Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation

However, thinking about it, these old men had lived for at least a hundred years. They had been stuck at half-step Martial Monarch for several decades.

It was not surprising that they had managed to accumulate so much wealth. Xiao Chen continued looking and found some high-rank Blood Demon’s Demon Cores. They should have been obtained from the Demon Battlefield.

Aside from these, there was a few Inferior Grade Secret Treasure. However, they were ordinary goods. None of them caught Xiao Chen’s attention.

Before Xiao Chen retracted his Spiritual Sense, he noticed an unremarkable black box sitting in a corner. The box was palm-sized, and he would not have noticed it if not for his sharp eyesight.

Would this box, which had been placed in an inconspicuous corner, contain anything useful? Xiao Chen thought for a while before he took the box out.

The box was not locked, and Xiao Chen could open it easily. Ten exquisite white pearls lay in that small space.

The pearls looked like crystals. It did not emit any Spiritual Energy. Compared to Spirit Stones, they looked very plain.

Xiao Chen picked one up and checked it with his Spiritual Sense. Only then did he feel the pure Spiritual Energy contained within. The Spiritual Energy in it was purer than that of Medial Grade Spirit Stones.

Xiao Chen estimated that this tiny pearl was the equivalent of at least a hundred Medial Grade Spirit Stones.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Xiao Chen; he felt that the pearls looked familiar. Then, he remembered that there seemed to be two similar pearls among the burial items of the Savanna King. So, he quickly took them out to compare.

The two pearls seemed about the same size. They appeared extremely ordinary and did not leak any Spiritual Energy. Xiao Chen only sensed the horrifying Spiritual Energy contained within when he checked it with his Spiritual Sense.

The only difference was that the Savanna King’s pearls were blue, and their color seemed deeper. Furthermore, the Spiritual Energy contained within them was on a completely different level.

Xiao Chen still felt confident of absorbing the Spiritual Energy in the white pearls. However, he did not dare think of doing the same for the blue pearls.

With Xiao Chen’s current cultivation, after he absorbed the Spiritual Energy from the blue pearls, he would likely explode and die.

Xiao Chen muttered, “These two types of pearls should be the same thing. They probably just differ in quality. However, I have not heard of anything like them before. I have to investigate this. Are there other things aside from Spirit Stones that can contain Spiritual Energy?”

Xiao Chen properly organized and placed the Spirit Stones and mysterious pearls into his Universe Ring. As for the other items, he simply tossed them all into a corner of the Universe Ring, including the spatial ring.

Xiao Chen obtained another forty thousand Medial Grade Spirit Stones from the remaining two spatial rings. However, he did not find any more of those mysterious pearls.

Even so, Xiao Chen had found a hundred Superior Grade Spirit Stones in the third spatial ring. He was pleasantly surprised.

This brought the total count of Xiao Chen’s Medial Grade Spirit Stones to a horrifying 110,000 in addition to millions of Inferior Grade Spirit Stones.

Aside from these, there were two Medial Grade Secret Treasures and one peak high-rank Blood Demon’s Demon Core. When added, they valued at least a hundred thousand Spirit Stones.

Xiao Chen’s rewards from the Demon Battlefield were bountiful. The only loss he had was half of his Wutong Spiritual Wood. Also, he needed to accumulate the dragon Qi on his arm before he could use it again.

After he completed these tasks, Xiao Chen organized everything in his Universe Ring by type. He discovered that he had accumulated quite a number of small trinkets.

He had obtained these trinkets by killing other cultivators. On their own, they were not worth much. However, when combined, they were worth a significant sum.

Storing too much took up a lot of space in the Universe Ring. Xiao Chen took out a map of the Ancient Desolate Land and muttered to himself, “I have to find a place to sell these. At the same time, I should find out more about the powers in the Ancient Desolate Land and how much influence the Holy Fire Manor has here.”

The Ancient Desolate Land was very large, much larger than Xiao Chen had expected. Not even counting the cities in the surrounding area, the Heavenly Extermination Lake alone was larger than the Great Qin Nation.

Although the Heavenly Extermination Lake was called a lake, it was as vast as a sea, an inland sea. This was simply too expansive.

Based on the map Xiao Chen had purchased in the Boulder City, the Heavenly Extermination Lake was separated into the southern, western, northern, and eastern group of islands.

There was the central group of islands, in which the Desolate City was the core. Aside from these regions, there were many unknown zones on the Heavenly Extermination Lake. Cultivators considered those zones forbidden.

It was hard to imagine that, during the Tianwu Dynasty, the core of the entire continent become what it was now.

Boulder Island was part of the southern group of islands. It was an unremarkable island. If it were not for the Demon Battlefield, no one would bother going there.

The southern group consisted of thousands of islands. Some of them were unpopulated and covered with ferocious Demonic Beasts and demonized plants. Cultivators used them as grounds for experiential training.

There were also islands covered in greenery and an overwhelming Spiritual Energy. As Spiritual Energy saturated these islands, Spirit Herbs and endless gardens swarmed them.

However, most of the islands were no different from the human cities. Thousands to several ten thousand ordinary people resided there. Some of these cities had feudal lords ruling them, as well as sects.

Xiao Chen’s new target was the Red Cloud Island. This was the closest inhabited island. It was considered a middle tier island in the southern group.

Although the map depicted it as being the closest to Xiao Chen’s current position, only a finger’s width distance away, in reality, it was two thousand kilometers away.

However, there was a benefit to being on a lake; Xiao Chen could simply travel in a straight line. Unlike on land, two cities might be very close, but due to the roads and obstructions like mountains or rivers, one might have to go the long way around to get to the other city.

Xiao Chen estimated that if he moved at a relaxed pace, he could arrive in a week. If he rushed at full speed, he could arrive in three days.

Xiao Chen had already left the borders of Boulder Island. His lone ship was like a drop of water in the vast ocean on this humongous lake; it did not draw any attention.

Xiao Chen did not believe that the Holy Fire Manor’s people could find him like this. Hence, he planned to travel leisurely. At the same time, he would use these seven days to temper his physical body.

The Firmament Body Tempering Art had a requirement before one could cultivate it. His physical strength had to reach 150,000 kilograms of force before he could cultivate it.

When he cultivated the Dragon and Tiger Body Sculpting Art to the peak, Xiao Chen’s full power strike only achieved 125,000 kilograms of force. He was still short of a little.

To improve further, Xiao Chen could only rely on external aid. The so-called external aid referred to the body tempering Spirit Herb above five hundred years of age that he had obtained on Qianren Island.

Xiao Chen had once used a large number of body tempering Spirit Herbs in the underground world of the Heavenly Saber Pavilion. Hence, normal body tempering Spirit herbs had no effect on him.

On Qianren Island, all of the body tempering Spirit Herbs Xiao Chen had picked were above five hundred years old. Unfortunately, there were only six stalks.

Xiao Chen placed the body tempering Spirit Herbs on the floor before him and muttered to himself, “There are only six stalks, but three are a thousand years old. If I consume all of them, I should have no problem gaining an additional 25,000 kilograms of force.”

As long as Xiao Chen achieved 150,000 kilograms of force, that would be sufficient. When he started to cultivate the Inferior Grade Heaven Ranked Body Tempering Cultivation Technique, his physical strength would increase explosively.

The small silver ship moved unhurriedly across the calm lake, gliding towards its destination.

As for Xiao Chen, he had consumed one Spirit Herb stalk and sat cross-legged. He started to focus on refining the Medicinal Energy. He absorbed all the Medicinal Energy into his bones without missing a drop.

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Four days had passed quickly. Every time Xiao Chen refined a stalk of Spirit Herb, he could feel his bones, meridians, and flesh grow stronger. His strength had also increased significantly.

On this particular day, Xiao Chen suddenly opened his eyes. He circulated his energies and punched the calm lake.

“Bang!”

The fist wind formed by Xiao Chen’s pure physical force created a void of twenty meters wide on the surface of the lake. After a moment, a pillar of water rose up to the sky.

Many fishes and prawns flew into the sky with the pillar of water and fell back down. They rained down for minutes before coming to a stop.

Xiao Chen pulled back his fist and revealed a satisfied smile. He had achieved 150,000 kilograms of force in five days. Furthermore, he still had one stalk of thousand-year-old Spirit Herbs.

Xiao Chen did not continue to refine it. At his level, even a thousand-year-old Spirit Herb would not be very effective. Since he had reached the threshold for cultivating the Firmament Body Tempering Art, there was no need to waste that Spirit Herb.

“It’s been five days. I should reach the Red Cloud Island soon!” Xiao Chen muttered to himself as he gazed at the lake before him.

White mist covered the distant lake surface. The faint silhouette of an island appeared; it should be Red Cloud Island.

It is time to move at full speed, Xiao Chen thought to himself. The small silver ship immediately transformed into a streak of purple light and entered his right eye.

Xiao Chen gently pushed against the water and executed the Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art. He moved like a swift Azure Dragon across the surface of the water.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

No long after, Xiao Chen felt intense energy waves from ahead. There was shouting, and the water surged restlessly.

Clearly, a battle was taking place ahead of him. Based on the energy waves, neither side was weak. Xiao Chen hesitated for a while before he flew towards the sound.

After ten breaths, Xiao Chen finally saw who engaged in this battle. A thousand meters away, a black-robed old man and a girl in a white dress fought on the water surface.

The black-robed old man seemed to be a Medial Grade Martial King. He held a pitch-black sword in his hand with a black Qi surrounding it.

His aura felt odd, and his moves were vicious. He aimed for the girl’s vital spots.

The girl’s cultivation seemed to be higher than the black-robed cultivator’s. However, because of that strange black Qi, she was very cautious and seemed to be at a slight disadvantage.

However, in Xiao Chen’s opinion, the girl had the advantage here. The black-robed cultivator tried to flee a few times, but she always blocked his path.

Evidently, the girl sought stability. She used her advantage of cultivation and dragged on the fight. Then, she would give the black-robed man a fatal blow.

Xiao Chen frowned slightly; he was somewhat astonished. The aura of the sword seemed very similar to the scarred man’s from Qianren Island. That was Demonic Qi from the Demonic World.