Nine Radiance Sword Sect.
The news of Chen Xi's return shook the entire sect overnight.
But when all the disciples and elders headed to West Radiance Peak to pay a visit to Chen Xi, they were told that Chen Xi had entered into closed door cultivation and was preparing to charge into the Earthly Immortal Realm.
This caused all of them to be surprised and even shocked.
If they considered it carefully, Chen Xi had only joined the sect for a little over 10 years. At that time, he was only a cultivator at the Rebirth Realm, yet now, he was actually charging into the Earthly Immortal Realm!
Such a heaven defying speed of cultivation was sufficient to cause most geniuses in the world to be cast beneath a shade.
This matter had quickly shaken the entire sect. For a time, the matter of Chen Xi being about to charge into the Earthly Immortal Realm became the hottest topic in the sect.
Everyone was guessing if Chen Xi would actually be able to overcome the Azure Lightning Tribulation and smoothly advance into the Earthly Immortal Realm.
"In my opinion, with Elder Chen Xi's natural endowment, it's sufficient for him to easily overcome the tribulation and attain the Earthly Immortal Realm! After all, he's able to surmount a realm and slaughter Earthly Immortal Realm experts while still at the Nether Transformation Realm. How many people in the world possess such terrifying reserves?" Some people were filled with confidence towards Chen Xi and spoke with certainty.
"Indeed. Since Elder Chen Xi joined our Nine Radiance Sword Sect, he revealed the graceful bearing of a peerless genius that was like a scorching sun in the midday sky. It's impossible to find another person that an compare with him in the entire Dark Reverie."
"But the tribulation of the Heavenly Immortal is the most dangerous barrier on the path of cultivation because it's the transformation from mortal to immortal. Success would allow him to soar into the sky with a single step, whereas failure would end with his death. Such a tribulation isn't so easily overcome."
"Since the ancient times until now, countless renowned and peerless geniuses had appeared, yet only few survived through this barrier of the Earthly Immortal Realm, causing them to fall like the rain. Compared to those cultivators with mediocre natural talent, their tribulation is a hundred times more difficult."
"Is this like the saying 'the heavens envy those with outstanding ability'?"
"It can only be said as the higher the natural talent, the more outstanding the natural endowment, the greater the might of the tribulation one faced would be. This is a principle that's irrefutable since the ancient times until now."
"But Elder Chen Xi will surely be able to succeed. With the seniors of our sect standing on guard at the side, there's probably no need to worry that any danger would arise."
"We'll know when the time comes. Discussing so much now will only cause groundless worry."
While everyone in the Nine Radiance Sword Sect was discussing whether Chen Xi would be able to overcome the tribulation successfully, Chen Xi who wore an apricot yellow Daoist robe was drinking wine and sipping tea with a relaxed and carefree bearing at the bank of the Sword Purification Pool on West Radiance Peak.
This was his clone. His main body had already entered the world of stars and was comprehending the Immeasurable Virtue technique while tempering the might of his Heart Core. He was waiting for his Heart Core to advance into the Heart Soul realm before he would leave his closed door cultivation.
Chen Xi was able to clearly sense that the heavenly tribulation would descend when his main body left its close door cultivation.
But he'd stopped thinking about all of this and just calmly enjoyed this peace. He had a tranquil bearing and a clear mind, yet he didn't emanate an extraordinary aura. He seemed to have completely fused into the world instead, and he enjoyed himself by idly watching the clouds roil and silently savoring the landscape.
This was a type of condensation, a mentality of returning to nature after experiencing countless accumulation and attaining one's limit.
All complication was eliminated to return to simplicity.
Chen Xi had already been accumulating in the Nether Transformation Realm for a long time. No matter if it was Dao Insight, cultivation, or combat experience, all of them had attained an unprecedented state, and it was an 'extreme' above perfection.
What he needed to do now was truly very simple. It was to cultivate the profundity of the Heart Soul before silently waiting for the descent of the heavenly tribulation.
On the seventh day that he entered into closed door cultivation and refused all guests, snow suddenly descended from the sky. The snowflakes were large like mats as they descended down and enveloped West Radiance Peak, causing the entire surroundings to be sealed in icy and snow.
Chen Xi held a jug of wine while drifting on the boat atop the clear lake and under the snow and wind.
Chen Yan sat cross-legged at the back of the boat while boiling tea on a red mud furnace. Smoke coiled up while the fragrance of tea drifted out, and it added a trace of warmth to the piercingly cold weather.
"What's the Heaven Dao? This mountain, this water, the ripples in this clear lake, the path these snowflakes flew. Everything contains the aura of the Dao. Ordinary people feel it's pleasant to the eye, yet I see the profundities of the Grand Dao in it." Chen Xi held the wine jug as he leaned on the stern, and he stretched his body comfortably before sighing with a smile. "This is what it's like to see the truth in the ordinary and hear thunderclaps in silence."
Chen Yan puckered his lips while keeping quiet. He was unable to understand what his master was saying, but he committed every single word to memory.
Perhaps I'll be able to comprehend the profundities within it when I attain master's cultivation realm.
Chen Yan thought like this in his heart.
…
On the 14th day that he entered into closed door cultivation and refused all guests.
At the bank of the Sword Purification Pool, Chen Xi led Chen Yan to pay a visit to his Eldest Senior Brother, Huo Molei, Second Senior Brother Lu Sheng, Third Senior Brother Yi Chenzi, Fourth Senior Brother Duan Yi, and Fifth Senior Sister A'Jiu.
As for his Sixth Senior Brother Qing Yu, Qing Yu was busy training the youths of the Ninth Hell Tribe, so Chen Xi didn't disturb him.
"Even though this sword's edge is completely revealed, it's too easy to snap. Moreover, even though the refinement technique is skillful, it's too complicated and can't bear intense usage." Huo Molei looked at the sword in his hand for a short moment before his brows knit together, and he judged it bluntly.
This sword was just refined by Chen Xi. The blade revealed a faint green color while its surface was covered in talisman markings, and it overflowed with a bright light and emanated a strand of fierce and sharp aura.
Chen Yan was stunned. This was a top-grade heaven-rank magic treasure that was personally refined by his master. As far as he was concerned, it was simply like a divine weapon. But, in his Martial Uncle Huo Molei's opinion, it became so useless and was even taken to be useless…
Chen Xi didn't mind at all instead, and he smiled before borrowing the zither than his Second Senior Brother Lu Sheng had personally created.
Ding!
In the next moment, his fingers fluttered about and plucked the zither strings, causing strands of a cool and graceful tune to flow out like a fluttering butterfly or gurgling spring, and it caused Chen Yan's mind and body to be intoxicated.
After he completed a song, Lu Sheng's expression was slightly gloomy, and then he sighed in the end. "Little Junior Brother, the zither is the voice of the heart. Your aura of battle was too strong in this song, causing it to be too clamorous."
Chen Yan frowned when he heard this, and he was slightly indignant in his heart as he felt it was unfair because this song was clearly very nice!
Chen Xi still smiled and played a game with his Third Senior Brother Yi Chenzi, yet halfway through the game and before they'd actually fought, Yi Chenzi had stood up furiously and flicked his sleeve before leaving.
"Little Junior Brother, I never expected that you're actually a terrible Go player as well. Alas…" Yi Chenzi shook his head and sighed while deeply grieved.
Chen Yan was stunned. What's wrong with Master today? Why is he constantly attacking the strengths of others with things that he's weak in?
Subsequently, Chen Yan saw his master write some words with strokes that were vigorous and like swords, and they emanated a ghastly and fierce aura that assaulted the face, causing him to feel a piercing pain from his eyes even when looking at it from afar.
"It's really not bad. Little Junior Brother, you've already attained proficiency. But, if you want to improve in the Dao of writing, then you have to work really hard." This was Fourth Senior Brother, Duan Yi's, evaluation.
Chen Xi paid no attention to it, and then he drew a painting for his Fifth Senior Sister, A'Jiu. A'Jiu stared with her eyes wide open before tearing Chen Xi's painting apart on the spot. She spoke bluntly that it was too terrible because his painting was simply covered in a foul aura and didn't have any artistic style at all.
However, Chen Xi led Chen Yan to leave dejectedly under the disappointed gazes of his senior brothers and senior sister.
"I'm not skilled in equipment refinement, the zither, Go, painting, or writing. I'm only slightly learned in the Dao of Talisman, and I'm diligently striving after it. However, the Dao of Talismans is boundlessly vast, and I'm barely able to be considered as having learned the basics." At the bank of the Sword Purification Pool, Chen Xi said, "This is the path of the Dao. Every single cultivator has a path that belongs to themselves, and only by persisting on this part would one be able to accomplish something."
Chen Yan's entire body shook while he seemed as if he was suddenly enlightened. He instantly understood the meaning behind everything his master had done today.
The path of the Dao!
Right, where is my path?
Chen Yan had a blank expression while he seemed like a clay statue and fell completely into deep contemplation. Unknowingly, time flowed by, and he was unaware of the changes in the world.
Chen Xi couldn't help but grin when he saw this.
This was all that he was able to pass down to Chen Yan. As for everything else like cultivation techniques, Dao Insights, and martial techniques… All of it wasn't important because only by understanding what one persisted towards in one's heart would one be truly considered to have understood the true essence of cultivation.
…
Since that day onward, Chen Xi stayed in seclusion, and traces of him couldn't be found on West Radiance Peak any longer.
Everyone wasn't surprised by this because all of them knew that he was surely preparing to overcome the tribulation. After all, according to the amount of time that had passed, he would greet the first wave of heavenly tribulation to advance into the Earthly Immortal Realm in a little over a month from now.
The world of stars.
Chen Xi's main body and clone sat facing each other.
Strands of blazing Virtue Goldlight effused out, flowed, and spread from his main body. It was dazzling, vast, and solemn, and it caused his entire body to be bathed in a seemingly eternal divine radiance.
On the other hand, his Heart Core surged rhythmically within his body and seemed to be exuberant with vitality. A phantom that was on the verge of condensing into form was forming seals with its hands while it sat cross-legged above the Heart Core. Moreover, its outline had already become clear while only its facial features were still blurry.
It was the Heart Soul!
This cultivation technique that cultivated Heart Energy, the Immeasurable Virtue technique, was extremely miraculous indeed. The Immeasurable Virtue technique condensed virtue to temper Heart Energy repeatedly, and it circulated through the body like True Essence circulated through the meridians and Shaman Energy flowed through the flesh and blood in his body. It seemed to have formed a perfect system.
His Heart energy became even more condensed and thick under this sort of circulation and tempering.
It was precisely because he cultivated this cultivation technique that Chen Xi was extremely clearly aware that if he purely relied on accumulating Virtue Energy to improve his Heart Energy, then it would be almost impossible for him to cultivate a Heart Soul in his entire lifetime.
It's almost there. The Heart Soul will surely be able to be condensed in around a year of time… Chen Xi's clone stared at the changed in the vital energy of his main body while he silently deduced the time in his heart.
The Temporal Laws in the world of stars was different. A year here was only around a month in the outside world, and at that time, it would be the day the tribulation descended!
…
One month later.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Numerous sounds of air being torn apart shot into the sky and approached West Radiance Peak from all directions.
The Sect Master, Wen Huating, the Enforcement Elder Lie Peng, and all the Earthly Immortal Realm experts that lived in seclusion were amongst them. After them was all the Core Seed Disciples from Divine Radiance Peak and the outer court and inner court elders.
The group was vast, mighty, and magnificent.
On the other hand, Huo Molei, Meng Wei, and the others had stopped what they were doing and greeted the arrival of the Sect Master, Wen Huating, and the others.
It's finally here… A'xiu embraced Bai Kui while her beautiful figure stood amidst some flowering shrubs, and her clear eyes looked up towards the distant sky.
In the extreme distance, there was a black line surging and rumbling over, and it was like a strand of ink. Everywhere it passed, even the sky was transformed into a horrifying pitch black color.
Blotting out the sky and covering the sun, transforming day into night, this was the sign of the creation of tribulation clouds!