Zhanxian (Immortal Executioner)
chapter-200

19 May 2017

Looking at Heavenly Roar happily licking the low grade flying sword, Yang Chen realized he now knew how to cultivate this small pup spirit beast and became excited. Feeling ecstatic, he also felt anticipation with regards to how formidable this beast would become once he matured. How would he look?

After visiting this spirit beast, Yang Chen gave some pointers to Ho Lin. He then began the fusion of three third grade flames.

As the number of flames to be fused increased, the difficulty of handling these flames also increased. However, for Yang Chen, this increased difficulty didn’t exceed the amount of trouble he could handle. It only required more time and patience.

While carefully attending to her master, Ho Lin also began to study a large number of jade slips. Zhu Chentao also didn’t ask much of her and only taught her about a large number of ingredients she was already familiar with. He also taught her how to identify and deal with these ingredients along with their medicinal efficiency. This was not like the basic education she had obtained at Ye Xiu Manor but was rather a basic knowledge provided to improve all the principles of pill concocting and direction for more research.

Apart from these subjects, she also had to learn about controlling flames. Zhu Chentao was very lazy regarding this point and directly told Ho Lin to go to Yang Chen for guidance. With a devoted mind, Ho Lin began to use her flames to form shapes like other living things, in accordance to Yang Chen’s guidance.

Zhu Chentao was also a student like Ho Lin right now. Refining such a high grade elixir allowed Zhu Chentao’s horizons to be expanded. At the same time, he broadened his line of thought. Although he was using the most common refining method, Zhu Chentao was still able to comprehend many extraordinary things.

Each day seem to pass peacefully, with everyone busy on their own matters, but the three people immersed in their own preoccupations didn’t seem to realize the quick passage of time.

After a certain amount of time passed, Ho Lin would leave her own practice and would assist her master in deciding how much of an ingredient should be thrown in the pill concocting furnace, while also learning slowly from her master’s pill concocting technique.

The fire attribute on Yang Chen’s body had become more and more powerful. Previously when Ho Lin was following Yang Chen, she knew Yang Chen himself was very mystical, but she had perceived that all five attributes on his body seemed to be in perfect harmony. No one could predict what his attribute was. Presently, he was completely a fire attributed cultivator. Moreover, his flame seemed quite formidable and gave a sensation of going out of control.

This was not an illusion, rather Ho Lin’s genuine feeling. Like Ho Lin, even Zhu Chentao also felt the same sensation. The transformation produced by fusing three flames not only made the power of the resultant flame greatly formidable, but the most direct effect was that the fire attributed spirit power seemed to be going berserk.

The fusion of flames was an extremely dangerous thing in other people’s opinion, and the degree of danger could be compared to mixing formidable explosives and using a sledgehammer to hit them incessantly. If one is even a little careless, the mixture would immediately explode. For other people, sensing that Yang Chen’s flame was about to go out of control was completely normal.

More time passed, and the berserk flame within his body seemed to have obtained some control. The presence of fire within his body also lessened greatly. The anxious Ho Lin could finally put down the worries in her heart and no longer felt that apprehensiveness.

After taking a deep breath, Yang Chen finally stopped his cultivation and sobered up. During the fusion of the flames, he had to spent most of the time in resisting and controlling, finally successfully accomplishing the fusion.

This time’s fusion had great benefits for Yang Chen. The fourth fire spirit power had unexpectedly been upgraded to the seventh layer of the foundation stage. This upgrade was the equivalent of entering into the later foundation stage.

Because of the increase in the fourth fire spirit power, the third fire spirit power had also obtained replenishment and broke through the fourth layer of the foundation stage, entering into the fifth layer of the foundation stage. The spirit power of other attributes also increased, finally breaking through the threshold of the third layer of the foundation stage and entering the fourth layer of foundation stage, collectively stepping into mid foundation stage.

Now Yang Chen seemed to be purely a fire attributed cultivator. The fourth fire spirit power was around three layers highers compared to spirit power of other attributes, thus suppressing his other attributes and standing out.

“How much time has passed?”

While Ho Lin was serving her master, Yang Chen casually asked.

“Five years, senior apprentice brother!”

Ho Lin respectfully replied, although her address of Yang Chen had already changed to senior apprentice brother, but her manner was still respectful like before.

“Five years?”

Yang Chen also didn’t expect this, although he knew that fusing the three flames would take long time, he hadn’t expected that such a long time would have passed.

He also didn’t know what was happening outside or whether his master had already reached the foundation stage in the water attribute. How did Palace Master Zhong Jiao deal with the matter regarding Shi Shanshan? These thoughts kept passing through his mind and fading away.

Speaking of Yang Chen, within Ho Lin’s view, his previous image was that of a lazy person. She had never before seen him sit and cultivate for any length of time while ignoring everything else. In the past, he would just circulate his spirit power once at fixed time everyday. Afterwards, he would either read some book or perhaps do something which would astonish everyone. This time, Yang Chen cultivating directly for five years was an unprecedented matter for her.

However, Ho Lin had already reached foundation stage, so she could also sense Yang Chen’s present cultivation vaguely. Within a brief twenty years, Yang Chen had surprisingly entered the late foundation stage. This progress had already surpassed the normal speed of advancing by leaps and bounds. Instead, with his speed, it would be closer to say that he was advancing with the speed of an ignited rocket.

For a very long time, Yang Chen’s cultivation hovered within the initial foundation realm. It could be said, within these past ten years of pill concocting, that Yang Chen had directly upgraded to the late foundation stage from initial foundation stage. This progress would astonish anyone.

Ho Lin had been together with Yang Chen for a long time and also knew about his temper. Thus, she asked him about the reason cautiously.

Yang Chen also didn’t blame Ho Lin and explained it once for her that he had absorbed many flames and because of that his spirit power had increased. Other than that, there was no other reason. However, this method to increase one’s cultivation substantially shouldn’t be used so lightly. Rather after using it once, one must spend a sufficient amount of time in consolidating the current cultivation. Otherwise, the gains wouldn’t make up for the losses.

This was a fact even for Yang Chen. After explaining this to Ho Lin once, he also had to resume the daily routine of circulating the spirit power once again and slowly consolidate his current realm. At the same time, he also had to wait for Zhu Chentao to finish the early stage of refining.

Heavenly Roar residing within the Medicine Garden, until now, could only hold the most low level grade flying sword and lick it violently. Yang Chen also wasn’t hasty. Instead, on an ordinary day, apart from reading those books sent by the Beast Taming Sect and guiding Ho Lin, he didn’t have anything to do, so he used this time to refine the other flying swords he owned. He was convinced that as Heavenly Roar became more and more formidable, he would still be fond of more high grade flying swords.

Looking at Heavenly Roar holding and licking the flying sword madly, Yang Chen also decided something, after this time’s refining was completed, he would go and find that drop of blood essence of a Heavenly Roar dog to provide proper supplements to Heavenly Roar.

While Yang Chen was waiting leisurely, Zhu Chentao also finally completed the initial stage of the black tiger spirit supporting pill and quickly shifted the medicinal liquid into Yang Chen’s Profound Spirit Furnace.

The black tiger spirit supporting pill was of a higher grade compared to the black tiger suppressing pill, so the difficulty was also higher, furthermore Yang Chen’s attitude towards refining it was also much more earnest. Zhu Chentao’s excitement had already reached the same level as when Yang Chen had refined the black tiger suppressing pill to second grade.

This time, Yang Chen didn’t use that eye dazzling method of controlling fire like last time. Instead, he used a method similar to Zhu Chentao who had used the most basic method of controlling fire to advance the refining.

But the more it was this way, the more serious Zhu Chentao became. From the time Yang Chen had refined the black tiger suppressing pill, Yang Chen had continued to use different refining methods, which gave Zhu Chentao an indistinct sensation, as if he had been looking at the gate of YuanYing. Presently looking at Yang Chen sincerely using the most fundamental refining method, it was as if something was being stirred up in Zhu Chentao’s stomach, and suddenly he had a flash of understanding.

Regardless of whatever kind of technique is used, some basic things always remained constant. The most fundamental things used anywhere, they are always reliable. He previously thought he couldn’t reach YuanYing stage because he was not proficient in using different high grade techniques, but now he discovered, it was certainly not that way.

Zhu Chentao seemed to have achieved great enlightenment during this period of time. After carefully observing Yang Chen’s refining technique for a whole year, he suddenly burst out laughing. Then heaving a sigh of relief, he said:

“I understand!”

Soon after, he sat upright on the ground, in the posture of cultivating and immersed into meditation.

A puzzling expression crossed Ho Lin’s face, she didn’t know what her master had realized, but she honestly performed all her duties, not daring to be lazy in the slightest. Fortunately, there was sufficient spirit power, so there was basically no need to use spirit stones for supplement. There was no problem, if any Da Cheng stage or lower level expert immersed himself in cultivation for a long time, so Ho Lin wasn’t anxious about her master’s safety.

Zhu Chentao’s meditation lasted for several years. Moreover after the first three and a half years of his cultivation had passed, Yang Chen had already refined the black tiger spirit supporting pill and was ready to receive it.

The spirit power within the pill furnace was in great turmoil which caused Zhu Chentao sitting in cultivation to open up his eyes. He opened up his eyes perfectly at the time when Yang Chen was going to collect the pill and he hastily took a step forward, to observe everything carefully.

Using the pill collecting technique from Great Supreme Elder’s pill refining scripture was indeed excessive in mortal world. Similarly, it gave great confidence to Yang Chen. The long process of pill concocting had been completed very smoothly without any mistakes and finally at this last step, there basically wasn’t any worry of the pill being a failure.

The medicinal liquid within the Profound Spirit Furnace began to rotate violently with Yang Chen’s signal and slowly began to solidify. First the chaotic mess formed a lump, then slowly it began to rotate and turn spherical, the crude portions also began to disappear little by little, as if it was being sculpted carefully by an invisible hand.

Finally, when Yang Chen made the final gesture and turned his hand into a fist, a spherical pill was shaped up in a moment. On top of the elixir was a mark of black tiger that was quite realistic, as if an extremely gifted artisan had carved it on top, the long mark of ‘hissing’ towards the sky. Although didn’t make any sound, it gave a sensation of hearing a tiger’s roar.

And the instant the pill was finished, Zhu Chentao’s body emitted a dazzling brilliance. Soon after, Yang Chen sensed something inappropriate in the surroundings.

“No way?”

Even Yang Chen couldn’t help but become astounded. Zhu Chentao’s situation this time was clearly the first sign of the YuanYing stage. After this stage had passed, immediately tribulation of lightning would come. Only after passing the lightning tribulation, could one be called a genuine YuanYing stage expert.

“Ho Lin, leave immediately!”

Yang Chen immediately instructed Ho Lin and then loudly shouted facing the sky:

“Senior Gui, release the restrictions!”

While yelling, he quickly collected that pill within a small jade bottle, this was the result of exhausting hard work of almost ten years, Yang Chen couldn’t let it be destroyed by Zhu Chentao’s lightning tribulation.

He collected the Profound Spirit Furnace and other things one by one properly, while on Zhu Chentao’s side, the formation of Ying had already begun, his body was overflowing with spirit power. Yang Chen couldn’t stay here anymore and quickly rushed out.

Everyone present in the Second Fierce Yang Hall had already sensed that events were far from encouraging and quickly rushed out to examine the situation. Although the range of influence of spirit power wasn’t very large during the formation of Ying, but it was more than sufficient to cover the entire Second Fierce Yang Hall.

“Everyone fall back quickly and do not influence uncle master Zhu’s Ying formation!”

Yang Chen loudly commanded, which made everyone realize what was happening. Quickly, everyone followed Yang Chen’s instructions and left the Second Fierce Yang Courtyard.

Not to speak of one Second Fierce Yang Courtyard, even if there were ten Second Fierce Yang Courtyard’s, Yang Chen was willing to exchange them for a YuanYing stage expert. In any case, only some buildings would be damaged, and there would be no harm the underground spirit vein.

Yang Chen wasn’t worried that anyone would interfere, having old tree demon’s original body there, no one would be able to create a disturbance inside. He kept observing the transformation in Zhu Chentao’ body from far away using his spiritual awareness, while secretly assessing Zhu Chentao’s current situation.

Soon, Palace Master Zhong Jiao and other few elders who weren’t in seclusion quickly hurried over there, on seeing Yang Chen, he asked only one question, whether the pill refining was a success. After Yang Chen nodded affirmatively, Palace Master’s attention concentrated on Zhu Chentao’s situation. Regardless of however much foreign help they might get, it would never be as reliable as having a YuanYing stage expert in his own sect.

The colour of sky darkened suddenly with black clouds appearing in the sky, which continued to grow thicker and thicker, from time to time, a bolt of lightning would flicker among them. Everyone looking at this suddenly tensed up, this was the tribulation cloud of the lightning tribulation, which clearly meant that Zhu Chentao had already formed his Ying successfully and was only waiting for the tribulation lightning to arrive.

The rotating lightning cloud in the air suddenly turned into a spiral, then immediately, a lightning strike struck Yang Chen’s small courtyard. At that instant, Yang Chen’s small courtyard immediately turned into fragments, revealing Zhu Chentao sitting inside in upright position.

Zhu Chentao who was baptised by thunder, remained sitting motionlessly. However, his body emitted a different brilliance as if he had been set on fire.

The lightning strikes kept falling, second strike, third strike, all along until the eighth strike. Until now, Zhu Chentao hadn’t shown any intentions of moving, but before the last strike, he stood up, the fire on his body also suddenly rose up, as if a bucket full of boiling oil had been poured on him. The fire seemed exceptionally clear under the black shadow.

Bang!

Finally, the last and thickest lightning strike directly struck at Zhu Chentao’s forehead almost penetrating inside, the flickering around Zhu Chentao’s body continued for a good while, then slowly disappeared. The tribulation cloud in the sky also finally started to turn bright and finally disappeared.

“Palace Master! All elders!”

Without caring about his completely charred looks, Zhu Chentao rushed towards the higher ups of Pure Yang Palace and bowed in front of them.

“Congratulations, Hall Master Zhu!”

Regardless of whether it was the Palace Master or the elders or other people who were watching, at this moment, everyone was saying the same thing.

Palace Master Zhong Jiao burst out laughing, unable to hide his happiness. His sect only had few YuanYing stage experts, let alone a YuanYing stage pill concocting master. What other matter could bring him greater happiness compared to this?