The Supreme Martial King Shocking All Realms Chapter 3274 - 3269: Cultivation Dilemma_1

Suddenly, a horde of mighty figures departed, with Heavenly King included among them, his body slick with sweat as he hurried away.

Heavenly King had felt it all too vividly just moments before. Yang Chen's stare cut like a dagger, ready to stab right through him and snatch away his existence in an instant.

He even sensed a choking dread surging from the depths of his soul.

As the crowd of strong experts vanished from sight, Yang Chen shifted his focus toward Spirit Flower Venerate and Nightingale Heavenly Venerable.

Spirit Flower Venerate and Nightingale Heavenly Venerable met Yang Chen's eyes head-on, their minds filling with anxiety now that his attention fixed upon them.

This hit Spirit Flower Venerate hardest of all, for when she first laid eyes on Yang Chen, his cultivation had lagged far behind her own. Yet in the span of a mere century, everything flipped, and now his power had soared beyond hers.

All she could do was marvel inwardly at how Yang Chen's brilliance exceeded anything she could have dreamed.

"Yang Chen, we owe you our lives for stepping in. Without your help, who knows what doom would strike our Three Flowers Sect," Spirit Flower Venerate uttered, her tone heavy with lingering terror as she nibbled her lower lip.

Yang Chen replied softly, "No need to mention it. You've both shown me kindness before. How could I ignore that upon my return? Still, I'm puzzled about King Yueyin's whereabouts. Wasn't he supposed to stay here in the sect with you? Why venture out and fail to come back?"

"King Yueyin rushed off to the Universal Starry Sky," Nightingale Heavenly Venerable explained.

Yang Chen gave a nod, "I see, but what business did she have there in the Universal Starry Sky?"

"King Yueyin mentioned only that she sought a certain person. Beyond that, we're in the dark..." Spirit Flower Venerate replied.

At those words, Yang Chen hesitated for a beat.

Deep down, only he understood that Yueyin Wang's vessel was Hua Wanru. So who might Hua Wanru be searching for?

Was it possible she hadn't let go of him after all?

A quiet sigh escaped his thoughts, and he said, "Very well, I've only come back this time to pay a visit. Time to go."

"Yang Chen," Spirit Flower Venerate's red lips parted just a touch.

Yang Chen turned to her with confusion, "What is it, Senior Ling Hua?"

"Yang Chen, your current... power level is..." Spirit Flower Venerate's heart raced with shock, and she blurted out the question without thinking.

Had it been anyone else inquiring, Yang Chen wouldn't have bothered responding. But as an old acquaintance, he glanced skyward, pondered briefly, then declared, "My power... In this realm, none can match me!"

With those words hanging in the air, Yang Chen swept his sleeve and departed.

His declaration lingered in the thoughts of Spirit Flower Venerate and Nightingale Heavenly Venerable.

"I've warned those mighty ones—no one dares harass you from now on. Goodbye."

Yet the line etched deepest into Spirit Flower Venerate and Nightingale Heavenly Venerable's memories was the one before it.

In this world, I am unrivaled!

Those words brimmed with boundless arrogance!

Yang Chen spun on his heel and stepped onto the Spirit Leaf Flying Boat, setting off once more for home.

This journey home, of course, took him straight to the Divine Night Sect.

Yang Chen launched into his scheme: cultivating diligently, tackling missions, peddling pills to gather Jiyu essence, handling it all without pause.

Two full decades slipped by in the wink of an eye.

For cultivators, twenty years amounted to a mere instant, and for those in the Three Heavenly Realms, it was less than a breath.

Even so, Yang Chen achieved plenty during that span.

He stuck to missions near the Divine Night Sect whenever possible, choosing ones that wrapped up swiftly and stayed under the radar, leaving no openings for Spirit Separation Ancestor to exploit.

Curiously, Spirit Separation Ancestor showed no signs of striking at him, which struck Yang Chen as downright odd, as if the old foe behaved entirely out of character.

Yang Chen refused to believe Spirit Separation Ancestor would drop the grudge so readily. Two decades on, he'd braced for some retaliation, yet the ancestor acted as if the past meant nothing, staying completely silent.

Rather than easing his vigilance, this only heightened Yang Chen's tension.

The longer Spirit Separation Ancestor played it cool, the clearer it became that some devious scheme brewed, holding back for a lethal blow at the end.

Though unease gnawed at him, Yang Chen had no other options.

During those twenty years, he held off on rushing to the Earth Spirit Hall, instead exploring every avenue to boost his personal might.

In that time, he mastered hundreds of pill recipes, though just a handful proved directly beneficial. The rest served mainly to broaden his expertise, since certain elixirs might come in handy later on.

As he forged more pills, his cultivation at last surged forward again, hitting the Late Stage of the Heavenly Extreme Realm.

Such swift gains stemmed chiefly from the Medicine Garden's aid, which yielded a rich bounty and let him craft vast quantities of elixirs.

Though those in the Three Heavenly Realms needed elixirs less, the sheer volume he produced made up for it.

Yang Chen refined them with wild abandon, like a prodigal pill-maker, so advancing to the Late Stage of the Heaven-separated Realm felt entirely natural.

Should others learn of this, they'd no doubt call Yang Chen's approach utterly wasteful.

For Heaven-separated Realm experts, the gaps between Early, Middle, and Late stages hardly mattered. With enough time, no one got trapped there. The true hurdle lay in cresting the Late Stage, pushing to its pinnacle, and stepping into the Heaven-appointed Realm.

Almost half of Heaven-separated Realm cultivators faltered at the Heaven-appointed threshold, forever stalled.

But Yang Chen paid no mind to such concerns. He'd already sold off a hefty chunk of his cultivation aids, yet plenty remained. Why let them gather dust?

Besides, cultivation took other forms too.

Over the twenty years, he delved repeatedly into the Shenyi Sect's array of laws and arts.

Still, delving into those diverse laws and arts devoured much of his effort. The outcomes left him rather disappointed. His progress felt disjointed somehow.

He'd absorbed so much, yet the actual gains fell short of his hopes.

This bafflement troubled Yang Chen deeply.

Back before stepping into the Three Heavenly Realms, he'd imagined that joining the Divine Night Sect and grasping its superior Dao methods would skyrocket his power.

Now, immersed in those practices, he saw they strayed from his visions.

Bearing these questions, Yang Chen recalled Princess Wenqi and resolved to seek her insight.

Now, Yang Chen arrived at Princess Wenqi's private chambers.

Princess Wenqi harbored lingering feelings for Yang Chen. Spotting him enter, she inquired warmly, "Yang Chen, what matter draws you to me today?"

Yang Chen regarded Princess Wenqi and shared his inner turmoil, "Senior Wenqi, my cultivation feels off somehow. Even after training in the sect's profound Dao arts, I sense no real progress—in fact, it's like a barrier holds me back. I can't make sense of it."