Day and night flew by.
On a stretch of even surface inside the mountain range, a wooden house appeared at some point. Outside the house was an invisible barrier, keeping the few neighboring low grade demonic beasts at bay.
Inside the house, Ye Chen sat on a wooden floor, meditating.
With upper grade spirit stones, advancing his cultivation to the peak of late Astral Reaching realm was merely a matter of time. Moreover, they would save him a lot of time and inconvenience.
After absorbing the Yuan Qi of two upper grade spirit stones, Ye Chen slowly opened his eyes, "As expected of upper grade spirit stones, the purity of Yuan Qi is several folds above mid grade spirit stones. There is no need to refine it, as it"s more or less a direct Zhen Yuan conversion. The overall amount is also dozens of folds higher than mid grade spirit stones. Although the effect is not as good as Star Pills, the remaining upper grade stones will be enough to take my cultivation base to the peak of late Astral Reaching realm, with enough to spare. One month… one month is all I need for my cultivation base to reach temporary perfection."
Cultivation base was different from other aspects. The peak of late Astral Reaching Realm would signify its perfection. The next step would be Sea of Soul realm, with having enough room for progress in martial skills and sword soul embryo. They would allow him to cross over ranks and fight.
Kacha!
The weather of Star Lake was constantly changing. It was comprised of brilliant suns.h.i.+ne and a bright sky in one moment, but in the next moment, grey clouds would cover the sky and raging waves would surge on the lake water, as if signifying the end of the world.
Silver snakes ripped through the dark void, and a heavy rain closely followed, pouring down like the water of starry river. Such a heavy rain only needed an instant to completely drench someone, and in a few moments, it could completely fill an earthen depression with rainwater.
"It should be the time to cultivate sword arts."
On the barren island these few days, Ye Chen had been comprehending, if not cultivating, be it rain, hail, or suns.h.i.+ne. He had already experienced several rainstorms like this during the past few days.
Opening the door, Ye Chen arrived on the open land outside and raised his head towards the sky. The rain, when arriving thirty meters above him, would slip sideways, going outside the invisible barrier.
Ye Chen unhesitatingly stepped out of the range of the protective cover.
The rainwater furiously a.s.saulted his body, instantly making him look like someone who had just climbed out of a river. His clothes tightly clung to his body, revealing his st.u.r.dy muscles.
Ye Chen"s lips faintly curled. Actually, if he were to circulate his Zhen Yuan slightly, not to mention rainwater, even lightning wouldn"t be able to touch him. However, since he would be comprehending sword moves, he must come face-to-face with nature. If the first sky, Stunning Sky, could allow Ye Chen"s thunder mentality to reach the extreme, in the same manner, the world"s natural Yuan Qi was the best opportunity to comprehend sword arts. The mysteries of nature were not that simple after all.
The ice-cold rainwater and flickering silver snakes allowed Ye Chen to enter the optimal comprehension state.
"My thunder mentality is evolved from cloud mentality. Now is the time to sever that connection and make it an independent ent.i.ty. Only then will I be able to take a step further.
Rumble!
A purple lightning streaked across the sky, stretching across more than hundreds of li. It was stunning, domineering, and leaving behind a rich aftertaste.
Ye Chen"s forehead swelled, shooting soul power onto the purple lightning, and feeling its fluctuations.
One was not enough to let him comprehend anything.
Second!
Third!
Fourth!
Every time lightning struck, it would enter Ye Chen"s perception of soul power, allowing him to comprehend its transformations in detail and absorb its essence while peeling off the dregs.
The rain became increasingly heavier, and the lightning became increasingly destructive.
Ye Chen sucked in a deep breath, following which, the rainwater in the sky converged and swirled towards Ye Chen.
"Break!"
Clenching his teeth, Ye Chen suddenly shouted before unsheathing Thunder Sword and cleaving the void.
Buzz!
Heaven shaking sword noises echoed in the horizon. Sword light illuminated the world, slas.h.i.+ng across with an unstoppable and tyrannical aura. Wherever it went, deep canyons appeared in the mountain range and rainwater was dispersed, forming a rainless zone.
The edges of the canyon flickered with lightning, and its surface was burnt black.
This one sword strike was so tyrannous!
This one strike was the strongest sword strike of Ye Chen.
Therein, one could see the pinnacle of thunder and lightning transformations. Just one step, and Ye Chen would reach the profound sense of thunder.
"Finally success!"
Incessant efforts and bitter cultivation for half a month had finally opened an entrance for Ye Chen, the entrance leading to profound sense of thunder.
If this were a peak earth grade sword move pa.s.sed on from ancient times, Ye Chen had now cultivated it to perfection. It should be known that there were even many Sea of Soul realm experts who hadn"t attained this realm. They must cultivate two or three peak earth grade martial skills to perfection before they could comprehend the profound.
"This move has no connection with the cloud mentality. It can"t be called Heaven Disintegrating Cloud. I need to think of a thunder related name."
Letting out a sigh of relief, Ye Chen pondered.
After a few moments, he decided to name it Heaven Thunder Cut. First, the word heaven was related to Heaven Disintegrating Cloud; after all, this technique was evolved from the latter. Second, the word thunder needed no explanation, while the word cut described its exceptional sharpness. One cut cleaving everything was much more domineering than chop.
"Heaven Thunder Cut, I"ll call it Heaven Thunder Cut."
Ye Chen was quite satisfied with this name.
"With this move, my sword"s might is equivalent to the twenty percent of a low grade profound sense martial skill. If I can also condense the ninth style of Green Lotus Sword Techniques, I"ll have two moves equivalent to twenty percent of a low grade profound sense martial skill, one approaching the thunder profound and the other the approaching wood profound. As for cloud mentality and water mentality, I can only leave them be for the time being. I can"t focus on everything simultaneously."
Giving up cloud mentality was not without reason. He had comprehended it from a low earth grade sword technique, which had an enormous difference from a peak earth grade technique. Comprehending the profound from a low earth grade technique? That was impossible. Thus, his cloud mentality was destined to not have too much success. The water mentality was also the same. It was a supplementary mentality in Green Lotus Sword Techniques, with wood being the princ.i.p.al mentality. Therefore, the ninth style would absolutely not contain the water mentality, and solely the wood mentality.
Sheathing the sword, Ye Chen"s body shook once. The water on his body, clothes, and hair disappeared without a trace.
Returning to the house, Ye Chen soaked into the bath.
The water inside the pool was hot. As for warming, it didn"t cost Ye Chen any brain power. With the support of mid grade spirit stones, everything just happened naturally. In this aspect, this world was countless times more superior than Ye Chen"s previous world. At the very least, there was no need for electricity.
The following day, Ye Chen didn"t leave immediately. Although Heaven Thunder Cut had been completed, it hadn"t been perfected. Knowing was one thing, and using it to its pinnacle was other.
On the summit, Ye Chen"s figure flickered like lightning. The thunder sword in his hand slashed out with his every step. There was no sword light, as its true might had been restrained. But, the scene of the sword ripping the void gave a stunning feeling. It was a kind of restrained eruption, like lightning bolts exploding in the pitch black sky, seeming absolutely stunning.
"Heaven Thunder Cut, nothing it can"t cut!"
Tossing out a mid grade artifact, Ye Chen slashed upwards.
Clang!
A blazing flame radiated out, and a huge hole appeared in the exceptionally tough, mid grade artifact. It should be known that without the firepower of a Sea of Soul realm expert, almost n.o.body could destroy a mid grade artifact. Even the light beam inside the death channel hadn"t instantly destroyed a mid grade artifact.
At this moment, if some Astral Reaching realm expert were to see Ye Chen effortlessly destroying a mid grade artifact, they would certainly be bitter and aggrieved. There were a lot of Astral Reaching experts in True Spirit Continent. According to a generous estimate, sixty percent of them possessed mid grade artifacts, while the remaining forty percent could only use low grade artifacts. A mid grade artifact cost at least thirty thousand mid grade spirit stones. Who wouldn"t be aggrieved to see such a waste?
Of course, Ye Chen had squandered two mid grade artifacts in the ruins of Puppet Sect as well.
However, if they had Ye Chen"s wealth, they would most likely not put mid grade artifacts in their eyes either. More than two hundred million mid grade spirit stones could buy seventy-eighty mid grade artifacts, not to mention that these artifacts were not purchased by Ye Chen, but were obtained by killing those who tried to rob him, several of which he had given to Sky Cloud Sect and Ye family, while all the remaining ones were being carried by him in person.
"It can destroy a mid grade artifact on close range, but if it"s a little far away, it probably won"t be able to."
Ye Chen understood it thoroughly. Only a hard and clean strike was the most powerful strike. A long range strike had no chance of accomplis.h.i.+ng it.
Distance was a rule of heavenly dao, and couldn"t be disregarded.
Clank Clank!
After the first strike opened a hole in the artifact, Ye Chen"s consecutive strikes came increasingly quicker, issuing dozens of strikes in an instant.
As a result, the mid grade artifact disintegrated into thousands of pieces.
"It"s time for me to head to the Extreme Yin Region."
Completing the Heaven Thunder Cut, Ye Chen naturally wouldn"t continue to stay on a barren island. His next destination was the Extreme Yin Region between Cloud Billow Region and Misty Snow Region.
Extreme Yin Region had an exceptionally low elevation from sea level. The earthly Qi there was exceptionally exuberant, even a.s.suming the form of black mist. Yang affiliated with sky, and Yin affiliated earth. That place was the most important location of Yin Qi, and in other words, earthly Qi. At the same time, it was also the most chaotic area. There were no sects there, only countless gangs; it was extremely brutal. To survive there, one had to have sufficient skill.
Ye Chen was obviously not heading there for fun. It was because Extreme Yin region was chaotic that all sorts of treasures appeared in the markets there, treasures that one would never be able to obtain through usual channels, treasures that could be purchased only from the Extreme Yin Region.
Several hundred years ago, even a Life and Death King"s skeletal remains made appearance in Extreme Yin Region"s auction. The flesh and Zhen Yuan of a Life and Death King were fused together with a drop of blood that contained the imprint of his marital dao. Needless to say, an intact skeleton was simply a priceless treasure. It was claimed by a mysterious Sea of Soul realm Master. Later, that master suffered encirclement from several other Sea of Soul realm experts, precisely for that skeleton. As for the final conclusion, n.o.body knew.