Cultivation: Start From Simplifying Martial Arts Techniques

Chapter 540: Breaking Through to the Mid-Combined Aperture Tempering Realm

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

As the onlookers departed, rumors about Chen Fei, the Medicine Sage, began to circulate in the Sea Peak City.

For individuals like Chen Fei, anything they did was enough to spark discussions because of the numerous topics and legends associated with him.

Chen Fei was unaware of this, or even if he knew, he wouldn’t care.

After completing the alchemy of the elixirs, Chen Fei returned to his cultivation routine.

As long as he didn’t frequently refine spirit stones for his spiritual treasures, Chen Fei had more than enough high-grade spirit stones on hand. Especially after selling some of his magical treasures and spatial bags in batches, the number of spirit stones reached a new peak.

Every day, he consumed high-grade spirit pills at a high intensity, relying on the resilience of his physique. Chen Fei’s body was in a saturated state due to this, leading to rapid cultivation progress.

It hadn’t been long since Chen Fei reached the peak of the Combined Aperture Tempering realm, second tier. It was only a matter of a few months, while others at the same cultivation stage were likely still consolidating their realms. Meanwhile, Chen Fei was advancing rapidly on this foundation.

With the Three Lives Slicing Shadow Sword at the Mastery Stage, he had more than enough to deal with the Combined Aperture Tempering realm, second tier. There was no situation where he couldn’t control his own elemental power.

What’s more critical was that after those few years of coming in and out of the Strange Heart Realm, Chen Fei’s mental power had thickened and matured a few days ago, stepping directly into the realm of the mid-Combined Aperture Tempering realm.

With the mid-Combined Aperture Tempering realm mental power, coupled with his techniques, Chen Fei had complete mastery over his elemental power.

For the Combined Aperture Tempering realm, cultivating elemental power was challenging, and nurturing mental power was equally demanding. If it hadn’t been for the Strange Heart Realm and the Heart Refinement Formation , it would have been impossible for Chen Fei to advance his mental power to the mid-Combined Aperture Tempering realm so quickly.

Just a few years had passed, not too long even for the Combined Aperture Tempering realm, and certainly even shorter for the mid-stage.

Both his elemental and mental power had been making rapid progress, and Chen Fei’s physical body had not lagged behind.

Entering the spiritual treasure for cultivation every ten days or so, Chen Fei had been advancing steadily in his Profound Suppressing Dragon Elephant, relentlessly pushing toward the late-stage Combined Aperture Tempering physique.

“Hmm?”

Inside the secret chamber, Chen Fei’s eyes abruptly opened wide. He looked up and felt a sense of being observed.

Chen Fei’s right hand brushed across his forehead with his sword finger, and a beam of light emerged. In the world composed of black and white lines, Chen Fei spotted a slightly different thread.

“Pinnacle Combined Aperture Tempering realm? They really haven’t given up!” Chen Fei muttered to himself.

With just one glance, Chen Fei identified the source of his unease. It had been over a month since the spiritual treasure had appeared, but these Pinnacle Combined Aperture Tempering realm cultivators hadn’t given up.

As Chen Fei had suspected before, it was unlikely that these Pinnacle Combined Aperture Tempering realm cultivators would give up in just a few years.

Even though Chen Fei had been thoroughly checked in the imperial city at the passage, there were still Pinnacle Combined Aperture Tempering realm cultivators quietly hovering above the Primordial Sword Sect, keeping an eye on him.

However, with the Heavenly Eye technique and his mental power breaking through to the mid-Combined Aperture Tempering realm, these Pinnacle Combined Aperture Tempering realm cultivators couldn’t possibly monitor Chen Fei discreetly.

As soon as they arrived, Chen Fei sensed their presence, and now he had directly pinpointed their location.

The beam of light at Chen Fei’s forehead faded, and he closed his eyes again, continuing his cultivation.

Since he knew there were Pinnacle Combined Aperture Tempering realm cultivators lurking in the shadows, he wouldn’t bring out the spiritual treasure in the near future. With so many Pinnacle Combined Aperture Tempering realm cultivators in the Thousand Feathers Alliance, the one at the top wouldn’t stay here for too long.

At most, they would leave in a few days.

After all, no matter how you looked at it, the possibility of Chen Fei obtaining the spiritual treasure in the eyes of those Pinnacle Combined Aperture Tempering realm cultivators was too low.

Their decision to come and monitor Chen Fei now was more of a “better safe than sorry” mentality, ensuring that they didn’t miss anyone.

As expected by Chen Fei, three days later, the Pinnacle Combined Aperture Tempering realm cultivator left.

Chen Fei remained emotionally unaffected. Whether the other party had left or not, aside from not bringing out the spiritual treasure, everything else remained in his original cultivation rhythm, undisturbed.

Time passed slowly, and in the fifth month, the Three Lives Slicing Shadow Sword had been cultivated by Chen Fei to Great Completion.

In the courtyard, Chen Fei took a step forward, and two phantoms stood on either side of him. One of them looked somewhat aged, bearing an unchanging essence; this was his past self.

The other phantom was elusive, making it hard to grasp; this was his future self.

In the next moment, the two phantoms merged into Chen Fei’s body, and a tremendous sword intent surged into the sky, overshadowing everything with its sharpness.

Chen Fei gripped the Qianyuan Sword but didn’t draw it.

Slowly, this sword intent dissipated.

It could erupt, and it could be reined in.

For others, erupting with such a level of sword intent would force them to act, even if they didn’t want to draw their sword, because failing to release such power could ultimately harm them.

However, for Chen Fei, there was no longer such a problem. The Great Completion of the Three Lives Slicing Shadow Sword meant that Chen Fei could control the technique with ease, both in its unleashed and restrained forms.

No matter how strong the power, Chen Fei could handle it effortlessly.

“Integrate with the Withering Prosperity Scripture!”

Chen Fei commanded, and the mysteries of the Withering Prosperity Scripture merged into the Three Lives Slicing Shadow Sword. After integration, the technique was still called the Three Lives Slicing Shadow Sword because many aspects of the Withering Prosperity Scripture overlapped with it.

The proficiency of the newly merged Three Lives Slicing Shadow Sword only dropped slightly, indicating that the Withering Prosperity Scripture’s assistance to the technique was minimal.

Given Chen Fei’s current rate of cultivation, it would probably take him only two or three months to replenish that proficiency.

As he progressed further, the benefits of ordinary Combined Aperture Tempering techniques would diminish for Chen Fei. However, Chen Fei had anticipated this.

As ordinary techniques reached their limits for Chen Fei, he would need to use the spiritual treasure to supplement the mysteries of the Pinnacle Combined Aperture Tempering realm. Alternatively, he could get lucky and obtain top-notch Combined Aperture Tempering techniques from elsewhere.

Time passed steadily, and another three months went by, just as Chen Fei had anticipated. The new Three Lives Slicing Shadow Sword had indeed reached the Great Completion once again.

At the same time, the new Forbidden Art, Life and Death Reversal, had also been thoroughly mastered by Chen Fei.

At this point, Chen Fei directly controlled five Forbidden Arts. However, in conventional battles, he could only sustain the activation of two Forbidden Arts.

Any more, and Chen Fei’s body would inevitably suffer damage.

This wasn’t a matter of Chen Fei’s precise control over elemental power; it was purely that his body couldn’t withstand the eruption of such power, even with a mid-Combined Aperture Tempering realm physique.

However, with several months of cultivation, the Profound Suppressing Dragon Elephant was also approaching mastery.

The difficulty of cultivating the physique had somewhat exceeded Chen Fei’s expectations. He had initially thought that with the assistance of the spiritual treasure, he could achieve a breakthrough in six months, but it had taken him a few extra months.

Even with Chen Fei’s advantageous circumstances for cultivation, it had been a challenging journey. It was evident that other Combined Aperture Tempering cultivators who wanted to specialize in cultivating their physique would face even greater difficulties.

It was precisely this level of difficulty that made other Combined Aperture Tempering cultivators hesitant and unwilling to invest their energy in cultivating their physique. With the time and resources available, wouldn’t it be better to improve their own elemental power cultivation?

One month later.

“Hum!”

Inside the secret chamber, the elemental qi of heaven and earth trembled intensely. Chen Fei’s body had turned completely red, and blood droplets were even seeping from his pores.

A powerful aura surged in waves around Chen Fei’s body. His skin, muscles, and bones were rhythmically contracting, tearing and repairing themselves over and over.

Chen Fei’s body was in an extreme state of transformation at this moment, and even the elemental power inside him had begun to boil, rushing to various parts of his body.

At a certain moment, Chen Fei’s tightly closed eyes suddenly opened. His body floated in the air, and then he straightened his feet, standing on the ground.

“Boom!”

The area where his feet touched the ground produced a massive ripple, and the ground seemed to turn into water, undulating intensely.

After a moment, this anomaly gradually disappeared, the scabs on Chen Fei’s body peeled off, and a majestic aura remained dormant within him.

With the Profound Suppressing Dragon Elephant reaching mastery, Chen Fei’s physique had directly advanced to the late-stage Combined Aperture Tempering level.

Moreover, the Profound Suppressing Dragon Elephant incorporated the Profound Forging Treasure Technique, which tempered the human body towards the direction of a magical treasure. Chen Fei had chosen only one characteristic for this magical treasure: sturdiness.

Compared to those truly in the late-stage Combined Aperture Tempering, Chen Fei’s physique had a superior defense. Thanks to the original characteristics of the Dragon Elephant, Chen Fei’s rapid recovery ability was still retained.

After carefully sensing the changes in his body and becoming familiar with them again, Chen Fei didn’t stop but continued his cultivation.

Due to the improvement of his physique, Chen Fei consumed an even greater number of elixirs daily. With his already fast cultivation rate, the acceleration was further enhanced, and he was getting closer and closer to the third stage of Combined Aperture Tempering.

While Chen Fei was diligently cultivating, some subtle changes occurred within the Thousand Feathers Alliance.

From first-tier to sixth-tier forces, they all received a notification from the Thousand Feathers Alliance headquarters, requiring them to send reinforcements to the peripheral defense of the alliance.

Half a year ago, the Thousand Feathers Alliance had already increased its personnel, and no one had expected that they would need to do so again in such a short time.

Clearly, there had been significant changes in the periphery of the Thousand Feathers Alliance, forcing various factions within the alliance to send reinforcements.

Chen Fei was naturally aware of this news. Rumors had it that the number of sea demons had increased in the peripheral areas, and with the current manpower, they were struggling to hold them off.

During this time, Chen Fei went to the outer sea twice and indeed found that the number of sea demons had increased.

While the increase was not substantial, it was definitely on the rise.

With his late-stage Combined Aperture Tempering physique, the mid-grade Qianyuan Sword, and his current strength, Chen Fei could now slay third-stage early-stage sea demons without needing to tap into the sword essence within the spatial grid.

After each kill, Chen Fei sold the sea demon’s remains for mid-grade spirit stones to sustain his cultivation.

Eight months had passed in the blink of an eye, and with his mid-grade spirit stones about to run out and being completely penniless, Chen Fei’s cultivation had finally reached the threshold of the second stage.

After nearly two years of breaking through the second stage and spending thousands of mid-grade spirit stones, Chen Fei was on the verge of entering the mid-stage of Combined Aperture Tempering.

Inside the secret chamber, Chen Fei’s Combined Aperture Tempering was trembling violently, trying to break through its constraints, but an invisible force was pressing down on it fiercely.

Chen Fei remained expressionless and directly executed the Forbidden Art, Aperture-Cracking Technique. Like a blazing fire, the entire Combined Aperture Tempering power burst open instantly, the Combined Aperture Tempering transitioned, and it expanded in an instant.

If anyone else saw Chen Fei’s method of cultivation, they would likely be astonished. No one had ever used a Forbidden Art during a breakthrough, but Chen Fei did just that.

However, the transition of the Combined Aperture Tempering did not calm the power; it instead intensified.

Just as it seemed that the Combined Aperture Tempering within him might actually rupture, Chen Fei used the Three Lives Slicing Shadow Sword to channel his elemental power, locking the Combined Aperture Tempering and allowing his mental power from the Sea of Consciousness to rush into the Combined Aperture Tempering, thoroughly calming the turbulent power within.

Combined Aperture Tempering realm Third Tier, achieved!

In less than seven years since breaking through the Combined Aperture Tempering, Chen Fei had entered the mid-stage of Combined Aperture Tempering!