Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

Chapter 1497: Chapter 810: Inverted Mountain (Part 2)

"Hoo, next... next time... I’ll definitely take more... I’m... leaving." Zhao Sheng said, panting heavily with a flushed face, and after speaking intermittently, his body no longer resisted the external rejection.

As soon as he finished speaking, he vanished into thin air.

...

Just before dawn, it was the darkest stage of the day.

In a secluded corner, a short figure suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Bang!

Ten-thousand-year-old Xuan Iron fell from his hands, heavily crashing into the ground.

Zhao Sheng’s face was red, his Divine Sense flooding madly into his limbs, desperately guiding the torrent of Spiritual Energy through his meridians, enthusiastically pouring into his Core Energy Sea.

The Divine Sense split into countless threads of thought, spreading throughout the Qi Sea Void, with the Spirit Power Vortex rapidly expanding, spinning like a storm, devouring and refining the surging torrent of Spiritual Energy.

Third Layer,

Fourth Layer,

Fifth Layer,

...

Eighth Layer,

Ninth Layer,

Great Perfection!

In just a moment, the size of the Spirit Power Vortex swelled several times, and the Dantian Qi Sea was filled with a dense, mist-like Spiritual Energy.

At this moment, Zhao Sheng’s cultivation had already reached Qi Refining Perfection.

Simultaneously, the range of the Divine Sense also increased dramatically

Twenty zhang,

Thirty zhang,

...

It kept extending until finally reaching beyond a hundred and eighty zhang, where the range of the Divine Sense truly reached its limit.

This number exceeded that of a typical Early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator by seven or eight times.

Whoosh!

Zhao Sheng slowly collected his energies, exhaling a long, gray-black pillar of air. At this moment, his whole body was wrapped in a layer of dark red, foul-smelling filth.

Seeing this situation, he said nothing, promptly taking off his robe and flicking out a Spiritual Fire to burn the robe to ashes.

Then he performed the Dust Removal Technique ten times in a row, thoroughly removing all the filth from his body.

Zhao Sheng lowered his head and sniffed, not detecting any strange smell, and nodded in satisfaction.

Subsequently, he unleashed his Divine Sense, lifting the Ten-thousand-year-old Xuan Iron embedded in the ground.

Then his figure flickered, and he suddenly merged into the darkness, disappearing without a trace.

...

Spring passed and autumn came, and in the blink of an eye, three years had gone by.

On this day, the surroundings of White Stone Square were buzzing with noise, with people scattered in the four directions of east, south, west, and north, clearly divided into more than ten groups, with the largest numbering fifty to sixty people, and the smallest seven or eight people.

After three years of Cultivation, the Magic Battle had been held six times. The power structure of the Lower Six Courtyards had long since become clear.

Of the six courtyards, the most powerful group, also known as the Vigorous Alliance, included members from the Ding, Wu, and Ji courtyards, numbering more than seventy people. The weakest was the Hundred Skills Association, which, although had fewer than ten members, each was Master of a Cultivation skill, not to be underestimated by outsiders.

At this moment, over three hundred people were scattered around the square, all staring intently at the center, where a grand melee had reached its climax.

Puff!

A young man with a Cover Armor, with narrow and long eyebrows, was struck by a stick, violently knocked backward, unable to help but spit out blood while in mid-air.

"Sigh, Chan Fei is becoming fiercer! Even Zhou Sheng couldn’t withstand a single hit." The crowd sighed in unison and couldn’t help but discuss.

The Chan Fei in everyone’s mouth was a burly giant nearly a zhang tall with a waist span of ten bei.

If it weren’t for the hint of naivety on his face, anyone would think he was an unparalleled warrior, sweeping through the battlefield like a raging storm.

Chan Fei held the Kanglong Stick upside down with one hand, his tiger eyes sweeping across the scene, and his gaze landed on a half-height, dark, heavy Turtle Shell Shield.

The owner of the Turtle Shell Shield is a young man with a heroic appearance and a tall stature, standing casually at the corner of the square, gazing leisurely around as if he were not on a battlefield, but merely a spectator enjoying the show.

"Zhao Sheng, I challenge you!" Chan Fei steadied his mind and suddenly shouted, raising his Kanglong Stick and striding forward.

"Ah, take this!"

Chan Fei moved swiftly, invading within a two-zhang range in a flash, suddenly leaping high, swinging the Kanglong Stick with both hands, and smashed it onto the Turtle Shell Shield with the force of thousands of pounds.

With a loud boom, the Kanglong Stick bounced high up, Chan Fei’s palms cracked and bled, and he was thrown three zhangs away.

The Kanglong Stick flew out of his hands, traveling far beyond the square.

Chan Fei struggled to sit up from the ground, looking at Zhao Sheng with disbelief and exclaimed, "You... you’re cheating!"

However, the word "cheating" was stuck at his lips, forcibly swallowed back down.

He believed that he knew Zhao Sheng well enough that if it came to artifact refining skills, this person would be among the top of his peers, but when it came to dueling skills he didn’t have much talent, barely making it at the end of the top ten due to relying on the refined Mystic Turtle Shield.

He didn’t expect that within less than half a year, the opponent had actually refined the Mystic Turtle Shield again, even adding a countershock-like Magic Prohibition. This had truly put him at a disadvantage.

"Haha, you big fool, you’ve lost! Next time, stop seeking me out, to save your effort in vain," Zhao Sheng walked over, smiling as he looked at Chan Fei, the Mystic Turtle Shield spinning playfully in front of its master.

Chan Fei’s face turned red then white, suddenly stood up from the ground without saying a word, turned around and left, disappearing into the crowd in an instant.

Zhao Sheng withdrew his gaze, looked around, and discovered that there were still thirteen people left in the square.

"It’s about time!" he thought silently, then formed seals with both hands, sending streams of spiritual power into the Mystic Turtle Shield.

The Mystic Turtle Shield instantly shone brightly, with a faint layer of black light emerging on its surface, making the surrounding air much heavier.

A quarter of an hour later, three more people couldn’t hold on and had to leave the square.

Then, from the east, west, and south, three people silently surrounded Zhao Sheng.

Zhao Sheng smiled upon seeing them; these three people were "old acquaintances" from the Vigorous Alliance.

It was in this manner that he had been eliminated last time, and he didn’t expect it to happen again this time!

"Alright, you three win!" Zhao Sheng had no intention of stealing the spotlight, and neatly admitted defeat, collecting the Mystic Turtle Shield and then turned to leave the square.

"Brother Sheng, they’re too bullying! If they have the guts, let them come at us one-on-one," Chen Polu separated from the crowd and voluntarily approached, with a look of protest and defiance.

Zhao Sheng glanced at him and stated, "Naive! If you encounter enemy siege in the future, do you think the enemy will duel you one-on-one?"

"This isn’t... this isn’t..." Chen Polu murmured, still somewhat unreconciled.

"Don’t be unreconciled; watch how others deal with enemies, you have a lot to learn," Zhao Sheng pointed towards the field, hinting at something.

Upon Zhao Sheng’s words, Chen Polu looked and saw Wu Chengsi wielding a golden short sword about a foot long, maneuvering around the field, slices of sword light breaking through multiple group assaults with great ease.

"Hmph, merely relying on the sharpness of the Magic Sword. If I had a top-quality Magic Sword, I could be invincible too," Chen Polu’s eyes stayed on that golden short sword, still somewhat unconvinced.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Sheng teased, "He broke through to the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining half a year ago. You’re just barely at the Third Layer. I have no idea where you get the courage to compare with him."

Chen Polu paused, then suddenly whispered, "I can’t compare to Alliance Leader Wu, but what about you, Brother Sheng? If you didn’t deliberately hold yourself back, you might have been able to secure a spot in the top three, why let Wu steal the limelight?"

With three years of day and night interaction, Chen Polu was more aware than anyone of his leader’s mystery.

For three years, he had repeatedly received pointers from his leader, making it possible for him to breach the Third Layer of Qi Refining despite having inferior talent with Five Spirits Roots.

Except for his leader, the other contemporaries with Five Spirits Roots were still spinning at the Second Layer of Qi Refining, nowhere near touching the threshold of the Third Layer of Qi Refining.

"Little Chenzi, the rafter that sticks out first rots first! You don’t need my reminder about this principle. Also, don’t forget our identity. Think first about how to reach the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining within two years," Zhao Sheng reminded him again.

Chen Polu, being in the midst, naturally could not see the truth, which was that everyone in the Lower Six Courtyards was just a group of cattle or cannon fodder.

Every five years, the Lower Six Courtyards would receive a batch of newcomers, then spend five years training them into new cattle, to be driven by the Three Extremes Zhao Family.

The cattle might have a chance at advancing to Foundation Establishment, but hardly any chance at forming a Golden Core, because the cultivation techniques in the Scripture Storage Tower had long been tampered with, effectively severing the opportunity for the cattle to retaliate.

Chen Polu, young and naive, had yet to truly perceive the brutality and ruthlessness of the Cultivation World.

"Leader, two years later when we leave the courtyards. Which hall do you plan to join?"

In the internal power division of the Three Extremes Zhao Family, it is usually divided into the Outer Eight Halls, Inner Five Houses, and the Secret Three Halls.

The Inner Five Houses and Secret Three Halls can only be joined by Zhao Family disciples, while "outsiders" born from the Lower Six Courtyards, like Zhao Sheng, can only be assigned to the Outer Eight Halls, doing heavy tasks with hard work but little credit in the future.

"The Foreign Affairs Hall, Artifact Refining Hall, or Dan Ding Hall, one of these three."

Chen Polu’s eyes lit up, quickly suggesting, "Leader, let’s go to the Foreign Affairs Hall together. It’s said that not only does the Foreign Affairs Hall have plenty of benefits, but also numerous assignments abroad, with us working together, we can certainly make a name for ourselves; then..."

Zhao Sheng didn’t make a sound, his gaze sweeping across Chen Polu’s face, seeing only a pair of ambitious eyes.

On that day, the Magic Battle concluded with Zhao Sheng ranked at the end of the top ten, rewarded with a hundred Spirit Stones and a bottle of Yunyuan Pill.