Chapter 554 - 554: Profound Heavenly Escape
On the second floor of the inn, Chen Fei sat flipping a piece of Yulin Stone in his hand, his eyes watching the hustle and bustle of the street below.
The Yulin Stone was something Chen Fei had just bought specifically. Besides the Yulin Stone, he had also purchased some other spiritual materials.
The price wasn’t overly expensive, but the channels for purchasing were rather limited.
Just like the Yulin Stone in Chen Fei’s hand, it was actually an auxiliary material that could be added when refining spiritual tools, capable of enhancing the toughness of the spiritual tool.
As for its other uses, they were actually quite few, and it wasn’t always necessary to add such auxiliary materials during refining; they were more of a luxury than a necessity.
Yet, the Fengwu Pavilion deliberately controlled the production areas of these spiritual materials and consistently purchased them year-round. It wasn’t just the Yulin Stone; the Fengwu Pavilion also specifically procured some other spiritual materials.
Many people speculated that among these spiritual materials deliberately purchased by the Fengwu Pavilion, there should be one or several types related to the Pavilion’s techniques.
However, with so many varieties purchased by the Pavilion, outsiders couldn’t guess which one was the true target material for the Fengwu Pavilion.
Perhaps even these purchased spiritual materials had no special effects at all; it could just be a facade created by the Fengwu Pavilion to see if anyone or any force dared to target them.
Several top-tier forces have indeed done such things, digging out hidden enemies.
While others could only speculate, Chen Fei was certain that the Fengwu Pavilion’s purchase of Yulin Stone was the true purpose, with the majority of the other spiritual materials being used as a smokescreen.
The Yulin Stone could accelerate the cultivation speed of the Fengwu Pavilion’s core techniques. Although not significant individually, over the years, it amounted to a considerable number.
Chen Fei had fused nine incomplete techniques to obtain the Profound Heavenly Sword. He could also use the Yulin Stone to aid in cultivation.
In addition to the Yulin Stone, the other spiritual materials Chen Fei bought were also recorded in several martial arts techniques as auxiliary aids for cultivation.
Chen Fei purchased these spiritual materials purely to see if, under controlled conditions, they could further enhance the speed of comprehension for the Profound Heavenly Sword.
Setting down the Yulin Stone, Chen Fei picked up a piece of large meat from his plate and directly stuffed it into his mouth.
The outer crust was crispy while the inside was tender. With one bite, the deliciousness of the meat was fully displayed.
This was a piece of demon meat, the signature dish of this inn, with all the meat freshly slaughtered every day.
Located near the defense line of the Thousand Feathers Alliance, Bianhu City sees a significant number of sea monsters that can be hunted and killed. Many martial artists choose to stay in Bianhu City specifically for the convenience of slaying sea monsters, which is also an important reason.
With just a few bites, Chen Fei swallowed the demon meat in his mouth and picked up another piece, all the while recalling the information he had received earlier in the teahouse.
Regarding the news about the Shadow Abyss Sect, there’s no need to elaborate. It’s eerie how they appeared outside the gate of the Shadow Abyss Sect, yet the Shadow Abyss Sect didn’t kill them; instead, they lost several Combined Aperture Tempering realm cultivators and had to retreat to the gate.
The content of the news is exactly the same as what Chen Fei saw yesterday, indicating that there are capable individuals behind this teahouse who can obtain such accurate information.
As for the Tiandao Sect, the current sect master, Yan Xuanji, the late-stage Combined Aperture Tempering realm cultivator who shattered the imperial city with three slashes, officially entered seclusion yesterday.
For someone of his cultivation level to enter seclusion again, it’s clear that he’s preparing to break through to the peak of the Combined Aperture Tempering realm.
The Tiandao Sect itself already has two peak Combined Aperture Tempering realm cultivators. If Yan Xuanji successfully breaks through, the Tiandao Sect will suddenly possess three peak Combined Aperture Tempering realm cultivators.
With such power, they will leap to the forefront among the top ten forces, thereby changing the landscape of the Thousand Feathers Alliance to some extent.
Of course, no matter how the situation changes, the Thousand Feathers Alliance still belongs to the realm of Mountain Sea Realm experts. As long as no one breaks through, this fact will remain unchanged.
As for the movements of the Thousand Feathers Alliance’s leader, it’s more of a lack of movement.
The teahouse only received news that the leader of the Thousand Feathers Alliance had been absent for some time, but where they went and what they did remains unknown.
When it comes to information about Mountain Sea Realm experts, this is all that can be obtained; anything more is practically impossible.
The information Chen Fei wants to know about the Thousand-Eyed Ghoul didn’t appear in the jade slip.
As for the last piece of information, the outer perimeter defense line of the Thousand Feathers Alliance is currently in a precarious state. With increasing attacks from sea monsters, according to the teahouse’s estimation, a new round of reinforcements from within the Thousand Feathers Alliance is imminent.
Moreover, this round of reinforcements is likely to be significant. Besides the Combined Aperture Tempering realm martial artists, it’s feared that various forces of Level Four and above will also dispatch Combined Aperture Tempering realm experts.
If this speculation proves true, it means that Chen Fei will have to personally go to the front lines.
Not only Chen Fei, but it’s likely that all Combined Aperture Tempering realm experts within the Sea Peak City will have to go as well.
The sea monsters on the defense line are different from those in the usual sea. Chen Fei can freely hunt sea monsters in the outer sea because he knows that those sea monsters are at most at the early stages of the Third-Tier.
With Chen Fei’s current strength, even if several sea monsters were to attack at once, he could directly slay them without encountering much danger.
However, when facing a multitude of sea monsters on the defense line, there could be creatures of varying strengths. If a Third-Tier late-stage sea monster were to appear, Chen Fei would have to retreat immediately.
Moreover, in the chaotic battles that sometimes occur in such situations, it’s not always possible for Chen Fei to simply withdraw at will.
On the defense line, military discipline must be observed. Leaving arbitrarily would undoubtedly result in punishment afterward. Even if one can evade the sea monsters, they cannot escape the Thousand Feathers Alliance’s reprimand.
In more severe cases, there could be punishments or even executions as a deterrent.
Military combat is serious business, and discipline is paramount.
Chen Fei understands this well. Therefore, if he were to truly go to the front lines, he would need to be fully prepared. At the very least, he would need to store his two strongest techniques within his spatial grid.
After a moment, Chen Fei stood up and returned to his room.
Activating the formation within the room, Chen Fei opened the celestial eye at his brow and scanned the surroundings but found no issues.
He lightly tapped his spatial pouch, and a thousand top-grade elemental stones appeared on the ground. A vibrant aura emanated from them, filling the entire room with energy.
Over the past few years, many people within the Sea Peak City have held the belief that Chen Fei’s daily practice involves lying among piles of elemental stones.
This isn’t entirely unfounded speculation because if one were to spread out the top-grade elemental stones, the surrounding elemental energy would indeed automatically converge towards them.
To some extent, elemental stones can be used as a simple array to gather elemental energy.
The top-grade elemental stones on the ground began to disappear one by one. In the blink of an eye, all one thousand top-grade elemental stones vanished completely.
“Simplify!”
“The Profound Heavenly Sword is simplifying… Simplification successful… Profound Heavenly Sword -> Three Lives Slicing Shadow Sword!”
Chen Fei sat cross-legged on the bed, beginning to operate the Three Lives Slicing Shadow Sword. Insights regarding the Profound Heavenly Sword continuously emerged in his sea of consciousness, causing a faint smile to appear on his face.
While the cost of simplifying these one thousand top-grade elemental stones was high, instantly halving the still-warm elemental stones, at least in terms of effectiveness, it remained as good as ever.
Chen Fei opened his eyes, took out all the purchased spiritual materials, and linked them all with elemental energy before closing his eyes once again.
An hour later, the spiritual materials around Chen Fei’s body shattered one by one, turning into powder, and Chen Fei opened his eyes.
He looked at the several powders around him, his brows furrowing slightly.
While effective, these spiritual materials did provide some assistance to the Profound Heavenly Sword, but the effect was much smaller than Chen Fei had imagined.
Using these spiritual materials for cultivation was actually not as effective as directly ingesting pills; the effect would probably be stronger.
For example, when the Fengwu Pavilion uses Yulin Stone for cultivation, it can help practitioners comprehend martial arts to a certain extent and promote the circulation of elemental energy.
But with Chen Fei’s insight into martial arts, the efficiency is incomparable to these spiritual materials like Yulin Stone.
As for promoting elemental energy, Chen Fei’s current physique is already at the late stage of the Combined Aperture Tempering realm. In terms of recovery ability and toughness, it surpasses even late-stage Combined Aperture Tempering realm practitioners.
As long as there are enough spiritual pills, Chen Fei can continuously ingest them in large quantities without interruption. The slight boost provided by these spiritual materials like Yulin Stone doesn’t offer a high cost-effectiveness.
Although these spiritual materials are not very expensive individually, gathering them all together still incurs a significant expense.
Of course, if Chen Fei had a sufficient abundance of elemental stones, practicing with spiritual pills while using these spiritual materials as supplements would undoubtedly yield stronger effects.
However, Chen Fei’s current wealth has not reached such extravagant levels yet.
Leaving the room, Chen Fei stepped out of Bianhu City after a moment.
Several tens of miles outside Bianhu City, Chen Fei wiped his brow with his right hand, and a beam of light emitted from his forehead, scanning the surroundings.
After confirming that there was no one following him, Chen Fei was about to return to the Sea Peak City at full speed when his expression suddenly paused.
In his black and white vision, a barely visible line caught Chen Fei’s eye. Half a day ago, Chen Fei had been relying on this line to search for traps set by the Thousand-Eyed Ghoul.
Chen Fei hadn’t expected that there would also be traps set by the Thousand-Eyed Ghoul here in Bianhu City. Moreover, judging from the aura, this trap seemed to have required a considerable amount of effort.
After some contemplation, Chen Fei’s figure flickered, flying towards the direction indicated by the black line.
With numerous powerful individuals surrounding Bianhu City, Chen Fei was somewhat curious about what techniques the Thousand-Eyed Ghoul was using here to lure these martial artists.
As Chen Fei flew along, as he approached the trap of the Thousand-Eyed Ghoul, he gradually slowed down.
In the black and white vision, several miles away, outside the trap of the Thousand-Eyed Ghoul, Chen Fei sensed the aura of a martial artist.
It was apparent that someone had beaten Chen Fei to it and entered the trap of the Thousand-Eyed Ghoul first.
A slight throbbing sensation appeared at Chen Fei’s brow, and he glanced into the distance before turning and leaving directly.
After flying nearly a hundred miles without saying a word, Chen Fei suddenly stopped, turned around, and looked towards the empty space to his right rear. “Why do you insist on following me like this?” Chen Fei spoke in a deep voice.
As his words fell, there was no movement in the empty space ahead. The wind howled through the air, as if everything was just Chen Fei talking to himself.
“If you don’t want to reveal yourself, I won’t force you, but please refrain from following me any further,” Chen Fei continued.
After speaking, Chen Fei turned and continued flying forward.
“Hmph!”
Chen Fei had only flown a mile when a snow-white blade suddenly pierced into his head.
Chen Fei’s figure swayed slightly and dissipated. It was just a phantom; Chen Fei’s true body appeared several meters away.
Profound Heavenly Sword, Profound Heavenly Escape!