Chapter 496: Improvements
Translator: 3heryl Editor: Hitesh_
''Elder Sun, I have something that I want to ask as a favor.'' They were having a good time when Ye Chen suddenly thought of something.
''Yes? If I can, I will definitely help you.''
''Those two friends of mine, I wonder if they can stay at yours for now since they are being chased by the Ao family and I cannot keep them safe by myself. Of course, if it brings troubles for the family, I will think of something else." Letting out a breath, Ye Chen said everything he was thinking about. Wang Snake and Wang Mei were too weak for his level, and were pure burdens for him to carry around. For example, without Wang Snake and Wang Mei, there was no need for him to run so tiredly earlier on. Even if he were not able to fight them, he would have been able to run away for sure. If he decided to fight head-on, he would still be able to wound one or two badly before leaving easily.
Sun Tai laughed, "I thought it was something big. Alright, don't worry. They will be happy to stay here as well. As for the potential troubles, our family is not worried about that kind of things even if it were that Demi-beast of theirs. I also have the confidence to fight at least two hundred rounds of attacks with them."
"Thank you very much!" Ye Chen felt more relaxed. With two extra people around him, he always felt a bit restrained, as if he could not use all of his power.
"Oh! Here are some spirit power crystals I found from one of the human Life and Death Realm warrior remains accidentally. These are useless to people from our race, so I will give them to you!" Sun Tai pushed his palm gently, causing ten red light dots to sprinkle at Ye Chen.
His hands waved in the air for half a circle as Ye Chen captured all of them. Examining them carefully, he found that all those ten red spirit power stones were the size of human thumbs, crystal clear and full of power. What was more important was that these spirit power stones were not like the ones he found in the parallel space battlefield, which had been there for a long time and lacked their original power.
"This...!" Ye Chen lifted up his head and looked at Sun Tai. This present was too valuable.
Sun Tai shook his head, "I don't think I can use one line to tie you to our battling boat. It is not our family's style. Only with investment can there be rewards. It is our principle."
"I am flattered that elder Sun is so appreciative of me. I, Ye Chen, will be your most loyal ally. Right now, Ye Chen doesn't have what it takes yet." Ye Chen said the words that came from the bottom of his heart.
After talking about some serious topics, the three started to chitchat which lasted all the way until midnight before stopping.
...
In the next half a month, Ye Chen had been absorbing the spirit power from the spirit power crystals. It was unlike last time, as the power these stones carried was much purer and richer. However, it also meant it would be a couple of times harder to absorb. Each one of them had taken Ye Chen at least two days to stabilize before he was able to move onto the next one.
After half a month, a burning red qi flow appeared around his body, seeming to have a spirit on its one. It started to travel within Ye Chen's body at an extreme speed, in his blood, flesh, bones, and even bone marrow; they were basically everywhere within his body. Under the vibration of the qi flow, Ye Chen could feel that the impure blockages in his body that were stopping him from advancing had started to get shattered, and his body felt like it was walking up from a long sleep, full of energy.
"This smell! It is a bit fishy!"
Opening his eyes, he felt his body being rather sticky. After taking all of his clothes off, he realized that there was a layer of oil covering his body. It seemed to do no harm to his Zhen yuan training, and was apparently stopped by his spirit body from leaking out into the air.
There was a bath inside the stone room, with the water inside flowing continuously.
After jumping into the bath, he could not help but moan a little, his fixed eyebrows finally relaxing.
"The spirit stones that elder Sun had given me contained a huge amount of power, fifty times more valuable than the ones I used before. Because of him, I have already trained my spirit body to ninety-nine percent. It will only take me a little longer to stabilize it and complete its cultivation."
Tightening his fist, he threw out an air attack toward the stone wall ahead of him.
Pooh!
The stone wall looked like it was made from ashes as it started to fall apart.
If someone with great observation was here, he or she could tell that he did not use a single drop of Zhen yuan, his will power, or physical power. In fact, the power that the fist attack contained could not even blow away a child, because there was no actual power in it at all. But under that kind of circumstances, he was still somehow able to break through the surface of the stone wall.
Revealing a big smile on his face, Ye Chen thought to himself, "The challenge of reaching the Sea of Souls Realm from the Astral Reaching Realm is called 'Breaking Through the Mortal Realm'. Once the spirit body is completed, that means the cultivator is halfway from reaching beyond the 'human' state. It also means that they would have already trained their bodies like their great weapons, containing a hint of their own power. And with that vague power alone, they would be able to make an impact on their surroundings."
"The good thing about completing the spirit body before reaching the Sea of Souls Realm is that the total quantity of Zhen yuan no longer has a limitation, leaving more space for me to grow. Before, I had trained the Green Lotus Sword Spell to the fourteenth realm, which only purified my Zhen yuan by a little without changing the total quantity at all. But right now, it is completely different. The total quantity of my Zhen yuan is growing slowly, seeming to be reaching the limit of what the fourteenth level of Green Lotus Sword Spell can handle."
"Of course, I have not completed my spirit body yet. So, the effect would be about three percent lower."
After cleaning the dirt off his body, he walked out of the bath and changed into clean clothes.
On the second day…
"Eh? The undying body seems to be improving faster and faster now. What is going on?"
Just like before, Ye Chen continued to cultivate his undying body, but the speed today had truly surprised him. It was not slower than when he was trying to improve it during critical moments — within half a day, he could feel that he was about to finish the soul mark on his right arm.
"Perhaps it has something to do with my improved spirit body, eh?"
Besides the fact that he was about to complete the training of his spirit body, there was no other changes in him. Therefore, he found out the source of the change in speed immediately.
It was a common knowledge that only Life and Death Realm warriors could train the undying body. Although the training method of undying body Ye Chen had gotten was relating to recovering his blood and flesh, it was still one level weaker than actually being able to regrow broken limbs. However, it was still extremely hard even for Ye Chen, as only Sea of Souls Realm warriors would normally be able to train it properly.
But, the question was why that was the case.
There were a few differences between the Sea of Souls Realm and the Astral Reaching Realm — the gap between souls, Zhen yuan, and physical body. Training the undying body would require imprinting soul marks onto the physical body; therefore, it had a higher requirement on the soul and bodies. Ye Chen's soul was his advantage, being no weaker than any Sea of Souls Realm warrior's. In other words, what was weaker would be his body. And right now, his body was about to catch up, so there was no doubt that his training speed would become faster.
"No wonder!"
After finding out the cause, a joyous expression appeared on his face. His spirit body was only one step away while his full body recovery art was also a slight effort away. When both of them completed, even though there would not seem to be a drastic change in his general power perceptible with a glance, his defense and self-preservation power would augment by more than ten times. When he faced an enemy of his level, it would be his opponents who would die instead of him. Even in situations where he had to take on two or even more opponents at the same time, he would not have to worry as much as before.
Wooooo!
A shockingly powerful soul vibration started to spread on his body, surprisingly covering his whole body within. His body qi seemed to have formed into a string that went through his whole body as well, leaving him with no more flaws.
"The first level of recovering blood and flesh have finally completed!"
Opening both of his eyes, the first thing he did was to pull out a dagger and stab into his chest.
Pooh!
As it touched his chest, he did not feel anything.
"I did not expect that I could complete cultivating it in such a short period of time. I thought it would at least take me a few years." When he received the cultivation method of the undying body, he had already mentally prepared for a tough process. But, he had also decided that no matter how difficult it would be, he would finish it.
And here, with two to three months' time, he had already finished training it, which was indeed a surprise for him.
Whooo!
Letting out a long and relaxed breath, he said to himself, "The second level of the undying body art is to regrow lost limbs, I don't think I will consider training it for now. It is good as well, because with the time I have to spend on the undying body art, I can instead train other martial arts."
...
Three thousand miles from the Water Ape Cave, in the pitch black deepest parts of the sea, a bright light was flashing like a glowing coral.
Floating within the sea water, one would not be able to touch the ground nor reach the sky. Under this kind of an environment, it would be very likely for one to become desperate and depressed, because it was basically a place of isolation from the world. With the five senses losing their function, only the mind would speak to one under the water.
With his eyes shut close, Ye Chen flicked his fingers and knocked them on his emerald colored longsword.
Ding!
The metal sound continued to linger as if there was some kind of mystery within.
"What sound is this? Who dares to be disrespectful in my neighborhood?" There were a lot of different beasts around the cave, and the rank nine beast, Blue Shell Crab, was indeed one of them. Their kind was known for being aggressive and having a powerful defense. They were good at fighting close-up, so they did not fear other beasts. Only the Water Ape beasts inside the cave could frighten them a bit. Therefore, the crab beast was furious after hearing the noise.
Pop!
It's eight legs moved quickly as the crab beast got out at an extreme speed.
Soon, it saw where the sound was coming from, which was a human in blue clothes. It realized that the sound was probably coming from that sword in his hand, and due to the finger flicking it.
The crab beast could not talk, so it could only use its large claws to create a powerful water wave to warn that human. It was something that he always did to intruders.
"Damn b*stard! He did not even flinch at my move!" After seeing Ye Chen continue to have his eyes closed and flick on his sword, the crab beast was burning with rage. With that, another powerful water wave was been pushed out toward Ye Chen.
Ye Chen, who had his eyes closed all this while, moved his left foot slightly to avoid the incoming attack.
The crab beast was about to rush ahead and cut that human into pieces, but Ye Chen suddenly opened his eyes. As he did so, two dim beams of red light shot out, lighting a whole area of the sea.
"Cut!"
As he held his sword with both of his hands, the body of the sword shot a blue light before releasing a golden light. They both intertwined with each other and pushed out the sea water within ten meters around him, forming a ball-shaped vacuum space. Standing within that space, Ye Chen threw out another powerful sword attack.
Boom!
The sea water became unstable as a bright sword light shot out from within, spreading toward further unknown places.
Without a sound, the sea water was somehow divided into two parts with a hundred meters wide gap. The crab beast on the side had been blown away immediately within the second. It was shocked, and an intense fear spread in its whole body.
It thought to itself, 'If I had rushed out without thinking, I would be definitely dead by now.'
Putting his longsword back into its scabbard, Ye Chen did not even look at the crab beast as he thought to himself, 'With only one week, my Gold Resonant Radiance Art has finally been cultivated to fifty percent. Its attacking power has increased by fifty percent as well. I guess I will move onto cultivating the gold profound then.'
During the month of staying in the cave, Ye Chen had managed to make a lot of improvements. He first trained his spirit body to ninety-nine percent, then completed training the first stage of his undying body art. And now, his Gold Resonant Radiance Art had also been trained to fifty percent.
Shoo!
He turned his body and flew toward the house.
"He is leaving!" The crab beast let out a breath as it hurried to get back to its own cave. It thought that Ye Chen must have forgotten its existence, and it would be its end once he sensed it. So, it hurried to leave without giving Ye Chen the chance to change his mind.