Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation

“The second is regarding the cultivation of Martial Emperors and how to maximize the use of your Primordial Energy, not wasting resources.

“The third is closely related to you now, some techniques for passing tribulations.”

Xiao Chen showed a stunned expression. These three things could even be called divine techniques, all of them extraordinary. Learning just one would already bring considerable benefits. The favor of the Flame Rock Sovereign was simply too big.

The Flame Rock Sovereign continued, “However, my guidance will not be easy. You will have to suffer from great pain in every one of them. This is especially so for the third one. You might even die.”

Xiao Chen did not feel any fear. His eyes remained resolute as he said, “Senior, rest assured. I have already grasped this principle on my path thus far. The greater the value of something, the greater the risk or price to pay. There is no such thing as getting something for nothing.”

“First, I’ll teach you the Sharp Spirit Finger. Little Friend Xiao Chen, how do you think I managed to accomplish my earlier finger move?” the Flame Rock Sovereign asked Xiao Chen while looking at him as if testing Xiao Chen’s comprehension ability.

Xiao Chen entered deep thought. After pondering for a while, he said, “On the surface, it looked like you continuously compressed all the energy before gathering it at one point. Then, you unleashed it all in one go, displaying an offensive power that far surpassed your cultivation.”

Earlier, the Flame Rock Sovereign only executed his finger move with the cultivation of a half-step Martial Emperor. However, the offensive power far surpassed that of Xiao Chen’s Medial Grade Profound Martial Technique. This was the principle behind it.

However, if it were that simple, it would not be anything special. It would be something that one would readily learn with one glance. What then would be the point of the Flame Rock Sovereign teaching Xiao Chen this?

The Flame Rock Sovereign smiled faintly and nodded before saying, “Continue.”

Then, Xiao Chen thought for a while more and said, “The actual situation is definitely not that simple. Law Energy flows in one’s body like water. The human body is like a water pouch. Once a certain place is overfilled, the water pouch would deform.

“If it were just by once or twice over, the body would be able to endure it. However, if it goes beyond ten times—one hundred times or thousands of times—the water pouch would definitely have problems that would cause it to explode.”

The smile on the Flame Rock Sovereign’s face widened. “This is the first time for me to hear of such a comparison. This is rather interesting. Go on. How are you going to ensure that the water pouch does not explode?”

The Flame Rock Sovereign did not say whether Xiao Chen was right or wrong. Instead, he indicated for Xiao Chen to pursue this line of thought.

Feeling encouraged, Xiao Chen said, “If you want to prevent the water pouch from breaking, there are two ways. One is to increase the toughness of the water pouch. That is to say, the strength of the physical body. The second method is to increase the density of the water. This means continuously refining the Law Energy and making it denser. A similar-sized strand of refined Law Energy would be able to bring out ten times—one hundred times—the corresponding might.”

Xiao Chen’s line of thought became increasingly clearer. “My guess is that Senior used the second method. This is because Senior used only the strength of a half-step Martial Emperor and did not use the Golden Emperor Body.”

The Flame Rock Sovereign started laughing loudly, confusing Xiao Chen. Was he right or wrong?

“Senior, so was I right or wrong?” Xiao Chen asked carefully. Now, he could not figure out what the Flame Rock Sovereign was thinking.

After laughing his fill, the Flame Rock Sovereign answered, “Sorry, it’s completely wrong. However, I feel that your line of thought is a viable direction as well. Right, it can be considered.”

Xiao Chen fell speechless. This was simply digging him a pit to jump into. At first, based on the Flame Rock Sovereign’s expression, Xiao Chen thought that he was right. Unexpectedly, the Flame Rock Sovereign said that in the end.

“Senior, there is no need to fool me like that, right,” Xiao Chen said depressedly.

The Flame Rock Sovereign said, “I’m not fooling you. This is the Martial Technique that I comprehended by myself, something belonging to me. Nothing can compare to something you comprehended yourself.

“Your line of thought is indeed correct. However, the physical body is a physical body after all; it is still somewhat different from a water pouch in the end. My method only utilizes one thing: speed!”

Speed? What does that mean?

“That is to use an extreme speed to gather a vast amount of energy. The physical body, indeed, cannot endure it. However, if it is just for a thousandth of a second, or even a hundredth, do you think that the physical body can endure it?”

Xiao Chen’s brain lit up; he instantly felt enlightened. Certainly, if it was just for a thousandth of a second or even just a hundredth, given the toughness of the physical body, it would definitely be endurable.

However, this was very close to the limit. Just slightly slower, and it could result in damage to the body; the losses would not be worth the gain.

This was like dancing on a tightrope. If one got careless and fell, the consequences would be hard to recover from.

“Let me demonstrate it to you a few times. Watch carefully!”

The Flame Rock Sovereign’s expression turned serious. Then, he casually pointed. The sky immediately turned dark, preventing Xiao Chen from seeing anything. Aside from the bright light on the Flame Rock Sovereign’s fingertip—a light as bright as the sun—Xiao Chen could not make out even the Flame Rock Sovereign’s face and body. They were all overwhelmed by this bright light, merging into the darkness.

The light flashed, and a fiery light as bright as the sun appeared at the Flame Rock Sovereign’s shoulder.

Many sun-like fiery lights appeared continuously on the Flame Rock Sovereign’s body, making him scintillate without pause.

Xiao Chen opened his eyes wide, watching the Flame Rock Sovereign’s patient demonstration closely. Finally, he discovered some of the tricks to it.

A faint red whirlpool at the Flame Rock Sovereign’s chest spun continuously. No matter where the Law Energy flowed to, this red whirlpool never disappeared at all.

It looked like the red whirlpool did not stop at all.

However, in reality, the red whirlpool had been flashing, moving incredibly fast, even faster than those resplendent sun-like fiery lights.

The red whirlpool was merely too fast for the physical eye to capture its motions. This created the illusion that it never stopped.

The lights stopped flashing, and the Flame Rock Sovereign asked, “How about it? Did you manage to figure out anything?”

Xiao Chen nodded and replied, “The core of Senior’s Sharp Spirit Finger should be the red whirlpool at your chest. Without being able to materialize that red whirlpool, even if others knew about the Sharp Spirit Finger’s principle, they would not dare to try it.”

“That’s right. I comprehended this Sharp Spirit Finger before I advanced to Martial Emperor. Due to a stroke of fortune, I entered into the state of being one with heaven and comprehended it after a flash of inspiration.”

Xiao Chen said, “There is nothing that happens without reason in this world. Even for something like a flash of inspiration, without a large amount of accumulations, one would not be able to obtain this flash of inspiration.”

This comment stunned the Flame Rock Sovereign when he heard it. Unexpectedly, Xiao Chen could see this so clearly. This was a principle that the Flame Rock Sovereign understood after living for more than five thousand years.

“Right now, you have two paths that you can take. The first is to follow my methods, and I’ll teach you the Sharp Spirit Finger. The second is to perfect the direction that you found yourself. I’ll be around whenever you need me.”

Xiao Chen did not hesitate for long before deciding. “I choose the second route.”

The speed of his decision somewhat flabbergasted the Flame Rock Sovereign. “Why? Have you thought it through? It was just a casual remark. The time is so short. It is too difficult if you want to comprehend it on your own.”

“I thought through it already. Senior is right. The Martial Techniques comprehended by oneself are more suited to oneself in the end. While choosing the first route seems simple and will allow me to learn quickly, Senior is a fire-attributed cultivator while I am a lightning-attributed cultivator. Although I would learn fast, it would require a vast amount of time to perfect it in the future.”

Xiao Chen continued his analysis. “If I choose the second route, while learning will be very slow, once I’ve built the foundation, it will be perfectly suited to me, which will actually be more efficient.”

The Flame Rock Sovereign smiled. “You are that confident that you can comprehend it yourself?”

Xiao Chen said calmly, “Senior already explained it so clearly to me and even personally demonstrated it. If I still cannot comprehend it, it would only go to show that this Sharp Spirit Finger is not suitable for me.”

The Flame Rock Sovereign said, “Good. In that case, I’ll give you ten days. Whether you succeed or not, I will skip past this step and teach you the second thing, the usage of Primordial Energy.”

Xiao Chen nodded but did not hurry to meditate and ponder. Instead, he got the Flame Rock Sovereign to explain in detail how the Flame Rock Sovereign had initially comprehended the Sharp Spirit Finger.

Two days passed quickly. Even the Flame Rock Sovereign was somewhat fatigued by Xiao Chen’s questions. However, Xiao Chen still tirelessly and patiently sought advice.

As far as Xiao Chen understood, having such a Sovereign Martial Emperor by his side was much more useful than any secret manual.

When the third day arrived, Xiao Chen stopped asking the Flame Rock Sovereign questions. Instead, a pile of books the height of a person towered beside him. These were all some Cultivation Techniques or Martial Techniques that the Flame Rock Sovereign mentioned while they chatted.

This sight rendered the watching Flame Rock Sovereign somewhat tongue-tied. Even he could not remember all of them. However, Xiao Chen did not miss out on even one, gathering them all.

On the fourth day, another pile of books appeared beside Xiao Chen. These were all lightning-attributed Cultivation Techniques and Martial Techniques that he borrowed from the Flame Rock Sovereign.

As the Flame Rock Sovereign and Ao Jiao drank the Thousand Year Flame, they occasionally glanced at Xiao Chen, who was reading seriously at the drill ground.

The Flame Rock Sovereign frowned and said, “Almost half the time has passed, and he is still reading. He is too calm and indifferent.”

The Flame Rock Sovereign even started to wonder whether he made a misjudgment, running into a nerd who only excelled at theory.

Ao Jiao scolded with a smile, “Just you wait. Xiao Chen never does anything he is not confident of. Since he chose the second route, he is definitely confident. You have no idea how strong his comprehension ability is.”

The Flame Rock Sovereign said, “I also hope that he can comprehend it himself. That way, it would be at its strongest. However, there are only six days left, and he is still so calm about it. I am really starting to get worried.”

“Hey, Xiao Chen moved!” Ao Jiao said as she put down her wine cup.

The Flame Rock Sovereign’s eyes lit up as he quickly looked over. However, he could not help feeling disappointed. After Xiao Chen put down the books, he started trying things out instead of quietly meditating and pondering.

In the end, Xiao Chen did not succeed even once. Instead, lightning-attributed energy opened various wounds all over his body. There were even several times when his internal organs sustained severe injury.

The Flame Rock Sovereign wanted to put a stop to this. However, Ao Jiao intercepted him. “Don’t go. Given how stubborn he is, he will not listen to you at this moment.”

Hence, this situation continued. Whether it was night or day, lightning flashed and thunder roared in the drill ground. These mysterious phenomena startled all the cultivators and servants in the entire Flame Rock castle.

When these people saw Xiao Chen treating himself harshly, they all showed incredulous looks on their faces.

“What is he doing?”

“I heard that he is comprehending the Flame Rock Sovereign’s consummate skill, which the Flame Rock Sovereign does not teach anyone, the Sharp Spirit Finger!”

“You must be joking. With how badly he is torturing himself, he still wants to comprehend the Sharp Spirit Finger? Did he suffer a blow to the head?”

As the thunder roared, it veiled the sky with a constant dark overcast churning continuously, day and night. Three days passed this way. Now, it startled not only the people in the Flame Rock castle but also all the cultivators in the entire Dark City.