MGA: Chapter 1198 - Earthen Taboo: Firmament Shield

“I’m allowed to train in them as I please? This treatment is very good indeed. However, Elder Shi, the Martial Skills here don’t seem to be of very high quality,” said Chu Feng after he swept his gaze over the Martial Skills present.

“Good eyesight. However, Chu Feng, you should know that the higher the quality a Martial Skill has, the harder it is to learn it.”

“While the Taboo Martial Skills here are not of very high quality, they are comparatively suited for new disciples like yourself.”

“In truth, this is not because our Cyanwood Mountain is stingy. It is merely done this way so that we can make things easier for the new disciples. As the saying goes, it doesn’t hurt to chew more when eating. As for cultivating and learning Martial Skills, one should not be shortsighted and seek instant benefits.”

“If we were to give new disciples higher quality Martial Skills to learn, they would not be able to learn them in a short period of time and would have to spend a long time to learn them. This would be equivalent to wasting their time and delaying their progress.” Elder Shi was not angered by Chu Feng’s words. Instead, he patiently explained the matter to Chu Feng.

This was not because Elder Shi possessed a very good temperament. Instead, it was that he was giving Chu Feng very good treatment.

In fact, in any other year, when the disciples came to turn in their rewards, Elder Shi would not personally come to receive them.

The reason why Elder Shi had personally come out to receive Chu Feng today was naturally related to Chu Feng triggering the Ancient Era’s Immortal Needle.

“What Elder Shi says is very reasonable.” Chu Feng nodded his head in approval after hearing Elder Shi’s explanation. After all, not everyone possessed talent like his.

Not to mention higher quality Earthen Taboo Martial Skills, even ordinary Earthen Taboo Martial Skills were not things that anyone could just successfully learn and master.

It was not without reason that these things were known to be Taboo Martial Skills.

“Chu Feng, if you think that these Martial Skills here are too low quality, I can make an exception and allow you to see the high quality Martial Skills.”

“Merely, the Martial Skills there are not allowed to be learned as one wishes. At the very most, I could allow you to learn a single one. As the condition for allowing you to do that, you would not be allowed to learn the Martial Skills here as you wish either.”

“Are you willing to do that?” asked Elder Shi with a smile on his face. It was as if he was making a transaction with Chu Feng.

“In that case, I must thank Elder Shi,” Chu Feng cupped his fist to express thanks.

For Earthen Taboos, Chu Feng already grasped the Earthen Taboo: Firmament Slash and Earthen Taboo: Dragon and Phoenix Dancing in the Skies. The two of them were both very high quality Earthen Taboo Martial Skills. Thus, Chu Feng truly had no interest in ordinary Earthen Taboo Martial Skills; only those of high quality would attract Chu Feng’s interest.

Seeing that Chu Feng accepted the conditions, Elder Shi did not linger around, and directly brought Chu Feng away from this place and toward another location where Martial Skills were stored.

It was an underground palace. Regardless of whether it was the interior decorations, the strength of the spirit formation or the people guarding this place, they were all more than twice as strong as the place they were previously at.

This palace was extremely large. However, the amount of Martial Skills stored in this place was not many; they numbered only twenty. However, these twenty were no ordinary Taboo Martial Skills. Not only were they all Earthen Taboo Martial Skills, they were also top quality Earthen Taboo Martial Skills.

“These twenty Earthen Taboo Martial Skills could be said to be, other than the ones in the Cyanwood Sacred Assembly, the most precious twenty Taboo Martial Skills of our Cyanwood Mountain. However, the difficulty in learning them is also extremely high. Even I would have to spend close to a hundred years to learn one of these twenty.”

“Right now, you have the opportunity to choose one among these twenty. However, my suggestion to you is to not choose one that is too difficult. At the very least, you should choose one that you feel is suited to you, one that you are capable of learning,” Elder Shi advised.

“Elder Shi, thank you for your advice.” Chu Feng saluted to express his thanks. He was able to sense that these twenty Earthen Taboo Martial Skills were indeed no small matter. At the very least, in terms of their quality, they were many times better than the ones before.

After that, Chu Feng began to inspect the twenty Earthen Taboo Martial Skills one by one so that he could earnestly choose one of them. He noticed that these Martial Skills were truly quality goods. At the very least, the few that he had inspected were all comparable to his Earthen Taboo: Firmament Slash.

Surprisingly, although those Earthen Taboo Martial Skills were very powerful, none of them gave Chu Feng the urge to learn them.

It was only when Chu Feng checked out the thirteenth Martial Skill did his eyes start to shine. In fact, even his heartbeat started to accelerate.

That was because the name of that Martial Skill was very familiar, it was actually called ‘Earthen Taboo: Firmament Shield.’

“Earthen Taboo: Firmament Shield, how could there be such a Martial Skill? Could this Martial Skill be related to my Earthen Taboo: Firmament Slash?”

When Chu Feng saw this Martial Skill, his body stopped moving and his eyes were deeply attracted to that Martial Skill.

Seeing this, Elder Shi frowned slightly and asked, “Chu Feng, you couldn’t possibly be interested in this Martial Skill, right?”

“Elder Shi, could there be something wrong with this Martial Skill?” asked Chu Feng.

“This Martial Skill is indeed extremely good. However, not only is it extremely difficult to learn, it is also an incomplete fragment,” Elder Shi replied.

“Incomplete fragment? If this Martial Skill is incomplete, then wouldn’t it be impossible to learn it? In that case, why did you say that it’s very difficult to learn?” Chu Feng managed to find clues within Elder Shi’s words.

“Bright. I said that it is hard to learn because it is truly very difficult for one to learn it. However, it is still possible to learn it.”

“As for the reason why I said it is an incomplete fragment, that is because even if one manages to learn it, its power would still be very weak. At the very least, it is much weaker when compared to the other Earthen Taboo Martial Skills here, and could only be considered to be an ordinary quality Earthen Taboo Martial Skill. However, this Martial Skill’s difficulty in learning is instead the most difficult among the twenty Martial Skills here. At the very least, I have never seen such a difficult Earthen Taboo Martial Skill before.”

“Just think about it, if you are to exert a great amount of effort just to learn an ordinary Earthen Taboo Martial Skill, wouldn’t this not be very cost-effective?” asked Elder Shi.

“If that truly is the case, then there really would not be much significance for one to learn this Martial Skill. However, for this Martial Skill to be stored in this place, I believe there must be a reason, no?” Chu Feng asked.

“That’s right. This Martial Skill is extremely ancient. It could be said that it is the most ancient Martial Skill in our Cyanwood Mountain. At the time when our Cyanwood Mountain was established, this Martial Skill was already there. As for the reason, it was because this Martial Skill was something that our founder brought back with him.”

“However, no one knows where this Martial Skill originated from, nor does anyone know who it was that created this Martial Skill. All we know is that this Martial Skill is extremely powerful, comparable to that of the Heaven Taboo Martial Skills. Its might is world-defying, it is most incomparable to ordinary Martial Skills.”

“In order to obtain a power that could match that of Heaven Taboo Martial Skills, countless of our Cyanwood Mountain’s seniors have trained to learn this Martial Skill. However, very few among them actually managed to master this Martial Skill.”

“The record has it that several tens of thousands of years ago, there was once an extremely talented senior who ranked first on the Cyanwood Succession List when he was young, an existence that none of his fellow disciples could match. At that time, everyone thought that he would succeed as our Cyanwood Mountain’s headmaster in the future because he truly possessed incomparable talent.”

“However, he, for the purpose of mastering this Earthen Taboo: Firmament Shield and obtaining a strength comparable to that of Heaven Taboo Martial Skills, exhausted all of his energy to meticulously study this Martial Skill everyday with no regard to anything else.”

“This caused his cultivation to come to a halt and, in the end, he was dropped from the Cyanwood Succession List. From being the strongest genius, he became an ordinary genius.”

“When he was four hundred and forty-nine years old, he finally managed to master this Earthen Taboo: Firmament Shield. At that time, his accomplishment shocked many people.”

“After all, Heaven Taboo Martial Skills were like legends, existences of the greatest value. The might of a Heaven Taboo Martial Skill is also something that practically no one had ever seen before.”

“Thus, practically everyone in the Cyanwood Mountain at that time wanted to know exactly how powerful this Martial Skill, that possessed a strength comparable to that of Heaven Taboo Martial Skills, was.”

“Finally, before the witness of countless elders and disciples, that senior publicly displayed the Earthen Taboo: Firmament Shield. However, the might of the Earthen Taboo: Firmament Shield brought forth numerous disappointments.”

“That was because the might of the Earthen Taboo: Firmament Shield was only comparable to ordinary Earthen Taboo Martial Skills, and inferior to even excellent quality Earthen Taboo Martial Skills, much less Heaven Taboo Martial Skills.”

“After that day, that senior who had poured his entire life into learn this Martial Skill died. He killed himself due to humiliation. He had spent his entire life only to learn a mediocre Martial Skill. He lost the courage to continue living, and was ashamed to continue to exist on this world.”

“However, even though that senior failed, many other demon-level seniors refused to believe in the nefariousness of this Martial Skill. They felt that it was not the Earthen Taboo: Firmament Shield that was mediocre, but instead that it was that that senior had failed to completely grasp it.”

“Thus, there were still many seniors who decided to train in this Martial Skill after that senior. Naturally, there were some among them that managed to successfully learn the Martial Skill. However, all of them ended up paying an enormous price only to obtain a mediocre power.”

“All of them followed the footsteps of that senior, one tragedy followed another.”

“Finally, people began to doubt whether this Earthen Taboo: Firmament Shield even possessed the strength of the legends to begin with. People began to think that it was only a trap, a scam.”

“However, it remained that this Earthen Taboo: Firmament Shield was a Martial Skill brought back by our Cyanwood Mountain’s founder. Furthermore, it was our founder who personally declared it to be an excellent quality Martial Skill. Thus, how could it possibly be a fake?”

“Thus, there were some who began to propose that this Earthen Taboo: Firmament Shield might really contain the power of the legends. Merely, the one that is here is nothing more than an incomplete fragment. Thus, even if someone managed to successfully learn it, they would not be able to display a strength comparable to that of Heaven Taboo Martial Skills,” Elder Shi narrated all these events in detail.