Imperial Cultivation

Zeng Yun lowered her voice and said, "Brother Xu, I’m afraid we can’t hold them off."

"Mm, we can’t hold them off... Just what kind of bunch is this, to have so many High Rank Spirit Venerables!"

It wasn’t just that the other side had many Spirit Venerables; more importantly, they had many High Rank Spirit Venerables.

Their strength had already formed an absolute crush.

"What do we do, Brother Xu?" Zeng Yun said.

The other two also looked toward the handsome middle-aged man.

The handsome middle-aged man said slowly, "Right now there’s only one path left."

"What?" the bold middle-aged man said. "Retreat?"

"Mm."

"Nothing more to say, then we retreat!" The rough middle-aged man let out a sigh. "If we’re late in retreating, I’m afraid even if we want to pull out, we won’t be able to!"

"...Go!" The handsome middle-aged man raised his head to glance at the giant tower atop the clouds in the Void, clenched his teeth, and gave a low shout.

The four of them drifted away.

The surrounding Court Honored Experts of the Imperial Palace closely followed after them, drifting backward.

The emaciated middle-aged man and a group of Spirit Venerables stood in the Void, hovering as if walking on level ground, calmly watching them withdraw farther and farther away.

Chu Zhiyuan secretly nodded.

Cut it off when it’s time to cut it off; retreat when it’s time to retreat. Such a choice was wise.

Zeng Yun and the others withdrew ten li in one breath, then stopped above a mountain peak.

The four of them halted in the Void above the summit, as if standing on solid ground.

The other Court Honored Experts stood on the mountaintop, not saying a word.

The gentle breeze could not disperse the oppression and tension in the air.

Zeng Yun remained silent.

The handsome middle-aged man shook his head and sighed. "Our strength falls short; there’s nothing we can do."

The bold middle-aged man lowered his head and glanced at the experts gathered on the peak, then nodded. "If we go all out, I reckon less than half will survive."

"Not necessarily that many casualties," the rough middle-aged man said. "They might not go all out to kill us."

"You’re still hoping they’ll let us off?" the bold middle-aged man said sourly. "Too naive!"

"They also have to hold back. What if other experts come over?"

"Then they’ll all the more need to fight quickly, avoid getting entangled with us, and finish us off as soon as possible."

The handsome middle-aged man waved his hand. "Enough. Things have come to this; let’s wait here for now and quietly watch for an opportunity."

Zeng Yun couldn’t help it and lowered her voice. "Brother Xu, I’m afraid we’re still too close."

"Retreat even farther?" The handsome middle-aged man frowned.

Zeng Yun said, "They’ve surely anticipated that we won’t give up, and will probably search the surroundings—they’ll end up finding us."

The handsome middle-aged man said, "Then how far do you think we should retreat?"

"Another twenty li," Zeng Yun said. "That’s the minimum."

"Twenty li..." The handsome middle-aged man pondered.

"Another twenty li, and we’ll be thirty li from them," the rough middle-aged man said. "Can they search that far?"

Zeng Yun said, "If it were us, we’d search that far, wouldn’t we?"

"No." The rough middle-aged man shook his head. "No need. If anyone dares get close, we deal with them; if they don’t dare, we ignore them."

Zeng Yun gave a wry laugh, shook her head, and didn’t argue.

The bold middle-aged man snorted. "I think thirty li is still too close. If it were me, within fifty li don’t even think there’d be any experts left!"

The rough middle-aged man said irritably, "That’d wear you to death."

"Within fifty li, you’d have to block everyone and prevent the news from leaking."

"The news has already leaked."

"Not necessarily. That fellow probably only told his own people and not anyone else."

"Once we clash, we’ll definitely draw other people over. At that point the news will leak for sure."

The handsome middle-aged man raised his hand, cutting off their argument. "Let’s go. Retreat another twenty li."

"Yes."

...

Chu Zhiyuan stood in the Void, curiously sizing up those Spirit Venerables.

The emaciated middle-aged man walked up to the giant tower and revealed a smile.

The Spirit Venerables following behind him also curiously examined the giant tower.

"Brother Cheng, this is that Divine Artifact? It really has quite the presence. How’s its power?"

Someone asked.

The emaciated middle-aged man snorted. "You can test its power yourselves."

"Then let’s test it."

Someone, eager to try, directly pushed out a strand of Palm Force.

In the air a zhang away from his palm, a fierce tiger appeared, vivid and lifelike.

It was about the size of a normal tiger, and in the air it raised its head and let out a roar.

"Brother Lu, your Tiger Roar Palm has become even more refined!"

"Compared to when I saw it back then, it’s advanced another level—its Spiritual nature is stronger and it’s harder to deal with."

"This Tiger Roar Palm isn’t that easy to improve. Is this the result of ten years of seclusion?"

"Worthy of its great reputation as the Tiger Roar Palm!"

Everyone voiced their admiration.

That single Palm Force actually condensed such an enormous tiger.

Several of them had witnessed the power of this Palm Force.

Not only was its strength surging like a landslide and tsunami, more importantly, this Palm Force carried Spiritual nature—it could change its trajectory on its own, impossible to guard against.

"Awooo..."

The tiger’s roar shook the Void.

This clear and real tiger pounced toward the giant tower, and when it reached the tower it vanished without a sound.

It was like it had plunged into deep water—no more sound, no more presence.

"This..."

Everyone was curious.

The emaciated middle-aged man shook his head and smiled. This was the power of the giant tower.

"How strange..."

"Did it directly dissolve the power of the Tiger Roar Palm?"

"Looks like dissolution rather than hard-blocking."

"Try a weapon next," someone said.

Immediately, a streak of flowing light shot toward the giant tower.

They were all Spirit Venerables with extraordinary eyesight. Even though the streak of light was fast, it couldn’t escape their vision—they saw that it was a Flying Knife.

This Flying Knife was pitch-black like ink, clearly most suited for nighttime assassinations.

They instantly recognized that the knife’s material was Ink Iron, a kind of extremely tough iron-stone, an indispensable substance for Divine weapons.

Once a knife or sword mixed in a portion of Ink Iron, its hardness would be greatly increased.

The higher the Ink Iron content, the more indestructible the weapon; if it were forged entirely from pure Ink Iron, it would be a truly indestructible Treasure Sword or Divine Sword.

And judging from the color of this Flying Knife, its Ink Iron content was clearly extremely high—perhaps extravagant to the point of being pure Ink Iron.

"Pop!"

When the Ink Iron Flying Knife drew within a zhang of the giant tower, it exploded into powder.

"This..."

Everyone looked at each other, their expressions subtly changing.

As Spirit Venerables, their bodies were tough and their Life Force vigorous.

But no matter how strong they were, they couldn’t possibly be tougher than Ink Iron.

The power of this giant tower could pulverize Ink Iron; pulverizing them would be a trivial matter.

The wisest move was to stay away from it.

"Brother Cheng, you can refine it?" a round-faced elder slowly asked. "You dare get close to it?"

The emaciated middle-aged man smiled proudly. "I have my methods."

"Impossible, isn’t it?" someone questioned. "How can you get close? Before you even get near you’d already be erased."

The emaciated middle-aged man shook his head and drifted forward, slowly approaching the giant tower.

Everyone widened their eyes, watching him stretch out his palm and slowly reach toward the giant tower.

Then, circles of ripples spread through the air, as if his palm had pressed down on a tranquil lake.

His palm continued forward and finally pressed onto the giant tower.

"Impossible."

Someone, unwilling to accept it, stretched out his palm as well, and was immediately blasted flying.

He shot straight away like an arrow, spewing out a Blood Arrow in midair—already grievously wounded.

"Let me try."

"I’ll try too."

One after another, they all struck out, and one after another they were sent flying backward, spewing Blood Arrows and then turning listless, heavily injured.

After several had tried, the others did not give up because of it; on the contrary, their interest was piqued even more.

They looked toward the emaciated middle-aged man, watching his palm steadily pressed to the giant tower, his expression solemn.

They knew he was refining, and their hearts grew even more restless.

The Divine Artifact was masterless; if they could refine this Divine Artifact, it would become theirs.

The prerequisite was that they could touch the Divine Artifact; otherwise it was all empty talk.

As for how Cheng Siyao had managed it, they knew that asking would be useless—he would never tell.

They could only find a method themselves.

Over the course of the next hour, all the Spirit Venerables tried once, without exception, all suffering heavy injuries.

One Spirit Venerable who was seriously injured refused to accept it, and once more forced himself to approach; his palm, soft and weak, rested on the giant tower.

The Spirit Venerables were all stunned for a moment, then their eyes lit up.

"Don’t use Spiritual Essence!" someone shouted.

After that, nineteen palms pressed onto the giant tower.

Nineteen Spirit Venerables were refining together.