Chapter 735: Preconditions, Body Snatching

April 7th.

From the provincial capital of Gan Province to Datong Prefecture, it took Li Fei and his group less than two days to travel by flying on the Black Boat.

The Black Boat landed directly inside Wuan University.

The reason Li Fei used this magic treasure publicly, exposing the fact that he was cultivating both Law and Martial Arts, was twofold.

First, because he had selected Lin Tianyi's notes from the Imperial Library, a matter that could not be kept hidden; at the very least, the top elites of Lanling City certainly knew of it.

Furthermore, the Crown Prince had later specifically requested a secret manual for him from the Tianyi Pavilion, which caused an even greater stir, with many in the martial arts world speculating that the manual was for Li Fei.

Second, because since he possessed such a precious flying magic treasure as the Black Boat, there was no reason to hide it and not use it.

Therefore, Li Fei simply stopped hiding it; in any case, the people of the world would sooner or later know that he was also walking the path of dual Law and Martial cultivation.

After the Black Boat landed at Wuan University, Li Fei put away the magic treasure and went directly to see Shi Caiming.

It was still that same small hill, the same large lawn, and the same reclining chair.

The Grandmaster who had recently raided a thousand miles alone and suppressed an entire city was currently smoking.

Seeing that familiar bald head, Li Fei immediately felt a sense of closeness and subconsciously felt much more at ease.

He walked over with a smile: "Principal, I heard you had a fight with Xu Jing?"

Shi Caiming turned his head to look at Li Fei, his expression somewhat smug:

"I just made a move and taught him a lesson."

"That impressive?"

"Do you think that just because we are both Grandmasters, Xu Jing can compare to me?"

"The Principal's martial arts are peerless; I am full of admiration."

Li Fei praised him sincerely.

The number of supernatural powers that constitute a Martial Domain is at least three; there can be four, five, or even more!

From these words of Shi Caiming, Li Fei could be certain that the other party's Martial Domain was composed of more than three supernatural powers, which was why his combat strength was above Xu Jing's.

He knew that Shi Caiming had gone to the provincial capital to fight Xu Jing for his sake, which moved him deeply.

Shi Caiming was very pleased with the praise from the greatest Foundation Establishment cultivator of all time, and he blew a smoke ring with a look of contentment.

"Principal, I don't mean to blame you, I just want to know why you didn't intervene when my Master met with his accident back then?"

Li Fei asked.

A large part of the reason why Shi Caiming chose to be so good to him was because of Hao Yi.

Thus, Li Fei wanted to know why Shi Caiming could publicly threaten Xu Jing and fight for his sake, yet had not done so for Hao Yi back then.

If Shi Caiming had been willing to go all out back then, would Hao Yi have had a chance to successfully break through his realm?

Would everything now be different?

Shi Caiming was startled upon hearing this, and after a moment of silence, he said slowly:

"Because I knew your Master's path was a dead end."

"."

"If I had stood on his side back then and helped him, it would only have triggered more serious consequences and invited even more powerful suppression."

"I understand."

Li Fei nodded.

He truly did not mean to blame Shi Caiming, nor did he think he had the qualifications to blame him.

Shi Caiming's expression was somewhat dejected: "Besides, I was only a Martial Arts Master back then, not yet the Principal of Wuan University, so there was not much I could do."

Li Fei fell silent.

Perhaps it was precisely because the Shi Caiming of the past had ultimately failed to protect Hao Yi, causing Hao Yi's Dao foundation to be damaged and forcing him to leave Datong Prefecture in despair.

That was why, now that he was a Grandmaster, he could not tolerate another young person he favored being harmed to death.

Li Fei bowed deeply to him:

"Regardless, thank you for standing up for me this time, and for sending Senior Qin in time."

Shi Caiming waved his hand: "You are a student of my Wuan University, and this time you entered the Tomb of Heavenly Water on behalf of my university, so naturally I would not sit idly by."

Li Fei straightened up and asked the question he cared about most:

"Principal, how is Xu Jing's strength?"

Shi Caiming glanced at him: "What, killing a Martial Arts Master isn't enough for you, and you want to defy the heavens and slay a Grandmaster?"

Li Fei smiled: "It's not like that; I just want to understand the other party's strength first."

He had already felt the power of Xu Jing's Martial Domain in the Tomb of Heavenly Water; that power left him almost unable to resist, and that was only an incomplete Martial Domain.

Therefore, he was very clear that while in the Foundation Establishment stage, it was impossible for him to defeat Xu Jing no matter what.

Shi Caiming put down the cigarette in his hand and signaled for Li Fei to pour him some wine.

Li Fei obediently picked up the wine pot on the table and filled Shi Caiming's cup.

"Xu Jing condensed his Martial Domain with three supernatural powers to break through and become a Grandmaster; in terms of foundation, he can only be considered average among Grandmasters."

Shi Caiming took a sip of the wine that the Marquis of Jing'an had poured for him personally, and said slowly:

"But he possesses a 【Black Water】 supernatural power that can devour the supernatural powers of others. After condensing his Martial Domain, he can still continue to devour powers to strengthen himself. I think his consideration for choosing to condense his Martial Domain with three powers back then also included this."

"After becoming a Grandmaster, the Martial Domain is cast and no longer needs to incorporate implants; external forces are useless. It becomes very difficult to increase one's strength even by a fraction, but Xu Jing can take shortcuts with the 【Black Water】 power, which allows him to become stronger more easily than other Grandmasters."

"When I fought him this time, he was defeated quickly. On one hand, it was because he had cut off a portion of his Martial Domain, causing himself no small loss and leaving him not at his peak. On the other hand, he deliberately retracted his Martial Domain and conceded to me early."

"Deliberately?"

"I think he knew he couldn't win, and coupled with the fact that he had cut off a portion of his Martial Domain, causing it to become unstable, he didn't want to damage his origin, so he ended the battle early."

"What effect does cutting off a portion of the Martial Domain for someone else have on him?"

"His strength will be weakened, and it will take some time to recover."

Li Fei's eyes lit up, and he asked hurriedly: "About how long?"

Shi Caiming looked at him: "Short as half a year, long as two or three years is possible. Why, do you want to challenge him after you break through your realm? Let me tell you, the gap between a Martial Arts Master and a Grandmaster is far greater than you imagine; no matter how weak a Grandmaster is, they are still a Grandmaster. In history..."

He had wanted to say that in history, no one had ever defeated a Grandmaster with the cultivation base of a Martial Arts Master.

But in history, no Foundation Establishment cultivator had ever slain a Martial Arts Master with two supernatural powers either.

Li Fei had already created history more than once; using historical records to persuade him was clearly not very convincing.

"You should break through your realm first before talking about that."

Shi Caiming glared at Li Fei irritably, "Tell me, what problem has occurred that you had to come see me in such a rush?"

"Please, Principal, open your Martial Domain."

Li Fei said to Shi Caiming.

After opening the Martial Domain, there would be no need to worry about the following conversation being overheard, and within the Martial Domain, a Grandmaster's perception is so keen that they can sense the situation inside Li Fei's body in much greater detail.

A red light enveloped the small area where the two of them were.

Li Fei only felt a warm sensation all over his body and did not feel much pressure.

"Hmm?"

Shi Caiming suddenly stood up from the reclining chair, came before Li Fei, and grabbed Li Fei's right hand.

A gentle force entered Li Fei's body from his right-hand meridians and reached his dantian in an instant.

When this force came into contact with the cold current inside Li Fei, although it was not immediately frozen, it was quickly exhausted.

Shi Caiming let go of Li Fei's hand and looked at him with a serious expression:

"This is a Heavenly Water Soul Bone, at least seventh-grade! How did you end up like this?"

He had previously thought that Li Fei might have been seriously injured in a fight with You Ming, or had encountered some cultivation problem that he needed to ask for advice on.

He never expected that the problem Li Fei encountered was far more serious than he had anticipated!

Incorporating an implant that far exceeded the grade of the other four implants had caused the balance of his Dao foundation to be broken.

That Li Fei's Dao foundation had not collapsed by now and that he was still alive and well truly made Shi Caiming feel it was incredible!

"The Martial Arts Master I encountered in the Tomb of Heavenly Water held a short blade, which was crafted from the soul bone and soul core fragments of a seventh-grade Heavenly Water Azure Soul Beast..."

Li Fei gave a rough account of his encounter in the Tomb of Heavenly Water to Shi Caiming, focusing not on how he had killed the Martial Arts Master, but on the short blade and the ancient sound he had perceived at the end.

After listening to his description, Shi Caiming frowned and fell into deep thought.

The red light around them flickered constantly; Li Fei felt as if an extra furnace had appeared inside his body, warm but not scorching, and he knew this was Shi Caiming using his Martial Domain to investigate his internal condition in detail.

"The voice you heard at the end was emitted by the eighth-grade Heavenly Water Azure Soul Beast that constructed the Dead Domain."

A moment later, Shi Caiming stated his deduction:

"Before dying, this eighth-grade Heavenly Water Azure Soul Beast used the 【Soul Summoning】 power to summon its own spirit and consciousness into the Dead Domain it had constructed, thereby managing to survive. But the Dead Domain suddenly collapsed, and the consciousness of this eighth-grade Heavenly Water Azure Soul Beast would have perished along with it. In order to continue surviving, it attached its consciousness to the short blade you mentioned, and then merged into your body."

Li Fei couldn't help but ask: "Then why didn't it use its own remains? Wouldn't that be more compatible?"

Shi Caiming said irritably: "If it had used its own eighth-grade soul bone and soul core to merge into your body, you would be dead by now!"

"."

"The seventh-grade soul bone and soul core were just enough to contain its residual consciousness; if it had used its own, it felt your body definitely couldn't have withstood it. Actually, even with a seventh-grade one, a normal Foundation Establishment cultivator would certainly have died without a doubt. It was probably just taking one last gamble at the time; it didn't expect to run into a freak like you, so it can be considered to have bet correctly."

". hen why did it merge into my body? Just to continue surviving?"

"The Martial Domain of an eighth-grade Heavenly Water Azure Soul Beast is composed of three supernatural powers; you have already seen two of them: one is 【Soul Summoning】, one is 【Cold Abyss】, and the last power is called 【Body Snatching】."

"Body Snatching? It wants to snatch me?"

"The 【Body Snatching】 power and the 【Soul Summoning】 power can be perfectly paired. First, use the 【Soul Summoning】 power to collect the spirit and consciousness of a living being before they die, then strengthen it and summon it back out. Finally, use the 【Body Snatching】 power to cast the summoned soul body onto another living being, then merge it with the Heavenly Water Soul Bone, and it can snatch that body and be resurrected from the dead!"

"Then wouldn't that mean it could live forever? Constantly changing bodies?"

Li Fei asked in surprise.

Shi Caiming shook his head: "Even ninth-grade exotic beasts cannot achieve immortality, let alone eighth-grade ones? 【Soul Summoning】 and 【Body Snatching】 cause a certain amount of loss to the soul body every time they are used, and it cannot be recovered. After being resurrected a few times at most, the soul body will completely dissipate."

"So that's how it is."

Li Fei couldn't help but think that if he had entered the Tomb of Heavenly Water a few hundred years earlier, he might not have encountered a soul shadow, but a real Heavenly Water Beast!

"Did that Rank 8 Heavenly Water Azure Soul Beast use the 【Body Snatching】 divine ability on me?"

"No. If it had, you would already be dead by now."

Shi Caiming's expression was filled with emotion:

"I don't know whether to say you're lucky or unlucky. The soul body of that Rank 8 Heavenly Water Azure Soul Beast had survived for thousands of years; its power had long since dwindled to less than one percent. Coupled with the collapse of the Dead Domain, it completely lost its foundation and source of power, so it was unable to launch the 【Body Snatching】 divine ability on you at the time.

It merged into that short blade, and then let that short blade merge into your body, all to borrow your body to slowly accumulate power. Once it had enough, it would launch the 【Body Snatching】 divine ability. This cold current inside you has been constantly absorbing your 'essence, Qi, and spirit'; that is what it caused."

Li Fei was thoughtful: "But its soul body was too weak, so it fell into a deep sleep after completing all of this?"

Only this could explain why the illusion set up by True Person Qingding using the Dream-Like Order was able to affect the cold current inside his body.

If the consciousness of that Rank 8 Heavenly Water Azure Soul Beast had been awake, it would have been impossible for it to be affected by an illusion.

Shi Caiming: "Correct. Its soul body is too weak and is currently in a deep sleep. This cold current carries its consciousness and only has some instinctual reactions left, such as constantly absorbing your 'essence, Qi, and spirit'."

"Then why did this cold current merge into my Dao foundation? Because of the 【Primordial Heavenly Gold】?"

Li Fei asked.

Shi Caiming: "Yes, this is where your luck is bad. The period when that Rank 8 exotic beast was active was thousands of years ago. Humans had not yet developed martial arts at that time, so this exotic beast had absolutely no understanding of human martial arts or the Dao foundation.

It didn't expect that the Heavenly Water Soul Bone would happen to be the final piece needed for your Dao foundation. When this power merged into your body, it was spontaneously attracted to the Dao foundation at your dantian, wanting to merge into it."

After this explanation from Shi Caiming, Li Fei finally understood all the preceding causes.

"Then what should I do now? Can it be solved?"

Li Fei asked the most critical question.

Knowing the cause was only the first step; how to solve it was what mattered most.

As for the consciousness of the Rank 8 Heavenly Water Azure Soul Beast sleeping inside him, with a Grandmaster like Shi Caiming present, he wasn't worried.

Shi Caiming was silent for a long time, then finally sat back down on his recliner and said quite bluntly:

"I can't do it."

"Ah?"

Li Fei looked stunned.

Seeing how logically the other party had analyzed everything, he had assumed the other party would definitely have a way.

"I can take action to help you get rid of this cold current, but a portion of it has already completely merged into your Dao foundation. To solve it completely, I would have to destroy your Dao foundation and cripple you!"

Shi Caiming said with annoyance.

The cold current that hadn't merged into the Dao foundation wasn't a problem; Shi Caiming could deal with that.

But there was no way to deal with the part that had already merged into Li Fei's Dao foundation.

This part of the cold current was the Heavenly Water Soul Bone, which was also a type of implant, and it had already fused with the other four types of implants.

But the problem was, this Heavenly Water Soul Bone was Rank 7, while the other four implants were only Rank 3. The gap between the two was too large; it was impossible to form a balance or construct a Dao foundation.

"Is there really no way at all?"

Li Fei didn't lose heart. "If it's just a matter of balance, can we find a way to weaken the power of the Heavenly Water Soul Bone? Or perhaps strengthen the other four implants?"

"If the Heavenly Water Soul Bone hadn't merged into your Dao foundation yet, I could weaken its rank. Now that it's already merged, that's impossible. As for strengthening the other four implants, the Heavenly Water Soul Bone you merged is Rank 7. To achieve balance with it, you'd need to merge four more Rank 7 implants?"

Shi Caiming had clearly already thought about the two methods Li Fei mentioned, and he retorted without the slightest hesitation:

"Not to mention whether your body could withstand it, a Dao foundation composed of five Rank 7 implants—there has never been such a Dao foundation in the history of martial arts. Are you trying to research a brand-new, unprecedented, strongest Dao foundation yourself?"

"What if it succeeds?"

The person with the number one Dao foundation realm in history certainly spoke with confidence.

"Then there's one last question: where are you going to find four other Rank 7 implants that happen to be compatible? The body parts of Rank 7 exotic beasts have long since been refined into divine weapons, divine garments, and magic treasures.

There are fewer than ten living Rank 7 exotic beasts you could find, and every single one is in the hands of top-tier major powers. For example, the guardian beast of the Great Luo Sect is a Rank 7 exotic beast. Can you expect them to kill their guardian beast to make implants for you?"

Shi Caiming's words left Li Fei silent.

Only now did he truly feel how thorny the predicament he was in was.

If Shi Caiming had even the slightest way, he certainly wouldn't have said he couldn't do it.

PS: My head is spinning, I really can't write anymore. That's all for this chapter.

(End of chapter)