ISWI Chapter 1283-1284 (Patreon)

Chapter 1283: This Disciple Is Excellent!

He Guangyan's words had barely fallen when every gaze in the hall brightened. Although the Azure Sky White Crane clan ranked below the three supreme races in pure bloodline, they still stood firmly in the first tier beneath those highest divine clans. Every part of their bodies was a treasure, and crane blood in particular held countless profound mysteries.

The Crane Blood Divine Pill was a unique creation of the He family, refined from the essence blood of great cultivators at the Origin Immortal realm. It possessed miraculous effects in compressing Great Luo laws and gathering Ancestral Immortal laws, ranking among the finest divine pills for a Great Luo cultivator's breakthrough to the Ancestral Immortal realm.

Most importantly, the He family was formidable. Peerless Immortal King stood high above all, and during the great tribulation, he had even struck and severely wounded Qiuniu, the foremost of the Ancestral Dragon's nine sons. He ranked among the absolute peak existences of the Other Domain.

Under such circumstances, no one outside dared seize members of the He family for pill refinement. The preciousness of the Crane Blood Divine Pill needed no further explanation.

Simply for teaching a lesson to a Golden Immortal who had only just broken through to the peak, one could obtain such a treasure?

Many of those present revealed clear interest. Because the earlier incident had been too humiliating, He Guangyan had asked his elder brother He Guangkuan to silence everyone who had witnessed it. Most cultivators therefore knew nothing of the true events. They only understood that He Guangyan had been momentarily careless, destroyed his own superior immortal artifact, and afterward directed his anger at a mud-legged fellow from the Nineteenth Realm.

Apart from the few who knew the inside story, everyone else present agreed at once.

He Guangyan's lips curved in a smile. "As long as that brat is killed and no more than five people take part, it will not be a single pill. Each of you will receive one."

At those words, their eyes lit up once more. Did that not mean five pills in total? Their desire grew even stronger.

When the news spread, the ten thousand cultivators participating in the coming trial likewise brightened. They quietly memorized Ye Chen's name and appearance. Should the chance arise, they would not hesitate to strike.

Not only Golden Immortals but even those who had already advanced to the Great Luo realm felt strong temptation. For a time, undercurrents surged through the Golden Immortal ranks of the War God Academy, and Ye Chen's name circulated without cease.

He Guangyan himself, however, wore a cold smile. In truth, neither he nor his elder brother had spoken the full truth. At the time he had clearly sensed that Ye Chen was far from weak. Even with the top-grade immortal artifact he had borrowed, he could not be certain of stably suppressing the youth.

Therefore, he would first use others to wear him down. Through the Crane Blood Divine Pills, he would turn Ye Chen into a public target. If Ye Chen proved unable to defeat them, so much the better; the mud-legged fellow from the Nineteenth Realm would simply die.

Yet if Ye Chen managed to overcome them, he would inevitably form deep enmities. Inside the secret realm, he would face endless trouble, be continuously drained of strength, and have no leisure to contend for the Great Luo Dao Fruits.

Once He Guangyan himself obtained a fruit and advanced to the Great Luo realm, the vast gap between Great Luo and Golden Immortal would allow him to kill Ye Chen with a single blow. In short, no matter how great Ye Chen's talent, the youth was certain to die this time.

...

Ye Chen rarely left his residence at the War God Academy. Each day he simply and quietly sensed that even at the peak of the Golden Immortal realm he continued to grow stronger without pause.

The immortal power within his body crystallized at every moment. Its compression ratio climbed again and again. When he first reached the peak, it had already surpassed two million times. Now, after a little more than a month, it had soared to five million. Even compressed to this degree, more than half of his immortal power had yet to crystallize.

Ye Chen felt that once every trace of immortal power in his body had fully transformed, the compression ratio would likely break through ten million times. A casual strike would then be countless times more ferocious than the divine abilities of others.

For someone who had arrived in the Other Domain and could no longer freely use most of his signature methods, this was an absolute boon. Settling every enemy with ordinary attacks would remove the worry of exposing his identity.

Counting the days, he discovered that only one week remained until the secret realm opened.

Ye Chen was in a pleasant mood. He had heard that the secret realm contained a full ten Multiverse Great Luo Dao Fruits. As long as he seized every one of them, gifting them later would send him soaring. He could specially return to the Immortal Realm for a circuit of the Dao Academy and present the Multiverse Great Luo Dao Fruits to Nangong Wan and his aunt.

One offered a hundred-and-fifty-thousand-fold return, the other two hundred thousand. Although the multipliers were not exceptionally high, the value of Multiverse Great Luo Dao Fruits already far surpassed ordinary Great Luo Dao Fruits. Both women also possessed grateful hearts.

He felt that once the gifts were made, assembling a Mixed Origin Great Luo Dao Fruit containing three thousand laws would pose no difficulty at all. In short, Ye Chen's plans were exceptionally thorough.

At that moment, an Immortal King's aura descended outside the cave residence. Ye Chen needed no deliberate sensing to know that Tuoba Immortal King had arrived. When his master visited, she always came stealthily and without a sound. Tuoba Immortal King, however, had no need to conceal himself. The identity of the visitor was self-evident.

Ever since Ye Chen had taken the Qilin blood that Tuoba Immortal King had obtained for him at great cost and turned around to present it to his master, he had felt a measure of guilt toward the Immortal King. He therefore hurried out of the cave residence and received the visitor with particular respect.

Seeing Ye Chen's demeanor, Tuoba Immortal King grew even more satisfied. Ever since the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths had entered the mode of great tribulation and countless immortals had fallen, overall strength had indeed grown increasingly elite.

Resources were concentrated and the average level advanced by leaps and bounds. Yet the price of such growth was a steady decline in overall morality, with eyes fixed solely on unscrupulous methods of advancement.

The younger the generation, the lower the moral standard and the more self-centered the temperament. This was perhaps the inevitable cost of growing stronger. Those like Ye Chen who could still sincerely respect teachers and value the Dao were becoming rarer by the day.

Perhaps this was the advantage of originating from the Nineteenth Realm. It lagged behind in some respects, yet its sense of morality remained strong. In the present involuted Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, such a trait was not necessarily beneficial. Possessing a sense of morality while others lacked it only invited losses.

Tuoba Immortal King, however, found the sight deeply pleasing. Moreover, with himself as protector, Ye Chen would never truly suffer. After the coming secret realm, he intended to accept Ye Chen as a nominal disciple and formally establish the master-disciple relationship.

The longer he regarded the youth, the more satisfied he became. He abandoned the stern facade he had previously maintained and entered the cave residence with a broad smile.

Ushered in by Ye Chen, Tuoba Immortal King settled onto an immortal-artifact-grade chair. He lightly sniffed the air, causing Ye Chen's heart to tighten at once. Immortal Kings commanded vast divine abilities. Could he have detected the lingering scent left by his master? If Tuoba Immortal King had noticed, how was he to explain himself?

While he was still turning the matter over in his mind, Tuoba Immortal King spoke. "What tea have you steeped? The fragrance is excellent."

Ye Chen relaxed at the words and at once began respectfully preparing tea. It was Enlightenment Tea. The leaves had long since ceased to be of any real use to him, and he had even moved the tree aside, yet he had grown accustomed to the flavor and simply steeped it often.

Tuoba Immortal King took a light sip and grew still more satisfied. "Although this tea offers little practical benefit to immortals, its Dao charm is fully present. Savoring it in idle moments is quite fine and can cultivate the mind and temperament. That you can maintain such a compression ratio at the Golden Immortal realm yet remain neither arrogant nor impatient shows a truly remarkable character."

He did not stint in expressing his high regard for Ye Chen, while also taking care to preserve the youth's self-esteem. Hearing the praise, Ye Chen immediately packed ten jin of Enlightenment Tea and presented it before Tuoba Immortal King.

Chapter 1284: Heaven and Earth Catastrophe Divine Sword!

Tuoba Immortal King gazed at the jade box Ye Chen presented. His expression carried gratification, yet a faint ache stirred in his heart. The more he regarded the youth, the more satisfied he became.

The tea Ye Chen offered would not even catch the eye of an ordinary Celestial Immortal or Profound Immortal, let alone an Immortal King like himself. It possessed flavor yet offered no real benefit beyond a measure of calm.

To a cultivator from the Nineteenth Realm, however, it might well rank as a rare treasure. He had merely offered a single word of praise, and Ye Chen had immediately presented so much without the slightest hesitation. It might well have been everything the youth possessed.

Tuoba Immortal King's heart filled with deep emotion. This disciple's character was truly excellent. He reflected that after entering the War God Academy, Ye Chen rarely left his residence and seldom interacted with others. It must stem from the barrenness of his origins and a certain lack of confidence.

As his master, he was obliged to support his disciple. Through a Dao companion, he would grant the youth a background from the Third Realm and allow him to stand tall with true self-assurance. The coming secret realm offered precisely such an opportunity.

Thus Tuoba Immortal King solemnly accepted the jade box. "Even when Immortal Kings present me with top-grade divine teas, I cannot grow accustomed to them, yet this tea of yours I genuinely enjoy. I will not stand on ceremony. Still, as an elder, I cannot simply accept a junior's filial offering for nothing. Take this immortal artifact."

With those words, he lifted a hand. A pitch-black divine sword radiating the aura of heavenly tribulation drifted before Ye Chen. At every moment, the blade released black qi that eroded the immortal spiritual energy of the void and even caused the void itself to grow illusory, as though struggling to bear the weapon's presence.

Ye Chen recognized the aura of the immortal artifact at once. It was a top-grade immortal artifact. Years earlier at the Jade Pool Immortal Sect, he had already assembled thirty-three top-grade immortal artifacts and completed the Thirty-Three Heavens Treasures. Combined, their power rivaled any king-grade immortal artifact.

In truth, he had never needed them. The enemies he encountered had never reached the level that required him to draw a weapon, so he had never brought them forth. He had not expected Tuoba Immortal King to present him with a top-grade immortal artifact today. Even for an Immortal King, such a gift counted as substantial.

Immortal artifacts derived their preciousness not merely from materials but from the forging techniques and the vast stretches of time required. A low-grade immortal artifact needed only one to ten immortal restrictions fused into suitable materials and could be completed within a year or two. A mid-grade immortal artifact required more than ten and sometimes as many as a hundred immortal restrictions, consuming far longer periods. A high-grade immortal artifact demanded at least a hundred and often several thousand immortal restrictions.

He Guangyan's high-grade immortal artifact chariot, for instance, contained nearly seven or eight thousand restrictions and ranked among the finest of its grade. Top-grade immortal artifacts began at ten thousand immortal restrictions.

The greater the number of restrictions, the higher the material requirements and the steeper the geometric rise in forging difficulty and time. Only Origin Immortals possessed the qualifications to forge them. A single top-grade immortal artifact might once have demanded ten thousand years of an Origin Immortal's effort. Its preciousness needed no further elaboration.

Given such difficulty in forging, the power of the finished artifact required little explanation. In the hands of an Origin Immortal, a top-grade immortal artifact equaled another Origin Immortal and provided enormous enhancement. Even in the hands of those below the Origin Immortal realm, it could still unleash combat strength approaching the Ancestral Immortal level, its lethality self-evident. With such a treasure, crossing realms to kill enemies became almost effortless.

The black sword before him was clearly extraordinary and ranked among the finest even within the category of top-grade immortal artifacts. Tuoba Immortal King was simply giving it to him?

In all honesty, Ye Chen truly did not wish to accept it. He had no desire to owe Tuoba Immortal King still more. When the day came to clarify their relationship, the lesser the debt, the better.

Seeing Ye Chen freeze in place, Tuoba Immortal King smiled with a touch of heartache. This disciple of his hailed from the Nineteenth Realm and had seen little of the wider world. A single top-grade immortal artifact already left him stunned. He himself was nearly finished forging a king-grade immortal artifact of his own. Once Ye Chen achieved the Immortal King realm in the future, he would help the youth forge a king-grade immortal artifact as well and allow him to become a king among Immortal Kings at once.

Tuoba Immortal King spoke slowly. "This top-grade immortal artifact is the Heaven and Earth Catastrophe Divine Sword that I forged with my own hands years ago. At the time, I had just endured the great tribulation of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths. Inspired by the tribulation qi I sensed, I gradually collected that qi over a span of ten thousand years and created this sword. Its power needs no further description and ranks among the very best. I will not elaborate on its offensive methods.

"Most importantly, when the sword strikes an enemy, it can taint them with tribulation qi and thereby suppress their fortune. Once fortune is suppressed, misfortune follows. Strength may fail to display fully, old injuries may erupt, hidden dangers may surface, and in the midst of a life-and-death battle, a mortal enemy might suddenly appear nearby."

He introduced the weapon with evident pride. Ye Chen listened and found the effects somewhat noteworthy, yet when he fought, he truly had no need for techniques that suppressed fortune or infused tribulation qi. Such methods demanded far too much finesse.

With the immortal power he now commanded, merely entering a secret realm whose highest participants were Great Luo cultivators meant that a single surge of his power would kill nearly anyone he encountered. Complexity was unnecessary.

As for accepting the weapon in hopes of a higher critical return, there was simply no need at present. Ye Chen knew that a king-grade immortal artifact could, in the hands of anyone below the Immortal King realm, unleash power approaching that of an Immortal Sovereign, while in an Immortal King's hands it neared full Immortal King strength.

Yet the difficulty of controlling such a treasure was extreme. He might not find it convenient, and once it was revealed, even Immortal Kings would covet it and might quietly deliver a few punches his way. It was far less practical than a one-time imprint. Most importantly, Ye Chen had no wish to accept anything further from Tuoba Immortal King and deepen the debt of favor.

He was about to speak when Tuoba Immortal King continued. "With this weapon and your own combat strength, obtaining Multiverse Great Luo Dao Fruits becomes a near certainty. I do, however, have one request. It would be best if you could secure one extra Multiverse Great Luo Dao Fruit, preferably one of the spatial-law variety. Should you succeed and bring it before me, I will grant you an extraordinary opportunity that will broaden your path of cultivation still further."

Ye Chen raised an eyebrow at the words. Two fruits? What a joke. Of course he intended to take them all. All ten would be his. Yet it seemed Tuoba Immortal King required a spatial-attribute Multiverse Great Luo Dao Fruit.

The Immortal King was likely seeking to care for his own descendants. So that was the reason. Perhaps Tuoba Immortal King's earlier kindness toward him had also contained this consideration.

At that realization, Ye Chen relaxed. He did not fear transactions; he only feared owing favors. Since Tuoba Immortal King had a request, Ye Chen needed only to satisfy the man's needs a few more times and clear the debt of gratitude. When the day came to throw himself into his true master's embrace and openly acknowledge their relationship, he would feel far less guilt. Handing over a single spatial-type Great Luo Dao Fruit was a trivial matter.

Ye Chen agreed at once without the slightest hesitation.