Cultivation: Immunity to Negative Effects

About seven days after Patriarch Chen left, he visited again, this time bringing a Foundation Establishment Peak senior from the Zhong Family. Like the Chen Family, they had decided to secure Zhang Chi’s status as an Honored Guest Elder sooner rather than later.

Apparently, they had learned the news that Zhang Chi was about to become a Tier Two Alchemist. This information most likely came from Patriarch Chen or Chen Ling’er.

For some reason, however, Chen Ling’er hadn’t come with them this time. Moreover, she hadn’t been messaging Zhang Chi as frequently as before over the past few days.

Zhang Chi didn’t pay it much mind, though, simply assuming she was busy with her cultivation.

The Zhong Family’s offer for an Honored Guest Elder was slightly better than the Chen Family’s—a direct payment of 150,000 Spirit Stones for ten years, with the promise of more as his alchemy and cultivation improved. Zhang Chi accepted on the spot.

The three of them chatted for a while before the two visitors left together.

After that, Zhang Chi’s life settled into a peaceful and regular routine. His days were spent cultivating and attending lectures—busy, yet fulfilling.

Although his cultivation had reached the Foundation Establishment Late Stage and breakthroughs now took longer, Master Jian’s unreserved guidance caused Zhang Chi’s foundation in Immortal Cultivation to deepen rapidly each day.

In addition, Li Ruohai, Shangguan Hui, and Yan Tengfei would occasionally visit Master Jian or come directly to Zhang Chi to exchange pointers or just hang out.

Li Ruohai even taught Zhang Chi some tricks for Body Refining and close-quarters combat, which helped him a great deal.

The only problem was that Li Ruohai was a sparring maniac, always wanting to have a match with Zhang Chi. Not wanting to expose his true strength, Zhang Chi could only refuse frantically.

Shangguan Hui, on the other hand, would teach Zhang Chi some secrets of controlling puppets. Because Zhang Chi was such a fast learner, he earned her deep appreciation.

Shangguan Hui even urged Zhang Chi to give up alchemy and switch to the Puppetry Technique.

Unfortunately, Shangguan Hui’s own Puppetry Technique inheritance was from the Sect and could not be passed on to outsiders.

Furthermore, her Puppetry Technique had only recently broken through to the Tier Two Peak.

When Zhong Yu underwent her Foundation Establishment and left for the Demon Abyss, Shangguan Hui had been in seclusion. She had only successfully broken through and emerged a short while ago.

For this reason, even Zhong Yu, with whom she had a good relationship, hadn’t had the chance to receive a Tier Two Peak Puppet from her as a gift.

However, upon learning that Zhang Chi would be going to the Demon Abyss in a year, she entrusted him with helping her transport some puppets there.

She would use the year to hurry and create some high-quality models.

Zhang Chi, of course, didn’t mind helping.

Outwardly, however, Zhang Chi refused to switch to the Puppetry Technique, using the excuse that he lacked the energy and time.

But in truth, Zhang Chi had long ago secretly exchanged for the Tiers One, Two, and Three inheritances of the Puppetry Technique and made time to study them every day.

It was just that his progress was too fast, and for a single cultivator to master multiple arts was too astonishing, so Zhang Chi had not revealed it for the time being.

As for Yan Tengfei, his help to Zhang Chi was relatively minor, and their relationship was also quite ordinary.

For one, his cultivation wasn’t very high, and he had no particular specialty.

For another, he preferred to eat, drink, and be merry.

And according to gossip from Shangguan Hui, this Yan Tengfei had a bit of a crush on Zhong Yu, and was therefore somewhat guarded around Zhang Chi.

After all, Zhang Chi had helped Zhong Yu, and Zhong Yu’s evaluation of him was also very high.

The fact that Shangguan Hui, Li Ruohai, and even Master Jian had treated Zhang Chi well from the beginning was related to Zhong Yu’s favorable opinion of him.

It was worth mentioning that Zhong Yu already knew Zhang Chi had used her name to become a disciple, but she had not exposed him. In fact, she couldn’t have been happier, because she thought very highly of Zhang Chi.

Amidst all this learning and interaction, Zhang Chi also gradually came to understand more about the matter of Core Formation.

The more he learned, the more Zhang Chi discovered that Core Formation was difficult, and forming a high-quality Golden Core was even harder.

Take the Cangwu Sect, for example. Of its more than eight hundred existing Golden Core Cultivators, two hundred had formed a Fake Core, and nearly five hundred had a Low Grade Golden Core. As for Middle Grade Golden Cores, there were fewer than one hundred.

Upper Grade Golden Cores were so rare you could count them on one hand.

There wasn’t a single Top Grade Golden Core, to say nothing of the legendary Celestial Grade.

And this was only because the Cangwu Sect was a major sect. Those capable of Core Formation were the cream of the crop, so their starting point was high, resulting in a relatively low number of Fake Cores.

If one were to look at the Great Abyss as a whole, at least nine out of ten Golden Core Cultivators would have a Fake Core.

Of course, even someone with a Fake Core was still considered one of the elites in the Great Abyss.

Li Ruohai himself possessed a Middle Grade Golden Core, which already placed him among the most outstanding members of the entire Cangwu Sect.

In reality, however, Li Ruohai himself possessed an Upper Grade Peak Mutated Spirit Root, and he had made excellent preparations for his Core Formation.

Furthermore, Zhang Chi also discovered that both one’s Spirit Root and Cultivation Technique were extremely important during the Core Formation process.

But Zhang Chi wasn’t too worried. He had all the Spiritual Objects, his Cultivation Technique was fine, and more importantly, he had the Small Heaven-Repairing Pill to compensate for the huge shortcoming of his Spirit Root. When the time came, the Golden Core he formed would surely not be of poor quality.

’Alright, it’s time to cultivate the new Demon Technique I acquired!’

One month later, in the dead of night, having fully comprehended the two Demon Techniques, Zhang Chi finally began to formally cultivate them.

Zhang Chi started with the Asura Blood Burning Technique.

This technique shared principles with the Blood Escape Technique; once activated, all the blood in his body would begin to burn.

Subsequently, his strength and speed would skyrocket, but his defense would plummet, effectively turning him into a glass cannon.

However, with the aid of his Jade Pendant, his defense wouldn’t be affected after using the technique, making him truly without weakness.

BOOM!

The moment Zhang Chi willed it, the technique began to operate. He immediately felt the blood in his body boil and burn, and an unprecedented pain and violent impulse flooded his mind.

It made him want nothing but slaughter.

He threw a punch, and it sounded like a crack of thunder.

Fortunately, his location was shrouded by an array; otherwise, every fellow disciple on the mountain would have been startled.

At the same time, he could feel his Protective Spiritual Power thinning, and even his physical defense had weakened considerably.

Not considering his Defensive Magical Artifacts, Magic Robe, or Armor, a Magical Artifact or even a Magic spell from any cultivator of the same tier could injure him.

Moreover, due to the diminished Spiritual Power, his defensive measures would also be much weaker.

But in the next instant, Zhang Chi stopped suppressing the Jade Pendant. With a flash of light from the pendant, all these problems immediately disappeared.

At the same time, his violent thoughts vanished, and even the pain became more bearable.

Following that, Zhang Chi immediately activated his Celestial Net Evil Body, stacking its effects with the Asura Blood Burning Technique.

Then, he released the Tier Two Peak Tiger-shaped Puppet and commanded it to attack him with its full strength.

BOOM!

As it attacked, he threw a punch. The Tiger-shaped Puppet was instantly sent flying backward, with no time to dodge.

After landing, the puppet shook its head, staggering unsteadily as if drunk. It took a long moment before it finally returned to normal.

If this were to happen in a real battle, the Puppet or its master could very well be killed while the opportunity presented itself.

"Not bad!"

Zhang Chi nodded in satisfaction.

He often used this puppet for practice. While it couldn’t match the strength of Corpse Puppet No. 1, it was still quite formidable.

When using the full strength of his Body Refining, he could only gain a slight advantage; truly suppressing it was quite difficult.

But now, with the addition of this new Demon Technique, the result was completely different.

And this was with the Demon Technique only at the Entry Level.

SWOOSH...

Then, a sudden idea struck Zhang Chi. He immediately seized the opportunity to use the Blood Escape Technique, instantly transforming into a streak of blood-red light that circled the valley at high speed, significantly faster than usual.

If not for his powerful Divine Soul, he might have been unable to react in time and crashed into the rock walls due to the sheer speed.