Chapter 76: Advancing to Martial Master
Xiao Chen walked quickly to his courtyard. He had comprehended some things during the earlier battle. The Essence in his body was continually flowing throughout, and this was a sign that he was about to make a breakthrough.
After using the Low Grade Spirit Stone, his cultivation had already reached the peak of Superior Grade Martial Disciple. Furthermore, during the Trial in Gloomy Forest, he had further solidified his cultivation as a Superior Grade Martial Disciple.
After he came back, he felt that he was already one step into the Martial Master realm. All he had to do was to wait for an opportune moment, and he would be able to immediately make a breakthrough.
Once inside his room, he sat cross-legged and entered into a state of cultivation. Sinking his consciousness down he saw the white clouds, which had increased to eight when he became a Superior Grade Martial Disciple, around the Azure Dragon Martial Spirit. At this moment they were glistening, and their luster was very bright. It was as though they were about to explode.
Indeed, he was about to make a breakthrough. Xiao Chen felt happiness in his heart. Although he had guessed long ago that he would break through to Martial Master before the Promise of Ten Years, he would only feel truly assured when he actually broke into the Martial Master realm.
The Purple Thunder Divine Incantation circulated rapidly in his body. Xiao Chen’s heart was as calm as water. While Xiao Chen was immersed in this wondrous state, the surrounding Spiritual Energy streamed into his body continuously.
His consciousness was controlling the racing Spiritual Energy in his body. Under the guidance of the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation, the Spiritual Energy circled around the meridians of the whole of his body before entering into the Dantian.
The little Azure Dragon in the Dantian opened its mouth and sucked in this Spiritual Energy. There was a satisfied expression on its tiny dragon face. After a while, it spat out pure Essence from its mouth.
Xiao Chen controlled this Essence, making it flow out slowly through his meridians, then he pervaded his bones and muscles with it, tempering his body.
Aside from that time when he used the Spirit Stone, this was something that Xiao Chen would do every time he made a breakthrough. Due to the fact that he condensed his Martial Spirit quite late, he had used most of the Spiritual Energy he absorbed in the early stages to temper his body.
This was an advantage that would be very useful in battle. Xiao Chen did not want to give up this advantage. If he continued on like this, it would only be a matter of time until he was able to reach the level of having tendons of bronze and bones of steel.
The Purple Thunder Divine Incantation circulated nonstop in his body. After 49 cycles, Xiao Chen could sense that exploding feeling in his Dantian was becoming more and more intense.
Taking a deep breath, he stopped circulating Spiritual Energy in the regular cycles and proceeded to circulate it in the great cycle, attempting to break through to the Martial Master realm.
Under Xiao Chen’s circulation, the Spiritual Energy in the room poured into his body like water. Xiao Chen absorbed Spiritual Energy like this for an hour before finally starting to circulate it.
This Spiritual Energy, that was much stronger and denser than most regular Spiritual Energy, was slowly circulating in his body. Xiao Chen patiently and unhurriedly advanced forward bit by bit, following the order of acupoints along the meridians.
Another hour went by, and the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation finally completed a great cycle. The turbulent, river-like Spiritual Energy rushed into the Dantian.
The Azure Dragon opened its mouth excitedly, as though it was eating a delicacy, continually absorbing this large amount of Spiritual Energy. The white clouds surrounding it turned even brighter; it seemed like it would explode in the next moment.
“Booom!”
There was an explosion of sound coming from near Xiao Chen’s Martial Spirit after an unknown amount of time. The eight white clouds had erupted, and the area near his martial Spirit was in a state of chaos. However, Xiao Chen did not feel any discomfort. In fact, it was more like he had been suppressed to the extreme and had finally obtained release.
This was a feeling that Xiao Chen had experienced before during his previous breakthrough. However, it did not feel as comfortable as it did now. The pores all over his body opened up and streams of black impurities flowed out.
After half an hour, Xiao Chen controlled his consciousness and sank it down slowly to check out the area near his Martial Spirit. the originally chaotic area had become clear.
When his consciousness arrived at his Dantian, it seemed like it had arrived at a whole new space. The white clouds of the past were gone, and there was now only a pool of clear water where his Martial Spirit used to reside. Even that tiny Azure Dragon had disappeared.
What was going on? Where was the Azure dragon? Xiao Chen was full of doubt as he thought in his heart.
“Pu Tong!”
Suddenly, there was a splash coming from the pool. A lovable dragon head popped out from the small pond; it was swimming around happily in the crystal waters.
When Xiao Chen’s consciousness noticed the splash of water, he observed it carefully. After about 15 mins, Xiao Chen was full of joy.
This pool of water was actually Xiao Chen’s new method of storing Essence. When he had observed it earlier, just one droplet of the splash contained the same amount of Essence as ten percent of a white cloud.
Xiao Chen calculated in his heart; there should be about two handfuls of water in the pool in this space. If each drop of water contained the same amount of Essence as one tenth of a white cloud, there would be plenty of Essence available here.
Regardless of refining medicine or battling with someone, he no longer had to worry about the consumption of his Essence anymore. Xiao Chen even had a rash impulse to try and see if he could execute the Return of the Azure Dragon.
If he were able to, then in the Promise of Ten Years, he would be unrivaled. With the Heaven Ranked Martial Technique, even Martial Grand Masters would not be able to defend against it.
Xiao Chen suddenly opened his eyes, and two beams of purple light shot out from them. Xiao Chen did not know what these purple beams of light meant. Every time he made a breakthrough, such a phenomena would occur in both his eyes.
Shaking his head, Xiao Cheng did not bother to think about this any further. Seeing the disgusting black impurities on his entire body, he could not help but smile bitterly. Looks like every time he broke through a realm, he would have to change his clothes.
Xiao Chen felt very uncomfortable covered in these sticky impurities. Thus, he quickly went to take a bath.
After he was done with his bath and changed his clothes, Xiao Chen’s entire body felt relaxed and alert. His face was radiating with health and vigor; he even felt that he was filled with an inexhaustible energy.
“Second Young Master, where did you go to? I have been looking for you for a long time,” when Bao`er saw him from outside the yard, she ran over hurriedly.
Xiao Chen smiled, “Why are you looking for your Young Master? I went to take a bath earlier.”
Bao`er checked out Xiao Chen with her eyes after she heard this, revealing a slightly expression that resembled drunkenness. She immediately blushed and said in a soft voice, “Second Young Master, you seem to have become even more good looking.”
Could it be that when I break into the Martial Master Realm, one’s aura would change as well? Xiao Chen thought with some doubts.
However, there had never been any girls who had praised him like that. Xiao Chen smiled awkwardly, “You still have not told me why are you looking for me.”
Bao`er woke up to reality and hurriedly said, “Miss Feng asked me to hand this book to you before she left. She also asked me to pass on a message to you, ‘If you change your mind in future, you can look for me any time.’”
Xiao Chen smiled bitterly in his heart; this girl had not given up on him yet. He received the book from Bao`er, and took a look. The expression on his face immediately changed slightly. This was actually the hand written copy of the complete manual for the Rushing Thunder Saber Technique.
“How long has Miss Feng been gone?” Xiao Chen asked as he put the book aside.
Bao`er replied in a lovable manner, “She left about two hours ago, I believe.”
“Looks like I cannot catch up to her…” Xiao Chen said with some regrets. Xiao Chen did not like receiving grace from another person for no reason at all.
Looks like I will have to repay this debt of gratitude in the future, Xiao Chen muttered to himself as he looked at the hand written copy of the complete manual for the Rushing Thunder Saber Technique.
...
After returning to his room, Xiao Chen stored the Rushing Thunder Saber Technique manual in his Universe Ring. He did not immediately take a look at it, as he still had something else he wanted to do.
Xiao Chen took out the half meter long piece of wood and cut off a segment that was as large as his thumb. Then he began to carve it carefully. The Life Bestowal Spell was a very strong Immortal Spell. Although he had not succeeded in using it properly before, Xiao Chen had never thought about giving up either.
Now that he was a Martial Master, the most urgent thing in Xiao Chen’s heart was to continue attempting to succeed in this endeavor.
He recalled every single detail of the battle between Yue Ying and Ye Chenzhou as he carved each nuance of Yue Ying’s appearance, stroke by stroke.
“Hu!”
Before long, Xiao Chen had finished carving it and gently blew the wood shavings of the sculpture away. He picked it up and observed it carefully. The appearance of the wooden sculpture was almost exactly the same as what Xiao Chen remembered. However, he kept feeling that he was missing something.
The wooden sculpture of the girl had a stern expression on her face. She was frowning slightly; she was not angry, but was radiating might. For a dead, inanimate object, it seemed to be radiating a stern might into the surroundings, just like a queen.
Queen? Something clicked into place in Xiao Chen’s mind. It was as though there was a cog in his mind that finally started to move. He seemed to have discovered something that he had not noticed in the past.
“Right. Queen! Why would Yue Ying be the queen?” Xiao Chen suddenly said joyfully.
He finally understood where he had gone wrong. He was too focused on how she looked when she was in battle... Just like a queen who ruled everything under the heavens. Thus, when he carved her, he had carved her in the image of a queen.
However, Yue Ying was not a queen. The image of her looking very awkward when her stomach growled appeared in his mind. He remembered the moment she blushed when she called him a scoundrel.
Now, this was a person made out of flesh and blood. As his cultivation was insufficient to perform the Life Bestowal Spell, he had to make up for it by making carvings. He had to carve out an image of Yue Ying that was true to life, or else, it would just be form without substance and it would not turn into a powerful weapon.
Xiao Chen cut out another piece of Spiritual Wood, once more about the size of his thumb. His hands moved very fast as he carved out the image of the girl, thoroughly merging the image of her as she battled with her look when she was injured.
Although it was easy to think of this, it was difficult to carry out. Xiao Chen carved then rejected his work endlessly. It was only when the half a meter long piece of wood was only left with a tiny segment that Xiao Chen managed to complete a piece of work with which he was satisfied.
The absolute beauty was holding a golden spear, and her mighty and stern face had a faint smile on it. It did not have that earlier, threatening feel to it. Instead, there was the warmth of a girl.
Of course, these were not the parts that Xiao Chen was the most satisfied with. The part that he liked most was that this absolute beauty was wearing only a red bra.
“I wonder if she would kill me on the spot if she saw this piece of work?” Xiao Chen smiled to himself in a slightly ridiculing manner as he held the wooden sculpture in his hands. Maybe even she did not know that this was her true self.
Casting away the idle thoughts, Xiao Chen focused and decided to use that Dragon Qi that Yue Ying had given to him to merge into the sculpture.
If this still failed, then that Dragon Qi, which could save his life in a crucial moment, would be wasted.