CHAPTER 450: CHAPTER 450, CULTIVATING WITH UPPER GRADE SPIRIT STONES

"What damage level do Xu Ming and Xu Lie have?"

Chu Ming continued to ask.

"My attack power can turn the gemstone blue!"

While Chu Ming and Feng Yuyan were talking, Xu Ming and Xu Lie stood by without interrupting. As soon as he heard Chu Ming’s question, even before Feng Yuyan could respond, Xu Ming spoke.

"My attack power can turn the gemstone yellow!"

Xu Lie answered as well.

Xu Ming was at the Second Layer of the Guiyuan Realm, and Xu Lie had just broken through to the Guiyuan Realm as well. There was a certain difference in their attack power.

"Currently, in the whole small town, only Ghost Eagle, ranked ninth on the Profound List, can turn the gemstone purple. If anyone can turn the gemstone purple, it would signify that their attack power is at least on par with the top ten on the Profound List."

Xu Ming looked at Chu Ming and continued.

Chu Ming nodded slightly. Ghost Eagle, ranked ninth on the Profound List, was a prodigy from the Ghostly Domain. The Ghostly Domain in the Eastern Hundred Domains was a somewhat unique region because the martial artists there cultivated not spiritual power, but rather a type of force called evil qi.

In the Ghostly Domain, spiritual power was extremely scarce, while evil qi was extremely abundant. Additionally, in the Ghostly Domain, martial arts were rampant, and killing and plundering frequently occurred.

"Xu Ming and the others are here, make way quickly!"

Finally, a martial artist saw the four of them. A long-faced, black-clothed martial artist pulled on the sleeve of someone next to him and whispered.

"Xu Ming’s last attack turned the gemstone blue. Could it be that in just two days, his strength has made another breakthrough?"

"I find it unlikely. Reaching their level, making any further progress is not so simple."

"Look at the person beside them. Could he also be a new prodigy?"

"Whoever stands with them must be someone extraordinary."

Seeing the four of them, the martial artists blocking the Force Testing Pillar made way voluntarily, discussing in low voices.

Chu Ming’s hand flashed, and the Star Trace Sword appeared in his right hand.

Hiss!

An ultimate sword light flashed from Chu Ming’s hand. The crowd didn’t even catch a glimpse of the sword light before the Star Trace Sword was sheathed again.

Xu Ming’s eyelids twitched. Although he could see the attack trajectory of Chu Ming’s sword, defending against it would require some effort.

Buzz!

The Force Testing Pillar suddenly trembled slightly. In the eyes of the crowd, a green light rapidly rose from the bottom, directly breaking through the scale.

The transparent gemstone at the top of the scale trembled slightly, then quickly began to change colors.

Yellow, red, blue!

The blue light grew brighter, and the surrounding martial artists were all shocked, not expecting Chu Ming to be a prodigy that could rival Xu Ming.

"Look, there’s a hint of purple in the blue light!"

One martial artist exclaimed as he stared at the gemstone.

Everyone looked closely and indeed saw faint traces of purple emerging within the blue light.

However, to the crowd’s disappointment, despite the tendency to shift to purple, it ultimately remained in the blue, albeit brighter than Xu Ming’s previous blue light.

"What a pity, just a bit more, I thought we would see a prodigy on par with the top ten stars today!"

A white-robed martial artist shook his head, saying regretfully.

"Prodigies like the top ten stars are, after all, rare. For someone to reach this level is already quite remarkable."

The martial artist beside him sighed.

"Let’s go see other places!"

Chu Ming turned around, placing the Star Trace Sword into his storage ring, and addressed the others.

At this moment, Feng Yuyan and Xu Lie finally came to their senses.

The three nodded lightly. Chu Ming being able to produce blue-level damage was within their expectations. It would be a joke if Chu Ming’s attack power couldn’t turn the gemstone blue.

After Chu Ming and the others left, the martial artists by the Force Testing Pillar still discussed the scene they had just witnessed.

In the northern part of the small town, there were a dozen arenas, known as the life-and-death arenas.

Where there are people, there is conflict, and where there is conflict, there is combat. Killing was forbidden within the small town’s domain, but the small town, though small, had a Guiyuan Realm King of Flying Snow Sword Sect maintaining order.

However, if martial artists had a conflict, they could resolve it in the life-and-death arenas, where life and death were unrestricted.

When the four of them arrived at the life-and-death arenas, at the center of one of the arenas, a duel was taking place between a black-clothed swordsman and a white-clothed swordsman. The two exchanged blows, their sword lights chilling and fierce.

"These two are Duan Chou of the Flying Snow Sword Sect and Shi Guliu of the Black Nether Sword Sect!"

Feng Yuyan squinted her eyes and said calmly.

In the Sword Domain, nearly ninety percent of the martial artists were swordsmen, making the two strongest sects the Flying Snow Sword Sect and the Black Nether Sword Sect.

Both the Flying Snow Sword Sect and the Black Nether Sword Sect had life-and-death realm Sword Kings overseeing them.

As the saying goes, a mountain cannot have two tigers, and the two sects naturally had a water-and-fire relationship.

One of the four great prodigies, Wang Xuanyi, was the core disciple of the Flying Snow Sword Sect, while the Black Nether Sword Sect had no particularly outstanding disciples in this generation. Their core disciple, Li Xuan, was only ranked seventh on the Profound List, far behind Wang Xuanyi.

Clang, clang, clang!

Duan Chou and Shi Guliu’s swords grew faster, gradually blurring the vision of the onlookers,

Clang!

Bang!

The sound of metal grinding echoed, and the longsword in Duan Chou’s hand was instantly struck flying by Shi Guliu, blood streaks shot from Duan Chou’s body, staining with fresh blood.

"You dare to kill me?"

Duan Chou’s face turned pale as he quickly retreated, leaving Shi Guliu’s sword light’s range.

The arena’s white waves surged, Shi Guliu hesitated slightly, let out a cold snort, then jumped off the arena and silently left.

Duan Chou stuffed a few healing elixirs into his mouth and also left the life-and-death arena.

Watching this, Chu Ming shook his head. In the life-and-death arena, life and death were indeed unrestricted. Shi Guliu’s hesitation in not killing Duan Chou was largely due to fear of Wang Xuanyi’s retaliation.

As a swordsman, one should follow their heart and act without timidity. Shi Guliu seemed to have already lost the essence a swordsman should possess.

In Chu Ming’s view, Shi Guliu’s achievements in the Sword Dao would ultimately be limited.

The four of them spent almost the entire day exploring the small town. By the time they returned to the inn, the sky was already tinged with red.

After a simple meal, the four returned to their respective rooms.

Closing the door and sitting cross-legged on the bed, Chu Ming took out an upper-grade spirit stone from his storage ring and silently recited the incantation for the Eleventh Layer of the Pure Essence Sword Qi Technique.

The spiritual power within the upper-grade spirit stone surged into Chu Ming’s meridians. An upper-grade spirit stone contained spiritual power roughly a hundred times that of a middle-grade spirit stone, not just in quantity but also in quality.