“An ancient figurine of a deity? An eagle head humanoid… hum… This is Horus, Guardian of the Pharaoh.”
Chen Fan nodded. Since the figurine was in Chen Fan’s possession, he studied it and found out where it came from.
The figurine was from a temple in the delta of the Nile River; it was used by the locals for worshiping their god. It wasn’t until the 18th century when the French conquered the lower Nile, ransacked the temple and looted the golden figurine along with other treasures. After passing from one owner to another, it finally got into the hands of a tycoon from the middle east.
“This object has extremely strong Devotion Energy. However, I can also sense the source of energy: the subject of worship that either fell from grace or had fallen out of love with his devotees.”
Chen Fan rubbed a finger on the small figurine.
Devotion Energy was one of the byproducts of cultivation. It was a type of Soul Anomaly Energy that attracted the Soul Energy from the faith and prayers of the devotees; it concentrated them until they were so thick and dense that Godhood started to form which would then be used as fuel and set aflame to create God Flame. A cultivator could use God Flame to cultivate a God Body or even a Divine Kingdom.
This was a very popular method among cultivators. In North Mystic Celestial Lord’s past life, he had fought against many Perfected Gods. Or even Lord Gods of alien races, and therefore he was familiar with Devotion Energy.
“Although I can’t cultivate Godhood, I can use that energy to my own benefit. Using the Soul Refining Art, I should be able to convert the Devotion Energy into something that I could supplement my Divine Sense.” Chen Fan was pleased with the promise of gaining more power.
In his eyes, this figurine was the best kind of supplement for his cultivation.
As of now, his Divine Sense could only project outward about a hundred meters. However, the amount of Devotion Energy in the statue could not only break even the losses he had sustained while fighting against the Remanence of the old god but it could also further boost his Divine Sense ability and allow him to project his Divine Sense to upwards of a thousand meters. With such power, he might be able to materialize his Divine Sense in the real world.
“This statue looked primitive and crude in construction. It was evident that this god was born on earth and had never been exposed to immortal cultivation.” Chen Fan further examined the statue with his Divine Sense for a while and concluded in the end.
The primitive worshiping created a breeding ground for deities, backward planets that Chen Fan had visited were riddled with minor gods, some of them even connected to a complete pantheon. However, these lesser deities were not aware of the cultivation realm and were no match against cultivators.
When the legion of human cultivators went on their interstellar expedition, they had ransacked numerous planets with primitive civilizations.
Once the gods and deities of other civilizations were captured by the cultivators; they were used as a Surrogate for Conveying the Essence of the Dharma Treasures, some were even trained to be Sect-guardians. There was one Sect in the cultivation realm that specialized in such arts, and the Sect was called the God Reining Sect. Cultivators of the Sect commanded their deities on the battlefield to do their bidding. It was more or less like controlling robotic soldiers.
“I was right, there had been a cultivation culture on the earth a long time ago.” Chen Fan thought to himself.
A primitive deity who had gained Godhood had to be of the Connate Spirit Level at the very least. Chen Fan had seen enough evidence, from the Ghost Witch Sect to the Yin Ghost Sect, and all the other martial artists that had Internal force to prove the existence of a cultivation system on earth.
However, as the environment worsened on earth, these deities and cultivators must have either left earth or had perished over time.
“The ever-changing law of the universe is that things are constantly changing. Even an ancient star that was as old as time itself would have its ups and downs.” Chen Fan heaved a sigh.
The acquisition of the golden figurine reminded Chen Fan of the bigger picture and made him take a long hard look at his cultivation progression.
The eagle head deity had already fallen from grace; he was so weak that Chen Fan’s Foundation Establishment level attack had shattered the reality he had constructed. That being said, the deity himself might have hidden somewhere in the world using a secret art, or he could have concealed his true form in another Divine Kingdom, licking his old and new wounds.
It was evident to Chen Fan that his current level of attainment was not enough for him to face off against the real form of the deity. If the deity had just obtained Ethereal Enlightenment, Chen Fan wouldn’t fear him. Once the power of his enemy had reached Divine Sea, Chen Fan might still manage to guarantee his safe escape, but for an enemy more powerful than the level of Divine Sea, he was not so sure.
“In that situation, I would have to use the secret art either to force the formation of the Golden Core, or I would have to burn my soul to fuel a killing blow. There were no other ways.”
Chen Fan shook his head as he pondered on.
Either way, he would have to pay a great cost to come out alive in such a battle.
The Golden Core formed using his secret art was far more inferior than the one formed through cultivation, so much so that it would be impossible to further his cultivation with such a weak foundation. The golden core might be able to boost his power during the moment of life and death, afterward, Chen Fan might as well reincarnate into a different life and start all over again. Boosting his power by consuming his soul would also greatly damage his Primordial Essence and would set him back at least a few hundred years in his progression.
“Fine, fine, once the conference is over, I will retrieve the spirit medicine from the Li Family and the Medicine God Valley Sect. After that, I will set myself in seclusion to focus on cultivating. I won’t come out of self-seclusion until I reach Ethereal Enlightenment.” Chen Fan thought determinedly. “When I finally reach Ethereal Enlightenment, I will fly to Egypt and get more of these statues. Maybe I would be able to enter the Divine Sea much earlier than I thought.”
Seeing Blood Blade’s success in getting the elixirs, the crowd started to become uneasy.
Although no one had thousand-year-old herbs, some of them were in possession of a few other treasures. They moved closer to Chen Fan and started to tout their wares.
“This is just an ordinary gemstone.”
“Humm… This one looks like a Dharma Artifact, but I have no use of it.”
“This… might be useful, how about ten pills.”
Most of these treasures were useless to Chen Fan. However, he had purchased a few treasures that could barely pass for borderline Spirit Treasures. He would have to use the refining art on them to extract Spirit Qi from them.
“Mr. Chen, what do you think of this?”
A musical voice drifted in and as the crowd dispersed in the middle, making way for Miss Jin Yi. She was wearing white casual pants and a handmade fisherman’s sweater on top. She didn’t wear any jewelry other than a bracelet made out of wooden beads.
Jin Yi held out a gnarly scorched twig for display.
“What is it? It looks like a chunk of charcoal.”
“It’s a piece of Thunder Stricken Wood used by spellcasters. Why does she want to sell a spellcasting artifact? Could the rumors be true that Mr. Chen is a Dao-Reaching Level master?”
A swell of murmurs arose.
Chen Fan was taken aback by the object, and he exclaimed in his mind: “It’s a piece of Connate Spirit Wood!”
The so-called Connate Spirit Wood were chunks of wood that were taken off from the Connate Spirit Trees. These Connate Spirit Trees were able to cultivate for thousands of years to form Primordial Spirits. Over time, these Primordial Spirit would get more powerful until they were able to detach themselves from the Connate Spirit Trees and become Immortal Spirits, or Ghost Deities.
“It seems that this particular Connate Spirit Trees had failed his cultivation during the Tribulation Transcendence of Thunder. However, its body was still filled to the brim with Spirit Qi, enough to allow me to complete one-fifth of my Dao Body progression.”
Despite himself, Chen Fan pushed the Spirit Wood aside and said lightly: “I am sorry, not interested.”
Jin Yi cracked a smile and said, “This piece of Spirit Wood is a gift. The Medicine God Valley Sect would love to befriend a young hero like yourself.”
“Really?” Chen Fan gave the girl a cold look and said: “Thanks but no.”
Jin Yi tried to hold in her anger, but the flames danced in her eyes nonetheless.
The Medicine God Valley Sect was a prestigious group and never had one refused a gift from them. However, should she know that her connection with the group of ambushers was discovered and was not a secret to Chen Fan, she might understand Chen Fan’s cold and distant attitude.
As soon as Chen Fan learned the Medicine God Valley Sect’s true colors, he made up his mind to plunder the Sect. When he conquered their sect base, Chen Fan would have all their sect treasures, including this piece of Spirit Wood.
Everyone was shocked when they heard Chen Fan refused Miss Jin Yi’s offer.
So far, Chen Fan had pissed off nearly all the powerful players in the conference: the Li Family, Lu Family, Medicine God Valley Sect and the Diamond Temple. Even a Physique Refinement grand master would fear the combined might of these powerful groups.
After Jin Yi left, people started to become hesitant to trade items with Chen Fan. The boy was already in the Medicine God Valley Sect’s bad book and that made him a dangerous person to be associated with. Although the Medicine God Valley Sect did not have a particularly powerful martial artist, everyone relied on them to produce remedies and elixirs.
Chen Fan sat back into his chair and started the Soul Refining Art. He slowly transformed the Devotion Energy into pure Soul energy and infused the fresh energies into his Divine Sense.
Two days later, during the Martial Arts Conference…
A wave of loud commotion erupted near the entrance.
“The elder of the Medicine God Valley Sect is here?”
“Oh my gosh! That’s Elder Qi! He is a Dao-Reaching Level spellcaster!”
“Elder Qi had been living in seclusion for over eight years, who would think that he would show up here today? He must be invited here by the Lu family.”
The crowd made way for Elder Qi. Lu Tianlong accompanied the old man who wore a traditional Taoist robe and a long white flowy beard. As the elder of the Medicine God Valley Sect, he was an honored guest, and his prestige was no less than the lord of any martial arts family.
The old man’s eyes were half closed, but a glinting light flashed in the slits.
The strange light in his eyes was the telltale sign of the extremely concentrated Dharmic energy inside of him. He was only a half-step away from reaching the Dharma Cultivation level. There was only a very small number of these cultivators remaining in China. Although their combat ability was not as strong as a martial artist, they possessed unimaginable powers that could kill a Martial Artist with ease.
As soon as Elder Qi entered the manor, he walked over toward Chen Fan.
“I smell trouble.”
“Spellcasters are cunning and tricky fighters, they had a natural advantage over Physique Refinement Grandmasters.”
“I think this boy is in knee deep trouble.”
People around Chen Fan gloated at his impending doom.
The battle at the lakeshore path had already been a public secret and everyone knew that Miss Jin Yi was involved. Just yesterday, Chen Fan had refused Jin Yi’s gift, it was a clear sign that Chen Fan had no intention in mending their ties.
Lo and behold, walked over to Chen Fan and asked lightly: “Are you Chen Beixuan?”
“That’s me.” Chen Fan looked up.
“Did you know that that the Body-Refining-pill and the Essence Enhancing Pill you sold were actually stolen from the Medicine God Valley Sect?” Elder Qi shook his head and lamented: “Not long ago, we found a traitor in our sect. He had stolen countless elixir recipes, including the recipe for the Body-Tempering-Pill and the Essence Enhancing Pill.”
“What?” Everyone was shocked by the revelation.
People looked to Chen Fan with pity. Most of them knew that Elder Qi was lying.
However, as an elder of a prestigious sect, and a Dao-Reaching Level caster, his word was the truth. After all, in a martial artist’s dictionary, strength was always before truth.
“Oh Really?” Chen Fan asked with surprise.
“Sigh! Yes, it’s very unfortunate.” Elder Qi faked a mournful look and continued: “Luckily, my disciple Jin Yi had met you at this event so that we could recover our treasures. Don’t worry, young lad, we will reward you heavily if you cooperate with us.”
“What if I don’t give them back?” Chen Fan asked calmly.
“Well, then you are the enemy of the Medicine God Valley Sect!” Elder Qi’s benevolent look disappeared as he raised his voice. “We will punish you according to our sect rules. For those who steal from the sect, death shall be the final verdict!
“Those who helped him will meet the same end!”
Despite his deity-like appearance, his words had brought out the murderer in him.
Suddenly, a deadly silence fell over the hall. None of the martial artists dared to speak up for Chen Fan. Even Lu Tianlong who had been cozying up to Chen Fan just one-day ago had crossed his arms over his chest and kept his gloating silence.
Chen Fan and Tong Shan were left alone to face the ire of the Medicine God Valley Sect.