordinary spirit herbs were decent, but they were now looking for something better.
“Half-Bottle Mountain is not to be taken lightly, and members of the Divine Flame Sect may also be up there. Everyone, be cautious!” Liao Hanqin looked at the dozens of Aperture Tempering realm cultivators in front of him and spoke with a serious tone.
“Elder Liao is thoughtful!”
Ren Zhongyang cupped his hands in response, and the disciples from other sects also smiled and echoed. However, what they had in mind was to maintain some distance from the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect after ascending Half-Bottle Mountain.
Otherwise, if they advanced and retreated together with the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect, what good treasures could they possibly obtain? It was likely that everything would end up in the hands of the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect members.
Everyone was willing to wait until this moment to ascend Half-Bottle Mountain because they were not very confident. They wanted to share some of the risks with others, rather than simply handing over all the spiritual materials to someone else.
As for encountering members of the Divine Flame Sect, there was indeed a certain level of danger, but since they were willing to ascend Half-Bottle Mountain, they had already considered this risk.
After all, the primary target of the Divine Flame Sect was still the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect.
Chen Fei stood among the crowd, gazing at the misty and elusive clouds on
Half-Bottle Mountain. The little rat demon in his sleeve was restless. It resisted going up Half-Bottle Mountain, but it couldn’t defy Chen Fei’s will.
Feng Xiupu and Wei Yantao were not here; they were still recuperating in the original cave. Half-Bottle Mountain was fraught with both danger and opportunity, and with their injuries, it would be more of a loss than a gain to venture up the mountain. It was better to heal their wounds at the foot of the mountain and wait for the mystic realm’s exit to open in a few dozen days.
Half an hour later, dozens of figures leaped forward, charging toward
Half-Bottle Mountain. Leading the charge were naturally the disciples of the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect, with Liao Hanqin at the forefront.
Chen Fei was at the end of the crowd, sensing the situation around him. As he stepped on a rocky surface, his expression subtly changed. It wasn’t just Chen Fei; the expressions of the Aperture Tempering realm cultivators around him also fluctuated.
Their spiritual perception range was being compressed, and it was a very noticeable compression. As they advanced further up Half-Bottle Mountain, this compression became increasingly intense.
Spiritual perception was like a second pair of eyes for cultivators, and for those in Aperture Tempering realm, this situation was especially apparent. Now, their spiritual perception, this second pair of eyes, was slowly being obscured, raising a sense of vigilance.
Fortunately, although the range of their spiritual perception was constantly shrinking, they had not encountered any danger. By the time the group reached the halfway point of the mountain, the range of their spiritual perception had been reduced to less than ten meters.
The elemental energy on the middle part of the mountain was extremely dense, with a concentration that was more than fifty percent higher than at the foot of the mountain. However, what was strange was that despite such a rich concentration of elemental energy, they hadn’t seen a single spirit herb all the way up.
Chen Fei stood on a rocky outcrop and looked up at the mountain peak. In contrast to when he was at the base of the mountain and could still see the whole of Half-Bottle Mountain, now that he was within it, he couldn’t make out the appearance of the mountain’s summit.
However, even though he couldn’t see the mountain’s peak clearly, he could faintly sense a disturbance coming from its summit. Because his mental perception was being obscured, this sensation was extremely vague.
Yet, despite its vagueness, that elusive ripple still held a certain allure.
Compared to the barely contained excitement on the faces of others, Chen Fei remained composed. While he hadn’t encountered any danger so far, he couldn’t shake an odd feeling as if something were watching him.
But when Chen Fei earnestly searched for the source of this feeling, he couldn’t find anything, as if it were all just a figment of his imagination.
Liao Hanqin stood at the front, and he also had a strange feeling. Liao Hanqin glanced back at the dozens of Aperture Tempering realm cultivators behind him.
This was an extraordinarily potent force, one that was more than capable of dealing with any potential dangers on Half-Bottle Mountain. After all, this was just a newly-formed Second-order mystic realm, and any real threats would require time to grow.
The group continued to ascend toward the mountain’s peak, but compared to earlier, their pace had gradually slowed down.
Even though the disturbance from the mountain’s peak was becoming increasingly obvious, their spiritual perception continued to be compressed. Moreover, they hadn’t seen a single spirit herb along the way, which was highly unusual.
Even if the members of the Divine Flame Sect had arrived ahead of them and harvested the spirit herbs on the mountain, it would be challenging for them to do so completely cleanly.
Therefore, the current situation was likely due more to the peculiar nature of Half-Bottle Mountain itself.
If it were cautious Aperture Tempering realm cultivators going up Half-Bottle Mountain alone and encountering this scene, they might reconsider, as it was indeed quite unusual.
However, there were dozens of Aperture Tempering realm cultivators present at this moment. Fleeing in such a situation would be overly cautious.
As time passed, the group got closer and closer to the mountain’s peak. At this point, everyone’s spiritual perception had been compressed to within one meter around their bodies.
Beyond that distance, they couldn’t sense clearly and could only perceive things vaguely, which made many people somewhat uncomfortable. After all, they had hardly encountered such a situation since breaking through to the Aperture Tempering realm.
Chen Fei looked around, and the energy in his body was circulating rapidly. If they were to encounter any danger, he would be able to react quickly.
“Crack!”
The sound of shoes stepping on dried twigs echoed. With only a short distance left to the mountain’s peak, the group’s speed slowed down again, and they didn’t appear eager despite the growing noticeable disturbance in the distance.
The concentration of energy continued to increase, reaching astonishing levels.
While others might not have noticed the difference, the members of the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect had surprised expressions on their faces. This level of energy concentration was highly abnormal.
The Immortal Cloud Sword Sect possessed a Second-order mystic realm, and these people had visited their sect’s mystic realm before. In the mystic realm, there were places with slightly denser energy and places with thinner energy, which was entirely normal.
However, the energy density had reached such an extreme level that even the members of the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect hadn’t encountered it in their own mystic realm.
As they continued to approach the mountain’s peak, the concentration of this energy kept increasing. Evidently, this energy density was far from the limit of Half-Bottle Mountain, and the true limit lay even higher.
Liao Hanqin furrowed his brow, his eyes showing both joy and concern about the situation before him.
“Look, what is that?” someone suddenly exclaimed.
Everyone looked up and saw that on the mountain’s peak stood a towering city..