Chapter 264: Chapter 264: Nine Luminaries and Ten Capitals True Force
Before the words had even faded, his five fingers were already clamped onto Teng Lingchuan’s skull.
"Talk!"
Meeting Xu Yunfan’s wolf-like gaze, Teng Lingchuan trembled uncontrollably.
"..."
’You have acquired the Nine Luminaries and Ten Capitals True Force.’
As the word "Uninitiated" appeared before his eyes, Xu Yunfan glanced down at Teng Lingchuan, whose own eyes had rolled back in his head as foam frothed at his lips.
He shook his head slightly. That Elder Yin from the Nine Radiance Sect must have truly doted on his beloved disciple to have taught him the complete Nine Luminaries and Ten Capitals True Force.
This True Force was considered one of the most elite Martial Arts Skills in the Great Zhou. Its Blood and Qi Flow mimicked the Nine Luminaries, and one was only qualified to cultivate it after tempering their Blood Qi nine times over.
The systems of these great sects had long been established, with each part interlocking with the next.
Without cultivating the Sword Pavilion’s Triple Jiao Sword Nurturing Technique, one could not practice the Empty Clarity Sword Washing Technique. Similarly, without cultivating the Nine Radiance Sect’s Nine Luminaries Swallowing Qi Technique, one could not learn the Nine Luminaries and Ten Capitals True Force.
"This Secret Realm truly is a wonderful place..."
Xu Yunfan took a long, deep breath, looking with some regret at the White Jade Palace, which was now covered in spreading cracks. ’I wonder if there are any other True Disciples from other sects in this Little Heaven and Earth Secret Realm,’ he thought.
Xu Yunfan stood before the ruins of the White Jade Palace with his hands behind his back. The Dragon Scale Armor Leaves on his armor continued to pulse, fed by the Essence Qi within the Blood Sacrificial Jade.
He gazed up at the coiling dragon reliefs on the dome as they cracked and crumbled. Shards of jade fell like stars, tracing faint, glowing arcs in the gloom.
His fingertips caressed the cold Jade Scroll he had just taken from Jiang Xu, his gaze sweeping over the strange Cloud Patterns on its surface.
"What a waste of all this thousand-year-old Warm Jade."
Xu Yunfan regarded the jade palace with great regret. Putting aside everything else, a palace built entirely from carved jade would be priceless in the outside world. And if word got out about the Blood Sacrificial Jade—an artifact that could absorb others’ Blood Qi to strengthen one’s own body—people would fight to the death for it.
Xu Yunfan was certain that the vast majority of Martial Artists would be unable to resist such a temptation.
He lifted his foot and crushed a fragment of a Vein-Suppressing Pillar that had rolled to his feet, sending a wisp of cyan smoke drifting up from the cracks.
If he could gather the ultimate Martial Arts for every realm from all Six Great Sects and master them all, he could become like the Sword Pavilion’s legendary Celestial Sword Dugu Jiu, suppressing every other Martial Artist in the world to the point they wouldn’t dare raise their heads.
But that was not Xu Yunfan’s ambition. Having personally witnessed two Cultivators and understood that Immortals truly existed in the world, he no longer had any interest in worldly fame, fortune, or being number one in the Martial Dao.
Cultivation!
Longevity!
If this had been half a month ago, he would have scoured the Secret Realm to collect every sect’s ultimate skill, just as he had done to obtain the Empty Clarity Sword Washing Technique. He would have used the Qi of Ginseng to open his Triple Jiao Meridians, turning even the Sword Pavilion’s once-in-a-century Innate Sword Bone into a mere stepping stone.
But the various kinds of Magic that Jiang Xu had displayed—a terror that surpassed all understanding of the Martial Dao—had instead ignited a deep-seated craving in his soul.
’For now, I need to find a way to raise my strength to the Organ Cultivation Realm.’
The Spiritual Qi in this Little Heaven and Earth Secret Realm was dense. Although it only became abundant where it gathered according to the mountain’s topography, it was still far, far better than the thin, scattered Spiritual Qi of the outside world.
His gaze suddenly shifted, focusing on the distance.
Xu Yunfan’s eyes flashed like lightning, instantly locking onto a plume of dust rising from a mountain pass far away.
In the space of a few breaths, the ground began to tremble. A dark, oppressive shadow rushed up from the valley floor, leaving withered plants and shattered rock in its wake. It was a swarm of Bloodthirsty Demon Fiends, drawn by the dense Blood Qi on his body.
The leading Demon Fiend resembled a giant ape but had three ferocious heads. The central skull was covered in Cyan Scales, its fangs jutting out. Of the two heads flanking it, one was crimson and the other black. The red head spewed poisonous fire, while the black head’s roars shattered mountain stone.
Its body was five zhang tall, with bone spurs protruding from its spine and corrupted, chain-like sinews wrapped around its limbs. Every step it took branded a scorched black mark onto the ground.
Behind the Demon Ape, a tide of Low-tier Demons and Monsters surged forward, howling.
There were Ghost-faced Moths with wings like blades and human faces on their abdomens; Corpse-Rotting Toads covered in pustules with writhing tentacles; and hundreds of Blood-Eyed Wolf Spiders with legs like spears, spitting webs that ensnared the moths flying overhead and wrapped them in blood cocoons...
A dark, teeming horde of Demon Fiends pressed together, their overwhelming Evil Qi staining the once-clear sky of the Secret Realm a dark purple.
’The only troublesome thing is that the longer I stay in the Little Heaven and Earth Secret Realm, the more frequently these Demon Fiends will attack.’
He had already been in this Secret Realm for nearly two months now.
Xu Yunfan raised his head. The number of Demon Fiends now exceeded a hundred, but instead of retreating, he reached behind his back and slowly drew the Thunderfire Qilin Hammer, which had been dormant for some time.
The moment the hammer was drawn, the air around it exploded.
As he unleashed his Strength, the patterns on the hammer’s head erupted with crimson-purple thunder and fire, and the engravings on its handle hummed and vibrated.
Xu Yunfan pushed off with his feet, the ground beneath him collapsing with a ROAR as his body shot toward the demonic horde like a cannonball.
While still in mid-air, he had already swung the hammer in a full circle, unleashing the move Celestial River Falling to Earth.
"BOOM!"
The wind from the hammer, wreathed in thunder and fire, formed a crimson-purple wheel of light three zhang in diameter that swept outward.
The dozens of Blood-Eyed Wolf Spiders in the lead were instantly carbonized. The Ghost-faced Moths had their wings shredded by the lightning, and the Corpse-Rotting Toads’ pustules burst, their venom splashing back to corrode their own kind.
Xu Yunfan’s assault didn’t stop. He shifted his hammer’s momentum, and "Overlapping Waves Shattering Mountain" from the Thousand-Pound Mountain-Shaking Hammer Technique followed. The shadow of his hammer fell like a collapsing mountain, brutally smashing the poisonous fire and sonic waves spat by the three-headed Demon Ape right back into its mouths!
The Demon Ape roared in pain and retreated, blood trickling from the corners of all three of its mouths, its ferocity only heightened.
It beat its chest furiously. The chain-like sinews on its body suddenly went taut, and it dragged nine decaying martial corpses from the ground. Wreathed in Demon Qi, the corpses lunged at Xu Yunfan.
At the same time, the pillar of fire from the red head and the sonic waves from the black head’s roars merged into a crimson-black torrent that turned even solid rock to dust in its path!
Xu Yunfan’s gaze was ice-cold, showing not a flicker of emotion as the Three Jiao Meridian Sword Strength within his body suddenly began to circulate.
Although the Red Flood Dragon Coiling Mountain Strength in his body surged like a tidal wave, he had to admit that the Sword Force cultivated by the Triple Jiao Sword Nurturing Technique was a cut above it in terms of quality.
Upper Jiao Sword Qi Breaks Evil, Middle Jiao Melting Iron and Forging Shape, Lower Jiao Spiral Tempering.
Three-colored Sword Qi erupted from his mouth and nose, coalescing into a Spiral Sword Gang on the head of his hammer.
He took a step forward, man and hammer becoming one, and crashed down to meet the torrent!
"CLANG!"
The explosive sound of the Sword Force colliding with the demonic Evil Qi tore through the air.
The Demon Ape’s crimson-black torrent was shredded inch by inch by the Sword Gang, and the aftershock sliced the Demon Fiends lunging from the side in half.
Xu Yunfan pressed his advantage, his hammer striking like a torrential downpour, each blow accompanied by an explosion of thunder and fire. The Demon Ape’s bone spurs shattered and its scales were torn away. Finally, its central skull was obliterated by a single blow. Its remaining two heads tried to struggle, but Xu Yunfan formed a sword with the fingers of his left hand. He channeled a stream of Sword Force from his Triple Jiao Sword Nurturing Technique, sending it piercing through one of their brows. The skull instantly exploded!
Seeing this, the horde of Demon Fiends actually paused for a moment.
How could Xu Yunfan let such an opportunity pass?
He took a deep breath. His Golden Marrow stirred, and the Secret Realm’s Spiritual Qi surged madly through his mouth and nose into his Triple Jiao, where it was rapidly converted into Sword Force. His Sword Momentum flared, growing another thirty percent stronger.
He raised the Thunderfire Qilin Hammer high above his head...
"ROAR!"
The instant the hammer fell, crimson-purple thunder and fire surged outward, turning every Demon Fiend in its path to charcoal.
The aftershock swept through half the mountain pass. Of the hundred-plus Demon Fiends, not even one in ten survived. Severed limbs and the stench of burnt flesh filled the valley.
