Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation

After leaving the Trial Tower, Xiao Chen immediately headed for Fiend Cloud Hall.

Lu Benwei showed a smile on his face. He had already been waiting for quite a while. When he saw Xiao Chen arrive, he performed a cupped-fist salute and said, “You soared up and became a Sovereign Emperor. What are your thoughts?”

Xiao Chen pondered for a moment before replying seriously, “At first, I felt very excited. When I looked at the entire Paradise, I could clearly sense how insignificant the others were. However, after I came out of Paradise and saw that group of Faux God powerhouses, I stopped thinking that.”

“Hahahaha!”

Lu Benwei could not help guffawing. Xiao Chen’s answer was very interesting.

However, after thinking about it, Lu Benwei agreed. This was the Faux God World. Everyone here was either a Sovereign Personage or a Faux God. The Faux Gods that were almost impossible to meet in the Great Thousand Realms gathered here. No matter how many accomplishments one had, one could not feel proud in this place.

Xiao Chen spoke honestly. The instant he became a Sovereign Emperor on the God Conferring Platform, he felt a hot-bloodedness gushing in his body.

He had felt like he had gained a new life. His four initially powerful enemies immediately became nothing in his eyes.

Only after Xiao Chen became a Sovereign Emperor did he truly understand the gap between a false Emperor and a Sovereign Emperor.

After Xiao Chen left Paradise, a group of Faux Gods surrounded him. He could not even think. This was especially so when the very senior Senior Jin stared at him.

Now that Xiao Chen came to Fiend Cloud Hall, his mind had already calmed down.

He thought about how many hurdles he had faced on his path to becoming a Martial Emperor in the Kunlun Realm and how much he had experienced. Now, he could calmly face everything.

“I’m here to say goodbye, First Senior Brother.”

Xiao Chen looked at Lu Benwei. After some thought, he addressed Lu Benwei as First Senior Brother.

Lu Benwei appeared stunned as he asked softly, “What did you call me?”

“First Senior Brother. Although I did not enter Senior Fiendish Saber’s tutelage, he and I have interacted with each other for five years. Although there is no master-disciple status between us, our relationship surpasses that of a master and disciple. Whether Senior Fiendish Saber acknowledges it or not, he will always be a master to me.”

Xiao Chen would be leaving the Faux God World in three days. If he still did not say this, he would not have a chance to anymore.

Lu Benwei felt gratified when he heard that. He patted Xiao Chen’s shoulder and said, “It’s the thought that counts. I have always considered you a junior brother, as well. Come, let’s go meet Master. He will probably see you.”

“Sure.”

It was as Lu Benwei said. This time, Fiendish Saber Xi Mu did not avoid Xiao Chen.

“Plop!”

When Xiao Chen saw the seated Xi Mu, he immediately knelt down. “Junior Xiao Chen will be leaving the Faux God World soon. I will never forget the various favors that Senior Fiendish Saber showed me.”

Not to mention all the guidance Fiendish Saber Xi Mu gave Xiao Chen over the past five years, just the gratitude of saving his life a few days ago was worth him kneeling to Xi Mu. He always held reverence and respect for this eccentric senior.

This was especially after Xiao Chen heard the story of Xi Mu coming from a Noble Clan of swordsmen but walking the path of the saber.

Xi Mu showed a stunned expression. However, he quickly recovered to normal, then said coldly, “I am not your master or your father. There is no need to kneel.”

“Whoosh!”

The moment Xi Mu spoke, he pulled Xiao Chen up, not letting Xiao Chen continue kneeling.

Lu Benwei smiled and said, “Master, Xiao Chen helped you gain honor. This time, Xiao Chen stood out prominently in Paradise’s trial. He monopolized seven Paramita Lamps on the God Conferring Platform, an unprecedented feat. Many Faux Gods were stunned at that sight. This time, he is here to say goodbye.”

Xi Mu showed a serious expression as he retorted, “What honor?! He went out covered in only a bedsheet. Who knows how many people will mock me for that—”

Xi Mu spoke halfway when he suddenly thought of something. “He is leaving?” Xi Mu revealed a melancholic expression before turning around. Before he walked away, he said, “Stay at Fiend Cloud Hall for these three days. Don’t go anyway else.”

Xiao Chen found this somewhat strange. He still had some friends in the Faux God World. Spending all three days in Fiend Cloud Hall did not seem quite right.

Xiao Chen glanced at Lu Benwei, hoping that Lu Benwei would help him out here. However, Lu Benwei smiled and said, “Xiao Chen, just stay here. If you have anyone you want to meet, I can bring them here.”

Since Lu Benwei said that, making it difficult for Xiao Chen to refuse, Xiao Chen nodded slightly.

The two chatted for a while, and Lu Benwei passed on many of the things he comprehended as a Sovereign Emperor to Xiao Chen.

Sovereign Emperor was just a title and not the name of the cultivation realm. The true name was the Divine Vein Realm. However, everyone had gotten into the habit of saying Sovereign Emperor or Divine Vein Realm Sovereign Emperor. In other words, they more or less meant the same thing.

After the Transcending Mortality Realm, there were three major realms: the Veritable Personage Realm, the Primal Core Realm, and the Cloud Sea Realm. Each realm had three stages. For the Cloud Sea Realm, it was the Starry Sky Stage, the Holy Light Stage, and the Sovereign Stage.

However, be it a Star Venerate, Holy Venerate, or Sovereign Personage, they were all Cloud Sea Realm cultivators.

After the Cloud Sea Realm was the Divine Vein Realm, then the supreme Faux God Realm.

Past the Cloud Sea Realm, one would have transcended the limit of mortality and started cultivating godhood upon reaching the Divine Vein Realm.

In an ordinary body, there were twelve major meridians, twelve branches to each meridian, twelve sets of blood vessels, twelve sets of muscles along the major meridians, and other channels where major and minor cycles of circulation could happen throughout one’s body. Veritable Essence Energy and Spiritual Energy flowing in the meridians built a foundation for cultivation.

However, after crossing the Cloud Sea Realm, one’s body underwent a rebirth, no longer an ordinary body.

To cultivate from here on, one had to open Divine Veins. When all nine Divine Veins were open, one would form an undying body.

With such an undying body, one could come back to life with just a drop of blood. Even if the entire physical body were destroyed, one could regenerate from a drop of blood.

Ordinary people could not understand such a nature. Only Sovereign Emperors could gain such a horrifying ability.

“After reaching the Divine Vein Realm, we can no longer be called mortals,” Lu Benwei explained seriously to Xiao Chen. “However, we are not gods, either. You can consider the Divine Vein Realm an intermediate existence between personhood and godhood.”

At first, Xiao Chen found these words strange. Who would say that they were not a person?

However, he thought about it further. What person could regenerate from a drop of blood, surviving after their heads were chopped off or their hearts were destroyed?

“There is a total of nine stages within the Divine Vein Realm. Every Divine Vein you open is one stage. With each Divine Vein opened, your comprehension of the Dao and the Divine Energy you can condense will increase. Once you have opened all nine Divine Veins, you can be called a half-God. Such a person only needs to ignite their divine flame to become a god.”

In reality, one could only be called a Faux God. However, a Faux God was already the peak in this age of the Martial Epoch. Hence, saying that one became a god would not be wrong.

Lu Benwei continued, “Now that you are a Sovereign Emperor, you will have to forget all your past Cultivation Techniques. Your previous Cultivation Techniques cannot easily drive and refine Divine Energy. Divine Vein Realm Cultivation Techniques are extremely precious. However, your Heavenly Alliance should not lack such Cultivation Techniques.”

Xiao Chen listened quietly without interrupting. He kept in mind any questions and asked them only after Lu Benwei finished speaking. Then, Lu Benwei answered all of them.

This conversation continued for a very long time before Xiao Chen returned to his abode in Fiend Cloud Hall.

The Purple Thunder Divine Incantation can no longer help me cultivate. However, I have the Ten Thousand Dragons Art and do not need to ask the Heavenly Alliance for help. The Ten Thousand Dragons Art from the Dragon Race, a Cultivation Technique inherited since the Great Desolate Eon, has been through many epochs and undergone continuous improvement.

From today on, I have to cultivate the Ten Thousand Dragons Art properly and open a Divine Vein as soon as possible.

Even though Xiao Chen had already become a Sovereign Emperor, he had yet to open a Divine Vein. According to Lu Benwei, Xiao Chen was only an initiate Sovereign Emperor.

However, all of Xiao Chen’s Veritable Essence Energy had already transformed into Divine Energy. He did not have to condense Divine Energy, like a false Emperor did, when he wanted to use it; he could use Divine Energy anytime.

Xiao Chen sat down cross-legged and checked within himself with his eyes closed. The 9-Star Primal Core in his dantian had cracked open and turned into a golden sea. There seemed to be something beating strongly, like a heart, under the sea. A vast lifeforce filled his entire body.

Divine Energy Sea!

Xiao Chen’s golden Divine Energy formed a vast sea. When his consciousness entered his body, it stood on top of the sea.

As Xiao Chen walked on the sea, ripples appeared. Immediately, solemn and dignified Buddhist chanting, ethereal Immortal music, and various other mysterious phenomena accompanied the ripples. However, when he looked up, he saw another sea above him.

That sea above appeared pitch-black, full of a tyrannical and rapacious feeling.

With a thought, the sky and ground flipped around. Now, Xiao Chen stood on a pitch-black Divine Energy Sea. When he looked up, he saw the golden Divine Energy Sea.

This was the result of Xiao Chen choosing the Primal Chaos bridge on the God Conferring Platform. Now that he was a Sovereign Emperor, he actually possessed two Divine Energy Seas.

This resolved Xiao Chen’s worry. Even if he cultivated the Demonic Dao in the future, no one could see that black Divine Energy Sea as long as he was not willing.

The two Divine Energy Seas were one yet, at the same time, not one. Xiao Chen did not understand the mysteries behind it.

Immortal and Martial dual cultivation, righteous and demonic in one body.

Xiao Chen did not know what the future held. After all, this was an unprecedented path.