by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
“Many thanks, senior.”
Long Chen’s divine ring disappeared, and he returned the Heaven Splitting Blade to the old man. He was a bit out of breath and pale, as he had used up the majority of his spiritual yuan.
The reason he hadn’t been able to unleash the attack in the end was because his Five Star Battle Armor had reached its limit.
“Good. Having activated all your acupuncture points with your greatest power, its potential will be even greater in the future,” said the Heaven Splitting Blade.
“You’ve learned the sixth form of Split the Heavens. I’ll pass on the seventh form to you as well. Whether or not you can learn it, it’s best if you just memorize it first,” said the old man, pulling Long Chen back to the mountain peak.
Chapter 1589 Truly Not Wanting To Show Off
On the peak, the old man said, “Little fellow, I’ve taught you the seventh form’s mnemonic now. When you go back, you can slowly open your meridians, and by no means should you rush it. At your current level, there’s no way you can control the seventh form of Split the Heavens. This move is something even I can barely use. Without the Heaven Splitting Divine Tablet, using it is truly dangerous.”
The old man’s expression was grave as he warned Long Chen. This move could not be randomly used.
Unfortunately, Long Chen couldn’t stay in the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect forever. There was no way for the old man to guide him forever. That was why the old man had no choice but to transmit the seventh form of Split the Heavens ahead of time to Long Chen.
The fierceness of the seventh form was something even Long Chen’s monstrous physical body and spiritual yuan could not possibly handle. The old man was afraid Long Chen would get arrogant and try to use it, which would result in a fatal opening for his enemies.
“Even you are only barely able to use it? But didn’t you say that you would show me the power of the ninth form of Split the Heavens in the Grand Han? Could it be…” Long Chen was surprised.
The old man furiously clapped Long Chen in the back of the head. “What, you think I was just bragging? I can use the ninth form. However, it would require using a secret art to ignite my Yuan Spirit. After unleashing it, I would die.”
Long Chen rubbed the back of his head. He was very moved inside. Back then, the old man had actually been willing to sacrifice his life to unleash the ninth form of Split the Heavens in order to cut down Yu Xiaoyun’s clone. That had been for Long Chen’s sake.
“The nine forms of Split the Heavens are too domineering. Even when cultivating the Battle God Sacred Canon, it’s still difficult to use them. That’s why we need the assistance of the Heaven Splitting Divine Tablet to relieve the stress to the body. The Battle God Sacred Canon, the nine forms of Split the Heavens, the Heaven Splitting Divine Tablet, and the Heaven Splitting Blade are the four treasures of the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect. Not one can be missing. However, the current Heaven Splitting Divine Tablet is incomplete. You should be careful when using Split the Heavens as a result,” warned the old man.
“I understand. I won’t rush it.” Long Chen nodded.
The old man had only transmitted the mnemonic for the seventh form to Long Chen, but he hadn’t had Long Chen start training in it yet. He would instead let Long Chen study it slowly.
“Alright, then you should leave. I want to see what’s recorded inside this jade case. Hmph, I refuse to believe the Netherpassage realm is really so difficult to reach,” said the old man competitively. However, he had agreed to use this jade case now thanks to Long Chen.
“I want to see it too. Don’t be so stingy!” Long Chen was very curious about what was contained in the jade case.
“Do you want to lose your life? This jade case contains life and death energy. Qu Jianying somehow managed to record some of her experiences in the Netherworld by using a portion of her Yuan Spirit. Once the jade case is activated, that powerful life and death energy will definitely kill your Yuan Spirit instantly,” said the old man.
“It’s fine. My Yuan Spirit is strong enough to handle it.” Long Chen smiled. He was even more confident in his Yuan Spirit than he was in his physical body.
“Then tell me how many primordial runes you had when you condensed your Yuan Spirit. I’ll see if it’s enough. This isn’t a joke. When that life and death energy erupted, I won’t be able to save you. I haven’t reached the Netherpassage realm yet,” said the old man.
An attack of life and death energy would annihilate the Yuan Spirit. It was unblockable. If something happened to Long Chen, the old man would go crazy.
“Cough, I had quite a few. Can I ask how many primordial runes you had?” probed Long Chen.
“Although I am only a rank eight Celestial, I was assisted by the Battle God Sacred Canon. I increased the number of primordial runes that I produced by three times. In the end, I managed to condense eighty-seven thousand of them,” said the old man proudly.
Long Chen was startled. He had always thought that the old man was a rank nine Celestial. Unexpectedly, he was only a rank eight Celestial.
However, thinking about it, Long Chen knew there was no way to compare the old man’s era with the present. In the current era, mostly in the most recent few years, the world had changed. Heavenly geniuses were crazily sprouting.
Heavenly geniuses were as common as rice. As for in the old man’s era, advancing a single Celestial level had been incredibly difficult. His tenacity and grit were not things that the current generation’s heavenly geniuses could compare to.
As a rank eight Celestial, he had touched upon the door to the Netherpassage realm. This kind of perseverance even won Long Chen’s praise. It seemed cultivation talent wasn’t necessarily the most important thing.
For ordinary rank nine Celestials, the upper limit was nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine primordial runes. As for the old man, he had actually broken through his limit three times, resulting in him condensing eighty-seven thousand. There was definitely something behind that.
“Little fellow, how many primordial runes did you have? If you don’t have enough, then don’t talk nonsense,” said the old man.
“In truth, I condensed enough. I condensed just a little bit more than you,” said Long Chen.
“How much is a little bit? Say it in more detail. Don’t look at me with that evil smile. This could kill you,” raged the old man.
“Ah… a bit more means a bit more.” Long Chen scratched his head bashfully. There was really no way he could say it without embarrassing the old man.
“A hundred thousand?”
“A bit more.”
“Two hundred thousand?”
“A bit more again.”
“What, three hundred thousand?” exclaimed the old man.
“A bit more again. Your version of a bit is too small,” said Long Chen.
“Don’t tell me you condensed a million?!”
“Ah, how should I put this? Let’s just stop guessing. In any case, it’s a bit, bit, bit, bit, bit more than that,” said Long Chen, even gesturing with his hands to show it was just a bit bigger.
“Five million?”
The old man heard Long Chen say the word bit five times, so he increased his count by five times.
Long Chen didn’t know whether or not he should tell the truth. But he couldn’t lie in front of the old man.
“What are you being mute for?! Hurry up and tell me!” roared the old man.
He now truly wished to learn how many primordial runes Long Chen had condensed. The more he had condensed, the stronger his Yuan Spirit, and the stronger his Yuan Spirit, the greater his potential.
Seeing the old man on the verge of exploding, Long Chen helplessly extended ten fingers.
“Ten million?! Your Yuan Spirit really is terrifying!” exclaimed the old man.
“It’s not ten million. It’s one billion!” sighed Long Chen.
The old man’s staff whacked toward Long Chen. He roared, “Fuck off, do you think I�
��m an idiot? How could such a Yuan Spirit exist in this world?!”
“Split the Heavens 5!”
Suddenly, a ray of light shot out of Long Chen’s head. A powerful saber-image struck the old man’s staff.
Caught off guard, his staff was knocked out of his hand, and his hand even began to bleed.
The old man looked in shock at a three-inch figure of Long Chen standing in front of him. Long Chen’s Yuan Spirit had actually used its hand as a blade to activate the fifth form of Split the Heavens. Despite that, its power was astonishing.
“Little fellow, you were still hiding this trump card? You weren’t even using your full power in the Grand Han!” cried the old man.
Long Chen’s Yuan Spirit could actually unleash Battle Skills. Then at the very least, his Yuan Spirit possessed eighty percent of the combat power of his true body. At the end of the Dragon Slaughtering Convention, he had looked to be at a miserable disadvantage, but he had actually been holding back.
“I really did use my full power. However, I need to keep a few life-saving trump cards. My luck is so bad, I’d probably be screwed if I ran out of trump cards,” said Long Chen helplessly.
In truth, Long Chen really had held back at that time. One of his trump cards was his Yuan Spirit. Even though his own spiritual yuan was exhausted, his Yuan Spirit could be treated as his clone and another energy store.
The other trump card he hadn’t used was that when his spiritual yuan ran out, he had one method to restore it instantly. That was Chu Yao. When Chu Yao activated the Wood Spirit Union, he could use her yuan spirit. The thick reserves of spiritual yuan possessed by a wood cultivator were perfect for that.
However, having all his trump cards exposed at once was very dangerous. Unless he was forced to, he would prefer not to use them. This was a habit of his now. After all, this was related to everyone’s life and death.
“So it’s true? But even an Empyrean cannot possess that many primordial runes? A variant of heaven and earth? Or… a Sovereign sprout?” The old man suddenly burst into wild laughter.
“Good, then I won’t worry about you. Although your Yuan Spirit hasn’t reached its peak state, such an abnormal power should have no problem handling the life and death energy.”
The Heaven Splitting Blade unleashed a wave of light that enveloped the two of them. They vanished, reappearing in a wasteland.
“No one will disturb us here. Prepare yourself. I’m going to activate the jade case,” said the old man.
The old man waved a hand. His Spiritual Strength burst forth, and the jade case exploded. As the world turned pitch-black, Long Chen jumped in shock.
“Activate your sixth sense!” shouted the old man.
Long Chen hastily activated all his acupuncture points. When his sixth sense was activated, he saw a dusky world. The surroundings were the same, but the void was constantly shaking. There was also some image strangely superimposed on itself.
Long Chen felt a burst of pain in his mind as if a needle was stabbing his mind-sea. That was the erosion of the life and death energy. Although it was uncomfortable, he could handle it. A wave of light came from his head, forcing back this strange energy.
This life and death energy was very strange. He couldn’t feel it, he couldn’t sense it, and even his sixth sense was unable to grasp it. However, its power was focused on targeting his Yuan Spirit.
“Haha, Wu Guangyuan, looks like in the end, you still ended up owing me a favor!” Suddenly, a voice rang out that caused Long Chen and the old man’s expressions to change. The old man’s face turned as dark as the bottom of a pot.
Chapter 1590 Blood-Colored Lake
That voice was something Qu Jianying had left behind. Long Chen was absolutely speechless. Could it be that as one’s cultivation base grew, it became more difficult for oxygen to reach their brain? Even at this time, she still had to be so competitive?
This was no different than a slap to the old man’s face. It was like an eighty-year-old playing in the mud. At this time, the old man was quivering with rage.
“Old man, this time I’m definitely on your side! We won’t let this enmity off lightly!” cried Long Chen righteously.
“Exactly! Don’t you think that woman is hateful?” raged the old man.
“Yes, you’re absolutely right. If I had women like that, I’d be beaten all day. However, we’ve lost this time. Now that we’ve activated the jade case, whether or not we use it, we owe her a debt. How absolutely sinister!” Long Chen was now on the same side as the old man.
“She really pisses me off. Long Chen, you have lots of evil ideas. What do we do?” demanded the old man.
“What else can we do? Having taken such a loss, if we walked away with our heads lowered, wouldn’t it be so shameful that all men would be laughed at?” said Long Chen helplessly.
“Fuck, I was grateful to her for nothing. She really needs a beating!” said the old man hatefully.
Long Chen felt like he had worked so hard for nothing. This senior Qu had to really be bored to add something so childish to her good intentions.
“Old man, let’s put this aside for now. We can’t waste this. We can’t suffer this loss for nothing. We’ll get our revenge for this later,” said Long Chen.
“Fine, I won’t bother with her. Tch, she definitely thinks that this would make me too angry to use this. Well, I won’t let things go as she wishes!” laughed the old man.
Long Chen was startled. So it really was senior Qu who understood the old man the best. He had actually misunderstood her intentions.
When he thought about it closely, this move of Qu Jianying’s was a bit superfluous. Since the old man had activated the jade case, it meant the old man had already accepted this favor. Provoking him some more was extra. Ah, the realm of supreme experts truly wasn’t something lower people could understand.
“Sit down. This is a memory formation condensed through life and death energy. Once activated, we’ll see how she entered the Netherworld. Don’t be careless. No matter what you see, don’t make a sound,” warned the old man.
“Alright, I understand.” Long Chen nodded.
The old man sat in a lotus-style position and pressed two fingers to his forehead. Long Chen felt some faint life and death energy flowing out of him.
Although the old man hadn’t reached the Netherpassage realm, he had comprehended the Dao of Life and Death. He was in possession of the slightest bit of life and death energy.
As his life and death energy circulated, the surroundings changed. Long Chen suddenly closed his sixth sense, and he saw that the surroundings were pitch-black.
He knew that this darkness was Qu Jianying’s memories. Long Chen had to experience it as she did, so he couldn’t activate the sixth sense.
As for any danger, he left that up to Evilmoon. It would warn him if there was any danger. Furthermore, the old man had the Heaven Splitting Blade. With two divine items protecting them, there wouldn’t be any problems.
The darkness seemed endless. It felt like he had been devoured by it and entered a world of eternity. Here, there was no time, no space.
“This is the world of death?”
Netherpassage experts were able to control their life and death.
This phrase sounded nonsensical. Who couldn’t control their life and death? Couldn’t they just kill themselves?
However, this phrase meant something different. Netherpassage experts had to experience true death.
The physical body died. The Yuan Spirit died. However, the Netherpassage experts would retain the slightest trace of life, using it to enter the gate to the Netherworld. Then they would return from that gate, completing a cycle of life and death. After that, they would have truly reached the Netherpassage realm.
The darkness Long Chen was seeing was the darkness Qu Jianying had experienced after dying. This darkness would evoke instinctual fear in people.
There was no light.
There was no sound.
&nbs
p; There was nothing.
Everything was still in death.
Suddenly, Long Chen saw a huge gate ahead of him. It was open just a crack.
His body moved toward the gate involuntarily, toward the crack. Long Chen knew that he was seeing things from Qu Jianying’s point of view.
Once he was through the gate, he saw a giant bridge ahead of him. What shocked Long Chen was that this bridge had many people randomly wandering around.
As he walked forward, he saw a humanoid monstrosity in extremely ancient robes. This humanoid was carrying chains with huge hooks at the end.
This figure was using its chains to kill the people on the bridge. Anyone struck by its chains would be turned to mist and vanish from sight.
The humanoid monstrosity had strange runes in its eyes. However, it seemed to not see Qu Jianying. It was constantly tidying up the people on the bridge who were roaming around randomly.
As it killed those people, mist rose into the air. The bridge was quickly tidied up.
The slain people didn’t react at all. They didn’t dodge, they didn’t run. They didn’t seem to know what fear was. Their expressions were wooden as they were killed.
As the monstrosity killed more of them, its chains grew brighter.
After a while, the monstrosity walked to a stone pillar at the side of the bridge. At the top of the pillar was a head-sized stone.
The stone flowed with light. It was like a pearl. Through Qu Jianying’s sight, Long Chen could sense terrifying spiritual fluctuations coming from the stone.
“A definite treasure. Those people’s souls were all gathered into this orb. The Spiritual Strength inside it has reached the pinnacle of purity. Just what is going on? Those people didn’t look like cultivators. They seemed like ordinary people who came here in a spiritual state, but they didn’t have any spiritual fluctuations. And that strange monstrosity, he seems like a jailor. Those chains are extremely powerful against souls,” thought Long Chen.
Everything he was seeing, hearing, and feeling was the same as what Qu Jianying had experienced when she had entered the Netherworld. His line of sight could not be moved. Long Chen guessed that Qu Jianying was currently hidden in a corner.