Chapter 5: Cultivation

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“The spiritual energy around here is too sparse. If I want to improve my cultivation quickly, I’ll have to rely on absorbing spirit stones or rare heavenly materials. Let me first check what treasures are inside those six space rings I just snatched from Ma Jie and his companions.”

Qin Xingchen sat cross-legged beneath a large tree in his mansion courtyard and took out the six space rings he had just seized.

He emptied the contents of all six rings: weapons, spirit stones, gold coins, silver certificates, clothing...

Among these, the most useful for him currently were naturally the spirit stones.

Spirit stones contain abundant spiritual energy, and absorbing them allows one to advance rapidly in cultivation.

Spirit stones are graded as low, medium, high, and supreme quality.

The higher the grade, the more spiritual energy contained within.

He tallied them up.

In total, there were sixty-eight low-grade spirit stones and twenty-one medium-grade spirit stones among the six rings.

“Absorbing these stones should be enough to break through to the ninth level of the Tempering Body realm... hmm?”

At that moment, the Chaotic Divine Cauldron within him stirred faintly.

“Could it be... that the Chaotic Divine Cauldron wants to devour these spirit stones?” Qin Xingchen wondered curiously. “I wonder if I can control it with my will? Let me try...”

“Come out!” he commanded mentally.

Instantly, the Chaotic Divine Cauldron flashed out from within his body and hovered before his eyes.

It obeyed immediately!

“Go back!” he thought again, and the cauldron vanished, returning to float over the Void Abyss inside him.

“I can indeed control it with my mind!” Qin Xingchen was delighted, then repeated the command several times in quick succession. Eventually, he discovered that under special circumstances, the cauldron could automatically absorb certain kinds of power.

Moreover, he could control the cauldron at any time by will alone, and its movements were primarily governed by his intent.

“Absorb them for me!” he commanded once more.

The cauldron trembled slightly and generated a strange suction, drawing all the spiritual energy from the stones into itself.

Before long, the spirit stones became powder as their energy was completely drained by the cauldron.

As before, after absorbing all spiritual energy, the cauldron exuded a drop of liquid, which fell into the Void Abyss and quickly transformed into power for Qin Xingchen’s body.

Within less than a quarter of an hour, his spiritual power became more robust, and his cultivation leapt from the eighth to the ninth level of the Tempering Body realm.

“This Chaotic Divine Cauldron directly converts the spirit energy of the stones into liquid, which the Void Abyss then absorbs and transforms. Ultimately, this power is fed back into my body, becoming my strength and helping me advance my cultivation.”

“If I absorbed these spirit stones myself, it would take at least half an hour. But with the cauldron and the Void Abyss, it took less than a quarter of an hour. The efficiency of absorption and transformation is truly astonishing!”

“This means that in the future, I won’t need to absorb spirit stones personally; I can just control the cauldron to do it!”

“Also, if an ordinary person absorbs spirit stones, impurities in the energy would enter the body. But after absorption and transformation by the cauldron and the Void Abyss, the spiritual energy I receive is completely pure, without any impurities!”

“This way, the power within me will be purer and stronger than others’!”

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“This Chaotic Divine Cauldron and the Void Abyss are truly extraordinary!” Qin Xingchen marvelled again.

“All these spirit stones have been fully absorbed. For now, my cultivation can't advance further.”

“But if I want to enhance my overall strength, besides improving cultivation, I can also train martial skills.”

With that, he decided to start practicing martial arts.

The ranks of martial skills, from lowest to highest, are: Mortal, Lower, Earth, Heavenly, Sect, Imperial, Immortal, and Supreme...

Each rank is further divided into four grades: Low, Medium, High, and Supreme.

In his past life as a Sage, he had started training from the bottom and naturally mastered many martial skills.

Therefore, he only needed to review the memories of those martial skills from his previous life.

He quickly retrieved from memory several martial skills suitable for his current cultivation level.

For example: Fist Technique “Heavenly Flame Fist,” Palm Technique “Illusory Palm,” Leg Technique “Whirlwind Kick,” Finger Technique “Nine Suns Sword Qi Finger,” and Head Technique “Diamond Iron Headbutt,” among others.

He planned to use this body to practice and familiarize himself with these techniques from his past life.

So he began training these martial arts in the courtyard of his mansion.

After a day’s training, he had made the body familiar with these martial skills.

“Based solely on my current physical strength, I can rival a second-level Blood Condensation realm warrior. If I use martial skills, I could even contend with a third-level Blood Condensation warrior!”

However, in his past life, he preferred killing with a sword.

Next, he decided to train a sword technique called “Shadow Layer Illusion Sword.”

He took out a sword previously gifted to him by Qin En.

Closing his eyes, he stood in the courtyard holding the sword.

When he opened his eyes, he suddenly moved, his body vanishing like a phantom, leaving behind a faint residual shadow.

In the next moment, his figure flickered across various spots in the courtyard, multiple illusions overlapping, appearing and disappearing intermittently.

Accompanied by the sharp whistling of sword strikes, he executed many strange sword techniques.

This was the “Shadow Layer Illusion Sword,” a sword technique he had created in his past life.

Its features are speed, explosive power, and unpredictability.

Once the sword is drawn, the body produces multiple illusions to confuse the enemy, making it impossible for them to distinguish the real from the copies in a short time.

Moreover, as he transitions between sword techniques, each strike is faster than the last, making it nearly impossible to defend against — exceedingly strange.

A lethal strike can achieve victory unexpectedly, killing without a trace!

...

The next day.

While Qin Xingchen was still practicing swordplay, a provocative voice came from outside Cloud Hidden Peak.

“Qin Xingchen, come out!”

Yu Yumeng sensed danger and showed a look of alarm.

Qin Xingchen reassured her, “Don’t worry. Stay inside; I’ll go out to see.”

Yu Yumeng nodded slightly. “Be careful.”

“Mm.”

Qin Xingchen turned and stepped out of the mountain gate, where two Inner Sect disciples stood.

He recognized one immediately.

It was Ma Jie, who had been soundly beaten by him a few days ago.

But now, Ma Jie’s entire head—except for his eyes and mouth—was wrapped in layers of white gauze. His face, which Qin Xingchen had slapped until it looked like a pig’s snout, was unrecognizable.

Qin Xingchen sneered, “I thought it was some dog barking, turns out it’s you, the drowning dog, coming to seek death again!”

Ma Jie gritted his teeth angrily. “Qin Xingchen, don’t get cocky. I may not be your match, but this here is my elder brother Ma Hu, the fifth strongest in the Inner Sect. Today, I’ll have him help me avenge my humiliation. This time, you’re done for!”

Hearing this, Qin Xingchen noticed the bald young man standing next to Ma Jie.

The bald youth was tall and burly, a full head taller than Ma Jie. His bare arms displayed explosive muscle lines, giving a fierce and unapproachable impression.

This was Ma Jie’s elder brother, Ma Hu.

Qin Xingchen extended his divine sense and sensed Ma Hu’s cultivation at the second level of the Blood Condensation realm.

No wonder he dared to step forward for Ma Jie.

Ma Hu took two steps forward, looked at Qin Xingchen, and sneered, “Qin Xingchen, I didn’t expect you, a loser, to recover your cultivation and beat my brother into this sorry state. You’re unforgivable! But I’m giving you a chance. If you kneel and apologize to my brother now, and let him beat you up, I might go easy on you. Otherwise, when I personally deal with you, you won’t even get a chance to beg for mercy!”

Qin Xingchen was disdainful. “Who do you think you are?”

“What did you say!” Ma Hu was shocked that Qin Xingchen dared speak to him this way.

Qin Xingchen impatiently said, “I don’t have time for your nonsense. Fight if you want, or come kneel and admit your fault, then get lost!”

Upon hearing this, Ma Jie exploded with anger. “Qin Xingchen, you’ve got some nerve, talking big in front of my brother. Don’t you fear death?”

Qin Xingchen sneered, “Ha, your brother’s just like you—no real strength, just a clown who talks big without fear of biting his tongue. What’s there to fear?”

“You...” Ma Jie was furious and embarrassed.

“You arrogant brat!” Ma Hu finally lost his patience at Qin Xingchen’s mockery. “Qin Xingchen, today I’ll beat you until your teeth scatter on the ground!”

Boom!

The aura of a second-level Blood Condensation cultivator burst forth from Ma Hu’s body, terrifying Ma Jie beside him.

Ma Jie hadn’t seen Ma Hu this angry in a long time.

He remembered the last time Ma Hu was enraged, he broke an Inner Sect disciple’s hands and feet.

So to him, Qin Xingchen was in big trouble today.

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