Talisman Emperor

Chen Xi sat cross-legged while the Heart Infant sat cross-legged at the tiny area within the Dao Heart.

Strands of crystalline, translucent, and vast Heart Energy circulated endlessly within the Heart Infant. It was mysterious, profound, and faintly formed the shape of a universe.

Along with the passage of time, this sort of circulation was ceaselessly perfected and attained flawlessness. Moreover, the Heart Energy that surged within the Heart Infant grew more and more thicker and powerful.

Chen Xi could clearly notice that the body of the Heart Infant was ceaselessly changing during this entire process. Its appearance was becoming more and more clearer, while its limbs were like bamboo shoots that were growing without end after the rain….

Seven days later, the Heart Infant that had already transformed into the appearance of a young child suddenly stretched out its hands, and then it formed an obscure seal that glowed brilliantly.

Bang!

In practically an instant, a bang resounded from within the Heart Infant. It seemed like the Chaos had just been split open and the world had been held open, and surging Heart Energy suddenly started to transform.

It transformed it worlds, beings, mountains, rivers, landscape, space, stars....

In the end, all of this expanded and stretched out without end….

In the end, it formed a universe!

This was a universe that had been established within the Dao Heart, and it was condensed from pure Heart Energy. It was crystalline, translucent, and filled with an indescribably grand and pure aura!

This sort of energy was completely different from other forms of energy like Divine Energy, the energy of the soul, the energy of the Laws, and so on and so forth. It was an energy that came from the Dao Heart, and it was extraordinarily mysterious and unfathomable.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

The Heart Energy started to circulate like tidewater, and it ceaselessly tempered and stabilized this newly created universe, causing everything to gradually move towards a calm state.

Unlike before, the Heart Infant had already transformed into a child with clear and young appearance. Moreover, it was even to the extent that it had no need for Chen Xi's guidance before it could control the universe in the Dao Heart to cultivate the True Heart Sutra.

This was the first forging in the True Heart Sutra, and a universe had been condensed into form within the Dao Heart. Moreover, the might it possessed had undergone a qualitative transformation that could even be described as tremendous.

Yet Chen Xi had merely spent seven days to accomplish this!

How could such a speed of cultivation be described with just the words world shocking?

However, Chen Xi himself was clearly aware that his Heart Energy had remained at the Heart Infant Realm for too long, and it had accumulated an extremely enormous amount of energy since a long time ago. On the other hand, the appearance of the True Heart Sutra had only provided him with a technique to guide and temper his Heart Energy. So, his cultivation would naturally improve at such a shocking speed.

However, it wouldn't be so easy for him to break through and attain the second forging.

So, Chen Xi couldn't be said to be very surprised now.

At this moment, his body was suffused by strands of divine radiance and the aura of the Dao. He glistened with pure and flawless light while the vital energy in his entire body moved at his will, and it just happened to see extremely natural like how the clouds in the horizon moved.

After he attained the first forging of his Heart Energy, the breakthrough he accomplished in Heart Energy had indirectly caused a trace of a change to appear in his cultivation.

This had slightly surprised Chen Xi. However, he couldn't be bothered to sigh with emotion about this before he grabbed this trace of a critical factor and started to temper his cultivation.

At the same time, he split his concentration into half and divided half of his thoughts to comprehend the Mysterious Sword of the Heart.

…

Another half a month passed by.

Chen Xi who sat cross-legged on the ground had suddenly opened his eyes, and his eyes flowed with divine light that transformed into strands of vast scenes. It was like the universe was circulating within his eyes, and it seemed like his eyes could see through the world and directly reach one's heart!

But right after that, all of this vanished, and his gaze recovered its calm, deep, and tranquil state. Moreover, his bearing became even more extraordinary and unfathomable.

Unfortunately, the time I had was too short. It will at least take another three months of tempering in order to attain perfection in the Domain Enlightened Spirit God Realm. Chen Xi sensed the changes in his aura, and then he shook his head with slight helplessness.

However, even though the improvement in his cultivation was small, his breakthrough in Heart Energy and the strength he gained from the comprehension of the Mysterious Sword of the Heart caused Chen Xi to be extremely satisfied.

The benefits from all of this was that his overall combat strength had improved greatly in this short period of less than a month!

According to Chen Xi's deduction, even if Pei Wen and Kunwu Qing joint forces against him, they would be utterly unable to pose any threat to him!

Kunwu Qing was an existence ranked at the 19th position on the Domain Enlightened Chart, whereas, Pei Wen was ranked at the 53rd position, yet they were upon to pose any threat to Chen Xi even if they joint forces. In this way, exactly how formidable was Chen Xi's current strength?

Even Chen Xi himself didn't know the answer.

But at the very least, he wasn't afraid of fighting anyone within the Desolate Manku Ruins now, and this included the existences who were ranked in the top 10 of the Domain Enlightened Chart!

…

After meditating for a few more days, Chen Xi determined the time he'd been cultivating before he stood up and walked out.

At this moment, it had already been 29 days since they'd entered the area enveloped by the Desolate Manku Qi. According to what Le Wuhen had said, they were probably on the verge of arriving at the Ancestral Root Grounds.

"Hmm?" When Chen Xi arrived at the garden from before, he couldn't help but be stunned. He noticed that an extremely vast platform had suddenly appeared here, and Le Wuhen was standing outside it.

On the other hand, Yuqiu Jing who wore snow white clothes and had an extraordinary bearing was sparring with another cultivator.

Yuqiu Jing had obviously held back because his opponent wasn't a Spirit God Exalt, and that cultivator's strength was merely slightly stronger than Cao Zhen who Chen Xi had defeated earlier.

Swoosh!

Yuqiu Jing pressed his fingers together and made a swiping motion, and then a wisp of surging sword qi whistled out.

Bang!

It directly shook Yuqiu Jing's opponent to the point of taking a few steps back, and then a light tear opened up on the left shoulder of that cultivator's clothes.

"That strike was already slightly stronger from the one before it. However, your utilization of Divine Dao Laws isn't sufficiently skillful, so it gave he an opportunity to seize. When you attack next time, you should…." Yuqiu Jing smiled as he spoke, and he revealed a graceful bearing.

It wasn't just his opponent, some of the cultivators in the vicinity of the platform seemed to be listening attentively and pondering deeply on his words.

When he glanced over all of this, Chen Xi instantly understood that Yuqiu Jing was obviously utilizing live combat to guide these cultivators.

This fellow really refuses to stop. We're already about to arrive at the Ancestral Root Grounds, yet his wasting such amounts of strength here. Chen Xi felt rather disapproving of this.

He didn't feel that merely this little bit of guidance would allow the combat strengths of these cultivators to attain a tremendous change.

Most importantly, Yuqiu Jing was obviously wasting his strength by doing this. Even though it wasn't a glaring amount of strength, the Ancestral Root Grounds was filled with countless dangers. So, perhaps even a trace of strength wasted at this moment would affect the operation of the whole group later.

However, it was obvious that Yuqiu Jing and the others didn't care about this.

Chen Xi would naturally not speak out and stop all of this. Not to mention that it would dampen their spirits, it would even offend a great deal of people.

"Daoist Brother Yuqiu, can you spar with me and guide me?" A cultivator before the platform cupped his hands, and then he looked at Yuqiu Jing with a hopeful expression.

"It's my turn."

"Yeah, such an opportunity is extremely rare, and everyone is waiting for their turn. So, don't try to get ahead of us so as to avoid any unpleasant events from arising."

The other cultivators spoke successively. Obviously, they yearned to spar with Yuqiu Jing and obtain some guidance.

Yuqiu Jing roared with laughter and really enjoyed this sort of feeling. He was just about to speak when his gaze glanced inadvertently, and he noticed Chen Xi who stood in the distance, causing him to instantly change his mind.

"Fellow Daoist Chen Xi, I presume your cultivation has improved after cultivating for so long. Why don't we seize this opportunity to have a spar?" Yuqiu Jing spoke in a loud and bright voice, and it instantly moved the attention of everyone onto Chen Xi. Moreover, all their faces carried a trace of ridicule.

When Chen Xi went off to cultivate that day, all of them felt rather disdainful towards it, and they felt that Chen Xi was putting on an act. Now, when they heard Yuqiu Jing raise such a suggestion, they instantly felt delighted in their hearts and intended to watch the show.

Le Wuhen couldn't help but smile when he witnessed this, and he shook his head without end.

He'd heard earlier that Yuqiu Jing intended to spar with Chen Xi before they set out for the Ancestral Root Grounds. However, Shentu Yanran had forcefully stopped Yuqiu Jing.

Now, Yuqiu Jing had publicly raised this suggestion once more, and it was obvious that Yuqiu Jing had been constantly thinking about defeating Chen Xi.

As for why Yuqiu Jing intended to do this, Le Wuhen was able to roughly guess the answer. However, he didn't intend to stop it because a spar wasn't a big deal.

Moreover, he was rather curious about Chen Xi's combat strength, and he intended to witness it in full at this moment.

Chen Xi's brows knit together imperceptibly when facing this invitation, and then he shook his head and said, "We've about to arrive at the Ancestral Root Grounds, so it wouldn't be too late for me to spar with Fellow Daoist Yuqiu when we have a chance after that."

This fellow is avoiding it again. Could it be that he's worried about being defeated and losing face?

A wave of disdain instantly arose in the hearts of all, and they felt slight contempt towards Chen Xi's actions of shrink back from a challenge. This indirectly proved that even though they subconsciously admitted Chen Xi's strength was formidable, they felt it was impossible for him to be a match for Yuqiu Jing.

After all, Yuqiu Jing was an existence ranked at the 15th position on the Domain Enlightened Chart. Such a figure was simply like a legend to them, and besides Shentu Yanran and Le Wuhen, Yuqiu Jing was the strongest.

On the other hand, Yuqiu Jing frowned when he heard Chen Xi's refusal, and then the smile on his face lightened while he felt slightly angry in his heart.

His first invitation being refused was still understandable. After all, the situation at that time was special, but if Chen Xi refused his invitation for a second time, then Chen Xi was really not giving him face at all!

"What? Does Fellow Daoist Chen Xi look down on me?" Yuqiu Jing spoke with a slightly low voice.

Chen Xi's slanted brows rose as he said, "Of course not."

"Then come and fight me. Stop shrinking back, otherwise, it wouldn't just be me who looks down upon you, and even everyone in the surroundings will have the same opinion about you." Yuqiu Jing spoke indifferently.

"Chen Xi, Brother Yuqiu has already made it clear, so could it be that you still intend to shrink back?"

"Yeah. If you're an expert, then show your courage. We're from the same group, so it wouldn't be shameful at all even if you lose!"

"Heh. It looks to me like this Fellow Daoist Chen Xi hasn't taken us to be allies at all. Otherwise, how could he possibly act like this?"

The other cultivators spoke as well, and for the sake of watching Chen Xi make a fool of himself, they'd even resorted to criticizing Chen Xi to push him to accept the challenge.

When he heard all of this, a trace of rage arose in Chen Xi's heart as well. These fellows really don't know what's good for them! I've been constantly exercising forbearance because I'm unwilling to harm the harmonious relationship we have, yet they're reaching for a yard when given an inch. Isn't it just because they want to suppress me? Is there any need to be so despicable?

"Then let's fight!" Chen Xi didn't waste his breath, and his figure flashed. In the next moment, he'd arrived on the platform, and his deep and black pupils gazed at Yuqiu Jing from afar.