Cultivation Starting from Full Talent-Chapter 197 - 195: The Old Man in the Straw Raincoat and Bamboo Hat on a Solitary Boat
Chapter 197: Chapter 195: The Old Man in the Straw Raincoat and Bamboo Hat on a Solitary Boat
Boundary Battlefield, a complete mess.
Atop a lone dark-yellow peak stood a figure dressed in a blue robe; it was Ning Daoran, disguised as the Independent Practitioner Jianjia.
According to the memory of Bo Nan, a female cultivator from Sangyu Country, he had arrived at the edge of this battlefield, a place that had seen fierce combat months before.
Several miles ahead, from the shore to the seawater, everything was shrouded in some unknown, pitch-black substance.
“Hm?”
Suddenly, Ning Daoran’s Divine Soul flinched slightly in pain as the figure of a Class A Paperfolk faded into oblivion miles away. Although the paperfolk possessed forty percent of his main body’s cultivation, streaks of black qi crept along its body, seemingly able to devour his mana, and quickly engulfed it.
This place seemed to be a vacuum where Spiritual Energy could not exist; no wonder it was called deadly ground.
“No, that’s not right…”
Ning Daoran sent out his senses and realized that he could no longer detect the dozens of Second-class Paperfolk he had released.
It seemed they met the same fate as the Class A Paperfolk. This so-called “Black Tide” not only forbids Spiritual Energy but also possesses great lethality. The paperfolk simply couldn’t pass through.
He looked up at the sky to see dark clouds rolling in. Between the clouds and the pitch-black land and seawater, strands of dark substance flowed continuously like slender tornadoes.
The sky was equally unsafe.
This is troublesome!
Ning Daoran frowned and sat cross-legged on the lone peak, with no intention of personally entering the Black Tide to investigate.
Being merely at the Golden Core Early Stage—even with a profound foundation and having formed a Five Elements Golden Core—it was natural for him not to risk his life against the uncertain entity that was the Black Tide.
So, sitting cross-legged, he released his Divine Sense.
His Divine Sense was capable of covering a hundred miles. Thus, using it to probe the Black Tide should be no problem.
…
A thread of Divine Sense flew out, spreading towards the Eastern Sea.
Ning Daoran mixed a wisp of his consciousness into the Divine Sense. Suddenly, what he saw was as real as if he were there himself. As the Divine Sense drifted, it swept across regions where the Black Tide surged.
When he tried to touch the dark substance with his Divine Sense, his heart shook suddenly.
In that moment, he seemed to hear wails, cries, and curses. The Black Tide contained many emotions, but what chilled Ning Daoran to the bone was that, the instant he probed the Black Tide with his Divine Sense…
In the depths of his mind, it was as if a pair of pitch-black eyes were watching him too.
Suddenly, Ning Daoran’s heart trembled, and he hurriedly maneuvered his Divine Sense to retreat, avoiding that cluster of Black Tide substance. Then, a strand of Divine Sense headed towards the Eastern Sea.
The Eastern Sea, a complete mess.
On the water surface floated countless Flying Boats and wreckage of treasures amidst the chaos; moreover, there were innumerable bodies of cultivators from the two countries.
These corpses were all wrapped in streaks of black qi, which seemed to be drawing the remaining material energy from within the cultivators’ bodies. As the corpses continuously shriveled, the surrounding black qi became increasingly dense.
At that time, thunder rumbled in the distance, and a downpour was about to cleanse this battlefield strewn with mess.
Everywhere around, the so-called Black Tide made it difficult to move an inch.
Fortunately, these tides seemed to be restrained. They stayed within the battlefield area and showed no sign of further spreading outward.
The black above the land and the sea was starkly distinct from the usual colors.
…
“Boy, how dare you come here? Are you seeking death?”
Suddenly, a lightweight voice rang in Ning Daoran’s ears, but to him, it was like a thunderclap; he hadn’t sensed the breath of that person at all!
With the keen senses of the Unmoving Ming King Divine Technique and the acute observations of the Grey Eyes Technique, he still hadn’t noticed there was another person here!
“Who?”
Ning Daoran abruptly stood up from the lone peak, using his Divine Sense to frantically search the surroundings.
Eventually, on the churning black sea, he saw a solitary boat.
There sat an old man on that boat, wearing a bamboo hat and raincoat, holding a fishing pole, fishing unmovably, blending with the light rain.
What a lonely boat with its fisherman!
Ning Daoran frowned.
“Leave quickly, lest you bring harm upon yourself. This is not a place for Golden Core cultivators like you.”
In an instant, a crimson Divine Thought crushed Ning Daoran’s released Divine Sense and approached the lone peak.
“You…”
Ning Daoran paled with shock; the other’s Divine Soul was incredibly strong!
With no way to avoid, he quickly unleashed his strongest Divine Sense, confronting the overwhelming red light that enveloped the sky.
“…”
In the blink of an eye, a silent collision occurred.
Ning Daoran’s Divine Sense collided with the other’s Divine Thought. Within a split second, his sense was crushed, but the opponent’s Divine Thought was slightly delayed, slowing its speed.
“Shush!”
A Third-tier Lower Grade Divine Speed Talisman was activated in Ning Daoran’s hands. He then turned into a golden Tunneling light, running the Wind Riding Leisurely Technique to its peak. A thunderous “bang” echoed in the air as he vanished without a trace.
“Hmph!”
On the solitary boat, the old man’s mouth curved into a slight smile, “A mere Golden Core was able to withstand a blow from my Divine Thought; this junior’s Divine Soul is quite extraordinary. The Eastern Wasteland Cultivation World has promising successors indeed…”
He continued to fish, without any intention of pursuing the young man.
…
In the skies above Yunzhou, a fierce wind roared!
The Wind Riding Leisurely Technique was running at full power, and Ning Daoran, ignoring the serious mana consumption, sprinted a staggering nearly three-thousand kilometers in one breath!
“Swoosh!”
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He cast a spell, leaped underground, quickly traversing Earth Escape for hundreds of miles, then immediately followed up with Wood Escape for hundreds of miles along a patch of grassland, and afterwards hid within a vine, releasing his Divine Sense to sweep the surroundings for hundreds of miles, ensuring that the Elder’s presence was nowhere to be found, before he finally took a deep breath.
It was terrifying!
With Ning Daoran’s Divine Sense, upon colliding with the Elder’s Divine Thought, it had shattered instantly.
The Elder’s cultivation level… Ning Daoran dared not even imagine it.
If the other party wanted to kill him, he probably could’ve done so instantly, without any effort.
As for the identity of the other party, Ning Daoran had an approximate guess.
In the battle at the Boundary, there was no victor, and the Cultivation Worlds of Xia Country and Sangyu Country both suffered devastating losses. The sudden emergence of the Black Tide devoured a great number of elite cultivators from both countries, causing severe damage to the vitality of the Eastern Wasteland Cultivation World.
And now, there was actually a human daring to fish above the sea filled with the Black Tide…
This Elder was clearly one of the great powers of the Human Clan stationed in the Eastern Sea.
If not, he would have been devoured by the Black Tide long ago.
Ning Daoran’s emotions gradually calmed down, he knew the reality of his powerlessness in the face of this Black Tide. At least for now, he lacked the qualifications to enter the Black Tide in search of answers.
He returned to Fanshu City and continued to cultivate.
The issue of the Black Tide in the Eastern Sea would be set aside for the time being, as there would surely be powerful figures in the Eastern Wasteland Cultivation World who would go to deal with it.
…
Fanshu City.
Ning Daoran returned safely, and both Big Stupid Deer and Little Bai were especially happy, with Little Bai, in high spirits, performing a dance for everyone.
The word spread throughout the Qingzhou Cultivation World that the White Sheep Demon Queen was cruel and brutal, yet now she was capable of singing and dancing so well.
Thus, Ning Daoran once again settled into a life of farming and fishing, deeply relaxed.
Time flew, and in the blink of an eye, three years had passed.
That year, Ning Daoran was one hundred and forty-five years old.
In the early morning, mist wreathed the Spirit Garden Cave Heaven, resembling a paradise.
Ning Daoran, in a green robe, gracefully walked out of the cottage, taking advantage of the refreshing early morning to take the Evergreen Technique one step further!
So, he sat crossed-legged in front of the wooden cabin, injecting over two-hundred thousand years of Refining Time into the Evergreen Technique. Instantly, his spirit plunged deep into a world of Refining Time.
[In the sixty-four thousand three hundredth year, you have invested a vast amount of Time into the Evergreen Technique, but you have yet to see any return; the power of the Evergreen Technique remains stagnant.]
[In the moment the old chess player makes his move, he says: “Life is like a game of chess, with no regrets about the moves made!”]
[The gambler on the street opposite, beaten to within an inch of his life, says: “In the gamble of life, one must accept the losses with grace!”]
[The couple next door, during an argument with mutual accusations, cries out: “I must have been blind to have fallen for you back then!”]
[You listen quietly to all the sounds of the human world, gaining insight in your heart.]
[In the 126,000th year, a slight loosening of the bottleneck in your Evergreen Technique fills you with elation, and you jump up from the dry well, stepping into the neighboring courtyard, seeking to share a drink with the old chess player.]
[Yet you find that the chess player’s great-great-grandson’s great-great-grandson’s… have all been buried long ago.]
[Suddenly, you are enveloped by a deep sense of loneliness, as if when you wake up from a nap in the late afternoon of a previous life, feeling abandoned by the entire world.]
[In the 182,400th year, after many years of arduous cultivation, an epiphany finally strikes your heart; the mystery of the next layer of the Evergreen Technique opens up before you, and all the blockages in your heart evaporate like mist.]
[With just a slight raising of your hand, seas have turned into mulberry fields, as you watch impassively the birth and destruction of civilizations, your heart unruffled like an ancient well.]
[At this moment, you are the Dao of Heaven!]
[Evergreen Technique. Earth-grade top quality (Twenty Layers)]
[The Cultivation Technique has reached its limit. Spend Refining Time to derive a more complete technique, obtaining the next phase of the chapter.]
[Refining Time remaining: Fifty-four thousand six hundred and thirty-three years.]
…
Ning Daoran awoke from the Refining Time to feel the foundation of the Perfect Evergreen Technique surge into his body like a flood, instantly filling him with a vibrant lushness. The ever-living Wood attribute spiritual power gushed from the Water attribute Golden Core like a pump…
Now, after the amplification of the Evergreen Technique’s twenty layers, when Ning Daoran looked at his lifespan, it was absurdly long…
The Golden Core itself granted five hundred years of lifespan, and the twenty layers of the Evergreen Technique had added a whopping threefold more!
Add to that the extension from the First-tier and Second-Order Lifespan Extension Pills, and so, Ning Daoran’s lifespan had reached a terrifying two thousand and eighty years!
This lifespan was simply longer than the legs of the dancing female influencers in Douyin from his previous life…
Even millennium-old turtles couldn’t live as long as him…
He rose to his full height, stepped out of the Spirit Garden Cave Heaven, radiating a verdant vitality, his youthfulness bursting forth.
“Master.”
Outside the Spirit Garden Cave Heaven, in a small room where Little Bai was helping lay out Ning Daoran’s bedding, she bowed respectfully and said, “Congratulations, Master, on advancing further in your Cultivation Technique!”
“Hmm.”
She was in fact a refining corpse, and Ning Daoran truly couldn’t be bothered with her.
He only gave her attention because he had received nine years of compulsory education, and he was well-mannered!
…
Leaving the room, he went into the backyard of the sword casting shop.
There, he saw a figure approaching, it was Sang Ping’an, whose eyes gleamed mischievously as he said, “I never expected the senior to hide a beauty in his golden house, such a national beauty by your side, I am utterly impressed!”
“Oh, you like her, huh?”
Ning Daoran smiled and said, “If you like her, I can let you have a good time…”
