Cultivation is just so scientific!

Chapter 340: Chapter 216: Confession_2

Even though Elder Jian had already reached the Late-Stage Golden Core, his chances of breaking through the Golden Core to achieve Nascent Soul were not great.

In order to gain the support of his sect, he constantly launched attacks and eliminated all threats to the sect. The number of Golden Core cultivators who died at his hand had already exceeded twenty.

This was a terrifying battle achievement. An ordinary Golden Core cultivator might spend their whole life without killing a peer at the same level—it’s easy to defeat a Golden Core cultivator, but extremely difficult to kill one.

Without absolute superiority in strength, it’s simply impossible to kill a Golden Core.

Any Golden Core cultivator is extraordinary, a genius who stood out from millions of cultivators.

“Is there something wrong with the Jieshan Mountain Pass?” Li Yuanba asked curiously.

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Based on the Sword Intent emanating from Elder Jian, there weren’t many enemies worthy of his full effort. A Late-Stage Golden Core Sword Cultivator, in the absence of Nascent Souls, was almost the top combat power in the Cultivation World.

He thought of the rumors he had heard from his original self, Li Shiming, about the war that had erupted between the forces of good and evil. Could it be that this great battle was about to begin?

“Three Arhats from Qianye Temple ambushed Elder Ye. Elder Ye’s Silver Corpse was destroyed, and he himself was severely injured. I killed one of the Arhats, and Qianye Temple’s retaliation will come soon. Moreover, with the recent continuous friction between the Righteous and Evil paths, this incident will likely become the fuse!” Elder Jian said indifferently.

As a Sword Cultivator, he had not the slightest fear of battles; instead, he harbored a sense of anticipation.

Battle was the quickest shortcut for a Sword Cultivator’s growth; the improvement of Sword Intent was fastest amidst combat.

Take Li Yuanba himself, for example, he had been cultivating Sword Intent for a long time without discerning any special effects, but a life-and-death battle with an outer sect True Disciple had allowed him to comprehend the threading of Sword Intent.

“Right, this is the Arhat’s body. You figure out how to extract the relic. This Arhat’s Body Refinement reached the pinnacle of the Golden Core Level, nearly achieving indestructibility. His relic will be of great help to your Body Refinement!”

Elder Jian seemed to recall something and tossed a storage bracelet over as he spoke.

Li Yuanba was immediately astonished. This was the body of an Arhat, and one who had achieved the pinnacle of Golden Core Level Body Refinement Techniques, no less.

Arhat is the term in the Buddhist way for Golden Core Stage Buddhist cultivators. Buddhism places great emphasis on Body Refinement, and many of the Body Refinement Techniques in the Cultivation World originate from Buddhism.

While the Taoist way focuses on the soul and the spirit, Buddhism pays more attention to the body, continuously strengthening it to make it the perfect vessel for the soul.

Still, Yuanba was extremely surprised that Elder Jian would just give him the body of an Arhat.

After all, an Arhat’s body is something that Golden Core Elders in a sect would expend a huge price to obtain.

It is the best material for Corpse Refining, with a great chance of directly creating a Silver Corpse.

Creating a Silver Corpse requires a Golden Core Level Corpse Refining Technique and a large number of precious materials, including many of the third-grade variety, with the Arhat’s body being just the primary material.

Even if Li Yuanba received the Arhat’s body, he lacked the conditions to refine it into a Corpse.

Of course, even if he had the conditions, since he already had a Life-bound Corpse Refinement, without reaching the Golden Core Stage, he wouldn’t be able to refine a Silver Corpse with the power of a Golden Core.

As for what Elder Jian mentioned about destroying the body to extract its relic, that would be a horrific waste.

In truth, Elder Jian was providing his disciple with resources. Although he verbally stated that he was giving Li Yuanba the Arhat’s body for his Body Refinement, he wouldn’t inquire into how Li Yuanba chose to use it once given.

Since taking a disciple, Elder Jian hadn’t given his disciple any valuable gifts.

Elder Jian was at the Late-Stage Golden Core, and all the Spiritual Objects he obtained from his killing were exchanged for cultivation resources.

The value of the cultivation resources required at the Late-Stage Golden Core was so high that he was almost penniless, a situation familiar to all Sword Cultivators.

Under similar realms, Sword Cultivators needed a large amount of resources for cultivation. Take the Sky Ascending Technique from Ten Thousand Sword Peak—this was Li Yuanba’s cultivation resource.

For Elder Jian, the benefits of Ten Thousand Sword Peak had become so negligible that they were hardly worth considering; his cultivation resources were obtained either by doing missions for the sect or by slaying Golden Core cultivators.

“Thank you, Master!” Li Yuanba, regardless of Elder Jian’s considerations, put on the storage bracelet around his wrist.

His Spiritual Thought entered the storage bracelet, and the corpse of a monk clad in a Buddhist robe floated within the space.

Even in death, the monk’s body still emitted a terrifying aura, making Li Yuanba suspect that a single finger from this monk could snuff him out.

Aside from the Buddhist robe, there were no belongings on the monk’s body, likely collected by Elder Jian.

“Oh right, I’ve prepared a protective artifact for you!” Elder Jian took out a string of Buddha Beads and passed them over, continuing, “The cultivators of the Righteous Path are hypocritical, and it’s quite possible they will act unprincipled. Once a Golden Core cultivator strikes, crumble this object; it contains one of my Sword Intents!”

Li Yuanba took the Buddha Beads, which must have belonged to the Arhat and were used by Elder Jian to store his own Sword Intent.

As his fingers touched the Sword Intent Buddha Beads, his entire body’s hair stood on end—an instinctive reaction to immense fear.

He was almost certain the Sword Intent within the Buddha Beads was of true Golden Core Stage Sword Cultivator power, but the extent of its power was beyond his ability to judge.

“Master, I will be careful!” he said, bowing after stowing away the Sword Intent Buddha Beads.

“The battle of a Sword Cultivator is not about fighting to the death. Retreat immediately if the situation is hopeless, and if you can kill, do so with a thunderous strike; don’t hesitate for a moment!” Even though he knew that Li Yuanba had experienced quite a bit, Elder Jian still admonished him.

Elder Jian had fought a fierce battle with three Arhats, stirring all the Sword Intent he had harbored over the years to slay one of them and sending the other two fleeing.

He infused the remaining Sword Intent into an Arhat’s Buddha Beads. Although the beads were simply made of second-grade spirit wood, they had been nourished by the Arhat’s Buddhist intents for many years, possessing the special effect of containing energy.

The Arhat used the Buddha Beads to store his own Spiritual Power, drawing continuously from the beads to replenish himself during battle.

Elder Jian’s use of the beads was extravagant and wasteful to an extreme.

Sword Intent is a supremely domineering energy; the residue of his battle was infused with the intensely sharp Sword Intent he had nurtured for a long time.

After being transferred into the beads, they became a disposable Spiritual Object even though they were treasures capable of repeatedly storing Golden Core Spiritual Power.

Elder Jian himself had never studied Artifact Refining, and he made use of whatever he had, so he didn’t feel the least bit regretful about it.

For Sword Cultivators, their attitude towards external objects is to convert them into resources. If not for his disciple Li Yuanba, these Buddha Beads would have ended up as mere items for resource exchange.

It was only because Li Yuanba was unaware of their value that he didn’t feel pained by such a gesture.

Items capable of storing energy at the Golden Core Level were exceedingly rare even throughout the entire Cultivation World, and those cultivators who possessed such treasures would not offer them up for trade.

Li Yuanba bid farewell to Elder Jian. He was not leaving alone but was part of a group of sect cultivators, accompanied by a Golden Core Elder leading the team.

Upon arriving at the designated spot, over two hundred Foundation Establishment Cultivators were already waiting.

His arrival did not attract much attention; mainly because, apart from a spell of continuous missions a year ago that raised his profile, he had not been visible since then.

The notoriety he had a year ago had already dissipated with time.

Although Elder Jian had taken him as a disciple and he became a True Inheritor, this was only for the sake of updating the information on his Identity Jade Disc and reporting to the sect.

There was no grand ceremony for accepting a disciple, nor were other sect cultivators invited to witness it.

Furthermore, after practicing the Sky-Surging Sword Intent Technique, his Sword Intent had become much more subdued, not something ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivators could sense.

The Foundation Establishment Cultivators present thought he was just an ordinary sect cultivator, clustering around a dozen True Disciples, aiming to join the groups of these inheritors. With the protection of True Disciples, they would be safer during battles.