Chapter 1774 (Raw 1786):
Someone carried away Shangguan Lei, who was in a sorry state. The commotion came to an end.
The Purple Flame Sect Elders hidden in the darkness appeared. They had smiles on their faces as they approached Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen had used two fingers to defeat Shangguan Lei, catching the Divine Firmament Nine Changes, the Divine Firmament Sect's most powerful Martial Technique, and completely suppressing Shangguan Lei's sharpness. Most importantly, several of the Elders could tell that Shangguan Lei's foundations were unstable.
From today onward, the Purple Flame Sect no longer had to worry about Shangguan Lei as a threat.
Furthermore, all of this, in both incidents, were due to Xiao Chen's efforts.
Naturally, these sect Elders had to thank Xiao Chen for making a move and promised many benefits to him on the spot.
Some were even more direct, asking if Xiao Chen wanted to stay in the sect and take up a position.
Xiao Chen calmly responded, rejecting the various benefits.
"Martial Uncle Xiao, won't you reconsider? You can even be a guest official. I'm sure the Sect Master will agree."
These old men valued the sect rules rather heavily. When they addressed Xiao Chen, they called him Martial Uncle Xiao, observing proper seniority.
"Many thanks, but I will be leaving after one month. I still have things to do."
"That is truly a pity."
Since Xiao Chen answered like this, the few Elders no longer pursued the matter, performing cupped-fist salutes and taking their leave.
After the group of Elders was gone, Ling Yu said excitedly, "Martial Uncle, how did you do it? How did you manage to catch Shangguan Lei's saber with just two fingers?!"
The earlier scene shocked many people to their core.
However, the only person who dared to ask without any fear and pride was Ling Yu.
Despite facing the Divine Firmament Nine Changes, a Dao Tool, and a berserk Shangguan Lei, Xiao Chen used only two fingers to catch such a ferocious and tyrannical saber strike. This was simply as unrealistic as a dream.
"You want to learn it?" Xiao Chen asked with a smile.
"What?" Ling Yu felt startled. Then, he said with pleasant surprise, "Yes. Of course, I do. Martial Uncle is willing to teach me?"
Xiao Chen smiled faintly. "I am your martial uncle in name, after all. It is nothing to teach you some Secret Techniques."
"Many thanks, Martial Uncle."
Ling Yu earnestly gave thanks, nearly kneeling to Xiao Chen. His expression was extremely respectful.
Xiao Chen waved his hand, indicating that Ling Yu had no need to be so polite and follow propriety.
"This Secret Technique is named the Sharp Spirit Finger. You will not be able to learn it in a short time. I'll teach you the initial version of the Sharp Spirit Finger first. After that, I'll tell you how to alter it."
There were two versions of the Sharp Spirit Finger. Xiao Chen had achieved the current effect only after many rounds of modification.
It was definitely impossible to achieve the same effect in one go. So, Xiao Chen first told Ling Yu the line of thought that the Flame Rock Sovereign had shared with Xiao Chen, letting Ling Yu comprehend it for himself.
After a few days, when Ling Yu nearly grasped the principles behind the Sharp Spirit Finger, Xiao Chen explained how to use the body as a cauldron and the principles behind it.
Whether Ling Yu could merge the information and completely comprehend it would depend on Ling Yu himself.
In Xiao Chen's opinion, given Ling Yu's talent, this should not be a big problem.
As for Xiao Chen, he did not fall behind on his own cultivation.
Right now, Xiao Chen had two Cultivation Techniques that he needed to cultivate: the Ice Feather Divine Incantation and the Divine Dragon Body Tempering Art.
While in Dragon Flame City, Xiao Chen had already cultivated the Ice Feather Divine Incantation to the peak of the third layer.
Inside the cultivation room, he placed Medial Grade Spirit Jades into the Spirit Gathering Formation.
After that, he started to cultivate the Ice Feather Divine Incantation. The cold Qi in the room turned into feathery layers of thin ice flying about, looking very pretty.
After circulating a major cycle, countless strands of snowlike Spiritual Energy fell into the white whirlpool in Xiao Chen's dantian.
Then, the white whirlpool turned the Spiritual Energy into Veritable Essence Energy before sending it into the 9-Star Primal Core.
Xiao Chen opened his eyes and entered deep thought. The Ice Feather Divine Incantation had reached a bottleneck.
The white whirlpool had not increased in size for a long time already. He needed to break through into the fourth layer.
However, this Ice Feather Divine Incantation only had a total of six layers. The latter three layers were each much harder to cultivate than the one before it.
After pondering for a while, Xiao Chen decided to break into the Ice Feather Divine Incantation's fourth layer after he reached the Cloud Sea Realm. That would be safer.
During this time, Xiao Chen placed his focus on the Divine Dragon Body Tempering Art.
He opened his palm and looked at the jade bottle he held.
The Dragon Blood Pill.
This was one of the Dragon Race treasures that Xiao Chen obtained in the underground dragon city. This was refined from genuine ancient Dragon Race blood.
For every one pill that was used, there would be one less in the world. Genuine Dragon Race blood was simply too difficult to obtain.
It was said that the modern Dragon Blood Pill was made using the essence blood of the Dragon Race upper echelon.
Compared to genuine Dragon Race blood, its effects would be somewhat weaker.
Xiao Chen removed the stopper of the jade bottle and consumed one Dragon Blood Pill. Then, he sat down cross-legged and started cultivating the Divine Dragon Body Tempering Art.
The first layer cultivated veins. The second layer cultivated bones. He had already completed these.
Right now, he was going to cultivate the third layer, which cultivated blood.
Qi and blood were not separate. Vital Qi was generated from the blood. The third layer of the Divine Dragon Body Tempering Art could be considered the true start of its cultivation.
Soon, dragon roars came from Xiao Chen's body. Eighteen ancient Azure Dragon images appeared and coiled around him, encircling him.
An ancient savage aura spread out in this cultivation room. It was like the time of the Great Desolate Eon, when ten thousand races fought.
Xiao Chen felt his Qi and blood surge. It was like floodgates opened, and countless strands of prime energy poured out.
At this moment, not only did his Vital Qi soar, but he also felt the ancient energy surging out from this blood, refining and tempering his ice-attributed and lightning-attributed Veritable Essence Energies continuously. The ancient Dragon Might carved itself into the depths of his Veritable Essence Energy, becoming like a part of his flesh and blood, inseparable from him.
From today onward, Xiao Chen would not need to focus to bring out Dragon Might.
His Veritable Essence Energy would automatically give off boundless Dragon Might, which was deeply engraved into his bones and soul.
"Dang! Dang! Dang!"
The most important change was the one to his Vital Qi. Many ancient dragon-patterned cauldrons appeared above his head.
Xiao Chen's Vital Qi now soared to fifteen dragon-patterned cauldrons.
Just this one Dragon Blood Pill helped his strength directly grow by five Cauldron Force. His Vital Qi reached fifteen Cauldron Force, something unprecedented for him.
Each dragon cauldron was different from the one before. They had exquisite workmanship, glimmering all over. The dragon patterns carved on each one were very realistic and looked like they would come to life at any moment.
Xiao Chen, who was immersed in his strength's growth, was somewhat surprised that the Dragon Blood Pill was actually so effective.
There was no comparison between his current condition and when he was in the underground dragon city.
More importantly, the ancient energy from his bloodline reconstructed his Veritable Essence Energy and Vital Qi.
This was the greatest benefit, much better than the direct increase in his Vital Qi and cultivation.
Xiao Chen managed to absorb and completely digest the energy of this one Dragon Blood Pill only after half a month.
"Crack! Crack!"
Vital Qi gushed in Xiao Chen's dragon veins, and his blood surged. His dragon bones crackled, and his Dragon Might spread out uncontrollably.
Many dragon images swam in the surroundings. They looked like they were sighing with their eyes closed but also like they were growling softly.
When Xiao Chen opened his eyes, golden light flickered in his eyes, and his Great Desolate Divine Eyes improved further.
The dragon images moving about also opened their eyes at this moment.
"Boom!" The entire cultivation room could not endure this Dragon Might.
The formation broke, and the roof fell in. When the dust scattered, Xiao Chen revealed himself.
"Martial Uncle, this commotion is too big," Ling Yu said in shock as he walked out.
Xiao Chen felt somewhat embarrassed. The effect of the Dragon Blood Pill was beyond his expectations.
He stepped out of the rubble and looked at Ling Yu. "Come, let me see how your practice of the Sharp Spirit Finger is going."
One hour later, Xiao Chen revealed a gratified smile. "Not bad. You made great improvements in half a month. I'm rather surprised."
Ling Yu felt excited. However, after a while, he felt a sense of loss again. "Martial Uncle, are you really leaving?"
Xiao Chen nodded. "There is no banquet in the world that never ends. We have a fate with each other. I think we will definitely meet again in the future."
"Martial Uncle, take care."
The many words in Ling Yu's heart simply came out as "take care." He felt reluctant to part, but he knew that Xiao Chen needed to go.
Xiao Chen was like Ling Yu; he had something to pursue in his heart. However, he had set his sights higher. The path he took would be even more difficult than Ling Yu's.
He nodded slightly, then took out a Dragon Blood Pill and handed it to Ling Yu. "Take care."
Xiao Chen did not expect the Dragon Blood Pill to bring Ling Yu the same level of transformation as it had himself, but it would definitely help.
Xiao Chen had benefited so much from the Dragon Blood Pill mostly because his bloodline was ancient and noble.
The Dragon Blood Pill had only tapped the huge treasure trove that was his bloodline.
If another Dragon Race disciple were to consume the Dragon Blood Pill, the effects might not be as strong.
After leaving the Purple Flame Sect, Xiao Chen did not go to find the Black Cutlass. Instead, he headed for the Potala Mountain, one of the other blessed lands.
He needed to tell Venerable Xuan Bei about Zhen Yuan.
No matter what, the Venerable Xuan Bei had saved Xiao Chen's life once. Among the Buddhist sect monks that Xiao Chen had interacted with, he was rather trustworthy.