The Bronze Gate

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Chapter 11: The Bronze Gate

As the talismans inscribed on the cultivation chamber's walls lit up one after another, the spiritual qi inside swarmed like bees toward the cushion on the green jade floor tiles, turning into barely perceptible threads of spiritual light that streamed into Chen Beiwu's body.

Boom, boom, boom!!!

After converting the Spirit Power boiling like liquid mercury in his dantian into the magical power of the Ten Thousand Beasts Art, Chen Beiwu opened his eyes and exhaled a visible stream of air.

The stream hissed like tearing silk, lingering in the air for two breaths before slowly dissipating.

My cultivation speed has increased by a full thirty percent, but the chamber's spiritual qi isn't quite enough. Chen Beiwu looked at the dimmed talismans around him.

The higher a cultivator's realm, the more spiritual qi they needed to draw in during cultivation.

A Middle-Grade First Tier cultivation chamber supplied a limited amount of spiritual qi each day. It could sustain the daily cultivation of a middle-stage Qi Refining cultivator, but it could not meet his needs.

Unless he was willing to spend a great many spirit stones upgrading his cultivation chamber at home to first-tier upper-grade.

At that thought, Chen Beiwu could not help shaking his head.

No wonder humble households struggled to produce powerful cultivators.

Children of cultivation lineages could pave a road to immortality with vast quantities of spirit stones, while ordinary people could only scrimp and scrape, breaking their low-grade spirit stones into pieces to chase that distant, unreachable dream of immortality.

Of course, some cultivators chose to seek shortcuts elsewhere.

As far as Chen Beiwu knew, some powerful figures in the Immortal Alliance's three major institutions had risen with their first pot of gold supplied by their wives' families.

If he had not possessed his supreme divine ability treasure, pursuing immortality without resources would probably have left him no choice but to latch onto a cultivation Aristocratic Clan, or even marry into one, just as Liu Yan had suggested.

Unfortunately, I'm too weak, and my Nine-Breath Qi Ingestion divine ability is only at the introductory level. I can't unleash the might of Nine-Breath Chaos at all, Chen Beiwu thought.

Every time he entered the Nine-Breath Chaos Land, he could feel the supreme power contained within this treasure.

Unfortunately, his strength was still meager, and his providence was not flourishing enough. He could only use the Nine-Breath Qi Ingestion divine ability to barely pry loose the slightest trace of the Chaos Land's power.

With that thought, Chen Beiwu took a deep breath, extinguished his distracting thoughts, and pulled the jade slip Chen Qin had given him from his pocket. He pressed it to his forehead and activated his magical power.

"Hum!" A faint glow bloomed on the jade slip's surface, and the information stored within poured into his mind as it resonated with his magical power.

After a long while, Chen Beiwu opened his eyes, a trace of surprise in them.

The information Sister Qin had given him was largely the same as what he had previously found, but it included two additional water-type spirit beasts with exceptionally powerful evolutionary paths.

[Species]: Azure-Wave Spirit Carp

[Attribute]: Water

[Bloodline]: Second-tier upper-grade (spirit beast)

[Talent]: Water spirit affinity (naturally attuned to water spiritual qi; can manipulate water currents to create illusions that bewilder opponents)

[Possible evolutions]: Azure-Scaled Treasure Flood Dragon (third-tier middle-grade treasure beast), Purple-Scaled Dragon Chi (third-tier upper-grade treasure beast)...

[Evaluation]: Azure-Wave Spirit Carp often appear in spirit springs and enjoy feeding on the essence of moonlight. Outstanding members of the spirit carp race, they possess a trace of flood dragon bloodline. If they survive a heavenly tribulation, they can transform into flood dragons and wield the power of rivers.

The more Chen Beiwu read, the more delighted he became.

Compared with the Azure Spirit Newt he had shortlisted, the Azure-Wave Spirit Carp undoubtedly had greater potential and a more promising future.

Its only drawback was that the Azure-Wave Spirit Carp's combat strength was far too feeble early on—not even one-tenth of the former's.

But if he could raise an Azure-Wave Spirit Carp to adulthood, its combat strength would far surpass the Azure Spirit Newt's, and it might even transform into a flood dragon.

Placing the Azure-Wave Spirit Carp at the top of his shortlist, Chen Beiwu recalled the information on the other spirit beast with promising potential.

[Species]: Spirit-Turtle Water Nether

[Attributes]: Water, yin and yang (latent)

[Bloodline]: Second-tier upper-grade (spirit beast)

[Talent]: Dual-Colored Two Poles (bears armor of yin and yang on its back; can carry an entire water realm)

[Possible evolutions]: Mysterious-Water Nether Turtle (third-tier upper-grade treasure beast), Supreme Nether Mystic Turtle (fourth-tier mystic beast)...

[Evaluation]: Darkwater Spirit Turtles often appear in rivers and seas and enjoy swallowing water from the seas in all four directions. They must encounter a lightning tribulation to awaken their talent, drawing upon the water of the four seas within their bodies to form a miniature water realm capable of suppressing rivers and seas. They are the exclusive spirit beasts of the Cavern Mystery Immortal Sect, one of the Thirteen Immortal Sects.

Those who successfully contract a Mysterious-Water Nether Turtle may enter the sect without an examination and directly study the Supreme Cavern Mystery Numinous Treasure Scripture in the Cavern Mystery Immortal Sect.

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Cultivators who successfully cultivated through beasts using the Supreme Cavern Mystery Numinous Treasure Scripture had a chance to raise a Darkwater Spirit Turtle into the legendary Northern Nether Black Tortoise, capable of suppressing the Celestial River.

The more Chen Beiwu thought about it, the more surprised he became.

Darkwater Spirit Turtles were exclusive to the Cavern Mystery Immortal Sect and were never released to outsiders. How had one suddenly appeared at the Spirit Beast Pavilion in Fallen Dragon Prefecture?

But even more surprising than that was where Sister Qin had obtained such firsthand information.

"Thump, thump, thump!"

Just then, Chen Beiwu's expression changed. His heartbeat accelerated wildly, and fine, dark-gold threads appeared on the surface of the magical power circulating through his body, forming an abstruse, mysterious talisman.

What's happening!!!

Before he could react, a dazzling burst of golden light erupted. Soon, as the golden light faded, the cultivation chamber stood empty.

When Chen Beiwu regained consciousness, he was already in the Nine-Breath Chaos Land.

Unlike before, when he tried to move his arm, he found that he could not budge. His body seemed to have merged with this chaotic world.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

As a dazzling streak of seven-colored light swept past Chen Beiwu's right side, this domain where heaven and earth had yet to separate, this expanse where yin and yang had yet to divide, began to transform amid deafening roars.

The seven-colored light carved out tiny cracks, which swiftly spread and formed a massive rift.

Within that rift, an immense bronze gate beyond description slowly emerged.

It was roughly a thousand zhang wide, its height unfathomable, like a gate holding up the heavens. Countless ancient, majestic runes were inscribed upon its doors.

Those runes transformed now into stars filling the sky, now into a magnificent river of stars, now into heaven, earth, mountains, and rivers, radiating an eternal aura that made his heart tremble.

"What is this...!"

Under Chen Beiwu's gaze, the immense Bronze Gate let out an earth-shaking roar, then slowly opened to reveal the distorted space within.

It was a black hole whose end could never be seen, as though it were both the beginning of heaven and earth and the final destination of all things.

He did not know how much time passed. Perhaps a minute, perhaps a day, or perhaps a year.

When the eternal radiance blossoming from the immense Bronze Gate filled Chen Beiwu's vision, his head grew heavy, and he lost consciousness again.

Sunlight filtered through the sparse leaves, scattering mottled patches of light and shadow across the ground.

"Drip!"

A crystalline dewdrop fell from the emerald leaves onto the sleeping man's forehead, startling him awake from his dream.

Such dense spiritual qi! Smelling the fresh fragrance of vegetation in the air, Chen Beiwu opened his eyes in surprise.

Yet in the next instant, a flash of green at the edge of his vision made his body tense, and he dared not move a muscle.

(End of chapter)