Cultivation: Start From Simplifying Martial Arts Techniques

Core soul energy entanglement was like a lock. If you didn’t have the right method, you couldn’t unlock it. Resorting to brute force could easily result in the destruction of the jade scroll itself.

Fortunately, Chen Fei’s practice of the Thousand Thread Technique involved precise control over core soul energy. It was similar to refining medicine, where the properties of the medicinal herbs in the cauldron were in constant conflict.

If core soul energy couldn’t adeptly resolve these conflicts, allowing for a greater release of the properties, the result of the alchemy could end up as an explosion.

So, while others might find these core soul energy entangled jade scrolls troublesome, for Chen Fei, it was only a matter of spending some time.

In less than half an hour, as the jade scroll trembled slightly, the core soul energy entanglement on it was unraveled by Chen Fei. He delved his consciousness into the jade scroll and began perusing the recorded information.

15 minutes later, Chen Fei withdrew his consciousness and placed the jade scroll aside.

This was a cultivation technique practiced by Miao Qisheng, which was quite good. When cultivated to its peak, it could open up eighty-one cultivation acupoints. In terms of intricacy, it was on par with the Zhongyuan Sword of the Primordial Sword Sect.

However, this was not what Chen Fei needed at the moment. If he had some spare time later on, he might consider picking it up and see if it could bring him any benefits.

For now, Chen Fei’s primary focus remained on the Blade-Slaying Sword, these four cultivation methods. Unless a powerful core soul energy cultivation technique emerged, Chen Fei wouldn’t consider practicing it alongside his current ones.

Chen Fei took the second jade scroll in hand and began unraveling the core soul energy entanglement on it.

This time, it took much less time to unravel compared to the first time, but Chen Fei withdrew his consciousness from the jade scroll shortly after entering.

A diary, Miao Qisheng’s diary in the form of a jade scroll.

This was the first time Chen Fei had come across someone else’s diary. It should contain records of some important events, but it wasn’t what Chen Fei needed at the moment, so he decided to skip it for now.

Unless none of the other jade scrolls contained what Chen Fei needed, he would revisit this diary jade scroll to find the information he required.

Chen Fei took the third jade scroll in hand, unraveled it, and sent his consciousness inside. His speed in doing so was getting faster and faster.

The core soul energy entanglement on the surface of these jade scrolls might sound complex, and for those in the Aperture tempering realm without the appropriate skills, it would indeed be challenging.

However, for Chen Fei, who had already unraveled two jade scrolls, it was child’s play. Unraveling the remaining jade scrolls had become increasingly effortless for him.

The third jade scroll contained a sword technique, and it was quite stunning. Chen Fei was captivated by the sword principles within, even though he only read a small portion.

However, as he progressed further, Chen Fei discovered that this technique inheritance was damaged. It could only cultivate thirty-one cultivation acupoints, and it couldn’t even reach the pinnacle of the Aperture tempering realm.

It was like tasteless food that would be a pity to discard.

Such damaged technique inheritance was a source of frustration for many independent cultivators. They might have learned a powerful technique, but it was incomplete, leaving them feeling helpless.

The fourth jade scroll contained the record of a map.

Chen Fei looked at the map and had a nagging feeling that it looked somewhat familiar, but it didn’t quite match up with his memories. It gave him a sense of something being both recognizable and unfamiliar.

It could either be that Chen Fei had made a mistake in his recollection, or Miao Qisheng might have made some alterations to this map. Moreover, the map alone didn’t reveal what it represented.

The fifth jade scroll contained a set of formations, complete with detailed deployment methods and the items needed for the formations. What’s more, Miao Qisheng’s insights into this set of formations were meticulously recorded in the jade scroll.

From the recorded insights, it was evident that Miao Qisheng was in the middle stage of cultivating this formation. It was clear that he attached great importance to this set of formations.

“It requires the use of Strange Heart Stones?”

Chen Fei’s heart stirred. Strange Heart Stones were known to be produced only in the Strange Heart Realm, and they were extremely rare. Whenever Chen Fei had entered the Strange Heart Realm and obtained Strange Heart Stones, he had used them directly.

After all, Strange Heart Stones had a significant effect on enhancing core soul energy. Even though Chen Fei was now in the Aperture tempering realm, Strange Heart Stones still had remarkable effects.

Strange Heart Stones and the map.

An image of the map he had just seen flashed through Chen Fei’s mind. His eyes suddenly lit up. The terrain depicted on that map was none other than the Strange Heart Realm!

The Strange Heart Realm was a truly mystical place, corresponding to reality but not entirely the same. When Chen Fei had first seen the map, that familiar yet strange feeling was due to the mountains; they existed in reality but looked somewhat different from what was depicted in the jade scroll.

However, if it were in the Strange Heart Realm, the appearance of those mountains in the map would likely match.

“The reason for Miao Qisheng’s increase in core soul energy, is in the Strange Heart Realm?”

The pervasive pollution in the Strange Heart Realm could indeed purify and enhance one’s core soul energy. Back when Chen Fei was in the Aperture tempering realm, he had cultivated his core soul energy in this manner.

However, after advancing to the Aperture tempering realm, it became challenging for the pervasive pollution to have any significant impact on the core soul energy of someone in the Aperture tempering realm. Although the pollution still found its way in, it could be easily expelled with a bit of repair.

Since there were no significant injuries, the growth in core soul energy after repair was minimal, bordering on insignificant.

As for Strange Heart Stones, their quantity was extremely limited. Sometimes, Chen Fei would enter the Strange Heart Realm multiple times and still not find a single Strange Heart Stone.

Regarding slaying the eerie creatures in the Strange Heart Realm, Chen Fei had tried it and even used the Slaughter Spirit Technique to extract spiritual essence.

However, after a slight perception, Chen Fei gave up on the idea of assimilating this spiritual essence into his body.

In the outside world, whether it was slaying beasts or humans, or even eerie creatures, only a small portion of the spiritual essence obtained through the Slaughter Spirit Technique was composed of fragments of core soul energy. When fused into a spiritual weapon, it complemented each other.

However, the spiritual essence obtained from slaying the eerie creatures in the Strange Heart Realm was different. It was nothing but pure madness, completely distinct from the pervasive pollution in the Strange Heart Realm and the energy in Strange Heart Stones.

It was as if the eerie creatures in the Strange Heart Realm had been reduced to these primal instincts. Of course, it was also possible that the Slaughter Spirit Technique didn’t work as effectively in the Strange Heart Realm due to some compatibility issues.

After all, initially, the Slaughter Spirit Technique couldn’t affect core soul energy. It was only after Chen Fei had perfected it that he could use it to attach the Slaughter Spirit Technique to the Slaughter God Sword and use it in the Strange Heart Realm.

Chen Fei set down the jade scroll in his hand and picked up the last two jade scrolls, starting to decode them simultaneously. In less than a quarter of an hour, he had unraveled the core soul energy entanglement on both scrolls, and his consciousness delved into them to search for their contents.

But within moments, Chen Fei withdrew his consciousness.

One of the jade scrolls contained a list of Rain Pavilion personnel, including many who were undercover in various major sects, even within the Primordial Sword Sect.

However, their positions were generally low, at most reaching the level of inner disciples, and their roles were limited to gathering information. After all, to reach the position of a true transmission disciple, they would have to undergo a core soul energy examination, with almost no chance of passing.

Chen Fei recorded the names of several individuals and planned to report them to the sect leader, Qu Qingsheng. He even suspected that Qu Qingsheng might be highly knowledgeable about the infiltrators within the sect.

All the jade scrolls obtained from Miao Qisheng’s study had been decoded. Chen Fei then picked up the one that recorded Miao Qisheng’s diary and began reading from the most recent entries.

An hour later, Chen Fei set down the jade scroll in his hand, a smile unconsciously forming on his face.

Just as Chen Fei had speculated earlier, the reason behind Miao Qisheng’s tremendous increase in core soul energy did indeed lie within the Strange Heart Realm. The function of that formation was to refine the eerie creatures slain in the Strange Heart Realm.

The eerie creature source obtained after refining could be absorbed into one’s mental consciousness, aiding in the growth of core soul energy.

However, there was a drawback to absorbing this eerie creature source —it was impure and extremely prone to contaminating one’s mental consciousness.

The madness within the eerie creature source could cause one’s mental consciousness to collapse or turn into a mindless puppet with even the slightest lapse in attention.

Miao Qisheng’s solution was to slay weaker eerie creatures in the Strange Heart Realm, and the contents of the map recorded some of these relatively weaker eerie creatures.

The weaker the Strange Heart beings, the lesser madness they contained after refinement. After a period of digestion, most of the risks could be eliminated.

Miao Qisheng was also constantly improving his understanding of this formation. The higher his comprehension of the formation, the more efficient the refinement process, resulting in less residual madness from the eerie creature source.

Furthermore, if one possessed enough capability, setting up two formations simultaneously, layering them, could exponentially increase the refining ability of the formations. Miao Qisheng had always aimed for this and continuously practiced this formation with that goal in mind.

Therefore, within the jade scrolls, Miao Qisheng occasionally recorded his insights into the formation, all to fully master this formation as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, Miao Qisheng’s talent in formations couldn’t be considered extraordinary; it was merely average. Coupled with the fact that the method of deploying the Heart Refinement Formation was quite different from typical formations, Miao Qisheng made occasional progress at best.

“Stacking two formations? If I cultivate this Heart Refinement Formation to perfection, how many layers can I stack?”

Chen Fei picked up the jade scroll containing the Heart Refinement Formation and began studying it seriously. An hour later, information about the Heart Refinement Formation appeared in his mind.

“New formation discovered. Do you wish to spend sixteen elemental stones to simplify the Heart Refinement Formation?”

“Heart Refinement Formation simplification in progress… Simplification successful… Heart Refinement Formation -> Formation Diagram!”

The cost of simplification surprised Chen Fei. He had simplified several techniques of the Primordial Sword Sect, and none of them had a cost higher than this one.

This indicated that mastering this Heart Refinement Formation was indeed extremely challenging, far from being as simple as learning a complete technique inheritance.

In Chen Fei’s Sea of Consciousness, the Thousand Thread Secret Technique slightly trembled. It divided his core soul energy into hundreds of threads and began sketching the Formation Diagram of the Heart Refinement Formation in the air.

Compared to drawing by hand, the efficiency of simultaneously sketching with hundreds of threads of core soul energy was incomparable.

The complexity of the Heart Refinement Formation lay in the intricacies of its deployment, but the formation diagram itself was not complex at all. Therefore, Chen Fei, who could be described as a “jack of all trades” in this context, due to his ability to simultaneously operate hundreds of threads of core soul energy, was essentially like making both hands draw a circle at the same time.

In the blink of an eye, the formation diagram sketched by his core soul energy was completed. Instantly, hundreds of insights appeared in Chen Fei’s mind. He couldn’t help but close his eyes and absorb each of these insights one by

one..