Chapter 1076: One Sword
Ao Jiao blushed red before turning her head to glance at Little Yellow Feather, feeling it was strange. However, she saw Little Yellow Feather looking very docile. Not at all like earlier, where it seemed like it wanted to eat up Xiao Chen.
This little fellow is really behaving like a god, Xiao Chen laughed to himself.
“Are we going now?” Ao Jiao asked.
Xiao Chen glanced at the transportation formation not far away. Then he muttered, “There is no rush. Those four old fellows will not be able to recover without at least half a year of rest. Since it is rare to come here to this first ring, we should go and look for snacks for Little Yellow Feather. At the same time, we can try to find more Earth Heart Flames.”
When Little Yellow Feather heard that, it cried out happily and flew over to Xiao Chen, indicating its approval.
Ao Jiao hesitated, but when she saw that Little Yellow Feather was indeed happy, she did not say anything.
To Little Yellow Feather, fire-attributed Profound Cores did not contain any impurities. They were even better than Astral Cores.
As for the Earth Heart Flames, they were great natural treasures for supplements. Little Yellow Feather wished that it could search through the entire Flame Ring.
Little Yellow Feather could easily handle Inferior Grade Profound Beasts on its own. Ao Jiao and Xiao Chen wanted to nurture it to fight on its own, so they just stood at the side and did not help.
However, Xiao Chen did not remain idle. He took out the copies of the nine Profound Martial Techniques and started studying them.
These nine Profound Martial Techniques consisted of Spear Techniques, Sword Techniques, Staff Techniques, even Twin Sword Techniques, and more.
He had not intended to practice them since he practiced Saber Techniques. If he were to practice Martial Techniques for other weapons, he would never be able to master them.
However, after the battle with the four old men, Xiao Chen found himself lacking.
Xiao Chen had absorbed most of the Heavenly Dew Divine Spring’s essence. Originally, his comprehension ability was already very high. After that, it improved even further. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he possessed the best comprehension ability in the entire Kunlun Realm.
Those Martial Emperors, Sovereign Martial Emperors, even Prime Martial Emperors were only stronger than Xiao Chen in terms of cultivation. With regard to comprehension ability, no one could compare to him.
Given such comprehension ability, it was quite a waste to practice only four or five Profound Martial Techniques.
In the battle with the four old men, if Xiao Chen had grasped a few more Profound Martial Techniques, he would not have ended up in a sorry state.
However, before this, Xiao Chen needed to solve a problem first: the problem of not knowing every weapon.
“Ao Jiao, remember when we were in the Sky Dome Realm, you once mentioned the latter parts of the Battle Sage Origins’ Changing Character Formula? Can you tell me more?” Xiao Chen asked.
If he could completely comprehend the Changing Character Formula, which would allow him to master a subject via the comprehensive study of related areas, not knowing every weapon would not pose a problem for him.
As for the Battle Sage Origins’ Strength Character Formula, Xiao Chen did not have any intention of practicing it.
Now that he had reached his current cultivation level, how could he not know that such a Martial Technique was too heaven-defying, going against the Heavenly Dao? This was something that dealt great damage to himself while dealing even more to the enemy. No miraculous pills or wondrous herbs would help after that.
He even suspected that the problem with his physiological lifespan was hidden damage left by his rash use of the Strength Character Formula when he fought Sima Lingxuan and his father.
Ao Jiao found his question strange, so she asked, “Why did you suddenly think of this? As of now, you’ve already found your own Dao. The path of the Thunder Emperor is no longer suitable for you. You should know this very clearly.”
Xiao Chen smiled and replied, “I do. I am not giving up on my own Dao. It is just that at my current cultivation, my cultivation is already advancing very slowly. If I don’t try to think of another method, it will be very difficult to raise my combat prowess by a significant degree.
“Don’t worry. Given my comprehension ability, I will not get lost between the two Daos. If it is possible, I can also merge the Transformative Dao into the Flawless saber Dao.”
Ao Jiao sighed and said softly, “I knew I couldn’t outargue you. I will tell you about the essence of the latter parts of the Changing Character Formula. However, remember not to get lost in them.”
After saying that, she tapped Xiao Chen’s forehead with her finger. Then, they both closed their eyes. Information traveled through her fingertip and quickly entered into his mind.
Endless flashes of sword images appeared in Xiao Chen’s mind. He saw a tall and upright man whose appearance was indistinct.
Xiao Chen knew that this person was the Thunder Emperor, Sang Mu, who passed on the inheritance of the Thunder Wood Sword to him back then.
The Thunder Emperor’s figure changed continuously. There was only one sword in his hand, but he could materialize thousands upon thousands of Martial Techniques, even Spear Techniques and Saber Techniques.
As the fleeting figures flashed, they turned unpredictable and illusory. The number of figures increased, becoming increasingly confusing. Each figure held a weapon in their hand, all appearing different from each other.
However, the Martial Techniques that each figure used all appeared to be the same, only the weapons were different and the style changed.
Eventually, the thousands of figures merged, and the Thunder Emperor’s vague figure suddenly turned distinct in that instant.
Then, the Thunder Emperor thrust his sword at Xiao Chen. The thousands of techniques turned into one. One sword clearly could only execute one kind of Martial Technique. However, the feeling it gave Xiao Chen was that there were ten thousand Thunder Emperors all executing ten thousand different kinds of Profound Martial Techniques at the same time.
Horrifying. Extremely horrifying. If the Thunder Emperor were alive and even if he were the same cultivation realm as Xiao Chen, Xiao Chen would definitely not be able to block this sword.
Xiao Chen could not help his great shock. Ten thousand techniques in one, moving the mountains and rivers in one breath, piercing through the sky with one sword. Was this the highest realm of the Changing Character Formula?
He now somewhat understood why the Thunder Emperor could rely solely on this Changing Character Formula to sweep through the world, becoming known as the greatest and most powerful genius since the Azure Emperor.
Ao Jiao pulled her finger back. The clear figure in Xiao Chen’s consciousness suddenly shattered, turning into ten thousand clumps of light and flying in every direction.
The information entered Xiao Chen’s mind, vast like smoke and extremely complicated, far surpassing his expectations.
Xiao Chen’s mind blanked out, filled with the vast amount of information. His mind hurt something awful, only recovering after a long time.
Then, he revealed a bitter smile, appearing somewhat dispirited. Earlier, he had underestimated the Changing Character Formula, as well as the Thunder Emperor.
Ao Jiao was not surprised at Xiao Chen’s expression. She said calmly, “Don’t feel so down. Sang Mu accumulated the information I gave you over one thousand years.
“The Changing Character Formula turned the simple to complex and then the complex to simple again. It expanded and contracted over and over again, refined multiple times. Sang Mu spent close to a thousand years comprehending before he arrived at the one word.”
Xiao Chen thought, So, that was how it was. No wonder that sword was so horrifying. Even if he cultivated the Flawless saber Dao for a thousand years, he might still be unable to block it.
However, he felt very curious as to which word Ao Jiao referred to. So he continued asking, “What word?”
“One! As in the one from one, two, three, four, five, six, seven!”
One. What a strange word.
Xiao Chen thought for a while and felt like something was tugging a string in his mind. As long as he could comprehend this, he could gain a humongous benefit.
“Everything started with one. One plus one becomes two; one plus two becomes three; one plus three becomes four, and so on until one plus nine becomes ten, and ten turns back into one. After accumulating to the end, it can cycle infinitely. Sang Mu cultivated to the point where he turned ten thousand into one.”
Ao Jiao smiled and said, “This thing is overly complicated. Sang Mu spent a thousand years before he understood it. Even now, I’ve only scratched the surface. There is no need for you to understand immediately. Just take things as they come.”
Xiao Chen collected his thoughts, recovering his wits. Then, he smiled back to indicate his agreement.
Right now, he only wanted to solve the problem of not knowing every weapon so he could learn the nine Profound Martial Techniques. He was not after comprehending the Thunder Emperor’s Dao. That was too far away.
With the essence of the latter part of the Changing Character Formula, he would solve the problem of not knowing every weapon with a little more effort.
Soon after, Little Yellow Feather killed all the Profound Beasts around the mouth of this volcano. After showing off its might by spewing out a few streams of flames, it pointed its wing at Xiao Chen, and then at the Profound Beast corpses on the ground.
Ao Jiao said, “It said to help it extract all these Profound Cores and store them for it to eat later. Don’t listen to it. I’ll do it. You just focus on cultivating.”
After Little Yellow Feather finished giving instructions, it leaped into the mouth of the volcano to search for an Earth Heart Flame.
Xiao Chen smiled helplessly. He knew that Ao Jiao loved Little Yellow Feather dearly and liked to pamper it, so he did not feel like correcting it.
Little Yellow Feather was normally very proud. However, it did not display any cowardice in a fight.
It had even given one of its lifesaving plume feathers to Xiao Chen. This showed that the little Golden Crow was just displaying the temper of a child; it did not possess a bad nature.
Time slowly passed like this. Xiao Chen focused on practicing the Changing Character Formula and comprehending its mysteries.
The words that the Thunder Emperor left behind allowed Xiao Chen to avoid the wrong path. After half a month, he could already turn ten into one.
Entry was simple. The next step was turning one hundred into one, which gave Xiao Chen something of a headache.
Fortunately, by this point, the problem of not knowing every weapon was already solved. Xiao Chen could now smoothly execute the Profound Martial Techniques of the other weapons.
In terms of aura, his execution was no weaker than what other cultivators could bring out.
All that remained was slowly familiarizing himself with them and comprehending something that belonged to him in order to turn these Profound Martial Techniques from predecessors into his own.
This was a slow process and would require a lot of time; it could not be rushed.
After another month, the group of three had searched practically the entire Flame Ring, gaining a rich harvest.
The group had collected more than ten thousand fire-attributed Profound Cores and found ten-odd Earth Heart Flames.
After Little Yellow Feather swallowed each Earth Heart Flame, it grew larger, and its aura became increasingly overwhelming, inspiring a little fear even in Xiao Chen.
The golden holy fire that Little Yellow Feather spat out was even more horrifying. A few of the Golden Crow’s ancient inherited memories had awakened, allowing it to grasp some of its innate abilities.
These were similar to the cultivators’ Martial Techniques, allowing its flames to bloom a second time and increasing its might.
The strongest move was the Ten Sun Splendor, where it spat out ten balls of golden flames in a ring, creating a scene of ten suns displaying their splendor at the same time.
Xiao Chen had tested this move. When the Ten Sun Splendor was launched at him and he defended with all his might, it still managed to burn away the Azure Dragon Battle Armor completely.
This result made the little fellow very proud for a while.
“Xiao Chen, Little Yellow Feather says that it is tired of eating the fire-attributed Profound Cores already. Now, seeing the Profound Cores is like seeing feces. It says that even the Earth Heart Flame no longer tastes good,” Ao Jiao said as she petted Little Yellow Feather.
It is really picky. Xiao Chen felt envious and jealous. The growth of this Holy Beast truly put him to shame.
As long as the Golden Crow had food to eat, it would grow, completely contrary to natural law.
“Let’s go, then. It is about time to go too. I wonder what that group of outstanding talents managed to obtain on this road.”
Ao Jiao sighed and said, “We already gained so much in the first ring. Their harvest would definitely be no less.”
“That does not matter. Let’s go!”
Xiao Chen arrived at the transportation formation and activated it. In a flash, their figures moved from the transportation formation to the surface of the sea.
After looking around, he found that they were right above Despair City, not too far from it.
“Rumble…!”
Before Xiao Chen found his footing, a loud sound came from a distance. He looked over and saw a group of people miserably fleeing five kilometers away.
These people were currently headed in Xiao Chen’s direction.