Chapter 323: Increase in Armor Level, Art of Refining the Body

However, Jiang Chen wasn’t scared by these circumstances. On the contrary, he was rather excited. He’d previously been worried that the sect disciples would be too incompetent, and wouldn’t present him any challenge at all.

It looked like he’d thought about it too much.

Since there were already fourth level spirit realm disciples in the mystic quadrant, then there were surely geniuses with astounding talent in the higher levels.

Jiang Chen’s blood boiled slightly when he thought about the challenges ahead of him.

He also looked forward to this kind of a feeling. This was an experience that he hadn’t had in his past life; it was something unique to cultivators. And although he was well read in theories and knowledge, he’d still only been a bystander on the path of the martial dao.

“I used my aura to suppress senior brother Cheng just now, and also deployed some techniques to control one’s consciousness. It looks like the effects were quite good. Senior brother Cheng lost his sense of self, and wasn’t able to control both his motions and his words. That means this technique wasn’t just meant to suppress someone else’s aura, but could also control their consciousness as well. It looks to me like I truly need to practice the techniques of both the mind and the heart.”

Thus far, Jiang Chen hadn’t trained in any techniques that could control the mind. However, in the course of practicing Boulder’s Heart and Psychic’s Head, it was inevitable that he’d encounter this field.

He’d simply dipped a toe into this area just now, and had been surprised by how good the effects had been.

Of course, this had only pointed out a general direction for him. He didn’t have the time to specifically practice this kind of technique during the selection.

He’d received quite a bit from the five trials of the initial selection.

His two attributes of fire and water had, thanks to the Lotus, advanced rapidly during the trials.

However, for a genius of all five elements like Jiang Chen, although simultaneously training in both the fire and the water attributes put him above the majority of the other cultivators, it was still a bit unbalanced for him.

The Five Dragons Opening Heavens Pill had crafted his spirit ocean, and expanded his domains, equipping Jiang Chen with potential in the five elements that most lacked.

Ordinarily speaking, only someone born with an innate constitution would possess the ability to simultaneously train in all five elements at the same time.

Even though the advantage conferred to him by the Opening Heavens Pill wasn’t as superior as having an innate constitution, it was still the equivalent of thoroughly re-molding him.

Although his progress in the other three elements was relatively slower, it didn’t impact his strength, nor the advancement of his combat abilities.

However, if his efforts were to bear fruit in all five elements, then both his strength and combat abilities would naturally be even more stunning.

“So the saying goes, and goes well, that ideals are full and lofty, but reality is scarce and lacking. Although I’ve benefitted from the Opening Heavens Pill in crafting my spirit ocean, I lacked the fortune to develop all five elements at the same time, due to a lack of resources. The Lotus speaks to my water and fire meridians, while the golden magnetic mountain is a treasure trove for my metal meridian.”

Jiang Chen’s concentration had finally arrived upon the golden magnetic mountain.

It was undoubtedly an enormous treasure vault, as it could form a forcefield that could decrease his opponent’s speed, restrain his opponents, and protect himself. It could swallow everything when it formed a magnetic storm, and could churn up everything in its path.

Its metallic spirit power could also help Jiang Chen coalesce a spirit vein of metal. If he then trained in a body-refining technique and crafted an indestructible body, then could then make it so that his body was as strong as both metal and rock; undefeatable, and impervious to blades and spears.

If he could fully control the magnetic golden mountain, then he’d also be able to summon the golden, weapon-shaped monsters at any time. They weren’t that strong in single combat, but their powers of destruction en masse were quite strong and stunning.

That Evil Golden Eye was even more frightening, as it could petrify people with a single glance, turning them into golden colored sculptures.

Of course, the most terrifying thing was the awakened Master of the Golden Seal. If he could thoroughly control the mountain, and fully awaken the Master, then its battle strength would simply be beyond Jiang Chen’s imagination.

He’d met a Master of the Golden Seal that had had only a fraction of its power available to it, and it had used only 10% of that fraction to attack Jiang Chen, but he’d still felt that it’d been difficult to defend against.

If a Master of the Golden Seal struck with its full strength, Jiang Chen strongly believed that even the combined efforts of the four forefathers would be hard-pressed to defend against it.

Of course, a peak Master of the Golden Seal wasn’t simply available at his beck and call. That was just a lovely daydream before he’d fully mastered the mountain.

Jiang Chen also hadn’t forgotten that there were still the Thundercloud Cicada and Thundercloud Tree on the ninth floor of the mountain.

Whether it was the beetle’s bloodlines, or the tree itself, they were both great treasures.

Apart from that, Jiang Chen had gained even more from the Valley of Destruction.

The cores of the Fire Raven King and the Fire Ravens were all valuable fire attribute items. The Raven King’s tail feathers were also prime material to refine into weapons.

The Red-scaled Firelizard was even more of a treasure trove. Although the Goldbiter Rats had made off with its flesh and blood, the scales of the Firelizard had heaven defying powers of defense. Its bones were so hard that even the Rats hadn’t been able to nibble on them. It was thus apparent how strong they were, and how crucial they were to crafting weapons.

Jiang Chen took out two scales at that moment, and held them up. The two of them together would just barely cover the upper half of an adult’s body.

The Firelizard’s enormous size also meant that there were roughly two hundred scales on its body.

Jiang Chen also had armor on his body now; it was the skysilk soft armor that Princess Gouyu had given him while they were in the Eastern Kingdom.

This armor was truly invincible in the true qi realm, but now that he’d entered the spirit realm, its protective effects had become negligible.

“A good piece of armor represents half an extra life in crucial moments. If I don’t use these Firelizard scales well, it’d be a reckless waste of a good gift.”

Jiang Chen decided to personally reforge the skysilk armor, and incorporate the two Firelizard scales into the soft armor.

The two scales would instantly increase the defensive capabilities of the armor by at least ten times.

The Red-scaled Firelizard had even been able to defend against the Fire Ravens at a time when its cultivation had decreased to 20% of its original.

Of course, the scales were only able to display their strongest defensive capabilities when they were actually on the Firelizard, and combined with its spirit power.

As sophisticated as Jiang Chen’s methods were, he’d likely only be able to deploy a third of the scales’ original defensive capabilities if he refined the scales now.

However, a third of their original capabilities was already astounding enough.

If he could refine the core of the Firelizard one day, then he’d be able to fully deploy the scales’ defensive capabilities.

However, Jiang Chen knew that it wouldn’t be that easy to refine a saint ranked creature’s core.

He didn’t even dare to think of this matter before his cultivation had entered the sky spirit realm.

However, incorporating the two scales into the skysilk soft armor wasn’t a difficult thing—not with Jiang Chen’s experience.

He spent four hours fully incorporating the scales into the soft armor. When he was finished, the soft armor didn’t look any different from the outside.

The only physical difference was that it’d become slightly heavier, there were no differences on its exterior.

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

However, the soft armor brimmed with a amount of faint spirit energy now, giving one the feeling that it was an uncommon item.

“The saying that ‘those who specialize in civil subjects are poor, and the ones in the martial dao are rich’ is true indeed. Even sect geniuses, much less ordinary disciples, would be hard pressed to find something like this soft armor for their own use. The path of the martial dao is intricately intertwined with both money and resources.”

Jiang Chen had been born in a third rate kingdom, and had had no money or resources. He’d made it to this point completely due to the memories of his previous life, and the unending efforts he’d made in this life.

Use the armor of the Fire-scaled Lizard as an example—if it hadn’t been for his decisive actions to follow the development of the battle, he likely wouldn’t have had any gains in the end.

“With the increase in this armor’s level, I feel that even earth spirit realm attacks will find it difficult to injure me. Of course, nothing is absolute in this world. Some strong attribute attacks are another matter entirely. However, it’ll be impossible for any fire or water attacks below the sky spirit realm to injure me.”

The Firelizard naturally possessed the fire attribute, and was thus immune to it. Water attacks would also be greatly weakened under the defense of its scales.

Jiang Chen started to meditate after completing the modifications to his soft armor, rummaging through the memories of his past life. He wanted to locate a body-refining technique.

There were many such techniques, but he’d have to carefully choose one that was suitable for him.

“The Buddha’s warrior attendants, nine variations of transformation? This art uses the essence of metal, along with the power of fire and water, to refine an indestructible body. This is the one!”

The “Nine Transformations of Demons and Gods” was also known as the “Nine Variations of Buddha’s Warrior Attendants”.

This technique made his eyes light up.

Various experts before him had used this art to refine their bodies all the way from an ordinary mortal, to an undying legend beneath the heavens.

It was because of this that there were countless heritages and variations of this technique.

“There are nine levels of the Nine Transformations of Demons and Gods. The first five are to refine the skin, flesh and blood, tendons and bones, five organs, and true origin. The last four go beyond one’s body, and begin to transform into the various forms of demons and gods, utterly unfathomable in their depth.

The first five steps were both simply just to lay a foundation, and to forge an indestructible body. The last four steps of the advanced art were something that he couldn’t even imagine currently.

Jiang Chen knew very well that if he could lay down firm foundations, he’d be invincible in the spirit realm.

Even when he entered the origin realm, his indestructible body would make him peerless, compared to others on his level. If he could display the transformations of demons and gods, then that would be utterly incredible. He’d be able to easily trample opponents of the same level, and even those of higher levels.

“This is the one, the Nine Transformations of Demons and Gods! I have boundless metallic essence thanks to the golden magnetic mountain, and have an incomparable advantage in fire and water thanks to the Lotus. It’s almost as if this art was tailored for me.”

Jiang Chen stopped searching, and decided to train in this particular technique.