Heaven-Dominating Martial Emperor

The Demon Sect, first floor of the Elder Pavilion.

Ye Chen awoke with a start. He looked at his surroundings as memories came flooding back like a tidal wave.

"Did I actually fall asleep here last night?"

Ye Chen shook his head, forcing himself to become more alert.

The heavy stench of alcohol hung in the air of the Elder Pavilion.

Looking around, he saw bodies sprawled everywhere. Clearly, many people had gotten completely drunk last night.

Even though they were all Cultivators who could circulate their Spiritual Power to purge the alcohol from their systems, it was clear no one intended to do so.

Ye Chen included. He had also wanted to get thoroughly drunk and forget the various pressures of reality.

To Ye Chen's surprise, however, even though he had only been sleeping, he was still continuously absorbing the fragments of insight from the ocean of Sword Dao in his mind.

As a result, when he woke up, his comprehension of the Sword Dao had actually strengthened somewhat.

This left Ye Chen a little astonished.

'It seems I'm automatically absorbing these fragments of Sword Dao insight every moment.'

'If only cultivation could be like this too.'

At this thought, Ye Chen immediately remembered the three Spirit Crystals inside his Storage Ring.

'I can't believe I almost forgot about that!'

If he carved a Spirit Gathering Array onto the Spirit Crystals, carrying them would be equivalent to having a portable Spirit-Gathering Array on him at all times.

He wouldn't even have to actively absorb it. With the help of the Spirit-Gathering Array, the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi would automatically pour into his body, greatly increasing his cultivation efficiency.

Ye Chen immediately stood up and went to an empty space outside the Elder Pavilion.

It was still early, the first light of dawn just breaking on the horizon, and the entire Demon Sect was silent.

Even those who hadn't passed out drunk were currently cultivating in their own residences.

As far as the eye could see, the grounds were completely empty.

It was only because Ye Chen had laid down a double-layered grand array within the Demon Sect that everyone could relax and enjoy themselves without a care.

Otherwise, without the protection of the grand array, the sect would need to be patrolled at all times to be safe.

With a thought, Ye Chen retrieved the Spirit Crystals.

Three sparkling, translucent Crystal Stones landed in Ye Chen's hand.

Ye Chen could clearly feel waves of surging Spiritual Qi roaming within the Crystal Stones.

Spirit Crystals were different from Spirit Stones; Spirit Crystals were on a much higher level.

If Spirit Stones were blocks formed from compressed Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, then Spirit Crystals were a kind of Spiritual Object that formed spontaneously after being nourished by vast amounts of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

The inside of a Spirit Crystal was like a self-contained space, constantly absorbing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi from the outside world.

Therefore, a Spirit Crystal of the same size stored countless times more Spiritual Qi than a Spirit Stone!

With Ye Chen's current skill in arrays, carving a Spirit-Gathering Array onto a Spirit Crystal was almost too easy.

Before long, Ye Chen had completely finished modifying one of the Spirit Crystals.

The Spirit Crystal was now covered in intricate patterns. The lines crisscrossed and connected, creating some kind of special effect.

A minuscule Array materialized, following the path of the patterns.

Powered by the Spiritual Qi within the Spirit Crystal, the Array began to operate, and the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi instantly began to gather at a rapid pace.

Ye Chen tucked the Spirit Crystal into his clothes, and the surging Spiritual Qi was immediately absorbed into his body.

Soon, Ye Chen felt a slight stir in his Spiritual Sea.

The energy within it had increased by a fraction.

'It really works!'

'The difference in level between Spirit Crystals and Spirit Stones is just too great! Even a Top Grade Spirit Stone couldn't produce this effect!'

Ye Chen quickly modified the remaining two Spirit Crystals into Spirit-Gathering Arrays as well.

Carrying all three Spirit Crystals at once was like having three portable Spirit-Gathering Arrays constantly active on his person!

The Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi from hundreds of meters around continuously converged and flowed into Ye Chen's body.

Now, even if Ye Chen did nothing all day, his cultivation efficiency would be much higher than before!

At this rate, he estimated he could attempt to break through to the Fourth Layer of the Spirit Sea Realm in less than half a month!

A glint appeared in Ye Chen's eyes, his heart filled with excitement.

Ever since he had condensed his golden Spiritual Sea, the quality of the Spiritual Power in Ye Chen's body was more than a single grade higher than before.

But by the same token, the difficulty for Ye Chen to break through to the next realm was also much higher than for an ordinary person.

Others might only need to circulate their Cultivation Technique once to refine the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

But Ye Chen was different; he might have to refine it ten times, or even a hundred times.

This caused his cultivation speed to be much slower than others.

Fortunately, the World-Shocking Record of the Demon God was, after all, a supreme Cultivation Technique, unparalleled in history.

Each time he circulated it, he could absorb an incalculable amount of Spiritual Qi, and his refinement speed was far faster than with ordinary Cultivation Techniques.

This was the only reason Ye Chen's cultivation speed hadn't fallen too far behind!

Ye Chen put away the Spirit Crystals and was just about to start cultivating.

He wanted to see how much faster he could cultivate if he went all out with the help of these three Spirit-Gathering Arrays.

But just then, a faint sound suddenly reached Ye Chen's ears.

Ye Chen's brows furrowed slightly. Realizing the sound was coming from outside the sect, his figure flashed, and he appeared at the Demon Sect's gate.

Not far away, a disheveled figure, covered in blood, was stumbling toward him.

Blood dripped from his body, leaving a trail behind him that was almost a solid crimson line.

"Hm?"

Ye Chen realized the figure before him looked somewhat familiar.

From the terrified way he was running, it looked as if he was being hunted.

And sure enough, three figures with sharp, imposing auras came flying over from the distance.

When they saw the blood-soaked figure below, they sneered and swooped down.

"Run? Where do you think you can run?"

"After getting our Nine Nether Sect's Leader killed, did you really think we would let you go so easily?"

Their voices were completely undisguised, carrying far into the distance.

Hearing this, Ye Chen froze.

'The Nine Nether Sect?'

He finally recognized the blood-soaked figure.

Wasn't it Mu Shanhong, the Elder from the Nine Nether Sect he had met before?

At this moment, Mu Shanhong's aura was faint, and he looked like he was on the verge of collapse.

"Help... help me! Help!"

He looked at the mountain gate ahead and forced his legs to move, running forward with all his might.

'If I remember correctly, that young man said he was going back to the Luoyun Sect to handle some matters.'

'As long as I can find that young man, I'll be saved!'

Just as Mu Shanhong was about to reach the Demon Sect's gate, a blast of Spiritual Power suddenly shot toward him from behind!