Martial Cultivator

Cultivators' cultivation is never easy, even taking a single step forward is difficult. Especially after reaching a high realm, it becomes even more so. The higher one goes, the slower one moves. Cultivators could accept moving slowly, but once they fell in realm, it was something countless cultivators could not accept.

Because once a fall in realm happens, it means returning to the previous realm is even harder than reaching the sky.

So cultivators' fear of falling in realm was second only to running amok from cultivation. And if one fell down from the Nepenthe Realm, it was like falling into an abyss. Ordinary people might never see the scenery of Nepenthe again in their lives. But Chen Chao now directly fell in cultivation realm.

The "Chen Chao" inside his body stared at the furnace in his acupuncture point, his expression serious. This refining of his qi was extremely dangerous. He himself was not confident of success.

But Chen Chao could feel that if he succeeded, the benefits would be endless.

Watching the auras pour into the furnace, Chen Chao's thoughts stirred, and true fire rose under the furnace, continuously heating it to refine the aura.

But Chen Chao soon found a problem. The furnace in this acupuncture point was too few. At this rate, he would probably spend more than ten years to fully refine his qi, and that was assuming everything went perfectly smoothly.

Thinking of this, Chen Chao felt pain. Ten years was not actually considered long. After all, he was only a little over twenty now, and ten years later, he would only be a little over thirty. For ordinary cultivators, to reach this realm before death would already be very satisfying. But for Chen Chao, it was not enough.

This was far too slow.

Chen Chao thought for a moment and quickly made a bold decision.

He left this acupuncture point and came to the next acupuncture point. Then, he built another furnace with his will to absorb the surrounding qi.

After building the second furnace, Chen Chao did not plan to stop, but continued to the other acupuncture points. In a short time, he built furnaces in all one hundred and eight important acupuncture points of his body to absorb the surrounding qi.

In this way, his body's speed of refining qi greatly increased, but the risk also rose.

After all, controlling one hundred and eight furnaces at once was a great challenge for any cultivator in the world.

But the time left to Chen Chao was very little and could not be wasted.

However, from here on Chen Chao had to be extremely careful. If anything went wrong, it would be eternal damnation.

Still, he understood a truth: the greater the danger, the greater the reward.

So he stubbornly persisted and did not intend to retreat.

Once his one hundred and eight furnaces were completed and started absorbing the surrounding auras, Chen Chao's body temperature rose continuously. In just a moment, his body became like a real furnace, so hot that ordinary people would likely be instantly killed by the heat.

At the same time, Chen Chao's skin began to emit hot steam, then continuously heated up. His black robe outside his body even began to carbonize.

The temperature of the whole bamboo building rose as well. The green bamboo inside began to yellow under Chen Chao's heat.

One had to know, this was sword mountain's green bamboo used for sword sheaths. Normal temperatures could never change it. But now, under the intense heat inside Chen Chao, it was affected.

The Chen Chao within his body had to hurry to his internal organs, trying to keep their temperature from rising too much. His body was tough from years of tempering and might withstand it, but his internal organs were relatively fragile. If the high temperature caused irreversible damage to his internal organs, that would be unacceptable for Chen Chao.

Fortunately, the temperature within his body stabilized and did not continue rising.

Chen Chao let out a sigh of relief.

However, as the qi was absorbed by the one hundred and eight furnaces, Chen Chao's aura weakened, and he fell once again from the Great Beyond Realm down to the Bitter Sea Realm.

......

......

Outside the bamboo building, Yu Qingfeng stopped after practicing his fists several times, wiping the sweat off his forehead with a puzzled look. "Xiao He, it's only early summer, why is it already this hot?"

He Liang nodded seriously. "Yeah, where I'm from, the weather now is very good, definitely won't be hot at all."

"That's not right. I remember this time last year it wasn't this hot either... No, it wasn't this hot even this morning."

Yu Qingfeng was confused, feeling this heat was strange, like it suddenly got hot all of a sudden.

He Liang nodded, wiping sweat from his brow, also finding it inconceivable. Normally, after stepping on the cultivation path, a cultivator's sensitivity to the outside world would definitely decrease, they would not feel cold or heat. Their cultivation realms should be higher than last year. Logically, even in the hottest summer, it would not feel this unbearable.

"Looks like... Master... the bamboo building!"

He Liang approached the bamboo building, feeling that the heat here was much stronger than where he had been. He immediately noticed the problem.

He Liang braved the heat to the bamboo building's door and wanted to speak, but quickly covered his mouth.

"Xiao He, what's wrong?"

Yu Qingfeng was still confused.

He Liang stepped back a few paces, looking shaken. "Senior Brother... do you think... Master has... run amok in his cultivation...?"

When He Liang said this, his face was full of worry.

He wanted to call his master before, but dared not speak out, fearing that disturbing Chen Chao during this critical cultivation moment might destroy even the slightest chance of survival.

Yu Qingfeng was stunned, his expression becoming ugly. "No way?"

He knew their master well. He was a genius. If he really had run amok in cultivation, that would not be a joke.

He Liang swallowed hard, feeling scared. "But this situation is really abnormal. If Master has truly ran amok... we have to call for help!"

Yu Qingfeng frowned. "Isn't it too early to go to the funeral parlor now?"

"Senior Apprentice Brother!"

He Liang was a bit dissatisfied. "What are you thinking?"

Yu Qingfeng snapped out of it and nodded. "Right, right, right, we should notify Mistress first!"

He Liang was stunned but quickly recovered. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Senior Brother, you watch here. I'm going to call Commander Song."

Without hesitation, He Liang ran out immediately. Among Chen Chao's two disciples, He Liang was quieter and younger but much calmer. As for Yu Qingfeng, he was often careless and prone to wild thoughts.

......

......

Not long after, Song Lian hurried here, bringing only Weng Quan. He had not notified anyone else because the news of Chen Chao's cultivation mishap must not spread. If others found out, it would become a serious problem.

But as soon as Song Lian approached the bamboo building, he knew things were not simple.

Weng Quan almost cried out, but luckily He Liang tugged on his sleeve.

"Second Uncle, is the Lord Warden Commander roasting himself?"

Weng Quan's face was grim, disbelief in his voice. "The Lord Warden Commander can't be this fragile, right? The matter of the grand court session is still unresolved?"

Song Lian ignored Weng Quan and walked toward the bamboo building. But even he, a Nepenthe martial artist, felt the intense heat at the door.

He Liang pleaded softly, "Commander Song, please save my master."

Yu Qingfeng nodded frantically and also concurred.

Song Lian made a shushing gesture to them, gently pushed open the door, and entered. Soon, he saw Chen Chao sitting cross-legged on the bed, upper body bare.

Song Lian came closer and quickly sensed Chen Chao's weak aura. This Commander Song was completely stunned. Chen Chao had since long become a Nepenthe Realm martial artist, but now his aura was faint, barely stronger than a Spirit Platform martial artist.

He had even fallen from the Divine Trove Realm.

Song Lian looked utterly incredulous. For any cultivator, falling in cultivation realm was an extremely difficult thing to accept. Usually, dropping just one realm was bad enough, but Chen Chao before him had fallen all the way from the Nepenthe Realm down to the Spirit Platform Realm.

What exactly had happened?

Looking at Chen Chao's burning hot body, constantly emitting steam, Song Lian was worried but did not know what else to do. After all, Chen Chao might be in some critical stage of cultivation right now; if disturbed by outsiders, it could cause even greater trouble.

With that thought, Song Lian quickly retreated.

Outside the bamboo building, He Liang soon approached and asked anxiously, "Commander Song, how is my master?"

Yu Qingfeng also looked concerned.

Song Lian shook his head.

Weng Quan's eyes widened. "Has the Lord Warden Commander passed away?!"

Song Lian could not hold back any longer and slapped his nephew on the head, then spoke in a low voice, "He should be mired in some cultivation right now. We outsiders can't help him, only protect him. Weng Quan, go inform the Right Guard. Tell them I have urgent matters, and have Deputy Commander Gan temporarily take over my position these days."

Weng Quan acknowledged but quickly turned to ask, "Second Uncle, is the Lord Warden Commander really okay?"

Song Lian ignored him and only warned, "Remember, this news must not leak. No one can know. If anyone else finds out, I'll twist your head off."

Then Song Lian looked at Yu Qingfeng and He Liang and said softly, "Don't leave during this period. Just keep doing whatever you usually do."

At this, Song Lian could not help but glance toward the bamboo building, his face full of worry.

Though he did not understand what Chen Chao was going through, he vaguely sensed that if Chen Chao could get through this, he might undergo a transformation.

If he did not make it, perhaps...

Would the Great Liang Dynasty then welcome another martial artist at the pinnacle?

Someone just over twenty at the end of Nepenthe, that would be damn rare.