Chapter 345: Cultivation in the Holy Land

“This item is something that is produced within the holy land. Every 50 years, another one of these will be made. This is something we call “Mercenary’s Heart” and is given to every single King of Mercenaries in secret every 50 years.” The Eight Elder explained. “The Mercenary’s Heart is made of the special energy condensed within the holy land. If it is absorbed, then not only will one’s strength be increased rapidly, but it will also increase one’s spirit. As long as one is not a Saint Ruler, then their strength will achieve a great amount of progress and improvement.”

Handing over the Mercenary’s Heart to Jian Chen’s hand, the Eighth Elder spoke, “Take this and swallow it before you go off somewhere and refine it. You will see that you will make an extreme amount of progress.”

“Yes, Eighth Elder.” Jian Chen had no hesitation as he immediately placed the Mercenary’s Heart into his mouth and swallowed.

“Bear in mind, the Mercenary’s Heart must be refined within the holy land. If it is taken out of the holy land, then the energy gathered within the Mercenary’s Heart will quickly evaporate.” The Eight Elder warned Jian Chen.

“This one understands, I thank the Eighth Elder for his warning.” Jian Chen cupped his hands in thanks as his heart was still reeling with shock. This Mercenary’s Heart was far too strange if it couldn’t be taken outside and was completely useless for a Saint Ruler. But the strangeness wasn’t all too bad. It was still given freely as a reward to every King of Mercenaries which was coincidentally the only non Saint Ruler qualified to enter the holy land.

“The holy land has a total of four areas. In the first area, the time flow goes ten times faster than the outside world. 10 months in there is 1 month in the outside world. If you wish to try to refine your Saint Force or try to comprehend any Heaven Tier Battle Skill, the first area is your best choice. The second area is best for understanding the six elements of the world. In that area, one could accomplish twice the work for half the effort, making improvements to one’s strength quite rapid and effective.

“The third and fourth area is where the best part of the holy land are. The holy land’s most precious items can be found there such as Saint Tier Battle Skills and even techniques of a senior generation that is comparable to a Saint Tier Battle Skill. Those not of the Saint Ruler realm will find it hard to comprehend, and thus is useless to you.”

“The fourth area is where we elders of Mercenary City have left behind all that we have learned and realized over our years. To you, they are useless because you have no hopes in even coming in contact with it, let alone being able to comprehend the absolute profoundness of them. Thus, the area that suits you best is the first area. You should cultivate there for half a year, it’ll be the same as if cultivating for five years in the outside world.” The Eight Elder explained to Jian Chen. He had been the announcer for the Gathering of the Mercenaries, so explanations had been something he was in charge of. He had a responsibility to explain matters regarding the holy land clearly and did not treat Jian Chen with any special consideration.

After he had finished talking, the Eighth Elder left Jian Chen’s line of sight, leaving him the only person around.

Taking an observation of the place around himself, Jian Chen had noticed that the other 20 elders had already disappeared from sight so that he was the last person here.

Not wanting to squander any of his precious time, he heeded the Eighth Elder’s words and began to travel for the first area so that he could begin refining the Mercenary’s Heart.

The very moment that Jian Chen had entered the first area, Jian Chen felt that the space within this place was completely abnormal that made his body feel quite unsuited for as if the area was objecting to Jian Chen’s presence.

“This must be the first area where time goes ten times as fast.” Jian Chen thought to himself as his feet continued onwards and took him to the abyss where he could feel the energy density grow even heavier.

As soon as Jian Chen had reached the deepest parts of this place, he took a look around only to see a cyan robed person sitting 50 meters away; it was the Heavenly Enchantress.

Standing from afar, Jian Chen couldn’t help but look at her back which concealed not a single part of her stunning body.

With only a smallest amount of hesitation, Jian Chen slowly walked towards the Heavenly Enchantress. As he drew 30 meters closer, Jian Chen suddenly felt the energy in the area suddenly grow richer as it pulled towards the Heavenly Enchantress’ body. The speed in which it was being pulled increased, and without any explanations, Jian Chen knew that the area the Heavenly Enchantress was in was the core of the first area.

Jian Chen stopped 10 meters away from her before sitting down. While he knew that the closer he got to where the Heavenly Enchantress was, the richer the energy would be, but at the same time, he did not dare to get too close to her.

“Senior, the holy land’s Saint Tier Battle Skill and other cultivational insights left behind by our predecessors, why haven’t you gone to find them?” Jian Chen asked the Heavenly Enchantress with confusion. With so many Saint Rulers here, a Saint Tier battle Skill and the insights from those of generations past was an undeniable treasure. But the Heavenly Enchantress had decided to come to this first area to refine her Saint Force, unlike the others.

But the Heavenly Enchantress continued to sit down with her eyes closed as if she hadn’t heard Jian Chen at all.

After half a day of waiting without a response, Jian Chen had figured that an expert of the Saint Ruler would be extremely arrogant and would not even stoop down to a level where they would waste words with an Earth Saint master. Without bothering to ask anymore questions, Jian Chen immediately closed his eyes and began to refine the Mercenary’s Heart.

“I follow the path of the Zither and use sound to fight. My road is different from the others, their battle skills and insights are unsuitable for me and provide no help.” Just as Jian Chen had closed his eyes, the voice of the Heavenly Enchantress could be heard ringing in the air like the sounds of the song of heaven.

Flashing open his eyes, Jian Chen realized that the Heavenly Enchantress had still not yet moved from her spot, but a cyan colored mist had blocked his line of sight.

Without even waiting for a response from Jian Chen, the Heavenly Enchantress continued to speak, “So you are the King of Mercenaries. I am sure you have already obtained the Mercenary’s Heart, it is a rare treasure that will surely bring about a great deal of change to your strength with fragments of the profound mysteries of the world inside it.” The heavenly Enchantress spoke with her eyes closed.

“I thank senior for her words.” Jian Chen cupped his hands together.

“There is no need to call me senior, just call me Heavenly Enchantress.” She spoke without the initial coldness from before.

Afterwards, the Heavenly Enchantress spoke no more even after Jian Chen had asked several questions. With a dejected look, Jian Chen began to refine the Mercenary’s Heart once more.

The Mercenary’s Heart was extremely magical. Absorbing and refining the energy within it was fast enough for his speed and spirit to make leaps and bounds, almost as if the Mercenary’s Heart was hiding some sort of strange energy that Jian Chen could use to blend into his own body and strengthen him. Furthermore, there were even some of the fragments that the Heavenly Enchantress had spoken about.

With one month inside the holy land being equal to 10 months in the outside world, Jian Chen had already spent two months inside before the Mercenary’s Heart was finally refined. His strength by that point had made an extreme change, bringing him up to the Third Cycle Earth Saint Master realm and was already on the verge of making the breakthrough to the Fourth Cycle.

After this increment of strength, Jian Chen’s spirit had also made a significant change. Compared to before, his spirit was three times as big as before, a drastic change that had made Jian Chen unbelievably happy.

And once the Mercenary’s Heart had been absorbed, Jian Chen’s mind had many different slivers of mysterious rays of light that were hard to grab hold of. These rays of light were seemingly the profound mysteries of the world, yet at the same time, they were also something different, causing Jian Chen to feel confused. Although Jian Chen could understand that these were the fragments that the Heavenly Enchantress had talked about, he still couldn’t fully understand it.

It could be said that he had a mysterious treasure but was unable to find the key to unlock it and comprehend the secrets within.

Two months later, Jian Chen had opened his eyes once more only to see the Heavenly Enchantress still in the same place with her eyes closed as well. Standing up, Jian Chen had completely refined the Mercenary Heart and had now wanted to take a look at the other three areas.

Leaving without a sound, Jian Chen had arrived at the second area which had six different caves. Each cave was different and had six different types of elements; light, dark, fire, earth, water, and wind.

Deciding upon the light attribute cave, Jian Chen saw that the inside of the cave was extraordinarily bright, giving a sensation of dryness. It was almost as if the sunlight had been intensified within this cave, but unlike the normal rays of light, the light here was giving him a painful sensation almost as if the light was trying to kill him.

Within the light filled cave, Jian Chen could feel an abundance of Radiant Saint Force. Radiant Saint Masters were majestic within the Tian Yuan Continent since they could use the Radiant Saint Force to heal the injuries of others. Some of the stronger Radiant Saint Masters could even bring a person back to life and violate the natural order of the heavens. This type of Radiant Saint Master would be by no means a weak individual.

On the other hand were the Radiant Warriors who were given the nicknames of being undying. Radiant Warriors were filled with Radiant Saint Force and were exceedingly rare. Although they could control the Radiant Saint Force, they followed the way of the hegemon, which contrasted against the Radiant Saint Master’s way of the king. They could only heal themselves and could not heal anyone else.

Radiant Warriors were also able to use their Radiant Saint Force to harm others as a form as an attack. If used on their own bodies, it would heal them, but if used on someone else, it would cause damage instead. Thus, in terms of healing, they were not equal to a Radiant Saint Master.

As for the light attribute cave, Jian Chen could feel both the soft rays of Radiant Saint Force as well as the hard tyrannical ray of Radiant Saint Force. So with the harsh rays of light stabbing into his body, Jian Chen would naturally feel a sharp stabbing sensation.

Not only could light help men, but it could also kill them.