In the Austin Palace, Austin was practicing in his specially curated cultivation room.
Sitting cross-legged, he practiced a cycle of the Golden Sun Scripture. After four hours of practice, his strength and vital energy were back in top form.
After all, during the month he spent in the Mysterious Nether World, he was entirely focused on dueling or to be alert of potential dangers that were more often than not lurking in the corners. He had not been able to devote any time to have a good rest and practice the Golden Sun Scripture.
Now that he was finally out of the Mysterious Nether World, it was safe to have a good rest and practice. He was feeling relieved. After all, he had succeeded in overcoming multiple difficulties and he deserved this leisure.
After practicing the Golden Sun Scripture for four hours, he opened his eyes and took out his Space Ring.
"It's time to check what I managed to obtain in the Mysterious Nether World. It was a fierce trial but I survived and got a good harvest."
With this in mind, he took out all the medicinal herbs from his Space Ring. He had been able to acquire almost a mountain of herbs from the Mysterious Nether World.
The medicinal herbs were his biggest harvest in the adventure. Most of them grew in the Medicine Valley.
Austin began sorting them so that he could get an accurate measure. Close to seven hundred were at the fourth or fifth grade;
more than two hundred were at the sixth grade; about sixty were at the seventh grade and only ten of them were at the eighth grade.
These medicinal herbs were priceless. In the Violet Orchid Empire, only sheer luck could get a cultivator a herb at a grade of six or higher. Many cultivators would never get a chance to even see a grade seven or grade eight medicinal herb in their whole life.
Angus had said the Mysterious Nether World was an ideal place for medicinal herbs to grow. One reason was that it was an isolated desolate world; the other being that it was rich with spiritual energy.
Even though there were countless cultivators coming in for a trial, only few medicinal herbs were picked. Don't forget that these herbs were duly protected by many powerful diabolic beasts.
That was also another reason why there were so many medicinal herbs at higher grades.
Among the medicinal herbs that Austin had obtained, there were ten black and white fruits. Austin knew these were soul-recovering fruits.
In fact, Austin had managed to collect thirteen soul-recovering fruits in total. But he gave three of them to Reuben, the youngest prince.
The invaluable soul-recovering fruit which was a kind of
Pagoda to a strong cultivator at the Sky Realm, his rival would flick the Grand Pagoda away because he had an extremely powerful vital energy force. Austin knew he had to make his offense better and more formidable.
The Illusory Swordsmanship was at the same grade with the Grand Pagoda Summoning Skill. As a grade four swordsmanship, its power also was limited when he reached the Sky Realm.
In fact, Austin had reached the Sky Realm and had strong powerful vital energy force. Using the Grand Pagoda Summoning Skill and the Illusory Swordsmanship wouldn't make his attack more powerful. Instead, it would actually weaken his strong vital energy force.
These two martial skills were now like chicken ribs—things of little value or interest.
His strong physical body was not as useful as it used to be.
His body force was about 30, 000 pounds. For a rival who was at the Mysterious Realm, it would be useful and effective. He could even bear the most powerful punch made by a cultivator at the Mysterious Realm.
But it was not enough to fight with a cultivator at the Sky Realm.
Austin's martial skills and battle strategies were too weak to use at the Sky Realm. It was time for an upgrade.
He had to now practice higher grade martial skills.
Austin stared at the five colorful jade slips in front of him and was eager to see the grade seven martial skills recorded on them.
"I really hope the skills on these jade slips can help me practice," muttered Austin.
He took a short breath and put the grade five and grade six martial skills into his space ring.
Then, he took up a jade slip that recorded a grade seven martial skill and put it on his forehead. As he was thinking of it, his spiritual sense entered into the jade slip.