Another Cliché Cultivation Story

“Remember, the engraved runes don’t last forever. You’ll have to occasionally repeat the process.”

Ji Xian explained to Xia Lihua as they flew.

“So this method is flawed?” She asked curiously.

“Yes, but I made it like that on purpose.”

“Why would you do that?”

Ji Xian laughed, ”Take a look at the Heavenly Merit on my body.”

While nodding her head, Xia Lihua’s eyes glowed with silver light as she examined him, but very quickly she realized she still wasn’t able to see anything.

Only after channeling her Astral Essence to the limit, did she manage to get a glimpse of the Heavenly Merit on his body.

“This…” She inwardly gasps.

What she saw was astonishing!

Ji Xian was similarly wrapped in a thin golden film, but the number of runes that were engraved on it was almost eight times the amount she had! Although it was only a rough estimate, she guessed he had close to two million runes on his body! Each one was smaller and more complex than the ones she made for herself.

They slowly disappeared in batches of a couple thousand at a time. The moment they did, Ji Xian's True Essence acted immediately and began engraving new runes. His clear Essence moved in a smooth motion and at incredible speed.

He was continuously inscribing new runes as the old ones disappear! Just creating one was already difficult enough, but to create thousands at the same time? Words can’t even describe how Xia Lihua was feeling.

“Why are you doing this? To purposely time it so you have to create a new batch of runes every second… were you also fighting the Nether race like this? The two brothers as well?” Xia Lihua was speechless.

“It’s to train this.” Ji Xian tapped his head. “It helps you learn to multitask, to split your conscious to focus on other things.”

He continued, “You’re only just started so I don’t expect you to be at my level, but the more you do it, the more you’ll get used to it. It’s a necessary skill to learn and will assist you in everything you do.

A look of understanding appeared on Xia Lihua’s face.

“But, there are limitations.” Ji Xian had a thoughtful expression. “The Soul Liberation Art for example…”

This Soul Cultivation Method was simply too hard to read and comprehend. Thanks to Yazhu and Yahui’s cooperation, Ji Xian has come to learn that the Soul Liberation Art was far from ordinary. It has a special origin and even those from the Graha race would salivate at the thought of being able to cultivate it.

Because of its difficulty, he can’t comprehend it without using his absolute focus to read it.

There’s also another limitation and it involves his biggest secret. To use his simulation, he's required to use his full concentration. This is also why he tends to close his eyes or be in a daze whenever he starts simulating. But Ji Xian was able to find a solution to this inconvenience.

Soul clones.

Through a series of fortunate encounters in his younger years, he was able to create a technique that allowed him to split his soul. From it, he was able to create the Hell Soul, which he had left behind in the Mortal Haven World as a precaution against a sudden invasion from the Upper World. His clone could remain in a state of perpetually simulating while he's off doing other things.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that Ji Xian can just create an infinite number of soul clones. The process was nothing but terrifying and painful, but that was only a part of it, once his soul clone inherits his simulation, its effectiveness and speed would reduce significantly.

Two soul clones, that is the most he will create. He already has the Hell soul, and with the Soul Liberation Art, he's confident he can create another soul clone, a Heaven soul.

However, the thought of having to rip his soul apart again was making him a little uncomfortable.

Xia Lihua inwardly nodded. Ji Xian had shared the Soul Liberation Art with her and she has also begun cultivating it. The first time she read the book, she almost passed out after two hours of reading so she knew of its difficulty.

“Multitask…” The thought of learning something new excited her. After being unable to make any progress for so long, there are finally ways to increase her strength!

“This Merit Art… does it only hide my existence from the Universal Will?” She asked.

“Of course not, it does much more than that.” Ji Xian smiled mysteriously.

…

“So where do you want to go now?” He asked happily as he looked around.

“What?” Xia Lihua raised an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t we hurry to the Arcane Mountain so you can seal the Chaos Tunnel there?”

“What’s the rush?” He laughed. “It doesn’t matter anymore, we already found another two Chaos Tunnels, who knows how many more are out there? Sealing one more or one less wouldn’t make a difference.”

She felt his words made sense, but it still sounded pretty irresponsible, after all, he told Xiao Yueyin that he'll follow her to the Arcane Mountain to seal the Chaos Tunnel there, but now, he separated from them and is off doing something else. She couldn't help but sigh. Ji Xian’s nonchalant attitude can be frustrating.

Just as she was about to persuade him otherwise, Xia Lihua suddenly felt his arms tightly wrapped around her waist, causing her to blush.

“Hey, I’m out of True Essence! You’ll have to carry me to the nearest city!” He joked.

“Liar! Who would believe you? Get off!”

“No! I’ll fall and become fish food! I’m too handsome to die like that.”

“You…idiot!”

———————————

After the second descent of the Universal Will, the Mortal Desolate World was once again thrown into chaos, but the Arcane Mountain immediately acted and assured all the factions once more.

In a large hall.

Xiao Yueyin’s throat was feeling parched as she explained the events at Solitude City to the two people in front of her.

Sitting on a jade throne was a beautiful and elegant young woman in a conservative light green dress. Currently, she had a serious expression on her face as she listened to Xiao Yueyin.

Standing below her was Zeng Shihao, who similarly has the same expression.

After Xiao Yueyin finished talking, the hall was filled with silence as they try to process everything.

After a while, Zeng Shihao muttered, “The Mortal Desolate World have Extreme level experts?”

“Sect Master, do you know anything about them?”

The woman on the throne shook her head.

“Another Chaos Tunnel…”

There is information that she, as the Sect Master of the Arcane Mountain was privy to that other people aren’t aware of. She wasn’t surprised to learn about the Formatic and the Chaos Tunnel.

Centuries ago, the Grahas used these tunnels to enter their world. At the time, the war was at its climax and with all the chaos, no one had the time to pay attention to every Chaos Tunnel. Afterward, they all disappeared one by one. Many people just assumed it naturally dispersed until only one was left, but there were also others who suspected the Graha race was up to something.

From Xiao Yueyin’s words, it seems the latter was correct. It turns out the Grahas had hidden away all the Chaos Tunnels!