Chapter 538 - 528: If Only There Was Such a Place

Chapter 538: Chapter 528: If Only There Was Such a Place

It wasn’t that Dilaka hadn’t considered the Light Attribute; it was that Light Attribute Martial Artists simply didn’t exist on the Extreme Martial Continent. Mu Chen was well aware of this. If he brought the Chaos Attribute into the discussion, it would inevitably lead to a lengthy exchange, so he simply gave a natural nod and let the topic pass.

"With all that Primordial Power gathered in your Dantian, won’t it just explode?" Dilaka exclaimed in astonishment. How could anyone possibly contain nine types of Attribute Elemental Power in a single Dantian? Well, some could—ordinary martial artists—but was Mu Chen an ordinary martial artist? The answer was a resounding no. Obviously not!

"Could it be that you have nine small compartments inside your Dantian? Each one holding a different type of Attribute Elemental Power?" Dilaka said, grasping at straws.

Unexpectedly, Dilaka’s wild guess was surprisingly close to the mark. The specifics were wrong, but the underlying principle wasn’t far off. Mu Chen couldn’t help but chuckle. "Teacher, I can answer that question, but you need to prepare yourself."

"Prepare myself for what?"

"To not be too surprised."

"..." Dilaka was rendered speechless. After a moment, he replied, "Fine. I’d like to see just how you plan on surprising me."

Mu Chen gave a sly grin. "I have nine Dantians."

Hearing this, Dilaka pursed his lips and chuckled. "Tch, and here I was wondering what it could be. So you have nine Dantians. That explains it. I was just saying, how could it not explode if you didn’t have nine separate places to hold each attribute?"

Mu Chen’s jaw dropped, stunned by Dilaka’s calm and composure. ’He really isn’t surprised,’ he thought to himself. ’As expected of my teacher.’

But he had barely finished that thought when Dilaka suddenly processed what he’d heard. He pointed at Mu Chen, his mouth opening and closing, opening and closing, several times before he suddenly bellowed, "WHAT!!" The sonic impact was so powerful it actually caused the entire Elder Space to tremble!

Zhu Jiuqian was in the middle of a conversation with Little Tiger and Ta Shan when he suddenly felt a terrifying fluctuation of Primordial Power erupt from within the Elder Space, nearly knocking him out of his chair.

"What the hell is that Dilaka jacking around for?! I was almost knocked flat on my ass!"

Similar curses echoed from almost every corner of the Elder Space. Back in Dilaka’s office, however, Mu Chen was desperately clamping his hand over Dilaka’s mouth. "Teacher, don’t get so excited! Calm down, calm down," he urged.

After repeatedly soothing him, Mu Chen slowly removed his hand once he saw Dilaka nodding repeatedly. He then watched as Dilaka inexplicably closed his eyes. Immediately after, a vast wave of Spiritual Power burst from between his eyebrows, forming a soundproof barrier around the entire office.

Seeing this, Mu Chen frowned and scratched his head, completely clueless as to what Dilaka was planning. But just then, Dilaka suddenly roared, "Y-y-you! You have nine Dantians?!"

The shout was like a clap of thunder, and because the roar was so sudden, it stunned Mu Chen, making his legs go weak and nearly causing him to fall. He was only dazed because his mental fortitude was strong; an ordinary person would have likely fainted on the spot! But while being dazed wasn’t a big deal, what happened next made Mu Chen grit his teeth in frustration!

"Er..." Seeing Mu Chen’s pale face and the terrified look he was giving him, Dilaka stroked his beard sheepishly and chuckled. "Right, uh, I couldn’t quite control myself... But! Do you really have nine Dantians?!"

Mu Chen nodded blankly.

"One for each Attribute?"

Mu Chen nodded blankly.

"You’re a real monster."

Mu Chen nodded blankly.

At this point, Dilaka finally noticed Mu Chen’s strange condition and asked tentatively, "Are you a pig?"

Mu Chen nodded blankly.

"Huh? Did I scare him into a daze?" Dilaka murmured in surprise. Suddenly, as if he’d thought of something, he rubbed his hands together with a wicked grin and said to Mu Chen, "I want to take you as my closed-door disciple right now. Are you willing?"

Mu Chen nodded blankly.

"Haha, a blessing in disguise! This is great!" He then added with a laugh, "It’s settled then. From now on, you’re not to call me Teacher. You must call me Master. I know you already have a Master, but who ever said you can only have one, right?"

Mu Chen nodded blankly.

"Then it’s a deal!" Dilaka was grinning from ear to ear. Worried that Mu Chen might go back on his word, he even recorded their short exchange in a Memory Crystal.

About a minute later, Mu Chen finally came to his senses. He looked at Dilaka’s gentle expression and vaguely recalled agreeing to something strange. Frowning, he asked, "Teacher, what just happened?"

Hearing this, Dilaka immediately released the image from the Memory Crystal. It contained a clip of less than ten seconds, recorded from over Dilaka’s shoulder, so only his back was visible, but it captured Mu Chen’s entire body and expression.

"I want to take you as my closed-door disciple right now. Are you willing?"

The projection showed Mu Chen nodding.

"It’s settled then. From now on, you’re not to call me Teacher. You must call me Master. I know you already have a Master, but who ever said you can only have one, right?"

There was clearly a line about "a blessing in disguise" before that, but Dilaka had mysteriously edited it out. The projection showed Mu Chen nodding again.

Right now, Mu Chen was staring at Dilaka, his face dark with exasperation. Looking thoroughly embarrassed, he stammered, "Um... Teacher..."

"The picture tells the truth; you can’t go back on your word now. The most important thing for a person is integrity, wouldn’t you agree?" Dilaka said, his tone brimming with righteousness, his words so forceful that they left no room for resistance.

"Master..."

’The older the ginger, the spicier the spice.’ Mu Chen finally understood the truth of that saying. He just hoped this wouldn’t make the Profound Old Ghost angry.

"That’s more like it!" Dilaka nodded in satisfaction. A moment later, however, he looked at Mu Chen with some concern. "The more outstanding one’s talent, the more difficult it is to cultivate. The cultivation difficulty for Rare Attribute Martial Artists is double that of ordinary martial artists. If we calculate according to that logic, then for you, with nine Dantians, the speed at which you advance a single Small Realm is nine times slower than a Rare Attribute Martial Artist, and eighteen times slower than an ordinary martial artist. So, how did you manage to cultivate to the Sect Realm in just six years?"

This question touched upon the Extreme Spirit Chaos Technique. The Extreme Spirit Pearl, the Extreme Spirit Chaos Technique, and the Profound Old Ghost were all secrets he could never reveal, so Mu Chen remained silent. In truth, Dilaka hadn’t really wanted to know the details of Mu Chen’s cultivation process; the question he truly wanted an answer to had already been answered.

"Forget it. That’s just an unimportant detail. I’ll ask you this instead: what is your cultivation plan now that you’re at Holy Tomb Mountain?" Dilaka said quickly. This time, his expression turned genuinely serious, showing just how important this question was.

Mu Chen also focused his mind. Although he had inexplicably gained a new Master and become Dilaka’s closed-door disciple, it didn’t affect his ability to have a normal conversation with him.

"A plan?" Mu Chen pondered for a moment before saying, "As Master said, my nine Dantians severely limit my advancement speed. My idea is to cultivate the five attributes of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth separately in the Five Elements Sacred Domain. Once they’ve all reached a bottleneck, I’ll go to the Outer Realm to cultivate the remaining four attributes to their bottlenecks, and then finally attempt a breakthrough. This is the fastest path I can think of right now, since the Primordial Power within the Five Elements Sacred Domain is all single-attribute. There’s nothing I can do about that."

"In other words, a hit-and-run strategy," Dilaka said with a perfectly straight face.

Mu Chen’s face darkened. It was a crude metaphor, but he had to admit, nothing described it more vividly.

"That’s only the first part of the plan," Mu Chen added.

"Tell me the second part," Dilaka said.

"The second part of the plan... I’ve always understood one principle: being a Martial Artist isn’t just about raising your Martial Arts Realm. More importantly, it’s about improving your foundation. I see improving the foundation as having two aspects: first, the strength of the physical body, and second, Spiritual Power. The body is the vessel that contains Primordial Power, and it also determines the limits of a Martial Artist’s Martial Arts Realm. Spiritual Power is a person’s soul, the dominant force that controls the body. If the body is strong but the soul is weak, it will also cause negative repercussions. So, in the time to come, I don’t just want to raise my Martial Arts Realm; I also need to increase my Spiritual Power and physical strength." Mu Chen sighed. "I already have plans and methods for cultivating my Spiritual Power and Primordial Power, but as for my physical strength... I don’t know where to begin."

After listening to Mu Chen, a trace of admiration appeared in Dilaka’s eyes, but it only lasted for a moment. He clasped his hands behind his back and said, "You’ve certainly considered all aspects of being a Martial Artist. There are many, many ways of Body Forging. But have you ever considered how slow your progress would be if you cultivated all three—your Martial Artist Realm, your Spiritual Realm, and your physical strength—at the same time? First, tell me your goal."

"Emperor Realm within one year!"

Mu Chen’s determined expression genuinely stunned Dilaka for a moment. He then let out a breath and said, "It’s not that your Master doesn’t believe in you; your Martial Arts Talent is truly astonishing. But your ’hit-and-run’ method of cultivating Primordial Power alone will take up most of your time. If you add training your Spiritual Power and physical strength on top of that, it’s practically impossible. Unless... you can cultivate your Spiritual Power and forge your body at the very same time you’re cultivating your Elemental Realm. You’d have to split your focus three ways! Otherwise, reaching the Emperor Realm in a year will be harder than ascending to the heavens!"

’Split my focus three ways?’ Mu Chen fell silent. Dilaka was right, but there was one thing he could already do: cultivate his Spiritual Power and his Elemental Realm simultaneously. He had already succeeded in doing so while cultivating the Forest of Myriad Manifestations. Perhaps... he could even try splitting his focus three ways.

But the most critical obstacle to his cultivation was the time wasted switching between the Five Elements Sacred Domains. It was just too time-consuming. If only there was a place where he could absorb all five pure Attribute Elemental Powers at once...