Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation

Given Xiao Chen’s tone of voice and where he was staring at, as long as Ying Qiong was not an idiot, she would understand what he was hinting at.

Two patches of red immediately burned on Ying Qiong’s smooth, fair face in extreme embarrassment. She felt furious and anxious. Her usual calm had disappeared somewhere long ago.

Xiao Chen, you are good. This lady waited patiently, guarding you for three days and not working on merging the painting pieces, yet the moment you speak, you are like a venomous snake.

However, Ying Qiong could not think of any retort. She could not bring herself to admit that she was standing guard over him.

She stamped her foot and said frustratedly, “Phooey, despicable! Xiao Chen, this lady misjudged you. You are a bastard with no regard for others at all, a vile person with a venomous mouth.”

Xiao Chen smiled slightly and retorted unconcernedly, “Thank you for your praise. To be able to gain the praise of the Miss Ying Qiong with vast aspirations, this Xiao feels embarrassed once again.”

He purposely emphasized the words “vast aspirations,” making her face go beet red; she could no longer bear to remain here.

Ying Qiong glared at Xiao Chen and then fled into the distance, clenching her teeth.

Ao Jiao, who was within the Immortal Spirit Ring, doubled over in laughter. She said, Xiao Chen, since when did your mouth become so venomous? To think you even bullied this weak girl!

“Weak girl?” Xiao Chen exclaimed in astonishment, “You think a girl that grasped my weakness thoroughly and made me issue a promise is a weak girl?!

“Since the very beginning, aside from Chu Chaoyun, she is the only other one who managed to trick me twice.”

Ao Jiao thought back carefully and realized that was indeed the case. Xiao Chen was always cautious, thinking things through very carefully. Even when he ventured into all sorts of dangerous places, he would calculate every step.

Although he encountered much danger along the way, there were very few who actually managed to trick him.

Xiao Chen jumped down from the stone pillar and took in his surroundings. He said, “Let’s stop talking about her. I am going to start preparing to refine pills. This trip is still somewhat satisfactory. I finally collected all the ingredients for the Breaking Sage Pill.”

He had not told Ao Jiao the full story behind the secret of the Compendium of Cultivation and where he learned the Immortal Epoch refining methods. He only told her that he found an ancient manual when he was young.

Ao Jiao also knew that everyone had their secrets. Since she had heard that explanation from Xiao Chen long ago, she did not delve deeper.

Xiao Chen waved his hand and sent out some energy. He arranged the rocks around him into a circle, completely enclosing himself. Then he used saber Qi to carve out a simple stone table and placed all the ingredients on it.

With a flip of his hand, the Azure Dragon Medicine Cauldron appeared. As Xiao Chen placed it on the table and looked at it, the figure of an old friend came to mind.

He wondered how Feng Feixue had been since the day they parted in the Sky Dome Realm. There were too many things that he had not tied up yet. Perhaps it was time for him to make a trip back to the Sky Dome Realm, the place where everything began.

These thoughts flashed in Xiao Chen’s head for a while before he banished all such distractions. He was not in a rush to refine the Breaking Sage Pills just yet. Instead, he took out ingredients for other pills. He planned to warm up by refining some ordinary pills.

---

On another side of the stone mountain, Ying Qiong also cast aside all distracting thoughts and focused on merging the two core painting pieces.

The two did their best for the sake of advancing to Martial Sage as soon as they could. Neither’s desire for becoming a Martial Sage was weaker than the other’s.

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The sun rose and set several times. The days under the stone mountain passed very fast. In the blink of an eye, half a month had elapsed.

Before the stone table, Xiao Chen revealed an extremely excited expression. Two golden pills sat quietly in the jade bottle placed at the outlet of the Azure Dragon Medicine Cauldron.

The Medicinal Pills looked like they were painted with gold. They gave off a fragrance, forming lingering golden clouds around Xiao Chen’s head.

Naturally, what the jade bottle contained was the Breaking Sage Pill that countless cultivators of the Kunlun Realm yearned for but could not obtain.

Xiao Chen actually succeeded with both sets of ingredients, something that even he had not expected.

Normally, the success rate of refining the Breaking Sage Pill was only fifty percent. That was why Xiao Chen prepared two sets. Even so, if he had been unlucky, he could have ended up with none.

The principle was easy to explain. If ten sets were prepared, according to the success rate, there would be five successes. However, there would be five failures as well.

If Xiao Chen were unlucky, the first two refined would be failures.

However, this time, his luck surprised even himself—two consecutive successes.

Xiao Chen flung his arm out and swept away all the remaining ingredients on the stone table. Then he placed a Breaking Sage Pill on his palm and slowly calmed his excited heart.

The Breaking Sage Pills greatly increased the chances of advancing to Martial Sage. However, they did not guarantee it. The more critical the moment, the more one could not be careless.

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On a stone pillar, Ying Qiong wiped the sweat off her forehead. When she looked at the perfectly merged core painting piece before her, she revealed a gratified expression.

She could not help but look up to check out Xiao Chen’s situation. When she saw the golden misty clouds in the sky, she said softly, “Auspicious clouds turning golden. This is a mysterious phenomenon found only in legends. It looks like he really managed to refine the Breaking Sage Pill.”

However, the Breaking Sage Pill did not ensure a breakthrough to Martial Sage. Could Xiao Chen grab hold of this opportunity?

Ying Qiong looked away and focused on the core painting piece. Whether she could become a Martial Sage or not depended on this.

---

Xiao Chen sat down cross-legged on the stone table. Then, without hesitating, he placed a Breaking Sage Pill in his mouth and slowly crushed it with his teeth.

The Medicinal Pill tasted slightly bitter, definitely not a delicacy. However, a fragrance spread in his mouth, clearing up his mind.

After Xiao Chen completely crushed the pill, he swallowed.

“Boom!”

Like a blazing flame burning, his face immediately turned completely red. Then, berserk energy spread out from inside, quickly flooding his entire body.

Xiao Chen calmed himself and slowly gathered the scattered golden energy. As he struggled, he started to gain control over this peerless berserk energy.

In not panicking when things happened, simply dealing with things calmly, Xiao Chen’s strong mentality came into play at this moment, giving him great results.

The berserk Medicinal Energy of the Breaking Sage Pill turned into a surging river. Xiao Chen controlled this river to pound at the bottleneck of peak half-Sage.

Amidst the formlessness, the Door of Sages, which Xiao Chen had seen many times before, appeared before him. The crack in the door widened, and a faint radiance issued forth. The mysterious world beyond it beckoned to him at this moment.

“Bang!”

Under his control, the gushing golden river rammed the bottleneck of half-Sage for the first time.

The Door of Sages shook for a bit but did not move at all. Xiao Chen felt his internal organs jolt, and blood leaked out his mouth.

Naturally, by using a Medicinal Pill to forcefully break through to Martial Sage, there would be a price to pay. The churning of his internal organs and the pain coming from his flesh were the manifestation of this price.

Now that Xiao Chen had gotten this far, retreat was no longer an option. He could only persist in charging forward. Once he broke through, there would be a vast world before him.

If one retreated in fear, one would be doomed to mediocrity, no longer fated for the great Dao.

After crashing several times, the Medicinal Energy of the Breaking Sage Pill began to diminish. Xiao Chen persevered, hot-blooded and never retreating; he did not think of giving up at all.

Such gambles are hard to come by. Some people do not even get the chance to make this gamble. I, Xiao Chen, am lucky to obtain the Breaking Sage Pill. How can I simply give up?

“Boom!”

The bottleneck of peak half-Sage suddenly shattered. After trying several times, Xiao Chen suddenly felt relaxed.

It was like someone gently pushed that Door of Sages in the formless world. It opened up, and a bright light came from inside.

Xiao Chen wiped away the blood on his lips. An indescribable wild joy appeared on his face.

Success! He had finally broken through peak half-Sage. The Door of Sages opened. At this moment, he shed his mortality and became a Sage. At the age of twenty-three, he already advanced to Martial Sage.

A bright light shone, and boundless Spiritual Energy spread out from his body, forming a multicolored pillar of light rushing to the sky.

A thumb-width-thick bright purple Heavenly Sage Law appeared behind Xiao Chen, and then, another one.

Now that he had entered the Martial Sage realm and could turn all his Quintessence into Heavenly Sage Laws, he would be able to use the Heavenly Sage Laws even more freely.

From here on, Inferior Grade Martial Sages no longer had any advantage over Xiao Chen.

More Heavenly Sage Laws continued to appear. As electric light flickered, they banded together, looking like a lightning-shaped river gushing without end.

Xiao Chen suddenly opened his eyes. His eyes looked as deep as autumn waters, emitting an intelligent light filled with spirituality.

One kilometer away, a multicolored light encased Ying Qiong. She opened her eyes almost at the same time as Xiao Chen. Her originally pretty face glowed brightly, looking even more beautiful.

This timing was rather coincidental. One after another, Xiao Chen and Ying Qiong advanced to Martial Sage, almost simultaneously.

However, the changes to Ying Qiong’s body was much more than Xiao Chen’s. She was not a cultivator who tempered her body. The moment she attained Martial Sage, her physical body successfully advanced to Rank 1 Sage Body, a vast upgrade.

Xiao Chen’s physical body had long been a Rank 2 Sage Body. His advance this time only pushed his Rank 2 Sage Body to the peak without any breakthroughs. Not much difference was visible.

On the other hand, Ying Qiong’s skin became as soft as water, looking very picturesque and beautiful. Her previous aura of nobility became holy, pretty and pure.

With a flip of Xiao Chen’s hand, the Lunar Shadow Saber appeared in his left hand. An intent to fight burned in his eyes as he looked at Yin Qiong.

The mysterious wooden umbrella appeared in Ying Qiong’s dainty, jadelike hands. She grasped it tightly and pointed it at Xiao Chen. A similar intent to fight lit up in her eyes.

These two were not going to fight to the death. They just wanted to familiarize themselves with their new strength after advancing to Martial Sage. The two were each other’s ideal opponent, very suitable for them to test their strength on.

Electric light flashed underfoot as Xiao Chen drew the Lunar Shadow Saber. The Heavenly Sage Laws behind him took in the ever-present Spiritual Energy to the fullest.

With the purple Heavenly Sage Laws, there was no need to filter the Spiritual Energy; it all turned into lightning-attributed energy flowing into Xiao Chen’s body like a vast river gushing endlessly.