Chapter 616: Chapter 615: Master Level Task
Unable to enhance his sword realm for now, Shi Xiaole set off again in search of the remaining three medicinal ingredients. Unfortunately, despite searching all possible locations, he found nothing.
The Blood Sun Elixir’s effect on Shi Xiaole was increasingly intensifying. Now, nearly every whiff of a woman’s scent would evoke unspeakable images in his mind.
Nights were filled with restlessness and even Heavenly Sword couldn’t drive away these distracting thoughts.
The Blood Sun Elixir, neither a poisonous insect nor a drug, was so deeply integrated into the human body that not even a master of the Divine Barrier Realm could remove it. Truly, it was an incurable object.
Moreover, as time passed, people subtly changed, becoming tools controlled by the Blood Sun Elixir. It was almost impossible to suppress this transformation with willpower alone.
This was the prime reason why Ji Morou was eager to kill Shi Xiaole initially.
"This can’t go on, or it will affect my advancement."
Sweating profusely, Shi Xiaole tried to suppress his distractions, forcing himself to concentrate on cultivation. Several times he nearly lost control, teetering on the brink of demonic possession. By the time dawn broke, he felt nearly as exhausted as if he had been in an intense battle.
"Wait, my Vigorous Air?"
Shi Xiaole was suddenly shocked.
He discovered that his Vigorous Air, which had already reached its limit, had surprisingly increased again?
Everyone has their limits, so after attaining the peak of the Dragon Gate Realm, it’s almost impossible to enhance Vigorous Air further, unless one makes a more significant breakthrough.
What’s happening now?
"The Blood Sun Elixir is regarded as one of the world’s unusual objects, so could it be that resisting its torment could boost my body’s limit?"
Shi Xiaole couldn’t help but speculate.
Openly in the martial world, less than ten masters have ever been implanted with the Blood Sun Elixir, all of whom became the training tools for witches of the Dreamy Sect.
The only man who has successfully produced the Blood Sun Elixir was Shi Xiaole alone.
So, even the leader of the Dreamy Sect may not fully understand the complete function of the Blood Sun Elixir.
Biting his lip, Shi Xiaole walked to the window, opened it, and looked down the street. Tormented by the Blood Sun Elixir, he didn’t even dare to go out in these days.
His gaze swept down, and the figures of the women on the street caught his eye.
Shi Xiaole quickly closed the window, bracing against the flames in his belly while forcing himself to practice martial arts. After a few 2-hour periods, he looked as if he had just been fished out of water, yet his face also held a mystified look.
This painful practice method indeed enhanced his limit. The progress in a single day was more significant than the efforts of several previous months combined.
After all, at this point, without improving his sword realm or mastering new sword techniques, Shi Xiaole’s strength wouldn’t change much. The same applied to other masters.
But now, it seemed he had found a new path!
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that enhancing Vigorous Air is insignificant.
In fact, Vigorous Air is a significant foundation for progressing into the Divine Barrier Realm. The stronger the Vigorous Air, the higher one’s starting point when breaking through to the Divine Barrier Realm, guaranteeing greater momentum.
In the Martial World, most practitioners who aimed to break through to the Divine Barrier Realm would temper their physical bodies later, gathering extensive training exercises. The goal was to maximize their limit, to increase their Vigorous Air as much as possible.
"This method is dangerous, and I could lose control and get possessed. But if I manage it, my strength may surpass expectations once I step into the Divine Barrier Realm."
Shi Xiaole couldn’t disguise his enthusiasm.
Deep down, he was a cultivation fanatic. As long as it didn’t violate his morals or harm others, he was willing to try any method that could enhance his strength.
Over the following days, Shi Xiaole hovered between heaven and hell, often losing control and almost giving in to carnal desires. However, through sheer willpower, he managed to pull through.
Half a month later.
His Vigorous Air had increased by a full two-tenths.
One should know that Shi Xiaole had consumed many heavenly and earthly spirit fruits and had practiced the Vajra Unbreakable Body. Therefore, the amount of Vigorous Air his body could accommodate already exceeded 99% of other people, just lagging behind certain prodigies.
Now that his Vigorous Air had increased by two-tenths, he couldn’t help but wonder, were there any other Dragon Gate Realm warriors in the Flying Horse Dynasty stronger than him?
The other advantage of this training method was resistance. Seeing a woman no longer triggered the Blood Sun Elixir’s reaction in Shi Xiaole.
He decided to clear his mind by going out. He started browsing the tasks of the Tian State Anti-Demon League. Soon, Shi Xiaole was attracted by a Master-level task.
With his current strength, he wasn’t actually qualified to take on a Master-level task. But this task was unusual; it was open to everyone in the Anti-Demon League.
The specific content of the task was to go to the coast of South Sea and look for an artifact belonging to Demon Sound Elder, then bring it back.
Demon Sound Elder, originating from the Ghost Lethal Sect of the Six Paths of Demon Door, was a notorious master of the Divine Barrier Realm. It was said that his murderous aura was so overwhelming that he slaughtered a small town overnight, his mere mention enough to hush a crying child.
Later, the Four Phases of the Holy Door, the Shaolin Temple, sent three monks who chased the Demon Sound Elder for three months. Eventually, they all ended up in the South Sea coast and never returned.
In recent years, the Ghost Lethal Sect has been sending people to find Demon Sound Elder, but without any results. Over time, everyone began to assume that he was dead.
The righteous path sought the Demon Sound Elder due to rumors that he carried the Ghost Killing Yama Order, the highest symbol of the Ghost Lethal Sect!
Many years ago, the Ghost Lethal Sect had divided into two schools of thought. Both schools wanted to be recognized by the Demon Path as orthodox. The key to it all was the Ghost Killing Yama Order that only the Sect Master could possess.
Therefore, not only the righteous path and the Ghost Lethal Sect but also many Demon Door sects would secretly send people into the South Sea coast, hoping to find Demon Sound Elder.
Since the Demon Sound Elder’s life or death was undetermined, the Anti-Demon League also advised in the task that those with weak strength should not take the risk.
However, Shi Xiaole was truly drawn in by the reward of the task.
"A Twinkling Star Stone weighing three pounds and a lower-grade, primary-level Stone Touching Skill Book, quite generous indeed."
’Twinkling Star Stone’ is found only in one of the ten most dangerous places in the world, the Falling Star Gorge. It’s soft in texture yet unbreakable, making it the ideal material for array plates. But Shi Xiaole knew that the uses of the Twinkling Star Stone were far beyond that.
In the medium-level spiritual weapon forging method of Nine-colored Granny, the Twinkling Star Stone was the most vital main ingredient!
After learning the method from Xia Yunxi, Shi Xiaole did not start forging immediately. Firstly, his craftsmanship hadn’t passed muster, and secondly, the main reason was that he lacked the materials.
If he could get the Twinkling Star Stone, the rest of the materials wouldn’t be hard to find, meaning that Shi Xiaole might have a slight chance of personally forging a medium-level spiritual weapon.
Such spiritual weapons are not so plentiful that every Divine Barrier Realm expert has one.
As for the lower-grade, primary-level Stone Touching Skill, Shi Xiaole thought it was more valuable than the Twinkling Star Stone.
He was probably the only person in the world who could both practice martial arts and cultivate the Stone Touching Skill. Past experiences had shown that the Stone Touching Skill could improve his understanding.
Shi Xiaole couldn’t help but wonder, if he cultivated a lower-grade, primary-level Stone Touching Skill, would his understanding significantly improve?
"I’ll take it."
There is no fortune without risk. Since the opportunity was before his eyes, it made no sense to let it slip away. He just had to be extra careful.
Fearing that bringing Qingfeng might give him away, Shi Xiaole left Spiritual Light City alone.
Although Tian State was the center of the dynasty, it referred to its status, not its location. Leaving from the southeast side of Huanzhou River, it took less than two days for Shi Xiaole to reach the South Sea shore.
There were quite a few people choosing to set sail here, and the demand for ships exceeded the supply. Eventually, Shi Xiaole and a group of adventurers from the Martial World co-bought a ship and set sail that day.
...
The South Sea was unfathomably large.
Compared to the land, the ocean occupied more than 70% of the East Victory continent. No one knew what was hidden deep in the ocean, nor where it ended.
Even for someone as powerful as a Martial Emperor, it was difficult to cross the ocean.
The ocean was too dangerous, with disasters happening at any moment. Even a medium-sized tsunami could take any unparalleled expert’s life.
A relatively small ship sailed on the ocean, and two hours later, the coastline was no longer in sight.
The weather on the sea was unpredictable; one moment it was sunny, and the next, it turned into a storm. The ship bobbed in the waves. Thanks to the unwavering skill of the master, the ship managed to survive the storm.
"Help! People on the ship, please save me."
Three days later, when the wind and waves had calmed, a call for help came from a short distance away.
Standing on the deck, Shi Xiaole looked over to the right and found a piece of rotten wood floating on the sea. A young woman was on the wood, desperately calling for help.
"Quick, get over there."
There were six adventurers in total, one of them was a woman named Zhang Ting who quickly gave the order.
"Wait, could it be a trap?"
Another man was cautious and apprehensive.
"How can there be deceit in this vast ocean? It’s just her alone. Can’t we handle her?"
Under Zhang Ting’s urging, the master steered the ship toward the woman. Once the ship approached, Zhang Ting lowered a rope and, using her power at the eighth level of the Dragon Gate Realm, pulled the woman up.
"Hehe, little girl, you have such a kind heart, I’ve decided to kill everyone else and spare only you."
The woman’s listless expression changed, and before Zhang Ting could react, the woman jabbed a finger at her. What horrified the adventurers even more was that the woman’s revealed aura reached the peak of the ninth level of the Dragon Gate Realm.
Such a person didn’t need to deceive them to attempt an assassination.
"I just love to see your faces right now. It was worth soaking in water for that. How about this: hand over all your valuable stuff and I’ll let you keep your corpses intact."
The woman said with a grin.
The adventurers’ faces turned grim.
Initially, they could form a formation of six to fight against a mid-level Lord. But now, with Zhang Ting captured and each of them fighting for their own, they were probably not the woman’s match.
They’d only been sailing for a few days and they ran into such a mess!
"Brother, this woman is coming on strong - let’s join forces to take her down."
Someone secretly passed a message to Shi Xiaole.
The explorers figured that Shi Xiaole was probably a novice. But since he dared to set sail, he must have some abilities.
The woman seemed to perceive something, smiled coldly, and just slapped at them. The powerful palm pressure made everyone limp, completely losing the will to fight.
"A primary-level Lord!"
Zhang Ting slumped in the woman’s arms. How could they fight this?
