Chapter 100 - Cultivation Bottleneck

Myriad Wither Peak’s Molten Iron Baneful Aura Pool spanned two hundred feet. It was comparable to some lakes. Churning black baneful aura emanated from the pool.

There were many chambers in the stone walls next to the pool.

In the fifty-foot-wide Chamber 11, there was a pipe in the corner that connected to the Molten Iron Baneful Aura Pool. Black baneful aura—with a lower concentration than the pool—diffused into the chamber.

Chi! Chi! Chi!

As the Molten Iron baneful aura entered his body, Meng Chuan felt his entire body heat up. His mind was assaulted by the baneful aura as well. Under the influence of baneful aura, the body-tempering saber art’s effects would be reduced, even if ordinary geniuses managed to stay awake. However, Meng Chuan had the Power of Essence Soul that helped him resist the baneful aura. This gave him absolute clarity of mind. He executed the body-tempering saber art with perfection, allowing his muscles to release strength.

This was why Meng Chuan had achieved the Fourth Refinement in a short month. He was half-way through completing the Fifth Refinement. He resisted the baneful aura’s effect on his mind completely.

My saber art realm isn’t high enough. If I don’t achieve Saber Intent, I won’t be able to use most of my physical strength. My body is absorbing the baneful already much slower now. Meng Chuan was a little anxious. From the first day of attempting the Fifth Refinement, the effects baneful aura has on my body-tempering has constantly been decreasing. With my current absorption speed, I’m afraid I’ll take a year to complete the Fifth Refinement. And that’s not even mentioning that my body-tempering speed might decrease tomorrow.

What about the Sixth Refinement? Will it take five years, ten years? What about the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Refinement? Meng Chuan shook his head gently.

Archean Mountain had plenty of books that introduced the various cultivation milestones of the Lightning Devastator Fiend Body.

If one wanted to cultivate the Lightning Devastator Fiend Body to a high level, their progress would be determined by several aspects.

The first was the physical body. The stronger one’s body foundation, the faster one absorbed and fused baneful aura. Meng Chuan’s Godfiend foundation was three times more robust than an ordinary mortal’s. It wasn’t bad, although it was inferior to Xue Feng’s Godfiend foundation, it was impressive enough. It was a Godfiend foundation forged from consuming a drop of Godfiend Jade Marrow Liquid, an Iceheart Fruit, and Astral Spirit Grass strand. It was a top-notch Godfiend foundation among geniuses. Meng Chuan was very grateful for his father’s and family’s efforts.

Second, will. The stronger one’s will was, the better. It reduced the negative effects of baneful auras. His strong will allowed him to execute the body-tempering saber art better. With the Power of Essence Soul, Meng Chuan could maintain absolute clarity of mind! He could execute the body-tempering saber art without any mental interference! He scored full marks on this aspect.

The third was realm. The Lightning Devastator Fiend Body required one to be at the Realm of Intent. This was because Intent allowed a person’s body to produce strength several times greater than when using Force! Intent allowed one to use more of their body’s potential. This caused a quantitative change in the absorption of baneful aura. Furthermore, Saber Intent would help him execute the body-tempering saber art more intricately. This also bettered the body-tempering effects—a qualitative change.

One had to achieve Intent before they had a chance of reaching the Seventh Refinement. And it was just a chance to reach it.

Many geniuses had reached the Realm of Intent, but the further they advanced in regards to body-tempering, the stronger the baneful auras became. They could barely maintain lucidity when the baneful aura attacked their minds; thus, only achieving a portion of the body-tempering saber art’s effects. If one had a sufficiently robust Godfiend foundation, they would stand a chance of reaching the Seventh Refinement. If their foundation were weak, they wouldn’t have any hope of reaching the Seven Refinement.

I’ll try the Power of Essence Soul. He now knew that the Power of Soul was the Power of Essence Soul. The Essence Soul was closely related to the body, and it was best at utilizing the body’s potential.

Boom!

The Power of Essence Soul fused with his body. His perception of his body became several times clearer. The blood in his heart seemed to be churning like rivers. His lungs and breathing mimicked the whistling air in Thousand Sabers Cavern. With improved perception, he could muster several-fold his normal strength and speed when he used the body-tempering saber art. The body-tempering effects he gained was no less than using Intent.

His body became greedier as it absorbed the baneful aura. His body-tempering efficiency immediately soared. However, this drained his Power of Essence Soul too quickly. Before he could complete one set of the body-tempering saber art, his Power of Essence Soul was already depleted.

Meng Chuan shook his head. The effects of absorbing the baneful aura have increased by several dozen-fold. Unfortunately, it doesn’t last long. I can train once in the morning. When the Power of Essence Soul has recovered fully at night, I can train again. I can use the baneful aura to temper my body twice a day at maximum efficiency, but these sessions are too short.

Previously, he cultivated for two hours. But now, he couldn’t continue after a few seconds. It was too short.

Even if it’s two times a day, it would probably take a year. There’s still the Sixth and Seventh Refinement… Meng Chuan shook his head. This isn’t a solution.

A beard well lathered is half shaved. I’ll try to comprehend Saber Intent first before continuing to temper my body. As long as I achieve Saber Intent, I’ll probably complete the Fifth Refinement in five days. There’s no need to drain my Power of Essence Soul daily. It’s not good for cultivation either.

Tempering the body with baneful aura is too slow. According to the descriptions in the manual, I should stop. The longer I’m exposed to the baneful aura, the greater the damage to my body. Many geniuses eventually collapse physically and are forced to stop. My body-tempering speed is slow; therefore, there’s no need to persist blindly.

Some geniuses had reached the Realm of Intent. However—with the baneful aura invading their minds—they barely managed to stay conscious. This caused the body-tempering saber art to be ineffective for them. Their bodies suffered severe damage after absorbing the baneful aura for too long.

The wisest method was to train one’s will, such as reaching the Darkness Altar’s summit! With sufficient willpower, one could maintain 60–70% of the body-tempering saber art’s effects whilst being assaulted by baneful aura. This way, there was hope.

However, it was very difficult to temper one’s will! It normally took geniuses three to five years to temper their well. Geniuses could not afford to waste so much time.

The Godfiend foundation was forged in the Mortal Shedding realm. It was impossible to change it now.

Raising realms was even more difficult.

Archean Mountain gave ten years for their disciples to become high-grade Godfiends at the very least, or they would be expelled from the inner sect. With such time constraints, cultivating a transcendent-grade Godfiend body was very difficult.

Apart from the Phoenix Divine Body and the Dragon God Body, it made sense why five of the other ten transcendent-grade Godfiend bodies—the Archean Divine Body, the Samsara Divine Body, the Lightning Devastator Fiend Body, the Thirteen Swordbane Fiend Body, and the Great Strength Fiend Body—were the hardest to cultivate.

If I want to reach the Ninth Refinement, I need to achieve Saber Intent. Without any hesitation, Meng Chuan left the chamber.

From this day onwards, he stopped cultivating his Godfiend body and focused on his saber art. Time originally spent for Godfiend body cultivation, was instead used for his saber arts.

He spent seven hours cultivating every morning! After lunch, he painted during his resting hours and recovered from his exhaustion. After all, it was exhausting to cultivate in the Thousand Sabers Cavern for long periods of time, even though he loved cultivating the swift saber. He had no restraint when painting. He could draw as he wished, allowing his mind to relax completely.

After eating food in the late afternoon, he would head to the Thousand Sabers Cavern and spend four hours perfecting the Heart Saber Stance. In total, he spent eleven hours on the Heart Saber Stance every day! After his painting sessions mid-day, he would be at his optimal state.

…

In the blink of an eye, it was June.

Bright Scenic Peak at night.

“Steward Liu, when did Meng Chuan leave?” Liu Qiyue placed dishes on the table and asked.

“Lord Meng Chuan left at 16:45,” said Steward Liu respectfully.

“I understand. You can leave first,” instructed Liu Qiyue.

“Yes.” Steward Liu respectfully retreated.

Liu Qiyue sat at the table and looked at the food she had prepared. Ah Chuan cultivates until so late in the day. For the past six months at Archean Mountain, his cultivation has become even crazier than when we were back at home.

Her heart ached a little.

After hours of training, her mental fatigue greatly reduced her efficiency. According to her master, she should stop to rest if she was truly exhausted and had poor cultivation efficiency. Forcefully cultivating without rest was not beneficial.

However, Meng Chuan had been cultivating for a very long time.

She read a book as she waited at the table silently.

…

Late at night, an exhausted Meng Chuan finally returned to his cave abode.

“Ah Chuan.” Liu Qiyue immediately stood up.

“Qiyue.” Meng Chuan’s exhausted face brightened when he saw Liu Qiyue.

“I personally cooked some food for you. Try it,” said Liu Qiyue immediately. She covered each plate with her hands and heated the cold dishes up rapidly. Using the power of a Phoenix bloodline to heat food was quite a rare sight.

Meng Chuan saw the dishes being heated up. Steam rose from the soup.

He was quite touched. Qiyue probably waited quite long for him.

“Oh, there’s my favorite pork belly.” Meng Chuan’s eyes lit up. He immediately sat down and picked up his chopsticks.

“Join me,” said Meng Chuan immediately.

“There’s no need. I’m already full,” said Liu Qiyue.

“I’m rather hungry,” said Meng Chuan with a smile. He had been cultivating the Heart Saber Stance for four hours in the Thousand Sabers Cavern. He was naturally very hungry, and he enjoyed the meal.

Liu Qiyue watched from the side with a smile, but she still said, “Ah Chuan, don’t tire yourself out from cultivating. My master said that persisting in cultivation when you’re exhausted is harmful.”

“Don’t worry, I know.” Meng Chuan nodded.

“It’s useless no matter how many times I tell you this,” Liu Qiyue said exasperatedly.

Meng Chuan smiled without defending himself.

If he didn’t paint for more than two hours in the afternoon, he wouldn’t have had the energy to continue practicing his saber in the evening.

His painting time wasn’t fixed. It depended on his mood. Sometimes, it was a little short. Other times, it was longer. He didn’t limit the time as long as he enjoyed himself. Therefore, Meng Chuan never had a fixed time for when he returned in the evening. Liu Qiyue often waited for quite some time.

“Qiyue, I have a feeling.” Meng Chuan looked at Liu Qiyue and softly said, “I’m not far from achieving Saber Intent. I’ll definitely be able to break through within half a month.”

“Really?” Liu Qiyue’s eyes lit up when she heard that.

“In a few days, I’ll use my saber art in front of you,” said Meng Chuan with a smile.

Liu Qiyue nodded. Her eyes were bright. She was extremely happy seeing Meng Chuan becoming stronger.