Chapter 1655: Drawbacks

Chapter 1655: Bichan

"You wretch, what are you howling about?" Outside Gui Cheng, curses erupted everywhere. A crowd of old Ming Jiangs blew their beards and glared with wide eyes, their aged faces turning an unusual shade of black.

Even the Sheng Ti individuals had their ears ringing, let alone the big ghosts and little ghosts—one by one, they clutched their heads and swayed in place.

That sudden shout came out of nowhere, with no one prepared for it at all.

If not for their fear of Ye Chen's overwhelming power, the people from all sides would have charged over by now. For someone like him, they figured, he needed to be dealt with severely, beaten until he learned his lesson.

Ye Chen ignored the scolding from all directions as if it were just background noise. He continued wielding his sword, deliberately moving toward wherever the crowd was thickest.

The faces of those around him darkened instantly like charred coal. That guy was doing it on purpose, causing a racket in the dead of night, just to annoy everyone.

Still, they couldn't help but be curious about that Ba Ti figure. It was an impressive divine ability, perfect for group fights.

Ye Chen stopped his mischief and wandered off, shaking his head in a way that was infuriatingly smug.

And he was quite satisfied with that earlier shout.

With the Ba Ti enhancement, it was incredibly fierce. If he incorporated Yuan Shen attacks into it, he was confident it would knock down hordes of people.

He didn't head back to Gui Cheng but instead strode off into the distance.

Through the dim sky, one could vaguely see the Ba Ti figure, towering over a hundred zhang tall, radiating brilliant golden light that was dazzlingly bright.

Its massive size made it incredibly heavy, like a mountain or a peak, so every time its foot landed, the ground trembled violently.

He had already traveled far from Gui Cheng, and as he walked, he delved into the essence of the Ba Ti, the innate divine ability of the Sheng Ti, which held endless mysteries.

In his contemplation, he unwittingly entered a range of mountains.

Soon after, he heard continuous booming sounds echoing nonstop.

Looking into the distance, the majestic Ba Ti figure loomed large, its feet so heavy that it crushed small mountain peaks one after another, causing them to collapse.

Only when he reached the depths of the mountains did he finally come to a stop, gently closing his eyes.

From his journey, he had truly experienced the immense power of the Ba Ti figure. In a group battle, a single strike could sweep through thousands.

However, he furrowed his brow slightly—this wasn't the Ba Ti he wanted.

He despised the feeling of hiding inside that shell; he preferred the raw, bloody thrill of direct combat, not being separated by an illusory Ba Ti.

The Ba Ti figure was undeniably powerful, and he didn't deny that.

But with great power came fatal drawbacks.

Being inside the Ba Ti figure severely limited his speed, and the boost in strength came at the cost of that speed.

Gaining power but losing speed—that was the drawback.

Imagine fighting someone: if you couldn't keep up with their speed, what good was a strong attack? Missing your target was the most frustrating part.

He wasn't questioning Di Huang's divine repository; it was just that this innate ability truly had issues, with a severe imbalance between power and speed.

He didn't know if previous generations of Sheng Ti ancestors had noticed this drawback or found a way to overcome it.

With that thought, he sat down cross-legged, assuming a dignified posture.

He was secretly evolving it, seeking a method to overcome the drawback.

Speed and power in balance—that was the fundamental principle. Chu Xuan Er's words from back then had never left him; they would benefit him for life.

He sat there for three full days, not moving an inch.

It wasn't until the fourth day that the massive Ba Ti figure began to tremble with a deep hum.

Then, visible to the eye, the hundred-zhang-tall figure started shrinking inch by inch, compressing itself.

From a hundred zhang, it reduced to ninety, then eighty, seventy, sixty, fifty, and forty zhang.

The process was slow, taking a full nine days.

By the tenth day, the once hundred-zhang Ba Ti figure had shrunk to the size of a normal person, just like Ye Chen.

Looking closely, it now clung to the surface of his body, like a layer of illusory armor surrounded by thunder, unstable and flickering.

Ye Chen's expression was solemn, even verging on manic. With a light shout in his heart, he forcibly compressed the Ba Ti figure into his body.

Or rather, he merged with it completely.

A gruesome scene unfolded: his Sheng Ti body cracked open, with blood spraying from the fissures, and his sacred bones fracturing inch by inch.

In that moment, he looked like a blood-soaked figure, drenched from head to toe.

The Ba Ti figure was too powerful; originally an external form, forcing it inside was something his flesh and blood couldn't endure.

"Break and then rise, grant me transformation, grant me nirvana."

Ye Chen gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, roaring and bellowing inwardly, his face a mask of madness.

If any Sheng Ti ancestors were present, they would surely think he had lost his mind.

And he had indeed gone mad—what previous Sheng Ti generations did was exactly this.

Merging the Ba Ti figure into his body could risk his Sheng Ti exploding; it was the act of a lunatic, a gamble with his life.

But he was a lunatic, and everything he had done along the way was madness.

In the end, he couldn't withstand that overbearing force.

His body exploded with a boom, his blood and bones scattering into a mist, a gruesome sight that shocked the eyes.

A perfectly fine person had been obliterated into blood.

The surrounding gravel, rocks, cliffs, flowers, and trees were all splattered with his sacred blood, each drop strikingly vivid.

The deep mountains fell into a dead silence because of his explosion.

Yin winds began to rage, and lone souls and fierce ghosts crawled out, as if sensing the scent of blood, their faces sinister and terrifying.

But before they could approach Ye Chen's blood, an inexplicable force ground them to ash, their wails echoing endlessly.

A strange scene appeared: the droplets of Ye Chen's scattered blood began to flow, drawing closer to one another and merging.

Before long, the golden droplets of sacred blood gathered into a mass.

That mass of blood writhed, slowly forming flesh, condensing sacred bones, and eventually shaping organs.

The exploded Ye Chen revived, recasting his Sheng Ti body.

He remained seated cross-legged, like an old monk in meditation, his eyes still closed.

His demeanor was calm as still water, his dark hair swaying in the yin wind, tinged with strands of golden divine light.

"Ba Ti, activate." Soon, a light command escaped his lips.

Instantly, his Sheng Ti trembled, and lightning tore across his surface.

Looking at his forehead, the exclusive Sheng Ti god mark now had nine additional lines, each one radiating brilliant golden light.

Within his body, terrifying visions unfolded: his limbs, bones, organs, and meridians were all etched with runes.

Every drop of his sacred blood pulsed with mysterious power.

His hair floated upward, strand by strand turning gold.

Behind him, strange phenomena emerged, intertwining and taking shape.

A mysterious, ancient force spread outward from him as the center, extending infinitely in all directions and causing mountains to collapse.

Only then did a smile curve at the corners of his mouth.

He had succeeded, successfully integrating the Ba Ti figure into his body, and the so-called drawbacks had vanished completely through his nirvana.

"At his Ba Ti state, he has come infinitely close to the Xue Ji Xian Jie. This successor of yours is indeed stronger than you." On the peak of Jie Ming Shan, Ming Di chuckled lightly, his imperial eyes filled with a hint of satisfaction.

"I told you, he will be the most astonishing Archaic Sheng Ti." Di Huang smiled, moved by Ye Chen's brilliance.

Even he had never dared to try merging the Ba Ti figure into his body.

To place oneself in death and then be reborn—that was true nirvana and transformation.

Ye Chen had seen it all with perfect clarity, and it was precisely this realization that allowed him to achieve what no previous Sheng Ti had.

He had pioneered a new divine repository, overcoming the Ba Ti's drawbacks.

Infinitely close to the Xue Ji Xian Jie—that was an overwhelmingly dominant state, far superior to the Ba Ti figure in countless ways.

PS: This book is titled "Zhi Zun Xian Di" on Mi Gu, and "Xian Wu Di Zun" elsewhere.