Chapter 603: The True Martial Dao

Inside the forging room, Chen Yan sat cross-legged in meditation.

At this moment, all was calm and tranquil, yet it felt as if endless waves were churning beneath the surface.

What would Chi Xue do?

What would Qi Fan and the others do?

What loopholes were there left to exploit in the rules of the Purple Firmament World-Fixing Mirror?

Deep in Chen Yan's mind, thoughts emerged constantly, only to be snuffed out just as quickly.

He slowly opened his eyes, his gaze as deep as an abyss.

There was no longer any need for Qi Fan and the others to continue blocking Chi Xue; their optimal choice was to come and find Chen Yan.

But they had not appeared; either they had been wiped out, or they were trapped in the Dark-Devouring Mother Nest.

Chen Yan reached out a single hand, and within the Counter-Fire Furnace, the pitch-black Ember-Memory Spear slowly floated up, strands of black flowing light cascading from the spear's body.

At this moment, the Ember-Memory Spear was like a black hole capable of devouring all light, incomparably profound and mysterious.

"A person's life is never lacking in struggle—struggle against oneself, struggle against others.

Even every breath is like a living creature unwilling to die, struggling against nature."

Chen Yan whispered; he did not fear struggle, nor did he fear the hardships of life and death.

He only worried that he was not doing well enough.

Hum!

A heavy spear-hum slowly rippled throughout the entire forging room, stirring up waves in the space.

Chen Yan carefully studied the Ember-Memory Spear and spoke softly:

"From now on, you are no longer Xia Weimin's Ember-Memory, but my, Chen Yan's, Ember-Evil Sting.

Devour all malice, and follow me to hunt through the ages.

I shall call you the Ember-Evil Spear."

Chen Yan's voice fell.

In an instant.

Whoosh!

Layers of black mist intertwined with the spear soul upon the Ember-Evil Spear, swirling and whistling.

It seemed extremely excited.

From this day forth, there was one more divine artifact in the world: the Ember-Evil Spear!

The connection between the now-divine-grade Ember-Evil Spear and Chen Yan became even tighter.

It was as if it were Chen Yan's right-hand man, a natural symbiont with him.

After all, Chen Yan had infused his own flesh, blood, and power of will at the moment of the Ember-Evil Spear's birth.

And the Ember-Evil Spear's own attributes made Chen Yan even more satisfied.

First attribute, 【Awakened Ember】: Can store seven of its master Chen Yan's strongest attacks and unleash them at will during combat.

It can only be refilled once a day.

【Awakened Ember】 has upgraded again, from being able to store four attacks to the current seven.

Second attribute, 【Thousand-Phase Morph】: Can transform into any object, and below the ninth rank, no one can destroy it.

Third attribute, 【Evil-Void Resonance】: Every attack can release Evil-Void spores; the Evil-Void spores can combine with the power of will to inflict intense mental attacks on the enemy.

Fourth attribute, 【Devouring-Thought Black Tide】: Can gestate a black tide, which contains countless Evil-Void spores and seventh-grade spear souls, to conduct an all-encompassing assault on the enemy.

Of the four attributes, only the first was originally possessed by the Ember-Evil Spear itself.

The second attribute, 【Thousand-Phase Morph】, was bestowed by the Counter-Fire.

The third attribute, 【Evil-Void Resonance】, and the fourth attribute, 【Devouring-Thought Black Tide】, were both brought by the Evil-Void Black Tide that had merged with the Ember-Evil Spear.

Chen Yan was quite satisfied.

Under his mental command, the Ember-Memory Spear began to change, finally turning into a pitch-black ring worn on Chen Yan's index finger.

Chen Yan found it hard to put down; who could not love such a powerful divine artifact?

As Chen Yan's finger swept through the void, a long trail of pitch-black smoke drifted out from the black ring.

It floated before Chen Yan like a black cloud; it looked like a dark cloud, but in reality, it contained millions of microscopic spores.

When these spores are inhaled into the body, a Creation-realm consciousness will experience a momentary blur, and a sixth-ranker will suffer severe damage to their consciousness.

This is 【Evil-Void Resonance】, but the terrifying aspect of 【Evil-Void Resonance】 is not just this.

Hum.

Chen Yan's index finger suddenly overflowed with golden-red brilliance, and the power of will was injected into the black ring.

Immediately after, the Ember-Evil Spear once again activated the third attribute, 【Evil-Void Resonance】, and soon a cloud of dark-gold mist drifted out.

All the spores within this mist were filled with rolling, immortal will.

The dual combination of 【Evil-Void Resonance】 and the power of will made the lethality simply horrifying.

Even more terrifying is that these spores can regenerate; when one batch of spores dies, the Ember-Evil Spear will continuously produce more.

This is the ability of the Evil-Void Black Tide.

Suddenly.

Chen Yan had an idea, and the next moment he directly summoned a Thunder-Ball Creature.

This was a Thunder-Ball Creature created by the Ten-Thousand Prison Nether-Thunder; its combat power was not high, only at the mid-sixth rank.

But fortunately, they were numerous and easy to produce, often used as consumables in battle, capable of self-detonation.

Moreover, unlike the Counter-Fire Furnace and the Counter-Fire Soldier Remains.

Chen Yan could take the Ten-Thousand Prison Nether-Thunder out of the Five-Clan Struggle; once taken out, it would give birth to a new Magnetic-Storm Thunder Prison, which would have a simply horrifying effect on the battlefield.

This is the struggle of the Five Clans.

A powerful trial sufficient to determine the future of the world.

The next moment, Chen Yan injected the spores overflowing from the Ember Evil Spear into the body of the lightning-ball creature.

The lightning-ball creature, flickering with purple electricity, began to undergo obvious changes; one could see black currents surging within its body, and spores were also overflowing between its inhalations and exhalations.

"Explode," Chen Yan said.

The next instant.

Boom!

The lightning ball exploded, and blinding electric light erupted, accompanied by a high temperature sufficient to melt mountains, while countless spores overflowed crazily within it.

Chen Yan was about to reach out with one hand, but his own consciousness trembled for an instant.

The next moment, streaks of electric light in the void formed a field, compressing the exploding fire waves that were about to spread wildly into a single point.

A smile appeared at the corners of Chen Yan's mouth.

The combination of 【Evil Void Resonance】 and the lightning-ball creature indeed produced a good reaction.

The next moment, Chen Yan first cast a shadow of blood energy to load into the Ember Evil Spear.

Immediately after, under Chen Yan's mental command, the Ember Evil Spear flew out of the forging room to find the Ten Thousand Prison Nether Thunder.

With the Ember Evil Spear, both the lightning-ball creature and the pig-heart mechanical body could evolve once more.

A single self-destructing lightning-ball creature carrying spores might not have much power, but what about one hundred, or one thousand?

Fifty would be enough to blow to death someone like Chi Yuexi at the early stage of the Creation Realm.

One hundred would be enough to blow to death someone like Ji Chuxi at the middle stage of the Creation Realm.

One thousand, killing the person ranked one hundredth on the Creation Realm List, should be no problem at all.

Chen Yan waved one hand, and the Dao-Enlightenment Myriad Forms Seed and the Dao-Enlightenment Myriad Forms Map appeared before him.

Immediately after, Chen Yan placed the Dao-Enlightenment Myriad Forms Seed onto the Dao-Enlightenment Myriad Forms Map.

Hum...

The moment the Myriad Forms Map, which overflowed with starlight and outlined mountains and rivers, came into contact with the Myriad Forms Seed, the contact point suddenly rippled with layers of waves, and divine light overflowed.

And the Myriad Forms Seed, like an ice ball meeting a hot iron, began to melt from the bottom up, turning into wisps of strange light that dissipated into the Myriad Forms Map.

In the blink of an eye, the entire Myriad Forms Map changed, and all the images became extremely lifelike.

On those mountains and rivers, the vegetation swayed and flourished, and the exquisite rivers also began to intertwine and roll, surging endlessly.

The Myriad Forms Seed transformed into infinite vitality, making the entire Myriad Forms Map come alive.

Chen Yan's eyes trembled, and he pointed a finger at the Dao-Enlightenment Myriad Forms Map; he felt a point of coolness at his fingertip, and the next moment, it sank directly into it.

Whoosh!

The transformed Dao-Enlightenment Myriad Forms Map suddenly grew larger, turning into a banner overflowing with starlight that wrapped around Chen Yan.

Immediately after, Chen Yan appeared inside the Dao-Enlightenment Myriad Forms Map.

He appeared above the mountains and rivers, looked up, and the sky was the infinitely magnified ceiling of the forging room.

But beside him and beneath his feet, it had already become another world.

Great rivers were surging, vegetation was growing, and mountains were towering.

Chen Yan's enlightenment was strengthened in every aspect, and he could still feel the enlightenment bonus from the Dao-Enlightenment Myriad Forms Seed.

At the same time.

Chen Yan looked at his Origin Space, where light flames flickered on the six rings loaded with Spirits of Divinity.

The Spirits of Divinity were actually slowly disappearing.

Chen Yan's eyes trembled for an instant, and he looked at the Martial Dao meridians again.

At the tips of the meridians, the movements of all the Will Martial Artists had stalled.

Not quite stalled.

But their movements were extremely slow.

Chen Yan narrowed his eyes; the so-called consumption of Spirits of Divinity by the Dao-Enlightenment Myriad Forms Map to evolve perfect martial arts.

Was actually consuming Spirits of Divinity to change the flow of time, while the one truly deducing perfect martial arts within the Dao-Enlightenment Myriad Forms Map was still the martial artist themselves.

This was actually better.

After all, the more one deduces martial arts oneself, the more the created martial arts will be truly suitable for oneself.

There has never been a perfect martial art in this world; even if it is perfect for this person, it is imperfect for another.

Because people are different from one another.

The so-called perfect martial art is the martial art that fits oneself the best!

Chen Yan raised his eyebrows slightly, then chose to sit cross-legged on a hilltop.

For some reason, that heavy heart of his suddenly felt relaxed.

Here, the peaks rose and fell, spreading out gradually like an ink wash painting.

The river water surged, and the water mist fell like light clouds, making a roaring sound.

The mountains were green and the waters were clear; everything appeared spiritual and beautiful.

Even the worst mood would be eased in this world.

The beauty of heaven and earth is the best medicine to dispel melancholy.

A smile appeared at the corners of Chen Yan's mouth, and pale golden light swirled around his body as truth flowed.

He circulated 【Forging Evolution of the Vast Firmament】, beginning to observe the jumping, contraction, and metabolism of every particle in his physical body.

He began to truly introspect himself, feeling every breath he took and the flow of every wisp of blood.

Martial Dao should be comfortable; it is the pursuit of the supreme, the pursuit of the ultimate.

But when one's own martial Dao is bound to the world.

Chen Yan also experiences fatigue.

He has grown accustomed to the repeated cultivation, the repeated brutal tempering of his physical body, and the repeated desperate struggles nearing his limits.

But things should not happen more than three times, let alone the repeated, repeated desperate struggles.

Every minute and every second, it is as if someone is telling Chen Yan, you have no time left.

Time is your enemy.

But the person telling Chen Yan this is precisely Chen Yan himself.

Chen Yan cultivates, his physical body emitting a brilliant glow, until later, it becomes increasingly radiant and translucent.

It is as if his body and mind have dissipated.

He suddenly grows fond of this feeling.

He knows there are all kinds of challenges and all kinds of crises in the outside world.

But in this place, time belongs to him alone.

It does not matter if he stays here for an extra hour; only one minute has passed in the outside world.

Sixty times the time flow rate!

In one day outside, sixty days have passed here.

Spending sixty days here, Chen Yan's own Divine Spirit only consumes 【2000×6】.

Chen Yan ponders, and distracting thoughts appear in his mind.

Distracting thoughts, something he has not had for a long time.

He has always been single-minded and has never had distracting thoughts.

Yet when this trace of a distracting thought arises, Chen Yan actually feels very comfortable.

Perhaps he could come before Lu Jianxia and sincerely say, "I'm sorry, believe in me, I will definitely change the future for you and me."

Perhaps he could take out the delicious food his younger sister and San Jin prepared for him, and then eat a meal without thinking.

Eating while walking, sitting, lying down, or sprawling.

He stops his cultivation and comes before a waterfall, feeling the mist hit his face, which is very cooling.

Then, he takes out a chicken leg and gnaws on it.

Subsequently, he walks across mountains and rivers, walks across vast plains.

His body and mind are changing, both becoming more unobstructed.

At that time, the one traveling the Great Xia with his younger sister was only a manifestation of Chen Yan's willpower, not Chen Yan himself.

But this time.

"Hahahaha!!!"

A hearty laugh resounds over the great river.

He stands upon the current in the middle of the great river, laughing heartily.

Chen Yan no longer knows how long it has been since he last laughed; he became the number one prodigy, he became the one and only throughout the ages.

Yet, he has not laughed in a long time.

Then, when Chen Yan's body and mind become most clear and immaculate in a certain moment.

Chen Yan's expression is serene and peaceful, his aura steady.

Suddenly.

He steps forward with his left foot, his toes hooking up waves of water.

Starting stance!

His right arm lifts, level with his chest, his right hand hanging down naturally.

Then, his left arm stretches out, as if gently supporting an invisible object, the movement soft and slow.

Immediately after, his figure turns, his right hand traces an arc, his left hand follows the momentum, stirring up wind and waves.

Splash.

The river water beneath his feet is pushed by an invisible force, and a hundred-meter-long massive wave surges outward.

Following Chen Yan's palm push.

Whoosh!

A giant wave a hundred meters high suddenly surges up on the great river, but as Chen Yan retracts his palm, this hundred-meter giant wave immediately flows back.

Then.

Splash, splash, splash, splash!

Above the massive riverbed, the increasingly long great river begins to flow backward, roll in reverse, and rotate, galloping between the vast heaven and earth like a water dragon.

As Chen Yan's power flows, a thousand meters, ten thousand meters, tens of thousands of meters of the long river are forcibly detached from the riverbed.

Transforming into a giant water dragon, galloping, hissing, and roaring in the firmament.

And in the center of the water dragon, Chen Yan's whole body flows with golden light, his palms pushing and drawing circles.

He has not made contact with the water dragon, but the overflowing power supports the great river, surging and peerless.

Splash, splash!

As Chen Yan circulates his power, the giant water dragon continuously spirals, stirring the airflow between heaven and earth to form a massive vortex, as if it wants to sweep everything in the world into it.

Chen Yan's eyes are bright, and he is laughing radiantly.

This is the true martial Dao, a martial Dao that can be enjoyed!