Chapter 485

Where there are people, there is the jianghu; Yan Buji regards the cultivation world and the mortal jianghu as roughly the same.

After he became famous, many martial cultivators came seeking to become his disciples, but Yan Buji has always left this matter to Longzhou and the others to handle.

Yan Buji's fame added fuel to the Martial Dao Association's development; now the association is a sizable organization within Dongxing City.

This naturally provoked dissatisfaction among other forces attached to the arena, and Longzhou Wu Qian was no fool; after taking in so many martial cultivators, he tried every means to bring them to the arena, gaining fame and making a fortune through a series of maneuvers.

Rumors even spread that the Martial Dao Association could replace the major powers attached to the arena; in this situation, the association inevitably touched some people's interests, making cooperation unlikely.

What Yan Buji had Wang Qiangsheng investigate was precisely this matter, especially those few who dragged him into bitter battles in the deathmatches, nearly seeing through his undergarments, which left him utterly bewildered.

He simply wanted to know who was conducting such targeted research on him.

From Wang Qiangsheng, Yan Buji learned that among the martial cultivators who had joined the Martial Dao Association, there were spies from other factions who, while he lectured on the Dao and martial arts, deliberately gathered information about his habits; however, it had not yet been discovered who they were reporting to.

After returning to the Martial Dao Association.

Longzhou and Wu Qian sat inside, their faces solemn.

Yan Buji chuckled: "Why are you two so solemn?"

"Brother Xu, you're remarkably carefree—just now in the arena it was so dangerous, yet you can still chat and laugh; we truly admire you." Longzhou gave a helpless smile.

"Brother Long, what do you mean by that..."

Wu Qian looked at him: "Brother Xu, you must have noticed as well—over these months of deathmatches, as your trump cards have been revealed more and more, someone has already been studying your fighting style and habits, devising targeted countermeasures. If we keep going..."

"Are you two advising me not to continue in the deathmatches?" Yan Buji sat down and asked.

The two nodded: "It's not that we want Brother Xu to abandon the arena; after all, the Martial Dao Association's interests lie there. Without Brother Xu, the association's current situation is like oil on fire—one slip and we could lose everything."

"What do you two mean?"

"How about taking a temporary break? Brother Xu could cultivate for a while, gain some new trump cards, and then continue."

"Yes, Brother Xu has already done enough; if we keep fighting, someone might truly see through him, making it better to change his tactics than to let others target him."

Yan Buji thought for a moment: "What you say makes sense, but I still have to fight."

"This..."

"Martial cultivators naturally need to improve themselves in battle; moreover, they have never pushed me to my limit, so how could I retreat?"

Longzhou furrowed his brows: "You, as a fellow cultivator, know that it's a deathmatch—any mistake would be like today's bout. If the opponent's magical power hadn't faltered at that instant, Brother Xu might not be standing here unharmed."

"So, since it's a life-and-death struggle, with you having no self, how could we not give it our all? My cultivation also needs such battles to grow." Yan Buji laughed.

"This..."

Yan Buji waved his hand: "No need to say more; I will still participate in next month's deathmatch."

"Ah, fine." Seeing they could not persuade Yan Buji, the two said no more.

After entering the room, Yan Buji sat cross-legged and turned his vision inward.

Immortal Essence circulated with the profound skill's heavenly circuit, returning to the dantian in just a few breaths.

And in the dantian there were neither too many nor too few Dao Marks—exactly six hundred—which also struck Yan Buji as strange.

"Can't battle quickly increase Dao Marks? No, that's wrong—I clearly feel Dao Marks increasing, so why aren't they increasing at all?"

Yan Buji was quite puzzled and began to guide the Dao Marks.

Sizzle!

Huh?!

The Martial Dao Dao Mark trembled violently in the dantian, and Yan Buji immediately traced this discordant feeling back to its source.

"It's this thing!"

His No-Self Body has run into trouble!

Yan Buji raised his hand, placed the No-Self Body before his eyes, and examined it closely: "So my Dao Marks are here! Have they been swallowed by the No-Self Body?"

Yan Buji was quite bewildered, gazing at the Martial Dao Dao Marks appearing on the True Essence crucible within the No-Self Body, where purple lightning flickered inside the crucible, leaving him dazed.

Seeing the lightning and Dao Marks gradually merge, a purple aura suddenly rose from the No-Self Body; accompanied by the shimmering purple hue, streaks of purple arcs began to circulate through the meridians and flesh of the No-Self Body.

"Profound skill?!"

Yan Buji froze for a moment, wondering what the No-Self Body meant.

Having absorbed my Dao Marks, did it undergo some wonderful change together with the Purple Heavenly Divine Thunder left over from when I previously endured the lightning tribulation?

Yan Buji watched the Dao Marks on the True Essence crucible steadily diminish, until the No-Self Body cultivated another profound skill and actually broke through directly to the Foundation Establishment Stage!

"Such a profound skill is unheard of—it actually strengthens the flesh and divine sense by absorbing heavenly thunder. And this..."

Yan Buji looked at the thunder seed remaining in the True Essence crucible and couldn't help but be astonished: "One can even cultivate a thunder seed; if nurtured well, even martial cultivators in the future could summon the Purple Heavenly Divine Thunder!"

All things of heaven and earth and the five elements have their seeds—for example, the Heavenly Fire seed in Yan Buji's hand. Such powers are not something cultivators can develop on their own; they can only be used after obtaining and refining them externally.

But the Martial Dao profound skill that the No-Self Body created on its own actually possesses a Purple Heavenly Divine Thunder seed, which is quite extraordinary.

"If eating my Dao Marks can create such a profound skill, then feeding you them is just feeding you."

Yan Buji laughed, examined the cultivation method of the No-Self Body's profound skill, and also began to practice it himself.

However, Yan Buji soon stopped laughing, because he lacked Purple Heavenly Divine Thunder within his body, making it impossible to condense a thunder seed; the very first step of cultivating the profound skill ran into a major problem.

"Hmm? It seems I still need to find another bolt of heavenly thunder to cultivate this profound skill? Too troublesome."

Yan Buji looked at the No-Self Body and directly reached in to pull out the thunder seed from its body.

The No-Self Body is still under his control, and moreover, the No-Self Body itself was created from Yan Buji's essence, energy, and spirit, so there's no need to erase any imprint—it can be refined directly.

Of course, for safety's sake, Yan Buji still actively performed a seven-day sacrificial refinement, waiting until no imprint remained on it, then used the No-Self Body's profound skill to refine it.

The thunder seed enters the body!

Since it was refined with Immortal Essence, Yan Buji immediately felt as if ants were crawling, recalling the time when he was struck by the lightning tribulation.

However, precisely because he had experience, Yan Buji encountered no mishap during the refinement.

After half a month, once the thunder seed was refined, he began to circulate the profound skill, formally entering its practice.

"Since it contains the Purple Heavenly Divine Thunder, let's call it the Purple Thunder Divine Skill." Yan Buji laughed.

Afterward, Yan Buji glanced at the Selfless Body.

The Selfless Body operated on its own; even after losing the Thunder Seed, the cultivation of the Profound Technique faced no obstruction, and instead it enabled him to condense another Thunder Seed.

Yan Buji's pupils contracted, and he thought of a vicious method.