Chapter 226.2: Who Is He? (II)
Several hours later, the maids returned.
"Venerable, the situation is as follows. A martial artist named Lu Changsheng recently entered the Institute. He is said to be a Martial Venerable from the Sacred Earth Heavenly Sect of the Heavenly Sacred City."
"Moreover, they say he has condensed an immeasurable divine ability..."
The maids relayed everything they had learned to Venerable Tian Ming, holding nothing back.
"An immeasurable divine ability?" Venerable Tian Ming's heart tightened. He himself had condensed supreme major divine abilities. He had also learned about a great many things during his time in the Martial Saint Institute, so he knew exactly what an immeasurable divine ability represented.
However, those actually capable of condensing immeasurable divine abilities were supposed to be peerless, monstrous geniuses hailing from the great sects of the sacred lands. How could the Heavenly Sacred City produce such an individual?
"Venerable, what do we do now? Are we still moving out?" the maids asked nervously.
"We move! The artifact spirit governs everything in the Martial Saint Institute. Since Cave Residence No.1 has been assigned to Lu Changsheng, we have no choice but to move. But before we do, I am going to meet this Lu Changsheng myself!"
With that, Venerable Tian Ming rose and flew straight for the Registration Hall.
At the Registration Hall, more and more people were gathering. After all, every day brought new arrivals bearing recommendation tokens to enter the Martial Saint Institute. But no matter how many came, the focus of attention remained fixed on Lu Changsheng, and the more people arrived, the further the news about him spread.
As for Lu Changsheng himself, he had long grown used to being the center of attention, so none of this affected him. He only needed to wait until tomorrow to move into Cave Residence No.1.
Whoosh!
A figure swept into the Registration Hall. At the sight of him, many martial artists in the hall narrowed their eyes.
"Is that... Venerable Tian Ming?"
"What's he doing here? Could he be looking for Lu Changsheng?"
"The artifact spirit must have already notified him to vacate Cave Residence No.1. Given his temperament, it's not surprising that he's come to confront the person taking his residence."
"So Venerable Tian Ming is here to cause trouble for Lu Changsheng?"
The crowd's spirits rose at once. After all, this was Venerable Tian Ming, the undisputed number one Divine Ability martial artist in the entire Martial Saint Institute.
Tian Ming had held Cave Residence No.1 for six consecutive years, and no one had been able to defeat him. And now, his residence had just been snatched away by someone who had just joined the Institute. Naturally, this was bound to cause a stir throughout the Institute.
Everyone understood exactly why Venerable Tian Ming had rushed here, and countless gazes converged on Lu Changsheng once more.
"Which one of you is Lu Changsheng?" Venerable Tian Ming asked calmly, his gaze sweeping across the hall.
Lu Changsheng opened his eyes. "Here. May I ask what business you have with me, Venerable Tian Ming?"
Though he had been resting with his eyes closed, he had heard every word spoken around him, and so he knew at once who the man asking for him was.
Venerable Tian Ming walked slowly up to Lu Changsheng and studied him without saying a word. The atmosphere between them grew tense, and the entire hall was plunged into an eerie silence.
But then, Venerable Tian Ming's expression suddenly shifted into a smile. "Venerable Lu, I heard that you have condensed an immeasurable divine ability. I merely came here to see you for myself. Well then, until we meet again."
With that, he left.
"Huh...?"
The crowd exchanged bewildered looks at first, but then they realized this encounter could not have been more than that.
Venerable Tian Ming was prohibited from challenging Lu Changsheng during his first year here, and he would never break the rules of the Martial Saint Institute. Besides, Tian Ming was already in the divine Ability Realm; he wouldn't recklessly start a brawl simply out of pride. His priority was simply forging his Saint Body.
If he still did not succeed a year from now, then he could challenge Lu Changsheng and actually experience what an immeasurable divine ability could do. But for the time being, Tian Ming would simply let this go. There was no need to make a fuss over Cave Residence No.1, since he could just move to No.2 or No.3.
"Phew..." Wei He let out a long breath. "Venerable Tian Ming's aura just now was terrifying. He truly lives up to being the number one Martial Venerable of the Martial Saint Institute's inner division.
"Of course, now it's you who holds that title, Fellow Daoist Lu!" Wei He said with a grin.
Indeed, whoever occupied Cave Residence No.1 was the number one Martial Venerable of the inner division.
Lu Changsheng, however, said nothing. Venerable Tian Ming's aura had indeed been imposing, but Lu Changsheng's sights had long since moved past the Divine Ability Realm. However strong a Divine Ability Realm martial artist might be, could they withstand his immeasurable divine ability? If they could, he would no longer consider his divine ability to be immeasurable.
Besides, Lu Changsheng no longer had any weaknesses. With three immeasurable divine abilities complementing one another, he had stopped caring about the Divine Ability Realm entirely. That was why he could face Venerable Tian Ming with such composure.
The next day arrived in a flash. Lu Changsheng rose and headed straight for Cave Residence No.1. When he arrived, it was already empty; Venerable Tian Ming had indeed moved out.
Lu Changsheng settled in without any trouble. The residence had been cleared out completely, and so, remained quite spacious for Lu Changsheng, though he cared little for furnishings. Many martial artists actually had maids to tend to their cave residences, but Lu Changsheng was used to being on his own.
Wei He mentioned that every cave residence in the Martial Saint Institute comes with corresponding cultivation supplies. The higher the residence's rank, the greater the allocation. Cave Residence No.1 should receive the most of all.
A sharp light flickered in Lu Changsheng's eyes. He knew the entire Martial Saint Institute was enveloped by the artifact spirit. It was everywhere, and any question could be put to it directly.
"Artifact spirit, what cultivation resources are available to me at present?" he asked out loud.
Cave Residence No.1 is entitled to a great many cultivation resources. Each martial artist may apply directly for whichever resources they require. The resources are as follows...
An invisible ripple attempted to enter Lu Changsheng's mind. He knew this was a packet of information sent by the artifact spirit, one that could be imprinted directly into his memory.
If a martial artist refused, the artifact spirit could not force it into their mind. Lu Changsheng did not resist the ripple, and soon, a wealth of cultivation resources surfaced in his thoughts. They were almost all materials for forging a Saint Body, along with various pills.
It seems like I must first decide what kind of Saint Body to forge before I can apply for resources with any focus.
After a moment's thought, Lu Changsheng rose and headed for the Martial Saint Institute's Library Pavilion. Inner division martial artists could browse it freely. It held every kind of art imaginable, all completely free of charge. Of course, spreading its contents outside was absolutely forbidden. Anyone who leaked them could be hunted down by the Martial Saint Institute directly.
There had once been someone who secretly leaked arts through all manner of covert means. The Martial Saint Institute mobilized at once and wiped out their sect—and that sect had been a major faction of the Martial Dao.
Lu Changsheng entered the Library Pavilion, intent on studying the various Saint Bodies. The Saint Body was of paramount importance to a Martial Saint; a Martial Saint's strength was, in essence, determined by the Saint Body they forged, and the Saint Body had to match the martial artist's own divine abilities.
Lu Changsheng had looked into this carefully. A Saint Body was essentially an amplifier for divine abilities. It allowed a divine ability to merge completely into the body, and could enhance its might tenfold, even a hundredfold. Even the most ordinary Saint Body could generally enhance a divine ability's power more than tenfold.
He began with the mental-type Saint Bodies. These were exceptionally unusual, and few in number besides.
Browsing through them, Lu Changsheng found that mental-type Saint Bodies suited to his Mental Black Hole divine ability were actually rare, though he came across many strange and wondrous ones.
For example, the Myriad Thoughts Saint Body was said to divide one's consciousness, splitting the mind into countless strands capable of controlling many living beings. It was an utterly terrifying Saint Body, able to silently seize control of people, martial artists and immortal cultivators alike, sometimes without the victims ever noticing.
However the Myriad Thoughts Saint Body was relatively weak when it came to direct combat. Ultimately, it did not match Lu Changsheng's Mental Black Hole divine ability.
There was also the Annihilation Saint Body, a truly fearsome one. It was said that a single glance from its bearer could annihilate an opponent's consciousness, and that their every movement naturally crushed and annihilated the minds around them.
Any Martial Saint facing an opponent with this Saint Body would have to devote part of their consciousness to resisting it at every moment, unable to bring their full strength to bear. It was extraordinarily troublesome.
However, this too was a poor fit for Lu Changsheng's Mental Black Hole. While his divine ability could annihilate the mind, its true nature was devouring.
Lu Changsheng kept on browsing.
Hmm, the Primordial Hole Saint Body. The body itself becomes a Primordial Hole, capable of devouring all consciousness. Lu Changsheng's eyes lit up.[1]
This Saint Body was excellent, a perfect match for his Mental Black Hole divine ability, and he chose it without hesitation.
There was, however, an annotation: the Chaotic Hole Saint Body was extremely difficult to cultivate, and the resources needed to forge it were rare beyond measure, comprising as many as thirteen precious materials. The most crucial of these was the Void Devil Pearl, which only formed within the body of a Void Devil King. Naturally the only way to obtain the pearl was to slay the Void Devil King.
Forging the Chaotic Hole Saint Body required at least ten Void Devil Pearls, though using more pearls would greatly improve the result. The more pearls one used, the stronger the forged body would become, and the greater its amplification of the divine abilities.
Void Devils, huh?
His thoughts shifted to Void Spirit Mountain, which was teeming with Void Devils. Those entities were a nightmare to many Divine Ability martial artists, but to Lu Changsheng, they were rather unremarkable.
Obtaining Void Devil Pearls shouldn't pose much of a problem. A Void Devil King was still only in the Divine Ability Realm, well within what Lu Changsheng's Mental Black Hole could handle.
Anyway, I need to find two Saint Bodies to match my other divine abilities.
With that, he proceeded to search for a Saint Body to match the Five Elements Decomposition.
There were countless Saint Bodies related to the five elements; records were literally full of them. Of course, once Lu Changsheng narrowed the search to Saint Bodies encompassing all five elements, the number dropped sharply, though there were still quite a few.
For instance, Lu Changsheng came across the Five Elements Evasion Saint Body. It was said that once mastered, this Saint Body allowed its bearer to evade anything deriving from the five elements. Killing a Martial Saint with the Five Elements Evasion Saint Body was next to impossible, since even most formations contained the power of the five elements.
There were also the Five Elements Extinction Saint Body, the Five Elements Origin Fortification Saint Body, the Great Five Elements Void Saint Body, and many more.
Yet for all the elemental Saint Bodies available, Lu Changsheng struggled to find one that suited the Five Elements Decomposition. Only after a long search did he finally find a good match, namely the Five-Colored Divine Light Saint Body.
Once successfully forged, the body would be wreathed in a five-colored divine light, gaining a sacred appearance. That light could wash over anything derived from the five elements, instantly disintegrating the elemental foundation. This body was perhaps the strongest of all elemental Saint Bodies.
Without much hesitation, Lu Changsheng made up his mind.
Alright, let's go with the Five-Colored Divine Light Saint Body!
However, this particular Saint Body was incredibly difficult to forge, even more so than the Primordial Hole Saint Body.
It required few materials, only five kinds, but they had to be natural elemental essences. Nurtured essences would not do; only natural ones sufficed.
There was no limit on quantity; the more the better. Yet whenever a single natural elemental essence surfaced, the outside world would fight tooth and nail over it. They were simply too precious, to say nothing of gathering all five kinds.
Still, Lu Changsheng had made up his mind to forge the Five-Colored Divine Light Saint Body. As for the natural elemental essences, with enough patience, they could be found.
With that, Lu Changsheng had to find the third and final Saint Body. His Four Symbols Prison divine ability had gathered the four Principles of land, fire, water, and wind to form an immeasurable divine ability.
Saint Bodies of this type were exceedingly rare. His Four Symbols Prison was all about binding and confinement, and its binding power had now reached the level of an immeasurable divine ability. Once trapped within the Four Symbols Prison, escaping was all but impossible.
The Four Symbols often represented a complete, closed cycle. Some even interpreted the Four Symbols as representing the world itself.
However, Lu Changsheng knew better. The Four Symbols could not represent the world. The world's foundations were time and space; without them, what meaning did the Four Symbols have?
Ultimately, the Four Symbols were just pure Principles, with little relation to the world itself.
The Ten Directions Saint Body? Lu Changsheng suddenly spotted a most intriguing Saint Body, one remarkably similar to his Four Symbols Prison.
Once cultivated, the Ten Directions Saint Body could erupt into ten different directions and entrap everything within—a true sealing of heaven and earth, mightier than any confinement formation.
Escaping this Saint Body was harder than ascending to the heavens, and it happened to contain the Four Symbols Principles as well. Most crucially, the Ten Directions Saint Body could expand as a physical space. In a sense, it was the Four Symbols transformed into a Material Domain, only more powerful.
However, forging this Ten Directions Saint Body was harder still, as it required Void Divine Crystals.
Those crystals were tied to the Immortal Dao. The most important material for refining spatial treasures was Void Divine Stone, and Void Divine Stone veins usually harbored Void Divine Crystals at their heart. Where a Void Divine Crystal lay buried deep underground, a vein of Void Divine Stone would form over thousands upon ten thousands of years.
Nearly everyone coveted spatial treasures; one who refined spatial treasures did not need to worry about not being able to sell them.
One could imagine, then, how vital Void Divine Stone veins were to the immortal sects. If Lu Changsheng was going to forge the Ten Directions Saint Body, then he would essentially have to consume entire veins of Void Divine Stone.
One might consider this undertaking almost impossible, but not Lu Changsheng. He had already made up his mind.
Good. I've chosen three viable Saint Bodies. Now, which one should I actually cultivate?
He had to make a choice. A Martial Saint could cultivate only one Saint Body; there was no such thing as cultivating several. Saint Bodies inevitably conflicted with one another, making it impossible to forge two or more.
For those who had condensed multiple divine abilities, the benefit was simply having more options when the time came to making a decision.
Now, Lu Changsheng had to make that decision. He had three options, the Chaotic Hole Saint Body, the Five-Colored Divine Light Saint Body, and the Ten Directions Saint Body. Forging any one of the three would vault him into the ranks of the supreme Martial Saints—but he could only choose one.
He stood there, pondering, when a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
Actually, there is one other option...
1. Primordial (or Chaotic) Hole is originally a Daoist term, used to describe the primordial state of the world. ☜