Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Second Phase

At the narrow gorge of the mountain, Xu Chen carved out a space of about three acres and disguised it with some simple camouflage.

“Fortunately, I still have a few bottles of Fasting Pills in my storage pouch. Otherwise, I’d be worrying about food.”

Then, Xu Chen used the trees in the mountains to build a modest wooden cabin to serve as his resting place.

Once everything was prepared, Xu Chen began his cultivation.

“The Twelve-Wave Body Forging Method—I should be at the proficient level now. Just a bit more, and I’ll reach the Transformation stage.”

“In this month, I must strive for a breakthrough!”

The spiritual energy in this miniature world was exceptionally dense, and Xu Chen’s body was constantly absorbing it.

As he cultivated, the spiritual energy gradually merged into his blood, organs, and viscera.

“Mighty waves, rise!”

With the final palm strike, nine layers of sonic booms echoed through the valley, and the force of his palm sent dust flying dozens of yards ahead.

“Exhilarating!”

Xu Chen felt immense satisfaction.

“Keep cultivating!”

In this small world, Xu Chen was wholly immersed in his training, not even sparing time for the Sacred White Space.

Time flowed like water, and when his disciple token sounded, Xu Chen felt as if space and time were distorted—as if he had only entered this miniature world yesterday.

“There is no sense of time in cultivation~”

“I wish I could stay here forever to train.”

Even with his ordinary aptitude, he could feel the tremendous progress he had made during this period.

Following the path he had come, Xu Chen found the teleportation array to leave the miniature world.

There, over seventy disciples were already gathered, all waiting to be teleported out with reluctant expressions.

“Supervisor, what are the requirements to come back here and cultivate again?” Xu Chen asked curiously.

“Either you get a secret cultivation spot as a sect reward, or you pay fifty thousand spirit coins per month for the Blood Qi stage. For the Treasure Body stage, it’s one hundred fifty thousand spirit coins per month,” the supervisor replied, a bit impatient—he’d repeated these words countless times.

“Thank you, Supervisor.”

Xu Chen walked into the teleportation array with a look of regret, waiting for the teleportation.

If it were only ten or twenty thousand spirit coins per month, he might have considered it.

Soon, the array filled with one hundred people.

The teleportation array activated, and when Xu Chen emerged, he found himself in a grand hall.

Afterward, he discovered that there was a medium-sized spirit vessel specifically for traveling between the two locations, costing twenty spirit coins per trip.

The thirty-yard-long spirit vessel carried more than a thousand disciples and slowly ascended, flying toward the Daxi Sect.

This time, Xu Chen wasn’t admiring the scenery but counted the number of disciples aboard.

“There are about thirteen hundred people. At twenty spirit coins each, that’s twenty-six thousand spirit coins per trip. With this speed, you could make at least twenty trips a day, which is five hundred twenty thousand spirit coins.”

“What a lucrative business~”

The spirit vessel moved swiftly, returning to Daxi Sect in less than half an hour.

Xu Chen again took a flying ride home from outside the sect gates.

“I wonder how much my strength has improved. If Senior Brother Niu hasn’t returned, I’ll try out the sect’s trial arena.”

After returning home and tidying up, it was already evening.

Just then, two figures—one black, one white—appeared in the sky.

“Xu Chen, your letter!”

“Xu Chen, your package!” a louder voice called.

“Just drop them down,” Xu Chen said, looking up. It must be the letters sent by his parents.

Two letters and a spatial wooden box descended, and Xu Chen quickly caught them.

“Two letters?”

He glanced at the mailing addresses. One of them was boldly marked: Imperial Continent, Imperial Avenue Palace.

“That guy—I thought he’d forgotten about me.” Xu Chen’s expression was a mix of helplessness and surprise, but mostly joy.

He put aside that letter and opened the other.

“The vanguard army where my parents are finally getting a rest!”

“Good. If the teleportation station opens, maybe my parents can come visit me.” Xu Chen felt a surge of excitement as he read, then opened the spatial wooden box.

Inside were several fist-sized pieces of special icy-blue spirit stones, with faint purple patterns weaving through them.

“Water Lotus Spirit Stones—these can be absorbed at the Blood Qi stage. Just wear them while cultivating.”

Xu Chen found the instruction manual beneath the spirit stones.

“For my sake, my parents really went all out,” Xu Chen said, moved, as he stored the stones away in his pouch.

He didn’t intend to use them; these special spirit stones, absorbable at the Blood Qi stage, were worth at least ten thousand each.

Rather than use these to enhance his strength, he’d prefer to employ some unconventional methods and defeat his avatar in the Sacred White Space sooner.

After reading his parents’ letter and examining the spatial box, Xu Chen opened a letter from his good brother Jiang Beici.

As he read, Xu Chen suddenly burst into laughter.

“That kid has already reached the Returning Void stage—impressive.”

When he reached the last few sentences, his excitement grew.

“There’s a mission, so he’ll be staying in Thunder Province for a while.”

“It’s been nearly three years since we last met, hasn’t it?” Xu Chen calculated, sighing with emotion.

“No need to overthink it. Time to cultivate—when he arrives, I’ll deal with it then.”

At night, Xu Chen entered the Sacred White Space and pushed open the wooden door labeled with the Six Styles of the Sacred Ape.

“Little rookie, what new trickery do you have for me today? Hurry up and show me,” the avatar watched Xu Chen with interest.

“No games today—let’s test my strength!”

With those words, Xu Chen charged at his avatar.

This time, Xu Chen battled his avatar for a full hundred moves.

At the hundredth move, the avatar kicked Xu Chen a dozen yards away.

Although the avatar landed a hit, Xu Chen managed to neutralize eighty percent of the force.

“Looks like you had some fortuitous encounter—your strength has grown so much.”

The avatar shook his hand, and behind him the Sacred Ape’s phantom grew more solid. Its height, originally over three yards, suddenly surged to five.

The blood qi emanating from it swelled even further.

“Alright, you’ve cleared the first stage.”

Upon hearing this, Xu Chen perked up.

“Is there a reward?”

“Dream on.”

The avatar rushed at Xu Chen at an even faster speed.

He moved quicker, his force heavier, and his moves more refined.

After only four exchanges, Xu Chen was caught by a palm on his crown.

“Little rookie, guess how much strength I used earlier?” the avatar taunted, his tone deep and disdainful.

“No matter how much strength you used, I’ll stomp you underfoot one day!”

Xu Chen had barely finished speaking before the avatar squeezed his skull, bursting it.

His consciousness reformed in the Sacred White Space.

“Damn, there’s a second stage.” Xu Chen felt frustrated. After so many years, he thought this was the limit, but hadn’t realized the avatar’s true power was yet to be unleashed.

“Again!”

Xu Chen pushed open the wooden door to the Six Styles of the Sacred Ape once more, facing off against his avatar.

Whereas before he could easily last five or six dozen moves, now he managed fewer than forty.

The avatar placed a foot on Xu Chen’s head.

“Hurry up and bring out your new tricks to amuse me.”

“Hahahaha…” The avatar laughed loudly, then stomped and shattered Xu Chen’s spine.

His consciousness reformed again in the Sacred White Space, and Xu Chen glanced around, then walked straight into the door labeled Alchemy Technique.