Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension - Chapter 657: 401 Martial Arts Heavenly Tribulation and Taoist Skill "Life Flame" _2

Chapter 657: Chapter 401 Martial Arts Heavenly Tribulation and Taoist Skill “Life Flame” _2

“I’ve thought about it, and the reason your path seems blocked might be because you’ve strayed down the wrong road,” Zhao Sheng speculated.

Although the Ancestor’s voice was not loud, to Zhao Jingyu it sounded as booming as thunder.

He suddenly sat up straight from the recliner, his voice raspy as he questioned, “Are you saying that I, a Martial Saint, have taken the wrong path?!”

Seeing his reaction, Zhao Sheng waved his hand dismissively and explained, “The Martial Saint Realm itself is not wrong! What I mean is that you have ventured in the wrong direction in tapping into the potential of the Barbaric Ancient bloodline.”

“Oh, I would like to hear more about this,” Zhao Jingyu replied, settling down unbothered.

He did not believe the Sixteenth Ancestor could offer any earth-shattering advice. A cultivator with such diluted blood could understand the path of martial arts better than him? He probably didn’t even grasp the true meaning of the Barbaric Ancient bloodline!

“Previously, you mentioned that the key to becoming a Martial Saint lies in using the will of martial arts to break through the will barriers of the primordial cells within the body, thereby guiding out the power within the cells and merging it with the Innate Gang Qi to produce Elemental Force, ultimately achieving the Martial Saint status,” Zhao Sheng recounted.

Zhao Jingyu, not surprised by the Sixteenth Ancestor’s words, straightforwardly admitted, “Yes, the general process is indeed so, but the perilous nature of the process is hard to articulate. To say it is akin to a life-and-death experience would not be an exaggeration.”

Zhao Sheng pondered for a moment and suddenly asked, “Regarding the Barbaric Ancient bloodline, did the Qingyang Ancestor ever leave a comment on it? Do you know which one?”

Upon hearing this, Zhao Jingyu fell into deep thought.

Zhao Sheng did not rush to give the answer, but quietly waited for the other’s response.

A moment later, Zhao Jingyu slowly reclined back into his chair, his voice weak as he spoke, “Are you referring to ‘Fighting Heaven and Earth, the Barbaric Ancients do not bow to the heavens’?”

“Exactly,” Zhao Sheng said. “I believe that your clan does not lack bold warriors who fight Heaven and Earth, but up to now, no one has truly understood the meaning of ‘the Barbaric Ancients do not bow to the heavens’.”

“Oh, is that so?”

Zhao Sheng nodded, “The Barbaric Ancient Clan are born fighters who never fear the heavens! Although you also possess the Barbaric Ancient bloodline, influenced by your family’s ‘Cultivation Above All’ mentality from a young age, you’ve ultimately revered the heavens at heart. Although the Martial Saint Realm represents a new breakthrough in the path of martial arts, for the Barbaric Ancient bloodline, there is a critical aspect you’re missing.”

“…The lack of a heavenly trial or, in other words, the lack of purification by a Heavenly Tribulation.”

Before Zhao Jingyu could express his doubts, Zhao Sheng suddenly quickened his speech, “As for the will of primordial cells, it should not be conquered but subdued, just like a cultivator subdues his inner monkey. It’s not an enemy but your ‘partner.’ Using the will of martial arts to assimilate the will of the primordial cells, thereby maximally unleashing the potential of the bloodline. After undergoing the baptism of a Heavenly Tribulation, it will surely trigger an even deeper potential of the bloodline, thereby stepping into a higher, unknown Martial Realm.”

“Martial Arts Heavenly Tribulation?” Zhao Jingyu was stunned by the revelation, his imagination notwithstanding, he had never thought that martial artists needed to undergo Heavenly Tribulations like cultivators.”

“This…this is absurd!” he muttered to himself, but a realization slowly dawned on him, and it seemed there might be some truth in the other’s words.

The day he ascended to Martial Saint, he too faintly sensed some dangerous omen originating from the heavens, which quickly dissipated, and he had thought it was an illusion.

Now it seemed, it wasn’t so simple.

In the Cultivation World, forming a Golden Core required undergoing a Golden Core Thunder Tribulation.

Then… shouldn’t a Martial Saint, with strength comparable to a Golden Core Master, also face the test of a Heavenly Tribulation?

The Heavenly Dao is inexorable, treating all creatures as mere straw dogs! Why would it regard Martial Saints with a different perspective,

Unless… the path for Martial Saints was blocked, doomed never to threaten the heavens.

“Subdue, assimilate!… How to assimilate? And how to subdue?”

As Zhao Jingyu was awakened by these words and sank into deep meditation, Zhao Sheng quietly left behind a Jade Scroll and vanished in a tunneling light.

…

The tunneling light soared into the Green Darkness, but Zhao Sheng did not return to his cave mansion at Binghuo Peak. Instead, he flew thirty miles in an instant, arriving above a vast spirit field.

Suddenly, a fireball descended from the sky, piercing through an invisible barrier of spiritual energy, landing at the edge of a spirit field filled with Dragon Tooth Rice, revealing Zhao Sheng’s figure.

This spirit field was about a hundred paces long and thirty paces wide, approximately five mu in area. The spirit rice within was lush and verdant, their vitality apparent; each stalk was like a small tree, over a yard tall with stalks as thick as a child’s arm, their slender leaves hanging down and wafting in the wind like willow leaves.

Among the green leaves, numerous three-foot-long rice ears stood up like swords, densely packed and emitting a faint white glow.

Dragon Tooth Rice is an unusual variety of spirit rice that typically matures every three years, yielding a thousand grains per mu, each grain weighing about a pound.

A mature grain of Dragon Tooth Rice is as long as a palm and as thick as a finger, translucent as White Jade, and hard as iron. Not only does it taste outstanding, but it is also full of spiritual energy, regarded as the finest among spirit rices.

Eating Dragon Tooth Rice regularly not only greatly benefits cultivation but also significantly improves bodily constitution.

Zhao Sheng stood by the edge of the spirit field, his eyes brimming with divine light, from which strands of Divine Thought burst forth, swiftly interweaving in the air to form an exceptionally complex spherical configuration.

Puff!

As his thoughts flickered, a giant fireball with a diameter of sixty feet suddenly materialized above the spirit field. The fireball burned fiercely, with countless flames tumbling about, emitting a spectrum of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

The colorful flames quickly merged, and the fireball soon transformed into a stable “Light Ball” releasing copious amounts of white light, resembling an additional “Sun” in the spirit field from a distance.

Zhao Sheng’s gaze was electric, his Divine Thought continuously outputting, keeping the “Sun” stable while cautiously adjusting the spell configuration.

The surrounding nature’s spiritual energy was attracted to it, swarming into the “Sun” like moths to a flame, fueling its continued burning.

Bang!

A few moments later, the fireball suddenly distorted and then collapsed.

Zhao Sheng’s gaze flickered, he waved his hand to disperse the explosive mana, then released strands of Divine Thought to continue weaving the spell configuration.

In the blink of an eye, a new “Sun” reappeared above the spirit field.

This time, the sun lasted for half an hour before it suddenly collapsed.

Zhao Sheng, unruffled, once again dispersed the residual mana and continued to weave the “Sun.”

When the sun had set and the stars filled the sky, after hundreds of failures, Zhao Sheng finally constructed a relatively stable and efficient spell configuration.

This time, the “Sun” burned for half an hour, still very stable, emitting a fierce yet gentle white light that illuminated the surrounding thirty acres of spirit field.

Zhao Sheng nodded in satisfaction; this “Life Flame” was beginning to take shape, but was still missing something…

Thinking this, he suddenly turned his head to the east where, a few dozen yards away, an elderly peasant dressed in green carefully approached, his face filled with caution and awe.

Zhao Sheng waved at him, then transmitted a Divine Thought.

The peasant in green trembled, hurriedly ran forward, and bowed deeply, calling out with reverence, “Senior Gong’an, may I know what you command?”

“What is your name? Are you the overseer of these Dragon Tooth Rice Fields?”

“Responding to the senior, my name is Zhou Xiang. I attend to these ten acres of spirit fields,” the old man replied.

“Hmm, come here, don’t be afraid,” Zhao Sheng nodded and called again.

The peasant in green walked tremblingly to his side, occasionally sneaking glances at the large fireball within the field.

Suddenly, he felt a pain on the back of his hand and looked down to see the flesh there torn open, fresh blood flowing from an inch-long wound, dripping onto the ground.

Seeing this, the peasant in green shuddered all over, about to collapse to the ground.

His aptitude was too poor; after decades of cultivation, he had only reached the Qi Refining Third Level and could not muster any thought of resistance in the presence of such an unfathomable senior.

But in the next instant, an invisible force suddenly restrained his body, and then a verdant Mid-grade Spirit Stone appeared before his eyes, radiating with vibrant spirit light—a Mid-grade indeed!

“Don’t be afraid, consider this Mid-grade Spirit Stone as an apology,” Zhao Sheng said.

On hearing this, the peasant’s fear vanished, replaced by a look of joy.

A Mid-grade Spirit Stone was equivalent to one hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones.

After three years of toiling, harvesting ten acres of Dragon Tooth Rice, presenting offerings, and paying rent, he could only earn around sixty to seventy low-grade Spirit Stones by selling the left-over Spirit Rice.

Suddenly, the peasant’s heart filled with anticipation, hoping to receive more generous rewards.

At that moment, Zhao Sheng instructed, “Stretch out your hand!”

No sooner had the words fallen than the elder’s body relaxed.

He quickly complied, extending his bloodied right hand, while his left hand snatched the Spirit Stone, hurriedly stuffing it into his chest.

As Zhao Sheng’s thoughts shifted, a beam of white light suddenly split from the “Sun” above the spirit field, shooting straight down and enveloping the injured right hand.

We appreciate you reading! If you loved this chapter, don't forget to bookmark us or share with your friends!