Cultivation: Start From Simplifying Martial Arts Techniques

In just a few days’ time, the news of Chen Fei’s upcoming battle with the Divine Waters Sect had spread throughout the streets and alleys of the Sea Peak City. The Sea Peak City was vast, encompassing an area of thousands of miles in all directions. Here, the natural energy was abundant, and resources for cultivation were relatively rich, resulting in the presence of numerous sects and families.

Yet, the Sea Peak City was also relatively small in a sense because the most precious resources there were controlled by ten major powers, each of which had experts at the Combined Aperture Tempering realm presiding over them. Chen Fei’s name was well-known throughout the Sea Peak City, thanks to the Flag Capture Competition that had taken place over a year ago, which had still been a topic of conversation among the people.

In fact, in many teahouses in various cities, storytellers had still recounted this story, earning some extra tea money.

As for the Divine Waters Sect, they had been even more familiar to everyone. The Divine Waters Sect had been passed down for hundreds of years in the Sea Peak City, and nearly every generation had had experts at the Combined Aperture Tempering realm among them.

Although the Divine Waters Sect had never ventured beyond the Sea Peak City within the entire domain, they had still been considered a giant faction and a ’ sect that countless young people had dreamed of joining.

Now, with these two top powers about to engage in a Blood Battle, it had naturally become the most attention-grabbing event for everyone.

Soon, the reasons for the Blood Battle between the two sides began to circulate through various channels.

Death Shadow Sect, assassinations.

Just a few words had stirred the emotions of everyone and made it clear to all what the cause of this Blood Battle was.

However, several sects affiliated with the Divine Waters Sect didn’t deny this matter outright, but at this point, no one cared whether they admitted it or not. Because logically speaking, the Divine Waters Sect did have a motive to hire the Death Shadow Sect.

With a motive established and Chen Fei directly challenging the Divine Waters Sect to a Blood Battle, it was clear that Chen Fei must have some evidence. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken such a bold step.

People began to anticipate the arrival of the Blood Battle, as in the Sea Peak City, the last one had taken place over a hundred years ago.

A Blood Battle, to fight to the death at the same level of cultivation, was not something most martial artists had the courage for.

After all, those who could cultivate to the Combined Aperture Tempering realm were all exceptionally talented, and even at the initial stage of Combined Aperture Tempering realm, it was hard to have the confidence to say that one could definitely overpower another.

Even if there was a real advantage in terms of combat power, in a true hfe-or-death struggle, the slightest unexpected event could change the outcome directly.

On the contrary, lurking and ambushing in the open sea was the method with the highest chances of success.

Amidst all the commotion in the Sea Peak City, there was some nervousness among the members of the Primordial Sword Sect.

Chen Fei was now the towering giant within the Primordial Sword Sect, and it was evident that he had a high likelihood of continuing to advance in the future.

In this situation, the prospect of Chen Fei engaging in a life-and-death battle against another Combined Aperture Tempering realm cultivator naturally caused anxiety and fear.

Although they had great confidence in Chen Fei, they couldn’t help but worry about unexpected events. The Primordial Sword Sect, as it stood now, couldn’t afford any mishaps.

Inside the secluded chamber of the Tingfeng Pavilion, Chen Fei slowly opened his eyes, his consciousness returning from the dark Strange Heart Realm.

Several Strange Heart Stones fell to the ground, and in a moment, the Heart Refinement Formation silently took shape.

During his time in the Combined Aperture Tempering realm, Chen Fei could set up a triple Heart Refinement Formation. However, with his consciousness further growing in the Combined Aperture Tempering realm, he could now stack the Heart Refinement Formation up to the fifth level.

Each additional level of the Heart Refinement Formation increased the difficulty significantly, but it also greatly enhanced his refining capabilities. Only with a fifth-level Heart Refinement Formation could he refine the essence of third-tier Evil.

Starting from half a year ago, Chen Fei had stopped hunting second-tier Evil creatures because they no longer provided any benefit to his consciousness.

Naturally, Chen Fei set his sights on the third-tier Evil creatures. With the Mirror Image Profound Slaying Sword in hand, although it wasn’t as easy as dealing with second-tier Evil creatures, he could at least slowly wear them down.

In the Thousand Feathers Alliance, the Strange Heart Realm was not a secret to cultivators. Many knew of this place and understood that by slaying and refining Evils, one could strengthen their consciousness.

However, just as many knew the high value of demonic beasts and the abundant resources they could yield when slain, the number of martial artists who could truly rely on hunting demonic beasts as a source of resources was always a minority.

This was because demonic beasts were not puppets to be easily slain. They possessed great ferocity, and sometimes even a martial artist of the same level could not defeat a demonic beast of the same level.

Many times, attempting to slay a demonic beast would come at the cost of one’s life. Even if one’s life was not at risk, injuries were almost unavoidable. Slaying demonic beasts was like living with a head hanging by a thread, liable to fall at any moment.

Demonic beasts were like this, and the Evils within the Strange Heart Realm were no different. In fact, because of the severe contamination Evils could inflict on one’s consciousness, hardly anyone dared to refine them for the benefit of their consciousness.

Compared to physical injuries that could slowly heal, severe contamination of one’s consciousness could lead to its complete ruin, resulting in a drastic change in one’s personality and an inability to jest or take things lightly. Within the Thousand Feathers Alliance, the only faction that ventured into the Strange Heart Realm to some extent was the Shadowy Abyss Sect.

However, even within the Shadowy Abyss Sect, it was unlikely that anyone was as casual as Chen Fei when it came to treating the Strange Heart Realm as their backyard, freely utilizing the essence of Evils.

He didn’t worry about the contamination of Evils, nor did he fear the rejection of the Strange Heart Realm.

In fact, the third-tier Evils within the Strange Heart Realm were far more potent in terms of contamination compared to the second-tier ones.

The most significant difference lay in the fact that the mental techniques used to attack Evils would be directly contaminated by the Evils. Then, they would follow the connection between the mental technique and the consciousness, directly tainting the consciousness.

Initially, it might not be very apparent, but if given a little time, this contamination would become very severe. By then, before successfully slaying the Evil, the consciousness would already be thoroughly tainted.

Yet, Chen Fei had absolutely no worries in this regard. All the mental techniques he employed were mere reflections of his consciousness, incapable of affecting his core consciousness.

The Shadowy Abyss Sect probably had similar mental techniques, but for everyone, the most troublesome issue was the act of refining Evils, which would trigger the rejection of the Strange Heart Realm.

Chen Fei was essentially cheating, and he had no idea how the Shadowy Abyss Sect handled this.

The fifth-level Heart Refinement Formation emitted a faint glow, continuously erasing the contamination within the essence of the Evil. After a moment, a crystalline and translucent Evil essence appeared within the Heart Refinement Formation.

Chen Fei extended his right hand and made contact with the Evil essence. In the next moment, his consciousness was enveloped by the essence, and a faint sense of comfort rippled through his sea of consciousness.

The Evil essence contained a significant amount of energy, but the vast majority of it dissipated along with the dispelling of the contamination.

The truly pure essence comprised only a small portion. If someone could fearlessly consume this contamination and devour the entire Evil essence, the amount of energy they would gain would be immense.

Chen Fei casually dismantled the Heart Refinement Formation on the ground, then resumed his seated position, beginning to practice the Substitute Shadow technique, a secret technique he had obtained from Duan Muxiao’s belongings. The Blood Battle was only a few days away, and most cultivation methods couldn’t yield significant results in such a short time. However, the Substitute Shadow technique was just one move from the Combined Aperture Tempering realm inheritance.

For others to cultivate only techniques and neglect their foundational skills was difficult to achieve, but Chen Fei had the character sheet, which allowed him to bypass the limitations of the inheritance.

As long as the technique remained within the realm of martial arts, whether it was activated by elemental energy or consciousness, it couldn’t escape the simplification provided by the character sheet.

Even techniques not activated by elemental energy or consciousness might still be simplified by the character sheet, although Chen Fei had yet to attempt such a feat.

From sunrise to sunset, and as night fell, the formation emitted a faint glow, illuminating the entire secret chamber.

Chen Fei’s tightly closed eyes opened once again, and a phantom figure rose from behind him. It was none other than his own shadow.

After several days of practice, Chen Fei had brought this Substitute Shadow technique to a state of Great Completion.

Chen Fei sensed the strength of his Substitute Shadow and shook his head slightly after a moment.

As he had suspected before, the Substitute Shadow was an extraordinary technique in the Combined Aperture Tempering realm, capable of blocking fatal attacks in critical moments.

However, in the Combined Aperture Tempering realm, this technique hadn’t grown to become a defense against attacks at that level. Its capacity for withstanding attacks remained at the Aperture Tempering realm level.

However, Chen Fei had already anticipated this possibility before he began his cultivation, so there was no disappointment.

Chen Fei then activated his Phantom of the Soaring Heaven Technique techniques simultaneously, merging the two techniques directly.

The shadow in front of Chen Fei trembled slightly, and a new change appeared within it. Chen Fei sensed this transformation, and his expression couldn’t help but shift slightly.

In the next moment, the entirely new Substitute Shadow fused into Chen Fei’s body, and Chen Fei’s figure moved slightly. In the entire secret chamber, countless images of Chen Fei appeared.

After a while, Chen Fei stopped, and the lingering afterimages around him gradually disappeared.

“My speed has actually improved!”

The results of his experiment had taken Chen Fei by surprise. He hadn’t expected that his previously weak point, his agility, would be resolved through this peculiar attempt.

Originally, the Phantom of the Soaring Heaven Technique techniques operated separately. The Soaring Heaven Technique was a standalone technique, while the Substitute Shadow integrated itself into the body to be ready to block attacks at any moment.

Now that the two techniques had merged, the Substitute Shadow had been incorporated into the body, and in the process, it had also added a portion of the speed from the Soaring Heaven Technique to Chen Fei’s abilities.

Chen Fei was essentially employing two instances of the Soaring Heaven Technique simultaneously. Although the basic speed of the Soaring Heaven Technique was ordinary, the simultaneous use of two instances made it significantly faster.

This was quite a novel experience because normally, when a technique was in operation, it could only be pushed to its limit, but that didn’t necessarily double its effectiveness.

However, due to the integration of the Substitute Shadow, Chen Fei’s Soaring Heaven Technique had indeed effectively doubled.

Of course, Chen Fei’s current agility hadn’t doubled because of this. The Soaring Heaven Technique operated by the Substitute Shadow was at the level of the Aperture Tempering realm.

In essence, it was like Chen Fei’s current speed at the Combined Aperture Tempering realm had received an additional boost equivalent to that of the Combined Aperture Tempering realm, resulting in an overall increase of around thirty percent.

Thirty percent might not seem like a high increase at first glance, but this had instantly elevated Chen Fei’s agility from being relatively average for an early Combined Aperture Tempering realm cultivator to a position akin to a standout among early Combined Aperture Tempering realm cultivators.

In fact, it surpassed the speed of most mid Combined Aperture Tempering realm cultivators.

This was truly a qualitative transformation..