Chapter 163 - 161: Triple Trial
The purpose of the Myriad Phenomena Ninefold Tower was not to kill, but to serve as a trial.
Jie Yushan and Shangguan Yun were both focused on the treasures they could obtain after the trial, but in reality, the true value of the Myriad Phenomena Ninefold Tower, besides the treasures, was the trial itself.
The upper three floors merely used a large number of relatively weak Puppets to weed out the pretenders. It was not until the Middle Three Floors that a Martial Artist’s true strength and Realm were tested.
Chen Yuan was confident in his strength. Furthermore, he knew the Myriad Phenomena Ninefold Tower wouldn’t present an impossible, fatal trial, which was why he dared to choose the third palace for his test.
Stepping into the palace, he found it vast and empty. In the dim hall, there was only a single, massive mahogany coffin.
The coffin began to move with a piercing, grating sound. The lid suddenly flew off, and a figure sat up from within.
The figure looked like a dried corpse, with only a layer of withered flesh clinging tightly to its bones.
But at its heart, a strange, spider-like Poisonous Insect with ten legs was coiled, causing its heart to continue beating.
Clearly, this strange Poisonous Insect was what animated it now.
It wore tattered Iron Armor, a Golden Helmet, and held a Long Spear. Though long dead, it radiated an astonishingly fierce battle intent. In life, it must have been a War General who dominated battlefields.
The occupants of these coffins were all former enemies slain by the Palace of Myriad Phenomena, then sealed here using Gu Techniques to serve as trials for the younger disciples.
The dried corpse leaped from the coffin and thrust its Long Spear. It was the simplest of thrusts, yet it carried boundless battle intent and overwhelming momentum.
There was no one else in the palace, so Chen Yuan drew his Celestial Blade. He, too, focused his battle intent, his slash like a surging Blood River. He met attack with Attack Against Attack, raising his own battle intent and momentum to their absolute peak.
This level of the trial was a simple and brutal clash of attacks. The Martial Dao, in the end, was nothing more than the Dao of Combat and Attack.
Having a high Realm without combat prowess was merely being strong on the outside but weak on the inside.
In life, this dried corpse of a War General had been a Primordial Pill Realm Grandmaster and an expert in Battle Arrays. Its attacks carried overwhelming momentum. Every move was incredibly simple, yet maximized its power without wasting a single ounce of strength.
It was dead now, possessing not a shred of Inner Strength True Qi. However, the possessing Poisonous Insect allowed it to unleash a portion of its former Physical Cultivation. If Chen Yuan wasn’t careful, he’d end up with a hole in his body.
But Chen Yuan was not fighting cautiously. Instead, he was even more ferocious and aggressive than the undead War General.
His mind was completely immersed in this battle intent. He even began to gradually reduce his own Inner Strength True Qi, relying entirely on his physical strength to fight the creature.
Their battle intents grew increasingly fierce. With each round of collisions, cracks began to appear on the undead War General’s bones and its strength gradually weakened, but its will to fight did not diminish.
After they clashed for over a hundred moves, the power of the Poisonous Insect on the undead War General’s chest gradually depleted until it lost all vitality.
With a final slash from Chen Yuan, the undead War General’s body completely shattered, collapsing into a pile of broken bones.
Letting out a long breath, Chen Yuan sat cross-legged on the ground. A faint glow enveloped his body as he simultaneously activated the Blood Spirit Scripture and the Inner Vision God Observation Method to repair the damage from the physical clashes.
After refining the Strongest Divine Pill, Chen Yuan’s physical body was nigh-perfect, and a portion of the pill’s medicinal power still remained latent within him.
Now, after such a battle, much of this latent medicinal power had been absorbed.
And after the trial, Chen Yuan had gained an even deeper understanding of the Dao of Combat and Attack.
In truth, since his debut, Chen Yuan had followed the unorthodox path of a Loose Cultivator, relying on his body’s natural talent to practice his Cultivation Techniques.
Without a master to guide him, the advantage was that he developed his own unique understanding of every Cultivation Technique, making them perfectly suited for him. He was forging his own path.
The disadvantage was that the techniques he practiced were too varied—a little of this, a little of that. While he could integrate some of them well thanks to his talent, others he could not fully master and combine.
But now, after such a pure combat trial, his various Cultivation Techniques were integrating much better in the context of battle.
This undead creature must not have been an ordinary Primordial Pill Realm War General in life. Its battle intent was far too powerful; it could not have been a common person.
Chen Yuan walked behind the undead War General’s coffin. A passageway there led to the next floor.
The next floor also contained a coffin. This time, the dried corpse inside was a woman in a red dress.
With a wave of the red-clothed woman’s hands, innumerable red threads of an unknown material instantly filled the entire hall.
Each red thread pressed in on Chen Yuan like a razor’s edge.
If one tried to tear them apart with brute force, the red threads would only tighten further.
Even if Chen Yuan activated Blood Fiend Entering the Body and ignited the Starfire, stacking his abilities to their peak, it would be useless.
This level of the trial tested a Martial Artist’s control over their own power. One had to infuse their Inner Strength True Qi into the red threads, find the source of each one, and destroy it. Only then could this great net be broken.
Only after a Martial Artist condenses a Primordial Pill can they gain a new level of insight into their power.
Therefore, this trial was originally intended for Martial Artists of the Primordial Pill Realm. A Condensing Truth Realm Martial Artist, no matter how strong, could not pass.
It was not a question of the amount of power, but of the understanding of power.
Chen Yuan possessed the Inner Vision God Observation Method and already had ultimate control over his own body.
But he could not achieve such fine control over his externally projected power.
Chen Yuan retracted his power, calmed his mind, and focused his spirit. He infused a sliver of power into a red thread, searching for its source within the dense web to destroy it completely.
With every thread he destroyed, Chen Yuan’s control over his power deepened.
But the surrounding red threads continued to tighten. Some were already pressing against his skin, cutting fine bloody lines even on his incredibly tough body. He had no idea what material the threads were made of.
At the same time, however, Chen Yuan’s control over his power was reaching a microscopic level, and his speed was increasing.
Just as some of the red threads began to embed themselves in his flesh, Chen Yuan finally destroyed them all. The Poisonous Insect on the red-clothed corpse’s chest exploded, and the trial was passed.
However, Chen Yuan’s body was now covered in cuts. His thick, mercury-like blood had dyed his clothes crimson, making it look as if he had suffered death by a thousand cuts.
The sight was even more terrifying than his fierce battle with the undead War General on the previous floor.
But while the injuries looked frightening, they were only skin-deep.
Under the healing effects of the Blood Spirit Scripture and the Inner Vision God Observation Method, the wounds healed in moments, having only cost him some of his Qi Blood.
After changing into a fresh set of clothes from his Qiankun Bag, Chen Yuan stepped onto the final floor.
In the coffin on this last floor was the dried corpse of a white-robed Swordsman.
Its Sword Intent was absolutely astonishing. It had no True Qi, yet the emanating Sword Intent was so oppressive that Chen Yuan could barely lift his head.
With every thrust from the white-robed Swordsman, its unbelievably pure Sword Intent seemed to compress the surrounding space, capable of tearing through any True Qi Power.
Neither the power of the Blood Spirit Scripture nor the Celestial Fire Secret Manual could clash head-on with this Sword Qi.
After clashing for two moves, Chen Yuan finally understood what this level of the trial was testing.
It was Intent.
Chen Yuan’s studies were eclectic; he was proficient in everything from Palm Techniques and Finger Techniques to Saber and Sword Techniques.
That was why he could use a saber normally, then switch to a sword when using his Ming Sect identity, all without any awkwardness.
But likewise, whether it was his Palm Technique, Saber Technique, or Swordsmanship, Chen Yuan had not reached the level of ’Intent.’
His techniques were powerful, but they lacked a certain spiritual essence.
Someone like Gu Lichuan, on the other hand, had focused solely on the Sword Dao. His Martial Dao was the sword and only the sword. Even without a blade in hand, what he unleashed was Sword Intent. This was precisely what Chen Yuan lacked.
The white-robed Swordsman on this floor was meant to hone one’s Intent, something that a Condensing Truth Realm Martial Artist could not possibly control.
Only upon reaching the Primordial Pill Realm and forging one’s own unique path in the Martial Dao could one begin to refine the ’Intent’ within it.
The fact that Gu Lichuan was able to grasp a truly profound ’Sword Intent’ while only in the Sea of Reincarnation Realm just meant he was an unreasonably talented freak.
Extinguishing the Starfire within his Reincarnation Sea, Chen Yuan also suppressed the power of his Blood Spirit Scripture.
An extremely cold edge condensed upon the Celestial Blade. Chen Yuan abandoned all of his Cultivation Techniques, choosing instead to use a supremely pure Sword Aura to clash directly with the white-robed Swordsman’s Sword Intent.
However, the result of abandoning the immense power of his Cultivation Techniques was that Chen Yuan was instantly sent flying by the Sword Qi.
The sharp Sword Intent pierced his body, and Chen Yuan immediately spat out a mouthful of blood.
This was Primordial Pill Realm Level Sword Intent. It was only because Chen Yuan’s current physical body was nigh-perfect—comparable to an Innate Dao Body or a Primordial Demon Body—and his Qi Blood was immensely powerful that he could withstand Sword Intent of this level.
Otherwise, any other Condensing Truth Realm Martial Artist would have long since been obliterated by a single strike.
As if he felt nothing, Chen Yuan simply got back up and continued to endure the bombardment of Sword Intent, all while trying to comprehend its power and spiritual essence within the onslaught.
He was sent flying again and again, but the edge on the Celestial Blade in his hand only grew sharper and more concentrated.
’Intent’ is spiritual essence. When Chen Yuan slashed down with his saber again, an ultimate, bone-chilling sharpness suddenly erupted. Saber Intent permeated the air, seemingly capable of tearing apart everything before him!
This slash collided with the sharp Sword Intent, and an extreme storm of bone-chilling sharpness instantly erupted between them.
Chen Yuan was sent flying once more. His body was now covered in gruesome wounds carved by the Sword Intent, some of which were deep enough to show bone.
But Chen Yuan’s eyes only grew brighter.
He had comprehended Intent; he had grasped spiritual essence.
It wasn’t just Saber Intent, but also Sword Intent, Fist Intent, and how to master the spiritual essence of all his Cultivation Techniques!
To master one art is to master them all.
Sheathing his Celestial Blade, the Starfire in Chen Yuan’s Dantian and Reincarnation Sea suddenly ignited.
Specks of fire appeared around Chen Yuan, instantly transforming into streams of crimson, fire-like Sword Qi.
Each stream of Sword Qi was suffused with an ultimate Sword Intent, swirling around Chen Yuan like a storm of Sword Qi.
As Chen Yuan pointed his fingers like a sword at the white-robed Swordsman, countless streams of Fiery Flame Sword Qi surged forward in an instant, blanketing the sky and earth as if to bring about the apocalypse.
Heaven-Burning Destruction Sword Qi!
The figure of the white-robed Swordsman was instantly submerged in the countless streams of crimson Sword Qi, its body immediately torn to pieces.