Cultivation: Start From Simplifying Martial Arts Techniques

Chapter 778: Moon Rises Over the Sea

Chen Fei followed the direction Tang Shouchang pointed to and glanced back and forth among the three teams a few times before heading towards one of them.

Zhao Ruizheng stood inside the mission hall, his eyes slightly closed, seizing every moment to cultivate and elevate his cultivation.

At the mid-stage of the Mountain Sea Realm, with six Divine Palaces, he was just one step away from the late stage of the realm.

Zhao Ruizheng was willing to come to the Ethereal Lake precisely because of the rich rewards here, enough to propel him directly to the next level.

Once he stepped into the late stage of the Mountain Sea Realm, both his strength and status would be incomparable. Therefore, Zhao Ruizheng was willing to take this risk.

Zhao Tianyue, Zhao Ruizheng’s half-sister from the same father but different mother, was at the early stage of the Mountain Sea Realm, with three Divine Palaces.

The two were the strongest warriors the Zhao family had ever seen. Being the strongest also meant that whatever assistance the Zhao family could provide had already reached its limit, leaving the rest to their own abilities.

Zhao Tianyue looked around and immediately spotted Chen Fei and Tang Shouchang walking towards them, especially sensing Chen Fei’s aura of three Divine Palaces, which brought a hint of smile to Zhao Tianyue’s face.

As for Tang Shouchang beside him, with two Divine Palaces, it was also decent, not the newly broken through Mountain Sea Realm type.

Tang Shouchang walked behind Chen Fei, sensing the aura of Chen Fei’s three Divine Palaces. Even though he had known for a few days, he still felt a sense of awe.

For others in the Mountain Sea Realm, seeing Chen Fei’s three Divine Palaces wouldn’t evoke much reaction.

But Tang Shouchang knew when Chen Fei had broken through. In just a few short years, Chen Fei had traversed the progress that would have taken other Mountain Sea Realm cultivators over a hundred years.

Although Chen Fei had demonstrated extraordinary talent by being able to kill two Mountain Sea Realm cultivators right after breaking through.

The speed at which he had converted this talent into cultivation was astonishing.

Sensing Chen Fei and the others approaching, Zhao Ruizheng, who had been cultivating with closed eyes, suddenly opened his eyes and looked towards Chen Fei and Tang Shouchang.

“Is your team recruiting members?”

Chen Fei stood in front of Zhao Ruizheng and asked with a cupped hand.

“Yes, we want to gather two early-stage Mountain Sea Realm cultivators to enter the Black Divine Barrier together and complete the mission.”

Zhao Ruizheng nodded, his gaze pausing for a moment on Chen Fei’s towering Shadow Lock Bow before earnestly sizing up Tang Shouchang.

“If you two are interested in joining our team, you’re more than welcome. However, before formally joining, we need to get to know each other briefly.”

Zhao Ruizheng said in a serious tone, retracting his scrutinizing gaze.

“Naturally!” Chen Fei chuckled softly.

The simplest way for cultivators in the Mountain Sea Realm to get to know each other was to exchange a few moves.

The Black Divine Barrier was a place of life and death crisis. If there was not a clear understanding of each other’s strength among teammates, they might falter at crucial moments.

“Both of you, please!”

Seeing Chen Fei’s agreement, a hint of smile appeared on Zhao Ruizheng’s face. With a gesture of his right hand, the four of them then left the mission hall together.

A moment later, in a mountain range a hundred miles away from the mission hall.

Zhao Tianyue floated in mid-air, holding a slender sword and smiling at Chen Fei and the others.

“Then let me go first.”

Since Tang Shouchang had the weakest cultivation among them, he didn’t hesitate and flew forward, bowing to Zhao Tianyue.

“Please,” Zhao Tianyue nodded, putting away the smile on her face and speaking softly.

Although she had one more Divine Palace than Tang Shouchang, they were both at the early stage of the Mountain Sea Realm, so the difference in their realms was only slight. The true extent of their combat power could only be revealed through actual combat.

“Here I come!”

Tang Shouchang uttered a low shout, raising his Cloud Breaker Blade and swiftly bringing it down.

As Tang Shouchang’s blade descended, it seemed to split the entire sky in half.

In an instant, the heavens and earth reversed, yin and yang became indistinguishable, and the sun and moon ceased to exist!

“Clang!”

A piercing collision sound tore through this atmosphere.

Zhao Tianyue wielded the Frost Moon Sword, thrusting it at the weak point of the Cloud Breaker Blade, blocking Tang Shouchang’s move.

Although she didn’t break his move, Zhao Tianyue managed to easily block Tang Shouchang’s blade.

Tang Shouchang remained composed, retracting his Cloud Breaker Blade and immediately launching another swift attack.

Since it was a mutual understanding, while not going all out, they at least needed to showcase their own characteristics.

At this moment, Tang Shouchang had showcased the intricacies of his swordsmanship one by one, and Zhao Tianyue couldn’t respond as effortlessly as she did in the first move.

“Alright, that’s enough!”

Less than fifteen minutes later, Zhao Ruizheng’s voice rang out. Tang Shouchang timely sheathed his Cloud Breaker Blade and returned to his original position.

There were no major surprises. Tang Shouchang’s impression on Zhao Ruizheng was that of an ordinary early-stage Mountain Sea Realm cultivator— not weak, but not particularly strong either.

But this was normal; the majority of Mountain Sea Realm cultivators from sect backgrounds were like this.

Truly outstanding talents were mostly recruited by top powers, or even sacred grounds. Where would they be found roaming outside?

Zhao Ruizheng turned to look at Chen Fei, with his three Divine Palaces and being a rare archer.

Zhao Ruizheng hadn’t expected any surprises. The rarity of archers didn’t necessarily equate to strength. As long as Chen Fei had comparable strength to Zhao Tianyue, that would be sufficient in Zhao Ruizheng’s view.

With this team of four, they could smoothly carry out missions in the Black Divine Barrier and receive rewards.

Chen Fei took down his towering Shadow Lock Bow from his back and approached Zhao Tianyue, bowing to her from three miles away.

Tang Shouchang looked at Chen Fei’s long bow, a slight twitch appearing at the corner of his eye.

In the few years of knowing Chen Fei, Tang Shouchang had never seen him use a bow and arrow. Yet, unexpectedly, Chen Fei brought out his bow and arrows upon arriving at the Ethereal Lake.

Could Chen Fei really pass Zhao Ruizheng’s test like this?

“Please!” ZhaoTianyueexclaimed.

“Please!”

An arrow was placed on the Shadow Lock Bow, and Chen Fei aimed it at Zhao Tianyue.

The arrow was crafted by Chen Fei himself, using materials from the Thousand Feathers Alliance’s monster’s Wolf Tooth Club.

Although the Wolf Tooth Club was crudely made, its material was excellent. With just a bit of refinement, the arrow’s quality became outstanding, making the most out of the materials.

Seeing Chen Fei ready, Zhao Tianyue shifted her right foot back slightly, creating ripples as she vanished from her original position, swiftly lunging towards Chen Fei.

Chen Fei’s gaze lifted slightly. Zhao Tianyue’s figure didn’t come straight at him; instead, she rapidly changed positions in mid-air. If one’s eyesight wasn’t keen enough and their archery skills weren’t proficient, they might not even be able to lock onto her.

“Boom!”

The bowstring emitted a loud vibration, and behind Chen Fei, a huge sonic boom cloud appeared, the arrow long gone.

To make use of his immense strength with the bow and arrow, after the Black Divine descended upon the Ethereal Lake, Chen Fei focused on refining the Shadow Lock Bow.

For this purpose, Chen Fei once ventured out of Thousand Geese City and slew a fourth-rank dragon snake thousands of miles away.

This dragon snake had occasionally revealed its presence near Thousand Geese City in recent years, but it ceased to appear once Leixie Tiger appeared in Thousand Geese City, causing terror.

Chen Fei decided to kill this king of monsters that had threatened Thousand Geese City several times to further enhance the Shadow Lock Bow.

The main direction of enhancement for the Shadow Lock Bow was its draw weight, significantly increasing the difficulty of drawing the bowstring. “Clang!”

With a resounding explosion, Zhao Tianyue’s figure appeared in mid-air, and she deflected the arrow with a sword strike. However, she was also driven backward involuntarily by the immense force.

Zhao Ruizheng’s eyes lit up slightly. With his cultivation, he could clearly see the Frost Moon Sword in Zhao Tianyue’s hand trembling slightly. Not only the Frost Moon Sword but even Zhao Tianyue’s body was affected by the immense force, causing her figure to waver.

Zhao Tianyue looked at Chen Fei with some surprise. She hadn’t expected her footwork to be deciphered so easily, and she was astonished by the terrifying power contained within the arrow.

Before she could completely dissipate the power within her, Zhao Tianyue saw Chen Fei once again raise his bow and set another arrow. In the next moment, another massive sonic boom cloud appeared behind Chen Fei.

Zhao Tianyue’s expression changed slightly. Though the arrow hadn’t reached her yet, she already felt a tremendous threat surging towards her.

With no time to change her stance, Zhao Tianyue could only utter a low shout and thrust her sword forward.

A cold moon rose behind Zhao Tianyue, beneath which was an endless sea.

“Moon Rises Over the Sea!”

“Clang!”

Another sharp explosion resounded as Zhao Tianyue deflected the incoming arrow. This time, Zhao Tianyue didn’t retreat, but the trembling of her right arm holding the sword became even more pronounced.

Meanwhile, the power that hadn’t been dissipated earlier, combined with the immense force from the previous arrow, wreaked havoc within Zhao Tianyue’s body, severely affecting her control over her own body.

Zhao Tianyue furrowed her brow tightly, about to forcefully suppress the anomaly within her using a secret technique when she heard Zhao Ruizheng appear in front of her.

“Alright, that’s enough.”

Zhao Ruizheng said, looking at Chen Fei with a smile on his face.

In just two arrows, Zhao Ruizheng had already gauged Chen Fei’s strength.

It wouldn’t be accurate to say that Chen Fei completely overwhelmed Zhao Tianyue; after all, it was just a simple sparring match, and Zhao Tianyue had also been somewhat careless at the beginning, leading to a misstep followed by more mistakes.

But the archery skills displayed by Chen Fei indeed impressed Zhao Ruizheng.

Having such an archer in the team might yield unexpected results in the unique environment of the Black Divine Barrier.

Tang Shouchang stood aside, looking at Chen Fei, his eyes blinking.

Wow, even with a bow and arrow he’s never used before, they have such power. If he used a sword, how much more powerful would he be?

Are all geniuses so unreasonable?

Various thoughts crossed Tang Shouchang’s mind, but he didn’t show a hint of it on his face. Regardless, with Chen Fei stronger, he would be safer in the Black Divine Barrier.

Chen Fei and Tang Shouchang officially joined Zhao Ruizheng’s team.

Without recruiting any more Mountain Sea Realm cultivators, the four of them took a brief rest. The next morning, they arrived directly at the Black Divine Barrier.

Chen Fei stood on the ground, looking up at the barrier ahead. The black light curtain almost reached the sky.

Even before stepping inside, they could feel the vast and heavy atmosphere.

Mountain Sea Realm shouldn’t be like this, but after the Black Divine manipulated the rules, the boundary displayed was indeed much stronger than ordinary formations.

“Enter!”

Zhao Ruizheng shouted lowly, stepping in first. Zhao Tianyue followed closely behind, with Chen Fei and Tang Shouchang following suit.

Passing through the black light curtain felt like squeezing into a mass of dense mud. The next moment, a heavy force suddenly pressed down on Chen Fei’s body.

Chen Fei involuntarily bent his knees. After a moment, he managed to straighten up.

Looking around, darkness stretched into the distance, like a primordial beast opening its mouth, waiting to devour its prey.

This area was now a safe zone, but just a few miles away lay a place where monsters roamed freely.

There was no order, only strength and weakness.