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Chapter 758: Golden-Winged Garuda, Calming the Storm with a Sword
Chapter 758: Golden-Winged Garuda, Calming the Storm with a Sword
"We've gathered most of the information about the Western Desert. The demons and wild beasts have indeed joined forces, led by the Crimson Sand Scorpion, commanding a billion-strong army to launch a powerful counterattack against the human territories."
"Have we found out which wild beast they've allied with?"
"The Golden-Winged Garuda! It was once the guardian spirit beast of the Relic Hall in the Hanging Temple."
"So, it's him! The head monk of the Prajna Hall had guided him into the Buddhist path, which had caused quite a stir. Later, this beast stole thirty-six high-level monks' relics, causing significant damage to the Hanging Temple's primordial qi. Now, it has returned, joining forces with the demons to attack humans. I wonder what the fellow cultivators at the Hanging Temple are thinking now?"
"The strange thing is that a thousand years ago, when the thirty-six relics were stolen, the Hanging Temple closed its doors for a thousand years. Logically, they should have recovered their primordial qi by now, but during this demon counterattack, they still remain unconcerned with worldly affairs, which is truly baffling."
"There's no need to worry about their seclusion. Now is the perfect opportunity for us to make our move in the Western Desert. Once the Heavenly Yuan army defeats the demons and conquers the Western Desert, the monks of the Hanging Temple will have no choice but to accept the situation. Let's talk about the situation in the Northern Sea."
"I'll tell you! The situation in the Northern Sea is as we predicted. Li Dalian is well-informed and understands the situation, maintaining a tacit understanding with us. The only unusual thing is that he's taking advantage of the human-demon war to try and annex the Mountain-Sea Realm, refining spirit beasts."
"No problem, let him do as he pleases. In the end, he'll have to give back whatever he takes. As long as the Chenluo Sea and the Night Sky Heaven remain, it won't be a big deal. What about the passageway?"
"Reporting to the Sect Master, the passageway is about to be fully opened. Some dangerous areas have also been gradually cleared by our Array Masters. On the way, we also encountered a group of Northern Sea Primordial Spirit cultivators who were on their way to the Central Plains to join the Heavenly Origin Peak."
Mo Shouzhuo nodded slowly, a look of relief in his eyes.
Once the passageway from the Central Plains to the Northern Sea is opened, the Central Plains army will have a clear path to the Northern Sea. With the help of the Penglai Immortal Sect, they can quickly reclaim the old human territories in the Northern Sea.
From then on, the Northern Sea will only have the Heavenly Yuan Dao Sect as the holy land of the Huashen cultivators! The Yuanmo Sect, no matter how deeply its remnants hide, will never be able to restore the glory of the Demon Sect.
As he was thinking this, his eyebrows suddenly twitched.
"Someone has been eliminated."
In the chessboard space, the Heavenly Yuan cultivators were startled and began to discuss.
"So soon?"
"It's only been eight days!"
"Eight days in the Mountain-Sea Realm is equivalent to eight hundred days in the Heavenly Cavern, which is not a short time."
"It's still too short. The limit for Golden Core cultivators is one month, and Primordial Spirit cultivators can stay for a year. To be eliminated after just eight days, they must have gained nothing."
Eight days in the Mountain-Sea Realm is equivalent to around eight hundred days in the Heavenly Cavern.
At most, it's just over two years.
In such a short time, it's hard to say if they can even capture a Fourth Rank Illusionary Beast, let alone cultivate using the Illusionary Core to comprehend the Principle Essence.
Someone asked about the eliminated cultivator's background.
Mo Shouzhuo smiled, "It's not a direct disciple, just a Dao Guardian."
It's common for Dao Guardians to be eliminated first.
However, without the protection of the Dao Guardian, even if the direct disciples remain inside, it will be difficult for them to make significant progress.
Everyone asked who the unlucky one was.
Mo Shouzhuo quickly calculated and had the answer.
"It's the Xiang Family's Dao Guardian—Wrathful Eyes Vajra, who is currently severely injured, his golden body shattered, and only a breath of life left. He's being treated by our sect members."
Upon hearing this, everyone looked at each other.
An elder among them said, "I'll be right back," and left the Wuzhi Chessboard space with a worried expression.
After he left, the others began to discuss.
"Wrathful Eyes Vajra, is he the head monk of the Golden Mountain Temple in the Western Desert?"
"It should be him. He's said to have comprehended the incomplete three-headed and six-armed technique and achieved the Great Vajra Body in body tempering, a rare talent in body refinement."
"It shouldn't be him! The Sea Dragon Mystic Realm has formed its own Heavenly Cavern, and within it, the Primordial Spirit domains of cultivators are greatly suppressed. It's not only ineffective against high-level Illusionary Beasts but also has little impact on human cultivators. Therefore, the Dao Guardians who enter, especially high-level body refinement cultivators, are the most suitable."
High-level body refinement cultivators possess formidable strength and rely solely on their own power, not the might of heaven and earth.
In the Sea Dragon Heavenly Cavern, everyone's Primordial Spirit domains are suppressed, which highlights the advantage of high-level body refinement cultivators.
This pattern has been gradually discovered during every five-hundred-year great competition.
However, since the ancient human-demon war, without major wars, the main focus of the cultivation world has been the pursuit of longevity. The body refinement path, which emphasizes strength and power, has gradually declined, resulting in a scarcity of high-level body refinement cultivators.
For this competition, among the thirteen Dao Guardians who entered the Sea Dragon Heavenly Cavern, even with the efforts of the great families, only Wrathful Eyes Vajra is a pure body refinement cultivator.
There are also three others who practice both body and energy cultivation.
As the leader of the Thirty-Six Great Families, the Xiang Family has strong connections and invited Wrathful Eyes Vajra, who is undoubtedly the most outstanding among the four Dao Guardians.
It can be said that before entering the Sea Dragon Heavenly Cavern, the Xiang Family had already gained an advantage.
But no one expected Wrathful Eyes Vajra to be the first to be eliminated.
"Could it be the Dao Guardian from the Shi Family?"
"Qi Xiongcheng? Impossible. Although he became famous for his body refinement skills, he gave up on longevity and switched to energy cultivation. It's precisely because of this that he achieved the Primordial Spirit stage at the 'old' age of four hundred and seventy, just in time for this competition. With his mediocre body refinement skills, he's no match for Wrathful Eyes Vajra."
"But what if he worked together with Shi Jue?"
Those who knew the inside story couldn't help but consider this possibility.
Unlike the other direct disciples, Shi Jue is one of the few who can personally take action.
If he teamed up with Qi Xiong Cheng and nearly defeated Wrathful Eyes Vajra, it wouldn't be impossible.
However, this speculation was quickly refuted by someone.
"My son was born noble, how could he possibly fight with such a person? Moreover, only Xiang Qi would dare to provoke him."
It was the Xiang Family Patriarch!
A late-stage Nascent Soul Stage Great Master, one of the nineteen elders of the Tian Di Peak!
He let out a cold laugh, "Instead of guessing that it was my son, why not consider if it was others who joined forces to expel the Wrathful Eyes Vajra first."
The numerous family representatives who were not involved in this Heavenly Cavern Great Competition nodded slightly in agreement with these words.
As the leader of the thirty-six great families, the Xiang Family had been flaunting their might in recent years, even more ostentatious than the twelve great families, which had offended many other families.
If the various aristocratic families secretly joined forces to first kick Xiang Qi and his Dao Guardian out of the competition, it was indeed possible.
Fu Chaosheng and the other eight family representatives exchanged glances, all filled with confusion.
They didn't have such a plan!
Could it be that the younger generation who entered had a tacit understanding and made this decision together?
Mo Shuzhe remained silent, his fingertips playing with several chess pieces, already having a plan in mind.
Soon after, the Xiang Family Patriarch hurried back, his face darkening.
Before others could ask out of curiosity, Mo Shuzhe coughed lightly.
"Continuing from the previous intelligence summary, let's talk about the Eastern Wilderness. Unlike other places, the Eastern Wilderness is the most tricky. Before we make a move, we must think it through clearly, or we might easily bring about the destruction of our sect!"
Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions turned solemn.
...
In the outside world, time passed day by day, like a flowing stream.
In the Mirage Dragon Cave, however, a year passed, and then another, like the waters of a great river, never to return.
Twenty years later.
In a secluded valley.
The air was filled with a faint green mist, and the sound of swords clashing echoed through the valley.
A man in white robes, with a jade belt around his waist, held a blood-red sword and slowly danced various sword techniques within the valley.
The air seemed to be filled with spiritual energy flowing and swirling around the tip of his sword, but it was extremely thin.
Lu Chen focused on wielding the Yuan Tu Sword.
In the past twenty years, he had accomplished many things.
For example, after raising Fiery Phoenix Blazing Wilds to the Master Level of proficiency, he had also practiced Flame Dragon Descent to the Master Level. However, from this point on, improving the two spells became increasingly difficult. The main reason was that these spells consumed a massive amount of spiritual power, and frequent practice would hinder his cultivation.
Another example was the Penglai Octagonal Pavilion, which he had completely broken through all restrictions and fully refined and controlled. After refining it, Lu Chen gained a lot. He discovered several high-grade spirit herbs that were hard to find in the world in several distinct spaces within the pavilion, which were likely harvested by the Penglai Immortal Sect's disciples in the Demon Subduing Land of Wood Heaven, but now they had fallen into Lu Chen's hands.
The gains from refining the Penglai Octagonal Pavilion didn't stop there.
His formation skills, according to the system evaluation, had unknowingly reached the level of a Fourth Rank Array Master!
This improvement had nothing to do with talent but was a qualitative change brought about by a quantitative change.
Finally, there was one more thing!
Lu Chen took some time to complete the second division of his main soul, gaining a second divided soul.
No one knew about this change, including Fu Qinglan.
At that time, Lu Chen's suppressed cultivation base, which had been at the first level of the Nascent Soul Stage, rose to the second level, causing his main soul to become exceptionally full.
Lu Chen decided to divide his divine soul.
This time, the pain was still intense, but Lu Chen was prepared, especially since his proficiency in the Soul Splitting Art had reached the Proficient Level, allowing him to cut his divine soul more quickly and reducing the duration of the pain.
As expected, the divided divine soul was at the late-stage of the Golden Core Stage.
It was currently weak and not suitable for combat, and there were also negative effects!
Lu Chen discovered that having three souls in his sea of consciousness, even if they shared the same consciousness, often caused him to have distracting thoughts.
This was not a good sign!
With frequent distracting thoughts in his sea of consciousness, it was easy to invite a mental tribulation and demonic hindrance. If one was not careful, it could lead to deviation from the path.
For this, he thought of many solutions.
In the end, he turned his attention to the Dust Essence Technique he had created himself.
Although this secret technique was created after achieving the Golden Core Stage, its grade was extremely high, reaching the Fourth Rank! Even after reaching the Nascent Soul Stage, Lu Chen often used it.
However, the timing of its use was no longer for condensing the Golden Core or tempering spiritual power but to eliminate distracting thoughts.
The reason for this was that when the Dust Essence Technique was created, it incorporated a Golden Core Stage secret technique called Calming the Wind and Waves.
Calming the Wind and Waves originated from Miao Wen, an old acquaintance.
Tracing its origins, it was the Wisdom Sword Technique of the Jade Tripod Sword Sect.
Therefore, Calming the Wind and Waves also had similar wondrous effects as the Wisdom Sword Technique in severing distracting thoughts and dispelling demonic hindrances.
At that time, Lu Chen did not delve deeply into Calming the Wind and Waves; he merely extracted the parts beneficial for Golden Core cultivation and incorporated them into the Dust Essence Technique.
But now, he was prepared to thoroughly study this technique.
First, to eliminate the awkward situation of having three souls existing simultaneously, which led to the proliferation of distracting thoughts.
Second, to practice sword techniques through this method.
This could be considered a double benefit!
Although Lu Chen had refined the two seals of the Yuan Tu Sword and could freely control it, he did not possess profound sword manipulation skills and could only utilize the sharpness of the Yuan Tu Sword.
If he were to use this sword in battle, regardless of the outcome, it would be a waste of such an exceptional sword.
Therefore, if he could master some sword-related techniques, the power of the Yuan Tu Sword when wielded by Lu Chen might be even greater.
Along the way, Lu Chen's vast family also possessed many sword-related books.
For example, there was the method of refining the Sword Orb by Flying Cloud Son, and the Sword Formation technique of Han Zhan.
However, these techniques ultimately relied on the special treasure of the Sword Orb.
The Yuan Tu Sword was a genuine flying sword with different attributes from the Sword Orb, making those techniques unsuitable.
The Calming the Wind and Waves technique may have a low rank, but it shares similarities with flying swords and sword orbs.
This was the reason Luo Chen had deeply studied the Calming the Wind and Waves, practicing it both internally and externally.
"If only there was a more advanced sword control method," Luo Chen sighed as he swung his sword.
In the empty valley, a faint fragrance wafted through the air, not of orchids, but of a woman.
Fu Qinglan emerged from a stone door, found a green stone, and sat down gracefully, adjusting her skirt.
She quietly watched Luo Chen's sword dance without disturbing him.
Over the years, the two had unknowingly developed an unspoken understanding.
Perhaps due to her long hours of meditation, she felt a bit uncomfortable sitting on the stone, so she leaned against a boulder, resting her chin on her hand, and continued to observe Luo Chen's swordplay.
In her heart, she was curious about this enigmatic man.
At first, she thought he was an ordinary wandering cultivator, but after witnessing his effortless victory over Qi Xiong Cheng outside the Peach Blossom Garden, her opinion of him changed.
Later, she discovered his proficiency in spells, but during his battle with Wrathful Eyes Vajra, she realized he also possessed an extremely formidable Body Tempering realm.
If these were all he had, at least Luo Chen had his flaws.
The issue was that he lacked a suitable True Artifact!
The black armor he wore was a decent True Artifact, but it was limited to defense.
The small gray cauldron he carried seemed extraordinary, but it was only useful for suppressing and sealing, and it didn't showcase its power in direct attacks.
Even when he was under siege by two powerful cultivators, Luo Chen never used any formidable treasures or True Artifacts.
Fu Qinglan thought that as a wandering cultivator, it was already fortunate for him to possess two decent True Artifacts after advancing to the Nascent Soul Stage.
But now, the blood-red sword he wielded was clearly an exceptional weapon!
"With the support of my family and the cultivation of my sect, I could only cultivate a Heaven-Shielding Leaf after my Incarnation Formation. My other True Artifact was collected by my grandfather, and it's not very suitable for me."
"He's just a wandering cultivator, yet he has three True Artifacts, each covering different aspects of offense, defense, and suppression. Did he have an extraordinary opportunity, or did he painstakingly refine them himself?"
"With such formidable weapons, why didn't he use them during the battle? Does he have that much confidence in himself?"
"It's a pity that his sword techniques are too rudimentary, far inferior to some of the sect's senior brothers who dedicate themselves to the Sword Dao."
"He possesses valuable treasures but lacks the matching sword techniques... Hmm?"
In Luo Chen's line of sight, the tip of his long sword suddenly trembled, and a thumb-sized sword beam flashed and retracted, piercing the ground and creating a finger-sized hole with an unknown depth.
It was a sword beam!
In the cultivation path of the Sword Dao, there are four stages: Sword Aura, Sword Beam, Sword Mind, and Sword Will, corresponding to the Qi Cultivation, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, and Nascent Soul stages, respectively.
This cultivation system is generally applied to orthodox sword cultivators who wield sword orbs.
But now, under Fu Qinglan's gaze, Luo Chen had unexpectedly produced a sword beam with a flying sword!
Fu Qinglan's mouth slightly agape, "Could it be that he's also proficient in the Sword Dao?"
In the empty valley, Luo Chen stared at the sword beam in astonishment. It was not the sword light emitted by the Yuan Tu Sword, but a sword beam generated by his own cultivation.
"Could it be that I have a natural talent for the Sword Dao?"
As Luo Chen pondered, his consciousness glanced at the panel that others couldn't see.
The Grand Perfection level of the Dust Essence Technique shone brightly.
He suddenly realized the reason.
It wasn't that he had a talent for the Sword Dao, but after countless cycles of practicing this technique, he had already thoroughly understood the Calming the Wind and Waves spell.
Although he hadn't cultivated the Sword Dao, he had developed a Sword Mind.
This was the achievement of the third realm of the Sword Dao. Now, by integrating it downward, he had effortlessly produced a sword beam.
It was just a Foundation Establishment stage technique and didn't provide much improvement for Luo Chen, serving only as a supplement.
Luo Chen smiled slightly, sheathed the Yuan Tu Sword, and approached Fu Qinglan.
"Are you done with your cultivation?"
"Mhm."
"Another failure?"
"Yes!"
The woman stood up, looking a bit embarrassed.
Luo Chen waved his hand dismissively, "With your scarce spiritual acumen and the scarcity of Primordial Sources, it's not your fault. In the end, you've had too few Illusionary Cores."
Fu Qinglan lowered her head slightly, feeling a bit ashamed. The number of Illusionary Cores Luo Chen had found for her was not insignificant.
Although they had been living without a fixed abode since leaving their original location, the harvest of Illusionary Cores had been unstable.
But over the past twenty years, they had accumulated at least thirty.
Thirty Illusionary Cores had still not allowed her to find the Wood Primordial Source, and although Luo Chen had become accustomed to it, she was beginning to doubt her own talent.
Moreover, she didn't know how long it would take to free him from his predicament if they continued this way.
As she doubted herself, staring at the grass sprouting from the ground in front of her feet, silent and speechless, Luo Chen suddenly spoke, "Your situation does have a solution."
Upon hearing this, Fu Qinglan abruptly raised her head.
"If you have a large amount of spiritual acumen to support your continuous cultivation, you will undoubtedly have the time to find the Primordial Power!"
A large amount of spiritual acumen!
Could it be...
But...
"Rest well for two days, and then we'll set off together. If we succeed this time, you might be able to achieve success in one go!"
After saying this, Luo Chen left without looking back.
Fu Qinglan remained in the empty valley, her expression changing from relief to curiosity.
It was only natural that he didn't give her the Heavenly Fate Pill, and she wasn't surprised by it.
However, she was very curious about what method he had to find a large amount of spiritual acumen.
Could it be that he planned to hunt down several Illusionary Beasts at once?
She didn't doubt Luo Chen's abilities, but she was skeptical about whether there were still places in the Mirage Dragon Cave where a large number of high-level Illusionary Beasts coexisted.
(End of Chapter)
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