Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation

Chapter 2160 Raw 2265 : Comprehending the Dao on the Lotus Platform

After arriving in the Holy Domain’s Divine Capital, Xiao Chen was completely safe.

He returned to his courtyard and heaved a sigh of relief. This trip had been perilous, nearly resulting in his death.

Xiao Chen had only wanted to remain in the periphery to kill mastiffs. However, someone had laid a trap, and he nearly died at the jaws of mastiffs.

He had only wanted to nurture his Heavenly Snow Divine Flame and Universe Origin True Flame. However, when he opened his eyes, the leaders of four super factions targeted him.

Fortunately, despite so many scares, nothing happened. Xiao Chen also received a pretty good harvest.

His cultivation reached the limit, officially making him a heaven-defying Sovereign Personage.

His Veritable Essence Energy and Soul Energy were now at the limit of Sovereign Personage and could no longer be further increased.

The improvement of the Universe Origin True Flame and the Heavenly Snow Divine Flame was part of his plans, but his progress in cultivation came as a pleasant surprise.

Under normal circumstances, Xiao Chen would have needed another one or two years of bitter cultivation before he reached the limit.

Furthermore, that estimate already took into account the environment of the Faux God World, where the Spiritual Energy was exceptionally dense, as well as using Faux God Coins to exchange for various resources. Hence, he could make such a short estimate.

The next step in cultivation was forming the Divine Seal.

After forming the Divine Seal, one’s Soul Energy and the might of one’s Dao Domain would reach a whole new level. By then, Xiao Chen would not even fear Fang Shaobai and the other three working together.

Previously, Xiao Chen had to resort to schemes in the Primal Chaos flame sea to trick those four into leaving because they were half-step Sovereign Emperors, peak experts.

With the Divine Seal’s support, one’s Martial Technique and Cultivation Technique could display a might that far surpassed a heaven-defying Sovereign Personage’s. Against just one person, Xiao Chen would still be fine. However, he had no chance of victory over four of them.

Forming the Divine Seal was the first step to breaking through to Sovereign Emperor—a crucial step towards the Divine Vein Realm.

Divine Seals differed in strength. The more Dao Domains the Soul Energy merged with, the stronger the Divine Seal. The attribute of the Dao Domain also affected the Divine Seal. For example, a Divine Sea formed with the Death Dao Domain would be stronger than one formed with the Thunder Dao Domain. Of course, the difficulty would be much greater.

Right now, Xiao Chen only grasped one Dao Domain. His Saber Dao and Ice Dao still had not broken into the Dao Domain yet. As for the Cycle Dao, he remained stuck at the state level and had not grasped it at the Dao level yet.

If Xiao Chen had a choice, he would naturally choose to merge his Soul Energy with his Cycle Dao to form the Divine Seal.

However, that clearly was not very realistic. The state of cycle was too difficult to cultivate. While Xiao Chen might be confident of cultivating it to the Cycle Dao, he did not know if he could break through to the Dao Domain.

That was because the state of cycle was overly strong, surpassing space-time. That was an ability that even Faux Gods found hard to grasp.

Hence, Xiao Chen set aside the Cycle Dao for now. However, he was not a mediocre person. He would definitely not settle for merging his Soul Energy with only one kind of Dao Domain.

He decided not to form his Divine Seal until he had comprehended the Ice Dao Domain and Saber Dao Domain.

“My cultivation direction after this will focus on the Saber Dao and Ice Dao.”

Xiao Chen revealed a contemplative expression. After absorbing the Ice Fire Divine Origin, he felt like his Ice Dao could break through to the Dao Domain at any time.

However, his primary skill was a problem. There always seemed to be a thin veil separating his Saber Dao from the Dao Domain. It felt so close and yet so far.

It was extremely difficult to find the things that he had lost before.

“Oh, right, I still have not examined the Ice Fire Lotus Platform.”

Xiao Chen had nearly forgotten about one of his most significant gains on this trip. With a thought, the Ice Fire Lotus Platform flew out of his storage ring.

This lotus platform had formed with a total of three hundred sixty lotus petals. It possessed an innate spirituality and gave off Spiritual Energy. With one look, it was clear that this was an extraordinary item.

Looking at the lotus platform floating in the air, Xiao Chen entered deep thought. I will not be able to figure out anything just by looking at it.

I also do not understand much about the Ice Fire Lotus Platform. I should go and ask about it.

Let’s go to the Ten Thousand Treasure Pavilion!

The Ten Thousand Treasure Pavilion was the place for exchanging Faux God Coins for treasures. There were highly skilled appraisers there; they could appraise any treasure—of course, provided that one had sufficient Faux God Coins.

After a while, Xiao Chen arrived at the place for appraisals at the Ten Thousand Treasure Pavilion.

“This item does not require a special appraisal. Just give me five hundred Faux God Coins, and I can tell you about its origins and usage.”

The appraiser was an old man with white hair and a youthful face possessing unfathomable cultivation. He stated the price with just one glance.

Xiao Chen still had some Faux God Coins on hand, so he handed over the fee without much thought and waited for an answer.

“This is the Ice Fire Lotus Platform, born in the Ice Fire Wasteland. The Buddhist sect’s esteemed monks have always cherished the Ice Fire Lotus Platform. Its greatest usage is in aiding comprehension. Even the esteemed monks of the Buddhist sects can use this to help them comprehend Buddhist principles…”

Upon hearing that, Xiao Chen felt excited. Indeed, Yuan Zhen had held back some information.

How is this just a lotus platform that shows an esteemed monk’s status? It is clearly a priceless treasure.

“People not of the Buddhist sect can use this lotus platform for comprehending Martial Techniques and some mysteries. This would result in getting more done with less effort. It brings out a similar effect to the True Gods’ prayer mats on the Comprehension Platform using a different method. However, as it was formed naturally, it is superior.”

The appraiser continued, “If this item is further forged using the Buddhist sect’s secret methods, it can be used to refine a Soul Tool for avoiding lightning and clearing tribulations. Most importantly, your Ice Fire Lotus Platform has a total of three hundred sixty lotus petals. The best lotus platform that appeared in the Ice Fire Wasteland so far had only one hundred sixty lotus petals. Thus, the value of yours is immeasurable.”

I nearly got tricked. Xiao Chen felt fortunate. Had he listened to Yuan Zhen, he would probably be crying now.

Xiao Chen suppressed his excitement and asked seriously, “Does it require the Buddhist sect’s secret methods to forge it? Can the Faux God World do it?”

“We can’t.”

The appraiser shook his head but added, “You are from the Heavenly Alliance. After you go out, perhaps you can find a method through the Heavenly Alliance. After all, the Heavenly Alliance gathers all the grandmaster blacksmiths in the world. Nothing is impossible.”

This gave Xiao Chen some hope. After he left, he could try to think up a method. “Many thanks.”

This old man was very responsible. After saying all that, he explained the various uses of the Ice Fire Lotus Platform. He even gave a detailed description of its origins and which powerful treasures in history were forged using it.

This thoroughness felt well worth Xiao Chen’s five hundred Faux God Coins. After he took back the Ice Fire Lotus Platform, he expressed his gratitude again.

“Young Master Xiao is too polite. This is just this old man’s job,” the old man said with a smile, quite satisfied with Xiao Chen’s manners.

Xiao Chen raised his eyebrows in surprise and asked, “Senior knows me?”

“Naturally. You broke the millennium-long record of the Trial Tower’s first floor before clearing the hardest difficulty in the third floor’s history. How can I not know you? I recall that many Faux God bladesmen wanted to take you in as their disciples back then. However, Senior Xi Mu stopped them,” the appraiser explained casually with a brief nod. However, these words shocked Xiao Chen.

What?!

Back then, many Faux God bladesmen wanted to take me as a disciple, but this Senior Xi Mu stopped them?

Xiao Chen did not feel surprised at hearing that. Back then, he thought that he had not distinguished himself much, so he did not overthink it. However, he did not expect there to be such secrets behind it. Hence, he felt curious.

“Is this true?”

“Naturally, it is true. How could I lie about this?”

Xiao Chen did not say anything more. He performed a cupped-fist salute and left the Ten Thousand Treasure Pavilion, feeling somewhat dubious and confused.

Why did Senior Xi Mu do this? Was it because I defeated his statue and he got jealous?

That’s not right. If he hated me out of jealousy, he would not have sent me the painting and let me obtain the Fiendish Saber inheritance.

“Hah…” Xiao Chen sighed. That senior’s thoughts are truly unfathomable.

He dismissed the matter and returned to the courtyard. Then, he took out the second painting that Lu Benwei had given him.

The second painting was totally different from the first painting, appearing very realistic.

The second painting depicted a lake, with ripples on it spreading out and a drop of falling water in midair.

Aside from these, there was nothing else.

It was even simpler than the first painting, even more ordinary—and even harder to understand.

However, Xiao Chen comprehended All Things Rejoicing Together from the first painting. The second painting definitely hid some mysteries.

Xiao Chen’s Saber Dao already reached a bottleneck. Now, he placed all his hopes of breaking through the bottleneck to the Dao Domain on this second painting.

“Perhaps it would be better if I worked on comprehending while sitting on the lotus platform.”

Xiao Chen immediately acted on his thought. He took out the Ice Fire Lotus Platform and sat down cross-legged.

He immediately sensed an incomprehensible and mysterious feeling coming from the lotus platform and filling his body.

This feeling was like when he sat at the bottom of the lake and worked on comprehending. It turned out that he had been sitting on the vague form of the lotus platform back then.

Let’s not care about this for now. Let’s see what the mystery behind this painting is.