Chapter 81

Chen Hai, using his inner vision, perceived the four spirit meridians—Foot-Shaoyang, Foot-Mingyang, Hand-Shaoyang, and Hand-Mingyang—twisting and intertwining in his abdominal cavity, forming a void and hazy area.

Being able to sense this void and haziness means that Chen Hai has already laid the foundation for opening the secret palace of the spirit sea.

This void and hazy area is referred to by the sect's mystic cultivators as the Mystic Acupoint.

The next step in cultivation for Chen Hai is to stimulate the essence and qi of his hundred bones, causing it to surge from the four already cultivated spirit meridians, blend with the heaven and earth essence qi absorbed into this area, and transform into true essence, thereby opening his secret palace of the spirit sea within this void and hazy Mystic Acupoint.

Generally speaking, the more spirit meridians cultivated in the Mystic Realm, the more extensive and easier it is to open the secret palace of the spirit sea, and the deeper and wider the secret palace of the spirit sea will be.

To simultaneously stimulate the essence and qi of the hundred bones to flow through multiple main qi meridians and enter the Mystic Acupoint, one must have extremely profound and intricate mystic techniques.

Even the Water-Cutting Slash, a technique that Chen Hai comprehended from nearly two hundred basic martial arts forms and which helped him understand the true meaning of fragmentation, only involves the flow of the essence and qi of the hundred bones through three main qi meridians.

The Alchemical Cauldron Technique has a method that can cause the essence qi absorbed into the Mystic Acupoint to rotate in a vortex, generating a terrifying suction force that extracts the essence and qi of the hundred bones from various spirit meridians, blending them into a true essence vortex that remains within the Mystic Acupoint.

If this process continues for a sufficient amount of time, the void Mystic Acupoint will transform from void to solid, ultimately opening the secret palace of the spirit sea.

This is also the key reason why many disciples of the Taiwei Sect, when cultivating to the later stages of the Mystic Realm, abandon martial arts for mystic techniques; from this point onward, mystic cultivation is more efficient.

However, Chen Hai does not intend to follow the usual path.

The quality of the secret palace of the spirit sea opened is closely related to the number of spirit meridians cultivated in the later stages of the Mystic Realm, as well as the abundance and purity of the true essence formed during the instant of opening the secret palace of the spirit sea.

Chen Hai can only open the secret palace of the spirit sea based on the four spirit meridians, and even then, he lags behind Ge Tong.

If he continues to cultivate using the conventional method, this will be a lifelong, fundamental defect.

Although the Taiwei Sect has spirit medicines that can improve the quality of the secret palace of the spirit sea, these medicines can only be taken during the opening of the secret palace of the spirit sea. The ingredients involved are complex and precious, and the medicines are extremely difficult to refine, even for Dao Pill Realm master alchemists, who often fail. The price of these medicines is dozens of times higher than that of the Spirit Meridian Pill.

Chen Hai does not yet aspire to use such spirit medicines to assist in the cultivation of the secret palace of the spirit sea.

Over the past six months, Chen Hai has studied the cultivation scrolls of low-level mystic techniques in the Qiyun Ridge scripture hall. Besides mastering the true meaning of fragmentation, he has also truly integrated the Ten Steps Hammer and the Water-Cutting Slash techniques.

The Ten Steps Water-Cutting Slash is the strongest technique he has mastered so far, capable of stimulating the essence and qi of the hundred bones to flow through five main qi meridians, which happen to include the four spirit meridians he has cultivated—Foot-Shaoyang, Foot-Mingyang, Hand-Shaoyang, and Hand-Mingyang.

Although Chen Hai has created the Ten Steps Water-Cutting Slash technique, he does not dare to act rashly on Qiyun Ridge, fearing that too many secrets will be exposed. If he rashly opens the secret palace of the spirit sea and later regrets it, he will have to abandon his cultivation and start over. Therefore, he needs to make more thorough preparations before officially opening the secret palace of the spirit sea.

Chen Hai also needs to use his puppet avatar to analyze the method, speed, and precision of stimulating the essence and qi of the hundred bones to flow through the five main qi meridians, achieving more precise control to ensure that the secret palace of the spirit sea he cultivates reaches the limit of what can be opened with four spirit meridians.

At the same time, he needs to make the mystic walls of the secret palace of the spirit sea extremely resilient, so that they can withstand the violent backlash of true essence and magical power in various situations.

The depth of the secret palace of the spirit sea determines the upper limit of the true essence and magical power that can be stored in his body in the future; the resilience of the mystic walls and spirit meridians surrounding the secret palace of the spirit sea determines the degree of violence with which he can operate true essence in the future.

Generally speaking, the more powerful the technique or mystic power, the more violent the operation of true essence will be in an instant; without an extremely strong secret palace of the spirit sea, mystic cultivators will often suffer severe internal injuries from the backlash when using techniques or mystic powers.

For the Spirit-Dispelling Powder, a drug that can be considered a killer of mystic cultivators, the resistance to it varies greatly depending on the resilience of the secret palace of the spirit sea.

Chen Hai, with his puppet avatar, has unique cultivation conditions that others do not possess.

**************************

In the Blood Cloud Wasteland, Chen Hai held a black bone war spear with a razor-sharp blade, and his powerful blood corpse avatar leaped down a cliff like a meteor.

Each step Chen Hai took spanned several dozen meters, running swiftly along the rugged cliff walls, even faster than a swift horse, but it was not enough to escape the pursuit of a Martial Guard-level Raksha demon.

This was a peak Martial Guard-level Raksha demon with blood refinement abilities, but possibly due to the late awakening of its blood refinement talent, it had not yet devoured enough or strong enough of its kind in endless bloody battles to reach the Martial School-level Raksha demon.

The blood scales covering the Raksha demon's body had turned slightly purple, with astonishing protective power. Chen Hai had been in a prolonged battle with it, but had not been able to inflict serious injuries or escape.

The Raksha demon fought bare-handed, but its hunched body was like a slightly drawn giant bow, storing terrifying power, ready to unleash a mountain-shattering, sea-tsunami force at any moment.

Especially its sharp claws, which were no weaker than high-grade mystic weapons. Chen Hai, integrating the true meaning of fragmentation into the Ten Steps Water-Cutting Slash, could not sever them, and instead, they left several bloody gashes on his body.

Although the Raksha demon had not yet comprehended any mystic techniques, its terrifying combat instincts deep in its bloodline and the skills honed through endless bloody battles made its bare-handed attacks incredibly precise and flawless, leaving almost no openings for Chen Hai to strike its vital points.

Even when occasional openings appeared, the Raksha demon's speed was faster than Chen Hai's, and its strength was greater. Chen Hai did not want to end up in a mutually destructive situation and could not seize the opportunity.

This was the most dangerous battle Chen Hai had experienced in the Blood Cloud Wasteland. He was also worried about being surrounded by other Raksha demons, so he had to retreat to a more remote area while fighting.

Chen Hai secretly regretted his decision to choose this Raksha demon, which had eight Martial Soldier-level subordinates, to hone his combat spirit and refine the Ten Steps Water-Cutting Slash to a more profound and intricate level. He did not expect to be dragged into such a perilous situation.

After three days and nights of intense battle, Chen Hai was exhausted, but he had managed to eliminate the eight Martial Soldier-level subordinates of the Raksha demon.

Entering a deep valley surrounded by lava eruptions, the air filled with the smell of sulfur, Chen Hai decided to have the final, life-or-death battle with the Raksha demon here.

Fighting here, even if the commotion was loud, it would avoid attracting more Raksha demons.

Turning around, he saw the Raksha demon leap down the cliff like a blood-colored meteor.

At this moment, Chen Hai brought all the martial arts he had comprehended over the years to their peak, and the black bone war spear in his hands felt as heavy as a mountain.

The Ten Steps Water-Cutting Slash emphasized momentum, with each step and each slash maintaining the same posture, moving forward with an unstoppable force, ten consecutive slashes leaving no room for retreat. Within ten steps, the true essence and qi of the secret palace of the spirit sea could be stimulated like a boiling spring, and the final slash transformed the black bone war spear into a black flame torrent, forcing the Raksha demon back.

The Raksha demon was incredibly strong; Chen Hai's fierce attacks could only leave a shallow mark on its hammer-like fist.

Integrating the true meaning of fragmentation, Chen Hai launched the final slash of the Ten Steps Water-Cutting Slash, as if trying to split the heavens and earth.

"Roar!"

Seeing the blood scales protecting its fist split, the Raksha demon roared in rage and went berserk, pushing its attacks to the limit, determined not to give Chen Hai another chance to use the Ten Steps Water-Cutting Slash.

Rocks crumbled and lava spewed.

Chen Hai's goal was to thoroughly enrage the Raksha demon. His combat experience was richer, and his Cloud Flowing Steps, derived from the Wind and Cloud Steps, had reached near-perfection. In close combat, he often managed to dodge the Raksha demon's terrifying claws in the blink of an eye.

With his left hand, he drew a seal in the air, and true essence condensed, forming a three-foot-long ice blade.

Chen Hai had comprehended seals and could currently perform six to seven simple techniques, including the ice blade.

However, the killing power of the ice blade was almost negligible against the blood scales covering the Raksha demon's body, and given the Raksha demon's speed, it was not easy to hit it with a three-foot ice blade.

The ice blade hung in the air, and Chen Hai swung his spear, shattering the ice blade, which turned into a fine mist of ice, enveloping the Raksha demon.

The Raksha demon's bloody eyes could not see through Chen Hai's intentions, but its claw attacks continued, piercing through the ice mist and aiming for Chen Hai's face.

The Ten Steps Water-Cutting Slash, with each step and each slash, struck the Raksha demon's claws and fists.

The ice mist, though unable to harm the Raksha demon, formed a thin layer of ice on its body. Although it seemed ineffective, the Raksha demon had to vibrate its body slightly to shatter the ice.

In the blink of an eye, Chen Hai's final slash of the Ten Steps Water-Cutting Slash had bypassed the Raksha demon's hardest fist and aimed for its right arm.

Cutting through the blood scales and flesh, stopping at the bone as hard as metal, Chen Hai changed the slash to a thrust, blocking the Raksha demon's attack, and moved to the left, forming another ice blade, shattering it into ice mist, and enveloping the Raksha demon.

The Raksha demon now understood why Chen Hai used the seemingly useless ice mist in the prolonged battle. Chen Hai wanted to slow down its almost instinctive defensive actions, giving him a chance to attack its vital points.

The Raksha demon understood this, but it was too late.

**************************

Chen Hai finally defeated the peak Martial Guard-level Raksha demon, leaving it limbless and bone-broken, completely losing its combat ability, an hour later. Chen Hai himself was also in a semi-disabled state.

Chen Hai did not immediately kill the Raksha demon. Taking advantage of its half-dead state, he used the Raksha blood refinement technique to absorb its blood and essence, which was the most effective method.

The Raksha demon roared, its soul also screaming, but it could not stop the purest life essence from being gradually stripped away from its body. The blood scales under its skin rapidly withered, a terrifying sight.

After awakening its blood refinement talent, the Raksha demon had also used this method to devour its kind multiple times, never expecting this fate to befall it.

" Spare my life, and I will become a blood slave, serving the demon lord for eternity!"

In the final moment, the Raksha demon, with its soul already weakened, finally submitted, unwillingly roaring out...