Secular Immortal of the Nine Realms - Chapter 237

Chapter 237: Five Elements Art

Fang Chen eyed the captain, followed by the survivors, and said, “Hand over your nautical chart, and I’ll accede to your request.”

“Captain, hurry up and give the nautical chart to him!” the other cultivators exclaimed.

The captain hesitated. Nautical charts were worth a lot. Cultivators who did business on the ocean treated it as their greatest treasure, and they would never easily show it to others.

“Reluctant? Then we’ll follow our previous deal. Send me to my destination.” Fang Chen smiled.

“Sire, this is my nautical chart. It only has one path, but it’s worth at least 400 to 500 low-grade ki stones on the market.” The captain clenched his jaws and passed a jade seal to Fang Chen.

Fang Chen infused his spirit ki into the jade seal, and a well-charted route appeared before him. This route stopped by dozens of ports, and the final destination was Infernoblaze Country.

“Farewell.”

Fang Chen grabbed Liu Mu and leaped onto the black boat.

The captain hurriedly steered the boat away, only to hear Fang Chen’s voice. “Stop. You haven’t refunded my traveling fee yet.”

“Of course, of course.” The captain nodded as he tossed some ki stones to Fang Chen.

“That’s not enough.” Fang Chen shook his head. “Driving this black boat will cost an exorbitant sum of ki stones. I won’t ask for too much; how does 300 low-grade ki stones sound?”

“…” The captain’s face turned pale.

300 low-grade ki stones was not a small sum. He would have made a loss for this trip if he gave that sum to Fang Chen. Thus, he turned to the other cultivators and said, “Why don’t we put our ki stones together?”

The other cultivators were reluctant to give up on their ki stones, but they knew there was no choice here. Right now, Fang Chen was the supreme-ruler of plague to them, and they were desperate to send him on his way.

Thus, they gritted their teeth and pulled out some ki stones too. In the end, they collectively raised 300 low-grade ki stones and tossed it over to Fang Chen.

Fang Chen accepted the ki stones before waving the captain off. “You may leave now.”

The boat sliced through the water and disappeared from Fang Chen’s sight at the fastest speed possible.

Fang Chen first drew out his soul to confirm that there were no survivors hidden on the boat. Then, he began to assimilate the black boat.

Little sword was starving, but it obediently stayed by Fang Chen’s side. Even a Foundation Establishment cultivator would have to be wary of its counterattack if they tried to make a move on Fang Chen.

Two hours later, Fang Chen depleted his spirit ki, but he hadn’t even assimilated a thirtieth of the black boat yet. An ordinary cultivator would have given up by then, but Fang Chen’s spirit ki would recover with a vengeance upon being completely depleted.

His spirit ki quickly recovered, and he continued assimilating the black boat.

A few days passed in a flash.

The black boat suddenly glowed with a faint light.

Fang Chen opened his eyes. He had finally fully assimilated the boat.

However, he couldn’t stow it inside him because it wasn’t an ego artifact, and his storage ring wasn’t big enough to hold it. Thus, he made up his mind to feed it to little sword after reaching shore.

“36 daosoul imprints. What a pity,” Fang Chen murmured.

Little sword noticed that Fang Chen had successfully assimilated the boat and anxiously shook around, “Hungry, hungry!”

“Calm down. Here you go.” Fang Chen smiled.

He searched the young man and the other cultivators’ bodies and confirmed that they no longer had anything of value before torching them with a couple of fireballs. Then, he threw their ashes into the sea.

“Interesting. As expected of a young sect master. He has 300 low-grade ki stones, and two artifacts. His storage ring is also much larger than mine—a 27 meters cube area.”

He first assimilated the storage ring before transferring everything from his old storage ring over.

“There are nine artifacts with more than ten daosoul imprints. This shirt looks quite interesting. I’ll keep it for now.”

In Fang Chen’s hand was what appeared to be an ordinary blue shirt, but he couldn’t damage it no matter how he tugged at it. He even tried hurling ice arrows and fireballs at it, but it was to no avail.

Leaving just the blue shirt behind, he tossed the rest to little sword.

Little sword joyfully devoured everything. Its aura fluctuated unstably, but it still hungrily eyed the blue shirt in Fang Chen’s hands.

“Not this one. I have a use for it.” Fang Chen shook his head.

He did a rough calculation of his current fortune—he had 1500 low-grade ki stones in his storage ring. He brought out 300 ki stones with him, and he obtained another 300 ki stones from the captain and the other passengers. The rest was from the Sea Dragon Sect’s cultivators.

“I have 1500 ki stones and 50 pinnacle Purple Lightning Talismans. I should finish all my spirit materials by the time I reach Infernoblaze. I should start practicing the Five Elements Art.”

Fang Chen headed to the black boat’s core. There was a formation there where the ki stones were to be placed to power the artifact. There were still a hundred low-grade ki stones there.

“I wonder if it’s enough for me to reach Infernoblaze.”

Fang Chen’s spirit ki flickered, and the black boat began swiftly sailing toward Infernoblaze in accordance with the nautical chart’s pathing. His spirit ki was just a trigger to control the black boat’s movement; what was truly powering it were the ki stones.

Shortly after setting off, Fang Chen assimilated the blue shirt.

Other than its resistance to fire and water, it was also stretchable, allowing for a comfortable fit.

“This shirt is worth twelve daosoul imprints. It should be capable of more than this,” Fang Chen mumbled as he slowly infused his spirit ki into it.

The blue shirt emanated a brilliant golden light, forming a thick spirit ki barrier. Its defensive prowess was formidable. It was doubtful whether Fang Chen would have been able to breach it if he relied solely on his Purple Lightning Talismans.

“This is a bargain.” Fang Chen chuckled.

With that, he took out the jade seal containing the Five Elements Art and began practicing it.

Days later, on the deck of the black boat, Fang Chen gently waved his hand, and a terrifying wave was drawn over via his spirit ki, forming a massive python of over 300 meters in length.

He waved his hand once more, and a second water python appeared.

Maintaining these two water pythons was extremely demanding on his spirit ki. It only took five minutes for him to deplete all his spirit ki.

The reverend of the Cloudless Monastery might have been at twelfth stage Ki Refinement, but given that his immortal veins were far less sturdier and thinner than Fang Chen’s, his spirit ki capacity should be roughly the same. It was likely that he could have only maintained the earth dragons for around five minutes too.

“The Five Elements Art uses spirit ki to manipulate the surrounding environment to cause great devastation. I am only able to conjure water pythons of over 300 meters long here because the water spirit ki is richer in the ocean.

“If I am on land, I would only be able to manipulate earth spirit ki. As for metal, wood, and fire, that would take specific terrains, or else its prowess would be greatly discounted,” Fang Chen concluded his findings.

He had already grasped the Five Elements Art.

The principles behind the skill were simple, so there was no grade to them. Its strength depended on how strong the cultivator was, as well as their subtle understanding of the five elements ki.

“Since there’s a way to control the five elements, there should be a method to control lightning too. But lightning ki is much more violent and potent, so such methods should be rare to come by.”

With such a thought in mind, Fang Chen took out his brush, Thunderjolt Wood Talisman Papers, and Nine Tribulations Cinnabar, and began drawing talismans.