Chapter 78

Chen Hai calmly looked at the room full of jaw-dropped fellow disciples, sheathed the Moon Reflection Spirit Sword, and returned it to the dazzlingly beautiful Lady Yuecheng, saying, "Thank you, Lady Ning, for lending me the sword..."

Chen Hai then picked up the spirit sword that Chai Rong had thrown in front of him, along with the Golden Peak Spirit Ring and the Nine Flame Dragon Seal he had used as stakes, and bowed to Chai Rong, who was still in a daze as if struck by lightning, saying, "Thank you, Senior Brother Chai, for the gift of the sword! But I believe Senior Brother Chai still owes me a high-grade yellow-level magical treasure. Surely you don't want Lady Ning to repay this gambling debt with her spirit sword, do you?"

Chai Rong's forehead veins bulged. He never thought Chen Hai would be so smug, but Chen Hai spoke politely. He wanted to splash a stream of urine directly in Chen Hai's face, but what could he say at this moment?

He didn't even see how Chen Hai had shattered the Six Jia Secret Shield he had formed, and it was so effortless. He even suspected that Lady Yuecheng Dong Ning had hidden some trick in the Moon Reflection Spirit Sword she lent to Chen Hai. However, even if he suspected that Lady Yuecheng Dong Ning and Chen Hai were up to something, he didn't dare to question it in public.

In Hexi County, the Dong family was the most special existence, and Lady Yuecheng Dong Ning was especially favored by the Martial Vigor Divine Marquis. Even if he had a thousand reasons, he wouldn't dare to offend Lady Yuecheng Dong Ning.

He also couldn't say that Lady Yuecheng had willingly put the Moon Reflection Sword up as a stake, and let Chen Hai go to Lady Yuecheng to reclaim the stake.

Dong Ning didn't understand what was happening from start to finish. She looked at Chen Hai with suspicious eyes, unable to figure out how Chen Hai could so easily shatter the Six Jia Secret Shield Chai Rong had formed with her Moon Reflection Sword.

When Chen Hai returned the Moon Reflection Sword, Dong Ning was still in a daze and subconsciously took it back.

At this moment, hearing Chen Hai continue to extort the gambling debt from Chai Rong, Dong Ning finally came to her senses. She looked at the Moon Reflection Sword in her hand with a complex expression and said to Chen Hai in a clear voice, "This sword was given to me by my mother and cannot be given to you. I will give you a high-grade yellow-level magical treasure another day."

She was Lady Yuecheng, the legitimate granddaughter of the Martial Vigor Divine Marquis, and she wouldn't cheat Chen Hai out of a high-grade yellow-level magical treasure. Besides this Moon Reflection Sword, she had two low-grade black-level protective magical treasures.

Chen Hai ignored Dong Ning and just smiled at Chai Rong.

Chai Rong originally suspected that Lady Yuecheng and Chen Hai had set a trap for him. Now, hearing Lady Yuecheng's numerous excuses and unwillingness to immediately give the Moon Reflection Sword to Chen Hai as a stake, his suspicions grew even more!

But even if Lady Yuecheng and Chen Hai had maliciously set a trap for him, what could he do?

Chai Rong, under the watchful eyes of everyone, his face flushed with embarrassment, said, "I remember this matter today, and I will repay you in the future!" After saying this, Chai Rong, feeling ashamed and angry, thought that staying in the scripture hall for another moment would add to his humiliation. But there was no hole in the ground for him to hide in, so he angrily stormed out.

Chen Hai looked at Chai Rong's figure and smiled coldly. Chai Rong had humiliated him in various ways at the Iron Stream Ridge Academy, even trying to have him killed by Kong Tong. Today, Chen Hai would show no mercy to Chai Rong.

He knew that Chai Rong would hate him to the bone from now on, but without this incident, Chai Rong probably wouldn't have been friendly with him. He decided to be the villain to the end, making Chai Rong too afraid to stand in front of him in the future.

Dong Ning was somewhat puzzled. She had already said she would give Chen Hai a high-grade yellow-level magical treasure in the future, and as a noble Lady Yuecheng, she wouldn't be unable to afford such a treasure. Why did Chai Rong react so strongly and leave in a fit of anger?

Chen Hai smiled slightly, bowed to the surrounding fellow disciples, and sat back at his desk, continuing to study the supplementary records of the Iron Bone Fist, as if nothing had happened.

"Senior Brother Zhu, you have already cultivated the hand Jueyin Spirit Meridian and refined your true essence to enhance your eyesight. Did you see clearly what happened with that sword strike?"

"I saw clearly the moment the sword struck the Six Jia Shield, but it shouldn't have shattered so easily. Unless Junior Brother Chai deliberately let it happen, but he wouldn't deliberately lose his spirit sword, would he?"

At this moment, the inner disciples on the second floor of the scripture hall finally came to their senses and began to discuss what had happened with that sword strike. However, these inner disciples were only at the Spirit Formation Realm, and their ancestral acupoint in the forehead was not yet open, so they couldn't feel the true essence of shattering that Chen Hai had infused into the Moon Reflection Sword.

Even Lady Yuecheng Dong Ning, under Chen Hai's series of distractions, didn't see the true moment when the shattering true essence shattered the Six Jia Secret Shield.

Some people even suspiciously glanced at the dazed Lady Yuecheng Dong Ning. In their view, if Chai Rong hadn't deliberately let it happen, the biggest trick must be hidden in Lady Ning's sword.

Like Chai Rong, even if they had suspicions, they wouldn't express them, to avoid bringing trouble upon themselves.

Some straightforward people walked up to Chen Hai, sat down, and asked directly, "Junior Brother Chen, what trick did you use in that sword strike? Without using true essence, you managed to shatter the Six Jia Secret Shield?"

Dong Ning hadn't expected others to suspect her and Chen Hai, and now she looked at Chen Hai, wanting to know what had happened.

"The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao. If I could explain it, I wouldn't have tested it on Senior Brother Chai," Chen Hai maintained a perfect mysterious smile. Seeing Lady Yuecheng Dong Ning's bright eyes looking at him, he asked with a smile, "Lady Ning, don't you agree?"

Dong Ning's eyes widened slightly, and her thin anger made her delicate face even more spirited. But Chen Hai continued to act mysteriously, and she couldn't say a word against him.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt annoyed. Her chest rose and fell slightly, and she couldn't bear to see Chen Hai continue to act smug. She had intended to kindly remind him, but now she had become a laughingstock. She angrily picked up the sword manual and returned it to the shelf, then left the scripture hall.

Seeing her two personal attendants still outside, chatting with other disciples' attendants, she scolded, "You two cheap whores, not knowing how to cultivate, gossiping here. Go to the trial tower to practice your sword skills!"

The two attendants, who usually had a very good temper, didn't know why Lady Ning was taking out her anger on them, and they secretly sighed, following Dong Ning to the trial tower.

***

Dong Ning thought Chen Hai was wasting time on these low-level mystic arts, but she didn't know that Chen Hai was breaking down various martial techniques from the Ten Kill War Halberd Technique and the Iron Bone Fist, and then forming basic steps, footwork, fist techniques, palm techniques, halberd techniques, and sword techniques based on these basic martial techniques for cultivation.

After years of cultivation, especially during the process of hunting the Raksha demons, his own unique techniques such as Tiger Stance, Cloud Flow, Ten Steps Hammer, and Water-Cutting Slash gradually took shape.

Chen Hai had already felt the existence of martial true essence, especially when cultivating the Water-Cutting Slash, the mysterious and profound aura and intent in his chest surged especially intensely and truly, even sharpening his divine soul and intent. However, he ultimately failed to grasp the key feeling and thus couldn't master a complete true essence.

The Ten Kill War Halberd Technique had been cultivated by tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of disciples of the Taowei Sect and the Martial Vigor Army over the years, leaving behind more than a hundred valuable supplementary and legacy records.

Dong Ning thought Chen Hai was wasting time reading these low-level mystic arts, but in the past two months, Chen Hai had gradually filled in the missing key feeling in his Water-Cutting Slash through the accumulated experience of his predecessors, and thus mastered the true essence of shattering.

This addictive feeling also made Chen Hai sit in the scripture hall for two months without eating or sleeping, and he never thought that his seemingly strange behavior would arouse Lady Yuecheng Dong Ning's curiosity and attention.

Seeing Dong Ning leave in a huff, Chen Hai felt a headache. He never thought that while others in a different world enjoyed delicious food and beautiful women, the women he found attractive all treated him like an enemy. He really had the worst luck.

This regret lingered in Chen Hai's mind for a moment, but he was more immersed in the joy of mastering the complete true essence of shattering.

Chen Hai didn't know that the various true essences were as numerous as the stars in the sky, and their strength was divided into many levels. The true essence of shattering was only the lowest level and not particularly strong. However, Chen Hai knew that by integrating the true essence of shattering into the Water-Cutting Slash or other offensive mystic arts, the power could be increased by more than a fold.

Perhaps as his cultivation realm improved, the enhancement of the true essence of shattering to offensive mystic arts would not be as terrifying, but at this moment, it was enough to make Chen Hai proud. He had previously been evenly matched with Wu Meng, but with the mastery of the true essence of shattering, he believed he could now surpass Wu Meng.

In fact, if Chai Rong had the cultivation of the middle or late Spirit Formation Realm, Chen Hai wouldn't have been confident in shattering his Six Jia Secret Shield formed by pure true essence in one strike.

By mastering the complete true essence of shattering, Chen Hai also felt a significant improvement in his divine soul, intent, and six senses. This showed that comprehending true essence was the most direct and effective method for cultivating the divine soul.

Chen Hai also knew that the complete true essence would be the most solid foundation for his future entry into the Dao Pill Realm.

Chen Hai once thought that if he could cultivate to the Bright Acupoint Realm in his lifetime, he would be grateful. He never expected this to happen.

The mysterious and powerful functions of the puppet clone were truly unimaginable. Chen Hai couldn't help but wonder what kind of divine and powerful figures the Temple and the old masters of Longdi Cangyu and Zuo Er were.

The Temple left behind seven divine guard puppet bodies. Chen Hai had only refined one of them and mastered the complete true essence of shattering in two years. The Temple must have been incredibly glorious and powerful in its prime, which Chen Hai found hard to imagine.

After thousands or even tens of thousands of years of continuous attacks by the Raksha demons, the Temple inevitably declined, and many of its guardians fell. Only Zuo Er, half-dead, fell into a deep sleep. The strength of the Raksha demons was also unimaginable to Chen Hai at this moment.

In fact, Chen Hai didn't have a specific concept of how vast the continent where the Taowei Sect was located and how many powerful forces existed. He only knew that the mighty Yan Empire, with millions of troops, occupied Yan Province, which spanned tens of thousands of miles. Besides, there were also Jin Province, You Province, Yun Province, Yue Province, Chu Province, and Xiang Province, and to the north of Taowei Mountain, there were vast wild lands controlled by the demon tribes...

Chen Hai didn't know if the Blood Cloud Wasteland had any connection with Yan Province or the Taowei Mountain and Yulong Mountain under his feet.

Chen Hai realized that although he had mastered the complete true essence of shattering, everything was just beginning.

Regarding the Blood Cloud Wasteland, the Raksha Domain, the Temple, Yan Province, and Taowei Mountain, he