Chapter 256: Enhancement

Within the secret cave, there were no mountains of gold and silver rivaling a nation's wealth, no peerless Wu Gong manuals coveted by all in the Jianghu, nor any divine pills capable of boosting martial cultivation.

The entire secret cave measured only ten zhang in diameter, with a small cluster of silver stalactites hanging like a sword forest from above.

Beside the wall stood a large bronze lamp; the oil inside the bronze tripod was thick as mercury paste, its flame golden-red and blazing fiercely, with sparks occasionally leaping upward, as if it would never extinguish.

Aside from this, the entire secret cave contained only one object:

A stone stele.

The stele was entirely jet-black, standing about half a zhang tall, squatting in the center of the cave, its surface rough and engraved with an inscription.

Li Musheng walked to the stele and stopped; although this stele before his eyes appeared somewhat ordinary, according to the Zhang Sect of Luoshen Peak.

This stele's origin was extremely mysterious, handed down by the founding ancestor of Luoshen Peak.

It was said that this stele once descended from the heavens surrounded by divine fire, and was fortuitously discovered by that ancestor of Luoshen Peak.

This stele was not only intricately connected to those with divine nature, but was also the true ancestral treasure of the entire Luoshen Peak.

Li Musheng circled the jet-black stele once; the Zhang Sects of Luoshen Peak through the ages called this stele the "Talent Divine Stele."

The Talent Divine Stele possessed an extremely unique ability: it could sense the birth of those with divine nature across the lands.

Whenever a person of divine nature was born, the Talent Divine Stele would sense it mysteriously, then vibrate and glow.

And Luoshen Peak used this characteristic of the stele to search for people of divine nature.

When a person of divine nature was born, it was often accompanied by strange celestial phenomena; Luoshen Peak would record the time of the Talent Divine Stele's disturbance, then search the various prefectures of Great Li for those specific times and places where celestial anomalies occurred and infants were born.

For instance, previously the Tianjin Guard of Shengzhou acted as an accomplice to Luoshen Peak, using this method to massacre villages and towns in search of people of divine nature.

Li Musheng stared at the stele for a while, then shifted his gaze, looking toward the large black cat squatting nearby.

At that moment, the cat widened its pair of green eyes, intently staring nonstop at the inscription on the stele.

Li Musheng reached out and patted its head; the large black cat came to its senses, immediately rubbing affectionately against Li Musheng's palm while pointing at the stele with its paw and meowing in a spoiled manner.

It was clearly wanting Li Musheng to agree to let it read the inscription on the stele.

Li Musheng raised his eyebrows slightly, stroked the large cat, and did not stop it from reading the inscription.

This inscription actually contained the "God-Devouring Method" that the Zhang Sect of Luoshen Peak had previously told him; those with divine nature who cultivated this method could devour divine blood to enhance their Talent Divine Abilities.

However, people of divine nature were far too rare, and the divine blood within their bodies could not regenerate; to be honest, there were truly not many places where this method could be used.

Li Musheng withdrew his hand, glanced at the large black cat before him, thought for a moment, then spoke in a deep voice to warn:

"Letting you see it is no problem, but after leaving the secret cave, you must not transmit this cultivation technique to anyone else."

Hearing this, the large black cat's green eyes lit up; it immediately meowed happily in agreement, then scampered over again to continue reading the inscription on the stele.

Li Musheng no longer paid attention to the large black cat; instead, he crossed his arms, gazed at the jet-black stele before him, and wore an expression of contemplation.

According to the Zhang Sect of Luoshen Peak, besides sensing the birth of people of divine nature, this Talent Divine Stele also concealed a great secret known only to the Zhang Sects of Luoshen Peak through the ages.

This was also what the Zhang Sect of Luoshen Peak had told him earlier: a method allowing him to surpass the Wu Shen.

As for the secret contained within this Talent Divine Stele, it too was personally handed down by that founding ancestor of Luoshen Peak.

It was said that if anyone could comprehend this Talent Divine Stele, they would be able to control the four divine abilities of Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind, ultimately wielding the authority of the entire heavens and earth, reigning supreme over the world!

"Said to be so powerful, but is it true?"

Li Musheng rubbed his chin; even the deceased founding ancestor of Luoshen Peak had not been able to accomplish this.

He was somewhat suspicious that the other party was merely trying to sound mysterious, deliberately fabricating a non-existent secret to give the descendants of Luoshen Peak something to hope for.

However, having said that, this Talent Divine Stele was indeed truly extraordinary; even from thousands of li away, it could sense the birth of people of divine nature, which clearly indicated it was no ordinary object.

Li Musheng thought for a moment, scanned the entire area around the secret cave, and after confirming no other useful objects were found.

He approached the Talent Divine Stele, then reached out and patted it, causing the entire jet-black stele before his eyes to bang loudly.

Seeing this, Li Musheng nodded slightly and murmured to himself:

"The hardness is not bad; it can compare even with that divine artifact, the Dragon-Controlling Divine Sword."

However, the large black cat nearby was startled by the sound emitted by the stele; it immediately looked up with a puzzled expression, its green eyes fixed on Li Musheng, clearly not knowing what he intended to do.

At this moment, Li Musheng glanced at the large black cat and asked aloud:

"Have you finished reading?"

Hearing this, the large black cat instinctively nodded its head.

Immediately, it let out a soft meow, seemingly expressing gratitude to Li Musheng.

However, Li Musheng paid it no mind; instead, he suddenly raised his hand and lifted the half-zhang-tall jet-black stele directly into the air.

Then, in an instant, he struck six palm strikes, imprinting them upon the six faces of the stele.

In an instant, the originally rough, entirely jet-black stele cracked at a speed visible to the naked eye, then shed chunks of rough, jet-black stone fragments.

These stone fragments, originally as indestructible as divine weapons and sharp tools, now crumbled and fell apart with a rustling sound, revealing the smooth, dark-green surface within the stele.

In a moment, the half-zhang-tall jet-black stele had transformed into a dark-green jade stele about one meter tall.

And the inscription previously carved on the stele's surface vanished along with the falling stone fragments.

Seeing this scene, the large black cat widened its eyes, showing an expression of amazement; at the same time, it patted its chest with its paw, seemingly relieved that it had memorized the entire inscription.

However, in the next moment, it quickly hurried over to Li Musheng's front and began curiously examining this dark-green jade stele before its eyes.

"Did you see anything?"

Li Musheng asked the large black cat a question, then immediately frowned; after all, he himself had seen nothing.

If it was meant for people to comprehend, at the very least, it should have left a few characters or some other clues.

Yet the dark-green jade stele before his eyes was completely smooth, without even a single mark.

At this moment, seeing that Li Musheng had actually asked him a question, the large black cat felt as if it were being highly valued; immediately, it wore a solemn expression and began circling the dark-green jade stele before it, examining it meticulously without stopping.

It seemed that Li Musheng asking it a question was such a sacred and important matter that even as a mere cat, it must treat it with its whole heart and soul.

However, after circling a few times, the large black cat immediately drooped its head, clearly having seen nothing either.

Seeing this, Li Musheng narrowed his eyes and pondered:

"Looks like I'll have to keep going."

Saying this, he immediately struck down several more times, his palms landing on the green-black jade stele before him.

However, this time the jade stele did not crack and fall away as before; instead, it retained several palm imprints about half an inch deep.

Li Musheng rubbed his chin, his gaze sweeping over the palm imprints he had left.

At this moment, the palm imprints were visibly slowly healing; they should return to their original state before long.

"Interesting. It seems the secret of the Talent Divine Stele might be hidden within. Perhaps only by splitting the entire jade stele in two can one obtain the secrets inside."

Li Musheng's face showed a look of deep thought.

However, the Zhang Sect of the Fallen Spirit Peak said that comprehending the Talent Divine Stele was required to obtain the Four Great Divine Powers; he didn't know if his method of comprehension was correct.

Thinking this, Li Musheng shook his head, then formed his hand into a blade and struck straight down at the green-black jade stele before him.

What looked like an utterly ordinary move by Li Musheng suddenly made the big black cat beside him bristle.

In its green, oily pupils, it seemed to see a heavenly blade descending from the sky, carrying unimaginable, terrifying power, as if it were about to cleave the entire heavens and earth in two with a single strike.

And in the next instant, the green-black jade stele, which had previously withstood several of Li Musheng's palm strikes, split in two right down the middle as if cut by a knife through tofu, then toppled over to both sides.

The big black cat stood dazed and stunned, while Li Musheng hurriedly approached the green-black jade stele that had been split in two.

At this moment, he finally discovered something different on the cross-section where the jade stele had been cut open.

The interior of the jade stele was now emitting a hazy light, and within that radiance, faintly floating patterns that were both illusory and real appeared.

Those patterns were not any characters Li Musheng recognized; they were almost like ghostly scribbles.

"How does one comprehend this?"

Li Musheng stared for a while. His comprehension was indeed heaven-defying, but these things had no beginning or end; he truly didn't know where to start comprehending them.

Just then, the green-black jade stele split in two before him suddenly began to tremble violently, as if magnets attracting each other, then abruptly stood upright together, generating an extremely powerful suction force that rapidly pulled them toward each other to merge.

However, Li Musheng was quick-eyed and fast-handed; powerful qi energy flowed from his hand, and he directly grabbed the two pieces of green-black jade stele, forcibly separating them again.

"Hmm?"

At this moment, Li Musheng suddenly narrowed his eyes slightly, then looked toward the jade stele before him.

Just now, the instant he touched the jade stele, in a flash of lightning and fire, he vaguely perceived that the divine blood he had previously collected from the bodies of the Zhang Sect, the Zunzhe, and others of the Fallen Spirit Peak had undergone a momentary change.

Originally, although Li Musheng had broken the restriction that ordinary people cannot absorb divine blood by using the "God-Devouring Method" and the "Azure Dragon Cangming Scripture," the process was relatively slow.

But just in that instant, he could clearly perceive that the speed at which he absorbed and stored the divine blood within his arm had increased significantly.

"Could this thing be used like this?"

With a thought, Li Musheng immediately pressed his palm directly onto the interior of the green-black stone stele, onto those ghostly-scribble patterns that were both illusory and real.

And in the next instant, the radiance of those patterns seemed to sense the divine blood in Li Musheng's arm, then began to flow rapidly, completely engulfing his entire arm.

At the same time, Li Musheng could clearly perceive that when he simultaneously activated two cultivation techniques to absorb the divine blood, under the catalysis of those jade stele patterns, the speed was suddenly more than ten times faster than before.

In an instant, threads of divine power rapidly merged into Li Musheng's body; this divine power was different from the true qi of heaven and earth circulating between meridians and the dantian.

This power was similar to Fire Qilin blood and Azure Dragon true qi; all of it merged entirely into the flesh, blood, bones, and sinews.

At this moment, Li Musheng felt the same sensation as when he previously absorbed Fire Qilin blood and Azure Dragon true qi; this divine power was constantly enhancing his physique.

In about the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, the divine blood accumulated from the bodies of the Zhang Sect and others of the Fallen Spirit Peak was completely absorbed.

Li Musheng carefully sensed it; the divine blood from the bodies of the Zhang Sect of the Fallen Spirit Peak, the Four Great Zunzhe, and the senior disciple from before had increased his physique by about one and a half percent, an effect even better than absorbing Azure Dragon true qi previously.

Moreover, Li Musheng could clearly perceive that threads of divine power were hidden within his body; although he possessed no Talent Divine Power and could not truly use this divine power to manipulate heavenly and earthly forces like wind and thunder.

However, compared to previously observing the moves of Master Chihuo and others, Li Musheng could now more intuitively feel a certain connection between divine power and the forces of heaven and earth.

Of course, he still could not control this connection; after all, divine beings and martial arts were completely two distinct systems, and his achievements in martial arts could not yet influence it.

Thinking this, Li Musheng looked at the green-black jade stele in his hands, which had been striving to attract each other and merge into one from beginning to end.

Perhaps what the Zhang Sect of the Fallen Spirit Peak said was true; if one could truly comprehend the mystery within and thereby control that connection existing in the unseen.

Then even an ordinary person could control the Talent Divine Power that only divine beings could wield.

"Indeed, it is a treasure."

Li Musheng released his hands, lifting the restriction on the green-black jade stele; instantly, the two stone steles attracted and fused together in the blink of an eye.

Not long after, it returned to the appearance of the complete green-black jade stele as before; even the several palm imprints Li Musheng had struck earlier had completely healed during this time.

Seeing this, Li Musheng thought for a moment, then reached out and lifted the entire Talent Divine Stele.

This stone stele was indeed worth comprehending, but he had no time to comprehend it for now; he could only take the whole thing away.

Next, Li Musheng glanced at the big black cat lying at his feet.

After being stunned by Li Musheng's hand-blade strike earlier, the big black cat was quickly attracted by the situation inside the green-black jade stele.

Moreover, it seemed utterly obsessed with the radiance emanating from inside the stone stele, so it inexplicably followed Li Musheng, lying on the ground and greedily absorbing the light from the jade stele.

Until the stone steles merged and all the light vanished, the big black cat finally stretched lazily, still reluctant to let go, and kept rubbing against the hem of Li Musheng's clothes.

Its pair of green, oily eyes rolled around, as if deciding to stick to Li Musheng from now on.

Li Musheng saw everything, but he didn't mind; he squatted down and reached out to pet the cat.

However, he noticed that after absorbing the jade stele's radiance, the cat seemed slightly larger than before.

"Interesting."

Li Musheng studied the big black cat for a while, then patted its head before standing up and leaving the secret cave.

(End of this chapter)