Luo Bingfeng didn’t open the box just yet. Instead, he said with a frown, “Is there supposed to be any problems? Don’t tell me that Qianye dares to lie to me?”
The lady replied, “Qianye passed the trial of Heart Reflection, so he’s definitely speaking the truth.”
“Then what are you worried about?”
The lady sighed softly. “Bingfeng, just think about it, how can a secret record of such caliber be so easy to obtain? My past divination results have shown that this endeavor will likely be a waste of effort, but you just won’t listen.”
Luo Binfeng replied, “Nannan, you should know that I’ll do anything as long as there exists the tiniest bit of hope for your recovery.”
“I’ve already been in this state for many years, I’ve long since accepted my fate.”
Luo Bingfeng raised his voice, “But I haven’t!”
The lady pointed helplessly at the box. “Then let’s open it up.”
Luo Bingfeng’s cut the box open with a swipe of his finger and fished out three secret records from within. His vision darkened as he laid eyes on the first one, almost blacking out in the process.
The name Combatant Formula was like a clap of thunder that turned his mind blank for the moment.
He came to moments later, but his hands were trembling from anger. “T-This… how can this be? It’s the Combatant Formula? This Qianye actually dares to lie to me! Does he really think I don’t dare to kill him? I’ll go into Southern Blue and kill that little thief even if I have to use up my half day’s quota of freedom!”
The lady held Luo Bingfeng’s hand. “Let’s go through the contents first before deciding. What do you say?”
Luo Bingfeng was usually a calm person—he was simply flustered due to his great concern about this matter. He calmed down afterward and began going through the Combatant Formula, reading every line in great detail. He read rather slowly, taking the time to digest even the simplest of words.
But no matter how carefully he read, the secret record very quickly reached its end since it was little more than a thousand words long. Additionally, the contents were extremely simple and contained nothing to meditate upon. This wasn’t strange, though, since this art was for the most ordinary soldiers of the empire to train in. How deep could it be? Many of them couldn’t even read—they had to rely on their trainer’s recitation to cultivate it.
Only after reaching the last word did Luo Bingfeng give up entirely, realizing that this cultivation art was the commonly found Combatant Formula.
He was so angry that he was trembling all over. “Well done… well done, Qianye!”
Luo Bingfeng wanted to tear the secret record apart in his anger, but the lady held his hand, saying, “There are two more, aren’t there? Perhaps there’s some other profundity to it. It’s not too late to tear things up after reading them all.”
Luo Bingfeng suppressed his anger. “Fine, let’s see what the other two are about.”
He randomly picked one up and flipped through it carefully. He was immediately drawn in this time, and his expression gradually relaxed. He took much longer than the last time, even closing his eyes to ponder on the contents after he had finished reading. “This secret art is outrageous. It can actually simulate the power of a worldly vortex and use it to purify one’s origin power. Judging from this, it might really be able to cultivate Venus Dawn since the latter is, quite frankly, just origin power of extreme purity.”
After sighing in admiration, Luo Bingfeng said pensively, “But there are two things I don’t quite understand. Firstly, the power of the worldly vortex is indeed powerful, but how can the human body even withstand that kind of force? It has to be restrained in some way. Secondly, considering how pure Qianye’s origin power is, probably less than ten percent of his void origin power would remain after the purification process. What kind of cultivation art could provide such a massive amount of origin power? None of the arts I know possess this kind of cultivation speed. Without that, the cultivator’s progress will be delayed significantly, and he might end up even weaker than those without Venus Dawn.”
The lady replied, “Let’s finish reading the last one before coming to a conclusion.”
Luo Bingfeng nodded as he took the secret record from the lady’s hands. His expression transformed drastically as he read on, turning more and more unsightly along the way. He suddenly picked up the Glory Chapter he had been reading before and blurted out as he compared the two, “What Mystery and Glory Chapters!? This is clearly the Scroll of Primal Chaos!”
The lady, however, was quite calm. “Mystery and Glory might be the empire’s name for the Scroll of Primal Chaos.”
Luo Bingfeng could no longer endure. He picked up the three secret records, ready to tear them to pieces.
The woman reached out to stop him. “Why go to all this trouble?”
“That little thief Qianye is too intolerable! I swear I’ll tear him to shreds!”
“Bingfeng, what he has given us might not be problematic even if this is the Scroll of Primal Chaos. Don’t forget that he’s passed the trial of Heart Reflection. He was telling the truth.”
However, Luo Bingfeng felt even more frustrated. “Nannan, just think about it. Countless people from the empire and Evernight have tried to cultivate the Scroll of Primal Chaos since the day it emerged from the Great Maelstrom. Almost everyone exploded, and the luckier ones had their cultivations crippled. How is this not a problem?”
“Bingfeng, you said just now that training in the Glory Chapter would require one to be able to withstand the power of the vortex. If one were to also cultivate the Mystery Chapter at the same time, won’t the two powers keep each other in check and form a balanced state?”
“That’s in theory, but who can have daybreak and evernight origin powers at the same time? A dark race member cultivating daybreak origin power is no different from self-immolation, and humans cultivating darkness origin power will lose their daybreak foundation. Who’s going to cultivate this kind of art?”
The woman smiled. “That’s beside the point as long as the theory is plausible. As I see it, the Combatant Formula is key to the massive amount of required origin power. Otherwise, Qianye wouldn’t go to the extra trouble of giving us an art that can be found almost anywhere.”
Luo Bingfeng was skeptical, but he picked up the Combatant Formula and read through it again. He said in a puzzled manner, “Isn’t this just the Combatant Formula? How can there be anything extra profound?”
The woman said, “There’s nothing special about the cultivation process, but that might not be the case of one’s level. The empire’s Martial Monarch and Prince Greensun had both reached the fiftieth level before. The former is from a senior generation, so we won’t discuss him, but why would a character like Zhang Boqian cultivate the Combatant Formula up to the fiftieth level before switching to a new one? Considering how rich the Zhang clan was, it was impossible that he couldn’t find a suitable cultivation art. Why would he do something so meaningless if there wasn’t anything miraculous about the Combatant Formula? He could’ve just cultivated something else from the very beginning.”
Luo Bingfeng looked pensive. “What you mean is the Combatant Formula will only reveal its profundities beyond the fiftieth wave?”
“Very likely.”
This time, Luo Bingfeng could only smile wryly. “Using the tides to draw upon the origin power inside one’s body, the Combatant Formula looks simple, but the recoil grows exponentially with the number of waves. Even a body of steel will be shattered toward the latter parts of cultivation. With my current constitution, I can only reach up to the thirty-fifth wave at most. Any more than that and I’ll have to worry about my life. How can people like us compare with the Martial Monarch and Prince Greensun?”
The lady sighed softly. “You wouldn’t stop there in the past.”
Luo Bingfeng was quite honest. “Even in my past state, I won’t be able to pass the fortieth wave. The Combatant Formula becomes exponentially more violent toward the fiftieth wave, and every level is like a different realm. How can anyone cultivate past that? Humph, the opening of a new world beyond rank fifty is but a guess. That Qianye can forget about trying to deceive us using this loophole.”
“Perhaps he isn’t trying to deceive us…”
“Impossible! You jest…” Luo Bingfeng had only reached halfway with his words when he turned silent, his face full of astonishment. “Don’t tell me that Qianye has reached the fiftieth level?”
The woman said seriously, “It’s very probable.”
“Ridiculous! Doesn’t that mean he’s just as talented as Prince Greensun?”
The woman sighed. “After careful thought, this is the only possibility.”
Luo Bingfeng became as spirited as he was shocked. “That means Qianye wasn’t lying, these three secret records can really cultivate Venus Dawn.”
The female smiled helplessly. “Yes, indeed. The cultivator only needs to reach the fiftieth level of the Combatant Formula and cultivate the Glory and Mystery Chapters at the same time without exploding. Qianye’s Venus Dawn was likely produced in this manner.”
Luo Bingfeng was sent into a daze, his mind completely blank as he looked on at the three secret records.