Cultivation: Start From Simplifying Martial Arts Techniques

Chapter 595: Celestial Azure Flower

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Chen Fei’s eyes, which had involuntarily closed, suddenly snapped open and fixed onto the person in front of him. His right hand clenched the Qianyuan Sword in an instant.

“Such resolute determination. You are worthy to join the Black Divine Sect!” Gong Shiyan saw Chen Fei breaking free from confusion, his eyes subtly lighting up.

“The Black Divine Sect?”

Chen Fei looked at Gong Shiyan warily. If it weren’t for several more people coming up behind Gong Shiyan at this moment, Chen Fei might have acted already.

Just now, if it weren’t for the passive defense of The Spirit Suppression of the Suppressing Dragon Elephant technique, Chen Fei’s mind would probably have been sucked into the vortex. What the ultimate outcome would be, Chen Fei couldn’t predict, but he knew it wouldn’t be good.

Clearly, the cultivation realms of the people here were all sealed, yet Gong Shiyan could still use secret techniques. Not only Gong Shiyan, but Chen Fei looked at the people in front of him with lines on their foreheads, fearing that they all possessed special techniques.

This was simply outrageous. Clearly, everyone was just ordinary people, so how did these people suddenly become special?

“I serve the Black Divine!”

Gong Shiyan’s expression suddenly turned solemn. He devoutly bowed towards the direction of the temple, then looked at Chen Fei and said, “Upon joining the sect, you will be granted various wonderful techniques!”

I’ll consider it and give my answer later!”

Chen Fei glanced at Gong Shiyan and didn’t immediately refuse. After giving a respectful salute, he walked away in another direction.

Gong Shiyan watched Chen Fei’s departing figure without stopping him, letting Chen Fei leave freely.                        h

Chen Fei breathed a slight sigh of relief when he saw that Gong Shiyan hadn’t brought anyone to chase after him. Even if Chen Fei’s swordsmanship was exceptional, to be honest, whether he could defeat Gong Shiyan was another matter altogether.

In this world of martial practitioners, the disdain for ordinary martial arts techniques stemmed from the fact that techniques augmented with inner strength had much greater power, making techniques relying solely on physical strength seem weak in comparison.

Likewise, Gong Shiyan’s ability to use secret techniques was somewhat of a blow to Chen Fei, who could only rely on ordinary human strength in combat. Both sides were in an extremely unfair situation.

If Gong Shiyan truly forced Chen Fei, Chen Fei would either have to obediently join the Black Divine Sect or fight to the death.

With Chen Fei’s current swordsmanship, it was obviously impossible for him to break through so many members of the Black Divine Sect. At most, he could bring down a few more people before dying, such as by using the black stones stored in his spatial grid to strike them.

Objects stored in the spatial grid could appear within a meter radius around Chen Fei at will. If Chen Fei leaped into the air and made the black stones appear to strike the enemies, with the weight of the black stones, no ordinary person could withstand them.

Even if Gong Shiyan had secret techniques, they would mainly target the mind and soul, while the physical body remained vulnerable.

After striking, he could retract the black stones and continue attacking, undoubtedly achieving remarkable results.

But in the end, it would only result in the deaths of a few more of the opposing side’s members, and Chen Fei wouldn’t be able to escape himself.

As Chen Fei reached the outskirts of the city and attempted to move forward, everything seemed fine at first. However, later on, a resistance emerged around him, trying to prevent him from continuing down the mountain.

Chen Fei remained impassive. If the resistance was only like this, it seemed incapable of truly stopping people or beasts from descending the mountain Wouldn’t it mean that one could move as many black stones as they wished? However, if that were the case, then there would have been no need for Xue Dongchuan and the others to deceive someone like Chen Fei, who was new to this place.

Just as a few thoughts flashed through Chen Fei’s mind, his footsteps suddenly halted. It wasn’t that the resistance was too great for Chen Fei to move forward, but rather a piece of information emerged in his consciousness: If Chen Fei continued forward, he would lose something-ten years of lifespan! Lifespan!

For martial practitioners constantly striving to break through their cultivation realms, besides gaining more powerful strength, the fundamental reason was ultimately one thing: lifespan.

Longevity ensured that what one acquired would remain theirs indefinitely; otherwise, it would ultimately be given to others.

The martial practitioners in the Boundless Sea were relatively fortunate, as they still had Spiritual Ingredients to prolong their lives. In places like Immortal Cloud City, the lifespan for practitioners of different realms was as much as their cultivation realms allowed.

To extend lifespan, one either needed exceptionally special cultivation techniques capable of prolonging life or had to transform into something else, like the former Master Xilian.

Thus, no matter how one looked at it, lifespan was an extremely precious thing, something that couldn’t be easily discarded, even if it was just ten years. However, when Chen Fei thought about the treasures that could be exchanged in the temple, even an ordinary person might find it hard to resist the temptation. After all, even Chen Fei, upon seeing them, felt a stirring in his heart.

Chen Fei didn’t continue forward but took a few steps back, observing the people and beasts continuously climbing up the mountain path from afar.

“This is a bit strange!”

Chen Fei’s brows furrowed slightly, not only because of the rule that required ten years of lifespan for the second descent but also because all of Chen Fei’s observations thus far had left him full of doubts.

Many of the rules set in the Black Divine Domain often felt contradictory, as if two forces were in a constant struggle, unable to prevail over each other,’ eventually resulting in a compromise.

Then there were the statues Chen Fei saw in the temple, with two different colors, and the two faint meanings that resonated in his consciousness when he infused the black stones.

“There might be a great secret hidden in this!”

A thought emerged in Chen Fei’s mind, prompting him to turn back towards Black Divine City. Descending the mountain was impossible, and although the items exchangeable in the temple were tempting, Chen Fei harbored doubts about whether they could truly be obtained in the end.

On the streets of Black Divine City, there were only those stone houses. Chen

Fei approached them with some curiosity.

The tightly closed stone houses seemed seamless, and Chen Fei didn’t need to test them to know that with his current physical body, they were virtually impossible to move.

Entering one of the open stone houses, Chen Fei carefully observed for a moment but found nothing suspicious. He then tentatively touched it.

A piece of information appeared in Chen Fei’s mind, and he looked somewhat enlightened. It turned out that these stone houses could be temporarily owned by individuals.

However, it came with a price-either ten years of lifespan or a black stone.

Chen Fei’s spatial grid was somewhat conspicuous, so after considering for a moment, he used the contribution points he had just obtained to exchange for the right to use this stone house.

The stone house wasn’t large. After glancing around, Chen Fei had it closed.

Continuing forward and turning into another direction, Chen Fei unexpectedly stumbled upon a small market.

Earlier, Chen Fei had been puzzled about where all the people and beasts that had climbed up had gone. He had thought they might be staying in the stone houses, but now it seemed that many of them had gathered in this location.

Entering the market, there were no vendors shouting their wares; instead, each person simply placed their items in front of them for inspection.

“Spiritual Ingredients, elixirs?”

Seeing the items displayed on the stalls, Chen Fei couldn’t help but pause for a moment. Weren’t everyone’s Qiankun bags sealed? How did these things suddenly appear?

Walking a short distance into the market, Chen Fei found that each stall was selling various items that martial practitioners could use for cultivation.

After circling around for a bit, Chen Fei finally stopped at one stall.

“How much for this?” Chen Fei pointed to something on the stall and asked in a low voice.

The Celestial Azure Flower. Chen Fei was surprised to see this spirit material again. However, regardless of size or color, this Celestial Azure Flower was far inferior to the one given to him by Min Yanlu.

But no matter how poor the quality, it was still a Celestial Azure Flower, an extremely rare treasure. At least within the Thousand Feathers Alliance, apart from Min Yanlu, there was no other way to obtain it.

If Chen Fei were to obtain another Celestial Azure Flower and further strengthen his Combined Apertures, he wouldn’t even need the Aperture Condensing Pill to forcefully break through to the Sixth Stage of Combined Apertures. Moreover, it would be a top-grade Combined Aperture.

In the catalog for exchange items in the temple, there was also a Celestial Azure Flower listed. At the time, Chen Fei had been tempted, but ultimately, he didn’t exchange it. It was because the entire Black Divine Domain gave Chen Fei a strange feeling.

“Celestial Azure Flower, for solidifying Combined Apertures. It’s a rare item for the Combined Aperture Tempering realm. Give me three black stones, and it’s yours,” replied the stall owner in a deep voice after glancing at Chen Fei.

“It’s a bit pricey,” Chen Fei shook his head.

“Why is it so expensive? Inside the Black Divine Temple, a piece of Celestial Azure Flower like this would cost five black stones. Mine is much cheaper than that,” the stall owner frowned.

“That may be true, but the quality of the Celestial Azure Flower from the Black Divine Temple far surpasses yours!” Chen Fei chuckled.

Chen Fei had never seen the Celestial Azure Flower from the Black Divine Temple, so he couldn’t say for sure what it looked like. However, if the Black Divine Temple could indeed exchange items, then its products must be superior. Just by looking at the top-grade spiritual treasures listed in the exchange catalog, one could get a glimpse of it.

“Although the Celestial Azure Flower from the Black Divine Temple is good, after taking it, your Combined Apertures may not be able to absorb so much. If you take mine, the effect is almost the same as the one from the Black Divine Temple,” Chen Fei explained.

“Because it lacks the Ditch Grass?” Chen Fei mentioned the name of a spirit material, one of several auxiliary materials needed for better absorption of the Celestial Azure Flower.

The stall owner’s relaxed expression froze upon hearing Chen Fei’s words.

He then sized Chen Fei up before nodding.

You seem to know quite a bit about the properties of the Celestial Azure Flower!”

“I can offer three black stones for this Celestial Azure Flower, but there are some questions I’d like to ask first,” Chen Fei said in a serious tone.

Seeing that Chen Fei seemed genuinely interested in the Celestial Azure Flower, the stall owner hesitated for a moment before nodding and leading Chen Fei out of the market.

Chen Fei followed the stall owner into a stone house, and after a quarter of an hour, he left.

First, Chen Fei returned to his own stone house, summoned the black stone, and cut it into three pieces with the Qianyuan Sword. Then, he dragged each piece into the Black Divine Temple.

Every time he dropped a black stone into the well, Chen Fei could sense two opposing thoughts trying to influence his actions.

Without hesitation, Chen Fei obtained three contribution points. He then went

to the stone house where the stall owner was located.

Another quarter of an hour passed, and after exchanging the contribution points with the stall owner, Chen Fei obtained the Celestial Azure Flower and the information he needed.

As long as one was in Black Divine City, their respective contribution points could be exchanged with each other.

With the black stones in Chen Fei’s spatial grid divided into three, he estimated that he could exchange for another seven contribution points by dropping them into the well again..