Talisman Emperor

The old man closed his eyes once more after Madman Liu.

But his hands were lightly stroking the black cat on his knees, and his rough hands that were covered in wrinkles were trembling lightly, causing him to seem rather restless.

After a long time, a sigh resounded out. “All those years ago, it wasn’t just you who owed that person a favor.”

…

The peak of the mountain of books, the Art Cultivation Grounds.

Chen Xi walked towards the distant lotus platform that emitted a myriad of divine lights with steady footsteps, and it was just like his current feelings, calm while carrying firmness that was like steel.

Even though they hadn’t bid each other farewell, but he still knew that Madman Liu had already left to the Immortal Dimension, whereas what he could do now was work hard to improve his strength and protect the safety of the West Radiance Peak.

The brilliant rays of light were like rain that suffused the entire heavens and the earth, and along with his approach, an indescribable fluctuation stretched out from the lotus platform. Chen Xi’s soul couldn’t help but tremble when he sensed this fluctuation, and he felt slightly dazed.

It felt as if he was in an ancient and chaotic land, and there was no sky, no land, no mountains, no rivers, and no living beings everywhere his vision could reach.

There was only a boundlessly vast platform that was like a lotus flower. It emitted a myriad of Dao Insights that transformed into multicolored and resplendent light that filled and flowed in every inch of this chaotic space.

When he walked to arrive here, Chen Xi suddenly felt as if he’d seen the traces of the Grand Dao. It was so complicated, vast like an ocean of smoke, and he even had the feeling that if he sat down cross-legged here and comprehended, it wouldn’t take a hundred years for him to attain perfection in all the Grand Daos he possessed!

Dao Insights fill the surroundings while profundities overflowed… This place can be said to be peerlessly marvelous. Chen Xi muttered, and then he shook his head and continued moving forward.

This place was the Art Cultivation Grounds formed from the Nine Radiance Dao Scripture, and it contained a world of its own. There weren’t just numerous Dao Insights, and there ought to be various Dao Arts as well, whereas Chen Xi’s goal was to comprehend a Dao Art from it.

There were already numerous disciples meditating while comprehending in the surroundings of the lotus platform, and many of them shot their gazes over when they heard the sound of footsteps. After that, a wisp of a strange expression flashed past their eyes because they’d obviously recognized Chen Xi.

Chen Xi didn’t pay any regard to these gazes, and he moved forward directly. Only when one looked at this lotus platform from a close distance would one be able to notice how ancient and aged it was. The numerous marks on it were left behind by time, and they were like the marks of the Grand Dao and possessed a force that shocked the hearts of all.

When he arrived before the stone stairway of the lotus platform, Chen Xi stopped moving and seemed to be lost in thought.

Every single one of the nine layers of platforms that seemed like flower petals covered an area of 3km, and there were already numerous figures standing on it. Strangely, the first layer had the most people, and the amount of people went down the higher the layer was. Up until the ninth layer, there was only a single person sitting cross-legged on it, and this person seemed extremely conspicuous.

Looks like it’s really like how Master said. Not everyone can step foot on the stone stairways of every layer, and only someone with sufficiently formidable strength and natural talent was capable of going up each layer step by step. Chen Xi pondered for a short moment before he took a deep breath, and then he didn’t hesitate in the slightest to step foot onto the stone stairway.

Om!

At the instant his foot stepped onto the platform, Chen Xi felt his soul shake as he instantly seemed to have entered into a world of fire. Everywhere his eyes could see was flowing tongues of flames and surging seas of flame that were crimson, blue, white, black… Various flames filled every single inch of this space.

Moreover, these flames actually transformed into numerous symbols that fluttered and whistled about in the heavens and the earth, and Chen Xi could even see some divine beasts that were bathed in flames moving about.

A Divine Inferno Bull that charged on a wave of flames, a Vermillion Bird that flapped its flaming wings as it fluttered about, a flaming Qilin that howled into the sky… Various divine beasts of fire roamed freely within the space while looking down upon all, and the scene was exceedingly shocking.

A world of flames, this ought to have been formed from the Grand Dao of Fire… Chen Xi’s gaze swept out, and he noticed other disciples were sitting cross-legged within the various flames while comprehending in a state of meditation.

“Sunfire Lightning Dao Art! How many years has it been, I’ve finally comprehended a Dao Art!” Suddenly, a disciple stood up from the ground with an excited expression, and he seemed as if he’d obtained a precious treasure and started to cry out loudly.

The others couldn’t help but reveal expressions of envy when they heard this.

After all, it wasn’t such a simple thing to obtain a Dao Art from this Art Cultivation Grounds. Besides requiring natural talent, it also required attaining the Advanced Realm in a Dao Insight.

It was common knowledge that the four realms and 12 levels of Dao Insights were divided into the Elementary Realm, Initial Realm, Advanced Realm, and Perfection Realm. Every single realm was divided into three levels. So, if one wanted to attain the Advanced Realm in a Dao Insight, then one was at least required to attain the 9th level in a Dao Insight, and the difficulty to attain this was obvious.

Moreover, attaining the Advanced Realm in a Dao Insight could only be considered as possessing the qualification to comprehend a Dao Art in this Art Cultivation Grounds, and it still depended on natural talent and fortune to obtain a Dao Art.

“Hmph! What’s there to be complacent about? There are nine layers on the lotus platform, and the Dao Arts contained on the first layer can only be considered to be ordinary. So even if you’ve obtained one, it’s only slightly more formidable than a perfect martial technique.” Someone muttered with envy.

“Heh. There’re almost 3,000 Elite Disciples in our Nine Radiance Sword Sect, yet only a mere 100 plus people have obtained a Dao Art. I’m already satisfied with being able to obtain this Sunfire Lightning Dao Art. Everyone, I’ll be taking my leave first.” That person remained indifferent, and he waved his hand with excitement as he turned and left.

“This kid really doesn’t have great aspirations in his heart!”

“Stop being envious. He can already be called shockingly outstanding from being able to obtain a Dao Art from this Domain of Fire.”

“Right, let’s continue working hard, and we’ll surely be able to obtain a Dao Art.” Everyone discussed for a short moment before started to meditate and comprehend once more. All of these people were Elite Disciples and there wasn’t a single inner court or outer court disciple, causing it to be obvious that only Elite Disciples had the qualification to enter this place.

There’re nine layers to the lotus platform, and the higher one went, the more formidable the Dao Art obtained would be… Chen Xi witnessed the entire scene from before, he pondered slightly before shaking his head, and then he walked towards the depths of the Domain of Fire with large strides. His footsteps quickly passed all those disciples, and then he moved forward without stopping.

These actions of his quickly caused the silent surroundings to erupt with a wave of low clamorous voice. All the disciples that were in a state of comprehension had opened their eyes in astonishment, and they gazed at Chen Xi’s figure that was about to vanish before them.

“This fellow actually wants to head directly towards a higher platform? Could it be that he doesn’t know the probability of obtaining a Dao Art becomes lower the higher one goes?”

“He’s truly arrogant. Starting from the second layer, the realms within carry a Dao pressure, and if one’s comprehension in Dao Insights are insufficient, one’s soul will be injured!”

“Perhaps he wants to obtain a Dao Art of higher quality? I hope he’ll be able to persist.”

Amongst the nine layers on the lotus platform, every single layer represented a domain. For example, the first layer was the Domain of Fire, and it was filled with the Grand Dao of Fire. Moreover, one was able to obtain a fire element Dao Art from it.

Besides that, even though the domain of every single layer seemed like an independent world, they were actually linked to each other, and one was entirely capable of seeing the situation within the domain of the ninth layer from the first layer.

This sort of feeling was similar to how storage magic treasures were refined. The space within them was boundlessly vast, yet they could be completely reflected in one’s mind in detail.

The domains on the nine layers of the lotus platform were like nine connected storage magic treasures, and every single space was boundlessly vast, yet all of them could be seen clearly.

When Chen Xi’s figure stepped foot into the second layer, the Domain of Water, the disciples present here were obviously much fewer. But they could still be seen all over. Moreover, this Domain of Water was just like the previous Domain of Fire on the first layer. It was suffused with boundless Water Dao Insight and formed into various phenomena like symbols, divine beasts, and even numerous inconceivable and peculiar scenes.

The only difference was that this expanse of the heavens and the earth was filled with a Dao Insight pressure. The pressure pressed down directly onto the soul, causing one to unconsciously feel greatly oppressed, and it was like an enormous mountain was pressing down onto one’s chest, causing even one’s breathing to become difficult.

This sort of scene caused Chen Xi to recall the scene of the trial of the Ascension Peak during the Allstar Meeting. It was similarly the energy of Dao Insight pressure, yet the Dao Insight pressure here was much more shocking, pure, and formidable, and it forced him to have no choice but to circulate his cultivation technique before being able to eliminate the pressure he felt in his soul.

Chen Xi didn’t stop here and continued moving up.

He felt that relying on his current comprehension in Dao Insight, he was entirely capable of going higher, and unless the Dao Insight pressure pressed down upon him to the point he was unable to resist it, he wouldn’t stop.

The Domain of Water.

The Domain of Wood.

The Domain of Earth.

…

Unknowingly, Chen Xi had already traversed four layers and arrived at the fifth layer, the Domain of Metal.

He entirely didn’t notice that because of his actions of going up step by step, he’d already drawn the attention and discussion of numerous disciples behind him.

“This fellow is actually so strong? His natural talent and Dao Insight comprehension are both at the top standard since he’s able to arrive at the fifth layer. He’s absolutely capable of being ranked in the top 30 amongst the Elite Disciples of our Nine Radiance Sword Sect!”“How formidable! No wonder he dared to challenge Du Xuan. Now, another ferocious figure has appeared in our Nine Radiance Sword Sect.”

“Haha, this new disciple is interesting. He’d just entered our Nine Radiance Sword Sect yet bashed Du Guan before driving out all those fellows that acted as tyrants and occupied the West Radiance Peak. Now, he has come to pass through the barriers of the Art Cultivation Grounds. Could it be that he wants to break the records of the five great Elite Disciples?”

“Yeah, amongst the five great Elite Disciples, Du Xuan and Pang Zhou both obtained a Dao Art in the sixth layer, the Domain of Yin, whereas, the South Radiance Peak’s Xia Yi ascended the seventh layer, the Domain of Yang, and obtained a supreme Divine Ability. Supposedly, it’s even capable of being ranked into the top 300 of the Divine Ability Gold Rankings of the three dimensions.”

“Leng Qiu had originally obtained a Dao Art from the seventh layer as well, but just three months ago, he’d already stepped foot into the eighth layer, the Domain of Wind, and he’d obtained another Dao Art. His results are brilliant.”

“Originally, Leng Qiu would be able to be ranked equally with the North Radiance Peak’s An Wei. But unfortunately, An Wei ascended onto the ninth layer, the Domain of Lightning, just moments ago, and she reigns supreme!”

“I wonder if this new disciple that has just joined the West Radiance Peak today will be able to break the records of any one of the five great Elite Disciples.”

At this moment, the disciples in the surroundings had opened their eyes as their gazes shot over in unison towards Chen Xi who was moving higher up the lotus step by step, and their gazes were filled with various expressions like disdain, curiosity, contemplation, anxiousness, doubt, and so on and so forth.

In short, Chen Xi had become the center of attention in the Art Cultivation Grounds at this moment, and everyone wanted to know to exactly what extent this fellow would be able to traverse?