Chapter 245 - 238: Cultivation Shortcut, Shackles Removed

Chapter 245: Chapter 238: Cultivation Shortcut, Shackles Removed

「Daoist Talisman Holy Land Secret Realm.」

After sending all the other Cultivators out of the Secret Realm, Jiang Zuo began planning for the next hundred years he would spend within it.

Jiang Zuo had first planned to kill the fifth-tier Demon Beast in the eastern valley to obtain the Dao Talisman inheritance it carried.

But he soon discovered that plan would no longer work.

Cultivators in the Secret Realm had been able to obtain Talisman inheritances by killing Demon Beasts because the Dao Talisman had used its authority to inject the beasts with a power containing these inheritances.

Now that the Dao Talisman’s Talisman Spirit had disappeared, this power, which resembled Divine Sense, had vanished along with it.

Now, killing Demon Beasts would no longer grant Jiang Zuo any Talisman inheritances.

With one plan thwarted, an idea struck Jiang Zuo, and he decided to change the Secret Realm’s rules.

He would change the rules so that killing a Demon Beast would grant him its Cultivation!

The Demon Beasts might not have Talisman inheritances, but they certainly weren’t lacking in Spiritual Power Cultivation.

Jiang Zuo had only intended to test the idea, but to his surprise, it actually worked.

Upon killing a Demon Beast, it would transform into a surge of exceptionally pure Spiritual Power Cultivation that he could absorb into his body.

The amount of Spiritual Power Cultivation from each beast wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t insignificant either.

Jiang Zuo was burdened by the Daoist Shackles, which prevented him from using any Cultivation Technique to cultivate.

But through this fantastic method, he could now rapidly advance his Cultivation.

And the Daoist Talisman Holy Land Secret Realm was vast.

Over thousands, even tens of thousands of years, countless Demon Beasts had been born within it.

Jiang Zuo decided he couldn’t be bothered with Talismans and Arrays for now. He would go on a killing spree to raise his Cultivation first and worry about the rest later.

It was like sharpening the axe before chopping the wood; once his Cultivation was higher, he figured studying Arrays would be much simpler.

Jiang Zuo summoned his large pack of Pet Beasts, and together they began to sweep through the Secret Realm in a mighty procession.

Besides gaining Spiritual Power Cultivation from hunting these Demon Beasts, Jiang Zuo was also collecting their blood to feed his Desolate Heaven Beast Bone Armor.

Amidst this great slaughter, Jiang Zuo’s Cultivation rose at an unprecedented speed.

Not even dual cultivation could remotely compare to the speed at which his Cultivation was now advancing.

In just one year, Jiang Zuo’s Cultivation broke through to the late Divine Body Realm.

Two years after reaching the late Divine Body Realm, his Cultivation had reached the stage of Perfection.

’What an astonishing rate of progress.’

’But unfortunately, I can’t continue like this.’

Jiang Zuo sighed.

Just like when he had received the Spiritual Power Infusion in the Celestial Eye Black Pupil Secret Realm, this method of changing the rules to slaughter Demon Beasts for Spiritual Power also caused the Spiritual Power within his body to become unstable.

But that wasn’t the most critical issue.

He could fix that problem by spending a bit more time.

The most critical issue was that if Jiang Zuo continued to kill Demon Beasts to gain Cultivation, he would have to face the Celestial Tribulation for ascension to the Three Flowers Realm.

But the Daoist Talisman Holy Land Secret Realm was already on the verge of collapse, its lifespan nearly exhausted.

After Jiang Zuo used the Dao Talisman’s authority to alter the rules again, the Secret Realm’s lifespan had shortened even further.

In its current state, the Daoist Talisman Holy Land Secret Realm could not possibly withstand the descent of a Celestial Tribulation.

This was especially true because the rules of the Daoist Talisman Holy Land Secret Realm were different from those of the outside world.

If a Celestial Tribulation were to descend, it would be exceptionally terrifying.

Whether or not Jiang Zuo could withstand it was unknown, but the Daoist Talisman Holy Land Secret Realm definitely could not.

The moment the Celestial Tribulation descended, the Daoist Talisman Holy Land would instantly collapse.

Therefore, Jiang Zuo couldn’t continue killing Demon Beasts to raise his Cultivation; otherwise, the gains wouldn’t be worth the losses.

’Oh well. This is already an unexpected windfall.’

’Alright, you all can go kill Demon Beasts and raise your Cultivation. I’m going to study the Array inheritances.’

Without dwelling on it, Jiang Zuo released Great Black, Xiaoqing, the Fire Phoenix, and his other Pet Beasts—even the fourth-tier Pale Moon Ice Wolf—and let them go off on their own to hunt Demon Beasts and raise their Cultivation.

Demon Beasts only faced a Celestial Tribulation when advancing to the fifth tier. He figured that by the time he could leave the Daoist Talisman Holy Land, the Cultivation of these "little guys" would have improved significantly.

’If I could just find a few more Secret Realms like this, I’d never have to worry about raising my Cultivation!’

Jiang Zuo couldn’t help but think that when he left in nearly a hundred years, Great Black, Xiaoqing, and his whole host of Demon Beasts would all be at the fourth tier.

However, Jiang Zuo also knew that encountering a situation like this again was practically impossible.

For one thing, simply gaining authority over a Secret Realm, as he had with the Dao Talisman, was nearly impossible to replicate.

Moreover, Jiang Zuo had a faint feeling that while this method raised his Cultivation quickly, it wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

The Cultivation gained by altering a Secret Realm’s rules was bound to be different from Cultivation gained under the rules of the outside Cultivation Realm.

Jiang Zuo could now clearly sense that if he were to attempt Crossing the Tribulation, the Celestial Tribulation would be terrifyingly powerful.

In other words, the more one’s Cultivation was raised by altering a Secret Realm’s rules, the more powerful the resulting Celestial Tribulation would be.

If he raised his Cultivation too much this way, the Celestial Tribulation would likely be completely unsurvivable.

Jiang Zuo considered this a very real possibility.

There was a solution: after returning to the Cultivation Realm, he could spend a great deal of time refining the Spiritual Power in his body to match that of the outside world.

But that would defeat the whole purpose of changing the Secret Realm’s rules to rapidly advance his Cultivation.

However, Jiang Zuo was absolutely confident he could pass the Celestial Tribulation to enter the Three Flowers Realm, so he wasn’t too concerned about this.

His Pet Beasts, on the other hand, were too weak. Jiang Zuo wanted them to raise their Cultivation first and then spend time slowly refining their power later.

After his Pet Beasts joyfully set off to hunt Demon Beasts, Jiang Zuo paid them no more mind.

He found the Scripture Pavilion of the Celestial Talisman Inquiry Sect and began reading the most basic Array Secret Manuals.

’The art of Arrays is somewhat similar to the art of Talismans, but Arrays are far more complex.’

’First, one must be familiar with the Five Elements and the Eight Trigrams, and that’s only the foundation of Arrays.’

’An Array is primarily composed of three things: Inscriptions, Array Materials, and an Array Hub.’

’Inscriptions are similar to the Beast Pattern Rune Technique. They are a special script capable of channeling potent power.’

’The Inscriptions are extremely complex, and there are a great many of them. When combined in different sequences, they can trigger different effects.’

’As for Array Materials, it goes without saying that corresponding materials are indispensable for setting up an Array with a specific effect.’

’Finally, the Array Hub is the core that controls the Array. Components like Array Flags, Array Plates, and energy sources such as Spirit Stones are all part of this core.’

...

Jiang Zuo studied slowly in the Scripture Pavilion of the Daoist Talisman Holy Land, quickly gaining a general understanding of Arrays.

Like the art of Talismans, creating Arrays was a craft that required constant practice to improve.

Jiang Zuo’s foundation was far superior to that of an ordinary Cultivator, so he absorbed this fundamental knowledge at a rapid pace.

And within the Daoist Talisman Holy Land, there was no shortage of various Array Materials.

As he learned, Jiang Zuo also practiced by setting up various low-level Arrays to gain experience.

Arrays were far more complex than Talismans, and initially, Jiang Zuo failed repeatedly.

But as time passed, his proficiency grew by leaps and bounds.

Naturally, his mastery of Arrays also steadily increased.

With no outsiders to disturb him, time passed quickly.

Besides practicing Arrays, Jiang Zuo also spent a considerable amount of time cultivating the Body Freedom Technique and the Divine Sense Freedom Method.

The power of the Daoist Shackles within him was, as a result, constantly diminishing.

「In the blink of an eye, thirty years passed.」

On this day, as Jiang Zuo cultivated with his eyes closed, the black chains covering the surface of his body completely vanished.

The power of the Daoist Shackles—both the restraints on his physical body and on his Divine Sense—had vanished completely from within him.

This was much faster than Jiang Zuo had anticipated.

After all, he hadn’t been wholeheartedly cultivating the Freedom Techniques; he had also spent a great deal of time on the art of Arrays.

The reason for this accelerated progress was that his physical body had awakened a sliver of Primordial Flesh and Blood!