A Chaotic World

"A jade slip…" Lu Tianzi murmured as he looked in confusion at the small piece of jade in his hands.

He truly had not heard of such a thing before.

What could this small piece of jade possibly be used for?

Nevertheless, Lu Tianzi did as the elderly demon instructed, and proceeded to sink his perception into the jade slip.

The moment he did so, he widened his eyes in bewilderment!

An extremely huge amount of information instantly flooded into his mind, as though he had read through dozens of books in an instant!

This small piece of jade actually held within it so much more information than what mere books could provide!

On top of that, this information had been directly sent into his mind, greatly reducing the time taken to peruse this information.

No matter how he looked at it, this jade slip was a superior alternative to regular books, and not just by a small margin!

But that was not even the main surprise.

Just like in the case of a book, what mattered most was naturally the actual content that was contained within the jade slip!

The moment he sank his perception into the jade slip, Lu Tianzi understood that within it contained a cultivation technique.

Heaven Devouring Divine Art.

The name of the technique immediately entered Lu Tianzi's mind as well.

In order to obtain the ultimate strength, what could be better than just directly devouring the power of heaven itself?

By absorbing energy that originated from every corner of the world, a martial artist would be able to duplicate the laws of the world within his body, eventually forming his own internal world system that could even match that of the external world.

Cultivated to its peak, a martial artist would gain the strength needed to stand equal to the heavens, peering down at all else with disdain!

At that point, the martial artist would break past the limits of the world, no longer bounded by its laws.

He himself would be the world, and he shall set his own laws.

This was an extremely tyrannical sounding cultivation technique for the Slaughter Essence system!

The elderly demon was not joking at all earlier.

Even though Lu Tianzi had only just begun looking through the contents, he could already feel that this was not an ordinary cultivation technique at all!

Without a doubt, the Heaven Devouring Divine Art was a supreme cultivation technique that countless martial artists would go to all lengths in order to obtain!

Lu Tianzi could not help but tremble with excitement as he closed his eyes, taking his time to go through the contents held within the jade slip.

This jade slip was truly fascinating.

The contents within was not just a much larger amount, but even the details were inscribed in ways that could never be portrayed in mere words or drawings that were common in normal book manuals.

In his mind, Lu Tianzi saw an illusory figure seated before him, deep in concentration as he cultivated. The technique that figure was using to cultivate was naturally the Heaven Devouring Divine Art.

This figure was extremely lifelike, and just by emulating the flow of energy within his body, Lu Tianzi was able to gain deep insights on the Heaven Devouring Divine Art.

Cultivation techniques were generally extremely difficult to grasp, countless times more so than combat skills. That was because cultivation techniques set the foundation on how a martial artist controlled the energy within him.

In other words, it was the main system that directly dictated the martial artist's base strength!

It was the same for both Spiritual Essence and Slaughter Essence systems.

With a weak cultivation technique, a human martial artist would not only cultivate at a slower pace. Even with all other things held constant, he would be weaker than his peers who were at the same level, simply because the quality of the Spiritual Essence within him ended up being inferior.

This concept naturally extended to demons and the Slaughter Essence system as well.

That was why cultivation techniques were usually extremely complex and difficult to learn.

However, with the help of the jade slip, Lu Tianzi's rate of understanding was already much faster than when he was perusing manuals back in the Ivory Rock Martial Academy!

Lu Tianzi had always been excellent in all respects, and his comprehension ability was naturally just as good. Coupled with the aid of the jade slip, Lu Tianzi's comprehension of the cultivation method progressed at a blazing speed!

Before long, he had already understood the basics of the Heaven Devouring Divine Art.

Lu Tianzi mused silently in his heart.

He practised the Undulated Currents Breathing Technique when cultivating his Spiritual Essence system. For that, a martial artist aimed to feel the frequency of the world, aligning himself to the world's current, borrowing the speed of the world in his every stride and the strength of the world in his every strike.

However, the Heaven Devouring Divine Art was actually the direct opposite!

In cultivating the Heaven Devouring Divine Art, a martial artist aimed to step outside of the boundaries of the current world, forming an internal world of his own and wield the power to set his own world laws.

To cultivate both of these techniques at the same time, even Lu Tianzi was a little worried about it.

He had to be extremely careful not to let his mind fall into disarray from the completely different insights that he had gleaned from perusing the two cultivation techniques!

If that happened, his cultivation state might end up being corrupted, causing his cultivation level to permanently remain at this level, or perhaps even fall slightly.

In the worst case, he might even fall into depravity, losing all control over the energy within his body!

Xihuang Yuanfeng let out a smug grin as he saw the changes in expression on Lu Tianzi's face.

He was extremely confident in the quality of his Heaven Devouring Divine Art.

Even if Lu Tianzi was not as bad as he currently was, having a proper cultivation technique of his own, Xihuang Yuanfeng was still certain that this Heaven Devouring Divine Art would surpass it by far!

Martial artists were constantly pursuing a higher level of strength, and cultivation techniques determine the base strength of a martial artist.

Thus, it would be impossible for this brat to not be tempted!

"How is it? Are you convinced now?" Xihuang Yuanfeng asked, his voice causing Lu Tianzi's closed eyes to waver as his focus was disturbed.

It had already been an hour since Lu Tianzi starting looking through the jade slip, and Lu Tianzi also knew that this was not the best time to continue meditating on the jade slip.

Lu Tianzi slowly opened his eyes to face the elderly demon before him.

"It seems all right for now, but without cultivating it, how would junior know if it is truly as good as it seems?"

"What did you say? 'All right'? The great Heaven Devouring Divine Art is only coined as 'all right'? What a joke!" Xihuang Yuanfeng could not believe his ears. "How shameless can you get? By now you should have already gotten the gist of the technique, and you still have the face to say such a thing?"

"Junior is simply speaking the truth! Anyone can promise the sun and moon in their self created technique, but without actually cultivating in it, how would others be able to verify the actual strength of the technique?" Lu Tianzi insisted. "In any case, why does senior want junior as a disciple anyway? It is not as though senior has anything to gain out of it."

"Hmph!" Xihuang Yuanfeng harrumphed unhappily. "Of course nothing comes for free! If you wish to become my disciple, you would have to do one thing for me!"

With that answer, Lu Tianzi's sharp mind immediately understood what was going on.

The elderly demon was such a supremely powerful expert, yet his fate was still to be trapped in this chamber in the depths of a cave, never to see the light of day.

Such a fate had to be extremely unbearable for him.

Trapped in this cave in the middle of nowhere, it was unsurprising that he would have some unfulfilled matters which he wished someone else could help out with.

As long as it was not too difficult or unscrupulous a matter, Lu Tianzi did not mind going an extra step to help him out. After all, Lu Tianzi did obtain some benefits from him as well.

This could be considered as returning a debt.

"Is there a matter that senior wish to be fulfilled?" Lu Tianzi asked solemnly.

"What else could there be? Of course it is to get me out of here! Once I am out, I can finally do as I please, making up for these long years of being trapped here and deprived of the chance to enjoy life!" Xihuang Yuanfeng snapped irritably at Lu Tianzi's question, as though he was asking the obvious.

Lu Tianzi looked up in surprise, not expecting the elderly demon's answer.

What unfulfilled matters?

All that he wanted to do was to go out and do whatever he wanted!

"But you are still far too weak for now!" Xihuang Yuanfeng sighed. "That's why I would need you to take me as your master. Only with my guidance will you improve at a faster pace. And in exchange for my efforts, once you become strong enough, you shall aid me in breaking through this seal!"

Lu Tianzi eyed the elderly demon sceptically, "How long do you think it will take in order to obtain sufficient strength?"

Xihuang Yuanfeng was stumped for a moment before falling into contemplation. Finally, he looked Lu Tianzi in the eye as he spoke, "Not much! I estimate that it will only take around two thousand years, or maybe a little less if you are more talented than I expected."

"What?!" Lu Tianzi blurted out subconsciously.

"Why? Are you unwilling? I shall have you know that two thousand years is already an extremely short period of time if you wish to reach the peak of strength!" Xihuang Yuanfeng was slightly displeased by Lu Tianzi's reaction.

Lu Tianzi coughed awkwardly before replying, "Senior must surely be jesting. Junior is only fifteen years old. Two thousands years is truly too distant a concept for junior to understand."

"You don't have to think about that. As you get stronger, you will eventually find out that I speak of nothing but the truth. So what will it be? Are you going to kowtow to your master or not?" Xihuang Yuanfeng snapped impatiently, only to see Lu Tianzi hesitate once more.

"Senior, please pardon junior, but is it possible for junior to try cultivating the Heaven Devouring Divine Art before junior makes a decision?" Lu Tianzi asked.

"You want me to allow you to cultivate the Heaven Devouring Divine Art before you even take me as a master?" Xihuang Yuanfeng narrowed his eyes.

"That is the only way junior can ascertain the strength of the technique," Lu Tianzi replied calmly.

There was silence for a minute as Xihuang Yuanfeng gave Lu Tianzi a good lookover.

As Xihuang Yuanfeng's gaze scanned through Lu Tianzi, the latter felt as though his entire soul was being laid bare in front of the elderly demon. Even though he had tried to sound as calm as possible, the truth was that he was incomparably nervous!

After all, he was bargaining with a powerful demon who could easily end his life on a whim!

But Xihuang Yuanfeng suddenly spoke to break the silence, albeit with a tinge of irritation.

"Do as you like! Go ahead and cultivate with that piece of jade slip right now! After all, that only contains the cultivation of the Essence Building realm. If you want the higher levels then you would have no choice but to take me as your master! But you better be fast! Once you are done with it, I would like to hear exactly what more you would have to say!"