Chapter 460: Chapter 459: A Blessing in Disguise
In the Martial World, a first-class low-grade martial art is hard to come by. Any martial artist who obtains it would cherish it immensely, even treating it as a treasured family heirloom.
And a first-class mid-grade martial art is several times more valuable than a first-class low-grade one. Once it appears in the world, even the sects of Xuanwu State would fight tooth and nail for it, risking everything.
If someone came to know that Shi Xiaole, on this deserted hillside, had obtained a first-class mid-grade martial art, even the top fifty masters of Shuntian Capital would be driven to madness with jealousy.
What Shi Xiaole had gained was, shockingly, the Life and Death Four Transformations!
Life and Death Four Transformations, created by the mysterious master, Four Transformation Devil Monk, is so powerful and profound that it can only be described as unfathomable and almost demonic.
As one can guess from the name, Life and Death Four Transformations has four methods of use.
The first transformation is called ’Unrivaled Soul Transformation’, which turns deadly enemies into devoted servants, somewhat similar to Soul Capturing Skill, but much more sophisticated.
After all, Soul Capturing Skill can only temporarily confuse people, while the Unrivaled Soul Transformation completely turns the opponent into a puppet.
The second transformation is called ’Self-forgetfulness Transformation’, which can change a person into another, fundamentally forgetting oneself and changing their identity.
The third transformation is called ’Traceless Corpse Transformation’, which works on the opponent and is more powerful than Eunuch Gui’s corpse powder, directly turning people into a puff of air.
Of course, this transformation sounds scary, but in reality its practical use is not great.
The truly breathtaking one is the fourth transformation.
This transformation is called ’Karmic Conversion Skill’, which can drain all the opponent’s strength. Although it’s not clear how it compares with the North Divine Skill, it is definitely more terrifying.
Because after being drained, people aren’t left shriveled - instead, they rot and die, as though they have been soaked in sulfuric acid.
Each of the Four Transformations of Life and Death has a thrilling effect, worthy of being called sensational.
Unfortunately, the descendants of the Four Transformation Devil Monk were dismal in battle. Upon entering the Central Plain, they were tricked by Bai Choufei of the Golden Wind and Drizzle Pavilion, who took the first three transformations, then sold them to Yan Kuangtu, the world’s most notorious madman, before being killed, thus ending with a tragic fate.
At this moment, Shi Xiaole couldn’t help but marvel at the wonders of fate.
If he hadn’t stood up for the Luo Family, he wouldn’t have been thrown into Spring Wind Hell by Bai Xueying. He wouldn’t have been pursued by Lu Zixiong and Zi Xiangbo, forcing him to escape into the pink miasma forest, and naturally, he wouldn’t have found this secret manual.
Although his cultivation was only left with the third level of the Xuanqi Realm and was still declining, he had obtained a first-class mid-grade martial art, the treasure that countless people, including the top fifty masters of Shuntian Capital, dream of. As long as he can escape from the current difficulty, the future is bright.
Without this opportunity, Shi Xiaole would have to continue accumulating reward points and it is hard to say when he would be able to progress.
Every bit of food and drink is predetermined by fate.
Exhaling a turbid breath that did not even exist, Shi Xiaole looked at the cliff again. After thinking for a while, he gathered his energy and obliterated all the figures and inscriptions on the cliff.
When you, Spring Wind Hell, treated me without mercy first, don’t blame me for being ruthless later!
When Shi Xiaole’s cultivation fell below the Xuanqi Realm, leaving only the ninth level of the Qi Absorption Realm, he found that the speed of his internal power being dissolved had suddenly slowed down.
This should be because when the internal power decreased, the range eroded by the pink miasma was reduced.
"My cultivation is still declining, I can’t stay here."
The platform was suspended in the air. It would be fine if he had martial power, but if it disappeared, he would be neither able to climb up nor down. By that time, he would really only be stuck here waiting for death.
Gathering his internal power, Shi Xiaole jumped off the platform.
About a 2-hour period later, he sensed that there was a river at the bottom. After confirming that there was no immediate danger, he jumped in again.
The river was vast and the current was surging. Soon, Shi Xiaole was washed along the current towards an unknown distance.
...
Within the pink miasma.
A figure dressed in purple stood beside the abyss, sticking a hook into the cliff and lowering a long, thick rope, and then slid down into the abyss.
Having searched the entire miasma forest inside and out without finding any traces, Zi Xiangbo could only suspect that Shi Xiaole had either voluntarily or accidentally fallen into the abyss.
Her heart was filled with unprecedented irritation.
"I haven’t absorbed your yang energy yet, you’d better not die," she muttered as she continued to descend.
Although her mental power was strong, it was not as good as Shi Xiaole’s and could only sense within a range of twenty meters. Since she had never learned any technique like the ’Eye-Dagger’, she was unable to sense at a distance and had to descend bit by bit.
Luckily, her cultivation was advanced and under the protection of the Miasma Pill, she quickly reached the river at the bottom of the abyss.
The water of the river didn’t affect Zi Xiangbo, but in the water, her speed inevitably fell. The river was deep and after a thorough search, she found nothing.
"How can there be no one? Where did he die?" Zi Xiangbo was anxious.
Regardless of any dangers, she continued to search. As the Miasma Pill was about to lose its effect, she swallowed one of the remaining two pills, not sparing the life-saving items left by her master.
Shi Xiaole’s cultivation must have declined severely. If he was not found soon, considering his injuries, he would surely die.
Unfortunately.
The inside of the river was eerily quiet. Occasionally few fish and water grass swept by, Zi Xiangbo even found a few sets of bones at the bottom of the river, but she didn’t find Shi Xiaole.
Several 2-hour periods passed.
When the second Miasma Pill was about to lose its effect, Zi Xiangbo finally returned to the cliff and stared blankly at the area below, before leaving without looking back.
In the air, it seemed as if a teardrop had fallen.
...
When Shi Xiaole woke, he found himself lying on a hillside, cushioned by a thick layer of pink flowers.
Looking up, it wasn’t just a hillside. Everywhere he could see was bathed in pink, as if extending to the ends of the earth.
In the distance, the sky was aglow, as if someone was burning pink flowers.
The billowing pink fog rose up, obscuring the heavens.
"Could it be?"
Shi Xiaole was suddenly taken aback.
The pink fog was unmistakably a miasma.
He immediately stood up, only to find that his cultivation level had dropped to the sixth level of the Qi Absorption Realm. Places on his body that came into contact with the pink flowers leaked an aura that noticeably depleted his internal power.
"Can these flowers neutralize internal power?"
Shi Xiaole wanted nothing more than to escape immediately, but his injuries were severe, and his cultivation level was regressing, which made it impossible for him to speed up.
He tried to destroy the pink flowers with his internal power to carve a path, but he was shocked to find that the flowers regrew at a visible speed as soon as they were destroyed.
He then took a fire starter from his system space and lit a fire.
This time, a large number of flowers were burned, but the emitted pink fog still affected Shi Xiaole. After twenty breaths, the flowers regrew again.
What the hell was this thing?
After painstakingly moving for a whole day and night, his cultivation level dropped to the ninth level of the Hidden Qi Realm. But at this point, his internal power finally stabilized and no longer disappeared.
"I have no idea how vast this place is. Might as well keep moving while healing and cultivating."
Although the internal power generated by cultivation could be broken down again, the martial arts realm wouldn’t regress. If he had the chance to get out, it would save a lot of time.
With this thought in mind, Shi Xiaole sat cross-legged in the flower field and began to practice Life and Death Four Transformations.
The first two transformations of Life and Death Four Transformations had little to do with internal power, but were closely related to spiritual power.
For ordinary people, they might not make much progress even after several decades of practice.
But who was Shi Xiaole?
His own spiritual power was incredibly strong. Even the portion he could use temporarily was not inferior to some warriors in the Divine Barrier Realm! It could be said that his spiritual talent was even higher than his cultivation talent.
Every day, Shi Xiaole spent two 2-hour periods traveling, eight 2-hour periods cultivating, and the remaining two 2-hour periods eating and resting.
In just a month and a half, Shi Xiaole had reached the state of perfection in the first two transformations: Unrivaled Soul Transformation and Forget-Me-Not Heart Transformation.
Not in a rush to achieve completion, he temporarily omitted the third transformation and started practicing the fourth transformation, Karmic Conversion Skill.
Sitting cross-legged with his five hearts facing the sky, streaks of internal power roamed in his meridians like trickling streams. Shi Xiaole repeated the formula of Karmic Conversion Skill over and over again.
Day after day.
No living beings, no birds or beasts. It seemed that only Shi Xiaole remained between heaven and earth.
The boundless solitude and loneliness made him invest his whole heart and soul into martial arts. With a level of comprehension surpassing his past, he had managed to perfect the Karmic Conversion Skill by the third month.
By this time, his injuries had also recovered by about sixty percent.
"Just how vast is this place?"
Looking at the endless pink sea of flowers, Shi Xiaole’s lips were slightly pale.
Every time he produced a fresh internal power, it would immediately be broken down by the pink flowers, causing his cultivation level to remain at the ninth level of the Hidden Qi Realm.
The worst part was that the dry food in his system space was almost gone. Once the food and water were exhausted, Shi Xiaole could, at best, hold out for only two days given his current state.
A green star streaked across the sea of flowers.
Despite the drop in Shi Xiaole’s cultivation level, the Star Flight skill was a second-rate superior flying skill after all. When he used it, it still maintained a very fast speed.
Another day passed.
"Are there people?"
Just when he was about to reach the end of his rope on the second day, Shi Xiaole finally spotted a group of black dots in front of him. On closer look, if they weren’t people, what else could they be?
Some people in the group also noticed Shi Xiaole.
With several swishing sounds.
Two people leaping ten zhang at a time, quickly landed in front of Shi Xiaole. Much to Shi Xiaole’s surprise, these two were warriors of the ninth level of the Xuanqi Realm.
"I’ve never seen this person before."
One of them on the left side said.
"No need to guess. He must be the new guy from outside."
The one on the right was a man in his thirties with bat-like ears, who chuckled.
"You two, I stumbled into this place by mistake. Do you know of any way out?"
Finally having met some people, Shi Xiaole asked.
"You know what this place is? Once you enter the Boundless Flower Prison, even gods will find it impossible to get out."
The man with bat-like ears shook his head.
Boundless Flower Prison?
"You might as well come with us. At least we can secure food and shelter."
"In that case, thank you."
Based on the appearance of this group of people, it could be inferred that there must be many other people in the Boundless Flower Prison, and perhaps there was even a common gathering place. Additionally, Shi Xiaole was curious about how the two men had maintained their cultivation levels.
