Divine Powers

"Wonderful Dharma Blessed Fate!"

The Miaoyuan Edict surfaced above his palms. Driven by his divine sense, the golden Edict Script radiance spilled in all directions!

After Pulse Opening, Xu Yan's divine sense had grown countless times stronger, making it much easier to activate the Miaoyuan Edict.

With his sea of consciousness controlling the Edict Script, Xu Yan suddenly felt his divine sense spread rapidly outward like ripples across the sea!

He pushed it to the limit. Spiritual light flickered in his eyes as his divine sense swiftly enveloped an area fifty zhang around him. The entire small valley lay within his sight.

He sensed every movement in the heavenly and earthly qi currents with extraordinary acuity!

The qi currents of heaven and earth to the west were clearly extremely weak, and farther beyond, they vanished altogether.

The east was where they were strongest—the direction from which he had come. This small valley where he stood was a barren land in the opposite direction. Any cultivator with half a brain would never come here.

"With this Edict Script, I can seek dragons and pinpoint acupoints, determine the qi currents of heaven and earth. Why should I fear having no path to spiritual wealth?"

Xu Yan took a deep breath and barely restrained his excitement as he carefully considered his plans for the future.

As his cultivation improved, this Edict Script would clearly have even greater uses. For now, the most important thing was to raise his cultivation and strength, pass steadily through the Immortal Treasury within a hundred days, and become a registered disciple of the Dragon Ridge Hundred Academies.

"I don't need to deliberately fight those clan disciples for first place. I'm only at the first level of Pulse Opening now—hasty eating won't cook hot tofu."

Xu Yan thought to himself.

Those Daoists with real strength would certainly seize the initiative. Xu Yan had already been inside for two and a half days; perhaps the strongest group had already traveled a thousand li away.

Rather than leaving at once, Xu Yan sank his mind inward again and studied the Eight-Nine Profound Art.

"Cultivating this technique probably means boarding that Dharma King senior's great ship."

Xu Yan had no choice. For a Rogue Cultivator like him to be favored by a supreme expert of the Divine Sect and granted a technique was already a tremendous honor and opportunity.

The Eight-Nine Profound Art also recorded three superior divine arts that could be used at the Pulse Opening realm.

Divine palm art: Primordial Seven Resonances.

Movement art: Chaos Step.

Defensive divine art: Primordial Qi Force.

This Eight-Nine Profound Art was practically the cultivation method best suited for cultivators with Primordial Spirit Veins.

It was said that this technique had once belonged to the Primordial Sect, a great sect in eastern Cang Province during the ancient era. The sect's founding Patriarch possessed a Primordial Spirit Vein. But later, the Patriarch of the Taiyuan Divine Sect descended upon the Azure Sea with the Divine Land. The Primordial Sect refused to submit, so True Person Taiyuan wiped them out from top to bottom and took all their cultivation methods into the Taiyuan Divine Sect.

Withdrawing his divine sense, Xu Yan rose and left the cave, but he did not depart immediately.

He intended to practice these three divine arts.

The Twelve Spell Divine Powers were still too weak, nowhere near comparable to such superior divine arts.

Three days slipped away in silence.

Within the desolate little valley, Xu Yan focused intently. His feet moved in an exceedingly strange pattern, his body flickering past, appearing and disappearing as though he were darting through the void. This was the Chaos Step.

However, Xu Yan also noticed that the Mystic Qi within his body was being consumed at an extremely frightening rate.

This art was clearly unsuitable for travel. Its consumption was too great, and Xu Yan had yet to completely master it. His cultivation was also only at the first level of Pulse Opening.

In the small valley, Xu Yan stepped through the eerie Chaos Step and abruptly arrived beneath a cliff face.

Xu Yan fixed his gaze and concentrated. The meridians within his body trembled as mana continuously gathered in his right palm.

Suddenly, his elbow bent slightly, and he thrust backward with force!

Crack!

His curled palm formed a claw, and a soft sound like bursting thunder came from its center.

The space beneath his palm twisted slightly. He was using the Primordial Seven Resonances. Pitch-black mana gathered, rumbling and roaring like thunder. Because he cultivated the Eight-Nine Profound Art and possessed a Primordial Spirit Vein, Xu Yan's mana had already turned a profound black, incomparably tyrannical.

"There is still strength to spare!"

Xu Yan sank his stance again. The Spirit Meridian within his body shook, and vast mana howled through his meridians like dragons and tigers racing wild.

Crack!

Another soft sound rang out. The mana in his palm grew even more tyrannical, black as night, like long blades trembling and crying.

He still did not stop. He stamped the ground hard with one foot.

Using the Chaos Step, he actually streaked up the cliff face at high speed!

Crack!

The third sound, like an exploding thunderclap, resounded through the entire valley. Within the dark, abyssal mana beneath his palm, a bolt of lightning flashed.

"Primordial Chaos Palm, the power of three resonances."

The veins on Xu Yan's arm bulged. He felt as if he were lifting a small mountain. No longer hesitating, he brought down his divine palm art upon the cliff face with the force of a tiger descending the mountain.

Boom!

A terrifying explosion thundered through the valley.

Tyrannical and merciless mana, like countless black blades, continuously tore apart that patch of space.

Xu Yan's single palm strike blasted a five-zhang-deep hole into the cliff face. Dust and shattered stones filled the air, spraying in every direction!

The Primordial Seven Resonances not only contained the domineering Primordial Chaos Mana, but also carried the reinforcement of qi and blood. Its power was truly frightening. If it struck a Daoist solidly, it could instantly obliterate them into dust.

"After using the Chaos Step for only the time it takes to burn an incense stick, along with the three-resonance power of the Primordial Chaos Palm, more than half the mana in my Dao body has already been consumed."

Xu Yan shook his aching arm and brushed the dust from his sleeves, weighing matters in his heart.

As for the Primordial Qi Force, Xu Yan had only learned the surface of it. This art released the dense Mystic Qi tempered within the body, condensing it into an invisible layer of protective qi around the Dao body. Xu Yan had tried many times, yet could not maintain it for even ten breaths. Even when he did manage to sustain it, one gust of wind scattered it.

It seemed his current mana was still not deep and vigorous enough.

Having gained a preliminary grasp of these superior divine arts, he at least now had the means to use them. Xu Yan planned to leave this place.

He sat quietly for a while. Once the qi, blood, and Mystic Qi within him had recovered to fullness, he used the Qi-Riding Art and fled eastward.

He proceeded cautiously for half an hour.

Xu Yan arrived at the Earth Treasure Spirit Spring from six days ago. The pool had already dried up. Tushan Jiuyuan had clearly taken away all the Earth Spirit Spring water long ago.

Xu Yan tried activating the Miaoyuan Edict, but he did not sense any heavenly materials or earthly treasures within fifty zhang.

Perhaps it was because this was the "starting region" of the Immortal Treasury. Xu Yan had not encountered any demons or monsters along the way, nor had he sensed any cultivators. Six days had already passed, and the vast majority had left this region. Who would be like Xu Yan and remain in such a forest, where the qi currents of heaven and earth were so thin?

After riding Mystic Qi through the air for another half hour, the ancient trees around him grew increasingly sparse, while cold moonlight poured down.

"The smell of blood..."

Xu Yan frowned and immediately stopped, concealing his aura.

More than twenty years of military life in his past life had carved caution into Xu Yan's bones. He was also extremely sensitive to the smell of blood, not to mention that his divine sense and six senses now far surpassed those of ordinary people.

In the distance, dark mountains seemed to loom beneath the moonlight.

The path began to narrow. Xu Yan looked ahead and saw only a single mountain trail winding between the ravines of the mountain range.

"These ancient mountains are each at least a hundred zhang high. The Qi-Riding Art can't get over them at all."

Xu Yan's brows knit tightly. Moreover, flying with the Qi-Riding Art in a place like this would be like carrying a lantern in broad daylight. The barren mountains ahead stretched for hundreds of li, with nowhere to conceal himself.

"A region naturally suited for ambushes."

Xu Yan looked around. He brought the Breath Concealment Art to its limit and walked silently for a while. The scent of blood hanging in the air grew heavier and heavier. As he was about to leave the ancient forest, his divine sense detected faint voices speaking. Xu Yan immediately halted, slightly extending his divine sense. Three voices entered his ears.