Chapter 663: Downwind Chop
Chapter 663: Downwind Chop
Xiao Chen remained calm and composed. Despite the fierce attacks of the group of Inferior Grade Martial Monarchs, he moved leisurely. As he swung his scabbard, he shattered all the incoming blows.
After he found some openings, he used the scabbard to strike out with the power of thunder. Saber intent and Quintessence exploded and sent various figures flying. After they landed, they could no longer get up again.
Xiao Chen did not pull his punches. He broke at least a few bones of the people he struck. They would need to rest no less than a month to recover.
The others were astonished. This was the result when Xiao Chen did not draw his saber. If he had bared the blade, then the people on the ground would all be dead.
The battle did not last long. With Xiao Chen’s strong Quintessence, he had a suppressive advantage over these people.
Xiao Chen was clearly just an early-stage Inferior Grade Martial Monarch. However, when they fought, he easily broke the Martial Techniques of these people. Many people could not understand what was happening.
“Dang!”
The tip of the scabbard knocked heavily on the ground, giving off a loud sound that reverberated into the surroundings. The black-clad swordsman and his group could not stand up.
The remnant saber intent in the air continued to buzz like a treasured saber humming.
When Xiao Chen heard this, he frowned slightly. He still did not have absolute control over his sixty-percent-comprehended saber intent. However, it was already much better than before.
“Xiao Chen, don’t be too happy yet. Just wait for Young Master Gui to finish his mission and return. Just you wait,” the black-clad swordsman shouted viciously from where he sprawled on the ground.
Xiao Chen smiled gently. He said calmly, “In that case, pass this message to Gui Wu. I, Xiao Chen, will be waiting for him. If he does not come to me, I will go seek him out.
“As for you, you can scram now!”
Before the surrounding people’s bewildered gazes, Xiao Chen raised his leg and kicked the black-clad swordsman. The amount of force in the kick was immense, knocking the swordsman away at a speed that the onlookers’ eyes found hard to keep up with.
A heart filled with anger precluded harmony in one’s mind. A manly man did not have any hatred he would not avenge. Since Gui Wu dared to snatch Xiao Chen’s Spirit Gathering Pearls, he had to pay the price for it. No matter how far he was, Xiao Chen would extract it from him.
Xiao Chen would have to deal with Gui Wu sooner or later. How could he fear the black-clad swordsman’s threat?
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There were individual courtyards especially for the use of inner sect disciples in the eastern city. These courtyards had quiet cultivation rooms, well-stocked practice grounds, and elegant environments; they were clean and simple.
The Rank 1 Spirit Vein in the cultivation room supplied only the occupant of the courtyard. Living in such a place was more than ten times better than the initial residential area.
However, the price was unimaginably high. A month’s rent would cost two hundred thousand Superior Grade Spirit Stones.
Although Xiao Chen felt heartache over this, he still rented the courtyard. Just being able to have a Spirit Vein to himself was worth the price. Furthermore, he also needed a big and quiet place to comprehend his saber intent.
Xiao Chen spent four hundred thousand Superior Grade Spirit Stones in one breath, paying for two months of rent. A manservant brought him over to the courtyard assigned to him.
His courtyard sat beside a beautiful lake. The lake was vast and glittering. Lush trees lined the lakeside, swaying in the wind.
Similar courtyards dotted the lakefront every few hundred meters. Actually, this was the area where inner sect disciples with deep pockets resided.
Only those wealthy inner sect disciples who had cultivated for a few years, even decades, had the means to pay this expensive rent. Most people would not be able to afford it.
“Senior Brother Xiao Chen, this is your new abode. There are already maids and servants in the courtyard. If you prefer to be alone and silent, you can tell them to leave.”
The manservant looked respectfully at Xiao Chen as he pointed to the gates.
Xiao Chen looked around and felt satisfied with the surrounding environment. Then he said, “You may leave now. You can bring the others with you as well. Just get them to send food over once a week, and that will do.”
After everyone left, Xiao Chen stood under a large tree in the garden. He recalled the battle between Feng Xingsheng and Ren Hua once more.
After a while, Xiao Chen closed his eyes, not thinking of anything. He started to comprehend the inspiration that he had gained.
The trees around were lush and tall, more than a hundred meters tall. When the wind blew, leaves fell, dancing in the air and swirling around Xiao Chen.
His hair fluttered in the wind as well. At this moment, he was dressed in his white robes and held the Lunar Shadow Saber with his left hand. He had his eyes closed like he had fallen into a deep sleep.
Four days. Xiao Chen stood beneath this big tree for a total of four days. He did not do anything; he just stood still like that.
A few yellow leaves sat on his head and shoulders. He did not seem aware of them nor did he brush them off; he merely stood there.
Xiao Chen seemed just like a statue in the silent courtyard. If anyone came, they would not discover at first glance that a living person was standing in the garden.
At some point in time, the silent and ornament-like Xiao Chen suddenly moved. He grasped his saber with his right hand and casually drew it.
He did not pay any attention to the angle. He did not have any target or any purpose. He simply drew the saber offhand and exhibited what he had comprehended in the past few days.
“Xiu!”
A strand of dazzling saber Qi burst into the air. A strong wind blew, and leaves flew everywhere, filling the air.
This saber Qi was like a precise surgical scalpel. It gently sliced the leaves in the air, splitting the leaves in front in half.
Then, the saber Qi disappeared in an instant, turning into ripples and vanishing into the air.
The wind still blew, and the leaves remained airborne. It was as if that strand of saber Qi had never appeared. After a long time, the strong wind died down, and the dry leaves drifted to the ground.
Xiao Chen opened his eyes and looked around. Everything appeared the same. If not for the many fragmentary leaves on the ground, no one would know that Xiao Chen had just sent out a strand of saber Qi infused with sixty-percent-comprehended saber intent and fifty percent of his Quintessence.
A strong strand of saber Qi appeared and disappeared silently in such a manner. None of its aura had leaked out.
When Xiao Chen sheathed his saber, everything broke off cleanly, completed in one breath. He revealed a faint smile and said, “I finally sent out an attack containing a perfect sixty-percent-comprehended saber intent.
“However, I spent four days preparing for this attack. In battle, my opponent won’t let me have even a second to prepare.”
After pondering for a while more, Xiao Chen took out a small jade bottle from the Universe Ring and tipped out a Medicinal Pill.
This was a Spiritual Heart Pill, a Rank 8 Medicinal Pill like the Quintessence Gathering Pill. It could temporarily aid a cultivator’s comprehension without any side effects.
Xiao Chen had obtained this from the Rising Sky Pavilion disciple, Liu Feihu. This was a good moment for him to use it.
He swallowed the Spiritual Heart Pill, and when the Medicinal Energy spread out, he felt his head clear up. His thought processes broadened limitlessly, achieving several different understandings on the perfect sixty-percent-comprehended saber intent.
Xiao Chen already had high comprehension ability in the first place. If it was not high, he would not have been able to comprehend his own Four Season Saber Technique. With such foundations, the Spiritual Heart Pill had a much greater effect on him.
The Spiritual Heart Pill only lasted for ten minutes. However, he gained a lot in these ten minutes, including a deeper understanding of the perfect saber intent.
“Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!”
Xiao Chen’s hesitation and fogged mind cleared up. He sent out three attacks, each one perfectly merging his saber intent and saber Qi, not leaking any of it out.
Over the next three days, he finished the remaining three Spiritual Heart Pills. Now, when he sent out a saber Qi, it contained the sixty-percent-comprehended saber intent perfectly.
He could release or withdraw it as he pleased without needing much preparation. He could perfectly merge his saber intent with the saber Qi in a casual attack.
Then, Xiao Chen practiced the Four Season Saber Technique in the courtyard. Unexpectedly, after he mastered perfect control over the sixty-percent-comprehended saber intent, he gained new comprehensions for each of the moves of the Four Season Saber Technique.
The might of First Clap of Spring Thunder, Burning to Desolation, Fated Person in Autumn Waters, and Grieving Frost increased significantly, giving Xiao Chen a welcome surprise.
After he finished practicing Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, he was delighted. Then, he practiced the last move of the Four Season Saber Technique, Cycle of Seasons, in one breath.
In that instant, scenes from all seasons appeared in the courtyard. The peach blossoms of April, the meteors of July, the autumn wind of October, and the snow of January. All these appeared together and intertwined with one another.
Xiao Chen swung his saber and, with the support of the perfect sixty-percent-comprehended saber intent, the power of the Cycle of Seasons turned into a multicolored light.
“Boom!”
A colossal force exploded out, and a shocking pillar of water appeared in the lake. It was a hundred meters wide and several kilometers tall. At one glance, it looked very majestic.
Xiao Chen smiled faintly and sheathed his saber. The force that powered the pillar of water instantly vanished. The massive volume of water immediately fell back down.
The wealthy disciples staying in the same area all felt that force. They immediately came out of their courtyards and looked around.
The lake rippled endlessly. However, the incredibly strong force from earlier could no longer be felt, disconcerting everyone.
“Strange, I wonder which senior was testing out his new Martial Technique earlier?”
The inner sect disciples that came out all shook their heads gently and returned to their respective courtyards with expressions of suspicion.
Xiao Chen whispered to himself, “The might of the perfect sixty-percent-comprehended saber intent is indeed extraordinary. No wonder Feng Xingsheng was able to defeat Ren Hua in one move back then.”
If that genius from the battle realm, Ren Hua, did not make any improvements, given Xiao Chen’s strength now, he was confident of having a seventy percent chance of victory.
“Xiao Chen! Get out here!”
As Xiao Chen pondered and prepared to go out, a loud shout came from the opposite shore of the lake. Eighteen connected pillars of water burst out of the now calm lake.
Xiao Chen looked up and stared into the distance. He immediately saw Gui Wu, who had just finished his mission and rushed back.
A group of people followed behind Gui Wu, each of them releasing a frightening aura and killing intent. On the road along the opposite shore, the inner sect disciples from Xiao Chen’s previous residential area all ran over as well.
If Xiao Chen guessed right, Gui Wu must have spread the word on purpose. He probably wanted to defeat Xiao Chen before everyone, reestablishing his might, gaining the trust of his own faction, and showing off his faction’s power.
One week ago, Xiao Chen injured all the subordinates Gui Wu sent to collect Spirit Gathering Pearls. If Gui Wu could not avenge them, he would not be able to establish himself as a major faction in the inner sect. In the future, no one would listen to him.
“You finally came. I have been waiting for very long.”
Xiao Chen smiled faintly and pushed off the ground. He soared into the air and flew to the center of the lake.