hotmtlnovel Chapter 31 Premature Birth of Divine Sense
Chapter 31 Premature Birth of Divine Sense
Chapter 31 Premature Birth of Divine Sense
Another half month passed,
Because Dong Chang'an, a Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Dong family, no longer had a second-tier cave dwelling, he was unable to cultivate. So, he simply transformed the original spiritual vein land of the Li family into a market town.
By appointing a cultivator from the Dong family as the manager of the market, the market would use the revenue from renting and selling cave dwellings and shops to construct a small-scale second-tier spirit array to support his cultivation.
The shops mainly sell aquatic creatures, spirit fish, and spirit minerals from the lakes and seas, and also sell talismans, pills, magic tools, and other essential items for cultivation.
The market is now newly built, and everything needs to be renovated.
Through Hao Youren's introduction, Chen Yi was placed in a shop run by a rogue talisman master.
Liu Chenggang, a seventh-level Qi Refining cultivator and a first-tier high-grade talisman master, previously relied on the Dong family for cultivation. He contributed significantly to the Dong family's occupation of the Li family's spiritual vein, especially during the explosion of the second-tier spiritual vein, where the aftershocks damaged his foundation, rendering him incapable of ever reaching the Foundation Establishment stage.
As a result, Liu Chenggang completely submitted to the Dong family, becoming a talisman master and managing the shop.
Chen Yi's cultivation is gradually breaking through to the Innate Realm. He was originally an ordinary mortal martial arts servant with a clean background and was honest and loyal.
Having also tried his leatherworking skills and found them quite good, and with the introductions from Hao Youren and the Dong family cultivator from before, Liu Chenggang took him on as an apprentice in talisman making.
While making the talisman skins, he also assisted Liu Chenggang.
With a stable job again, Chen Yi was able to interact with demonic beasts and cultivators normally once more.
His physical cultivation will be able to return to a rapid improvement trajectory.
Three years have passed in the blink of an eye.
Chen Yi kept a low profile and avoided trouble at the talisman shop. Initially, the other apprentices looked down on him because he was just a mortal martial artist in his thirties. They had prejudices against this kind of servant who had no spiritual roots and had become a halfway through his training, and they were unwilling to let Chen Yi learn the core techniques of talisman making.
Fortunately, Chen Yi took on the dirtiest and most arduous task of dealing with the demonic beasts, which is why the other apprentices accepted him.
The following year, Chen Yi successfully advanced to the Innate Realm, becoming a third-level Qi Refining cultivator. His diligence and hard work meant he took on almost all the work in the talisman shop, from making talisman skins to processing demon beast meat.
Having settled down in the talisman shop, and with his status changing to that of a Qi Refining cultivator, he was no longer a mortal servant, but a true talisman apprentice at the early stage of Qi Refining.
Although he was 36 years old, the other apprentices were only 14 or 5.
Liu Chenggang did not discriminate against Chen Yi's age; a 36-year-old apprentice with no future or ambition was remarkably reliable.
He gradually introduced Chen Yi to talisman making.
On one occasion, he deliberately gave Chen Yi a half-finished fireball talisman to work on. The next day, he discovered that the blockage of spiritual energy at the connection of the talisman's runes had been cleverly cleared—this technique had already reached the threshold of a talisman master.
"Chen Yi, from today onwards you will be in charge of drawing basic talismans."
Liu Chenggang tossed him a book titled "Basic Rune Illustrations".
Chen Yi bowed and accepted the document. That very night, he meticulously copied over a hundred basic patterns, achieving a perfect imitation of the original design. Before the other apprentices could even react, Chen Yi had already begun independently producing low-level talismans such as Cleansing Talismans and Lightness Talismans, with a success rate as high as 60%.
Three years later, Chen Yi is now outwardly a seasoned apprentice skilled in drawing more than ten basic talismans, but in reality, he has already mastered the methods of making first-tier attack talismans such as fireball talismans and ice arrow talismans.
As for his cultivation level, Chen Yi's Qi Refining Level 3 power fluctuations were as gentle as a stream, and anyone who investigated him would only think that he was a middle-aged cultivator with mediocre talent.
In reality, the water and wood spiritual power in his dantian had become as solid as the source of the stream. With his cultivation at the fifth level of Qi Refining and the powerful divine sense honed by the tortoise shell, he was able to instantly unleash three first-tier mid-grade spells. In terms of magic power alone, he was considered above average among rogue cultivators at the mid-stage of Qi Refining, though of course he couldn't compare to the cultivation geniuses of the sect.
Even stronger was his physical body, which had been tempered and refined by Jin Hui—when Chen Yi cultivated in his secret chamber, his muscles would gleam with a bronze metallic luster, and ordinary first-tier spells would only leave faint white marks on them.
The second level of the Vajra Skill, "Flesh Like Iron," tempered Chen Yi's muscle fibers as if they were being rewoven by thousands of golden threads.
Now he can crush refined iron with his bare hands, and can break ancient trees that can be embraced with one arm while leaping. When he bursts out with all his might, his speed is comparable to the Wind Control Technique at the peak of Qi Refining.
In terms of true combat strength, Chen Yi is no less capable than any Qi Refining cultivator.
Unless it encounters continuous slashes from a top-grade first-tier flying sword or a long-range spell bombardment from a Foundation Establishment cultivator, this physical body alone is enough to dominate the Qi Refining stage.
Even when facing a Qi Refining Peak cultivator head-on, Chen Yi was 70% confident he could end the battle within three breaths if the opponent dared to enter within three zhang of him—of course, he would never give himself the chance to fall into such a situation.
After reaching the second level of body refinement and flesh tempering, another effect is that Chen Yi can control the changes in his muscles at any time.
This made it easier and more realistic for him to disguise himself than he would have done with materials. When Chen Yi concealed all his magical energy fluctuations, and others could only identify him by his appearance, his disguise became even more effective.
Liu Chenggang was naturally unaware of these things.
He felt that the old apprentice was becoming more and more skilled, and even began to hand over some of the rough drafts of first-order talismans to Chen Yi for processing.
After the shop closed, Chen Yi would "diligently" stay behind to practice talisman techniques, make talisman skins, or process the flesh and blood of demonic beasts.
Three years have passed, and Chen Yi has completely absorbed the special bloodline power within the tortoise shell.
Originally, the Water and Wood Spiritual Power of the "Turtle Breath Water and Wood Technique" combined with the bloodline of the tortoise shell, so that its magic power had the endurance of water and the vitality of wood. When it was in operation, it was like a deep sea current, with extremely strong concealment. The magic power fluctuations of the spells it used were all one level lower than ordinary spells.
By absorbing the spiritual essence of bloodlines, Chen Yi completed the foundational chapter of his cultivation technique. This ancient technique was indeed profound, possessing unique principles in concealing one's aura and slowing the loss of life force.
Due to the long-term tempering against the tortoise shell spirit spikes, Chen Yi developed a divine sense half a year ago. His divine sense can cover a range of fifteen zhang around him, reaching the level of a normal Qi Refining Level 8.
Divine sense is a qualitative change from spiritual sense. It has a wider range of perception and higher precision. It can penetrate low-level restrictions or concealment techniques, and can even perceive subtle spiritual energy flows and emotional fluctuations.
When one releases their divine sense, it becomes even more concealed, making it difficult to detect unless the other party has an even stronger divine sense.
Due to the tempering of the Tortoise Shell Spirit Thorn and the system's absorption and transformation, Chen Yi was able to develop divine consciousness ahead of schedule at the fifth level of the Qi Refining stage, which is a rare occurrence.
With the help of divine sense, Chen Yi could optimize his cultivation path and improve his cultivation efficiency, whether it was refining his Qi or tempering his body, through internal observation with his divine sense.
After gaining divine consciousness, it was foreseeable that Chen Yi would enter the late stage of Qi Refining; he only needed to quietly accumulate magical power.
Regarding magical cultivation, Chen Yi only intended to use it for health preservation and lifespan enhancement, not to improve his combat skills, but merely to use it as an auxiliary to his cultivation.
In terms of magic, Chen Yi only practiced defensive and escape spells such as [Water Shield] and [Wind Control].
His greatest strength lies in his physical cultivation.
Six months ago, when Chen Yi had completely devoured the last wisp of bloodline power within the tortoise shell, a sudden change occurred in the lake.
A deafening roar came from outside the lake, and giant waves surged like walls. A second-tier peak tortoise-snake beast attacked violently, leaving towering waves and shaking the market wherever it passed.
The monster seemed to be frantically searching for something, and in its rage, it almost overturned the entire lake.
At the critical moment, Qin Chengcheng, the Jade Qin Fairy, happened to be a guest in the market. The Dong family, having reached the Foundation Establishment stage, joined forces with Qin Chengcheng.
Qin Chengcheng used the unique zither technique of Miaoyin Pavilion, "Soul-Capturing Spell," to calm the restless tortoise-snake beast, while Dong Chang'an seized the opportunity to restrain it with magic and activate the market's grand array.
Only through their combined efforts could they barely stabilize the situation. At the same time, the Dong family, having established their foundation, threatened the Jade Dragon Sect's token, which finally made the tortoise-snake beast retreat, thus sparing the market from disaster.
After this incident, the cultivators in the market were still shaken, but no one knew the source of this disaster—it was the tortoise shell bloodline that Chen Yi had devoured, which was of the same origin as the tortoise-snake beast.
After that incident, Chen Yi seemed to have a premonition. Fortunately, he had already absorbed the last bit of bloodline power on the tortoise shell. If the bloodline power wasn't triggered again, the peak second-tier tortoise-snake beast wouldn't be summoned.
The tortoise shell's ability to provide spiritual acupuncture has also weakened considerably. Initially, it could be used once a day, but now it takes almost ten days to accumulate enough energy for a single acupuncture.
Chen Yi's efficiency in enhancing his spiritual sense through this method is now very low, but he has not given up.
He is currently studying the principles of the spiritual piercing technique found in tortoise shells, and every ten days he goes there to personally experience and learn about it.
Now, Chen Yi can condense his divine sense into a cone and stab it out. The specific effect is unknown, but it is unlikely to be very good. After all, stabbing with a cone consumes too much divine sense and is far inferior to stabbing with a needle.
Chen Yi is also refining the process of the cone-shaped thorn evolving into the needle-shaped thorn.
Meanwhile, Dong Chang'an, who was building the foundation of the Dong family, took this opportunity to invite Qin Chengcheng to stay in the market.
He had no hope whatsoever, because Qin Chengcheng was a goddess-level figure who was popular throughout the entire cultivation world. Even third-tier immortal cities were extending olive branches to her. How could his market town, whose second-tier spiritual veins were half destroyed, possibly retain such a person?
However, the result surprised everyone.
Qin Chengcheng actually agreed to stay, and even opened a branch of Miaoyin Pavilion in the market.
It's located right next to Liu Chenggang's talisman shop!
(End of this chapter)