"So you were also a waste like me in the past?" Chen Xia stared at the Old Fisherman for a long time after hearing this sentence, glancing at him several more times before slowly nodding his head.
"Yes."
He quickly added, "But one cannot remain a waste forever. One must strive to improve oneself, walk one's own grand path instead of giving up on oneself like you do, or even cultivating heretical arts."
Chen Xia fell silent. After a moment, he softly sighed, "I'll try my best."
"Mm." The Old Fisherman nodded again without trying to persuade Chen Xia further. "Think about it yourself. I do hope that you can reach the pinnacle of cultivation and become an Ascended Saint."
"After all, when I first fished you out, I knew your accomplishments would be unparalleled."
This was the first time the Old Fisherman had addressed himself as "this master."
Chen Xia looked up, seeming somewhat moved. His voice even trembled a little. "This unworthy disciple has really troubled you."
"It's nothing." The Old Fisherman waved his hand dismissively, sighing, "This master's time is already short. Knowing that I have no hope of stepping onto the path of the Emperor, I can only rely on you youngsters now."
"Is that so?" Chen Xia asked in surprise, thinking to himself that this was just perfect.
"Mm." The Old Fisherman nodded faintly. "Probably only thirty thousand years of life remaining. Don't worry, this master will definitely live to see the day you reach the pinnacle."
No, you won't see that day. I'll accelerate your lifespan, Chen Xia thought to himself. But he said emotionally, "This unworthy disciple cannot extend master's lifespan. I'd gladly give a hundred years of my own life to exchange for twenty more years of master's. That would be worthwhile!"
The Old Fisherman looked upon Chen Xia with a kindly, gentle gaze, nodding slightly and murmuring softly,
"Foolish child. A real fool."
The atmosphere between master and disciple was rather warm.
Chen Xia remained silent, determined to see who the real fool was in the end.
The Old Fisherman did not stay for long. After leaving a white jade meditation mat, he took his leave, reminding Chen Xia again not to cultivate the Ignite Blood Extinguish Soul Method.
Chen Xia naturally nodded in agreement. He planned to accelerate the Old Fisherman's thirty thousand year lifespan in five years.
Master and disciple each harbored their own schemes.
Chen Xia started cultivating the Giant Turtle Breathing Technique. It was a Mahayana cultivation method, able to support cultivation up to the Mahayana peak.
Starting from the primordial infant stage, it would take three hundred years to cultivate it, at the cost of sacrificing five hundred years of lifespan.
This was of course no concern to Chen Xia.
He simply focused on cultivating.
At the same time, the spiritual energy provided by his personal domain grew increasingly abundant.
In the past two years, figures at the mid golden core stage had already appeared in his domain, providing Chen Xia with a considerable amount of spiritual resources.
Moreover, statues of Chen Xia were currently being worshipped in his domain. Perhaps in the future he could use it as the site for his second divine sense to descend.
But there was no hurry for that now.
The most urgent task was to strengthen himself, then find a way to escape from the Blue Sky Sword Sea.
Based on the Old Fisherman's words, he clearly did not wish for Chen Xia's Dao heart to be damaged, and hoped that Chen Xia would cultivate faster instead.
Therefore, Chen Xia definitely could not cater too much to the Old Fisherman's wishes.
Of course, he couldn't be too lazy either, in case the Old Fisherman felt Chen Xia was too useless and simply abandoned him.
For now, he had to balance between the two, pretending to be lazy but not overly so, giving the Old Fisherman a glimmer of hope.
Only then could he slowly buy time while cutting off twenty years of the Old Fisherman's lifespan every five years, and adding some to his own, while seeking a chance to escape.
The Old Fisherman returned to the edge of the sword peak, beckoning with his hand to summon the black-robed figure before him. He rumbled,
"Keep an eye on Chen Xia's actions, but don't disturb him."
"Yes." The black-robed figure nodded and its silhouette disappeared.
The Old Fisherman narrowed his eyes. Absolutely no mishaps could happen with Chen Xia. The next Great Aeon was fast approaching. Chen Xia had to become an Ascended Saint.
He even had to be faster than the other two seeds of the Great Emperors.
Because all Chen Xia needed to achieve was Ascended Saint.
The other two seeds did not need to rush. They were the real contenders in the struggle of the coming Great Aeon.
But of course, they were definitely unaware of this now, still preoccupied with thoughts of Chen Xia.
Among the current probationary disciples, two factions had formed, with the remaining Chen Xia standing out conspicuously. If there was just one more ordinary ancient race probationary disciple it would be fine.
But Chen Xia was a seed of the Great Emperors, and a member of the human race from the Lower Realm at that, naturally unable to get along with these other strange races.
Naturally, Chen Xia drew the scrutiny and even hostility of the other probationary disciples.
Now, the two seeds of the Great Emperors had two options.
One was to recruit Chen Xia into their own faction. The advantage of this was having two Great Emperor seeds on their side, which could directly suppress the remaining one.
The disadvantage was that they would still have to compete with each other in the end, so essentially nothing changed.
So the second option was better.
Directly suppress Chen Xia who had no power, if not beating him until he lost all hope, at least weakening his competitiveness. At the minimum, Chen Xia could not be allowed to compete for a sword seat in the Blue Sky Sword Sea.
Within a spacious cave dwelling.
A figure with twin horns sprouting from its head and heavy bones hanging from its shoulders opened its scarlet eyes. A terrifying aura emanated from them, ancient and chilling to the bone.
"Any news about Chen Xia's cultivation level and abilities?"
A primeval flood dragon race subordinate lowered its head. "There is little news. He came from the Lower Realm, so there are no other records of him in the Greater Worlds."
The scarlet eyes of the figure glanced disdainfully at the flood dragon race subordinate. It stretched out a long, scaly finger to point at the center of the flood dragon's brows and retorted,
"Can't you try finding out yourself?"
Cold sweat beaded on the flood dragon subordinate's forehead. It did not dare raise its head, hastily explaining, "But...but he is a seed of the Great Emperors after all. I fear...I fear I am no match for him."
"You're afraid you can't beat him, right." The figure finished the sentence. Its scarlet eyes emanated a terrifying might, completely solidifying the surrounding air. Its tone was frigid as it interrogated,
"Are you not afraid of me?"
The flood dragon subordinate's body trembled. It felt it could hardly even breathe, much less figure out how to respond.
This noble one's origins were extremely terrifying. He was the scion of an ancient divine race, the heavens resounded when he was born!
The divine race expected that he could achieve the level of Great Emperor. Thus, he was directly granted the character "Emperor" in his name, called Emperor Capital!
It was said that he had entered the Blue Sky Sword Sea precisely to obtain a sword seat, gaining the imperial arts of the Blue Sky Sword Sea. Then, fusing it with his divine race's imperial arts, he would establish the dual imperial arts of this age.
With such a saintly foundation, the flood dragon subordinate truly did not dare offend him. At this moment, it did not dare to utter a single word, only trembling in fear.
Emperor Capital also felt rather vexed looking at the flood dragon subordinate. If they were outside, he could have killed it with a casual wave of his hand, and no one would have dared to object.
But right now they were in the Blue Sky Sword Sea. This flood dragon subordinate was also a probationary disciple of the Blue Sky Sword Sea, after all, occupying one of the limited seats.
If he randomly killed it, he would still be punished.
Emperor Capital closed his scarlet eyes, speaking,
"Send Three Thousand Flame Feather Crows. As a supreme race, they should be able to probe out something."
He urgently needed all kinds of information on Chen Xia right now. Enemies you did not understand were the most fearsome. As long as he understood Chen Xia's abilities, he would naturally have countermeasures.
Such was his confidence, and the foundation of his entire ancient divine race!