Chapter 128: Profound State
“Hu!” Amidst the chaos, a black banner appeared in Xiao Chen’s eyes; after that, it materialized in the illusionary s.p.a.ce. Xiao Chen shouted and flew into the air. He grasped the banner’s pole and stabbed it into the ground fiercely.
There was a powerful resounding Xiao word on the black banner. The mark this Sage let behind had finally been a.s.similated by Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen opened his eyes again, and the surrounding scenery changed. He was standing on the bow of the silver wars.h.i.+p. He finally returned to the real world.
The black banner on the bow of the wars.h.i.+p fluttered in the wind. The ‘Yan’ word disappeared and turned into a ‘Xiao’ (萧) Word. This Secret Treasure finally bore Xiao Chen’s mark.
Xiao Chen smiled faintly and sent out his Spiritual Sense. He started to inspect the formation markings in the Secret Treasure. After a long time, he withdrew his Spiritual Sense, feeling a little disappointed.
The offensive formations did not take a turn for the better; there were no signs of it being repaired. It seemed like Xiao Chen could not wait till his cultivation realm improves and re-carve it.
However, the other functions of the Secret Treasure had already recovered. There was no difference from when it was at its peak. At least regarding speed and defense, it should not disappoint Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen smiled faintly. He jumped down from the bow of the wars.h.i.+p; the Secret Treasure still had to be tempered by thunder for 49 days before it would be able to display the Daos of heaven and earth. In the short term, Xiao Chen did not have any matters that would require it.
There was a special feeling about having the body tens of thousands of meters in the sky. Xiao Chen felt this special feeling as he fell rapidly toward the ground.
Dark clouds which extended forever into the distance appeared below Xiao Chen. He extended his Spiritual Sense to inspect it and saw countless drops of rain falling from the clouds. When the clouds touched each other, there would be a crash of thunder and lightning streaking through the sky.
Xiao Chen sighed, “After being in heaven, I nearly forgot about the matters of the mortal world.”
The Medial Grade Spirit Stone in his hand was not empty yet. Xiao Chen covered himself Essence and pierced through the clouds. The rain that fell on him was pushed away by the Essence, flowing away from his body.
Suddenly, Xiao Chen was inspired. He used the Battle Sage Origin’s Changing Character Formula to replicate Ji Changkong’s Martial Technique. His body turned into a meteor and headed to the ground violently.
“Boom!”
The meteor broke through the ceaseless curtain of rain and landed on the ground instantly. The was a loud explosion, and Xiao Chen emerged. The shockwave caused countless drops of rain to evaporate immediately.
Xiao Chen looked at the Medial Grade Spirit Stone that completely lost its light; he felt some astonishment. He muttered to himself, “Martial Techniques that require an inherited Martial Spirit would exhaust large amounts of Essence when using the Changing Character Formula to replicate it. I have to remember this in future.”
Xiao Chen threw away the completely exhausted Medial Grade Spirit Stone and increased his pace. He walked rapidly on the Zhuang River before going through the gus.h.i.+ng waterfall, entering the cave.
Xiao Chen took out the ancient Martial Techniques from the Universe Ring and started to slowly read them. The so-called ‘ancient texts’ were actually China’s Traditional Chinese Characters; it was not difficult for Xiao Chen to read them.
He just saw the life of an ancient Sage and gained some enlightenment. This enlightenment created a very profound state of mind. Xiao Chen felt his mind become much clearer. Many problems he could not solve in the past were instantly dealt with.
Xiao Chen did not know how long he could maintain such a state. Thus, he quickly took out the ancient Martial Techniques and looked through them carefully, hoping he would be able to comprehend them.
The ancient Martial Techniques were very different from the modern Martial Techniques. The biggest difference was the ancient Martial Techniques were not divided into the Yellow, Profound, Earth, and Heaven Ranks.
Xiao Chen looked through every book carefully. He did not seek a perfect understanding; what he could comprehend was sufficient. Any part he did not understand, he would skip as it was not worth trying at this point.
Xiao Chen reviewed the five ancient Martial Techniques in such a manner for half a month, until the state of enlightenment vanished.
“Hua La La!”
The waterfall in front of the cave continued to gush down. Past the waterfall, the rain had still not stopped, falling unceasingly. This rain was a result of the silver wars.h.i.+p. Because it had to be tempered by thunder for a period, the rain never stopped.
Xiao Chen got up and walked through the gus.h.i.+ng waterfall. The rain fell on him as he landed on the rus.h.i.+ng Zhung River. The surface of the river was surging; it had flooded the riverbanks long ago.
The river was more rapid than it ever had been. Xiao Chen currently achieved small success in the Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art. Relying on this Heaven Ranked Movement Technique, he stood firmly on the gus.h.i.+ng river without panicking.
Xiao Chen closed his eyes and pondered upon the gains of the past half month as the rain drenched him. His mind cleared, and he entered a miraculous state.
The ancient Martial Techniques enlightened Xiao Chen. Some of these Martial Techniques were sword techniques; some were spear techniques; some were purely Cultivation Techniques. However, Xiao Chen did not intend to learn any of these.
These Martial Techniques were not the peak ancient Martial Techniques. It was better not to bite off more than one could chew. If he relearned a Cultivation Technique, the gains were not going to make up for the losses. When different Martial Techniques were mixed, they might end up restraining each other.
Xiao Chen intended to continue comprehending the Rus.h.i.+ng Thunder Saber Technique. He merged everything he learned in the past half month, the Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art, and the Battle Sage Origin’s Changing Character Formula together to allow the Rus.h.i.+ng Thunder Saber Technique to undergo a qualitative improvement.
The difficulties involved was no less than creating a new Martial Technique from scratch. With the Rus.h.i.+ng Thunder Saber Technique as the core, adding in what he learned in the past and his recent comprehensions, the Rus.h.i.+ng Thunder Saber Technique was improved further.
Xiao Chen stood on the Zhung River for half a month. It was as though he could feel the pulse of the Zhuang River. He seemed to have become one with the endlessly gus.h.i.+ng river.
“Pu Ci!”
On this day, Xiao Chen finally opened his eyes. There was a calm within his black eyes, absent of any waves of emotion. With just a thought, the Lunar Shadow Saber came out of the Universe Ring and appeared in his right hand.
“Drawing the Saber!”
Xiao Chen s.h.i.+fted his stance and held the saber tightly in his right hand; there was no glow coming from the saber blade. With a ‘shua’ sound, the saber flashed in the rain. It made its way between the s.p.a.ce of every raindrop. It lasted just an instant; its speed was at its peak. It did not come into contact with any raindrops at all.
“Boom!” A streak of lightning appeared in the sky and crashed into the river surface, creating a two-meter tall splash. The electrical current flowed through the water and entered Xiao Chen’s body.
Xiao Chen’s expression did not change. The electrical current flowed through his skin, crackling as it did so. It looked as though he was being electrocuted, but he was not injured at all.
When the electrical current finally gathered on the black saber blade of the Lunar Shadow Saber, Xiao Chen stepped forward and took advantage of the electrical current to strike out with his saber rapidly.
“Arclight Chop!”
A two-meter tall purple arclight gleaming with an electrical light blasted out in the rain. The raindrops instantly became steam. A fog spread out, and vision was obscured by half. There was a void of rain for a short period.
“Boom!” There was another crack of thunder, and the waves surged to the sky. Xiao Chen soared into the air, propelled up by an intense splash.
Xiao Chen had combined the Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art with the Rus.h.i.+ng Heaven Chop. He moved as fast as a flood dragon. Everywhere he pa.s.sed, the rain would disappear like it had run dry.
In the blink of an eye, Xiao Chen rose by hundreds of meters. With the a.s.sistance of the Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art, his body turned midair and actually stopped temporarily.
Without the a.s.sistance of the Gravity Spell, this was almost impossible. The activation of the Gravity Spell was too long; there was no value in a fight. Thus, Xiao Chen only used it as a means of escape.
“Pu!”
In the instant he stopped, Xiao Chen’s aura raised to its peak. Under the pressure of the aura, the falling rain seemed to slow incredibly.
“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”
“Rus.h.i.+ng Thunder Chop!”
Xiao Chen shouted lightly, thunder crackling behind him. His aura was extremely frightening, like a thunder G.o.d descending to the mortal realm.
“Bang!”
Borrowing the might of the rus.h.i.+ng thunder, Xiao Chen slammed his saber onto the river surface. This huge force cut through the water like tofu, splitting the river in half. Three-meter tall walls made of water rose up on both sides where the cut was made.
Xiao Chen landed on the water, and the water walls on both side rapidly merged back together. These water walls seemed very soft and gentle, but they actually contained 500 kilograms of force; it could easily crush a cultivator into pulp.
“Rus.h.i.+ng Thunder Second Chain Chop!”
Riding on the acc.u.mulated strength from the earlier four strikes, Xiao Chen quickly executed a Rus.h.i.+ng Thunder Second Chain Chop. There was no clear target for this strike; it only stuck out against empty air.
“Hu Chi!”
A centrifugal force appeared in the air, sucking in the merging water walls, turning it into a water sprout that spun up on the riverbank.
The water sprout circulated for a long time, sucking in all the surrounding river water. After a short moment, a huge pillar of water raised into the sky.
Xiao Chen stood on the riverbank and watched the water pillar rus.h.i.+ng to the sky. He did not seem satisfied with it. He had spent one month using that state of enlightenment to peruse the ancient Martial Technique.
Although the Rus.h.i.+ng Thunder Chop evolved to an even more horrifying level, it was still far from what he hoped for; it fell short by a significant amount. All the Martial Techniques he learned, had not been merged completely. In the past month, the more he thought about it, the more he felt the potential of the Rus.h.i.+ng Thunder Saber Technique was unlimited.
It was not like a Profound Ranked Martial Technique. He was still unable to completely understand the principles contained within it. He was also not able to execute the Rus.h.i.+ng Thunder Third Chain Chop; it felt like he was still missing something.
Xiao Chen smiled bitterly as he sighed softly, “It seems that it would be too difficult to fully grasp the Rus.h.i.+ng Thunder Saber Technique with my cultivation as a Superior Grade Martial Master.”
After resting for a while, Xiao Chen stared into the distance; his gaze pierced through the rain and fog. He looked at the Medial Grade Spirit Gathering Formation on the mountain peak high above the clouds. Then, he executed the Gravity Spell and flew in that direction.
After a long time and piercing through endless layers of clouds, Xiao Chen arrived at the mountain peak once again. It was raining here as well, but the rain was made out of Spiritual Energy that liquified.
In the center of the Spirit Gathering Formation, the pillar of golden light was still as resplendent as ever. The Spirit Spring on the wars.h.i.+p had been repaired long ago. It no longer required the a.s.sistance of Spiritual Energy to undergo its baptism of thunder.
Xiao Chen collected the bottle collecting Spiritual Energy and put it away into the Universe Ring. Then, he entered the Spirit Gathering Formation and sat down cross-legged, entering a state of cultivation. He did not wish to let the gathered Spiritual Energy go to waste.
All the droplets condensed from Spiritual Energy in the sky instantly gathered to Xiao Chen. The boundless Spiritual Energy poured into him.
The Spiritual Energy gushed in Xiao Chen’s meridians. The speed of cultivating in this Spirit Gathering Formation was much faster than cultivating in the cave behind the waterfall. Xiao Chen ate another Fasting Pill and started to circulate the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation over and over again.