Chapter 122: Chapter 120: Half a Year in the Cave
Inside the Treasure Cave, aside from the looted gold and jewels, everything was as it was before.
Jiang Ling’Er, Jiang Jichen, and Little Skeleton walked over to the Dragon Clan’s Teleportation Altar. Jiang Jichen asked, "Aunt, are you sure you can control this altar? You’re not going to send us into some Chaotic Flow Space-Time, are you?"
Hearing the doubt in Jiang Jichen’s voice, Jiang Ling’Er was not pleased. She retorted crisply, "Chen’Er, you dare question my abilities? Who do you think bathed you and washed your underwear and clothes all your life? When you were little, who cleaned up after you wet the bed? And then there was the time..."
Jiang Jichen’s face turned ashen. ’My entire reputation is going to be ruined by her sooner or later,’ he thought. Thankfully, only Little Skeleton was here and no one else.
’A mere skeleton shouldn’t be able to understand this stuff!’
No sooner had the thought crossed Jiang Jichen’s mind than he saw Little Skeleton’s Soul Fire flare. It tilted its small skull upward and stared at Jiang Ling’Er with an eager look, the very picture of someone dying to hear the rest of the story.
Jiang Jichen was instantly horrified. He shot out a hand and covered Jiang Ling’Er’s soft, red lips. "Aunt, I swear on my honor! I don’t have a single shred of doubt in your abilities. I believe you can lead us to a place filled with light and hope."
Hearing Jiang Jichen’s praise, Jiang Ling’Er’s face finally broke into a wide grin, and she gestured with her eyes for him to move his hand.
"That’s my Chen’Er for you, always knows what to say. Hehe..."
After Jiang Jichen released her, Jiang Ling’Er’s smug and triumphant voice once again echoed through the Treasure Cave.
Just then, Little Skeleton came over and affectionately tugged on Jiang Ling’Er’s clothes with its little bone hand. It had an ingratiating look, like a child begging for candy.
’Wait, that’s not right. Isn’t Little Skeleton supposed to be at odds with Jiang Ling’Er? What’s with this change in attitude... Little Skeleton, have some backbone, will you? You’re a skeleton! All those bones are a complete waste!’
Jiang Jichen instantly understood the reason for Little Skeleton’s change of heart, and he was rendered speechless.
Jiang Ling’Er then said to Little Skeleton, "Little Skeleton, you want to know about Chen’Er’s past, don’t you?"
Little Skeleton’s Soul Fire danced, and it nodded vigorously.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Ling’Er smiled.
It was a wicked, mischievous grin.
"It’s not out of the question," she said, "but you’ll have to split your treasure with me from now on. Half of it!"
Jiang Ling’Er said, her eyes gleaming. The "treasure" she spoke of, of course, was anything that glittered and sparkled.
Hearing Jiang Ling’Er’s demand, Little Skeleton tilted its head, looking conflicted. It clearly wanted to hear the stories about Jiang Jichen, but the thought of parting with its treasure was visibly painful.
Finally, it seemed to have made a decision. It held up four bone fingers, then tucked three away to leave just one. The message was clear: it would only give a quarter!
Unexpectedly, Jiang Ling’Er waved her hand grandly. "Deal!"
Inwardly, however, Jiang Ling’Er was ecstatic. ’I would’ve been lucky to get even a tenth,’ she thought. ’Kids are so gullible.’
As for embarrassing stories about Jiang Jichen, she had more than enough to talk for days and nights on end.
Jiang Jichen, who had been watching from the side, couldn’t take it anymore. He quickly changed the subject. "We’ll cultivate here for a while. We can use the altar after we’ve fully recovered our strength!"
With that said, he immediately found a secluded spot within the Treasure Cave to begin his recovery cultivation. Out of sight, out of mind.
The Treasure Cave was enormous, with many smaller alcoves lining its walls. Jiang Jichen settled down cross-legged in one of them and entered a state of cultivation.
The battle to break out of Cyan Moon City had been incredibly arduous and perilous. He had faced death time and again, narrowly escaping with his life each time. And although he had ultimately made it out, he had been all but crippled in the process.
Of course, he had crippled a generation of Cyan Moon City’s experts in return. ’Right now,’ he mused, ’those families and Sects must be positively sick with grief and anger!’
He took out handfuls of pills from Cang Songzi’s High-Level Storage Bag—pills that could replenish Spiritual Qi, heal wounds, and bolster his Blood Qi. There were Third and Fourth Grade Condensing Spirit Pills, Top Grade Primordial Spirit Pills, Qi Blood Pills, and more.
As Jiang Jichen consumed the pills, he began circulating the Source Character Qi Condensing Technique and the Undying Scripture.
The Source Character Qi Condensing Technique could refine the Ten Thousand Spirits and return their power to his own body;
The Undying Scripture produced Undying Power to temper and repair his physical body.
The battle had been incredibly brutal. Aside from keeping his Seven-colored Spiritual Power sealed, Jiang Jichen had used every trick in his arsenal and constantly pushed his body past its limits. Though this had caused him immense harm at the time, once his body recovered, that unlocked potential would become instinct—his own true power.
"Blood Qi embraces life, inhaling and exhaling a sea of clouds. Innate points conceal the spirit, containing a cosmos within. With the will of the undying and imperishable, reincarnation is but a wisp of smoke..."
This was the incantation of the Undying Scripture.
"All things can return to the void, the Ten Thousand Spirits can be refined to the source. The Human Body Cosmos holds infinite mysteries..."
This was the incantation of the Ancient Source Character Scripture.
After so many life-or-death battles, as he circulated the two scriptures simultaneously, Jiang Jichen felt a new sense of enlightenment, as if the two were merging into one coherent whole.
「Half a month later.」
All the hidden injuries in Jiang Jichen’s body had vanished, and he had reached his absolute peak condition. Yet he did not wake, continuing to cultivate.
「One month later.」
Jiang Jichen sat still as a stone, utterly motionless. Neither Jiang Ling’Er nor Little Skeleton disturbed him, as they too had entered their own states of cultivation.
Two months, three months, four months passed...
「Six months later.」
Jiang Jichen’s eyes snapped open. A HUMMM echoed from the air within the Treasure Cave, a ceaseless vibration!
This was the sound of resonance, produced only when one’s Dao Thought grew close enough to the Celestial Dao to harmonize with the void itself.
Startled awake, Jiang Ling’Er and Little Skeleton came over and saw Jiang Jichen stepping out of his alcove.
Jiang Ling’Er’s heart skipped a beat as she looked at him. His aura was as profound as an abyss and as imposing as a mountain. With every move, he exuded an air of arrogance, as if looking down upon the very heavens and earth.
Body Cultivation: Innate Body Refining Fourth Layer, Middle Realm. Spirit Cultivation: Innate Fifth Realm, Perfect Realm. Combat power... unfathomable!
At this moment, Jiang Jichen wasn’t concealing his cultivation in the slightest, so his Cultivation Realm was plain to see. Yet even if one could perceive his realm, his combat power felt utterly immeasurable.
In his half a year of cultivation, Jiang Jichen had completely refined the Yin-Yang Power from the Yin Yang Spirit Pool and the Ice Dragon Essence Blood from the Ice Dragon Flower, leaving not a trace behind. He had also consumed every last Spirit Pill from both Cang Songzi’s collection and his own to finally reach his current Realm.
Having consumed the last of his Spirit Pills and with no other cultivation resources left, Jiang Jichen naturally could not continue. It was time to leave.
"Chen’Er, not bad," Jiang Ling’Er said. "It took your dear aunt a whole six months just to reach the Initial Stage of the Innate Sixth Layer. But you actually managed to reach the Innate Fifth Realm. Such speed..."
’Was she just blatantly showing off?’ he thought. But when Jiang Jichen saw Jiang Ling’Er’s Cultivation Realm, he was truly stunned.
’I thought my progress was monstrous enough,’ he mused, ’but Jiang Ling’Er... she just waltzed right into the Innate Sixth Layer.’
He had let his own cultivation aura flare without restraint, intending to show off a little himself. But compared to Jiang Ling’Er, he...
"It must be the effect of the Dragon Soul Pearl, right?"
