t
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
This extremely tyrannical Mental Energy was like a heavy punch rus.h.i.+ng over, smas.h.i.+ng apart all of Xiao Chen’s Mental Energy walls.
Oh no! This Mental Energy is too tyrannical. The person making a move on Xiao Chen was definitely a Prime-level expert. Furthermore, it was someone who focused on cultivating Mental Energy. Otherwise, Xiao Chen would not be so helpless. His Mental Energy had already condensed into Magic Energy, which was not something that ordinary Martial Emperors could break through.
Nevertheless, Xiao Chen’s defenses could not resist at all. The other party easily destroyed the Mental Energy walls that Xiao Chen formed as if it was sweeping through dead branches from a tree.
I’ll fight it out with you!
Xiao Chen gave up on defense and gathered up his last bits of Mental Energy, his entire sea of consciousness stirring up. His surging Magic Energy also condensed into a fist light as he exploded with a counterpunch.
At the crucial moment, just when the fist lights were about to clash, Xiao Chen’s Azure Dragon Martial Spirit suddenly startled awake and directly infused itself into the Mental Energy fist light in his sea of consciousness.
The other party’s Mental Energy fist light sensed the appearance of the Azure Dragon Martial Spirit. This clearly stunned it as it paused for a moment.
Seeing Xiao Chen’s azure-colored fist light, despite holding an overwhelming advantage, the other party retreated.
However, when everything regained its calm, Xiao Chen opened his eyes, and blood leaked out of a corner of his lips. He had an agonizing bloated feeling in his head.
Furthermore, this pain came from an injury to the soul. No matter how strong the physical body was, it could not withstand this pain.
“Xiao Chen, what’s wrong?” Ao Jiao asked out of concern as she quickly rushed over and helped Xiao Chen up.
Xiao Chen wiped away the blood from his lips. Then, he said, “The Heaven Abandoning Deity Sovereign personally made a move on me.”
A Prime who mainly cultivated Mental Energy—this description of his attacker allowed Xiao Chen to winnow down the mult.i.tude of people in the Kunlun Realm to just this person.
There was absolutely no one else who possessed such strong Mental Energy cultivation, enough to kill people without leaving a trace from billions of kilometers away.
Furthermore, doing this would not leave any evidence behind and give someone else a hold over him.
“This group of people is really driven to desperate actions. They are too shameless,” Ao Jiao said, feeling pained.
Xiao Chen smiled consolingly at Ao Jiao. “It’s not a problem. After this failure, he will not dare to try again.”
When a Prime made a move and failed once, they naturally would be too ashamed to make a second move. However, for some reason, there was still a shadow in Xiao Chen’s heart.
The next morning, the Flame Rock castle was already restored to its peaceful state. The cultivators attracted by Xiao Chen’s comprehension had all left.
When the Flame Rock Sovereign caught sight of Xiao Chen, he immediately frowned. “What’s wrong? With your physical body, all your injuries should have recovered. Why is your spirit still so poor?”
It was hard to hide things from the Flame Rock Sovereign, so Xiao Chen spoke honestly of last night’s events.
“Your guess is right. It should be the move of the Heaven Abandoning Deity Sovereign. I once came in contact with several Deity Race Martial Emperors, and they are capable of doing that.”
The Flame Rock Sovereign verified Xiao Chen’s guess. Then, he continued, “Someone probably spread the matter of the thirteen Great Bandits of the Black Sea giving you their engraved cards, which drove him to desperate measures.”
Xiao Chen’s expression did not change. He said calmly, “Senior, please teach me how to cultivate Primordial Energy.”
This request startled the Flame Rock Sovereign. Unexpectedly, he did not see any rage or hatred in Xiao Chen’s eyes. Instead, Xiao Chen made his request serenely.
“You are quite capable of enduring your anger. If I were as young as you, I would have gone as berserk as thunder. Perhaps I might even have rashly gone and killed a few Deity Race cultivators to vent my anger.”
Xiao Chen smiled and asked, “Is that any use?”
This retort left the Flame Rock Sovereign somewhat stunned. Then, he said, “Indeed, it is useless.”
“He is a Prime who cleared nine heavenly lightning tribulations. What is the point of me doing all that? All I need to do is live properly, live to the point where I can deal him a fatal blow and wash away all the humiliation. I cannot let him disrupt my own plans.”
Xiao Chen’s eyes were as calm as still water. However, if one peered through that thick layer of water, one would see hatred hidden in their depths.
Back at the King conferral ceremony, the Heaven Abandoning Deity Sovereign sent out a palm strike at him, wanting to cripple him on the spot and not showing any mercy.
The memory of Dugu Ao roaring out over and over again in the Human-Demon Paradise was still fresh in Xiao Chen’s mind, indelible.
At this point, the hatred between Xiao Chen and the Heaven Abandoning Deity Sovereign was irreconcilable.
This hatred could not be erased. It could only end with death.
What Xiao Chen needed to do was continue becoming stronger. Then, he would trample on his enemies along his path to advancing to Martial Emperor.
The Flame Rock Sovereign revealed a faint smile on his face. “Since ancient times, there has not been anyone whose path to advancing to Martial Emperor was as difficult as yours. I am filled with incomparable antic.i.p.ation for the day you advance to Martial Emperor.”
Hence, the lesson of cultivating Primordial Energy began from here. The Flame Rock Sovereign did not start with how to cultivate Primordial Energy. Instead, he started with explaining the Primordial Energy that the various Heavens of Martial Emperors would have.
“The cultivation of Primordial Energy is something that every Martial Emperor experiences. Normally speaking, a First Heaven Martial Emperor can gather one hundred strands of Primordial Energy. A Second Heaven Martial Emperor can gather two hundred strands of Primordial Energy. A Third Heaven Martial Emperor can gather three hundred strands of Primordial Energy.
“The number of strands of Primordial Energy scales up linearly that way with each Heaven until the Ninth Heaven. So, a Sovereign Martial Emperor can have up to nine hundred strands of Primordial Energy.”
Using a simple comparison, one could conclude that a Ninth Heaven Sovereign Martial Emperor would be nine times stronger than a First Heaven Minor Heavenly Martial Emperor. However, in reality, when the two truly fought, the disparity was not just nine times. Even if there were more than one hundred First Heaven Martial Emperors, they would not be sufficient to kill a Sovereign Martial Emperor.
The distance between the two could not be offset with numbers. Each lightning tribulation cleared brought Martial Emperors improvements that were not limited to just the physical body.
The Primordial Energy would also undergo a metamorphosis and experience a huge improvement.
With such a comparison, Xiao Chen felt that his ten strands of Primordial Energy were insufficient before a Sovereign Martial Emperor.
The Flame Rock Sovereign continued, “What do you think my purpose is in telling you all this?”
Clearly, the Flame Rock Sovereign would not waste any time on explaining something unimportant. This had to be closely related to Xiao Chen’s cultivation.
Xiao Chen thought for a while and found an answer in his heart. However, after being tricked by the Flame Rock Sovereign once, he was now more cautious.
Xiao Chen said probingly, “Senior’s purpose should be to tell me why Martial Emperors of different Heavens can refine a different amount of Primordial Energy.
“The answer should lie in the physical body. After that, Senior intends to give me pointers based on the strength of my physical body, helping me to cultivate the limit of Primordial Energy that my physical body can endure.”
The Flame Rock Sovereign revealed a gratified smile. “It is really easy communicating with intelligent people. That’s right. That is the principle of it. Your physical body is already comparable to that of a First Heaven Martial Emperor’s Golden Emperor Body. So you should be able to gather one hundred strands of Primordial Energy.”
Fortunately, the Flame Rock Sovereign did not trick him this time. Xiao Chen heaved a sigh of relief in his heart.
All the same, Xiao Chen still had some doubts. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he asked, “Senior, many people do not cultivate their physical body before they advance to Martial Emperor. After advancing to Martial Emperor, they also still attain the Golden Emperor Body. In that case, does it mean that all the bitterness and suffering the physical body cultivators went through before advancing to Martial Emperor go to waste?”
Xiao Chen had personally experienced the pain of physical body cultivation. If not for blindly tempering his physical body, so he could stand out from those of the same cultivation, he would not have ended up in a situation where he had to advance to Martial Emperor within five years.
This was an issue that had troubled Xiao Chen for a long time, confusing him.
The Flame Rock Sovereign said, “If you think like that, then you are very wrong. Notice the two words at the start of what I said earlier.”
“Normally speaking?” Xiao Chen’s mind was very sharp. The moment the Flame Rock Sovereign replied, Xiao Chen thought of those words.
“That’s right. There will always be people who are different. This refers to cultivators who temper their physical body like you. The heavens have always been fair. The gains will correspond to the suffering. This principle does not apply just to physical body cultivators but also other cultivators.”
The Flame Rock Sovereign continued, “You will understand this principle when you advance to Martial Emperor. Right now, there is no need for you to think about this. Take out the Primordial Pills I pa.s.sed to you. I’ll teach you how to refine them.”
“Don’t Medicinal Pills just need to be swallowed?”
Could there be some other way to refine them? Xiao Chen felt confused as he took out the Primordial Pills.
The Flame Rock Sovereign took the bottle of pills and laughed, “If you really swallowed them, you would waste most of the Medicinal Energy in the Primordial Pills.”
“How should I do it, then?”
The Flame Rock Sovereign was in no rush to explain. He uncharacteristically turned serious and said, “I once told you that I would teach you three things. You will not be able to learn any one of them without a price. This is because these are things that only Martial Emperors can learn. Learning them as a Consummation quasi-Emperor is a heaven-defying act. Hence, the suffering you will go through cannot be avoided.
“Even if you had followed my method to learn the Sharp Spirit Finger, it would have been exceptionally painful. What I want to say is that my method for cultivating Primordial Energy is equally boundlessly tyrannical and extremely dangerous. The pain goes without saying.”
Xiao Chen muttered to himself for a while before saying, “Senior should already have understood my determination when you saw me comprehend the Sharp Spirit Finger. No matter the danger, as long as it can increase my strength, I am willing to accept it.”
“Good! Take out a saber!”
The Flame Rock Sovereign’s face sank as he said something very confusing. However, Xiao Chen obeyed without any hesitation, taking out a sharp short saber from the Universe Ring.
“Pu ci!”
The Flame Rock Sovereign directly stabbed with the short saber. Before him, Xiao Chen’s half-step Golden Body was like paper.
With this stab, a finger-sized wound appeared, and blood flowed out continuously.
“Don’t let your wounds recover. If you want to gain the Primordial Energy that a First Heaven Martial Emperor can gather, as a Consummation quasi-Emperor, this is just the first step,” the Flame Rock Sovereign said with a cold, emotionless expression.
Xiao Chen gritted his teeth and let the blood flow, enduring the intense pain.
After that, the Flame Rock Sovereign took out a Primordial Pill and flicked it with his finger. The Medicinal Pill entered the wound.
Xiao Chen’s blood instantly greedily absorbed the Primordial Energy in the Medicinal Pill. His body immediately filled with this explosive energy, which gave him a sense of boundless power.
The Primordial Energy in the Primordial Pill was several times more than what Xiao Chen absorbed when he opened the door of s.p.a.ce and time—equal to ten years of cultivation.
However, he did not have a Golden Emperor Body. This explosive energy was an extreme test of his physical body.
The Flame Rock Sovereign did not say anything. He simply stabbed Xiao Chen again, near the heart, before putting in the second Primordial Pill.
Third stab…fourth stab…fifth stab…after a total of nine stabs, the Flame Rock Sovereign stopped.