Chapter 590: All Erupting At The Same Instant
The Immortal Martial Realm was also known as the burial ground of geniuses, and yet there were still countless numbers of geniuses who chose to head there. Regardless of whether they were members from the Nine Great Sects, crown princes or princesses from ancient countries, Saint Childs or Holy Maidens from large reclusive sects, all went there willingly. Nobody knew how many geniuses have died, but for those who could survive all the way to the end, they could truly obtain great rewards.
Each and every stone monument on the path contained a kind of power within it. For those who took the final test before reaching the convergence point of the floating bridges, they too would obtain the chant that complemented the art within one of the stone monuments. Qin Wentian understood that if he hadn’t obtained the secret chant from the treasure pagoda earlier, the art contained within the stone monument would merely be an innate technique and not a full immortal art. He also understood that if he failed to reach the fourth row of monuments, the chant he had obtained would similarly be useless as well.
Advancing layer by layer, only those who truly gained the approval of the Immortal Martial Realm would have an opportunity to acquire an immortal-level art or technique.
At this moment, Qin Wentian understood. In this vast Royal Sacred Region there was quite a number who had cultivated immortal arts before. Those dazzling characters who once stood among the top in the Immortal Martial Realm would have definitely acquired immortal arts as well. But for matters like this, they would only tell the ones closest to them, and not spread the news around wildly.
These were immortal arts, how could people not covet them? Even if they acquired one, they couldn’t spread the word if not it would be the same like they didn’t acquire. Hence the master of the Immortal Martial Realm was always regarded as a rumor, and wasn’t really an established fact because those who knew it kept their silence, and those who didn’t know could only speculate.
“I wonder if Di Shi obtained an immortal art,” Qin Wentian mused in a low voice. He didn’t know if Di Shi was the same as him, ranking first in the last test, and obtaining a chant before arriving here, and he also couldn’t determine if or where that ultimate attack Di Shi used originated from which of the rows on the path of the stone monuments.
If Di Shi only had the chant and hadn’t acquired any immortal art, his hatred towards Qin Wentian would surely deepen.
The Fiendgod Heaven Suppressing Art could suppress the heavens and earth, becoming an immortal god with a single thought, becoming a fiendish devil with a single thought.
“Just as well! In the future Di Tian shall cultivate the Great Dream Immortal Art, while my original body shall cultivate this Fiendgod Heaven Suppression Art. This Fiendgod Heaven Suppression Art has the power to temper my body, and can’t be shared, so it’s more suitable for my original self to cultivate it! If Di Tian cultivates the Great Dream Immortal Art, through our linked consciousness, I will be able to use it too!”Qin Wentian thought excitedly.
Right now, he had a total of four immortal arts in his memory. Most probably the number of people in the Royal Sacred Region who could claim to know as many immortal arts as him could be counted on both hands.
Among these four immortal arts, one was an unique-type - the Great Nirvana Immortal Art. This heaven-defying art allowed one to create another body, essentially having a second life; two of the immortal arts, respectively the Great Dream Immortal Art and the Fiendgod Heaven Suppression Art, had to be slowly cultivated; and the last immortal art he knew, the Immortal Vanquishing swordplay, was simply so powerful that he didn’t even dare to use it. The unleashed might was insanely terrifying, he couldn’t be able to bear the burden of using it.
But as he grew stronger and stronger in the future, it was only a matter of time before he could execute the Immortal Vanquishing Swordplay with no fear of self-injury.
“For this Fiendgod Heaven Suppression Art, if the oracular chant formula wasn’t in my mind, what would appear would merely be a watered-down version of an innate technique but could still be considered extremely powerful,” Qin Wentian mused as he started his cultivation. It was naturally impossible for him to completely master the Fiendgod Heaven Suppression Art in the Immortal Martial Realm. It would take until he broke through and stepped into the legendary realm of immortals before this Art would be considered fully mastered. Right now, he was only qualified to learn the basics.
However, this wouldn’t affect Qin Wentian initial cultivation of the Art. He would still be able to gain comprehension of it and use it to fight against the other combatants in the Immortal Martial Realm.
“Fan Mengyu is going to make a move towards Lou Bingyu.” At this moment, the spectators on the floating bridges who had been silent earlier started to boil with excitement once more. Fan Mengyu’s original cultivation base was at the ninth level of Heavenly Dipper and in the entire Royal Sacred Region, among Heavenly Dipper Sovereigns, she could be considered an unrivalled existence. There were even people who said that she could fight against Celestial Phenomenon Ascendants and win, although no one had proved it.
Any of the eight era-suppressing geniuses could jump levels and fight against opponents, but for Heavenly Dipper Sovereigns to fight against Celestial Phenomenon Ascendants? That wasn’t a feat simply described by ‘jumping levels.’ It was a qualitative evolution, so no matter how outstanding a genius might be, it couldn’t be guaranteed that they would be able to step past that gulf.
“Lou Bingyu’s journey in the Immortal Martial Realm is soon to be concluded,” many mused in their hearts. Although Lou Bingyu’s strength shocked many, being ranked #9 in the Immortal Martial Realm would already be a fair valuation of her strength. After all, Di Shi was eliminated earlier than he should have been.
Fan Miaoyu had already advanced to the fifth row, and has cultivated a total of five different kinds of power. In comparison, Lou Bingyu had only advanced to the fourth row and cultivated four different kind of powers. The two of them fought a grand battle, and there were no signs of insta-killing. On the contrary, when comparing the might of individual attacks, Lou Bingyu’s strength wasn’t weaker than Fan Miaoyu. This meant that Lou Bingyu’s comprehension abilities were on par with hers.
Fighting in the space of the stone monuments was different than fighting in reality, they could only use the power they cultivated in the stone monuments. Since their cultivation level was currently equal, they could only depend on how deep their comprehension of the power within each stone monument was to determine the victor.
Eventually, because of Lou Bingyu’s lack of combat experience as well as her lesser proficiency in using her innate techniques, she was defeated by Fan Miaoyu. Even so, her latent potential was evident for all to see.
Oddly enough, when the spectators saw this scene, a strange emotion couldn’t help but appear in their hearts. Before this, there were a few earlier battles, and Lou Bingyu and Si Ling were obviously the weakest among those remaining. When Si Ling faced Qin Wentian, he got insta-smashed; this indicated that Qin Wentian might very well have the power to achieve this again when facing Lou Bingyu. However, Fan Miaoyu evidently couldn’t do so.
Then, what did that mean, exactly?
As they thought of this, their hearts beat faster. Fan Miaoyu chose Lou Bingyu as her opponent, but was her real motive to probe the depths of Qin Wentian’s strength?
Many stared at the silhouette of the young man who was currently on the fourth row. This fellow had defeated Di Shi, and was already qualified to advance to the fifth row. This time around, a really powerful dark horse had appeared.
“There are still eight remaining. Di Shi ranked #11, Si Ling ranked #10, Lou Bingyu ranked #9,” someone spoke in a low voice. Although he was stating the obvious, his words still caused many to be taken aback when they heard them. There remained eight ranking spots, and there were a total of eight era-suppressing geniuses. What did this indicate?
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After Fan Miaoyu defeated Lou Bingyu, she quietly stood in front of her stone monument. The remaining eight participants were all quietly comprehending the stone monuments. After over ten days, Qin Wentian stepped into the fifth row. As of now, he had already caught up to many of the participants.
Of the remaining eight, there were six, including Qin Wentian, who were currently on the fifth row.
“Things are getting interesting,” Lin Xian`er smiled. There was no need to expressly state her meaning when Qin Wentian had already advanced to the fifth row of monuments. Before this, when everyone was on the first row, Qin Wentian used the longest amount of time in comprehension. Back then he took a risk, and was ‘clearly’ the weakest one, to the extent he was even injured by Di Shi and narrowly avoided being defeated.
But because of his solid foundation, when Qin Wentian advanced on the path of the monuments, and he advanced to the third row, he already had the power to oust Di Shi.
And right now Qin Wentian already reached the fifth row, the number of arts and techniques he cultivated wasn’t any less than the others. What did this mean? Many people were filled with anticipation for the results.
“There’s still the sixth row and the seventh row. I need to defeat two more before I can walk it all the way to the very end. Right now there’s only eight remaining, I can’t wait any longer,” Qin Wentian mused. If he failed to defeat two others, there would be no way for him to walk to the final seventh row of monuments. This was a situation he didn’t want to see.
Not only did Qin Wentian have this thought, the others were all thinking the same as well. Right now, other than Gu Liufeng and Hua Taixu who had already advanced to the sixth row of monuments, the others were all still on the fifth row. However, Gu Liufeng had already defeated six people which gave him the right to advance to the seventh row. Thus, there was no need for him to defeat any more people. What he needed to do now was to focus all his attention on comprehending.
Hua Taixu lacked one more victory, and so he initiated an attack. The target of his choice was none other than Ji Feixue from the Battle Sword Sect.
At the same time, Li Tian also invaded Dongyue Hanjiang’s stone monument. Evidently he also understood that it was time for him to make a move.
Qin Wentian was the first to choose a stone monument, after which he didn’t take the time to comprehend anything, he decisively invaded Chi Lian’s stone monument.
The butterfly effect had kicked in, upon seeing these events, the hearts of those watching pounded violently. Three supreme confrontations actually began at exactly the same moment.
“Hua Taixu is the most mysterious among the eight era-suppressing geniuses. He who came to fame the latest has chosen Ji Feixue as his opponent. Ji Feixue’s cultivation base was the lowest among the eight geniuses, he was on the sixth level before breaking through to the seventh within the Immortal Martial Realm. I wonder who will be the victor?”
“Li Tian from the Heaven Punisher Clan and Dongyue Hanjiang from the Eastern Mountain ancient country both excel in attacks. They went all out at each other right at the start and nobody knows what sort of power they comprehended from the stone monuments. Most likely, it would be techniques that were well suited to themselves. There is a 50% chance of victory for either, and it’s very hard to predict who will end up the winner.”
“As for Qin Wentian against Chi Lian, this battle...” The crowd all felt a peculiar feeling as they watched this battle. This was a battle which a dark horse was participating in, but in fact the end result was extremely clear to them. The probability of Qin Wentian obtaining victory was sky-high.
Someone who was not part of the eight era-suppressing geniuses, yet was regarded even higher then one of the eight. If it was before this, everyone had felt that this was absurd. But for some reason, there were many right now who believed that Qin Wentian’s odds were higher than Chi Lian, because they had personally witnessed Qin Wentian chose to advance step by step, and only after solidifying his foundation.
Hua Taixu’s battle with Ji Feixue had started. Hua Taixu stepped out giving off an aura that made him seem only faintly discernible. He didn’t seem real, more like an illusion from the void instead.
Ji Feixue had cultivated quite a few techniques from the stone monuments, but he focused mainly on sword arts. A row of ancient swords manifested, and clanging sounds rang out as they clashed against each other. A sword then broke the void, shining with an incomparable resplendent light.
In contrast, Hua Taixu was still slowly sauntering, giving no heed to Ji Feixue’s attack at all. When the sword beam lacerated his body, it slashed against an illusory shadow, passing through it harmlessly. Hua Taixu’s presence seemed everywhere, the light around him grew increasingly brighter, invoking a sense of surrealism to others.
“I’m afraid Ji Feixue will be defeated. Hua Taixu’s strength is so much stronger than expected.” The hearts of the crowd shuddered.
In another image projection, Li Tian transformed into a giant, stepping on the earth while dominating the heavens. The fourth monument that contained the Fiendgod Heaven Suppression Art, which Qin Wentian had chosen, had also been selected earlier by Li Tian. Sadly, he only acquired an innate technique, and not the full immortal art.
Translator Note: The word for Fiendgod can also be translated into Immortal Demon.
I will stick with Fiendgod for now because later on there’s a technique blahblah (spoilers) it would sound a little weird to name it as Immortal Demon Body Transformation compared to Fiendgod Body Transformation.