Cultivation: Start From Simplifying Martial Arts Techniques

The earthworm-like creature had been entirely focused on Chen Fei earlier, as he had exuded an oppressive aura. Although Chen Fei hadn’t made any moves against it yet, the earthworm-like creature could sense it on some level.

What was more crucial was that the rat demon’s aura had disappeared completely during the past moments. Consequently, the earthworm-like creature almost instinctively forgot about the rat demon when it saw the lotus flower.

Now, upon seeing the lotus flower, the earthworm-like creature reacted swiftly, filled with a sense of being deceived, and anger consumed its thoughts.

“Let’s go!”

Chen Fei glanced at the earthworm-like creature, and his figure flickered, turning into two phantoms that dashed in opposite directions.

The earthworm-like creature was momentarily stunned. The two auras were identical, and the scent of the lotus flower was completely concealed. The earthworm-like creature couldn’t distinguish which phantom held the lotus flower.

“Buzz!”

The earthworm-like creature opened its massive mouth, and a silent wave erupted from within it, sweeping towards the two figures. Because both figures were moving so fast, the earthworm-like creature had to expand the range of this wave.

In combat, power always grows with concentration, and the earthworm-like creature’s lethal move, if completely concentrated in one place, would be unbelievably powerful.

However, at this moment, because it couldn’t distinguish which one was the real body, the earthworm-like creature had to diffuse the power of this move. Diffusion meant a decrease in power.

One of the phantom figures was caught in this wave, struggled for a moment, and then dissipated in place. The other figure revealed Chen Fei’s true form.

Chen Fei held the Qianyuan Sword, as if a dragon and elephant roared within him. The Qianyuan Sword, carrying tremendous force, struck the surrounding wave, instantly dispersing it.

“Boom!”

The explosion echoed far and wide. Just as the earthworm-like creature was about to direct its attack towards Chen Fei, it realized that there was no longer any trace of him in that location. At some point, Chen Fei had disappeared.

“Roar!”

The earthworm-like creature, infuriated, extended the latter half of its body from the swamp. Surprisingly, this rear section of its body also had a mouthpiece.

Now, the two mouthpieces in mid-air were howling frantically, and their terrifying cries echoed all around.

Some disciples from various sects who were active nearby, upon hearing these sounds, were so frightened that they turned and ran away. Some individuals with insufficient spiritual cultivation, upon seeing the true form of the earthworm-like creature and feeling its aura, even turned pale.

Several miles away, Chen Fei came to a stop, and the clever rat demon handed the lotus flower over to Chen Fei. Chen Fei looked at the lotus flower, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

The strength of that earthworm-like creature was extremely terrifying. If Chen Fei were to engage in a direct confrontation with it, it would be hard to determine the outcome. After all, the earthworm-like creature had only revealed a fraction of its abilities.

However, Chen Fei didn’t intend to investigate further. With the cooperation of the rat demon, obtaining this lotus flower was already a tremendous surprise.

Chen Fei moved his fingers slightly, and a lotus leaf descended. He placed it in front of the rat demon, whose dark eyes widened in surprise. The rat demon then took the lotus leaf and swallowed it directly.

A smile appeared on Chen Fei’s face. Teamwork was essential to keep the rat demon working diligently. Although it had already been subdued by Chen Fei, some rewards were necessary to motivate it to continue working.

In front of the rat demon, Chen Fei placed the lotus flower into his spatial storage grid. The rat demon watched this scene in astonishment, not understanding how Chen Fei had accomplished it.

Chen Fei glanced at the rat demon. With the rat demon witnessing such events, it was clear that it would never leave Chen Fei’s side.

“Are there any other places with such high-level spiritual plants?” Chen Fei asked in a low voice when the rat demon had absorbed most of the lotus flower’s medicinal power. Without the rat demon, even if Chen Fei suspected that there might be treasures underground, he wouldn’t know how to obtain them.

In the end, he might have to fight the earthworm-like creature to the death just to obtain a spiritual material like the lotus flower.

But now, with the rat demon as a local guide, everything became much simpler.

“Squeak!”

The rat demon raised its small head. Because of a single lotus leaf, its resistance to Chen Fei had decreased significantly, and it had become more proactive in searching for spiritual plants.

Although it was still doing labor, at least this job came with some rewards.

The rat demon transformed into a black shadow and rushed forward, with Chen Fei following closely behind.

In less than a few moments, the sound of explosions came from ahead. Sharp black sword light flickered in mid-air, and a heavy force field filled the surroundings. Faintly, there were even sounds resembling a dragon and an elephant.

In the time it takes to finish a cup of tea, Chen Fei burst out of a cave. Shortly after he emerged, the entire cave collapsed dramatically.

Chen Fei looked at the spiritual herbs in his hand, and a smile appeared on his face.

That cave was a spider’s den, inhabited by dozens of spiders with colorful skin. Even the weakest of them had the strength of a late-first-tier demonic beast. Among them was a unique spider queen in the early second tier.

Using a sea of low-level creatures as a tactic might have some effect for Chen Fei, but it wasn’t particularly effective. Unless the numbers were substantial or one side had a specific advantage over Chen Fei, they wouldn’t be able to keep him there. However, it was clear that these spiders didn’t possess that capability.

The only exception was the rather mysterious spider queen, who had strangely acquired some human-like characteristics. It was unclear if it had consumed a human or if it had evolved in some unusual way.

Inside the cave, Chen Fei did indeed discover several human remains, all of which had been sucked dry, leaving nothing but empty husks behind.

In the end, Chen Fei slaughtered all the spiders in the cave. Aside from a few demon cores, he also carefully collected their silk sacs. These spider silk threads naturally carried a hint of coldness and could be used to craft spirit attire.

Chen Fei didn’t possess this skill himself, but after leaving the mystic realm, he could easily find someone to craft it for him. Spirit attire could greatly enhance one’s defense and, if the properties matched, even augment one’s strength slightly.

Apart from the demon cores and spider silk, the most important harvest was the spiritual herb in Chen Fei’s hand, or rather, the spiritual root. The upper half of the herb had already been mostly consumed, leaving only a small sprout.

It was evident that these spider spirits treated this spiritual herb as a sustainable food source. They would let the herb grow for a while, then nibble on it, and continue waiting.

“Squeak!”

The rat demon gazed at the spiritual plant in Chen Fei’s hand with a hint of longing in its eyes.

The rat demon’s strength was not weak, and it could even be considered a king within its territory. Flowever, this territory was ultimately small. After it finished devouring the good things within its domain, venturing to other places brought various challenges.

It was different from its days of solitary dominance when it was just a first-tier entity. As the mystic realm advanced to the second order, many demonic beasts within had undergone transformations.

Although the rat demon had also evolved, the kind of dominance it once enjoyed had diminished.

This is why, when Chen Fei used the sap from the Strange Locust Tree to entice the rat demon earlier, it eagerly rushed over. It had been quite some time since the Rat demon had tasted good spiritual herbs.

With a slight movement of his finger, Chen Fei allowed a portion of this spiritual plant above its roots to fall into the rat demon’s hand, keeping the root part for himself.

The most significant essence of this spiritual plant lay precisely in its roots.

Now that he had both the lotus flower and this spiritual plant, Chen Fei could attempt to refine elixirs. Of course, not the kind of elixirs with intricate recipes, but rather a simple refinement by Chen Fei himself.

As long as it was more effective than directly consuming them, Chen Fei saw no disadvantage in doing so.

However, Chen Fei wasn’t in a hurry right now. Having just explored two locations, he intended to let the rat demon continue searching for spiritual herbs with him. After all, as time passed, the number of spiritual materials available for collection in the mystic realm would decrease.

When it came to the point where there was nothing left to take, that would be the signal for everyone to make a move together.

“Let’s go!”

“Squeak!”

The rat demon tossed the spiritual plant into its mouth with a joyful cry and dashed forward. In the blink of an eye, the duo disappeared from the spot. A gentle breeze brushed through, and the foul stench of the spider demon within the cave gradually wafted out, attracting curious glances from the surrounding area.

For an entire day, the rat demon led Chen Fei on a wild chase across the land.

Not every destination they reached yielded results. Many times, they found that others had already beaten them to the spiritual materials. After all, there were quite a few Aperture Tempering cultivators participating in this mystic realm exploration, and high-quality spiritual materials were scarce.

Not every place could be waited for by Chen Fei, nor could they avoid being discovered by other cultivators; that would be unrealistic.

Sometimes, when Chen Fei arrived at a location, he found others already engaged in combat. Joining in at such times was often unwelcome. In such situations, Chen Fei would quietly retreat and let the rat demon lead him to the next location.

Time was of the essence now. Most of the second-tier monsters in the mystic realm were not exceptionally strong, as the time for their breakthrough was set. Therefore, they were relatively easy to defeat. Of course, there were exceptions, like the Earthworm Monster.

When Chen Fei encountered particularly challenging situations, several Aperture Tempering realm cultivators would join forces. Not to mention that the disciples of the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect had superior spirit weapons this time, making it impossible for ordinary monsters to withstand their attacks.

From a distance, Chen Fei saw Liao Hanqin make his move. Although he couldn’t see Liao Hanqin himself, he could see a sword radiance hovering, and the roars of monsters came to a sudden halt.

Chen Fei kept his distance, avoiding direct encounters with the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect disciples. It wasn’t the right time yet.

In the twilight, Chen Fei sat cross-legged in a makeshift cave, forming a sword formation and preparing an alchemical furnace. He carefully placed several spiritual herbs into the furnace.

In one day, he had obtained five spiritual herbs that could benefit his mental state, seven high-grade spiritual herbs for his cultivation, and twenty ordinary spiritual herbs.

Chen Fei’s individual harvest may have already surpassed the total gains of the seven disciples of the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect.

A remarkable harvest!