Chapter 811: Chapter 810: Insights into the Heavenly Pattern Tempering Gang Pill and the Sword Controlling Skill_1
It was only then that Shi Xiaole had the chance to ponder a question.
First the Yellow-haired Monster, then the Fire Stiff, just what was the background of Rainbow Island?
Moreover, since he obtained the septangle palace lantern, whether it was people or creatures he encountered, all were at the Divine Barrier Realm, Earth Immortal level, could it really be such a coincidence?
A myriad of doubts circled in his mind, yet Shi Xiaole dared not approach the coffin sealed with a talisman, because whether in terms of size or make, this coffin was more superior to the other two.
What this meant, even a fool could understand.
"Wait a minute?"
As if struck by thunder, Shi Xiaole trembled violently, staring blankly at the front of the coffin lid. The familiar handwriting on the talisman caused his heart to skip a beat.
To be precise, it wasn’t handwriting but symbols, yet with Shi Xiaole’s keen eyesight, he was almost instantly sure that they were the work of Shi Xuanzhong.
That style, light and elegant, cold and unyielding, with a hidden pride in the bones, absolutely unmistakable!
Could it be that the Fire Stiff in the middle coffin was sealed by Shi Xuanzhong?
But that seemed incorrect, according to Niu Dali, Shi Xuanzhong, two years ago due to suffering from "Accompany You to Hell," regressed to the sixth level of the Divine Barrier Realm and needed more than three hundred moves to kill three eighth level Earth Immortals of the Divine Barrier Realm.
With such strength, even dealing with the previous Fire Stiff might not have been possible.
Shi Xiaole, mustering his courage, slowly approached the middle coffin. As he got closer, a will brimming with violence, malice, and cruelty seemed to emanate from within, causing the surrounding temperature to rise abruptly.
Good heavens, could it be that the reason this place could isolate the direct passageway’s temperature of more than a hundred degrees below zero was all because of the monster inside the coffin?
How terrifying would that be?
How had Shi Xuanzhong, with his Divine Barrier Realm sixth level strength, managed to get here at that time?
Thump thump thump.
Sounds of turmoil came from inside the coffin. The creature inside seemed to sense something and was violently striking, just as Shi Xiaole was thinking of escaping, he saw the characters on the talisman shine brightly.
In that instant, a noble, vast, and boundless aura spread in all directions. Under the suppression of this aura, the creature inside the coffin let out a chilling, venomous scream that made one’s heart constrict, and then it immediately quieted down.
Even Shi Xiaole himself was affected, as if all negative emotions in his heart had been dispelled.
"This aura..."
Shi Xiaole’s lips trembled slightly.
As Zong Yue, he had attended the Ghost Shura Conference and had seen powerhouses of the Void Origin Realm such as Red Demon Ancestor and Langya Sword Emperor, and he had a particularly deep impression of their aura.
The aura emanating from the characters definitely reached the level of Void Origin Realm and seemed not the least bit inferior to the likes of Red Demon Ancestor!
"Having entered Rainbow Island two years ago, are you still on the island now?"
Shi Xiaole had wanted to find Shi Xuanzhong for more than a day or two, but never before had he been as eager as now. He wanted to know how Shi Xuanzhong managed all of this, and he was more curious about what exactly had happened back then.
The other party could suppress the Fire Stiff with the strength of Divine Barrier Realm sixth level, yet he himself was almost killed in flight from a weaker Fire Stiff, the gap was no small thing.
Feelings of dissatisfaction mixed with excitement transformed into Shi Xiaole’s fighting spirit, making him eager to strengthen himself and then beat the Fire Stiff to a pulp!
"This time, I will definitely find you."
Suppressing any stray thoughts, Shi Xiaole turned around and observed his surroundings, immediately focusing his attention on the other stone doors.
He retreated to the passageway he had come through before, to facilitate a quick retreat, and then carefully controlled the Red Left Sword, pushing the first stone door on the right.
In the creaking of ancient friction, the dust-laden stone door slowly opened, revealing what was inside.
Another deep passageway, its destination unknown.
Without the intention to explore for now, Shi Xiaole cautiously pushed open the second stone door.
This time it was a stone chamber.
Shi Xiaole walked in carefully and found two rows of bookshelves, but they were empty; presumably, the contents had been taken by those who arrived here earlier.
Could it have been Shi Xuanzhong?
Shi Xiaole couldn’t help but smile wryly, still retreating to the passageway to open the third door.
Another passageway was revealed.
Upon reaching the fourth stone door, it was another stone chamber, but unfortunately, he still found nothing.
"Rainbow Island has been around for more than three hundred years, opening every two years, that’s at least one hundred and fifty times that martial artists have entered. Even the most abundant opportunities would have been nearly exhausted by now."
Shi Xiaole shook his head and gave a bitter smile, to say he wasn’t regretful would be a lie, but he had always been casual about such opportunities, the best if available, but not demanding if not, so his mindset was undisturbed.
With the last two stone doors remaining, Shi Xiaole, harboring a try-and-see attitude, gently pushed them open.
Indeed, there was another passage and stone chamber.
But this time, the stone chamber unexpectedly contained items: a stone tablet fixed into the wall, upon which lay a bamboo scroll and a white porcelain bottle.
His blood quickened, Shi Xiaole held his breath and stepped forward, verifying there was no danger before he promptly grabbed the white porcelain bottle first.
"A third-grade exotic poison?"
On the surface of the white porcelain bottle was smeared a poison potent enough to affect a peak Earth Immortal, which instantly invaded Shi Xiaole’s body, but like a clay ox entering the sea, it was rendered ineffective.
Shi Xiaole took out a piece of cured meat from his system space and smeared it with his hand; amid the hissing sound, the cured meat turned into a puff of white smoke.
"Such a fierce poison! No wonder this bottle hasn’t been taken away."
Exotic poison is not ordinary poison. Whether through physical contact or through Vigorous Air, it can effectively take action, which is the main reason people in the Martial World so greatly dread exotic poison.
Shi Xiaole couldn’t help but feel relieved, thankful that he had visited the Thousand Poison Cave and was immune to third-grade exotic poison; otherwise, an unexpected encounter like this might have capsized him in the gutter.
After uncorking the bottle, Shi Xiaole had a light-golden, transparent pill in his hand, its surface adorned with faint patterns that, upon prolonged observation, seemed to be slowly rotating.
"Could it be the Heavenly Pattern Tempering Gang Pill?"
Shi Xiaole took a deep breath. From the various anomalies of the pill, he knew his guess was almost certainly correct.
The Heavenly Pattern Tempering Gang Pill is a pill even rarer than the God-breaking Pill. The latter could maximize the chance of improving an Earth Immortal’s cultivation, whereas the former could temper Vigorous Air, fundamentally enhancing the quality of Vigorous Air!
It is known that although cultivation can be improved with many years of hard practice, the quality of one’s Vigorous Air is a lifetime matter, and this is also a major indicator of a martial artist’s strength.
The reason the Heavenly Hidden Fruit is one of the top ten Exotic Fruits is largely that once consumed, a martial artist’s Vigorous Air will transform into Heavenly Concealment Energy.
The quality of Shi Xiaole’s own Vigorous Air was not inferior to Heavenly Concealment Energy. With the assistance of the Heavenly Pattern Tempering Gang Pill, even if the improvement was only minor, it would be a giant leap!
"If Shi Xuanzhong has been here, there’s no reason he wouldn’t see these things, so why didn’t he take them?"
A man who could not be poisoned to death even by the Thousand Dark Poison Emperor obviously wouldn’t fear a third-grade exotic poison. The most likely explanation was that he simply wasn’t interested.
Given Shi Xuanzhong’s character, it’s entirely possible he might leave things he didn’t need for someone else who was fated to find them.
Setting aside the Heavenly Pattern Tempering Gang Pill for the moment, Shi Xiaole then picked up the bamboo scroll; unsurprisingly, it too was smeared with third-grade exotic poison.
Unfurling the bamboo scroll, the first line that caught his eye nearly made Shi Xiaole’s left hand tremble, causing his body to break out in goosebumps from sheer excitement.
That line of text was astonishingly insights into the Sword Controlling Skill!
The history of Controlling Sword with Qi Skill dates back to the ancient Martial World. Although the swordsmen from that era were mostly ignorant of the Controlling Sword with Qi Skill, knowledge about it was not entirely untraceable.
That was a unique period in history, the only era when the mastery of sword technique truly shone, and modern people can only imagine the elegance of those ancient swordsmen through sporadic descriptions in ancient texts.
It goes without saying that this is a great regret for all swordsmen in the world.
Shi Xiaole, a genius by birth, somehow managed to master the Controlling Sword with Qi Skill without any reference.
But he knew better than anyone that if he continued to fumble blindly forward, trying to bring his skill with Controlling Sword with Qi to a higher level, it wouldn’t be impossible, but it would certainly be as difficult as ascending to heaven.
Understand that the real Controlling Sword with Qi was a mature system formed over generations through the creation and exploration of countless outstanding swordsmen from ancient times.
No matter how talented Shi Xiaole was, he surely couldn’t surpass the collective effort of numerous sword experts.
Unless he had an infinite amount of time, but who could live forever?
Therefore, for any swordsman, the allure of the Controlling Sword with Qi was irresistible. For Shi Xiaole, the bamboo scroll in his hands was priceless, its value far surpassing that of the Heavenly Pattern Tempering Gang Pill.
"The two Fire Stiffs haven’t caught up yet, but I can’t let the fear of unknown dangers hold me back. On the contrary, if I can improve my power, I needn’t fear even if I encounter the Fire Stiffs again."
The sequential acquisitions of the Heavenly Pattern Tempering Gang Pill and the insights into the Sword Controlling Skill ignited an eager impatience within Shi Xiaole.
He listened attentively at each of the three passageways, then probed each with his Red Left Sword, and without further hesitation, he sat cross-legged at the center of the three passageways. This way, in the event of an accident, he could leave immediately by the most suitable route.
With a flip of his palm, Shi Xiaole swallowed the Heavenly Pattern Tempering Gang Pill. In an instant, the pill turned into a warm current that actively blended into his dantian.
Boom!
A surge of Vigorous Air, like a vast and mighty river, produced a deep and powerful sound. This was Dragon Gate Vigorous Air, Shi Xiaole’s current strongest energy.
The second stream of energy was both righteous and sinister, yielding within its softness, unpredictable changes—the Great Achiever Energy he obtained after cultivating the Ten Residences Mahayana Skill.
The third stream was the most tenacious, enduring all calamities without faltering—Enduring Humiliation Vigorous Air, cultivated from the Enduring Humiliation Divine Skill.
Now, under the influence of the pill, all three types of Vigorous Air boiled like a pot of water, churning intensely. It was visible that strands of energy were evaporating, transforming.
This was not impurity but inferior aspects of the Vigorous Air.
Each type of Vigorous Air was composed of various elements, and the abundance of the highest quality elements determined its overall quality. As these inferior properties were tempered, the quality of Vigorous Air naturally improved.
A white mist enveloped Shi Xiaole’s body, from within him, came the sound like beating drums, and his aura inadvertently flushed out, slowly climbing to another level.
