Chapter 16 Failure
Chapter 16 Failure
"You are a fool walking blindly into a slaughterhouse."
Hong Lian let her sweet facade drop entirely. Her voice was as cold as the mountain wind blowing through the dark pass. She floated several inches above the jagged rocks without disturbing a single leaf.
"I told you my answer," Ye Chen replied calmly. He kept his hand resting firmly on the hilt of his sword. "I do not trade one leash for another."
"The Azure Cloud Sect will sense the Demonic Qi on your body eventually," Hong Lian warned him. Her beautiful eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. "They will hunt you down like a rabid dog just to protect their righteous image."
"Let them come," Ye Chen said perfectly flatly. "I will bury them right next to Enforcer Lin in the dirt."
Hong Lian stared at his white porcelain mask for a long moment. She searched for any trace of bluffing or hidden fear. She realized he was completely unbroken by the threat.
"Die alone then," she whispered coldly.
She stepped backward into the thick forest canopy. The floral scent faded from the night air. She vanished completely into the dark shadows.
Ye Chen stood entirely alone on the mountain road. He turned his back on the empty woods and continued his steep climb.
He needed a secure location immediately. He abandoned the main dirt path and scaled the steep rocky cliffs of the lower mountain region.
He found a shallow hidden cave concealed completely behind a thick wall of hanging vines. The damp stone floor was totally bare and smelled faintly of wet earth. It was the perfect temporary hideout.
Ye Chen sat down heavily on the cold rock. He pulled the silver spatial ring from his torn pocket.
He projected his inner Qi directly into the spatial dimension of the ring.
The pile of glowing Spirit Stones sat in the very center of the ring. There were hundreds of them neatly stacked together. They radiated a dense and incredibly pure spiritual energy.
"Elder Wang is bleeding the sect entirely dry," Ye Chen noted quietly in the dark cave.
Outer Sect Enforcers were only paid in talents and cheap pills. This massive hoard of spiritual wealth proved Wang was actively laundering stolen core resources through the Capital.
Ye Chen also found several bound parchment scrolls stacked near the stones. They were standard low tier outer force manuals issued strictly to sect guards.
He tossed the cheap sect scrolls casually onto the dirt floor. They were completely useless to him. His focus was entirely on the forbidden prize he had won at the auction.
He reached back into the spatial ring and pulled out the heavy lead lockbox.
He flipped the thick metal latches open. He exposed the pitch black rotting silk manual to the open air.
The sickening wave of pure Demonic Yin energy instantly flooded the small cave. The ambient temperature plummeted rapidly. The damp stone walls frosted over in mere seconds.
Ye Chen did not hesitate. He wanted the raw power immediately to fix his fragile body
"System," Ye Chen commanded aloud. "Consume this manual and upgrade the skill instantly."
He expected the familiar rush of automated knowledge. He expected the intense rewiring he had experienced with the Chaos Bone Shattering Fist.
The translucent blue interface materialized brightly in the dark cave. It flashed a violent and glaring red color.
\[Error. Host has not established a foundational Qi pathway for this technique.\]
\[The System cannot upgrade a skill from a skill book that has not been initiated manually by the Host.\]
Ye Chen stared at the red text in total silence. A cold realization washed over his exhausted mind.
The system was an absolute multiplier of power. It was not a magic wand that bypassed the fundamental laws of bodily cultivation.
He could not just touch a book and magically become a god. He had to walk through the door himself before the system could push him to the peak.
"I have to learn the first level manually," Ye Chen whispered to himself.
He looked down at the rotting silk pages. Three mortal grandmasters had died violently just trying to circulate this exact freezing energy.
He sat cross legged on the freezing stone floor. He placed both of his bare hands directly onto the rotting silk manual.
He closed his eyes and opened his central meridians completely. He actively drew the pure Demonic Yin energy straight into his body.
The agony was absolutely instantaneous.
The corrupted energy did not flow smoothly like a river. It invaded his veins exactly like a swarm of freezing iron blades.
The Demonic Yin violently attacked his internal organs. It actively tried to rot his liver and freeze his lungs completely solid. He tasted thick black bile rising in the back of his throat.
This was the same deadly method that had slaughtered the previous wealthy buyers in the capital.
Ye Chen refused to die in a dark cave. He forcefully ignited his Chaos Body Tempering Art.
His Dantian roared to life. His internal furnace clashed violently against the freezing demonic corruption invading his core.
The extreme opposing forces turned his physical body into a brutal internal battlefield. The heavy golden Yang energy recognized the demonic invasion immediately. It began to devour the freezing Yin energy as pure fuel.
Ye Chen screamed silently through his clenched teeth. Dark blood poured freely from his nose and ears.
He forced the corrupted Qi to complete a full circulation through his major meridian pathways. He followed the exact crude diagrams drawn in human blood on the rotting silk pages.
Hours passed in suffocating agony. The moon slowly set outside the hidden cave.
Ye Chen finally pushed the demonic energy back down into his Dantian. He completed the first foundational cycle.
He collapsed heavily onto his side on the freezing stone. His entire body was drenched in thick black sweat.
He felt a massive shift deep inside his core. His golden chaos Qi now carried a dark and heavy freezing undertone. The demonic corruption had successfully merged with his foundation.
He forced his heavy eyes open and looked at the glowing blue interface in the dark.
He waited for the familiar mechanical chime. He waited for the prompt confirming he had initiated the Nine Hells Devouring Art.
The system screen remained completely blank.
"System display my active skills," Ye Chen rasped. His throat was completely raw and bleeding.
The digital list appeared in his vision. It only showed the Chaos Body Tempering Art and the Chaos Bone Shattering Fist.
The demonic manual was absolutely nowhere on the list.
"I failed," Ye Chen whispered in pure disbelief.
He had survived the lethal organ rotting corruption. He had forced the energy through the correct bodily pathways. Yet the skill simply refused to take root in his soul.
He stared blankly at the rotting silk book on the floor. He was missing a critical piece of the cultivation puzzle. Raw determination and a powerful furnace were apparently not enough to master an ancient dead relic.
Ye Chen slowly pushed himself up from the stone floor. His battered muscles screamed in loud protest.