Chapter 535: Chapter 534: Undying Seven Illusions (The Evil King asks for subscription, monthly tickets)
"Congratulations Host, you’ve successfully exchanged for a first-class middle-grade martial arts skill: Shi Zhixuan’s Undying Seven Illusions!"
Undying Seven Illusions!
Shi Xiaole never thought that his luck would be so good that he would draw this set of martial arts skills.
Here, good luck carries two meanings.
The first implies that illusionary martial arts techniques are rare, even more so for those of first-class, middle-grade quality. Unexpectedly, what he exchanged for using the Purusha Illusion Extremity Skill was of the same kind.
The second implication is that Undying Seven Illusions far surpass the Purusha Illusion Extremity skill and is a top-class middle-grade martial arts technique.
Even compared to the Yi Sword Skill, Shi Xiaole prefers this method of fighting.
The martial world of the Tang Dynasty will never forget that wicked, wild, and talented man.
He could change the weather at will and served as a minister in the great Sui dynasty. Within a few years, he divided the mighty Turkic empire into two and changed the situation of the world.
He was also the Sect Master of the Demon Door’s Huajian Faction and the Patch Heaven Way, a rare martial arts genius in hundreds of years, the foremost among the eight profound practitioners of the Demon Door. Everyone who saw him had to respectfully call him Evil King!
He was also a sentimental and charismatic playboy, who made the two most noticeable women in the martial world fall for him, causing both the righteous and demonic factions to feel ashamed.
No one could deny Shi Zhixuan’s talent. If it weren’t for his emotional entanglement with Bi Xiuxin that drove him mad for many years, perhaps Evil King’s accomplishments would not have stopped there.
Of course, all these are later speculations.
One can only take solace in that this knowledgeable and free-spirited man left his mark in the martial world.
Undying Seven Illusions!
This is an unparalleled martial arts technique that integrates Undying Seal Skill and Phantom Demon Body Method. It not only includes illusion art and physical methods but also represents a profound understanding of Buddhist and demonic dao. It also embodies a person’s unrestrained and unyielding attitude when facing adversity.
"Once I learn this martial arts technique, my physical abilities should improve significantly, and the use of Illusion True Intent would become broader."
Without any hesitation, Shi Xiaole immediately decided to cultivate the Undying Seven Illusions.
Exiting the system in his mind, he saw Ai Yingjie and the Sixth Elder walking over. The former asked with concern, "Xiaole, what just happened?"
Since Shi Xiaole had completed the exchange, the secret manual in his hand had disappeared.
"I broke through the array and found something good. We’ll discuss the details later. Let’s find a place first."
Talking on the bridge would attract too much attention and might draw their opponents. The three immediately searched the bodies of Sunset Lord and Heavy Mountain Blade Venerable for anything valuable and left the place.
The City of Death was vast, and skilled fighters occasionally passed by in the streets, but they’re all lower and middle rank venerables.
All the top rank venerables and high rank venerables gathered in front of the three great arrays, each trying to break through and obtain the treasures within.
The three found a mansion and went in.
"Right now, there are three main battlefields. We are not capable enough to interfere though, so we’ll have to wait for Brother Yinglong’s news," said Ai Yingjie.
The gap between lower rank venerables and middle rank venerables isn’t as great as that between middle rank and high rank venerables. When average middle rank venerables get involved in the matters of high rank venerables, they’re simply asking for death.
Ai Yingjie purposely said this to remind Shi Xiaole, fearing his youthful energy and impulsivity might lead him to act rashly.
Shi Xiaole laughed, "There are still many array formations in the city. When the two elders have recovered from their injuries, we can go look for them together."
"I can’t think of a better plan."
The Sixth Elder laughed loudly.
Since all three were middle-ranked venerables, as long as they didn’t encounter a high-ranked venerable, they would have no problem keeping their lives.
The three quickly found separate rooms and began adjusting their physical states.
"I have secretly closed the life and death doors, so no one can leave. Therefore, we don’t need to worry about our treasures being stolen. When we encounter enemies, we can simply attack."
"For the three great array formations, given my current level of strength, I would only be able to protect myself if I went there. It would be better to focus on cultivating the Undying Seven Illusions to improve my power."
Besides Undying Seven Illusions, Shi Xiaole could also increase his strength by drawing on others’ vigorous air, but in reality, the benefits would be minor.
If he reached the highest level of the Dragon Gate realm, he wouldn’t necessarily be able to challenge a high-ranked venerable.
Every high-ranked venerable has grasped at least 90% understanding of the top intents. The difference between 90% and 80% is much greater than between 80% and 70%, and his understanding of Wind True Intent, at a peak of 40%, was too meager in comparison.
It would be better to use the unique environment of the Illusion Lord’s array to cultivate the Undying Seven Illusions.
With clear determination in mind, Shi Xiaole wasted no time in recalling the formulas of Undying Seven Illusions and quickly entered a state of cultivation.
Undying Seven Illusions, born out of the Undying Seal Skill, fundamentally utilizes the principle of extremes leading to opposites. It makes use of the transformation of Life and Death Dual Qi to ensure a steady supply of guts and internal power.
In simple terms, it converts the death Qi launched by the enemy into one’s own life Qi to replenish the consumed Qi and Internal Power. In other words, as long as the opponent’s attack power does not exceed one’s limit, victory is guaranteed!
So, Undying Seven Illusions is not only an illusionary art but also a clever method for using Internal Power.
With no distractions, Shi Xiaole thoroughly immersed himself in the obscure universe of self-learning.
Perhaps because he had already grasped 20% understanding of the Illusion True Intent, and he had some insights about illusion arts. Furthermore, Shi Xiaole had innate Demon Bones, and his understanding of devil’s dao martial arts far exceeded ordinary people. This was why his cultivation was immensely fast. On the seventh day, he was almost at the threshold level.
During this time, Ai Yingjie and the Sixth Elder had sought him out but sensing the ambiance in his room, they knew better than to disturb him and even volunteered to maintain security around the area.
Half a month passed.
Undying Seven Illusions was finally mastered.
"The pace was a bit slow."
Shi Xiaole woke up, slightly frowning.
If such a statement were to spread, it would be despised by all. Most experts of Dragon Gate Realm have never even seen a trace of a top-tier intermediate martial arts, not to mention practicing them.
In the history of Xuanwu State, those giants who had practiced top-tier intermediate martial arts had all put in full effort and spent half of their lives.
To start within seven days is already considered lightning fast, and he complains it’s slow?
Closing his eyes, he continued to practice.
Twenty-one days later, Shi Xiaole successfully practiced Undying Seven Illusions to the minor realm.
With abundant food and water in the system space, Shi Xiaole was not worried about starving.
As for the others, before they entered the City of Death, everyone had prepared portable compressed food for venturing ancient ruins which could last for several months.
Time flew like a river.
During this period, battles broke out just outside the courtyard, presumably someone tried to break in but were held back by Ai Yingjie and the Sixth Elder.
One and a half months later.
In his room.
A layer of silvery-gray aura suddenly spread. The silvery-gray aura was not a flat plane but a series of varied-size rings, seemingly existing and not, acting as a mysterious and terrifying boundary between reality and unreality.
"Undying Seven Illusions, finally reached the major realm."
With the silvery-gray aura disappearing, Shi Xiaole slowly exhaled.
Before this, his strongest skill was undoubtedly the Death Claiming Fifteenth Sword, enhanced by the Demonic True Intent, which achieved tournament tier levels. But it was just an average top-tier intermediate.
At this moment, the majorly achieved Undying Seven Illusions has outclassed Death Claiming Fifteenth Sword, becoming Shi Xiaole’s top skill.
If before, Shi Xiaole could only battle with ordinary intermediate lords, now, even when facing the top-tier intermediate lords, he was not at all apprehensive.
Again, facing the secret skill of Sunset Lord, he could easily block without using Demon Bone’s power.
"To practice Undying Seven Illusions to perfection, one must have a certain understanding of the essence of Buddha’s and the Demon’s Way. It has nothing to do with one’s intelligence, but with one’s nature and perception."
Developing low-level martial arts is not limited. If one is insightful enough, they can practice them. However, as the level increases, martial arts gradually shifts from material to spiritual, making the spiritual realm particularly important.
This is the reason that the majority of truly remarkable experts are commonly experienced elders. On one hand, due to the long duration of cultivating, on the other hand, they have achieved a higher spiritual realm.
With a sigh, Shi Xiaole left the room.
"Xiaole, you finally came out."
Ai Yingjie was pacing around the courtyard with significant nervousness. Upon seeing Shi Xiaole, he quickly greeted him.
"What happened?"
"A big incident occurred. A few days ago, three top-tier lords broke into the City of Death. With their assistance, the three big arrays have been destroyed. Now, everyone in the City of Death is fighting on the three major battlefields. Twenty-six lords have already been killed."
Over the past decades, it’s quite rare to hear about the death of a lord. The impact of twenty-six lords dying all at once on all the major powers could be imagined.
Not everyone is abnormal like Shi Xiaole, who can fluently defeat his peers.
In fact, even if a mid-level lord faces a low-level lord, it is difficult to kill instantly. It’s not that easy to kill someone. In the last two months, only a dozen or so lords have been killed.
Shi Xiaole’s expression changed. He swiftly moved to a cloth shop, which was the array center for sealing Life and Death doors. After careful sensing, it was indeed that the Life door array eye had been destroyed.
"Do you know who the three people who came in are?"
Shi Xiaole asked.
"They are the Three Oddities."
The tone of Ai Yingjie was heavy.
...
This is a huge palace, built in the style of the Western Region Persia. There’s a vast courtyard in the center, covering several square kilometers, surrounded by long, wide passages on all four sides.
Twenty feet above the courtyard, three weapons floated: a long sword, a hatchet, and a black spear. Judging by their aura, they were all top-tier lower-grade spiritual weapons.
Around the three spiritual weapons, all kinds of vigorous airs intertwined, different kinds of martial arts filled the air unceasingly. Each time an explosion occurred, it was enough to kill an ordinary person outright.
"The sword and the hatchet belong to me, whoever wants to die, come and try."
A ragged, golden-haired old man holding a golden saber three feet long slashed at his opponent repeatedly, golden light filling a radius of hundreds of meters.
"Golden Saber Elder, other people may fear you Three Oddities, but I, Tang Ao, do not!"
The Golden Saber Elder’s opponent was a thin middle-aged man, who was the castle master of Tang Family Fortress, Tang Ao.
With a clatter, both men retreated several steps.
"Kill!"
The Golden Saber Elder spat out a mouthful of blood and charged forward with his saber.
The Three Oddities entered the black giant hole earlier, but they landed in a bad spot. Under the effect of the Life door, they encountered nine arrays in a row.
With the Silver Sword Gentleman’s mastery in the Array System, coupled with the fact that all three of them were top-tier lords, they barely destroyed the previous eight arrays, but they were helpless against the ninth one.
Luckily, when they were in despair, the ninth array vanished. As the fake scholar of the Silver Sword Gentleman said, someone had sealed the Life Door, causing the array to malfunction greatly.
After having existed for hundreds of years, flaws appeared in the array. After the Life door was sealed, the fake scholar found several flaws in a row. With that, the Three Oddities broke into the City of Death, which led to the scene as it appeared now.
Shi Xiaole did not know that it was his action of sealing the Life door and Death Door which caused a malfunction in Illusion Lord’s large array. This lead to the invasion of the Three Oddities, the premature destruction of the three large arrays in the city, and cost many lives.
