Free Web NovelChapter 2204: Chapter 2239: Pirate Attack
Ding Fan gave a few last instructions before entering the room for his secluded cultivation. He activated the mechanisms and prohibitions within the room, preparing to break through to the Third Level of the Divine Realm.
The Third Level of the Divine Realm primarily focuses on strengthening the soul. The Second Level involves tempering the body, enhancing its strength to provide a foundation for the cultivator, while the Third Level aims to increase the soul’s power.
Only by cultivating the soul to become strong can a martial artist’s six senses remain sharp, increasing their combat power. When fighting the enemy, it’s essential to predict their moves in advance; the slightest movement from the enemy reveals their attack trajectory, allowing for early preparation and easy victory.
The physical body is the foundation of a cultivator, True Yuan is the root of power, but the soul is the most vital aspect for a martial artist.
By cultivating a powerful soul, a cultivator’s thinking ability, computational ability, and ability to comprehend matters will significantly improve, aiding in future realm advancements.
Only by building a strong foundation and enhancing comprehension ability, living a longer life, can a cultivator ascend to higher realms and change their fate.
All of this doesn’t come by chance; it’s a system established through countless failures over tens of thousands of years, verified and refined by many.
Building a house requires a solid foundation, and cultivation is the same. Foundations need to be laid step-by-step, gradually improving, and slowly climbing upwards.
Ding Fan already had a plan to break through the Third Level of the Divine Realm. Now, with a Limitless Pill in hand and the Spiritual Medicine given by Ye Li from another world, he’s eighty percent confident of success.
Until now, Ding Fan had not consumed the Limitless Pill. It was not yet time to take it. First, he needed to forge a path leading to the Third Level of the Divine Realm.
This pathway is a necessity for reaching the Third Level of the Divine Realm. Breaking through requires substantial True Yuan; it’s not something achievable through wishful thinking. The foundation is True Yuan, which demands a vast amount.
Without True Yuan, one cannot break through to the Third Level of the Divine Realm. Only by cultivating to the Second Level Peak with ample True Yuan can one attempt a breakthrough to the Third Level.
This cultivation method from the Northern Desolation of the Divine Realm has been refined by predecessors through countless trials, resulting in its current form. There can be no room for error.
True Yuan can be transferred from the veins to the Divine Sea within, but the process is slow as the body has many veins, requiring considerable time for transfer, hence the slow pace.
However, breaking through to the Third Level of the Divine Realm necessitates substantial True Yuan, requiring a swift and seamless effort. Thus, the idea of forging a direct pathway to the brain was conceived by predecessors.
Put simply, this pathway is an alternative approach. Creating it involves significant pain for the cultivator; if they can’t endure it, the pathway will collapse, rendering prior efforts useless.
This is merely the primary requirement for breaking through to the Third Level of the Divine Realm, demonstrating its great difficulty. Many fail to succeed due to this crucial factor.
Ding Fan took a high-level Spiritual Medicine to alleviate the internal physical pain. Don’t underestimate this pill; it’s worth over a hundred thousand Black Obsidian stones.
This tiny Medicine Pill is unattainable for most cultivators. Even elders from the Skeleton Sect couldn’t enjoy such Spiritual Medicine. Not just the Skeleton Sect, but those from Fourth Grade forces also found it unattainable.
Just possessing this Spiritual Medicine allowed Ding Fan to avoid the terrifying physical pain. Moreover, he had an invaluable treasure—a Beast Bone Chain given by Xia Mengqing. The chain soon glowed, and Ding Fan seized the moment to gather his True Yuan to form a unified force, forcefully breaking through his physical limits and forging that crucial pathway for advancing to the Third Level of the Divine Realm.
Despite having treasure and Spiritual Medicine, Ding Fan quickly broke out in cold sweat, his entire body soaked from the pain.
Ding Fan’s will has always been strong. When he advanced from the First Level of the Divine Realm to the Second Level, he relied solely on his formidable willpower without resorting to medicines, succeeding in cultivation. Thus, this pain is a minor issue for him, and he’s entirely capable of enduring it.
The pathway is being forged slowly. Considering the True Yuan bit by bit breaching the muscles, it’s equivalent to implanting a new vein within the body. This vein must not rupture, maintaining unobstructed flow. Although this pathway need not exist permanently, it must withstand the breakthrough to the Third Level of the Divine Realm.
Mu Gaosou taught Ding Fan a method unknown to others, which Ding Fan mastered and comprehended thoroughly, taking merely four hours to forge half of the pathway. However, during these four hours, Ding Fan consumed four Spiritual Medicines, expending nearly five hundred thousand Black Obsidian stones.
If you add the Limitless Pill he took, Ding Fan’s attempt to break through this time is costing around one million Black Obsidian stones. Based on this single attempt, the expenditure on Black Obsidian stones is astronomical. If cultivation were attempted twice, it would suffice for experts of the Divine Realm Third Level to break through the Fourth Level.
This is why Ding Fan can cultivate this way; lesser forces aspire to but can’t execute it, as few possess Ding Fan’s wealth.
Plentiful in Black Obsidian stones, Ding Fan naturally wouldn’t let himself suffer too much. Rather, in his heart, he urgently strives for a successful attempt, unwilling to endure multiple trials. His genuine desire is simply not to torment himself to death after cultivating so long.
Another half hour passed, and within Ding Fan’s body, a pathway had already taken shape. From his Dan Yuan, True Yuan could directly reach the Divine Sea in his brain, transmitting a large amount of True Yuan into the Divine Sea.
"Phew~"
Once Ding Fan confirmed that the pathway was unobstructed, he opened his eyes and breathed heavily. After taking a few sips of water, he collapsed on the ground, completely losing all strength.
But in order to break through to the Third Level of the Divine Realm, it was paramount to do so in one go. Hence, at this moment, Ding Fan needed sufficient True Yuan and strong willpower. Now he closed his eyes, thinking that after resting for a few hours and making sure he was fully prepared, he would charge forward and complete this cultivation session.
Perhaps due to sheer exhaustion, he quickly fell asleep and even started snoring. The rhythm of his snoring echoed throughout the entire room.
...
"Report!"
Just as Ding Fan was sleeping soundly, a scout cavalry galloped into Skull Fort’s assembly hall, bowing to Wu Qingxia and the Second Elder and said, "Sovereign, Second Elder! Martial Hall Master Wu Ren sent me to report to you both. A warship is arriving soon, flying the flag of the Blood Fiend Army, a well-known pirate group from the northern seas. The leader is Blood Axe, at the Third Level Peak of the Divine Realm, accompanied by three experts at the Third Level of the Divine Realm and nearly fifty experts at the Second Level of the Divine Realm. Please prepare to meet the enemy."
Wu Qingxia and the Second Elder exchanged a glance without showing any panic. In their minds, the enemy should have long arrived; however, it appeared that this first wave of enemies was not as strong and even weaker than anticipated.
"Let Martial Hall Master Wu Ren continue reconnaissance and report back at any time!"
Wu Qingxia instructed the scout cavalry. After experiencing so many events, Wu Qingxia had matured considerably, displaying the demeanor of a female general commanding with resolve, perhaps because of her constant presence beside Ding Fan. Being close to excellence has its influence, and now hearing that the pirates were indeed attacking, her expression showed no change.
Wu Qingxia had now reached the Mid Second Level of the Divine Realm. While her strength was not formidable, no one dared underestimate her because she was backed by Ding Fan.
"Old Fourth, issue the orders to prepare for battle."
The Second Elder shouted loudly, to which the Fourth Elder, who had been standing outside, responded and immediately began assembling the army and experts. Everyone was rubbing their fists, ready to act according to the battle plans.
In the days prior, Wu Qingxia and the Second Elder had not been idle, devising various combat plans and strategies to counter different types of invaders.
Ding Fan was the backbone of everyone, the Island Master of Skull Island. Since he declared there would be a fight, the Second Elder and the others stopped overthinking, determined to make an impressive response to show Ding Fan.
"Sovereign, head to the Baisheng Underground Palace, I’ll take command here."
The Second Elder bowed to Wu Qingxia, who nodded, rose, and left the assembly hall, heading to the Baisheng Underground Palace. She intended to coordinate with Mu Gaosou, for without Mu Gaosou, it would be difficult to suppress the opponent’s Third Level experts of the Divine Realm.
Wu Qingxia walked out of Skull Fort, glanced towards the island’s direction beyond, and snickered coldly: "Blood Fiend Pirate Group, with three experts at the Third Level of the Divine Realm, you’ve picked the wrong target this time."
There weren’t many troops on Skull Island, only around seven thousand in total. Among these warriors, many had not yet reached the First Level of the Divine Realm. However, this scale of Martial Artists had only been achieved because the Skeleton Sect had spared no expense and poured countless resources into their cultivation.
Now, nearly four thousand of Skull Island’s warriors were at the First Level of the Divine Realm, close to a hundred at the Second Level, and as many as fourteen at the Second Level Peak.
From the last few individuals remaining after the battle with the Tie Family, to the current number of Martial Artists, it was all thanks to Ding Fan.
Without Ding Fan’s Beast Bone Pendant, Skull Island could not have cultivated high-quality Spiritual Materials, nor would there be Black Obsidian to provide resources.
Since conquering Tie Family Island and renaming it to Skull Island, the Skeleton Sect’s revenue had reached sixty to seventy million Black Obsidian. However, the treasury of the Skeleton Sect was now nearly empty because those resources had been used to cultivate Martial Artists. Yet, despite expending such an enormous amount of Black Obsidian, they still hadn’t managed to produce a single expert at the Third Level of the Divine Realm, showcasing just how challenging it was to cultivate to the Third Level.
However, of the nearly a hundred Second Level experts of the Divine Realm, some came seeking refuge on their own. Ding Fan’s reputation was huge now, attracting many Second Level experts of the Divine Realm who had yet to pledge allegiance to other powers.
Having no experts at the Third Level of the Divine Realm wasn’t a significant issue—Skull Island had twenty-one Tigertooth Apes, a new batch acquired by the Second Elder, bought in several installments after the original ones Ding Fan brought into another world were all killed. Now the count was exactly twenty-one. The combat strength of the Tigertooth Apes was equivalent to experts at the Third Level of the Divine Realm, and they feared no death. When they attacked together, warriors below the Third Level of the Divine Realm were almost guaranteed to die. Their brutality left onlookers dumbfounded.
