Chapter 884: Chapter 883: 40% Life and Death Martial Path_1
"Where am I?"
Shi Xiaole looked around and realized he was standing on an island. Tall hills blocked his view, blending into the distant blue sky and white clouds, together they sketched a tranquil and serene little world.
Activating his Flying Skill, Shi Xiaole easily leaped atop a hundred-meter peak, what met his eyes was the endless dark sea, and occasionally, seagulls chased and soared above the waves.
"Could this be the West Sea?"
Since Rainbow Island had always been adrift in the West Sea, and now that it had shattered, it made no sense for Shi Xiaole to end up anywhere else, although he did not know which direction he was currently in.
Shi Xiaole traversed the entire island once again. With his current martial prowess, it took him only half a 2-hour period. The island was not short of reptiles and birds, but plant resources were rather scarce.
After some thought, Shi Xiaole decided to return to the inland of the island. He had sustained serious injuries earlier and needed to readjust properly. Furthermore, having gone through two life-and-death battles, he had much to contemplate—this was a good opportunity to digest it all fully.
Otherwise, the ruthless sea would claim him if he left rashly, and he wouldn’t even know how he died. As for the safety of others, that was beyond the current Shi Xiaole’s ability to affect—he hoped that everyone was blessed by fortune!
Night fell.
A bonfire rose beside the mound.
A figure suddenly burst out from the sea, without a single drop of water splashing, lightly landing beside the bonfire, holding several yellow croakers in hand.
The figure skillfully cleaned the fish, then strung the yellow croakers into a row and placed them on the bonfire. As the flesh turned golden, he began to feast with great relish, quite at ease.
Five days had passed since he arrived on the island. Thanks to his Martial Way of Life and Death at three-part peak, Shi Xiaole’s injuries were nearly completely healed. Thus, he dived into the deep sea every day for pressure training while hunting seafood to fill his stomach.
The stars twinkled nonstop in the sky, accompanied by a faint sound, and a fierce wind surged wildly.
"I didn’t expect to break through so quickly."
Shi Xiaole slowly ended his practice. At this moment, his cultivation level had actually reached the eightfold peak of the Divine Barrier Realm.
For other Earth Immortals, it would take decades of effort to ascend from the initial stage of the eightfold Divine Barrier Realm to the peak. Even if Shi Xiaole’s speed was several times faster than that of other Earth Immortals, it should not have been so rapid.
The reason behind this lay in the two great battles he had recently fought.
Indeed, battles of life and death were fraught with crises, but they also offered the greatest opportunities. Once survived, one was met with vast possibilities.
Besides his cultivation, Shi Xiaole’s Wind Sword Way had also reached nine parts at the initial stage. Together with the five forms of the Wind Tribulation Sword Technique, if the past him could face nine peak Earth Immortals at once, then now that number had dramatically increased, making him an Invincible Earth Immortal among Invincible Earth Immortals.
However, Shi Xiaole did not feel the slightest complacency.
In places beyond the heavens, even a mere statue had nearly defeated him; who knew how powerful those geniuses were? He understood that only by continuously improving and pushing his potential to the limit might he have the chance to compete with them.
"With my current state, I should be able to set off in search of the West Sea Archipelago. But the breakthrough of the Martial Way of Life and Death is imminent, so I better wait a bit longer," he thought.
Shi Xiaole was becoming more aware of the marvels of the Supreme Martial Arts. Indeed, without the Martial Way of Life and Death, he wouldn’t have even qualified to confront the Yellow Jade Sword Emperor!
With the levels of the Wind Sword Way reaching their limit, the only option was to elevate his realm; thus, Shi Xiaole felt it was necessary to shift his focus and devote more energy to the Life-and-Death Martial Dao.
As for the premature integration of the Life-and-Death Martial Dao and the Illusion Martial Way into the Wind Sword Way, he decided not to use it anymore because he clearly sensed that it would affect both the Life-and-Death Martial Dao and the Illusion Martial Way.
Every day, Shi Xiaole would awake during the mao period and begin pondering the Life-and-Death Martial Dao, and afterwards, he would practice his internal strength and swordsmanship, continuing until the zi period, dedicating over nine 2-hour periods to cultivation without distraction.
Though he would certainly feel tired and weary, whenever he thought of the future, the responsibilities he bore, and the promise made to his original self, his fighting spirit soared high.
There was a time when reaching the pinnacle of martial arts was the sole purpose of his life; now, he was driven to struggle for his family and friends, to become their reliable protector in the tumultuous era!
Time flew by, and a month had passed in the blink of an eye.
Under the mound, Shi Xiaole had been sitting quietly in meditation for three days.
On this day, his body suddenly turned into an even distribution of black and white hues; the left side, black with the aura of death, appeared like an expansive Nine Nether Hell, while the right side, white with vitality, attracted nearby creeping creatures and birds from afar.
This mysterious aura even radiated thousands of kilometers, affecting various sea creatures below the ocean surface, causing them either to leap for joy or to panic in confusion.
This continued for a quarter of an hour, and then the black and white hues on Shi Xiaole’s body merged together, spiraling back into him. As the aura dispersed, the waves on the sea surface finally began to subside, and all living beings returned to their normal state.
Upon introspection, Shi Xiaole found that the Taiji Yin-Yang Plate within him had grown larger, its surface shimmering with dazzling light, and to his greatest delight, the speed of Qi conversion had indeed doubled from before.
Boom!
As if a chain reaction had been set off, the Illusion Martial Way, being greatly stimulated, also broke through from seventy percent at the peak to the initial stage of eighty percent in one fell swoop.
"Let’s test the power."
Overjoyed, Shi Xiaole, feeling playful, released a strand of Illusion Martial Way aura. In an instant, the wind and clouds stirred violently, and within a range of ten thousand meters, space and time twisted severely, like a floating world painting that reflected all things.
A blue whale desperately tried to rush towards the island but could not get any closer, crying out in eagerness; yet even so, its voice remained as tender as a song.
Quickly, the illusionary aura dissipated, and Shi Xiaole made a two-inch deep wound on his right arm with his left finger, the wound brimming with Sword Qi. Suddenly, it turned into a cloud of black Qi, which then transformed into white Qi and dissipated into the air.
What was horrifying was that the wound Shi Xiaole had just made scabbed over in the blink of an eye and, after being nourished by the white Qi for a quarter of an hour, the wound completely disappeared.
"Truly worthy of being called Supreme Martial Arts!"
The strike he had just performed with thirty percent of his power was certainly stronger than an Invincible Earth Immortal. In other words, even if Shi Xiaole stood still and let an Invincible Earth Immortal attack him, it would hardly harm a single hair on him.
And this was merely the Life-and-Death Martial Dao at forty percent in its initial period.
Of course, unless absolutely necessary, or until he possessed the unmatched power to proudly stand above all, Shi Xiaole would not easily reveal such ability for the world to see, lest he be called a monster.
Gliding down to the seaside, a blue whale emitted a joyous and high-pitched cry, splashing Shi Xiaole completely, but he did not mind; instead, he happily stroked the purposely lowered head of the blue whale.
Years ago, while traveling in the South Sea, he had encountered a lonely blue whale making its way, and he left a trace of Qi on it, never expecting to see it again in his lifetime. But fate works in mysterious ways, and he unexpectedly met the creature again in the West Sea.
