Chapter 154: Completely Joyless Cultivation

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Jiang He was baffled.

Only rank-nines could grasp the Boundary of Wills, thereby imbuing a world’s might into their skills and greatly improving the ability of a martial artist.

For example, the air seemed to ignite when the Third Elder of the Sky Demon Cult fought at full power, and his strikes carried the power of fire will. If Jiang He had not been wearing his Dark Golden Combat Suit, he would be the one dying that night instead of Third Elder.

Closing his eyes, Jiang He carefully stretched out his senses.

He seemed to the ‘see’ the thunder energies adrift in the air.

He then left the yard and went outside, drawing his Dragon-Slaying Saber to test his blade technique.

Whoosh!

An echo boomed as he swung it.

That, however, was merely a plain slash. Still, although Jiang He did not use Ninefold Thunderblade, the swing sparked faint thunderbolts, and even the air cracked with electric shocks.

He slashed again!

As Jiang He swung over dozens of times, he triggered more thunder will, and even his normal slashes now had the effect of the first fold of Ninefold Thunderblade.

Jiang He only put his blade away after some time.

He stood where he was and pondered.

“Thunder will?”

“Have I really grasped thunder will? But I’m merely rank-eight pinnacle and hadn’t gained the epiphany legends or reached an understanding of thunder after watching it. How did I grasp it out of nowhere?”

“Still, I’m lucky it’s thunder will, or my cultivation would have been stumped.”

Being a martial arts newbie who entered the martial scene for a month, as well as one who had no instruction and merely cultivated randomly on his own, Jiang He was quite apprehensive.

“Should I make a call to ask?”

“It seems that I’m quite unlucky. Commander Chen is the only rank-nine martial artist I know who is still alive, since both Third Elder and Sixth Elder of the Sky Demon Cult kicked the bucket.”

“As a rank-nine martial artist who grasped sword will, Chen Jingzhou would be more experienced in this respect.”

Jiang He whipped out his phone and looked for Chen Jingzhou’s number on his phonebook, but ultimately did not dial it after some thought.

After all…

He was not particularly close to Chen Jingzhou, and going to him seemed inappropriate.

Swiping the phone screen with his fingertip, he stared at the handful of names on his contact list when he saw the name ‘Old Cheng’.

“Old Cheng… Cheng Dongfeng!”

“Yes! Cheng Dongfeng is a disciple of the Eight Trigrams School and was personally instructed by the grandmaster of that school, and he must know a lot!”

After he dialed the number, Cheng Dongfeng quickly answered his call, laughing, “Why the sudden call today, Jiang He?”

“Are you free now, Master Cheng?”

Jiang He’s voice was quite low, since asking for pointers like this easily reveals his lacking knowledge in martial arts, and it made sense that he was embarrassed. “So, my question is that I’ve been having some problems in cultivation that I need your help with.”

Cheng Dongfeng happened to be having lunch at a eat-with-your-hands restaurant at Lingzhou City.

The city had been at peace lately, just as there were no incidents of Ferals attacking villagers in surrounding towns. Moreover, with most of those citizens having moved into the city base, the various units of the Martial Arts Department (MAD) had a much easier time doing their jobs.

Moreover, Cheng Dongfeng’s ‘housing’ problem really solved after Deputy Zhou’s trip to Lingzhou City, with the deputy paying out of his own wallet for a ten million-dollar luxury apartment.

Of course, while Deputy Zhou had indeed paid out of his own pocket at the time, there was no telling whether he claimed that as expenses back at the MAD headquarters in Jingdu City.

Cheng Dongfeng was therefore in a great mood, his usual stingy self actually making an exception this time to treat Duan Tianhe, Mu Wanqiu, Wu Yueru, and several others to lunch.

Chen Jingzhou was not with them, since he had something to do and returned to Yuzhen.

Meanwhile, everyone had become silent when they heard that it was Jiang He’s phone call, and all of them were leaning in for a listen.

Cheng Dongfeng had been uncertain at first… who knew what this VIP had in mind when he called? What if he asked for another spar, should he refuse or refuse unhappily?

Nonetheless, when he heard that Jiang He wanted to ask about martial knowledge, he promptly puffed his chest. He became much more comfortable as he leaned leisurely into his chair, even turning on speakers and chuckling smugly, “You’ve asked the right person, Jiang He. Though I’m barely a rank-seven grandmaster, not even an average rank-eight could match me in insight.”

“Eh?”

Jiang He was rather disappointed. “Only rank-eight? Well, Master Cheng, how much do you know about rank-nine?”

“What?

“Are you looking down on me now?”

Cheng Dongfeng chuckled softly, and said, “Like others, rank-nines are divided into the four tiers of novice, advanced, intermediate, and pinnacle. Even so, their combat ability should not be judged by tiers—for example, a rank-nine novice who grasps the boundary of wills would not lose out to a rank-nine advanced, and could even prove to be a match against a rank-nine pinnacle who has yet to grasp the boundary of wills.”

“Under most circumstances, if their cultivation method, fighting skills, and combat experience are equal, then a rank-nine novice martial artist who grasped the boundary of wills would have the ability to defeat a rank-nine pinnacle.”

Everyone else in the private cubicle nodded.

That was common-sense in martial arts, and the people present were not weak and understood that.

Nonetheless, that was when Jiang He’s surprised voice came from the other end of the call.

“Are rank-nine martial artists who have grasped the boundary of wills that strong? But… I didn’t really find the Third Elder or the Sixth Elder of the Sky Demon Cult that powerful.”

“…”

The smile on Cheng Dongfeng’s face stiffened. His hand quivered, and he almost dropped his phone.

Then, Jiang He added, “Moreover, Master Cheng, you just mentioned that rank-nine novice martial artists who grasped boundary of wills could match rank-nine pinnacles without that power… but are rank-nine pinnacle martial artists that weak? How could they not grasp the boundary of wills when a rank-nine novice martial artist could?”

That left Cheng Dongfeng blue with shock and at a loss for words. “Do you think the boundary of wills is a dish or something? I’m just giving an example. In reality, there are next to none rank-nine novice martial artists who grasped the boundary of wills, just as many rank-nine pinnacles never grasped it… in fact, reaching the boundary of wills at either rank-nine intermediate or advanced makes on a prodigy amongst prodigies.”

“Is that so? Then could rank-eight martial artists grasp the boundary of wills?”

Cheng Dongfeng did not even think and cut to the point, “In theory, yes, but that is basically impossible—in the very least, there is no one I know who grasped the boundary of wills at rank-eight, even in the Old Martial Era… Eh?”

Before he finished, he vaguely heard Jiang He bark something and hang up.

Putting away his phone in confusion, Cheng Dongfeng then found everyone staring at himself and suddenly had a bold idea. “Say,” he asked quietly, “For Jiang He to suddenly ask about the boundary of wills… could he have reached rank-nine already and is ready to attempt grasping the boundary of wills?”

Everyone laughed.

Even Duan Tianhe could not help retorting, “Old Cheng… would you believe that yourself?”

“Didn’t Jiang He ascend after his return from Mount Helan? It was alleged that he consumed a floral spirit that improves cultivation to reach rank-seven advanced… but even if he’s riding a rocket, could he ascend up from there to rank nine in just a few days?”

Duan Tianhe shook his head and smiled. “It’s even less possible for a rank-seven him to perceive the boundary of wills through meditation. From what I understand about him, he probably had thought of it through some mysterious connection and called you about it.”

“That’s true.”

Cheng Dongfeng nodded, finding sense in those words.

***

Back at Jinyintan Village.

Jiang He, sitting on the sofa in the living room of his mansion was looking perplexed.

For real?

There was no chance anyone below rank-nine could grasp the boundary of wills?

“That’s not it… Cheng Dongfeng had always preferred to exaggerate his words, and he even claimed that it was an impossible myth for rank-six to turn the tables against a rank-seven… and yet, when I was still rank-six, I’ve already slain two-digits worth of rank-sevens, rank-eight, and even rank-nines.”

Nevertheless, Jiang He suddenly had a flash of inspiration as he connected the dots.

“Grasping the boundary of wills out of nowhere?”

“Wrong. I’ve got it wrong!”

“I grasped thunder will is because I’ve cultivated in the Ninefold Thunderblade… as for the reason, could it be that the third fold of that technique be so exceedingly profound that I mandatorily grasped thunder will after leveling it up with Farm Points?”

That might indeed be the case.

Even so, Jiang He felt quite upset.

Forget not running into any obstacles in his previous ascensions—he even grasped the boundary of wills without knowing?

Was there any joy in such cultivation to speak of?

1

In the meantime, after having his lunch, Jiang He went upstairs for a nap, and ended up sleeping until seven. When he woke up, Sora was cooking dinner…

Then, after finishing dinner, Jiang He was about to go outside for a breather when his mobile phone started ringing.

It was Mu Wanqiu.

“Jiang He, I’ve contacted the Lin clan of Sichuan. Lin Tianzheng is now at Jiangnan, and the unconscious Old Lin was brought there with him. He said that he would visit you tomorrow morning, to exchange his Orirocks for your treasure which promotes longevity and detoxes.”

“Jiangnan?”

Jiang He thought about it.

He was going to Jiangnan to annoy that Black King Drake anyway to gather materials to level up his farm, which was why he promptly said, “Tell him not to bother. I coincidentally have some matters to visit Jiangnan for and would go there tomorrow morning. We’ll just have to trade there when that happens.”