Chapter 486 - 237: Cultivation Surge (3)

Chapter 486: Chapter 237: Cultivation Surge (3)

But for Xie Yuan, the path ahead was now wide open.

[Chopping Wood: (20,315/100,000)]

[Golden Bell Shield - 5th Layer: (6,713/10,000)]

[Body-Nourishing Art - 5th Layer]

[Cloud Mountain Sword Intent Scripture - 5th Layer: (13/5,000)]

[Eight Trigrams Mountain-Shaking Fist - Minor Success: (2,120/3,000)]

[Cloud Dragon Step - Minor Success: (968/3,000)]

[Cloud Dragon Nine Forms - Minor Success: (1,423/5,000)]

[Sword Heart - Initial Tier]

[Black Celestial Book: (1/1,500)]

[Celestial Concealment Skill - Minor Success: (4,231/5,000)]

[Celestial Illusion Skill - Mastery: (3/3,000)]

[Dharma Rhythm: (3/9)]

Xie Yuan’s eyes flickered as he scanned the panel before him.

This trip to the Jianzhen Lake ruins had yielded far greater rewards than he could have ever imagined.

He had originally expected to just improve his cultivation base and gain some new insights into the Martial Dao, cultivation, and his own mentality. That alone would have been a great boon.

Now, it was clear he had far exceeded his goals.

His Golden Bell Shield progress had shot up from just over one thousand points to more than six thousand!

This meant Xie Yuan’s cultivation base had leaped from the early stage of the Qi and Blood Second Transformation Realm—a level he had only just stabilized—all the way to the mid-to-late stage, effectively crossing half the realm in one go.

Having crossed an invisible internal threshold, Xie Yuan’s Blood Qi was more condensed, and his physique had improved dramatically. His strength and speed had increased across the board.

All in all, his overall strength had increased immensely. He would no longer be at a disadvantage in cultivation level when facing others in the same realm.

Beyond that, an even greater reward was the simultaneous breakthrough of two of his Inner Power techniques.

Previously, he had used his Body-Nourishing Art to bolster the Cloud Mountain Sword Intent Scripture. After it had dropped back to the 1st Layer, he had only managed to cultivate it back to the 2nd Layer.

This time, however, by cultivating in Jianzhen Lake, he had pushed it directly to the realm of perfection! Or rather, the Top Layer, since the incomplete 5th Layer of the Body-Nourishing Art couldn’t truly be called "perfect."

Moreover, his Cloud Mountain Sword Intent Scripture had also broken through to the 5th Layer under his relentless efforts—an Inner Power level equivalent to the Qi Blood Third Transformation Realm.

Xie Yuan’s primary Inner Power technique was now cultivated far beyond his current realm. In addition, with his Top Layer Body-Nourishing Art—equivalent to the Qi and Blood Second Transformation Realm—acting as a secondary reserve of Inner Power, a second mana bar, he had instantly become an internal arts master among his peers. He might even be able to contend with Situ Qin, who specialized in Inner Power.

With the boost from two powerful Inner Power arts—and Xie Yuan did possess two—the might of his techniques and his stamina in battles of attrition far surpassed his peers. If he decided to drag out a fight, few could outlast him, his endurance rivaling that of a monk.

The explosive growth in his Nourishment Arts and Combat Arts were all thanks to the Profound Water properties of the lake within the lake—of course, Xie Yuan now understood that this property actually came entirely from the Illusory Dream Celestial Crystal. The mystical aura emanating from the Black Celestial Book had directly imbued the lake water with boundless Spiritual Qi.

Furthermore, even within the illusory world of the Illusory Dream Celestial Crystal, his cultivation progress had translated perfectly into reality, brought out of the illusion without the slightest loss. This effect wasn’t solely due to the Profound Water.

He had asked others, and while their cultivation within the dream had also manifested in reality, the results varied. It seemed their gains were diminished compared to what they achieved in the dream, unlike Xie Yuan, whose progress transferred over completely.

’Xie Yuan figured it must be the result of my own hard work—the hard work of raising the numbers on my panel. Once a number goes up, it stays up. It won’t drop, not even after I leave the dream.’

’The panel would never lie to me. Not like that Illusory Dream Celestial Crystal, which wove a beautiful dream for me to get lost in... Not that I regret it one bit.’

This massive leap in both his Nourishment and Combat Arts had caused Xie Yuan’s power to skyrocket.

He had only recently broken through to the Qi and Blood Second Transformation Realm, and his cultivation base had been considered shallow among his peers. Now, with his powerful Blood Qi and profound Inner Power, he could try suppressing others with his cultivation level.

With this progress, the distance to the Third Transformation Realm had been drastically reduced. If he could enter the lake one more time, he might even break through directly.

In addition to his cultivation base, all his other techniques had also improved to varying degrees. The Profound Water was truly an ideal environment for cultivation.

Beyond his cultivation techniques, his other major gain was the Black Celestial Book.

The Black Celestial Book had advanced a layer, a natural result of him having been in such close proximity to the Illusory Dream Celestial Crystal, which had allowed him to gain new insights.

And that insight was, of course, the miraculous Celestial Illusion Skill.

Thanks to the Black Celestial Book’s breakthrough, the skill started directly at the Mastery level. He had no idea what a normal version of the Celestial Illusion Skill was like; he only knew that he could now effortlessly create illusions to confuse his enemies, just as he had in the Qian family’s memorial hall. That was its first function.

Its second function was to plunge an enemy directly into an illusory dream, trapping them in it, just as he had done to that arrogant bastard at the end of his own dream.

It was incredibly difficult to awaken from the illusions created by the Celestial Illusion Skill, especially now that he had reached the Mastery level. He could even affect a Grandmaster to a small degree—at the very least, he could dazzle their vision. However, trapping a Grandmaster was likely still beyond his reach.

Still, with the Celestial Illusion Skill combined with his Celestial Concealment Skill at Minor Success, Xie Yuan felt he could practically dance circles around an ordinary Grandmaster.

The Celestial Illusion Skill was extremely practical. Like the Celestial Concealment Skill, it had great uses both in and out of combat; it was all a matter of how he chose to apply it.

As for the technique’s future prospects—

"’Heavenly truth, earthly illusion; refine the false into the real...’"

Xie Yuan silently mulled over these words, feeling that none of the Black Celestial Book’s top-tier Secret Techniques were simple.

The Black Celestial Book had yielded a second reward: [Dharma Rhythm].

Unlike the Celestial Illusion Skill, however, Xie Yuan had no idea what this Dharma Rhythm was for.

’It was just that the Illusory Dream Celestial Crystal seemed to contain this Dharma Rhythm. I’ve seen statues of the Buddha more than once in the dream world. Come to think of it, weren’t there exactly three different statues? Is that why I gained three points of Dharma Rhythm?’

’Perhaps it’s as the Buddhists say: the world is but a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow. All is vanity. That must be why the Illusory Dream Celestial Crystal, being so similar to these Buddhist teachings, contained such a profound Buddhist intent that it had even influenced me.’