Chapter 143 – Unforeseen Event
This little sapling was only the size of a palm, young and slender, with only three leaves on it. Every leaf was an extremely verdant emerald, with second-wood qi that was dense to the point it seemed to materialize drifting out from it. Three jade green clouds that were lively and cute even floated on the three leaves, and they surged with rich and pure vitality.
Chen Xi was already able to confirm that the bald large tree was only a shell that served as a layer of protection, and this little sapling was the source of the second-wood qi that was emitted out.
This little sapling is so young, yet it’s already able to effuse such dense second-wood qi. How extraordinary would it be if it matures? A treasure! This little sapling is absolutely an incomparably rare treasure! Chen Xi took a deep breath and forcefully restrained the excitement in his heart, and his gaze descended onto the roots of the little sapling.
This examination caused him to notice another thing that caused shock in him, Chaotic Lifesoil!
Chaotic Lifesoil was a rare treasure that wasn’t of the five elements. According to legend, at the chaotic times during the absolute beginning of the world, numerous beings of the chaotic era were born from Chaotic Lifesoil. Once the heaven and earth were separated from each other and the three dimensions were established, Chaotic Lifesoil was buried within boundless time and had never appeared ever again.
When he was at the Southern Barbaric Nether Domain’s sword immortal’s abode, Chen Xi had once discovered a trace of the Chaotic Lifesoil’s aura on a door in the Treasure Hall. Regretfully, that was only a strand of aura, and it was utterly impossible to gather it.
There was a palm sized patch of obscure black ash colored soil at the roots of this little sapling before him, and it emitted a trace of an exceedingly ancient aura. Although it was weak, it caused shock to emerge in one’s heart, and one’s thoughts seemed to follow this trace of aura to return to ancient times, to the chaotic times at the absolute beginning of the world.
According to legend, before the world was created, many fiendgods were born from Chaotic Lifesoil, and this little sapling is actually absorbing the energy of the Chaotic Lifesoil now. No wonder it’s so miraculous. No matter how composed Chen Xi’s disposition was, he couldn’t help but feel unrestrainable excitement surge through his entire body.
A little sapling that poured out second-wood qi and a palm sized patch of Chaotic Lifesoil, two treasures that were rare in the heavens and earth was right before his eyes, within his reach. Who wouldn’t be excited?
I should seize the moment to unearth and take away the Chaotic Lifesoil along with the little sapling first. Chen Xi took a deep breath as he suddenly became vigilant. This place was within the Buddha’s Trial Pagoda, and there were countless gazes watching this place. If someone were to notice its aura and come over to take advantage of the situation, then it would be troublesome.
Chen Xi took out a jade box before squatting down, and then he stretched out his hand to carefully dig towards the Chaotic Lifesoil, as the little sapling’s roots were thin and delicate like hair and would break extremely easily, so he had to be careful.
However, a scene that Chen Xi never imagined occurred. Right when his hand just touched the Chaotic Lifesoil, the Shaman Energy in his body seemed as if it was a group of sharks that had smelled blood, and it gushed out from his body to cover the Chaotic Lifesoil along with the little sapling before drawing them into his body, vanishing out of sight!
Chen Xi was shocked in his heart, then he noticed that at the center of the mysterious and profound Fifth-Earth Shaman Marking on his back, a wisp of an obscure black ash colored shadow had silently appeared there, and it was indistinct and faintly visible. Shockingly, there was a palm sized patch of soil floating within it, whereas, on the other side, along with the appearance of the black ash colored shadow, the shadow of a little sapling had appeared on the Second-Wood Shaman Marking.
The Chaotic Lifesoil and little sapling have actually entered into my Shaman Markings? Chen Xi was both astonished and bewildered.
He noticed that along with the appearance of the Chaotic Lifesoil and little sapling, there was a faint connection between his Fifth-Earth Shaman Marking and Second-Wood Shaman Marking, and it was as if a bridge had linked up the two of them. An obscure and ancient aura gushed out from the Chaotic Lifesoil to pour into the Second-Wood Shaman Marking to be absorbed by the little sapling before transforming into extremely pure second-wood qi that poured into his body.
In just an instant, Chen Xi felt the blood, skin, tendons, internal organs, and even the meridians and apertures of varying sizes in his entire body emit a copious and powerful aura of vitality. They were full of vigor, and his vital energy and blood were exuberant to the limit. In his dazed state, Chen Xi even had the misconception that his body was endlessly becoming stronger and sturdier, and there would be a day that he would be able to stand on the ground while holding up the sky with his hand, indomitable!
Bang!
In a flash, Chen Xi felt the Second-Wood Shaman Energy in his entire body attain perfection, and another dense and profound Shaman Marking appeared once again on his back!
This Shaman Marking’s structure wasn’t dense and simple like the Fifth-Earth Shaman Marking, nor was it light and gentle like the Second-Wood Shaman Marking, it instead emitted a sharp and cold feeling, like a hard saber or sword, strong and ghastly, and it was precisely the Seventh-Gold Shaman Marking!
The 3rd level of the Violet Palace Realm in body refinement — The Seventh-Gold Realm!
Chen Xi was shocked to speechlessness, his cultivation in body refinement had actually risen explosively by a level in this short period of time!
The Universe Starslayer Bodyforging Arts’ nine levels of the Violet Palace Realm was divided into the Fifth-Earth Realm, Second-Wood Realm, Seventh-Gold Realm, Third-Fire Realm, Ninth-Water Realm… Chen Xi had cultivated in closed doors at the 1st level of the Heavenpeak of Trials for one and a half years before being able to cultivate the Second-Wood Shaman Marking and advance to the Second-Wood Realm, yet only about a month had passed since then. Chen Xi had originally thought that he’d have to spend more than a year to be able to cultivate the Second-Wood Realm to perfection, yet he’d never imagined that just at this moment, in the space of a few breaths, he’d actually advanced!
He obviously felt that within his Shaman Energy, besides the attribute of the baleful qi of the stars, Fifth-Earth, and Second-Wood, another trace of a sharp and cold Seventh-Gold aura had appeared.
Swish!
The Shaman Energy in his body roiled and surged like a great river as they emitted roaring sounds like thunderclaps, and it was more than two times stronger than before. The pores all around his body effused out a trace of a desolate, mysterious, and vast aura, and it shook the surrounding air to the point it buzzed, before dispersing and keeping away.
Moreover, strands of second-wood qi gushed out from the little sapling in the Second-Wood Shaman Marking incessantly, ceaselessly pouring into his body to continuously replenish his Shaman Energy and improve the vitality of the blood, flesh, tendons, skin, and internal organs in his entire body. It could be said that with this little sapling, when Chen Xi battled another, he entirely didn’t have to worry about the problem of his Shaman Energy drying up!
But when the energy within the Chaotic Lifesoil was completely absorbed by the little sapling, this effect would be lost, and this effect that was almost heaven defying would vanish along with it. Moreover, according to Chen Xi’s inference, if he were to exert his full strength to execute the Grand Astral palm, the speed the little sapling replenished his Shaman Energy would be extremely far from able to follow up to the speed that he consumed his Shaman Energy. Of course, in a battle, so long as he was able to acquire a breather, he was completely capable of instantly recovering his Shaman Energy.
However, Chen Xi felt it was a pity that the little sapling was only able to replenish Shaman Energy, but not increase his cultivation. If he wanted to advance to an even higher cultivation level, then he must use Starsoul Meteorites to cultivate by transforming its energy into Seventh-Gold Shaman Energy, and only then would he be able to cultivate the Seventh-Gold Realm to perfection.
If I’m able to possess a treasure similar to the little sapling that’s able to continuously emit seventh-gold qi, third-fire qi, and ninth-water qi, how good would that be? Chen Xi sighed with emotion, and then his body stiffened as if he was struck by lightning. Because he suddenly realized something. This place was the Azure Dragon Area of the Four-Symbols Layer, and it possessed the little sapling that emitted second-wood qi. Then would a treasure like this exist in the White Tiger Area, Vermillion Bird Area, and Black Tortoise Area?
Chen Xi’s heart started thumping without putting up a fight, and he said to himself, Nevermind, I’ll let those 2,000 cultivators kill each other in this Four-Symbols Layer, and I’ll just seize this opportunity to gather treasures. When he thought up to here, Chen Xi didn’t stay here any longer. He distinguished the direction before flashing out towards the enormous golden mountain at the White Tiger Area.
All along the way, battles were happening at every corner of this jade green forest. All the 2,000 cultivators that were able to enter the second layer of the pagoda were either top figures in cultivators of the same realm, or perhaps some of them they relied on the help of their senior brothers of the same sect to arrive here. But once they arrived here, they had to rely on themselves.
After all, only 100 people were able to enter the third layer of the pagoda, and these 100 people would be ranked at the top 100 of the Hidden Dragon Rankings and were able to obtain a large number of medicinal pills, cultivation techniques, and Magic Treasures. Besides that, their reputation would also resound throughout the cultivation world of the entire southern territory, and they would obtain both fame and benefit. Under these circumstances, even if it was a senior brother of the same sect, they would undergo a battle amongst themselves for the sake of seizing a position in the top 100, and only people with the strongest strengths would be able to enter a higher layer of the pagoda.
“Hmm? It seems lively over there.” When he was just about to flash out of this jade green forest, Chen Xi seemed to have noticed something, and he instantly stopped moving as his enormous Divine Perception covered out towards his surroundings.
At a place around 25 km away, a man and a woman were battling in midair. The young woman had beautiful features as if from a painting, her skin jade supple, and she held a pair of azure and violet blades in her hands. As the dual blades danced about in her hands, sharp blade lights that seemed like a myriad of snowflakes swept through the heaven and earth, ferociously and swiftly, and it contained the resolve to kill. Shockingly, it was the leading figure in the Wanderingcloud Sword Sect’s younger generation, Fei Lengcui.
Her opponent was instead a handsome young man wearing a scholar’s headdress, his brows dark black like ink, his eyes bright like a hawk, three swords hung at a slanted angle on his back, and his entire body was filled with a fierce and arrogant aura. It was exactly the Azuresun Sect’s disciple, Qiu Leng, who was reputed as the Incorporeal Sword.
At this moment, two of the three swords on Qiu Leng’s back had left their sheaths, one black, the other white. The black sword was pitch black and profound, the white sword dazzling and resplendent, and they were like two soaring wyrms in his hands as he fought with Fei Lengcui to a deadlock.
Both of them were genius figures that had comprehended Dao Insight, and before they participated in the Hidden Dragon Rankings, their reputations had already resounded throughout the entire Dragon Lake City. Before they entered the Buddha’s Trial Pagoda, they’d even been regarded as ferocious figures that were able to charge into the top 10 of the Hidden Dragon Rankings. The instant they started to battle each other, airflow that was terrifying to the point it was sufficient to tear apart everything filled an area of 5 kms, and it was extremely horrifying.
Such a world shaking battle had naturally drawn the attention of most gazes. At this moment, there were already numerous cultivators watching the battle in their surroundings. Those with weak strength concealed themselves in hidden spots, whereas those with formidable strengths simply stood at positions with a good view. All of their gazes stared concentratedly at the battle between the two, and they either had expressions of shock, excitement, vague comprehension, bitterly pondering with a frown on their face, and so on and so forth.
Chen Xi stood there and silently gazed at the battle for a moment before turning around and leaving, The strengths of the two of them were more or less equal. Moreover, both of them were holding back and didn’t bring out their full strengths. He didn’t know how long a battle like this would need to continue on for, and comparatively speaking, searching for the treasures that he was interested in was much more important.
Not long after Chen Xi left, three figures swiftly appeared at a concealed location nearby the battlefield.
“It’s all thanks to Zhong Mu’s excellent plan of instigating the battle between Fei Lengcui and Qiu Leng. After this battle, the two of them will probably be greatly weakened and have no hope of entering the top 10 any longer.” A young man with a gaunt face and striking white hair grinned as he spoke.
“Brother Lu Ping, you flatter me. It’s only some small tricks, and it’s not worth mentioning.” The silver robed young man called Zhong Mu shook his head and smiled.
“Shouldn’t we seize this opportunity and make a move? I didn’t pass on the Shadowdevil Movement Technique to the both of you to chat and joke around with it.” The last black clothed young man with an ordinary appearance frowned as he spoke.
The expressions of the white haired young man called Lu Ping and the silver robed young man called Zhong Mu became apprehensive in unison. They seemed as if they feared this black clothed young man called Zhan Kong extremely, and they said with respectful expressions, “Brother Zhan Kong is right.”
“That’s good, then we’ll make a move right now!” Zhan Kong nodded indifferently.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
The tips of their feet tapped the ground and they instantly split up to flash towards the surroundings, their auras were wispy like spirits that wandered about in the abyss of the underworld, and ordinary people were utterly unable to notice them.
Kacha!
A spectating cultivator was caught off guard and had his neck snapped, causing him to lose his life on the spot, and even before his death, he never saw clearly exactly how his murderer looked like.
Pu!
Another cultivator’s heart was pierced through with a single stab of the sword, and he was just about to emit a shrill cry when a large hand tightly covered his mouth, and he silently passed away in the end.
Scenes like this swiftly played out in the surroundings. Those cultivators that were spectating the battle between Fei Lengcui and Qiu Leng entirely didn’t notice that behind them were three fellows that were like spirits who were silently reaping lives.