Chapter 158: Blood-Colored Lotus

It was an unavoidable reality.

Blind fusion, however, could easily lead to a loss.

Martial Arts Fusion itself consumed slaughter points, and the higher the rank of the martial arts being fused, the higher the rank of the resulting technique would be.

However,

higher-ranked martial arts required more slaughter points to improve in the early stages.

This created a particular nuance.

According to Shen Changqing’s theory,

fusing martial arts after raising them to around the twentieth level was the most economical way to spend slaughter points.

But—

Shen Changqing looked at the three slaughter points on his status panel and completely abandoned his plan.

That pitiful amount of slaughter points

wasn’t even enough to fill a tooth gap.

"Right now, I don’t need to worry about my physical body cultivation, but my mental cultivation is a huge problem. The Hundred Battle True Intent is only at one-tenth, barely considered to have entered the door. I wonder how far I need to go before I can achieve True Intent Manifestation."

Shen Changqing looked at the data on his status panel. He didn’t ask Dongfang Zhao about this issue.

He had forgotten before.

Now, there was no need to ask.

Not everyone had a status panel, so not everyone could be so precise about the data.

If you went out and told people you had one-tenth of Martial Arts True Intent, many people would be confused and wouldn’t understand what it meant.

Therefore,

Shen Changqing could only research on his own how much Martial Arts True Intent was needed to achieve True Intent Manifestation.

However, judging from the status panel, it was highly likely that he could achieve True Intent Manifestation with ten-tenths of Martial Arts True Intent, or perhaps even with a lower amount.

But True Intent involved the mental plane, so cultivation wouldn’t be easy.

After the Hundred Battle Saber Technique transformed into the Hundred Battle True Intent, Shen Changqing didn’t gain any extra memories related to True Intent.

All that could be said

was that he retained that layer of insight when he broke through, and the True Intent that was gestating was rooted in his mind.

Abandoning all distracting thoughts.

Shen Changqing sat cross-legged on the bed, focusing all his attention on his mind.

Soon.

A gray space appeared in his ‘sight’.

As he gazed at it,

the gray space seemed to stretch on endlessly.

In the center of the space, the gray mist dissipated, and a blood-colored lotus bloomed, rooted in the gray space.

The lotus blossomed.

But it only had one petal.

When Shen Changqing tried to ‘approach’ the blood-colored lotus, a monstrous slaughter aura immediately rushed toward him, followed by the sound of weapons and armor, and thousands of troops charging, causing his mind to tremble uncontrollably.

The gray space was the martial artist’s mental world, also known as the Sea of Consciousness.

The blood-colored lotus

was the Martial Arts True Intent that was born in the Sea of Consciousness.

Before the Hundred Battle True Intent was conceived, Shen Changqing had no way to enter the Sea of Consciousness.

However,

with the birth of the Hundred Battle True Intent, the Sea of Consciousness seemed to have changed from a sealed state to an open, accessible state, allowing him to enter through the connection of the Hundred Battle True Intent.

"The blood-colored lotus represents the Hundred Battle True Intent, so one petal means one-tenth of the True Intent. Does that mean that each additional tenth of True Intent comprehended will result in another petal?"

Shen Changqing couldn’t be completely sure.

But the appearance of the blood-colored lotus before him, combined with the description of the Hundred Battle True Intent on the status panel, was not far off.

His mind immersed.

He felt the power of that True Intent.

In an instant,

he saw the scene change, and he found himself in a blood-colored world.

The sky and earth were blood-colored.

It was like the end of the world.

An aura of destruction and ominousness lingered in his heart.

Then,

he saw blood-colored iron cavalry galloping toward him.

Blood horses.

Blood armor.

Blood-colored masks.

They wielded seven-foot-long bloodstained sabers, like the source of destruction, annihilating everything in their path.

But when he looked closely,

the blood-colored iron cavalry gave off an illusory feeling, as if they weren’t real.

However, the impact of that silent annihilation and slaughter shook Shen Changqing’s mind.

Then,

the scene changed again.

He didn’t know when, but he found himself a member of the blood-colored iron cavalry, riding a blood-colored warhorse, his vision obstructed by the blood-colored mask. A silent slaughter filled his heart, making him want to destroy everything.

Rumbling!

Warhorses galloped.

In the blood-colored world, powerful beast groups appeared.

The moment the blood-colored iron cavalry appeared, the beast groups attacked the iron cavalry.

In response,

the speed of the warhorses didn’t slow down in the slightest.

Seven-foot-long sabers waved, tearing apart the fur and flesh of the beasts. When blood splattered, it was absorbed by the bloodstained sabers.

In that instant,

Shen Changqing felt that his power had increased slightly.

The battle happened quickly.

It ended quickly too.

Before he could see too much, he felt a stabbing pain in his mind, and the next moment, he withdrew from the blood-colored world.

Small courtyard.

Bedroom.

Shen Changqing, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed, suddenly opened his closed eyes, and a blood-colored light flashed and disappeared.

Then,

a dull stabbing pain came from his mind.

After waiting for a long time, the stabbing pain subsided.

"It seems that entering the Hundred Battle True Intent world consumed a lot of mental energy."

"But—"

Shen Changqing closed his eyes, savoring the feeling he had just experienced. After a long time, he reopened his eyes with a faint smile on his face.

Although he had consumed a lot of mental energy,

he found that his comprehension of the Hundred Battle True Intent seemed to have deepened by a sliver. Although this sliver was insignificant, it couldn’t be detected without careful perception.

But improvement was improvement, and that couldn’t be denied.

"So, the Hundred Battle True Intent can be improved like this!"

"But this method of improvement takes too long, and the mental consumption is too great—"

Shen Changqing frowned slightly.

He looked at the scene in the bedroom. Light penetrated through the cracks in the window, indicating that the night had passed.

He had clearly entered the Sea of Consciousness at night.

But now,

it was already daytime.

A lot of time had passed, but in Shen Changqing’s perception, it seemed like only a short time had passed.

One night.

Only allowed him to gain a sliver of insight into the Hundred Battle True Intent. If he wanted to raise the Hundred Battle True Intent to the second-tenth, it would take at least a year or two.

That was

assuming he entered the Sea of Consciousness every day to comprehend the Hundred Battle True Intent.

But—

Shen Changqing felt the stabbing pain in his mind. Judging from the current consumption, it would take at least two or three days to recover.

"If a year of uninterrupted comprehension can raise the Hundred Battle True Intent to the second-tenth, then now, considering the consumption and rest time, the time will have to be doubled or tripled.

One year will turn into two or three years.

And this is only to break through the Hundred Battle True Intent from one-tenth to two-tenths—"

Understanding the consumption, the smile on his face froze.

Was two or three years a long time?

For ordinary people, it might not be very long, but for Shen Changqing, two or three years was almost equal to a cycle.

It had only been a little over two years, less than three years, since he had arrived in this world.

During this time,

he had gone from never having stepped into the Body Forging Realm to reaching the current Grandmaster Realm.

If he spent the same amount of time in the future, only to make some insignificant breakthroughs in the mental system, the time required would be too long.

"Unless—"

"I can take something to replenish my mental consumption, so as to shorten the time to fill the mental depletion, then I can speed up the breakthrough."

Being able to make a breakthrough in a year was better than two or three years.

Although it was still much slower compared to his current speed of improvement, being able to shorten it by several times could be considered barely acceptable.

As for things that could replenish mental consumption,

Shen Changqing recalled the exchange list he had seen in the Demon Slaying Hall. It listed many treasures, as well as things that could replenish the mental aspect.

When he went yesterday,

he didn’t have any merit points, so he only took a few glances and didn’t have the idea of exchanging anything.

But now it was different.

Dongfang Zhao gave him three hundred merit points, and he was considered to have become rich overnight.

However,

judging from Dongfang Zhao’s reaction, Shen Changqing seemed to understand something.

"I intercepted tens of thousands of Barbarian troops and killed a Barbarian General. If this were on the battlefield, this battle would be considered an outstanding military achievement. Even if the Imperial Court was in an extremely urgent situation, it wouldn’t be possible for them not to give any rewards.

Then there’s only one possibility left, which is that the Imperial Court doesn’t want to give me rewards."

There must be a reason why the Imperial Court didn’t want to give rewards.

Shen Changqing asked himself if he had any grievances with the Imperial Court. It was impossible for the Imperial Court to target a small Demon Slaying Envoy like himself. Then the only thing left was the Demon Suppression Division behind him.

Immediately.

He came up with a guess.

"The Imperial Court is dealing with the Demon Suppression Division!"

"No, maybe it’s not dealing with them, but it’s possible that they’re secretly suppressing the Demon Suppression Division, which is why they’re depriving me of my merit—"

Shen Changqing was seventy to eighty percent sure of this guess.

Then,

he thought of other things.

"The Imperial Court didn’t give any rewards, but Dongfang Zhao gave me rewards on behalf of the Demon Suppression Division. He probably didn’t want me to feel dissatisfied, but he also hid other meanings in his words, that is, the Demon Suppression Division gave what the Imperial Court didn’t give.

There’s something intriguing about this."

Shen Changqing’s eyes flickered. He wasn’t a fool, and he could guess something from the clues on the surface.

"If that’s really the case, then it’s a game between the Imperial Court and the Demon Suppression Division. It has nothing to do with me. At least, I’m not at a high enough level right now. The ones who should really be facing it are those Town Guardians."

Shaking his head.

He abandoned these distracting thoughts.

With the current situation, even if the Imperial Court secretly suppressed the Demon Suppression Division, it was unlikely that there would be any major movements. The threat of evil was always there. Without solving this root problem, the probability of the Demon Suppression Division falling was not high.

Leaving the room, he simply washed up in the courtyard.

Carrying three hundred merit points, Shen Changqing went straight to the Demon Slaying Hall.
End of Chapter