I Can See Your Combat Power

Chapter 361: Chapter 357: Eliminate the Superfluous, Keep the Essence

Translator: 549690339

Xiao Zheng was a man who enjoyed all the pleasures of the world, and thus, wherever he went, he made friends with those who shared his interests.

Hence, his friends were spread across Longzhou, encompassing people from all walks of life, ranging from ordinary merchants and wandering warriors, to the heads of prominent families, and even disciples of ancient sects.

No one knew the extent of Xiao Zheng’s network of connections; it seemed that he had friends wherever he went. It was only by seeking out his friends within sects that he was able to learn about artifacts dating back thousands of years.

Xiao Zheng sent a letter to Zou Boyang, an inner sect disciple of the Beast Taming Sect. Forty-five days later, he received a reply that left him astounded.

Because Zou Boyang told him that it was a Boundary Breaking Stone, connecting to a Minor Spiritual Realm. In ancient times, these were often the hideouts of grand sages of the Demon Race, used as refuges to protect members of their clans.

After the Demon Race was expelled by the Human Race, various sects and sacred places waged wars over possession of these Minor Spiritual Realms, a struggle that had persisted for a century.

This hundred-year warfare amongst the sects was in pursuit of ownership of the Minor Spiritual Realm. The forces who managed to secure a Minor Spiritual Realm were ones of immense renown within the continent.

But a thousand years later, the world had changed drastically. As martial restrictions were lifted, some sects could not continue their legacy due to lack of talent. Throughout this period, many once-great sects were eradicated. Some utilized the resources left within the Minor Spiritual Realms to recuperate and rise to prominence once again, while others were lost in the river of history. Therefore, many Boundary Breaking Stones ended up scattered throughout the world.

Zou Boyang believed that the Tang and Ji Clans must have reached some agreement, yet the Boundary Breaking Stone would ultimately belong to the Ji Clan of Beimang. This was because possessing the Boundary Breaking Stone alone was insufficient for locating the Minor Spiritual Realm. Specialist Spirit Researchers, or Spiritual Masters, were also required. However, such an ancient profession could only be found within major sects. Families like the Tang and Mi Clans, who lived in relative peace, were unlikely to host a Spiritual Master.

Considering Xiao Zheng’s account of the Ji Clan of Beimang maintaining good relations with various sects, and the presence of the highly esteemed Wuxiang Zen Temple in Beimang, the Boundary Breaking Stone in Ji Fu’s possession would definitely open up a corresponding Minor Spiritual Realm. If a Spiritual Master were to arrange the necessary warding and sealing methods, the Ji Clan of Beimang would become a force possessing a Minor Spiritual Realm.

Zou Boyang’s letter was full of envy because every force coveted their own Minor Spiritual Realm, just as common people yearned for their own homes.

Such a possession was even more desirable than divine weapons or divine armour. What aroused people’s interest further was the symbol of the Boundary Breaking Stone, as it was sure to encase the reemergence plan of its corresponding force.

Martial arts had developed for a thousand years, and many things from a thousand years ago had become outdated. After all, development did not mean antiquity was necessarily better. If one were to bring the martial arts techniques from a millennium ago to the present, their primitiveness would be blatantly obvious.

However, besides this aspect, the heritage from a thousand years ago undoubtedly contained parts that remained beyond reach today. At that time, martial restrictions had not been lifted, and traces of demon beasts were still found in the world. Therefore, many martial artists became stronger by imitating the cultivation methods and innate skills of the demon beasts, the so-called secret techniques were created by ancient people imitating the divine powers of demon beasts.

Back then, the strength of a martial artist had little to do with martial arts techniques. It largely depended on two things: one’s bloodline capability and the number of secret techniques one possessed.The more diverse and powerful secret techniques were, the better. This was a consensus among all martial artists a thousand years ago. Thus, the martial artists of the time would typically know at least a couple of secret techniques. Some could even have seven or eight, and disciples of sacred sects often had more than ten.

However, after martial restrictions were lifted and people started studying martial arts techniques, the martial arts world truly flourished. With martial artists becoming stronger and even considering discarding secret techniques to focus solely on their main martial arts, the improvement brought about by specialized martial arts far exceeded the incremental increase by secret techniques.

During that period, even the sects began to eliminate useless secret techniques and concentrate on improving their own martial arts.

However, after a few hundred years, martial arts researchers who pushed martial arts to a new level suddenly realized that strong martial arts combined with specific secret techniques could provide a martial artist with combat power several times greater than their peers. Consequently, people began to seek secret techniques again.

However, during the period when everyone focused on martial arts techniques, countless secret techniques were lost in history. Had it not been for some stubborn members of the old sects and sacred places clinging onto secret techniques, even they might not have had as many secret techniques as they do now.

Now that the importance of secret techniques had been recognized, yet the world was scarce of them. Therefore, the current measure of a family’s or a force’s strength had once again turned to whether they possessed fitting secret techniques.

The Mi Family of Xiling purchased Luan Birds from the Beast Taming Sect every year because they possessed a secret technique of beast taming, which could spur the growth of flying beasts for martial artists to ride. In combination with the Mi Clan’s inherent martial art technique of Thousand Green Real Power, which could be attached to the body of an arrow, the reputation of the Immortal Bird Feather Guard had made a strong impact in western Longzhou.

Aside from secret techniques, the reemergence plan of a force also involved a large quantity of Soul Jade and resources.

Dragons were infamously lustful creatures, and thus, ancient Dragon Beasts were found everywhere. Killing them and collecting their souls with Soul Jade became a method of obtaining Spiritual Jade. Because the spiritual nature of Dragon Beasts was inherently different from that of humans, even the spirits of lower-level spiritual beasts could be collected. However, the utilization of Soul Jade in that time was still in its initial stages, and while many could foresee its future significance, no one could definitively predict what it would become.

Nevertheless, did it matter how powerful it would turn out to be? As long it was known to potentially become potent, that would be enough!

Simply stockpile large quantities, and so every force at that time greatly hunted Dragon Beasts. What is now a Dragon Soul Jade raw material worth millions was then commonly found everywhere.

Rare metals and ores also existed, which was why most modem spiritual armours were illusionary spiritual armours. Of course, this was down in part to convenience of wear, but the major reason was that the rare metals and ores originally found everywhere had been monopolized by all the major sects and sacred places of the world. As a result, illusionary spiritual armours became the mainstream of spiritual armours.

However, in terms of large-scale defences, the traditional armour made of a blend of spiritual jade and myriad forged metals was still far superior to illusionary spiritual armours in terms of defensive power.

After all, illusionary spiritual armours required spiritual power to maintain. Over a prolonged battle, unless one had an impressive method of restoring spiritual power, even martial artists at the peak of the Mortal Realm would still find it difficult to sustain.

Secret techniques, Soul Jade, and resources. Zou Boyang seemed to have already foreseen a formidable force rising. He was happy for the friendship between his good friend Xiao Zheng and the young clan leader of the Ji Clan. Happy? Xiao Zheng was not, because he had already determined that this Minor Spiritual Realm was located in Xiling, and the resources within it had already fallen into the hands of the Tang Clan and Ji Fu!