Chapter 920: Big Dipper Banner Upgrade
Compared to the pleasant surprise of the Profound Yin Umbrella, the materials that the three Immortal Swords yielded were rather wretched. There was simply no comparison, but they were better than nothing.
Xiao Chen stretched out his hand and pulled over the Big Dipper Banner in the sky. The spreading starlight shone on his face. He radiated a bright light in the night like he was a Star Lord.
He evaluated the banner pole, which turned out not to have any divine material in it. All it used was thousand-year-old Profound Iron mixed with some other rare materials.
The banner, inlaid with seven Astral Pearls, looked red like blood, fluttering in the wind. It used many materials, but none of it was divine material.
From this, Xiao Chen concluded that the clan behind Ye Qing was not some major faction. The resources they had given him were only sufficient for him to refine the Astral Pearls but not the pole and banner.
However, even so, the might of the Big Dipper Banner lay in its seven Astral Pearls. Only a fabulously wealthy person would bother to specially refine the pole and banner.
However, Xiao Chen had other plans that required him to infuse divine materials into both the banner and its pole.
He had at least two hundred and fifty kilograms of each of the eighty-one divine materials. He planned to use half of them on the banner and the pole. The remaining half would be used on the Astral Pearls. With this, he could raise the quality of the entire Big Dipper Banner by severalfold.
Although he had familiarized himself with the refining method long ago, he maintained a tight focus, remaining cautious, not daring to risk distraction. As he stood on the mountain summit, his concentration was at its maximum.
The new Big Dipper Banner was finally successfully refined at the first light of dawn. The black banner pole now had a dull luster; it no longer looked as light as a feather like it did before. Even at a glance, it gave an impression of density.
As Xiao Chen held it in his hand and swung it, it produced a heavy, muffled sound that echoed around the mountain summit. The sound spread for fifty kilometers, shaking the trees, startling birds and beasts.
“Flap! Flap!”
Birds could be seen flapping their wings and beasts running from the lush forests below the mountain. They looked like a dense black cloud. How very spectacular!
Xiao Chen revealed a satisfied expression as he casually waved the banner around. Just the pole alone could cause such a disturbance. He had not added the eighty-one kinds of divine material for nothing.
With a twist of his right hand, a red aura spread out; the banner’s color had deepened significantly. As the banner fluttered wildly in the strong wind at the mountaintop, it made loud noises.
The seven stars on the banner gave off a bright light, rivaling even the rising sun.
“The accumulations of the Sovereign Noble Clan are indeed astonishing. Just one Profound Yin Umbrella allowed me to raise the Big Dipper Banner by two grades.”
Xiao Chen felt extremely happy as an idea popped into his head.
If I can get a few more peak King Grade Secret Treasures, my Big Dipper Banner might be able to reach the peak grade, equal to the Big Dipper Banner in the Cyclic Astral Palace’s Palace Lord’s hand.
However, Xiao Chen soon gave up on the thought. After this lesson, the disciples of the three Sovereign Noble Clans who had not reached the level of a grandmaster-level Martial Sage yet would not come alone. If they came, they would ask older-generation experts for help.
How unfortunate to lose such an opportunity.
However, if I succeed in the next step, my Big Dipper Banner will be able to blaze a new trail, surpassing any before it and reaching a new peak.
Xiao Chen’s face turned serious, and the Magic Energy in his sea of consciousness started burning. It formed a mental flame and started melting the Massacre Throne.
According to the jade strip that Long Fei gave Xiao Chen, if one wanted to refine the throne into a weapon, one needed to circulate a secret technique to create a mental flame for refining purposes. Long Fei had spent a whole month before he managed to refine the Ruin Throne into a trident.
Xiao Chen’s Mental Energy had turned into the even stronger Magic Energy, something at least ten times stronger than Long Fei’s Mental Energy; it was equal to that of a quasi-Emperor. Hence, the refining went very smoothly. In less than half a day, he managed to melt the throne.
However, he did not refine the throne into a weapon. With a cold roar, he sent the already melted Massacre Throne directly into the Big Dipper Banner in the position of Dubhe, merging it with the first Astral Pearl of the Big Dipper.
After that, he repeated this procedure two more times, merging the Death Throne and Ruin Trident with Merak and Phecda, respectively.
Xiao Chen spat out a long breath of turbid Qi. When he looked at the banner, Dubhe, Merak, and Phecda had taken on different colors.
The energies of Massacre, Death, and Ruin intertwined with the Astral Energy, but they had yet to merge perfectly and still needed breaking in.
Xiao Chen thrust his hand forward, and the Big Dipper Banner soared up through the clouds. The banner fluttered as it absorbed the wandering starlight in the sky. As the starlight converged, it turned into a cocoon of light encasing the banner.
After collecting enough Astral Energy, the three thrones would merge perfectly with the three Astral Pearls. After that, they would break out of the cocoon, experiencing a rebirth.
Xiao Chen thought for a moment and then fumbled around in his Universe Ring. He took out all the Astral Cores from the three old men of the Heaven and Earth Sect and refined the Astral Cores into seven Inferior Grade Astral Pearls.
A small constellation appeared around the astral cocoon, rapidly increasing the speed it absorbed Astral Energy.
Now that Xiao Chen succeeded, he had nothing left to do with regard to this. He just had to wait for the Big Dipper Banner to break out of its cocoon.
He revealed an expression of anticipation. It seemed like no one had ever done this before even in ancient times, and no one had ever been in his situation, to be able to do something like this, either. He wondered what the brand-new Big Dipper Banner would be like.
Would the Big Dipper Banner accompany him to shake the world, carving out a bloody path among his many strong enemies, taking the road of a king?
Now, it was noon. The sun shone bright overhead. However, on this mountaintop, starlight spread throughout the place. Stars appeared and turned this ordinary mountain into a glittering astral palace.
Xiao Chen remained calm as he sat on a stool stone and flipped through the Azure Dragon Body Nourishing Art.
His physical body had already attained a peak Rank 3 Sage Body. However, his Vital Qi remained at half a Dragon Force—two thousand five hundred tons—unable to advance further. To him, the Azure Dragon Body Nourishing Art’s arrival now was like receiving coal in the middle of winter.
After Xiao Chen flipped through a few pages, his expression darkened. “Sha! Sha!” As he turned page after page, his brows knit, and his lips could not help but twitch.
Once he finished scanning the secret manual, he smiled bitterly and tossed the Azure Dragon Body Nourishing Art onto the stone table.
Xiao Chen’s reaction was not because the Azure Dragon Body Nourishing Art was not strong. After all, if he succeeded in cultivating the first layer, he would have one Dragon Force, able to explode out with five thousand tons of force.
Instead, it was because the method to cultivate the Azure Dragon Body Nourishing Art was simply too flabbergasting, too incredible.
Body Nourishing. Using “body nourishing” to describe this was really apt. To cultivate the Azure Dragon Body Nourishing Art, one needed to consume divine materials in large amounts to nourish the body, to nurture Dragon Energy.
The amount of divine material needed was extreme. Just the first layer required nearly five hundred tons of divine materials.
The second layer would condense a body of dragon armor. The amount of divine material required was even more astronomical.
Xiao Chen felt that aside from the Dragon’s Gate, a sect that had swept through the lands in a tyrannical manner in the past, there was no sect that could provide such an amount of divine materials—certainly none at present.
He carefully stored the Azure Dragon Body Nourishing Art and put away thoughts of cultivating this Cultivation Technique for now. Then, he took out a Heavenly Soul Pearl and started to absorb the energy in the pearl, greatly increasing his Magic Energy.
The two youths from the One Dao Palace had spoken the truth. The Heavenly Soul Pearl of the evil Demon clone was an excellent supplement for Immortal Cultivators.
Over ten days, Xiao Chen consumed twenty Heavenly Soul Pearls, one after another. The sea of Magic Energy in his sea of consciousness tripled in size, occupying nearly half of his sea of consciousness.
Now, if he activated the Ten Thousand Beast Cauldron, he would be able to control one hundred mutated beast images easily.
On this particular day, as Xiao Chen prepared to consume the Heavenly Soul Pearl of the jade-white evil Demon clone, a large group of people flew out of the forest below.
Their killing Qi soared into the sky and gathered, kicking up a strong wind that brushed the hair on Xiao Chen’s forehead aside.
He put down the jade-white Heavenly Soul Pearl and looked up at the astral cocoon overhead. “What must come finally came. If only it had come a little later. The Big Dipper Banner is about to break out of the cocoon.”
“Xiao Chen, you are really whimsical. Now that the entire Primal Chaos Domain knows that you have a peak grade Immortal Spirit Ring and have a Rank 9 Spirit Tree, the number of people who want to kill you can form a line from the bottom of the mountain to the top. Despite that, you are still seated here, focused on refining Secret Treasures.”
A horde of people emerged from the forest. Soon after, three people flew up to the mountain summit and looked at Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen looked over and discovered that the three people were rather young. The two at the sides were early-stage Superior Grade Martial Sages. The one in the middle was even more powerful; he was a peak Superior Grade Martial Sage, lacking only the air of a grandmaster to cross the threshold to grandmaster-level Martial Sage.
These three people wore uniforms that were almost identical to Lang Taotian’s. Xiao Chen deduced that they were disciples of the Profound Water Sect. Having heard that the Sect Master of the Profound Water Sect has several personal disciples, he wondered if the person who spoke was one of them.
“Something’s wrong. This is a Secret Treasure of the Cyclic Astral Palace. It actually turned into an astral cocoon. Hahaha! We came at a good time. After I kill you, I can take this Secret Treasure and use your head to obtain a King Grade Secret Treasure from Master.” The expression of the youth in the middle changed slightly as he laughed maliciously.
“Ji Zong, it is not your turn to collect the Secret Treasure of those Astral Palaces. Do you think that there is no one left in the Primal Chaos Domain?”
A strong wind blew, and a beam of light arrived. A young male in azure robes appeared, emitting a bloody sword Qi with his entire body.
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”
The number of people increased. Soon, hundreds of people surrounded the mountaintop sparkling with starlight. These people were all experts of the Primal Chaos Domain, either loose cultivators or the elite disciples of major sects.
Xiao Chen did not say anything. He only looked coldly at these people before shifting his focus to the distance—to three old men with extremely strong auras hiding in a cloud several dozen kilometers away.
Mister Qin!
Xiao Chen squinted. The person in the middle was precisely the Medicine God Valley’s grandmaster Alchemist, Mister Qin. At this moment, these old men were keeping their distance, watching with cold smiles on their faces.
Of the two people standing beside Mister Qin, one was a middle-aged man and the other was an old man wearing hemp robes. They both had extraordinary auras, giving off the arrogance and air of a grandmaster.
They had surpassed the realm of Superior Grade Martial Sage and had unique understandings of the martial way. They were grandmaster-level Martial Sages who already touched the peak and were one step away from being associated with the word “Emperor”—quasi-Emperors.
A grandmaster-level Alchemist was indeed very well connected. He could invite even grandmaster-level Martial Sages and not just one. Mister Qin had really put a lot of effort into this. He must hate me to the bone.
Aside from the youth called Ji Zong, Xiao Chen did not pay any attention to these people before him. He could not take them seriously no matter how many there were.
The ones that Xiao Chen was concerned about were Mister Qin and the two grandmaster-level Martial Sages several dozen kilometers away.