I Seriously Didn't Want to Be the Martial Alliance Leader

Chapter 56: Chapter 55: Spiritual Jade and Demon Spear Incarnation

Chen Yuan watched the Three Extremes Evil Venerable fall, and a silent warning arose in his heart.

In his prime, the Three Extremes Evil Venerable had reached the pinnacle of the Martial Dao, the Ninth Realm Celestial Profound. In the Jianghu, he was undeniably a Grandmaster-Level existence.

Even if he wasn’t on par with a top power like the Murong Family, with their thousand-year heritage, he was still a titan among Loose Cultivators. Even the Murong Family had to treat him with respect.

But in the end, because he coveted a Divine Artifact Demon Soldier, he paid with his lifelong Cultivation and his very life. After a thousand years of scheming, plotting, and meticulous calculation, it all came to nothing.

Powerful as Divine Artifact Demon Soldiers might be, they weren’t everything for a Martial Artist.

’One’s own strength is true strength. Power that relies on external objects is ultimately an illusion.’

Although Chen Yuan had seized a Seven Kills Stele Fragment, what he truly wanted to cultivate was his own power.

No matter how strong a Divine Artifact Demon Soldier was, it was still just a Weapon, not the foundation of his strength.

"Flee!"

That woman, Bai Xuewei, was incredibly decisive. The moment she saw the Demon Spear Corpse Tower Forest break free, she shouted for Zhao Xuanxin and Xie Tianyun and turned to escape.

A Sixth Grade Martial Dao Realm of Condensing Truth expert was indeed considered a top master in the Jianghu, but even the Three Extremes Evil Venerable at his peak couldn’t suppress Corpse Tower Forest. What did that make the three of them?

But it was too late.

Having broken its seal, Corpse Tower Forest’s first target was naturally the Three Extremes Evil Venerable.

However, the Three Sealed Demon Races had participated in maintaining the sealing Array for many years, and Corpse Tower Forest was all too familiar with the auras of those three.

After annihilating the Three Extremes Evil Venerable into dust, Corpse Tower Forest suddenly lashed out. In an instant, the dense Demonic Qi transformed into countless black, withered, boney branches. Like a volley of a thousand arrows, they pierced straight through Bai Xuewei and the other two, leaving them looking like porcupines.

The next moment, the Demon Spear Corpse Tower Forest shot straight through the upper Array of Sealed Demon Valley and vanished over the horizon.

With the upper Array pierced, the entire Sealed Demon Valley began to collapse. Rubble rained down like a torrential storm.

"Follow me!"

Chen Yuan darted forward, heading straight for the spot where the Three Extremes Evil Venerable had been turned to ash.

He had gone to great lengths to participate in the Demon Sealing Conference and had even helped Corpse Tower Forest break its seal early, all for this moment—the harvest.

Rummaging through the spot where the Three Extremes Evil Venerable had turned to ash, Chen Yuan pulled out three translucent, crystalline pieces of jade.

To be precise, two were whole pieces of jade, while the last one was shattered.

These items were used to store Cultivation Techniques and insights. In the Jianghu, they were generally known as Spiritual Jade.

The top three grades of the Martial Dao are the Seventh Realm Primordial Pill, the Eighth Realm Divine Platform, and the Ninth Realm Celestial Profound.

Once a Martial Artist reaches the Eighth Realm Divine Platform Realm and develops their Primordial Spirit Power, they can infuse their understanding of Cultivation Techniques into jade made from special materials, creating this Spiritual Jade.

Spiritual Jade can be made from many types of materials. The best kind can last for eternity, undying for ten thousand years, preserving the Cultivation Technique indefinitely. Any Martial Artist can view it repeatedly, just like an incorruptible book.

The Jade Pendant from the Chu Family’s Celestial Star Divine Box, which recorded the Inner Vision God Observation Method, was a High-Tier Spiritual Jade.

As for ordinary Spiritual Jade, it can only last for a few hundred to a thousand years. Moreover, once someone reads the information within, the Spiritual Jade’s Spiritual Qi dissipates, making it a one-time-use item.

Spiritual Jade differs from books on Cultivation Techniques. Because it uses a spiritual inheritance method to directly imprint the essence of the insights into one’s sea of consciousness, if a user tries to transcribe it into words, the result is usually a distorted version that cannot be used for cultivation.

Unless the user cultivates the technique to the level of Great Mastery and Transparency and completely comprehends its true meaning, they cannot write it down.

This is why Major Sects store their Cultivation Techniques either in reusable, High-Tier Spiritual Jade or in traditional books.

These one-time-use Spiritual Jades are more commonly used by Independent Martial Artists.

The Three Extremes Evil Venerable’s words were seventy percent truth and thirty percent lies. He really did infuse all his insights on his Cultivation Technique into the Spiritual Jade, but he left it for himself.

He used his body and Divine Soul to suppress the Demon Spear Corpse Tower Forest, hoping to merge with and control the Demon Soldier. Both his physical body and Divine Soul had already undergone mutations.

He was afraid this mutation would affect the Martial Dao insights within his Divine Soul, so he infused them into the Spiritual Jade as a contingency.

Of course, now it had all fallen into Chen Yuan’s hands.

Afterward, Chen Yuan led Luo the Thirteenth Lang to the place where Corpse Tower Forest’s main body had been suppressed.

Now, only a crater remained, filled with lingering Demonic Qi and fragments of the Array.

On closer inspection, however, there were a dozen or so black spikes embedded within, looking like a mix of bone spurs and tree branches. At first glance, it looked like a miniature Corpse Tower Forest.

"Quick! There isn’t much time! Cut open your arms, place one in each, and use your Qi and Blood to nourish and subdue them!"

Chen Yuan took out his Cyan Dragon Blood Drink, sliced open both of his arms, and placed the black spikes against the wounds.

The next moment, the black spikes began to greedily drink Chen Yuan’s blood, eventually merging completely into his flesh.

Luo the Thirteenth Lang didn’t hesitate, immediately doing as Chen Yuan said.

Just as the two of them finished merging with the black spikes, the remaining spikes in the crater began to melt, transforming into pure Demonic Qi before dissipating.

"Let’s go!"

Sealed Demon Valley was already collapsing on a massive scale. With the lower Array destroyed, the upper Array was also starting to fall apart.

Having grabbed everything he came for, Chen Yuan immediately pulled Luo the Thirteenth Lang along and left. Any more delays, and they would likely be buried alive.

Although Chen Yuan had unleashed his Blood Fiend Power to its maximum, and Luo the Thirteenth Lang had used his Divine Artifact Incarnation, sacrificing all his True Qi and a great deal of Qi and Blood, they at least had some stamina left.

The two of them scrambled up the collapsing cliffs and finally leaped out just before Sealed Demon Valley was completely buried.

Luo the Thirteenth Lang let out a long breath. "That was close! I just came to watch the show, but I nearly became part of it."

As he spoke, Luo the Thirteenth Lang looked down at his arms.

The wounds were still there but no longer bleeding. A thin black line had appeared on the surface of his skin.

"Brother Chen, what is this?"

"This is the residual aura of the Demon Soldier left by Corpse Tower Forest. You can think of it as a Divine Artifact Incarnation, except it’s a natural one.

Back then, some Noble Sects were able to develop Divine Artifact Incarnations precisely because they were inspired by the solidified auras of Divine Artifact Demon Soldiers like these.

These natural Divine Artifact Incarnations are extremely rare and far more powerful than the artificially created ones that came later.

Unfortunately, our strength is limited. Our Qi and Blood can only sustain two of Corpse Tower Forest’s Divine Artifact Incarnations. Any more, and we would likely suffer a backlash."

Chen Yuan felt a twinge of regret. This was truly good stuff, and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Corpse Tower Forest had been suppressed in Sealed Demon Valley for a thousand years, its aura constantly leaking out, which was what created so many Corpse Monsters.

That’s why so many Divine Artifact Incarnations had formed around its prison.

But now that Corpse Tower Forest has left, these Divine Artifact Incarnations will soon dissipate without a source of power to sustain them.

With his current strength, Chen Yuan could sustain two Divine Artifact Incarnations at most. He could only watch as the rest vanished.

’In the original story, the Three Extremes Evil Venerable’s Cultivation Technique and Corpse Tower Forest’s Divine Artifact Incarnations were actually supposed to be obtained by that woman, Bai Xuewei. Without my interference, the Three Extremes Evil Venerable would have failed to suppress Corpse Tower Forest in the end anyway, leading to the Demon Soldier breaking its seal. However, that process would have been gradual, and Bai Xuewei would have been prepared. After the Three Extremes Evil Venerable’s death, that woman Bai Xuewei was ruthless enough to first go outside and gather all the disciples of the Three Sealed Demon Races, seal their Cultivation, and then cripple her own Meridians to conceal her aura. When Corpse Tower Forest broke its seal, it would kill all the disciples of the Three Sealed Demon Races to vent its rage and then leave. Divine and Demonic Weapons are sentient, but they only possess a simple awareness. They don’t think like humans, so she would have tricked it just like that. By putting herself in a life-or-death situation, Bai Xuewei would have survived and obtained the Three Extremes Evil Venerable’s Cultivation Technique and these Divine Artifact Incarnations. Because the Three Extremes Evil Venerable was wary of his own disciples, the Cultivation Techniques he passed down were all incomplete fragments. Only the technique in the Spiritual Jade was the true, complete version. Only then would Bai Xuewei have finally become the Three Extremes Evil Venerable’s true successor.’

But now, all of it had fallen into Chen Yuan’s hands.

Then, Chen Yuan took out the Spiritual Jade. "This is the Spiritual Jade left by the Three Extremes Evil Venerable, containing his insights on his Cultivation Technique. However, only two of them are still intact."

Luo the Thirteenth Lang immediately said, "Brother Chen, you schemed to get all this. Without you, my simple mind would have gotten me killed by their plots back there.

Don’t even think about offering to share this with me. Getting two of Corpse Tower Forest’s Divine Artifact Incarnations is already a massive gain for me."

’In truth, Luo the Thirteenth Lang wouldn’t have been trapped and killed even without me. He has the Divine Artifact Incarnation of the Celestial-Burning Karmic Flame. He could have saved himself even if he’d fallen into a trap. The strength of a Divine Artifact Incarnation lies in its power source—the Divine Artifact Demon Soldier itself—which allows it to ignore most other forms of power. Of course, Luo the Thirteenth Lang didn’t know any of this.’

He only knew that Chen Yuan was not just his friend, but had also saved his life and helped him obtain two powerful Divine Artifact Incarnations.

Although Zhi Shilang of the Sun-Swapping Alliance also possessed a Divine Soldier, Divine Artifact Incarnations were difficult to create and extremely valuable in their own right.

Besides, from the looks of it, the power of Corpse Tower Forest was even greater than Zhi Shilang’s Celestial-Burning Karmic Flame.

Chen Yuan knew Luo the Thirteenth Lang’s character. He put away the two whole Spiritual Jades and handed the cracked one to him.

"I really do have to give you one. This Spiritual Jade is shattered, so I can’t use it.

Only a Martial Artist who has reached the Eighth Realm Divine Platform can use their Primordial Spirit Power to extract the Cultivation Technique from the fragments.

So it’s useless for me to keep it. Brother Luo, you should take it back to your adoptive father, Lord Zhi Shilang. He should have a way to extract the Cultivation Technique."

Luo the Thirteenth Lang accepted the Spiritual Jade and solemnly cupped his fists at Chen Yuan.

"Brother Chen, words can’t express my gratitude. What started as me owing you a meal has now become me owing you my life.

In the future, if you ever need me, Luo Lie, or my Sun-Swapping Alliance, I will go through hell and high water for you and never shrink from death!"