Chapter 682  : Nine Palaces of the Mountain and Sea

As Chen Fei paid more attention to the Master Dream Shadow’s Cave, more and more information presented itself before him.

The inheritance cave of the Master Dream Shadow had existed for thousands of years, appearing in the boundless sea every few decades. As long as one’s cultivation did not exceed the Mountain Sea Realm, they could enter the cave and compete for the inheritance.

Therefore, over the course of thousands of years, there were actually quite a few martial artists who had obtained the Master Dream Shadow’s inheritance. However, none could match the Master Dream Shadow of that year, standing at the pinnacle of the Mountain Sea Realm, or even just a hair away from entering the Sun Moon Realm.

It was rumored that within the Master Dream Shadow’s Cave, there was actually a core inheritance that had never been obtained by anyone.

If one could obtain this core inheritance, they could truly control the inheritance cave.

However, how much credibility this statement held remained unknown to all.

Chen Fei lightly tapped his finger on the table, his eyes filled with contemplation.

The Dream Entry Technique was extremely domineering; over the years in the Thousand Feathers Alliance, it had helped Chen Fei resolve many troubles.

In fact, the Dream Entry Technique had played an important role in Chen Fei’s ability to obtain the incomplete martial arts of the nine major sects in the past.

However, as Chen Fei’s cultivation continued to improve, the incomplete Dream Entry Technique could no longer provide greater assistance. If Chen Fei were to break through to the Mountain Sea Realm in the future, the Dream Entry Technique could be said to be nothing more than an ornament.

The tapping of Chen Fei’s fingers on the table paused slightly, as a decision formed in his mind.

Three days later, Chen Fei’s figure appeared thousands of miles away from the Thousand Geese City. From a distance, Chen Fei could see a massive mountain fluctuating up and down in mid-air.

This mountain was the cave of the Master Dream Shadow. It wasn’t a spiritual treasure, yet it possessed the aura of one.

Years ago, a strong expert in the Mountain Sea Realm had attempted to forcibly refine this cave as their weapon.

However, before even half of it could be refined, the cave shattered directly, turning into scattered rubble. Yet decades later, the cave reappeared, indistinguishable from its original state.

This situation drew the attention of many experts in the Mountain Sea Realm at the time. Some experts who had not originally intended to do so also appeared outside the cave to conduct research.

After several days of study, these experts in the Mountain Sea Realm finally understood that the core of this cave was a piece of Dream Shadow Stone.

This stone was not a natural spiritual material but forged by the Master Dream Shadow himself, residing within the Strange Heart Realm.

The cave could form because this piece of Dream Shadow Stone gathered it together, which was also why the cave only appeared every few decades.

The Dream Shadow Stone required time to accumulate sufficient energy.

So, if one were to talk about spiritual treasures, that piece of Dream Shadow Stone was the true spiritual treasure, and its grade was definitely very high.

Without finding the true trace of the Dream Shadow Stone within the Strange Heart Realm, even refining this cave would be in vain.

From this perspective, one could also see the extraordinary talent of the Master Dream Shadow of that year. With just a piece of Dream Shadow Stone, he could allow a cave to exist for thousands of years and still function normally. Moreover, after so many years, no one had ever found out where exactly the Dream Shadow Stone was stored within the Strange Heart Realm.

The opening of the Dream Shadow Cave still required several days. At this moment, thousands of people had already gathered around the cave. Among them, there were not only individuals in the Combined Aperture Tempering realm and the Aperture Tempering realm, but Chen Fei even saw some martial artists in the Body Tempering realm.

Chen Fei found a mountain slope, crossed his legs, and sat down. While waiting for the cave to open, he continued to practice his techniques, absorbing insights from the Heavenly Profound Sword and the Suppressing Dragon Elephant Soul Tempering.

Before, when Chen Fei exchanged for the Heavenly Heart Scripture from the Heavenly Heart Sect, it was not only to refine his soul better, but also because he wanted to understand the specific cultivation methods of the Mountain Sea Realm.

Many fears in people stem from the unknown.

In the practice of martial arts, sometimes it’s the same.

The uncertainty of breakthroughs sometimes arises from not knowing how different the cultivation will be after the breakthrough.

Over the past half year of practicing the Heavenly Profound Sword, Chen Fei finally gained a systematic understanding of the cultivation in the Mountain Sea Realm, at least not as vague as before.

The information Chen Fei obtained in the Thousand Feathers Alliance, especially the techniques from the top ten sects, only mentioned the cultivation in the Mountain Sea Realm, focusing primarily on the soul.

The techniques like the Suppressing Dragon Elephant Soul Tempering and the Soul Breaking Technique also indicated this point.

However, this scope was too broad and too generic.

On the other hand, although the Heavenly Heart Scripture was relatively ordinary among the techniques in the Mountain Sea Realm, its explanation of the Mountain Sea Realm was extremely precise.

The Nine Palaces of the Mountain and Sea!

The cultivation in the Mountain Sea Realm involved opening nine divine palaces within the body, with the soul residing within these palaces. Once all nine palaces were opened, one could reach the pinnacle of the Mountain Sea Realm.

If one successfully broke through from the Combined Aperture Tempering realm to the Mountain Sea Realm, they would open the first divine palace within their body, with the transformed soul residing within it.

Opening four divine palaces signified stepping into the mid-stage of the Mountain Sea Realm, while seven divine palaces naturally represented the late stage of the Mountain Sea Realm.

There was something Chen Fei hadn’t known before: after breaking through to the Mountain Sea Realm, martial artists actually awakened a racial talent.

This talent came from their bodies and from the various techniques they had practiced over the years.

The Heavenly Heart Scripture made it very clear that, at the moment of soul transformation, if one’s foundation was deep enough, they could actually traverse the void and seek out their preferred talent within it.

This void was extremely mysterious, a special place that arose from the connection between the human body and the entire universe.

Normally, it could not be perceived at all, but only at the moment of soul transformation could one traverse it.

The human body was actually a small universe, and the practice of martial arts was the process of constantly developing this small universe. The appearance of racial talents would greatly enhance the strength of martial artists.

However, the Heavenly Heart Scripture also solemnly warned that upon successful breakthrough and soul transformation, it was best not to be greedy and choose some powerful talent.

It was best to choose a talent immediately when one presented itself, then let the soul carry the talent, reside within the divine palace, and completely step into the Mountain Sea Realm.

In the history of the Boundless Sea, there were many exceptionally talented individuals who, relying on their deep foundations, wanted to choose a powerful talent at the moment of breakthrough. However, they ultimately failed to break through because they spent too much time making their choice.

Such examples were abundant, and thus the Heavenly Heart Scripture warned against aiming too high.

Certainly, the combat power in the Mountain Sea Realm was largely influenced by talent, especially considering how difficult cultivation in the Mountain Sea Realm was. It could be challenging to make any progress in one’s entire lifetime.

In this regard, that talent might be your only one, so being cautious was indeed justifiable. But compared to the prospect of failure, it seemed that successful breakthrough was the more crucial matter.

In the early stages of the Mountain Sea Realm, after obtaining the first talent, following normal cultivation, when one broke through to the mid-stage of the Mountain Sea Realm, the soul from one of the three divine palaces, along with the power of the talent, had the chance to enter the void and seek out a second talent.

Compared to the time of just breaking through the Mountain Sea Realm, the soul at that time would naturally be much stronger. However, finding the second talent wouldn’t necessarily become easier.

Because at that time, the barrier of the void was extremely tough, not comparable to the first time entering the void. So, the time spent seeking the second talent remained short.

In the rumored great continents of Middle Continent, among the several major sacred sites, some true geniuses, when opening their third divine palace, could enter the void to seek talents. This allowed them to gain access to talents one divine palace earlier than other practitioners in the Mountain Sea Realm.

In other words, while other practitioners in the Mountain Sea Realm might have only had four talents even if they reached the peak of the realm, the geniuses from the sacred sites could potentially stack up to five talents.

In battles between strong individuals, sometimes it all came down to this single line – having one more talent, along with differences in techniques, solidified the immense deterrent power of those geniuses from the sacred sites in the Mountain Sea Realm.

“Whether one could enter the void to seek talents depended on the strength of the soul and the extent of talent cultivation.”

Chen Fei had pondered in his mind while absorbing insights from his techniques.

In other words, if the soul within the divine palace was strong enough, and if the talents obtained were cultivated well enough, or if the first talent chosen was already powerful enough, then perhaps there was a chance to choose a talent when opening a divine palace?

However, this was undoubtedly extremely difficult, or even close to impossible; otherwise, those geniuses from the sacred sites would have made such choices long ago.

To elevate one’s realm in the Mountain Sea Realm, it was indispensable to cultivate the nine divine palaces, but there were actually many choices regarding how to cultivate them.

According to the Heavenly Heart Scripture, the most orthodox cultivation method naturally involved refining the qi of heaven and earth, ingesting celestial materials and earthly treasures, nurturing essence, energy, spirit, and soul, and gradually improving step by step.

This path was undoubtedly somewhat slow and had many bottlenecks, but it was safe, balanced, and without flaws.

There was another method, which was much faster but had clear drawbacks – it involved refining faith, forcibly enhancing the soul, and using the soul to drive the improvement of essence, energy, and spirit.

Chen Fei had previously not understood why the Haiyue Cave and the Enlightenment Tower were so well-known in the Thousand Feathers Alliance.

Now, he understood a little more. It was because Master Haiyue and Min Yanlu used the faith of everyone in the Thousand Feathers Alliance as nourishment to enhance spiritual treasures, and then used the spiritual treasures to enhance themselves.

Compared to the potential drawbacks of directly refining faith, using spiritual treasures as an intermediary significantly reduced the impact.

However, with the collapse of the Thousand Feathers Alliance and the emergence of resentment, it was certain that both the Haiyue Cave and the Enlightenment Tower would be damaged.

As the saying goes, “water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it.” This was the greatest drawback of refining faith.

These were the two most widespread cultivation paths within the Mountain Sea Realm and were also the most widely circulated.

The Dream Shadow Cave before Chen Fei’s eyes, from a certain perspective, also carried a similar meaning. However, it didn’t need to worry about its own collapse unless the entire human race on the Middle Continent was slaughtered.

The Heavenly Heart Scripture followed the path of refining the qi of heaven and earth, which also involved some methods of refining faith, but these were just superficial.

Apart from these two methods, there was also the method of refining flesh and spirit essence, such as the one encountered by Chen Fei before with Tu Zaichuan.

But ultimately, it also derived from the methods of refining the qi of heaven and earth and faith, essentially being the same path.

As Chen Fei pondered the cultivation in the Mountain Sea Realm, several days had already passed in the outside world.

The frequency of tremors in the Dream Shadow Cave became increasingly apparent. At a certain moment, a radiance shot up from the cave into the sky.

In the blink of an eye, the people surrounding it instantly surged into the cave..