Chapter 34: Great Vajra Divine Strength
Jade Island, Red-Scaled Fishing Grounds.
Even though he had decided to use “Great Sun Purple Qi” to set traps for others, it was not something that could be accomplished overnight.
Moreover, the fishing grounds here still required regular patrols.
Fang Qing sat cross-legged inside his cave dwelling, silently contemplating his plans while reviewing his own means of dealing with enemies.
“Firecloud Talisman, Golden Blade Talisman… If the seawater inside the Sea-Transforming Pearl were refined into special spirit water or poison water… my methods against enemies could be further strengthened.”
“Besides that, there are the techniques I cultivate myself, the peak low–mid-grade first-tier body refinement, and even the divine sense secret art of the Horse-Headed Vajra Guardian Divine Art.”
This divine sense secret art had been derived from the Horse-Headed Vajra Guardian Divine Art. After Fang Qing had successfully cultivated divine sense, he discovered that it possessed additional marvelous uses.
“Mm… At present, the area that can still be strengthened the most is this divine art. If I can break through to upper-grade first-tier body refinement, then with the two stacking together, I should be able to fight even Qi Refining Ninth Layer cultivators, or perhaps even those at peak completion!”
“And the Sea-Transforming Pearl also has quite a bit of potential that can be further explored…”
While he was thinking, Fang Qing’s expression shifted. He stepped out of the cave dwelling and saw a bright yellow sound-transmitting talisman. He received it in hand, listened to a few sentences, then summoned the Green-Leaf Flying Vessel. Turning into a streak of green light like a gentle breeze, he arrived above the fishing grounds.
“Senior Brother Fang…”
The one-armed Li Yusu came over to смен shifts, his expression showing fatigue he could not conceal.
After all, his body was still severely injured, his primordial energy not yet fully recovered, and yet he was already rushing about and working hard again.
“Junior Brother Li, how is your recovery? I recently refined a few qi-and-blood grand pills…”
Fang Qing had refined these deliberately, anticipating an upcoming great battle and the resulting surge in demand for healing pills.
“Thank you, Senior Brother…”
Li Yusu responded as usual, his heart ashen, as though he had lost interest in everything.
“Ah… what a pity about Zha Zhu.”
Fang Qing sighed softly. Only then did he finally see a slight ripple in Li Yusu’s eyes.
“After all, the three of us came from the same town as Immortal Seedlings… Seeing you like this also makes me very sad…”
This was actually a lie. Fang Qing merely wanted to investigate Hua Lianhua while keeping himself hidden, and this simple-minded youth happened to be useful.
“Do I still have a future?”
Li Yusu gave a miserable smile. “I lost an arm, my body is incomplete. When I attempt Foundation Establishment, the physical-body gate will become even more difficult… My master said that in my condition, only a second-tier Flesh-Regrowing Bone-Renewing Pill could save me. Such a pill is extremely rare. Even if he could obtain it, he would not give it to me… Who told me to be the one who caused Senior Sister Zha Zhu’s death?”
“A second-tier pill?”
Fang Qing was somewhat surprised, then said, “No matter what, once the path is known, there will always be a way. I have some healing pills here—take them and sell them for me. I can give you ten percent as commission. Slowly accumulate contribution points and see whether you can exchange for it within the sect.”
It was wartime now.
In order to encourage disciples, many good items had appeared on the contribution exchange lists.
Second-tier pills, especially healing pills, were naturally among them.
Hearing this, Li Yusu’s eyes finally carried a trace of light. “Thank you, Senior Brother… I previously did many wrong things. I am truly ashamed.”
“No need to say that. Just remember to keep an eye out for any methods of refining spirit water or poison water. I have use for them as well…”
After seeing Li Yusu agree, Fang Qing gave a few more instructions.
He could have done these things himself, but with the daily patrol duties, it would have been extremely time-consuming. Outsourcing it was better.
What was more… although the Red-Scaled Fishing Grounds were not far from the sect, leaving the array formation to conduct trades still carried a certain amount of risk.
This risk—Fang Qing chose to let Li Yusu take it!
…
Several months later.
Inside Zeng Shu’s cave dwelling.
Fang Qing sat on prayer cushions together with Li Yusu and several senior brothers guarding the area, exchanging cultivation insights and battlefield intelligence.
“This time… the sect and the Zhong Family fought a great battle in the ‘Wei Day Sea Region’. It’s said that spiritual ships filled the skies and cultivators fell like rain… Although under the protection of large-scale battle arrays only a few spiritual ships were sunk, small-scale skirmishes around the battlefield never ceased. Many fellow disciples have already fallen…”
A young cultivator said with a pale face, “The Zhong Family released mercenary contracts on the black market, attracting large numbers of loose cultivators to attack the sect’s resource sites, mixed with several elite squads from their main family… They don’t care if loose cultivators die, but those elite squads are all late-stage Qi Refining cultivators skilled in combat. They have breached several spirit herb gardens and fishing grounds…”
“Sigh… In great wars, we are nothing but ants.”
Zeng Shu sighed as well.
“The key issue… what exactly caused this war?” Fang Qing asked curiously.
“Such major sect affairs are probably known only to Foundation Establishment cultivators…” Zeng Shu gave a bitter smile and shook his head. “The Zhong Family claims it is to avenge the deaths of their in-laws… but how many years has the Wu Family of White Profound Island been destroyed? Seeking revenge now is clearly a pretext. Could it be that they obtained powerful support? And Heavenly Heart Linked Islands claims neutrality on the surface, but in reality it just supports whichever side grows weaker… If the Zhong Family dared to start a war this time, could it be because they received secret promises from Heavenly Heart Linked Islands? Or… although the Small Huan Sea Cultivation World has always been closed, there might still be outside cultivators…”
“This matter… cannot be ignored.”
Li Yusu’s complexion had improved somewhat. After thinking for a moment, he spoke, “I have been traveling back and forth to the sect and heard that the Zhong Family produced an astonishing genius with ice-type variant spiritual roots… This time, that person personally took action and killed many of our sect’s disciples. Perhaps the Zhong Family believed that our sect would inevitably suppress this genius, so they decided to strike first?”
“Ice-type variant spiritual roots?”
The disciples present were all somewhat shocked.
The human body possessed all five elements, yet spiritual roots were not limited to only five types; there were other variations.
For example, ice spiritual roots were derived from a mutation of metal and water.
Such variant aptitude was extraordinary, far surpassing top-grade aptitude.
Although it was not as heaven-defying as heaven-grade aptitude in having no bottlenecks before Core Formation, its cultivation speed was absolutely not slow.
If the Zhong Family had such a prodigy and then gained further opportunities, perhaps within a hundred years they could produce another Core Formation Ancestor!
If the Azure Sea Sect learned of this, it would certainly take action.
In that light, the Zhong Family striking first was understandable.
“By the way, do you know the name of that ice-type variant spiritual root?” Fang Qing asked curiously.
“Zhong Lingxiu… It’s said that their ice techniques are deployed with astonishing mastery and that they have already slain three of our sect’s peak Qi Refining True Disciples…”
Li Yusu exhaled a long breath, then, perhaps feeling this sounded too demoralizing, hurriedly added, “But our sect has also produced many outstanding figures on the battlefield, such as ‘Life-Reaping Sword’ Cui Zhe, the Lingbo Fairy, and Five Dragons Child, among others…”
“Zhong Lingxiu?”
Fang Qing nodded slightly inwardly.
He passed over the clearly filler name of Five Dragons Child—reported only after Li Yusu glanced at him—and instead paid more attention to Cui Zhe.
Any sword cultivator who could earn a reputation was indeed formidable.
But compared to Li Rulong, such a person would probably be slain within two or three sword strikes…
The truly terrifying one was still Zhong Lingxiu!
This was a peerless genius almost destined for peak Foundation Establishment, with hope of Core Formation!
‘A pity—no matter how powerful, they are still only Qi Refining… If I were to act, could I kill them? Wait… why am I thinking about such dangerous things? Even if I truly could, I would become a thorn in the Zhong Family’s side, and I could never remain low-key within the Azure Sea Sect. It would be all drawbacks.’
…
After the gathering dispersed, Fang Qing returned to his cave dwelling.
Sitting half-cross-legged, he visualized the Horse-Headed Vajra and formed complete vow seals.
Crash!
Qi and blood circulated within his body. With divine sense assisting, it illuminated every minute corner of his body, repairing the original tiny flaws and hidden injuries one by one, gradually reaching the state of “leakless golden body.”
At last!
Fang Qing exhaled a long breath, sensing the extraordinary qi-and-blood power within his body condense and flow along the chakras, finally pouring into his sea of consciousness and transforming into a single “seed syllable.”
This “seed syllable” was like a dragon yet also like a worm, carrying a sense of distortion.
At a single glance, its meaning became immediately clear—it was “Great Vajra Divine Strength”!
“This is… my body refinement has finally broken through to upper-grade first tier!”
Fang Qing’s eyes flickered, his expression excited. “And… this Horse-Headed Vajra Guardian Divine Art has given rise to yet another layer of divine wonder, able to unleash ‘Great Vajra Divine Strength’!”
With a brief test, he knew that his foundation was still shallow. “Great Vajra Divine Strength” could only be used once before he would need continued bitter cultivation to nurture the seed syllable.
Yet the boost to combat power was no small matter.
“When activating ‘Great Vajra Divine Strength’, it comprehensively augments my body refinement techniques and even grants immense strength… Saying it can ignore artifact attacks is somewhat exaggerated, but it is enough to shatter the defenses of upper-grade artifacts and give enemies a huge shock. This is… almost quasi–second-tier body refinement power?”
“As expected, the cultivation methods of the World of Ancient Shu are exquisitely profound, far surpassing those of this world…”
“It’s just a pity that my Horse-Headed Vajra Guardian Divine Art only contains the first stage, the ‘Ferocious Donkey Demon Stage’. After reaching completion, the cultivation method for the next stage, the ‘Mule-Faced Vajra Prajna Stage’, will probably require searching the Secret Treasury Domain…”
At present, Fang Qing had more or less cultivated this first stage to the level of great mastery, not far from full completion.
After that, he would lack further techniques and have no path forward.
Even so, he was already extremely satisfied.
Just from the performance of this body refinement art alone, it was not much inferior to the Azure Sea Sect’s “Black-Water Dharma Body,” not to mention the added enhancement to the spiritual level that had helped him cultivate divine sense. It was an enormous gain.
Just as Fang Qing was thinking, a shrill sound-transmitting talisman suddenly flew into the cave dwelling.
“What?!”
His expression changed drastically.
He swept all items into his storage pouch and mounted the Green-Leaf Flying Vessel, shooting skyward.
Whoosh!
The cold wind bit to the bone.
Hailstones crashed down, freezing the surface of the lake into a solid layer of ice.
Fixing his gaze, he saw over a dozen white-robed cultivators who had already charged into the array formation of Red-Scaled Lake!
“Not good—it’s Zhong Family cultivators!”
At a glance, Fang Qing recognized them as direct-line cultivators of the Zhong Family, not expendable loose cultivators!
‘That’s not right…’
As Zeng Shu and the others shouted and engaged in combat, Fang Qing felt deeply puzzled: ‘I clearly cast a divination every day—today was supposed to be minor good fortune…’
‘Was my divination obscured? No… divination is not omnipotent.’
‘Or could it be… because I encountered an attack but, with my strength, could successfully escape, it counted as “minor good fortune”?’
Fang Qing instantly understood that he could not fully trust Plum Blossom Divination.
Otherwise, it would truly get people killed!