Chapter 1229: Brand-new Cycle Banner
With Xiao Chen’s meticulous cultivation, the somewhat weak Primordial Energy became increasingly dense. As it moved around, the strength that it carried became even more obvious.
When he finished refining the Primordial Energy, he immediately took out the Essence Stones and started to absorb the Spiritual Energy in them fearlessly.
The ten strands of Primordial Energy were like babies waiting to be fed, and the Heavenly Laws were the best food for it.
Now, Xiao Chen was no longer stuck in a bottleneck. He was no longer in his previous situation, where he had vast amounts of resources but could not use them because of the bottleneck of Great Perfection quasi-Emperor.
Now, he only feared an inadequacy of resources and not a surplus.
Two days passed in a flash. However, when Xiao Chen woke up from cultivating, the ten strands of purple Primordial Energy had clearly deepened in hue.
He still had one more day before he had to depart. There was no need to rush over to the Distant Sea Dragon Grave, so he looked around in the Universe Ring and took out the Cycle Banner.
Xiao Chen had not used this Secret Treasure in a long time, and even then, he had not used it much. As a bladesman, he would rather trust in the saber in his hand and the strength that stemmed from himself. However, it was time to refine the Cycle Banner again, to turn it into a trump card against Martial Emperors.
He had no choice but to refine it again. He did not know what dangers there were in the Distant Sea Dragon Grave. One more trump card would mean one more chance to protect himself.
The five thrones that were already refined into Astral Pearls sat within the Cycle Banner. Respectively, they were Massacre, Death, Ruin, Grief, and Despair. The Pain Throne and Destruction Throne had yet to be found.
Aside from spending considerable sums of money on information brokers of the Kunlun Realm to search for information about the last two thrones, he also asked many of his friends to keep an eye out. However, there had not been any news. It seemed like the Destruction Throne and the Pain Throne had vanished without a trace.
However, this matter could not be rushed. While there might not be any news of it now, when the opportunity came, he might unexpectedly obtain word of it.
Hence, these two remaining thrones were not considered. The Cycle Banner that already gathered five thrones already possessed extraordinary might.
After thinking for a while, Xiao Chen put away the Cycle Banner and left the cultivation room. Then, he flew up and left this island, where many cultivators gathered, in search of a desolate island, which he landed on.
Refining the Cycle Banner would definitely cause a huge commotion. If he did not find a more remote location, it would be inconvenient.
Aside from strangely shaped rocks and mountains, the desolate island he stood on did not even have grass growing on it. It was vast and quiet with a dark night sky above.
Xiao Chen pushed off the ground and landed on the peak of a barren mountain. With a thought, the Cycle Banner appeared in his hand. Then, he shook the pole heavily.
The scarlet banner immediately unfurled. The seven Astral Pearls on it glittered with light. Instantly, countless beams of starlight descended from the sky.
It looked like a meteor shower, immediately making the desolate island seem very dreamy.
One could easily tell that the five Astral Pearls infused with the five thrones on the banner had even richer and more dazzling colors.
Even the pure-black of the Death Astral Pearl was an eye-catching and dazzling black—which was extremely strange.
Actually, the Cycle Banner in Xiao Chen’s hand already far surpassed the definition of an Astral Banner. When he infused the thrones into it, it had changed significantly.
However, its roots were still present. In order to refine it, he still required large amounts of resources.
Fortunately, Xiao Chen had just obtained the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance and did not lack resources. He intended to melt down one of the Emperor Grade Secret Treasures and infuse the divine materials from it into the Cycle Banner.
Xiao Chen only had one purpose: to reforge the Cycle Banner into a pseudo-Emperor Grade Secret Treasure.
Why the addition of the word “pseudo”? It was because Xiao Chen still could not bring out the full might of a true Emperor Grade Secret Treasure. Without a Golden Emperor Body, he would not be able to endure the pressure brought on by an Emperor Grade Secret Treasure. Using it would inflict damage on himself aside from his opponent.
What he wanted to refine was a pseudo-Emperor Grade Secret Treasure, which he could use as he pleased. Furthermore, he would be able to bring out its full might. Such a Secret Treasure would go beyond a peak King Grade Secret Treasure.
After thinking about it, only the term pseudo-Emperor Grade Secret Treasure would describe the re-refined Cycle Banner.
Among the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance, there was a set of sabers—the Seven Deadly Sins. Even one of these sabers was a Divine Weapon. Naturally, Xiao Chen could not bear to melt them down.
Aside from this, there were four other Emperor Grade Secret Treasures. After lending one to Su Tianyun, there were still three.
Emperor Grade Secret Treasures were hard to obtain. Regular Rank 9 sects would normally have only one that was passed down through the generations. Right now, Xiao Chen alone held three. Anyone would be envious if they heard of it, even a Martial Emperor.
If these people knew that Xiao Chen was vexed over the question of which Emperor Grade Secret Treasure to melt down, they would probably even feel like dying.
“This shall be this one, the Profound Water Treasure Armor. I have the Azure Dragon War Body; defense is not my weakness. Furthermore, the water attribute of this Battle Armor clashes with the lightning attribute of my body.”
After thinking for a long time, Xiao Chen finally made his decision and chose an Emperor Grade Secret Treasure Battle Armor to provide the materials for re-refining his Cycle Banner.
What would Sang Mu think if he were still alive and saw how are you wasting the Secret Treasures that he left behind? Ao Jiao teased from the Immortal Spirit Ring.
Xiao Chen smiled happily and retorted, “He probably would not care. See, he did not even leave a Spiritual Mark on it. To the Thunder Emperor, these kinds of things might be precious, but they are just burdens and can only be put on display as decoration.
“Right now, I am making use of it. If he came to know of this, he would feel gratified that such an eyesore could be used.”
Ao Jiao’s mouth twitched as she said, Sophistry.
“What I said is definitely true. See, even you can’t rebut,” Xiao Chen said with a smile. Then, he started melting down the Emperor Grade Secret Treasure.
While it was extremely difficult to refine an Emperor Grade Secret Treasure, it was very easy to destroy it completely from the inside out.
First, Xiao Chen left behind his Spiritual Mark to make the Emperor Grade Secret Treasure recognize him as its master. Then, he destroyed all the hidden formations on the inside of the Profound Water Treasure Armor one by one.
When all the formations were destroyed, the Profound Water Treasure Armor suddenly gave off a resplendent light as a strong Emperor’s Might soared into the clouds.
This radiance illuminated the surrounding fifty kilometers like it was day. The light was so dazzling that no one would dare to look at it directly.
Xiao Chen squinted and said, “Fortunately, I had the foresight to find a remote and desolate island. Otherwise, such a commotion would definitely attract trouble.”
The light did not last for long. By the time it scattered, the Profound Water Treasure Armor had already separated into over a thousand components floating in the air.
In the dark night, every one of these components gave off light like fireflies, looking very beautiful. There was a gemstone giving off a watery-blue light in the very center. This was a Profound Water Heart.
This was the core divine material of the Emperor Grade Secret Treasure. Without this Profound Water Heart, the Profound Water Treasure Armor would not have existed.
Xiao Chen’s eyes lit up. Of these one thousand-odd components, each one of them represented fifty tons of peak divine materials. Adding in the Profound Water Heart, he would be able to achieve his aim of re-refining the Cycle Banner with so many divine materials.
“I’ll refine the first Astral Pearl first, the Massacre Astral Pearl!”
With a thought, a scarlet pearl in the Cycle Banner automatically floated out.
Xiao Chen took out the Dragon Phoenix Cauldron, and the Astral Pearl slowly entered the cauldron with a thought. A light flickered in his left eye. Then, all the Lunar True Flame in him spewed out. It burned fiercely as it spread out in the cauldron.
With a wave of his hand, over a hundred of the Emperor Grade Secret Treasure components entered the cauldron. That would be thousands of tons of divine materials.
If an expert of the Cyclic Astral Palace saw such a scene, he would cry from the heartache.
This was too extravagant. The thousands of tons of divine materials were more than sufficient to refine several peak Astral Banners. However, Xiao Chen used them all for only one Astral Pearl. Furthermore, it looked like he intended to continue using thousands of tons of divine materials for each of the other Astral Pearls.
That could not be helped. Others worried about where to find resources, putting in a lot of effort on doing so. However, Xiao Chen worried about how to use these resources and not let them gather dust in his Universe Ring.
He used forty thousand tons of divine materials in all for the five Astral Pearls infused with the five thrones and ten thousand tons for the banner pole. As for the Profound Water Heart, he used it to give the banner the attribute of profound water.
As the banner waved, it moved like the waves of the sea, like it was a boundless ocean roaring as it surged. It caused the space around to shake.
When dawn arrived and the morning sun peeked out, the warm sunlight shone, sweeping away all the darkness.
At this moment, Xiao Chen also finished re-refining his Cycle Banner.
He abruptly shook the banner. It unfurled and waved in the wind. Suddenly, the sound of rumbling water roared, surging endlessly. Horrifyingly huge waves kicked up in the sea surrounding the desolate island for fifty kilometers around.
Massacre, Ruin, Death, Grief, and Despair, the five Astral Pearls on the banner shone with a bright light.
Boundless starlight descended like a torrent. The formerly bright sky above turned utterly dark.
The light of the Cycle Banner completely overshadowed the morning sun, causing night to fall once more.
When one raised their head, they would see starlight of five different colors flickering on the Cycle Banner, spreading an Astral Energy that could destroy the world.
As Xiao Chen held the banner pole, he clearly felt the power contained within the Astral Banner.
He shouted and spun the banner around. Then, he used it as a spear and gently stabbed the ground.
“Boom!”
The multicolored starlight contained in the Astral Banner silently flashed and instantly blew up the island under Xiao Chen’s feet, turning it into powder and annihilating it.
An enormous black hole appeared on the vast sea, looking extremely horrifying.
Xiao Chen’s figure flashed as he backed away. Then, the whirlpool formed by the black hole shot a gigantic spout of water into the clouds.
When Xiao Chen, who held the Cycle Banner, saw that gigantic spout, awe spread in his chest.
When the water fell back down, he unfurled the Cycle Banner and swung it about on the surface of the sea to his heart’s content.
Massacre, death, ruin, grief, and despair—these five different states merged with the starlight to produce five different colors.
Night fell again with Xiao Chen’s motions. As the Cycle Banner moved about, it erupted with shocking energy. As he swung it, starlight exploded and space rumbled as it trembled.
“However, even though the current might of this Cycle Banner can injure regular Martial Emperors, it is not sufficient to intimidate them. It is far from sufficient.”
Xiao Chen stood upright in the air as he held the banner. The water in the sky rained down without pause.