Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation

Chapter 817: Best Use of Astral Cores

Xiao Chen was not in a rush to agree. First, he asked where the location of the Evil King’s final resting place was, the travel time needed, and the level of danger.

As for the other details, he said that he had to take some time first to consider before deciding.

When Xiao Chen returned to his courtyard, he took out the brocade boxes containing the Yellow Tune Grass and Golden Sun Ganoderma. He now had all the ingredients needed for the Breaking Sage Pill, save the three main ones.

He looked at the two brocade boxes and thought about a lot of things. Ying Qiong already exceeded the arranged time and had yet to bring the three main ingredients over.

There could be only two reasons for this. First, something unexpected happened, and she failed to collect the Three Sage Grass, Flaming Sun Fruit, and Heavenly Dragon Flower.

Second, she already found another method to advance to Martial Sage and no longer needed the other half of the core painting piece.

Regardless of which it was, Xiao Chen had to make preparations for giving up on them; he could not keep waiting indefinitely.

“I will wait for another two months. If there is still no news after I return from this trip, I will give up.”

After putting away the brocade boxes, Xiao Chen frowned as he sat at the table. Then, he took out the two Inferior Grade Astral Cores.

The white Astral Cores were replete with surging, horrifying energy. They could be used in all sorts of warships, formations, Spirit Weapons, Secret Treasures, and many other things—an extremely handy thing to have.

However, Xiao Chen was now thinking of using them in another manner. He wanted to ignite them directly and induce an explosion. If the attack caught a half-Sage off-guard, it would kill him instantly.

It would also heavily injure an Inferior Grade Martial Sage and would still manage to hurt a peak Inferior Grade Martial Sage.

Xiao Chen played with the two Astral Cores in his hand before casually tossing them aside. Although such an attack was mighty, it was still far from what he required.

After scrounging around in the Universe Ring, Xiao Chen took out the sculpture of a Golden Savage Ox. When he saw this exquisite sculpture, he smiled. It did not have much use anymore.

Then, Xiao Chen’s thoughts shifted. He took out the Sage Grade pagoda in his body and placed it on the table.

Back then, the Sage Grade pagoda looked very powerful. However, after using it, he understood why those Martial Sages back then did not want this Secret Treasure.

There were too few Heavenly Sage Laws within it. Its defense was not considered high among the Martial Sage realm.

Xiao Chen debated for a while and concluded that this Sage Grade pagoda could still be altered, so he placed it with the Astral Cores.

After a thought, the Palm Sword flickering with thunder fire floated out. Xiao Chen revealed a look of regret in his eyes as he placed it next to the Golden Savage Ox sculpture.

He had not used it since upgrading it. When he finally remembered it, it was no longer sufficient for his purposes.

When Ao Jiao saw Xiao Chen’s actions, she asked curiously, Xiao Chen, what are you doing?

He continued to rummage in the Universe Ring as he replied casually, “I am looking for some things, to see which of them can serve as my trump cards when I need them.”

As Xiao Chen spoke, he dug out a shrunken puppet snake. When he recalled its use, he smiled and placed it together with the Astral Cores and Sage Grade pagoda.

Ao Jiao said, I keep feeling that Elder Peng still has not told you the full story. The final resting place of the Evil King would not be so simple.

Xiao Chen nodded and said, “Perhaps. However, no matter what, because of the words ‘Evil King,’ I have to make a trip there. It does not matter if I cannot obtain anything. I have to get my hands on the secret of the seven thrones.”

Chu Chaoyun had managed to merge the will of light and the will of darkness, forming the will of primal chaos. For now, he was not familiar with it and had not perfected it yet, so Xiao Chen could still hold his own against him.

However, it would become very problematic if Chu Chaoyun managed to merge them completely. Primal chaos was a will that came close to the truth of the great Dao. Xiao Chen feared that he would not be a match for Chu Chaoyun after that.

He knew that it would definitely not be easy for Chu Chaoyun to merge light and darkness. But even though success was questionable, if Chu Chaoyun pulled it off, Xiao Chen would be nothing before him.

Hope for the best and plan for the worst, this was how Xiao Chen always did things. Thus, he had to make a stab at the state of cycles formed by the merger of the seven thrones.

Otherwise, if he could not inherit it, he had no other will that would withstand the will of primal chaos.

After scrounging around for a long time, Xiao Chen was somewhat disappointed to find that he had almost no item he could truly use as a trump card.

Hey!

Suddenly, something stunned him. All at once, he found an imposing plain metal bow in a corner of the Universe Ring. The words “Soul Slayer” was engraved on it.

Xiao Chen’s expression changed, revealing joy. He quickly grasped the bow and ran out.

Then, he casually found an arrow and nocked it to the bow. All his strength surged as he slowly drew the string back.

To his surprise, the feeling of putting a lot of effort from many years ago was still there. With his strength of one thousand and three hundred tons of force, he still could not draw it to its maximum.

It looked like the rumor that the stronger one was, the more might the bow could unleash was true.

Xiao Chen used half his strength and then released the arrow.

“Whoosh!”

The arrow flew forward at a terrifying speed, so fast that it was invisible. This arrow was much faster than the saber Qi that he could send out. However, it only covered half the distance before exploding. It could not endure the force; the material of this arrow was too inferior.

The shock waves of the explosion swept out, instantly reducing the dense forest before him to powder and leaving an empty patch of land.

A smile appeared on Xiao Chen’s face. He set down the Soul Slayer Bow and muttered to himself, “I finally found a pretty good trump card. However, I will have to ask First Senior Sister for some arrows. Otherwise, I won’t be able to use it.”

After returning to the courtyard, Xiao Chen did not find anything else. Then he suddenly recalled something. There was a flash, and a Void Projection Painting appeared in his palm.

The scarlet lotus flowers in the painting looked beautiful and alluring, presenting an eerie, sinister appearance. This was a Magic Treasure that had the ancient, terrible Scarlet Blood Frost Flame sealed inside. Of course, the flame was just a copy, not the real thing.

This Magic Treasure was the result of Leng Yue’s efforts. All along, Xiao Chen could not bear to use it. If he could avoid doing so this time as well, he would do that.

When he looked at this painting, he unconsciously recalled Leng Yue’s face. He did not know where exactly this pretty Eros Demon filled with secrets was now.

Back then, without Leng Yue’s Charm Technique, he would not have fully grasped the state of massacre.

Xiao Chen looked at the table, then put away all the items like the Golden Savage Ox sculpture. These items were not useful.

Then, he took account of the remainder. The two Inferior Grade Astral Cores were rather powerful but would need some more work. Otherwise, they would not have much destructive power.

So, he spent an entire night using his will talisman to put the two Inferior Grade Astral Cores through a soul-shaking baptism.

The Sage Grade pagoda was not much, but Xiao Chen could only rely on it for now. He needed to spend some Astral Coins to make it stronger.

The puppet snake was not very valuable. However, it could burrow in the ground; it might be useful.

The Soul Slayer Bow was the greatest treasure of all. Once Xiao Chen managed to obtain suitable arrows, it would definitely become a trump card that could threaten peak Inferior Grade Martial Sages.

The Void Projection Painting was something that was best left unused. The Scarlet Blood Frost Flame might be very powerful, but it was too special. If the Void Projection Painting were exposed and people discovered it was a Magic Treasure, he would have trouble.

These were the trump cards that Xiao Chen could use for now. Some of them required a large amount of wealth to improve. He could not be stingy with his Astral Coins in these two days.

He handed the Sage Grade pagoda to the Equipment Forging Pavilion’s Pavilion Master to personally upgrade. As for the arrows for the Soul Slayer Bow, he managed to get the highest-ranked Star Scarring Arrow through his First Senior Sister.

One arrow cost ten thousand Astral Coins. He spent five million Astral Coins and bought out the sect’s entire stock.

On the last day, he purchased a piece of spiritual wood. After sculpting some things, he finally felt more confident of standing before Peng Dan.

“What do you think, little friend? Have you thought it through?” Peng Dan asked with a smile across his face. An indiscernible look of anticipation flashed in his eyes.

Nodding indifferently, Xiao Chen replied, “I thought it through. In the end, I decided to gamble on this.”

Peng Dan stood up and said, “Good. This trip is going to be rather dangerous. However, you just need to follow behind me. You do not have to make a move along the way. You only need to do something when we arrive at that strange flame, so there should not be any problems.”

Then, Peng Dan took out three bottles of Medicinal Pills. He said, “This three bottles of Medicinal Pills are this old man’s greeting gift to you. They contain peak Rank 9 Medicinal Pills. One bottle has antidotes, one bottle is for healing internal injuries, and one bottle is for treating external wounds. They are all labeled.”

Xiao Chen felt some scorn in his heart. If he had not agreed, he would not have received this “greeting gift,” even if he kept meeting up with this old man for eternity.

These Medicinal Pills were indeed somewhat valuable. After accepting them, he thanked Peng Dan.

Peng Dan waved his hand and said, “Let’s go. Let’s meet with my other old friends first. There are some strange ones among them, so it is best that little friend remain quiet. If there is anything to pay note to, I will tell you via voice projection.”

The final resting place of the Evil King was not within the Tianwu Domain. Instead, it was in a desolate land between the Primal Chaos Domain and the Chaotic Demonic Sea.

This place was still somewhat famous in the Kunlun Realm. The ground was entirely dark yellow and unsuitable for growing normal plants. All the plants here were rare, strange, and dangerous.

This place was known as the Yellow Soil Demonic Garden. Although it was called a garden, it was extremely vast, comparable in size to the Tianwu Domain’s Savage Battlefield.

However, there were no forbidden lands or Immortal sect Remnants here. It was only filled with murderous plants. These plants had intelligence, and some even cultivated to the point of being able to challenge human Martial Emperors.

According to rumor, the Yellow Soil Demonic Garden even had one of the three great strange trees in the world—the Undying Tree. However, the truth of this rumor was unverifiable.

There were those who claimed to have seen this legendary tree. But when people went to the location described, they found nothing.

Such matters happened frequently, yet further investigation turned up nothing, so the existence of the Undying Tree remained inconclusive.

The Yellow Soil Demonic Garden was also home to many other strange phenomena. For example, the seasons. Unlike other places, the four seasons would cycle only once a century.

When it was autumn, several plants would mature and attract many cultivators from the Primal Chaos Domain and the Merfolk of the Chaotic Demonic Sea.

A storm blew above the Yellow Soil Demonic Garden all year round. If cultivators wanted to fly in from above, it would exhaust their energies rapidly, so flying in was almost impossible.

Cultivators could only brave the dangers the old-fashioned way, by ground travel. Circumambulating the Yellow Soil Demonic Garden would take at least half a year.

Of course, such an environment would not limit Martial Emperors. They would directly tear space and go anywhere they wished.

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