Cultivation: Start From Simplifying Martial Arts Techniques

Chen Fei’s expression subtly changed, imperceptible to others, but he knew—it was the Purification Array.

The entire Sacred City was covered with Purification Arrays, causing a noticeable difference in the spiritual energy compared to the outside world.

The Black Divine manipulated the rules, allowing monsters to appear anywhere in the Boundless Sea. If such creatures were to appear randomly within the Sacred City, it would be far from safe.

Therefore, the Purification Array was once again put into use.

By directly purifying the spiritual energy within the Sacred City, it prevented the possibility of monsters appearing here. Moreover, any monsters entering the city’ s range would be weakened by the Purification Array.

Compared to when they laid the Purification Array within the Black Divine Barrier, dealing with both the interference of the barrier and the precise placement of nodes was much simpler now.

In less than two months, the outer areas of the city had already been fully covered.

According to the customs of the Sacred Land, the entire city’s array formation would continue to strengthen until runes could no longer be overlaid.

Chen Fei looked down below, where many forces had already settled in the Sacred City.

It wasn’t necessarily that the deeper they went, the better the location.

Various factors, including geographical variations in spiritual energy and the functioning of the city’s overall array, meant that certain areas naturally held more spiritual opportunities.

After flying over three hundred miles, Lu Zhongjing halted and turned to Chen Fei. “This is where Thousand Geese City will be stationed. You can have the city settle here.”

“Here?”

Tang Shouchang furrowed his brow at Lu Zhongjing’s words, scanning the surroundings. Then he pointed ahead and said, “Our location is originally at Ethereal Lake; the Mission Hall gave us that spot, which should be that area.”

The spot Tang Shouchang indicated was beside a lake, where the presence of water enriched the spiritual energy significantly more than the current area.

“Thousand Geese City was indeed originally there, but another faction traded contributions for that location, so Thousand Geese City had to find another place.”

Lu Zhongjing explained calmly, as if he had anticipated the question.

Chen Fei looked ahead, a faint glimmer passing through his brow.

“Is the secret realm over there a recent discovery?” he suddenly asked.

Lu Zhongjing was slightly taken aback by Chen Fei’s keen observation, not expecting him to be so perceptive.

However, from nowon, Thousand Geese City will be here. Aware of Chen Fei’s recent gift of Fourth-Tier spiritual materials, Lu Zhongjing paused for a moment.

“Inside the Sacred City, with the array deployed, there have been significant fluctuations in spiritual energy, resulting in numerous new secret realms appearing throughout the city, with the latest one emerging over a month ago.”

Seeing Chen Fei’s expression unchanged, Lu Zhongjing thought for a moment before continuing, “That faction is quite powerful, with a late-stage Mountain Sea Realm expert presiding.”

Lu Zhongjing didn’t explicitly state everything, but his meaning was clear— their strength far surpassed Thousand Geese City’s, so there was no need to think too much about it.

“As for the secret realms within the Sacred City, who gets them depends on proximity?” Chen Fei chuckled softly.

“It’s not as simple as that. Ultimately, it depends on the contributions of each faction,” Lu Zhongjing shook his head.

“Understood. Thanks for letting me know,” Chen Fei nodded respectfully.

“It’s nothing,” Lu Zhongjing replied casually.

Seeing Chen Fei remain unruffled, Lu Zhongjing couldn’t help but smile.

But this was all normal. After all, the neighboring faction boasted a late-stage Mountain Sea Realm expert, whereas to Lu Zhongjing’s knowledge, Thousand Geese City’s strongest was only at the mid-stage of the same realm.

The Zhao family, allied with Thousand Geese City, boasted a six Divine Palace expert, just a step away from the late-stage of the Mountain Sea Realm.

However, crossing this step was no easy feat. Many practitioners in the Mountain Sea Realm might spend their entire lives without achieving it. Otherwise, the late-stage of the Mountain Sea Realm wouldn’t be so rare across the entire Middle Continent.

Thousand Geese City began its slow descent, landing safely with a dull thud.

Tang Shouchang released the formations within the city, and runes from the Sacred City began connecting with Thousand Geese City. Thousand Geese City’s formations flickered intermittently for a full hour before finally stabilizing.

Outside Thousand Geese City, the surroundings remained desolate, but soon, numerous Combined Aperture Tempering realm forces would gather nearby.

In the future within the Sacred City, it was customary for sects with Mountain Sea Realm experts to maintain some distance from each other, allowing Combined Aperture Tempering realm forces to fill the gaps.

This arrangement reduced friction between Mountain Sea Realm forces while ensuring they weren’ t too far apart for mutual assistance in case of emergencies.

Three days later, Zhao Ruizheng and Zhao Tianyue, along with the Zhao family, arrived at Thousand Geese City.

The Zhao family’s journey from their distant location to the Sacred City was lengthy, despite their smaller numbers requiring more time than expected.

“Our original choice was taken over by Jade Spring Valley, they are really domineering!”

Inside the City Lord’s Mansion, Zhao Tianyue expressed her dissatisfaction.

“With two late-stage Mountain Sea Realm experts, their strength is indeed much greater than ours,” Chen Fei said calmly.

In three days, Thousand Geese City had also learned about the situation of that faction.

Jade Spring Valley had inherited the late – stage Mountain Sea Realm lineage for millennia. Following the incident with the Black Divine Barrier, another mid- stage Mountain Sea Realm expert in their sect had also made a breakthrough.

With two late-stage Mountain Sea Realm experts, their strength was formidable indeed.

Sacred Land naturally wouldn’t refuse their occupying the recently formed secret realm.

The combined strength of Thousand Geese City and the Zhao family, with their mid-stage Mountain Sea Realm expert, was respectable, but still not comparable to Jade Spring Valley.

Nevertheless, having their originally chosen spot taken by others naturally left a bitter taste.

However, in the face of circumstances, and despite their dissatisfaction, they could only keep their feelings to themselves.

As time passed, Thousand Geese City deliberately expanded to accommodate the Zhao family, extending a certain distance. Meanwhile, other forces near Thousand Geese City gradually increased.

Outside Thousand Geese City, what was once desolate had suddenly become bustling.

Within a radius of several hundred miles, apart from Jade Spring Valley, Thousand Geese City boasted the strongest power. Consequently, Thousand Geese City attracted many newcomers, leading to its increasing prosperity.

As time passed, across the entire Middle Continent, factions with the capability and desire to relocate successfully settled in the Sacred City. Other parts of the continent began to grow desolate, even deserted.

The anomalies in the spiritual energy of the Boundless Sea became increasingly strange, sensed by more and more Mountain Sea Realm experts.

Though these anomalies were not clearly perceived within the Sacred City itself, stepping a distance away from it made the differences palpable.

Two months later, on a day marking over four months since the disappearance of the Black Divine Barrier, a ripple faintly appeared across the sky of the Boundless Sea.

Chen Fei was in seclusion at the Tingfeng Pavilion. His eyes snapped open, and he appeared in mid-air, gazing up at the sky.

The sky was calm and serene, showing no signs of anything unusual. Yet, all Mountain Sea Realm experts and Monster Kings couldn’t help but look up at the sky involuntarily.

They had all sensed the anomaly in the sky of the Boundless Sea just moments ago.

This was an unprecedented event in many years. However, aside from that ripple, the entire sky soon returned to its tranquil state, as if the earlier disturbance had been an illusion.

Thousands of miles away from the Sacred City, within a radius of several dozen miles, a funnel-shaped disturbance in spiritual energy formed, slowly giving rise to a dark figure.

On its head was a massive boil, its arms malformed—one large, one small— and countless faces roamed across its body’s surface. These were the lingering souls drifting between realms.

At the initial First-Tier, their strength barely surpassed those newly learning martial arts, and they were even inferior to some recently born monsters.

However, on this day in the Middle Continent, tens of thousands of these dark figures descended. Among them, thousands of monsters rapidly increased in strength, reaching the second tier within moments.

For most, their growth slowed considerably after reaching the second tier, but hundreds continued their rapid ascent, devouring the lingering souls in the spiritual energy.

Finally, as the first monster broke through to the third tier, hundreds of third- tier monsters took shape in succession.

At this moment, those that had been rapidly advancing were reduced to just dozens, still fervently cultivating until these few dozen monsters advanced to the Fourth-Tier, and finally stopped.

The dozens of Fourth-Tier monsters roared into the sky, then their forms dispersed, hiding themselves away.

The remaining tens of thousands of monsters began devouring each other, striving to break through their own limitations.

Once a monster reached the Fourth-Tier, it would vanish into hiding, disappearing without a trace.

In the blink of an eye, tens of thousands of monsters, which had surged just an hour ago, vanished without a trace, as if they had never existed.

No one knew exactly how many Fourth-Tier monsters had been born.

Above the Boundless Sea, the spiritual energy trembled faintly.

This was just the beginning!

In the center of the Sacred City,

“The monsters have begun to appear! If the Black Divine continues to remain hidden, it will be difficult to track its whereabouts. But now that it has sent monsters down, we have a trail to follow!”

“Issue a bounty, search for any suspicious traces. We must locate its true form before the Black Divine fully recovers!”

The voice of a Sun Moon Realm expert echoed through the grand hall. The Black Divine had fragmented itself, making it even more challenging to pinpoint.

However, without the barrier of the Black Divine Barrier, the Sun Moon Realm expert could now take action.

At this point, both humans and monsters had already been caught off guard. If they didn’t find a way to fight back soon, they would lose this battle entirely.

Soon, all humans and monsters would become food for the Black Divine’s belief, and those with powers above the Fourth-Tier would be slaughtered to prevent them from affecting the Black Divine’s harvest of belief.

Unless, of course, you chose to become a puppet of the Black Divine.

However, what good was having a high realm if you sold your soul?

The will of the Sun Moon Realm spread throughout the entire Sacred City at the fastest speed.

Bounties were no longer based on how many monsters were slain, because the monsters were endless. According to the calculations of the Sun Moon Realm, the number of Fourth-Tier monsters in the Boundless Sea would remain stable.

No matter how many died, the Black Divine could generate more.

Unless you slew a peak Fourth-Tier monster, which was now difficult even for the current Black Divine to produce.

Thus, killing peak Fourth-Tier monsters still held value.

As for the monsters attacking the city, the Sun Moon Realms hoped the monsters would truly arrive. This would indicate the presence of the Black Divine’s will in the rear, allowing the Sun Moon Realms to find the true form of the Black Divine.

Chen Fei saw the bounty tasks but did not leave the city. Instead, he continued to cultivate in seclusion within Thousand Geese City.

Even if he had to leave the city, Chen Fei would first perfect his mastery of the Water Source Shadow Technique before departing.

As for the essential tasks required of each faction, Tang Shouchang and his associates would fulfill the objectives by guarding the walls of the Sacred City.

As the sun set and the moon rose, another month passed swiftly. Under the cover of night, Chen Fei’s eyes suddenly opened.

Faintly, it seemed like a thought was calling out to Chen Fei, one that was extremely familiar.

Chen Fei pondered for a moment, then swiftly rose into the air and arrived at the city walls of the Sacred City.

Upon reaching this place, the call of that thought became even more distinct. Finally, Chen Fei confirmed the source of this thought.

The Black Divine was calling for its servant!