Cultivation: Start From Simplifying Martial Arts Techniques

Chapter 521 - 521: Surviving Three Lives

Chapter 521: Surviving Three Lives

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Watching the real Master Xi Lian in the darkness, Chen Fei’s expression subtly changed. Just now, under the Heavenly Eye, Chen Fei had only sensed something unusual here, but he hadn’t expected that this shadowy Master Xi Lian, the real person, would lack even a trace of humanity.

To Chen Fei, the current Master Xi Lian seemed purely evil.

“Let me go, whatever price you need, you can ask for it!”

A phantom appeared behind the shadowy Master Xi Lian and took on a recognizable form—it was also Master Xi Lian. However, this Master Xi Lian appeared just like any normal person, in stark contrast to the dark shadow. Three Lives Mysterious Flower!

It was a cultivation technique that Master Xi Lian had accidentally obtained, allowing one to live through three lifetimes and have a chance to glimpse the mysteries of the Mountain Sea Realm.

When Master Xi Lian was originally a person, it was his first life. Now that he had turned into this evil being, it was his second life. If Master Xi Lian could overcome the consequences of being consumed by this evil nature, there might be a possibility of entering the third life.

One life sows the cause, three lives reap the results!

This technique had lofty aspirations but was incredibly difficult to achieve. Not to mention other challenges, the current second life of Master Xi Lian, overtaken by eeriness, was already an immense struggle in itself.

Maintaining humanity within the evil being is an incredibly arduous task, requiring not only great resilience but also a substantial amount of blood nourishment.

When Master Xi Lian claimed that he only needed fifty thousand units of blood nourishment per year to sustain his wisdom, it was, of course, a deception, merely a stalling tactic.

Now, requiring fifty thousand units in a year, the next time it might be a hundred thousand, and eventually, it could reach millions. For someone overtaken by eeriness, more blood nourishment was undoubtedly better.

Only with a sufficient supply of blood nourishment did Master Xi Lian have a chance to endure his second life and step into the third life, achieving the unparalleled realm of the Mountain and Sea.

In reality, he didn’t even need the Mountain Sea Realm. According to Master Xi Lian’s plan, as long as he maintained a position of resistance, when he reached the mid-stage of the Combined Aperture Tempering realm, all the humans in this realm would be nothing more than livestock for him to feed on.

Unfortunately, all his plans were disrupted by a certain passage, and he was even pursued by a powerful late-stage Combined Aperture Tempering realm cultivator not long ago.

If it weren’t for the mystique of the Three Lives Mysterious Flower, with Master Xi Lian’s cultivation, there was no way he could have escaped the assassination by the enigmatic gatekeeper of the Shadow Abyss Sect.

Master Xi Lian didn’t lie earlier when he said that he could hide his aura and evade the assassination; it was indeed not the work of the seal but the mysteries of the cultivation technique he inherited.

But Master Xi Lian had never really considered giving up a cultivation technique that allowed a glimpse into the Mountain Sea Realm.

He had thought he could deceive the three individuals before him, just as he had tricked the Shadow Abyss Sect last time, and then escape safely.

However, Chen Fei, the young martial artist who had narrowly escaped death in Shangwu City years ago, saw through his technique at a glance and forcibly exposed it.

Master Xi Lian stared at the pillar of light on Chen Fei’s forehead; this secret technique was like a natural counter to his concealment art. If he had the chance, Master Xi Lian would never have spared Chen Fei.

But with the power Chen Fei had just displayed, along with Qin Haishan, Master Xi Lian had no chance. The current situation was even more dangerous than facing the late-stage Combined Aperture Tempering realm cultivator.

“This inheritance, it’s good!” Chen Fei looked at Master Xi Lian with a hint of a smile on his face.

“If I give the inheritance, you’ll let me leave?” A chilling voice emanated from the mouth of the shadowy Master Xi Lian, sending shivers down one’s spine.

“Leave the inheritance and the seal behind, and you can go,” Chen Fei replied solemnly after a moment of contemplation.

Indeed, the cultivation technique that Master Xi Lian had displayed was among the most top-notch that Chen Fei had ever encountered. From it, Chen Fei even sensed a unique subtlety that set it apart from the three Combined Aperture Tempering realm inheritances he had learned.

This subtlety was absent in the three inheritances Chen Fei had acquired.

In other words, Master Xi Lian’s inheritance might be connected to the Mountain Sea Realm.

The value of such a cultivation technique far surpassed the spiritual essence obtained by refining Master Xi Lian after his death. Chen Fei still had a considerable amount of elemental stones, more than enough to purchase spiritual pills without any issue.

However, when it came to using these elemental stones to acquire a cultivation technique that could lead directly to the Mountain Sea Realm, he fell short.

Such cultivation techniques were almost exclusively held by the top ten forces of the Thousand Feathers Alliance and were not likely to be leaked to the outside. They were fundamentally different from ordinary Combined Aperture Tempering realm techniques.

Cultivation techniques had always been a means of monopolization by the ruling class. No matter how talented you were, without the right cultivation technique, it was difficult to make significant progress once your cultivation reached a certain point.

At that point, the only option was to join one of the major forces and become one of their members, with the hope of obtaining advanced techniques, but even that required the willingness of those major forces to accept you.

This issue boiled down to a matter of trust. It wasn’t enough to be willing to offer oneself; often, the opportunity to do so couldn’t be obtained.

The best choice was always to join a major force when in the Body Tempering realm. The higher one’s cultivation, the more difficult it became to enter those major forces.

In the world of martial arts, there had always been talk of a “golden age,” meaning the earlier one broke through to a certain realm, the broader their path of cultivation, and the higher the likelihood of advancing to the next realm.

The Combined Aperture Tempering realm had a lifespan of three hundred years, which could be extended with life-prolonging elixirs to over three hundred. But the opportunity to glimpse the Mountain Sea Realm was undoubtedly better the earlier it came.

The earlier it happened, the greater the chance of a breakthrough; the further one progressed, the slimmer the chances became.

It wasn’t impossible, but it would become exceedingly rare. Unless one possessed other treasures, which was a different story.

So, whether or not to kill Master Xi Lian wasn’t a significant concern for Chen Fei. Not every act of killing would result in the opponent leaving behind a cultivation technique inheritance.

“Do you mean it?” Master Xi Lian looked at Chen Fei and asked.

“I swear to preserve the complete inheritance. I am willing to take an oath on that,” Chen Fei responded after a moment of contemplation.

Swearing an oath from the heart, if violated, would undoubtedly create inner demons. These inner demons remained hidden in one’s daily life, but when one attempted to break through, they would appear, making the process exponentially more difficult.

“Good!” Master Xi Lian said in a deep voice.

“It’s settled!”

As the words fell, a pledge was recited from Chen Fei’s mouth, causing ripples in the surrounding elemental energy. In the next moment, it all entered Chen Fei’s sea of consciousness.

Within his sea of consciousness, the fluctuations formed by these vows were about to enter his spiritual consciousness, but the Mirror Image Technique was activated, and the vows were directly enveloped by the projection of his spiritual consciousness.

“This is the cultivation technique!”

Seeing Chen Fei make the oath, Master Xi Lian produced a jade slip, and after transmitting the technique’s instructions, the jade slip appeared in front of Chen Fei.

Under the Heavenly Eye, there was nothing unusual about the jade slip. Chen Fei reached out and took it.

“Fifty miles away, that’s where I will leave the seal. If I don’t, you can continue to chase me!” Master Xi Lian said in a low voice and was about to fly away towards the distance.

Qin Haishan and the others turned to Chen Fei, leaving the decision of whether to kill or let Master Xi Lian go entirely up to him.

Chen Fei didn’t speak; he quickly scanned the contents within the jade slip with his consciousness. In the blink of an eye, a new phrase appeared on his mental screen.

[Cultivation Technique: Three Lives Mysterious Flower (Fake)]

Chen Fei’s gaze lifted from the jade slip, and he looked at Master Xi Lian with a cold expression. Even though the oath was blocked by the Mirror Image Technique, Chen Fei had no intention of breaking it.

However, unfortunately, Master Xi Lian also had no intention of giving the genuine Three Lives Mysterious Flower to Chen Fei.

Just by looking at the jade slip, it was indeed challenging to discern the truth from the fake in a short time, and even after practicing it, one might not be able to uncover any clues.

Only when one progressed in their cultivation would they realize that there were many questionable aspects. However, by that time, finding Master Xi Lian to question him would be an uncertain prospect.

Stepping backward with his right foot, Chen Fei’s shoe sole pressed into the empty space, sending ripples spreading out. In the next moment, Chen Fei had disappeared from his original location, reappearing in an empty space.

Chen Fei extended the Qianyuan Sword in his hand forward, and with a burst of explosive sound, another shadowy figure of Master Xi Lian was knocked out.

Master Xi Lian’s expression turned extremely ugly, not only because Chen Fei had attacked him, but also because he had realized that Chen Fei could truly see through his concealment art effortlessly.

In Chen Fei’s eyes, he truly became all-seeing, and there was no escaping his perception.

Seeing Chen Fei suddenly take action, although Qin Haishan and the other person didn’t know the reason, they still moved to block Master Xi Lian’s retreat.

“You just made an oath, don’t ruin your own future!” Master Xi Lian shouted at Chen Fei, feeling increasingly uneasy.

Clearly, the other party had made an oath, and he had given the cultivation technique. In theory, Chen Fei shouldn’t have taken action.

The cultivation technique within the jade slip was extremely complete, albeit with some distortions. Nine truths and one falsehood, making it impossible to distinguish.

Master Xi Lian couldn’t have expected that Chen Fei wouldn’t be able to discern the truth from the fake in a short time, and even any other Combined Aperture Tempering realm cultivator here wouldn’t be able to.

However, Chen Fei had an interface that instantly detected the issue with the cultivation technique.

“You agreed to the terms, yet you tried to deceive me with a fake. That calls for execution!”

Chen Fei disregarded the counterforce from the seal in Master Xi Lian’s hand and took a step forward. With a roar resembling a dragon and an elephant, he thrust his sword once again.

The seal, even in its damaged state, remained a top-tier magical treasure, possessing formidable power. However, it was still broken, and Master Xi Lian had suffered severe injuries while being pursued by the Shadow Abyss Sect.

In this condition, Master Xi Lian could withstand one or two strikes from Chen Fei, but he couldn’t possibly withstand more than ten strikes.

The accumulating force unleashed by Chen Fei’s repeated attacks would overwhelm the seal, and eventually, the full force would be borne by Master Xi Lian himself.

It wasn’t that the seal and Master Xi Lian were too weak; it was just that Chen Fei’s current combat strength was too formidable. Even ordinary Combined Aperture Tempering realm early-stage cultivators couldn’t withstand Chen Fei’s might, let alone an early-stage Combined Aperture Tempering realm cultivator overtaken by eeriness.

“Boom!”

A massive surge of energy shot up into the sky, tearing through the clouds above, creating ripples in the air as it swept through. The surrounding mountains shattered in silence.

Master Xi Lian’s figure continued to retreat, and his aura grew increasingly feeble.

Master Xi Lian’s eeriness and humanity had long merged together. The evil power he unleashed was bone-chilling, akin to the most potent poison in the world, corroding everything it touched.

Ordinary spiritual weapons would lose their spirituality with the slightest contact, and even high-quality spiritual weapons would only withstand for a short time before turning into mundane iron.

However, against the overwhelming power unleashed by Chen Fei at this moment, Master Xi Lian couldn’t offer any resistance at all. The tremendous force ruthlessly crushed through his body, as if it aimed to obliterate his very

essence..