Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation

As Ao Jiao walked around the treasure trove, she explained the origins of the various treasures in the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance as well as tried to recall the location of the Death Fruit.

It had been too long. She could not remember where it was.

However, Xiao Chen’s attention was currently attracted to the center of the treasure trove, to a purple crystal on a stone platform.

About half the size of a human head, this purple crystal looked too beautiful, like a resplendent diamond. A nimble electric light swam around in the core of the crystal.

That light looked like it was alive. As it shifted forms, it radiated a gentle purple light, intoxicating anyone who looked at it.

This was especially so for a lightning-attributed cultivator like Xiao Chen. He was utterly entranced with just one glance.

It was so fascinating that Xiao Chen did not hear what Ao Jiao said, forgetting his primary purpose in coming to this Thunder Emperor’s inheritance—the Death Fruit.

Xiao Chen asked in somewhat of a hurry, “Little Ao Jiao, what is that electric light in that purple crystal?”

Ao Jiao, who was looking everywhere for the Death Fruit, demanded somewhat angrily when she heard Xiao Chen’s question, “What are you looking at? Did you hear a single word of what I said just now?”

Xiao Chen smiled abashedly and asked, “What did you just say?”

Ao Jiao could not help feeling angry. The moment they went in, she helped Xiao Chen search for the Death Fruit. In the end, after she had spoken so much, he had not even heard a single word she said.

Seeing something was off with Ao Jiao’s expression, he quickly apologized.

That could not be helped. This mysterious purple crystal was too entrancing. Otherwise, Xiao Chen would not have ended up in a state where he was oblivious to what Ao Jiao said.

In reality, Xiao Chen was indeed quite surprised. After obtaining the things in the Dragon’s Gate’s Treasure Trove, he had not expected much from the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance. Furthermore, the Thunder Emperor used swords, while Xiao Chen used sabers. It was hard for there to be any real assistance.

Who could have imagined that the moment Xiao Chen entered the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance, he would become entranced with this mysterious purple crystal?

“This is an Innate Thunder Crystal. When the will of thunder is fully comprehended and clears the bottleneck of a will, it will manifest as a soul crystal. It will solidify and become a purple crystal. This is one of the indicators that measure a Martial Emperor’s strength.”

Xiao Chen suddenly understood. When a saber soul reached one hundred percent comprehension, it would form a Saber Domain. When a will of thunder continued to advance, it would take on a physical form, becoming the Innate Thunder Crystal.

The Innate Thunder Crystal and the extrinsic will of thunder were two completely different levels of profoundness. The disparity in the control of lightning-attributed energy was like the gap between gods and men.

Ao Jiao continued, “What you are seeing is Sang Mu’s Innate Thunder Crystal. It already reached Rank 4 and has formed a thunder soul inside. Of the treasures inside the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance, it is the most regular.”

For normal Martial Emperors, the difficulty of completely solidifying their attribute will was like ascending to heaven. Furthermore, it required extremely high comprehension ability and fortuitous encounters. Comprehending their will to Consummation did not necessarily mean that one could successfully solidify it.

However, not only did Sang Mu leave an Innate Thunder Crystal, but it was also one that reached Rank 4 and nurtured a thunder soul. Its value could easily be imagined.

Xiao Chen felt excited. He also cultivated the lightning attribute. Furthermore, his will of thunder already reached Great Perfection long ago. He asked, “Ao Jiao, given my current strength, can I absorb the Innate Thunder Crystal that the Thunder Emperor left behind?”

Ao Jiao smiled and replied, “Naturally, you can. Why else would I bring you to the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance? However, you cannot completely refine it at the moment. You will only be able to do so after you advance to Martial Emperor.”

After saying that, Ao Jiao stretched out her hand, and the beautiful purple crystal left the stone platform and flew over to her palm. “Take this Innate Thunder Crystal into your sea of consciousness and slowly consume it. Remember, do not rush. Otherwise, if it explodes, it can injure your mind. If the damage is severe, you might turn into an idiot.”

Ao Jiao handed the Innate Thunder Crystal over to Xiao Chen with a serious expression. After showering him with warnings, she said, “Give it a try first. I’ll continue searching for the Death Fruit. It has been so many years, so I can’t quite recall where it was placed.”

Xiao Chen’s expression turned somewhat grave as he received the Innate Thunder Crystal from Ao Jiao’s hand. It was hard to imagine energy like the will of thunder solidifying completely.

This utterly surpassed the logic of his previous life, ignoring the laws of physics.

The purple Innate Thunder Crystal floated quietly on Xiao Chen’s palm. Naturally, the more interesting thing was the nimble purple electric light in the crystal.

According to Ao Jiao, this was a thunder soul. Only when an Innate Thunder Crystal reached Rank 4 would it condense a thunder soul.

An Innate Thunder Crystal that contained a thunder soul was a whole level higher than one without a thunder soul.

Now, Xiao Chen somewhat understood why the Thunder Emperor would immediately go and challenge the Thunder Sovereign when he had just advanced to Sovereign Martial Emperor. Furthermore, the Thunder Emperor lost by only one move.

Logic no longer applied to someone as powerful as that.

Xiao Chen did not dwell on this for now. He looked around the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance and found a prayer mat. He sat down cross-legged and placed his hands on top of each other with the Innate Thunder Crystal above them.

The will of thunder in Xiao Chen’s sea of consciousness seemed to have an indescribably intimate connection to the Innate Thunder Crystal. Without him needing to direct it, it already wanted to absorb the Innate Thunder Crystal into the sea of consciousness.

The Innate Thunder Crystal was like a great meal placed before the will of thunder. Rather than feeding the will of thunder, Xiao Chen needed to purposefully restrain its impulse to devour, systematically and slowly absorbing the Innate Thunder Crystal instead.

The beautiful purple crystal slowly floated up. When it reached the same height as Xiao Chen’s forehead, a strong suction came from his forehead, grabbed the Innate Thunder Crystal, and quickly pulled it into the sea of consciousness.

In the boundlessly vast sea of consciousness, the form of Xiao Chen’s will, the purple Lightning Talisman, scattered into many purple motes of light with a thought from him.

The purple motes, which looked like stars in the sky, surrounded the Innate Thunder Crystal like moths to a flame. They surged over continuously, sticking to the surface of the crystal.

The many purple motes of light were like newborn babies, clinging to the crystal and absorbing the energy greedily.

The entire process of absorbing the Innate Thunder Crystal proceeded very naturally, not needing Xiao Chen to provide much direction. It seemed like an innate ability.

This saved him a lot of effort. All he had to do was control the absorption and stop when he reached his capacity.

As Xiao Chen absorbed the energy in the Innate Thunder Crystal, a purple sheen of electric radiance appeared on the surface of his body. Crackling electric sparks danced in the air of the entire cave.

He could clearly feel the will of thunder that had not advanced in a long time improving rapidly.

In a few breaths of time, his control over the power of lightning strengthened considerably.

It was hard to restrain one’s self. The improvement was quite addictive, and not knowing what one’s limits were could result in an explosion.

Fortunately, Xiao Chen could maintain his calm. When he felt that he had absorbed enough, he immediately forced the purple motes of light on the Innate Thunder Crystal to scatter.

Stopping required enormous determination. The difficulty involved was like getting an addict to give up taking drugs.

“Pu ci!”

A light flashed on Xiao Chen’s forehead as he forced out the purple Innate Thunder Crystal. Then, he opened his eyes and took a long breath. When he looked at the Innate Thunder Crystal, he noticed that it had shrunk by only a tiny bit.

If one did not look carefully, one would find it hard to notice such a minuscule change, failing to detect any difference from earlier.

“So, I only absorbed so little of it.” Xiao Chen carefully put away the Innate Thunder Crystal and muttered to himself, “Let’s see how much stronger the will of thunder is now.”

With a thought, the form of the will of thunder, the purple Lightning Talisman, flew out from his forehead.

Xiao Chen fiddled around with the Lightning Talisman as he held it in his hand. Aside from containing stronger energy, there was something else different about it. However, he could not quite put his finger on what it was.

After a while, his eyes lit up. He finally figured out what was different.

The Lightning Talisman had become more realistic. As the purple Lightning Talisman lay in Xiao Chen’s hands, it looked like a talisman and not the condensed form of the will of thunder.

Although it was not comparable to the solidified Innate Thunder Crystal, such an improvement was still clear.

Xiao Chen could not help feeling anticipation. If this Lightning Talisman could completely solidify in the future, would it have some of the spirituality of that Lightning Talisman in Misleading Fog Lake, achieving some unexpected effect?

Xiao Chen returned the Lightning Talisman to his sea of consciousness. Then, he stood up and felt it.

Although Xiao Chen’s cultivation did not increase, the improvement in his will of thunder raised his combat prowess by at least twenty percent. The most obvious effect was the strengthening of the lightning saber soul’s might.

“I found it!”

Just at this moment, Ao Jiao let out a joyful cry of pleasant surprise. Xiao Chen arched an eyebrow and quickly rushed over.

As he expected, she had managed to find the Death Fruit that he desired.

This was a mutated fruit that had grown for a long time on Death Qi. With one look, its dense state of death made one very uncomfortable.

Aside from the Ghost Race and the Corpse Race, both of which specialized in the state of death, no one else would like this aura.

“It really is the Death Fruit!”

However, right now, when Xiao Chen saw this authentic Death Fruit, his face filled with joy and elation.

“Hehe! I did not lie to you, right? I already said that it was here. However, I cannot help you with the Flower of Life. You have to rely on yourself for that.”

Xiao Chen carefully put away the Death Fruit and said, “There is no need to worry about that. As long as it is not extinct, I am confident of finding it in the Human-Demon Sea.”

How would Xiao Chen find it? Of course, he would use resources to exchange for it. He did not believe that he would not be able to find it if he offered ten times—or even a hundred times—its value to exchange for it.

After all, while this Flower of Life was precious, it was not at the level of those incomparable divine herbs.

With the Death Fruit in safekeeping, Xiao Chen felt much more relaxed in the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance. Now, he strolled around.

Ao Jiao accompanied him, taking on the role of a free tour guide as she explained how the Thunder Emperor obtained each treasure. She spoke of what happened then in great detail, extremely familiar with the events.

In terms of size and number, the treasures here were definitely not as large or as many as the Dragon’s Gate’s Treasure Trove on Heavenly Star Island.

However, their value was no lesser. The treasures in the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance was more exquisite, not as mundane as a large amount of Black Astral Coins or common resources.

These were all peak Secret Treasures, Martial Techniques, Cultivation Techniques, or Medicinal Pills. However, Xiao Chen was not too interested in these things.

Even if there was an Emperor Grade Secret Treasure, he could not use it. He would not be able to wield it as smoothly as the peak King Grade Secret Treasures in his hands.