A Chaotic World

Unable to find a spear like what his master requested, Lu Tianzi's thoughts raced as he desperately tried to think of a solution.

It did not take long before a glint of bright light flashed across his eyes.

Lu Tianzi promptly straightened his back and placed his hands behind him, turning to look Xihuang Yuanfeng straight in the eye. The aura of confidence emitted from him now seemed just like that of a proud scholar who was about to challenge the imperial exams.

Looking at him now, it was as though the anxious Lu Tianzi from before had suddenly turned into a completely different person!

"To a martial artist, regardless of whether they are choosing cultivation techniques or combat techniques, the heart is the most important factor of all," Lu Tianzi proclaimed with pride. "Whether I have used a spear before or not, whether I possess a spear with me or not, all these are only secondary. What matters the most is that I have the heart to pursue the path of spearmanship. Even without prior experience, just the fact that I have such a strong motivation should be sufficient to push me to the greatest heights! In that case, even if I were to start practising ten years later, who is to say that it is already too late?"

Xihuang Yuanfeng was not at all expecting Lu Tianzi to suddenly speak of such profound insights, and could not help but pause in surprise. But eventually, he nodded as though in agreement.

"Well said!" Xihuang Yuanfeng praised loudly. "With that, I understand you better as a person now. Here you go!"

With a wave of his hand, one of the shelves opened up and a jade slip flew out of it and into Lu Tianzi's hands.

Lu Tianzi was overjoyed as he grabbed the jade slip with gusto!

In the end, combat talent might be important, but it was not all that mattered in this world.

Just look at how he managed to turn things around with a few simple words, this was not something that pure combat talent would be able to achieve!

To go far in life and achieve one's goals, a good brain was still essential after all!

Lu Tianzi excitedly sank his perception into the jade slip, eager to see what Xihuang Yuanfeng had prepared for him. However, what he saw immediately dulled his spirit.

Eternal Wraith Sword Art.

Even without reading any further, just from its name, Lu Tianzi could be sure that it was a technique meant for the sword, not for the spear.

Lu Tianzi promptly retracted his perception and looked at Xihuang Yuanfeng in confusion, "Master, you might have mistaken this jade slip for another…"

"What do you mean I have mistaken?" Xihuang Yuanfeng snorted in disdain. "That is exactly what I intended to let you perceive, you shameless brat! If you don't even have a spear with you, then how are you even going to practise? Since that is the case, you can just stick to what you have!"

"This…" Lu Tianzi hesitated as he cast his gaze onto the shelves beside Xihuang Yuanfeng. "Is it possible for this disciple to borrow a spear from Master then?"

"I don't have a spear with me either!" Xihuang Yuanfeng snapped irritably in response. "Just hurry up and perceive the jade slip!"

"Is that so?" Lu Tianzi eyed the shelves doubtfully.

All this while, Xihuang Yuanfeng had been able to retrieve whatever he needed from the shelves without fail. Thus, Lu Tianzi had imagined that there would definitely be weapons within as well.

While it did not seem possible for huge weapons such as a spear to fit within those shelves, it would be a different matter altogether if these weapons had been safely kept within a storage item such as Xihuang Yuanfeng's very own spatial ring.

However, since Xihuang Yuanfeng had already explicitly stated that he did not possess a spear, it would not be proper for Lu Tianzi to continue asking either. After all, that would be tantamount to doubting his master!

Now that it had come to this, he would just have to settle for a sword technique then.

Seeing how Lu Tianzi grudgingly sat down to meditate on the jade slip, Xihuang Yuanfeng felt a sudden urge to walk over and smack him on the back of the head.

In fact, if not for the ancient seal trapping him within this half of the chamber, he might really have just gone ahead and done that!

What kind of a technique was the Eternal Wraith Sword Art?

Back then, Xihuang Yuanfeng himself had depended on this same Eternal Wraith Sword Art as he rose through the ranks, finally achieving the level he was at today.

To think that a mere Essence Condensation realm martial artist like Lu Tianzi would actually view it with such disdain!

How could Xihuang Yuanfeng not feel stifled within?

But seeing that Lu Tianzi had at least started focusing on perceiving the jade slip, Xihuang Yuanfeng felt his anger slowly subsiding.

While Xihuang Yuanfeng was still trying to calm himself down, Lu Tianzi had already started going through the information within the jade slip.

The Eternal Wraith Sword Art was separated into three different stages, each of them a sword skill in its own right. They were namely the Howling Wraith Sword, the Returning Wraith Sword, and the Eternal Wraith Sword.

Each one of these stages was much more difficult to master than the one before it, but the power that each progressive stage displayed would similarly increase at an exponential rate.

Existing as a set of techniques, these stages were interlinked as well.

Without first understanding the first stage Howling Wraith Sword, it was impossible to grasp the concepts behind Returning Wraith Sword and Eternal Wraith Sword.

Thus, Lu Tianzi did not bother with going through the later two portions for now, focusing all his attention on perceiving the Howling Wraith Sword.

The concept behind the Howling Wraith Sword was to strike with sufficient power to induce the howling of the wind, at the same time adding an illusory layer as if the sword itself was nothing but a ghastly apparition.

When performed to perfection, a martial artist would be able to prevent his opponent from determining the true position of the sword blade, rendering the sword strike almost impossible to block!

Lu Tianzi felt his heart race at this point.

What kind of concept was this?

If his opponent were unable to block his sword strike, then wouldn't that mean Lu Tianzi could slay anyone with a single move?

The first stage of the Eternal Wraith Sword Art was already this shocking, who knew what the second and third stage would entail?

There was no doubt in Lu Tianzi's mind that they would only be even more heaven defying!

So this was the sword technique that his master had decided on for him…

By now, Lu Tianzi had clean forgotten about learning spearmanship.

The current Lu Tianzi was focused solely on the contents within the jade slip as he tried his best to grasp the concepts behind the technique.

Seeing that Lu Tianzi had settled into a stable state of meditation over the Eternal Wraith Sword Art, Xihuang Yuanfeng finally felt the final waves of anger subsiding within him.

As expected, martial artists would always be drawn to powerful techniques.

No matter how reluctant Lu Tianzi was beforehand, with Lu Tianzi's level of talent, he had still been able to quickly realise the profoundness of the Eternal Wraith Sword Art.

Now, rather than forcing Lu Tianzi to study the sword technique, Xihuang Yuanfeng might even have to force him to stop instead!

Time passed quickly.

Minutes turned into hours, hours turned into days.

Days turned into weeks, and that brought about the eventual end of the harsh winter season.

Over this period, Lu Tianzi had spent his time in a fixed routine.

At dawn, Lu Tianzi would fill up his stomach with food before meditating with an Essence Stone in hand, spending the morning cultivating his Spiritual Essence system.

At noon, Lu Tianzi would spend some time meditating over the jade slip containing the Eternal Wraith Sword Art before practising his moves with an actual sword, hoping to draw out any of his insights to transform them into actual moves.

From time to time, Xihuang Yuanfeng would also provide his understandings of the sword technique. By referring to the advice from Xihuang Yuanfeng, Lu Tianzi was able to progress at a monstrous speed that made Xihuang Yuanfeng extremely satisfied.

At dusk, Lu Tianzi would stop practising the Eternal Wraith Sword Art and dive into the icy cold plunge pool that was outside of the chamber. There, he would try to establish a connection with the element and by doing so, further his understandings on the Law of Water.

Close to midnight, Lu Tianzi would leave the plungle pool and proceed to cultivate his Slaughter Essence system back in the chamber.

This way, not a single minute was wasted as he practised day and night without fail. Whenever he felt too tired to continue, he would spend a bit of time time meditating to return to his peak condition before continuing once more.

On this day, Lu Tianzi was finally getting ready to break his routine and leave.

No matter how insightful Xihuang Yuanfeng's advices were, it was impossible for Lu Tianzi to improve by much just by staying within the confines of the chamber.

This was just like how it was impossible for an Essence Building realm martial artist to go into closed seclusion and suddenly re-emerge as an Origin Core realm martial artist.

Thus, Xihuang Yuanfeng had instructed him to leave and explore the world for himself, searching for his own fortunes that could aid him in further improving his strength.

Only then would Lu Tianzi be able to eventually grow into a powerhouse who could aid Xihuang Yuanfeng with undoing the seal.

But for Lu Tianzi to grow to such a level, Xihuang Yuanfeng had estimated that it would be impossible without spending a thousand years or two.

When Lu Tianzi heard his master give such an estimate, he could only feel a sense of dumbfoundedness.

As a sixteen year old young man, he truly could not relate to the concept of waiting for a thousand years!

With a single leap, Lu Tianzi pierced right through the cold waterfall, landing directly on the bank of the plunge pool.

Along with the ebbing of winter, Lu Tianzi's injuries were now also a thing of the past.

The efficacy of the Breath Recovery Pill along with his strong physical vitality had resulted in his body only retaining the faintest of scars. From his current appearance, it was as though he had only received a small cut on his chest rather than a life threatening slash.

In fact, if Lu Tianzi's cultivation realm continued to progress, nourishment from his cultivation systems would eventually cause even these faint scars to fade away, replaced by the supplest of skin.

While he had not progressed in terms of cultivation boundaries, Lu Tianzi had managed to consolidate his cultivation in both systems.

After breaking through to the Essence Condensation realm in his Spiritual Essence system, Lu Tianzi now needed to further condense his unified Spiritual Essence, as well as increase the speed at which it rotated.

In a way, it was like compressing the rotating ball of Spiritual Essence within his inner world, at the same time increasing its mass by introducing even more Spiritual Essence particles to refine into it.

Ideally, with the introduction of more Spiritual Essence particles, the size of the rotating ball of Spiritual Essence would not decrease even after being compressed, such that the density of the ball of Spiritual Essence would rise to an extreme level.

However, this was infinitely more difficult that simply refining Spiritual Essence particles into his inner world like what he did at the Essence Building realm.

After all, the rotating ball of Spiritual Essence had already been formed, so how would it be easy to refine more Spiritual Essence particles into it?

To do so, Lu Tianzi needed far more time and energy. Even after these few weeks, he had still remained at the Primary Essence Condensation realm.

As for his Slaughter Essence system, Lu Tianzi had previously broken past two cultivation realms in a single seating. Even though this was due to the large amount of Slaughter Essence within his body, this double breakthrough inevitably caused his foundations to be shaky.

A building was only as strong as its foundation, and it was the same for cultivation as well.

Having a shaky foundation might not affect his current strength by much, but it would greatly impact his future achievements by making it far more difficult for future breakthroughs.

The benefits were simply not worth the costs!

Thus, Lu Tianzi made full use of the time spent within the chamber to fully assimilate the refined Slaughter Essence particles within his body, gaining full control over each and every particle.

By doing so, he was trying to consolidate his current cultivation realm, ensuring that he obtained a stable foundation in the Slaughter Essence system's Essence Building realm.

Thinking about his Slaughter Essence system, Lu Tianzi could not help but let out an excited grin.

True to his words, Xihuang Yuanfeng did not hold back anything from Lu Tianzi, and had passed him four separate jade slips containing different parts of the Heaven Devouring Divine Art.

Lu Tianzi had already gone through one of them, which was the Heaven Devouring Divine Art for Essence Building realm cultivation, detailing the method for martial artists to break through to the Essence Condensation realm.

If the same logic applied for the other three jade slips, then the second jade slip should be the method for Essence Condensation realm martial artists to break through to the Origin Core realm.

This Origin Core realm already signified the very limits of Lu Tianzi's understanding.

Even his Undulated Currents Breathing Technique did not explicitly state the method to break through to the Origin Core realm.

In fact, other than Xihuang Yuanfeng, he had never come into contact with anything or anyone who stood beyond this level.

Thus, for the next two jade slips on the Heaven Devouring Divine Art, Lu Tianzi could only imagine what kind of supreme cultivation realms they might be referring to!

Standing by the bank of the plunge pool, Lu Tianzi drove his Spiritual Essence for a moment in order to dry himself. After which, he started heading down the Crimson Mountain.

It was not the first time that Lu Tianzi had taken this path, and his familiarity with the route allowed him to save quite a bit of time.

However, as compared to the previous time, there was a stark difference this time round.

Heeding Xihuang Yuanfeng's suggestion, instead of heading back to Ivory Rock City, Lu Tianzi was now heading towards the Scarlet Moon Kingdom, the kingdom of demons!