Chapter 201: Tempering the Body
Xiao Chen thought to himself, Open!
The Laogong Acupoint below the Fengyan Acupoint on his right hand released an intense azure light. The Azure Dragon within the acupoint turned into a ball of light and immediately enveloped Xiao Chen’s entire right arm.
Xiao Chen opened his eyes and punched out. The azure light left his body and struck a huge tree a hundred meters away. The tree’s trunk immediately broke but the azure light did not weaken at all.
Xiao Chen got up and said joyfully, “The second acupoint on my right hand has opened. So this is how you open the acupoints.”
After his Qi and blood reached a certain level, Xiao Chen would be able to open an acupoint. Is this the secret behind the Azure Dragon Martial Spirit?”
Xiao Chen thought to himself. When he did everything earlier, it was as if there was a voice in his head that told him what to do; it was as illusionary as a dream.
Actually, this was the sorrow of having the Azure Dragon Martial Spirit. The inheritance of the other three Holy Beasts was not broken and they had a complete set of information they could peruse. Anything they did not understand, there would be an elder who could impart his experience and knowledge.
As for Xiao Chen… he was alone and knew nothing. He had to rely on himself to figure things out. He might not even understand the simple principles that should be quite clear even after he thought about it for a long time.
Since he cultivated and up to this day, Xiao Chen still did not know to utilize the mysterious secrets of the Azure Dragon Martial Spirit. It was a thing to be sorrowful about.
He had a mountain of treasures but was unable to use it.
Recollecting his thought, Xiao Chen gazed at the herb field not far off and said, “Regardless of the situation, it seems like the route of training the physical body is correct. The strength of the Azure Dragon Martial Spirit requires a strong physical body before it could be utilized.
At this moment, he seemed to vaguely understand why this body was not able to successfully condense a Martial Spirit for ten-odd years.
It was not because he had insufficient talent. Instead, it was because his physical body was not strong enough at that point in time. It was not able to withstand the pressure that came from the condensation of the Azure Dragon Martial Spirit.
The next morning, Xiao Chen rode on the silver warship and arrived at the herb field. He looked around for another herb that could strengthen his Qi and blood. Like before, the Spirit Beast that guarded this herb was a Rank 5 Spirit Beast.
Xiao Chen already knew what to do. After his strength increased by 500 kilograms, he was able to deal with this Rank 5 Spirit Beast even more easily. Like the previous time, he quickly dealt with the body of the Spirit Beast and picked the herb before he left quickly.
Three days later, Xiao Chen successfully refined this hundred-year-old herb completely, which increased his Qi and blood. Unfortunately, his strength had only increased by 250 kilograms. Furthermore, he did not open another acupoint.
On the fourth day, Xiao Chen used the same method to obtain another hundred-year-old herb. After he completely refined this one, the effects were even worst; it only increased his strength by 150 kilograms.
The more he did this, the worst the effects of the hundred-year-old herbs. Finally, it came to a point where there was no more increase. It only replenished some of the energy he exhausted.
The time it took for Xiao Chen to refine them also became shorter. At this point, he only required half a day to completely refine a hundred-year-old herb.
After half a month passed, Xiao Chen painstakingly increased his strength by 500 kilograms. A full powered strike from Xiao Chen achieved 3,500 kilograms of force. Furthermore, the third acupoint on his right arm—Daling Acupoint had finally opened up.
Xiao Chen inhaled sharply. As he opened the Fengyan Acupoint, Laogong Acupoint, and Daling Acupoint on his right arm, they all gave off an azure light. When the three lights gathered together, it felt like his arm was going to exploded and it was filled with a boundless energy.
“Kill!”
Xiao Chen shouted as he leaped into the air. He punched down toward the ground in the distance. The azure lights left his body and fired out; the three azure lights had merged together.
It actually formed the image of an Azure Dragon that flew in the air. The blurry Azure Dragon charged violently at the ground.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
In the next instant, there were three explosions on the ground. It blasted apart a large pit about ten meters in diameter. In a split second, dust flew up, the wind blew strongly, and stone flew around.
Xiao Chen withdrew his hand and revealed a faint smile. “I only opened three acupoints and it is so strong already. I wonder how strong would it be when I opened all 18 acupoints on my right arm.”
With Xiao Chen’s cultivation realm, he had not reached the point where he could fire out Essence. That was something only Martial Saints and above could do. However, the azure dragon image that Xiao Chen fired out was not Essence. He did not know what it was either.
He could only guess that it was Dragon Qi from the Azure Dragon Martial Spirit. Only Dragon Qi could be this strong.
Unfortunately, the more he progressed, the greater the difficulty of opening acupoints. Hundred-year-old herbs which strengthened Qi and blood were no longer effective on him.
Xiao Chen cast his gaze on the herb field and muttered to himself, “Looks like I have to search for herbs that are two-hundred-years-old and above. However, the Spirit Beasts guarding those herbs are at least peak Rank 5 Spirit Beast. It would not be easy to obtain them.”
A peak Rank 5 Spirit Beast was equivalent to a Superior Grade Martial Saint. With Xiao Chen’s cultivation as a Medial Grade Martial Grand Master, it would be difficult for him to challenge them.
“Wealth is accompanied by danger. On the path of cultivation, one needs to challenge the heavens, challenge the earth, and challenge men. If one does not even have the courage to fight, how could he progress on the long road of cultivation?”
A resolute light appeared in Xiao Chen’s eyes. He slapped his right palm onto the huge tree beside him violently.
“Dong! Dong!”
Xiao Chen was about to sit down and rest to prepare to go to the herb field in the day. Suddenly, an astonished look appeared on his face. That did not sound right.
Xiao Chen turned around and revealed a bewildered expression. He looked at the towering huge tree and tried to extend his Spiritual Sense into it and see what was within it.
“Hua!” Just as his Spiritual Sense touched the side of the tree, Xiao Chen felt as though his brain had been pricked by a needle. It was extremely painful so Xiao Chen hurriedly withdrew his Spiritual Sense.
“Dong! Dong!”
Xiao Chen knocked very hard on the tree again and listened carefully this time. The sound was even more obvious this time. Xiao Chen said confidently, “This is really strange!
“Could it be hollow?” said Xiao Chen with some suspicion. He looked at the tree in front of him, it would require several adults in order to surround this huge tree.
Xiao Chen took out the Lunar Shadow Saber from the Universe Ring. He grasped the hilt tightly and gathered Essence onto the blade. A blazing saber light appeared on the blade as it chopped at the thick tree trunk.
A ten-meter-long saber light struck the towering tree and gave off a ‘hua’ sound. The saber light was absorbed by the huge tree and not even a scar was left behind.
Xiao Chen put away his saber and said, “Attacking using Essence is useless? Then let’s try using my fist!”
“Bang!”
Xiao Chen’s full powered punch of 3,500 kilograms of force struck the tree trunk but the tree did not even shake. The force traveled through the tree trunk to the roots underground and shook the ground instead.
It was still useless so Xiao Chen continued to try various methods. He wanted to open the tree up to investigate it. In the end, there were no results.
The more he failed, the more Xiao Chen’s interest was piqued. He felt this proved that the interior of this tree contained some secrets.
Xiao Chen leaped up and flew towards a branch. After that, he started to inspect it carefully.
Since he could not do it by force, then he had to find the entrance. The lush and luxuriant tree extended high into the air, it was very problematic for Xiao Chen to search for it.
Xiao Chen searched slowly and moved upwards meter by meter. Time slowly went by. When Xiao Chen reached the top of the tree, he found a hole that was a plausible entrance.
The hole was very well hidden, it was blocked from view by a group of dense leaves. If Xiao Chen did not look carefully, he would not have found it.
The dark hole in the tree was only the size of a small basin; it was only big enough for a person to squeeze through. Xiao Chen broke off a tree branch and threw it into the hole. After a long time, he heard a soft echo.
“As long as it is not a bottomless hole, it should be fine.” Since he saw that the tree branch had hit a bottom, Xiao Chen no longer hesitated and squeezed into the hole.
After he entered, it became much broader. Xiao Chen could freely turn around and stretch out his arms. His rate of descent was very fast and he soon felt something solid at the bottom of his feet; he had landed firmly on the ground.
Xiao Chen took out a Night Pearl and the pitch dark space immediately lit up. The scene of the bottom instantly appeared in his vision.
This was a spacious wooden house. It was 10 meters long and 3.3 meters wide. There were some simple decorations within the room; they were all ordinary things.
On the wall, there was a long portrait. It depicted a man of gigantic stature; he was dressed in black and had long hair. His eyes were like deep water and his face looked sharp. He stood upright with his hands behind his back. There was a saber stuck in the ground front of him.
The black-clothed man’s lips were slightly curled up at the corners and revealed a grim smile. The person who drew this was very skilled, he was able to make a realistic depiction of his expression.
Xiao Chen felt that this person was very familiar. When he used the Night Pearl to shine some light on it, it felt like this man was right in front of him. Xiao Chen looked carefully at this person’s appearance.
After a moment, he exclaimed out excitedly, “This is the Saber Emperor! The ancestor who founded the Heavenly Saber Pavilion. He was also the only Martial Emperor in the Heavenly Saber Pavilion.
There was a sculpture of him in the Heaven Viewing Platform. Xiao Chen had once taken a cursory glance at it, so his impression of it was not deep. Now that he looked at the portrait carefully, he recalled it.
There had never been a public consensus on who was the strongest in the history of the Great Qin Nation. However, there were several Martial Emperors in history: the first generation Qin Monarch, the Silent Night Emperor, the Thunder Emperor, and several Martial Emperors in the Green Qin Nation’s history.
No one could agree on which one of them was the strongest. Unfortunately, these Martial Emperors were all from different eras. They had never competed against each other before so no one knew who was the strongest.
Some said it was the Saber Emperor because he was able to split a river spanning 5,000 kilometers with one saber strike. Some said it was the Misty Sword Sect’s Sword Emperor because he had once gone to the Great Jin Nation to challenge the ruler of that generation.
Everyone had different opinions but there was one thing no one could deny, these people were absolutely experts that once stood at the apex of the Great Qin Nation. Stories of their time did not fade even after ten thousand years.
Amongst them, the Saber Emperor was one of the oldest. Before the Tianwu Dynasty ended, he had already established the Heavenly Saber Pavilion. Furthermore, he was one of the most influential people of the Tianwu Continent at that time.
However, Xiao Chen was very sure this was not the former residence of the Saber Emperor. This was because the portrait was drawn by someone using a description later, it was not drawn with the Saber Emperor as the model.
Xiao Chen withdrew his thoughts and searched around the room to see if he could find any clues as to who this residence belonged to.
There was a prayer mat in the middle of the room that attracted Xiao Chen’s attention. Prayer mats were very common, many cultivators used them as they sat down and cultivated.
Of course, there were some prayer mats that were extraordinary; there were some made with reeds that had a spiritual nature. There were even some that had a small Spirit Gathering Formation engraved on it. Cultivating on it could increase the rate of one’s absorption of Spiritual Energy.
Xiao Chen had never used a prayer mat and did not understand much about it. The thing that attracted his attention was a pile of black ashes on the prayer mat.