Night fell once again, and the light disappeared.
Xiao Chen revealed an expression of joy. As he put away the Dragon Phoenix Cauldron, he said, “Many thanks.”
“It’s fine. I admit my defeat. One Multiflora Rose Pendant is indeed insufficient to hire you for one year.” Mo Chen smiled gently.
Xiao Chen thought about another matter. He asked, “Are there any grandmaster Alchemists in the Shattered Cloud Sea?”
Mo Chen answered, “Grandmaster Alchemists are not easy to find. This is probably the same even in the entire Cloud Sea Domain. Even if there is, they would be the honored guest of the various sea regions’ City Lords. They would not readily refine Medicinal Pills for others.”
Indeed, it was as Xiao Chen suspected.
Even the Medicine G.o.d Valley had only three grandmaster Alchemists. To be accurate, there was only one now. Both Mister Wei and Mister Qin had died at Xiao Chen’s hands.
However, the Medicine G.o.d Valley still had a divine Alchemist. Even if two grandmaster Alchemists had died, it was not a disaster that would cause the sect’s extermination.
With the nurturing of the Medicine G.o.d, it would have a continuous stream of grandmaster Alchemists.
In a sea domain like the Cloud Sea Domain, where the peak fighting force was a quasi-Emperor, finding a grandmaster Alchemist was rather difficult.
“What Medicinal Pill do you need to refine? Perhaps I can help.” Mo Chen smiled faintly.
“You know Alchemy?”
Right after Xiao Chen said that, he suddenly recalled that when that waiter spoke about Mo Chen, the waiter had claimed that she was talented in all aspects: the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting. She was good at medicine and could make weapons and armor. There was nothing she could not do.
Mo Chen was also good at refining Secret Treasures, Medicinal Pills, brewing wine, and various other things.
Xiao Chen was willing to try anything. So, he handed the Medicinal Pill recipe to Mo Chen.
“Heavenly Origin Pill, this is a King Grade Medicinal Pill for reforming an origin for Law Energy. No wonder when I first saw Young Master Wen, I felt that your complexion seemed poor, and you looked very weak. It turns out that you were that severely injured.”
Mo Chen was not overly surprised. In her heart, she probably guessed that Xiao Chen fell from Inferior Grade Martial Sage to Martial Monarch. She would not expect that Xiao Chen had been a horrifying great grandmaster-level Martial Sage.
Five Dragon Force, Rank 4 Sage Body, great grandmaster-level Martial Sage cultivation, Immortal Arts Magic Skills, the will of ice, and the will of thunder—such strength was enough to sweep through the Cloud Sea Domain.
Even the quasi-Emperors of the Cloud Sea Domain could not stop Xiao Chen if he wanted to leave.
Furthermore, this was in the past. If Xiao Chen recovered his strength, then after he had broken and risen again, if he was not willing, the other party would not be able to leave.
“How is it? Are you confident?”
“A King Grade Medicinal Pill is rather difficult. I am still a distance away from being a grandmaster Alchemist. I can only barely achieve a success rate of thirty percent.”
Mo Chen revealed an apologetic expression. She said with a practical and realistic outlook, “Even if I perform extraordinarily, there is just a forty percent chance of success. Young Master Wen, you’d better find someone else.”
When Xiao Chen heard that, his face lit up with joy. Smiling, he said, “You can do it, then. I’ll prepare ten sets of ingredients. Unless you are extremely unlucky, you will definitely succeed at least once.”
Prepare ten sets of ingredients for a King Grade Medicinal Pill? Mo Chen felt shocked in her heart. Even in the Southern Sea, not many youths could afford such an amount.
Mo Chen could not help feeling curious about Xiao Chen’s ident.i.ty.
Three days later, the Purple Cloud Wars.h.i.+p arrived safely at the harbor of Starry Cloud Island.
Starry Cloud Island was the Mo Clan’s territory, the place where they established themselves. This Starry Cloud Island was rather famous in the Shattered Cloud Sea.
Even in the other sea regions like the neighboring Broken Cloud Sea or Sky Cloud Sea, Starry Cloud Island was extremely famous.
Many cultivators and merchant a.s.sociations came to this island frequently all year round to buy Secret Treasures, turning this place bustling.
As of now, Mo Chen herself was in control of the Mo Clan. She had many things to manage.
Naturally, Xiao Chen did not have that much time to follow her around, so he left his Spiritual Sense on her and started cultivating quietly.
As time went by, most of the Magic Energy in Xiao Chen’s sea of consciousness recovered.
The immortal will of thunder already reached back to Small Perfection. However, his saber soul remained scattered in his sea of consciousness. Gathering it was somewhat problematic. However, its recovery was just a matter of time.
The only thing that excited Xiao Chen was the will of ice. By relying on Mo Chen’s Thousand Year Flame, the speed at which the will of ice advanced was very fast. It already broke into Small Perfection and was steadily heading to Great Perfection.
In retrospect, Xiao Chen had taken more than two years and relied on all sorts of fortuitous encounters to cultivate his will of thunder to Great Perfection.
The expression “one thousand kilometers a day” was no exaggeration to describe the cultivation speed of the will of ice.
[TL Note: While traveling one thousand kilometers a day with a car is now possible, consider that this expression came from the past where people traveled on foot or horses.]
One month later, Xiao Chen finished all of the Thousand Year Flame that Mo Chen had stockpiled.
His will of ice reached Great Perfection and was now even stronger than the recovering will of thunder.
The crystalline, translucent small saber in his sea of consciousness gave off a chill light. Strands of cold Qi shrouded the saber pulsating with boundless icy radiance.
With a thought, Xiao Chen’s forehead flickered. A small, seven-centimeter-long saber of ice appeared between his fingers, looking no different from something solid.
As he moved his fingers, the small saber danced around them. A bone-chilling saber Qi turned into saber wind and howled ferociously.
Snow fell in the courtyard, flying everywhere. The small saber moved around nimbly as if Xiao Chen had miraculously gained another finger.
“s.h.i.+ng!”
The instant the small saber stopped moving, the snow and wind paused. It seemed like s.p.a.ce and time froze at this moment. The small saber in between his fingers had vanished at some point in time.
A large tree one hundred meters in front turned into an ice sculpture. It seemed like it had transformed from the inside out.
“Bang!”
The large tree shattered, and ice shards flew everywhere. Pieces of ice covered the courtyard grounds. A cold light flashed, and the small saber of ice reappeared between Xiao Chen’s fingers.
He did not dare to try this move at its full power and could only test it out on a small scale. However, the effects were startling.
If he used all his might—the small saber made of the will of ice together with his current strength—he would not have difficulty killing a grandmaster-level Martial Sage.
“This is a waste. I do not have any ice-attributed Saber Techniques. I can only use the Great Perfection will of ice to directly injure the enemy,” Xiao Chen said as he withdrew the small saber, feeling it was a pity.
However, if he could infuse the will of ice into the Winter Saber of the Four Season Saber Technique, the Winter Saber should become mightier.
Of the Martial Techniques in general circulation in the world, Heaven Ranked was the peak. However, with Xiao Chen’s current cultivation, it was natural that he knew that there were Martial Techniques more powerful than Heaven Ranked ones.
Most cultivators called the Martial Techniques that surpa.s.sed Heaven Ranked Profound Martial Techniques.
Xiao Chen’s Subduing Dragon Profound Slash was a Martial Technique that surpa.s.sed Heaven Ranked. The Four Season Saber Technique’s Cycle of Seasons, Endless Growth could also be considered a Profound Martial Technique.
If he could infuse the will of ice into the Winter Saber, this lone move might be able to reach the standards of a Profound Martial Technique.
“In the one month I have not seen Young Master Wen, your strength has improved again.”
The veiled Mo Chen walked in leisurely from outside the courtyard. There was a look of fatigue on her face, and her spirit seemed somewhat dejected.
It looked like in this one month, she had exhausted herself making that Sage Grade Secret Treasure for the City Lord.
Although the Mo Clan was large, Mo Chen was the only one that could refine Secret Treasures. At most, the others could provide a.s.sistance, but they were not much.
However, since Mo Chen came out, that meant that she already finished refining the Secret Treasure and was about to send it over.
Xiao Chen thought for a bit and figured out her intent in coming here. “You want me to accompany you to Shattered Cloud City, right?”
“Also, the crucial ingredients for refining the Heavenly Origin Pill can be purchased only in Shattered Cloud City.” Mo Chen continued softly, “Previously, the Liu Clan suffered greatly. They are sure to cause trouble this time, so to prevent any leakage of our movements, you and I will travel alone.”
Traveling alone was fine as well. That would allow the two to arrive at Shattered Cloud City faster. Hence, Xiao Chen did not have any objections.
“Let’s go. We are departing now.”
Mo Chen led Xiao Chen out of Starry Cloud Island via an underground pa.s.sage. Their movements were secret. Aside from very few of the upper echelon of the Mo Clan, no one else knew that the two left.
The two walked on the surface of the sea, their figures disappearing into the vast sea.
They moved with great caution. As they crossed the vast sea, they relied on their cultivations to fly. Indeed, they did not run into any trouble.
“That is Shattered Cloud City in front!”
Mo Chen pointed to a vague silhouette of a city at the horizon of the vast sea.
It was a city established on the sea. Xiao Chen extended his Spiritual Sense and carefully observed it.
Shattered Cloud City was a vast island that had been transformed into a city. From a distance, it appeared to be a city on the sea.
Aside from Shattered Cloud City, there were seven other similar cities on the sea in the Cloud Sea Domain.
The eight City Lords of these cities all ruled their own regions and were quasi-Emperors. The position of Shattered Cloud City’s City Lord in the Shattered Cloud Sea was equal to a n.o.ble in the ordinary world, the absolute ruler of this sea region.
All other factions needed to obey his orders. Only then could they exist in the Shattered Cloud Sea. If they rebelled, the consequences would be severe.
However, in the past few thousand years, the City Lord of Shattered Cloud City had changed many times.
As long as one was a quasi-Emperor and was confident of killing the City Lord, one could climb to the position of City Lord and become the ruler of Shattered Cloud City.
The current City Lord of Shattered Cloud City became the City Lord by killing the previous City Lord one hundred years ago.
For the past hundred years, no faction in Shattered Cloud City dared to oppose him. This was the principle of the strong ruled.
Many cultivators were walking on the sea, just like these two.
As the center of the Shattered Cloud Sea, Shattered Cloud City naturally was popular. It was far busier than Starry Cloud Island.
“Come, let’s directly enter the city and go to the City Lord’s Residence first. After that, we will buy the ingredients for refining the Heavenly Origin Pill.”
Even though the two arrived safely at Shattered Cloud City, Mo Chen did not have much joy on her face.
Xiao Chen could understand this. After spending so much effort to refine this Secret Treasure, Mo Chen had to give it to someone else to keep them happy.
With her talent, having to offer this tribute really restricted the growth of Starry Cloud Island’s Mo Clan.
Such demands from Shattered Cloud City every year left Mo Chen with not much resources besides what was needed to maintain the clan.
If Mo Chen were in a large sect, with her talent and beauty, she would definitely receive large amounts of resources. She would be much more accomplished and probably several times stronger than she was now.
Unfortunately, the Mo Clan seemed to be completely reliant on her. If she left, the Mo Clan would no doubt get swallowed up in this predatory world.
“Is that Miss Mo Chen in front?”
A huge black wars.h.i.+p with a flapping banner that had a calligraphic “Gu” word floated down behind the two.
A person with a treasured sword stood under the banner. His clothes fluttered in the wind, making him appear graceful and elegant as he called out to Mo Chen.
When Mo Chen saw this person, she frowned slightly. Then, she whispered this person’s ident.i.ty, “The Young City Lord of Broken Cloud City, Gu Jiange.”
Xiao Chen looked carefully and discovered that this person’s cultivation was acceptable, a Superior Grade Martial Sage at about thirty years old. In the Kunlun Continent, he could barely be considered a first-rate talent.