Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation

However, when the painting shattered, the dark side amassed, and after a long time, it mutated.

“Ka ca!”

The scarlet Heavenly Roc flapped its wings and shattered that strand of saber Qi, which Xiao Chen sent out, into flashes of electric light crackling in the air.

Xiao Chen’s pupils constricted. Graveness and other emotions appeared in the depths of his eyes.

“Ao Jiao, if I’m right, this should be a core painting piece as well. The core painting piece that Ying Qiong subdued should be the light side of the Heavenly Roc King. There is not one but two core painting pieces!”

Xiao Chen guessed correctly. The core painting piece had indeed split into two. One contained the light side of the Heavenly Roc King and his benevolence.

The other held the Heavenly Roc King’s dark side and his resentment. Both pieces gained some degree of spirituality. However, regarding cunning and viciousness, the light side was far from comparable to the dark side.

This dark-side core painting piece killed Ming Yu. At the crucial moment of Ming Yu’s subdual of the light-side core painting piece, the dark-side core painting piece sneak-attacked him.

Thus, Ming Yu died feeling great dissatisfaction. Just when he was on the verge of finally succeeding and could put down the burden in his heart, he ended up dying at the hands of a painting piece—a fallen strong genius.

Furthermore, this core painting piece seemed extremely cunning. When it felt some threat, it even knew to camouflage itself and to deceive.

If not for the final flash of spiritual light, Xiao Chen might not even have noticed it. If that had happened, if this evil spirit had had another few hundred years, another strong beast would have appeared in the world.

However, now, Xiao Chen had advanced to half-Sage and refined a hundred Heavenly Sage Laws. This dark-side core painting piece could do nothing to him.

The scarlet Heavenly Roc flapped its wings, producing waves of scarlet light. It glared ferociously at him and charged over after crying out.

The Heavenly Roc’s scarlet claws flashed with a cold light; it wanted to tear Xiao Chen to pieces.

This place was rather cramped, so Xiao Chen did not dodge. He had no intention of fighting a drawn-out battle with this dark-side core painting piece.

Myriad Heaven Divine Fist, tenfold combat prowess, Deities Descending!

“Bang!”

Tenfold of Xiao Chen’s combat prowess now could not be compared to what it was previously. When he punched, the Heavenly Sage Laws behind him became bright light ribbons.

An effulgent glow appeared, appearing like a halo visible to the human eye. As Xiao Chen’s hair fluttered about, he looked like a deity walking in the mortal realm.

A loud sound rang out in the air. This punch appeared to have exploded the air, causing the entire stone hall to tremble intensely as though it would crumble at any moment.

Xiao Chen’s fist wind surged over with the breeze. The flying scarlet Heavenly Roc cried out loudly as it went tumbling back. Its scarlet light dimmed significantly, and its body turned illusory.

The scarlet Heavenly Roc hid in a corner of the wall, trembling as it watched Xiao Chen.

One punch. One punch was all it took to subdue this ferocious dark-side core painting piece to the point of cowering.

Deities Descending had great might. Unfortunately, it exhausted too much Mental Energy and Quintessence. Xiao Chen could not use it without holding back; otherwise, he would be able to annihilate this evil spirit with another two punches.

Xiao Chen shot forward with a sharp whistling sound. Then he launched a barrage of attacks at the scarlet Heavenly Roc.

The scarlet Heavenly Roc, which had been beaten into a weak state by Deities Descending, could not retaliate when his momentum was flourishing. It cried out in pain incessantly.

The scarlet Heavenly Roc cried so pitifully that others might have shown pity for it. However, that could not save it from its plight now.

After one final strike, the scarlet Heavenly Roc gave one more miserable cry and turned into a scarlet light, slowly vanishing from the hall.

A painting piece covered in a black light slowly floated down. Xiao Chen stretched his hand out to catch it. It immediately tore a hole in the protective Quintessence shield around his hand and hurt his palm.

He reflexively tossed away the black painting piece.

“This…what’s going on?”

Seeing the wound on his palm, Xiao Chen could not understand what happened. The evil spirit had already died, but this black light could actually still tear through his protective Quintessence shield.

Ao Jiao said, I have never seen this before. However, this contains all the Heavenly Roc King’s dark side and resentment. Unless you are a loose cultivator, how can you touch something like that?

Although the core painting piece split into two and does not contain its initial might after several thousand years, it is still the resentment of a Sovereign Martial Emperor. How can you do it with your current cultivation?

Watching the dark-core painting piece float in the air, Xiao Chen could not help feeling depressed. Such a great temptation dangled before him, but he could not swallow it up.

“Can you think of some other way?” Xiao Chen asked in dissatisfaction.

Ao Jiao propped her chin on her right hand and smiled. Naturally, there are ways. After you go to where Sang Mu comprehended the will of thunder, you can incite the immortal divine thunder and purify all the resentment and dark aura in it.

Xiao Chen released his bated breath. Since he originally planned to head immediately to where the Thunder Emperor comprehended the will of thunder after he left, he had no problem with waiting awhile before absorbing this core painting piece.

Without touching the black painting piece, he directly placed it in his Universe Ring. Not saying anything more, he started to familiarize himself with his current strength.

Over the past two months inside the grave palace, Xiao Chen’s strength had grown immensely, reaching an unprecedented level. Such improvement was something that would have happened sooner or later and was not just due to chance. Even without the painting pieces, it would still have eventually occurred.

The painting pieces were merely the trigger, igniting all the energy he had stored up as a Martial Monarch. The resulting explosion allowed his strength to soar considerably.

Since Xiao Chen’s strength had risen abruptly, he had to calm himself down and carefully examine his strength to accustom himself to it quickly.

After three days, he gained a rough understanding of his current strength. If he met with the Bai Wuxue of half a year ago, he would be able to trounce him, even without comprehending the will of thunder.

Of the seven giants, only An Junxi would be a match for Xiao Chen. His First Senior Sister would not be able to beat Xiao Chen in close combat; her only chance would be if she managed to put a distance between them.

However, Xiao Chen was not the only one improving. The others were becoming stronger as well. As for how much stronger, it was hard to say.

“I must comprehend the will of thunder. Not only do I have to defeat Bai Wuxue, but there are also An Junxi and the Three Holy Scions still above him. After that, there are the various geniuses of the other races. They are all my opponents!”

Xiao Chen’s face revealed his resolution as he glanced once more at the barrier preventing his exit. Then his expression turned serious.

He slowly walked to the doorway. As he considered the faint barrier, he took a deep breath.

Although he was fully confident of shattering this formless barrier, there was an exception to everything. The moment he failed, the tenfold combat prowess from Deities Descending would rebound on him.

Given his current strength, such power would either severely injure or kill him.

Being indecisive had never been Xiao Chen’s style. A cold light flashed in his eyes as he executed Deities Descending and punched the formless barrier.

“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Endless explosions resounded. The formless barrier shattered like a mirror as a strong wind surged out.

The situation was simpler than he envisioned. The barrier did not hold up for long. With the tenfold increase in combat prowess, he broke this formless barrier with one punch.

Xiao Chen pulled back his fist and revealed a relaxed expression. Ying Qiong had said that he would not be able to escape for a hundred years, but he managed to do it in less than two months.

According to her, even Inferior Grade Martial Sages would not be able to shatter this formless barrier. However, with this tenfold increase in power, he had smashed the barrier in one punch.

In terms of pure explosive power—bursting forth with all his power, the hundred Heavenly Sage Laws, and tenfold combat prowess—regular Inferior Grade Martial Sages could not compare to him.

However, when it came to consistent strength, he would not be able to compete with Martial Sages. After all, he could not maintain the tenfold combat prowess for long when fighting a protracted battle without holding back.

Xiao Chen raised his leg and walked out of this hall, which had trapped him for two months, with long strides. Fresh air immediately blew against his face.

Being able to shatter this barrier in one punch give him boundless confidence. He asked somewhat anxiously, “Ao Jiao, how far is the place where the Thunder Emperor comprehended the will of thunder?”

It is not very far. If you travel at your current top speed towards the north, you will arrive in ten days. It is a Fiend Race forbidden land called Misleading Fog Lake.

Misleading Fog Lake, Xiao Chen repeated this to himself a couple of times. Just based on the name, he could guess what kind of place this was.

Misleading Fog Lake has dense fog covering it. The range of Mental Energy and other perception abilities there is no more than five hundred meters. If Martial Sages got lost in there, even they would be trapped.

Ao Jiao continued, However, with my directions, you don’t have to worry about getting lost.

Xiao Chen smiled faintly. Since Ao Jiao said that, there was no need for him to worry. All he had to do was focus on comprehending the will of thunder.

Once he comprehended the will of thunder, he would become unrivaled among half-Sages.

As Xiao Chen spoke, he arrived at the exit of the grave palace. When he emerged from the place, he frowned slightly and stopped.

---

On the yellow sand outside the vast grave palace, the leader of the thirty-odd half-Sage loose cultivators had a dark expression as he asked sinisterly, “Young Master Xuan, how long do we have to wait? Our group of people may not be very remarkable, but you cannot waste our time like this.”

Originally, Xuan Yu had said that they just had to wait for half a month at most. Not only would they receive a hundred thousand Astral Coins each, but they could also obtain two painting pieces each.

However, such a wait, even just half a month, would give rise to frustration, no matter how strong the temptation.

The loose cultivators suggested charging in several times, but Xuan Yu stopped them. As time slowly went by, these people grew extremely exasperated. So every two or three days, a group would speak to Xuan Yu.

Xuan Yu had a confused expression. He had not expected Xiao Chen to remain inside for two months without coming out.

“What is a mere two months? If you can obtain a painting piece and get lucky, you can save yourself ten years’ worth of cultivating.”

The black-robed man put on a fake smile. “If there are painting pieces, naturally everything would be fine. However, if there aren’t any…”

“What do you mean? I am a Xuan Clan scion of the Silver Moon Spirit Fox Race. Why would I have to cheat someone as insignificant as you? If you don’t want to wait, then don’t bother. When my Xuan Clan’s Martial Sage arrives, I will not give you any benefits then, no matter how much nonsense you spout.”

Xuan Yu was already in a bad mood. Seeing the attitude of this black-robed man, he immediately flared up.

The black-robed man did not want matters to blow up in his face. Furthermore, the Xuan Clan did have some power. They were not a faction he could afford to offend. So after muttering for a bit, he left.

“Humph! Coming to look for me repeatedly like this, all they are thinking is just how to get a larger reward. These loose cultivators are all good-for-nothings.”