Chapter 162: Little Snowball

Within the Heavenly Sage Sacred Tree, inside a microcosm contained within a single leaf, Xu Chen and Jiang Beici were in a divine power training dojo.

This place was specially designated for experimenting with spells and divine powers, equipped with the highest-grade training puppets.

Jiang Beici, sitting in a wheelchair, watched from the side as Xu Chen practiced his divine powers.

A massive Five Elements giant axe appeared, about ten zhang in length with a blade-head the size of a house, and fiercely slashed toward the training puppet.

"Bang!!"

The training puppet, holding a shield, stubbornly bore the brunt of the giant axe's attack.

"Power: 163 crystals," the mechanical voice of the training puppet announced.

Xu Chen formed a hand seal with one hand, and a zhang-long golden saber slashed at the training puppet once more.

"116 crystals."

Jiang Beici widened his eyes at the edge of the training ground.

"The most basic Golden Saber Technique can output this kind of power!"

"Did you cultivate the Gold Source Divine Body for your Qi and Blood Foundation Establishment method?" Jiang Beici could not help asking.

"The Great Five Elements Body, it's alright I suppose."

Xu Chen then continued to execute the Five Elements giant axe divine power, sensing its nuances carefully.

Before the Five Elements giant axe was unleashed, a suppressing force would lock onto the target, preventing them from escaping the attack range of the giant axe.

"Impressive. One of my senior martial brothers cultivates the Great Five Elements Body with form and intent merging into one. Now in the Profound Dao Realm, whenever he unleashes that spell and divine power, cultivators at the Ascension Realm have to give him a wide berth."

"You have a bright future. When your cultivation catches up to mine, I might just have to ask you for help with certain missions," Jiang Beici chuckled.

"No problem."

For five consecutive hours, Xu Chen continuously practiced the Five Elements giant axe.

What he was using right now was simply the most basic version of the Five Elements giant axe, without any enhancements imbued upon it.

As he progressed to deeper stages, he would begin to fuse the five elements, and the might would grow increasingly terrifying.

At night, Xu Chen practiced the Ninefold Origin Scripture. This time, after practicing for only three hours, his dantian had already reached a state of saturation.

In the pristine white space, a new gate appeared.

"A bronze gate. It seems this Five Elements giant axe divine power is quite good."

Xu Chen pushed the door open and entered.

Beyond the door lay an archaic primeval forest, where towering giant trees tens of zhang thick could be seen everywhere.

At this moment, the avatar was in an open area, manipulating a Five Elements giant axe to trim a fallen giant tree and carve it into various shapes.

"You're here. Shall we spar, or will you listen to my guidance?" The avatar turned its head to look at Xu Chen, while the giant axe radiating five-colored light continued its carving without pause.

"I'll listen to the senior's guidance," Xu Chen immediately replied.

Since the avatar could use the Five Elements giant axe to carve flowers, hacking him to pieces would certainly be easier than carving these logs.

"Those towering giant trees will adjust their hardness based on the strength of your power."

"Solely in terms of the Five Elements giant axe, if you can chop down 10 giant trees in one breath, you'll pretty much be able to challenge me."

"If you chop down 30 in a row, I'll let you pass directly," the avatar said, turning its head back to continue carving.

"Alright."

Xu Chen nodded slightly, walked toward the distant primeval forest, selected a giant tree fifty zhang in diameter, and began to hack at it.

Exerting the Five Elements giant axe with full force, he struck the base of the tree, but the axe only penetrated a foot deep.

Rebounding from the force, the Five Elements giant axe could no longer maintain its form and dissipated.

"This strike of yours was merely hacking—devoid of spirit, soul, concept, and will."

"Continue," the avatar said leisurely, the five-colored glowing axe moving rapidly across a wooden board, eventually producing an image of Xu Chen chopping the tree.

"Many thanks for the senior's guidance," Xu Chen nodded and slowly began to correct his form.

Just like that, he spent an entire hour chopping giant trees within the Five Elements giant axe room.

Just as Xu Chen was gaining more and more insight from his chopping, the giant axe the avatar was using for carving suddenly expanded to thirty zhang in size and slashed toward Xu Chen.

"One hour a day, no more chopping allowed."

Watching the Five Elements giant axe descend, Xu Chen felt a massive will lock onto him, making escape utterly impossible.

Xu Chen had no choice but to deploy his own Five Elements giant axe to counter it.

Like a mantis trying to stop a chariot, the Five Elements giant axe crashed directly onto Xu Chen.

His conscious avatar condensed once more within the space, and a twelve-hour countdown now appeared on the bronze gate of the Five Elements giant axe.

"They won't even let me grind," Xu Chen, who had been completely engrossed in tree-chopping within the room, found the sudden restriction rather frustrating.

Back in the leaf-world divine power dojo, Jiang Beici was still keeping him company.

An extremely fierce Five Elements giant axe struck the puppet.

"210 crystals."

Jiang Beici, who had been absent-minded, froze.

"How much? What did you say the number was!"

"210 crystals," the training puppet repeated.

"So fierce? And it's only been a single day!"

"Xu Chen, strike with the axe again!" Jiang Beici said in disbelief.

He watched as his good brother Xu Chen executed the Five Elements giant axe once more.

"Bang!!"

With the suppressing might of a falling mountain, the Five Elements giant axe smashed down fiercely.

The training puppet trembled slightly.

"213 crystals."

"I never used to think your ears were bad," Xu Chen said with a raised lip.

"I'm just astonished. Pay me no mind, keep going."

Xu Chen formed hand seals with both hands once again, and an azure tidal spiritual sea instantly covered a radius of five hundred zhang.

Wave after wave of spiritual tides, imbued with sealing power, surged in all directions.

Finally, Xu Chen unleashed torrent after torrent of spiritual tides, at times featuring towering giant waves, and at others hidden undercurrents.

Jiang Beici, watching from the side, was completely numbed.

"I finally understand why your aptitude is only of mortal grade."

"With comprehension this high, coupled with such incredible aptitude and this super-tier combat talent—" "Heaven tends to claim evildoers early."

Paying no heed to his good brother, Xu Chen wholeheartedly focused on cultivating his divine powers.

Since he could only cultivate for one hour a day inside the Five Elements giant axe room, Xu Chen felt he shouldn't waste the remaining time and needed to cultivate other divine powers.

As for the spells he hadn't cleared yet, Xu Chen had already thought of a method; he was just waiting to practice the Five Elements giant axe divine power for a little longer first.

Practicing divine powers by day and cultivation techniques by night, before he knew it, the three-month period had arrived.

Human Emperor City, 12th Teleportation Hall.

By this time, Jiang Beici had recovered a fraction of his strength and was able to stand on his own.

"I really hate to leave."

"If you're reluctant to part, come back to the Great Stream Sect with me to recuperate," Xu Chen said with a smile.

"There's no time. Now that my strength has recovered a bit, the medicinal pills I take can rapidly repair my divine soul."

"In a few days, I'll be back to my peak state. There's a pile of missions waiting for me at the frontlines."

Jiang Beici patted Xu Chen on the shoulder.

"Then we're off."

Xu Chen, Li Chengfu, and Zong Changshou stepped into the teleportation hall together.

Leizhou Capital: the moment the three of them were teleported back, they felt a surreal sense of having lived through another lifetime.

"What a fantastical journey," Li Chengfu could not help exclaiming.

"It felt quite real, and my personal strength has grown by a huge margin," Zong Changshou said.

"Indeed," Li Chengfu chuckled.

Xu Chen sensed the eighty-four-zhang nine-colored spiritual lake within his dantian, and a smile involuntarily spread across his face.

Great Stream Sect, Xu Chen's immortal cave.

At this moment, Xu Chen was inside the pristine white space, within the Five Elements Giant Spirit room.

Xu Chen's Five Elements giant axe struck the avatar's Five Elements Giant Spirit blow after blow.

With every blow that landed, a look of pain flickered across the face of the Five Elements Giant Spirit.

With the Wind Spirit Wings fluttering behind his back, Xu Chen moved with extreme agility, leaving the avatar completely unable to gain the upper hand.

"Stop being stubborn, let's end it here."

"If I strike any more, your Five Elements Giant Spirit will shatter," Xu Chen said leisurely, suspended in mid-air, his mind filled with memories of how that avatar had once trampled his brain into pulp using its own Five Elements Giant Spirit.

"If you have the ability, smash me to pieces!"

The avatar crossed its arms to block another axe from Xu Chen, but its entire body trembled, and cracks had already appeared on the Five Elements Giant Spirit.

"Then I shall grant your wish."

The giant axe was exceptionally nimble, and with the suppressing force locking onto the avatar, escape was impossible.

After taking an unknown number of axe blows, the avatar finally could hold on no longer. The Five Elements Giant Spirit shattered, and immediately afterward, it was cleaved cleanly in two by a single axe strike.

The world shattered, and Xu Chen successfully obtained one year's worth of guidance and comprehension from the Five Elements Giant Spirit avatar.

"Was the tree-chopping I did for over a month in vain?" Xu Chen grinned.

After absorbing the comprehension of the Five Elements Giant Spirit, Xu Chen went straight to the Earth Spike Technique room.

Deploying the Five Elements Giant Spirit directly to defend against the area-wide Earth Spike Technique, he cleaved the avatar in two with a single axe strike.

As for the Brilliant Light Technique, the moment Xu Chen entered, both sides initiated their moves with zero-frame startup.

In fact, even with his eyes closed, his spirit and soul were still dazzled.

However, with the defense of the Five Elements Giant Spirit, no matter how blinding the Brilliant Light Technique was, the avatar could not breach Xu Chen's defense.

Once he had fully adapted to the Brilliant Light Technique, Xu Chen bestowed a ruthless axe blow upon the avatar, resolving the most vexing avatar he had faced.

Entering the Concealment Technique room, Xu Chen immediately cast the Brilliant Light Technique and the Five Elements Giant Spirit.

Every time he unleashed the Brilliant Light Technique, the avatar's location was exposed, whereupon Xu Chen rewarded it with another axe strike.

Having cleared these basic spells, Xu Chen turned his attention back to those low-grade spells he had learned purely to conquer the basic spells, and took action once more.

Following a flurry of axe strikes, every single spell gate was sealed with spiritual light.

"That feels satisfying."

Having resolved the avatars of these spells, Xu Chen turned his gaze toward the five divine power bronze gates—all of which he had learned while in Human Emperor City.

Spiritual Tide Ocean, Five Elements Divine Axe, Thunder Domain of Great Chiliocosm, Arrow Spirit, and Three Saber Slashes of Soul-Slicing—these were all divine powers Xu Chen had meticulously selected from the sect's scripture pavilion.

"The first little snowball has finally been rolled."

After absorbing the insights of these divine powers, Xu Chen felt that his combat prowess had ascended to yet another plateau.

"I'll study a few more advanced spells, conquer them, and then I can move on to conquering divine powers."

Drawing a lesson from his previous detour, Xu Chen now favored taking things one step at a time, moving forward steadily.

On the dojo outside his immortal cave, just as Xu Chen was preparing to cultivate a new divine power, a message arrived from the Junior Grandmaster.

The Junior Grandmaster's immortal cave was situated on a mountain peak, featuring a pavilion perched on the edge of a cliff where he was brewing tea.

A strange, delicate tea fragrance permeated the pavilion.

"It's a bit inferior to your tea," the Junior Grandmaster said with a smile as he pushed a cup of freshly brewed tea across the table toward Xu Chen.

"They're both just meant for entertaining friends; there's no need to distinguish between good and bad."

Xu Chen sipped the tea.

"Do you remember when I told you about a massive benefit I managed to extract from our Grandmaster?" the Junior Grandmaster asked with a mysterious smile. Can you tell me now?"

"I can tell you now."

The Junior Grandmaster produced a jade box used for storing medicinal pills, pushed it across to Xu Chen, and opened it.

"The Fate Soul Pill. After consuming it, one can split off a complete wisp of the divine soul. Whether through reincarnation and recultivation or resurrection within the Human Emperor Temple, one's past-life aptitude can be fully preserved."

"Furthermore, it grants one additional chance at resurrection."

"This pill recipe originates from the Styx Clan; I obtained it from the Primordial Battlefield."

"Grandmaster is the top-tier sage-level alchemist of our human race, and this is the modified version of the recipe I begged him to adapt specifically for humans."