Asura Emperor Venerable
Chapter 528: Bitter Cultivation

Chapter 528: Chapter 528: Bitter Cultivation

Shi Hao quickly dismissed his fanciful thoughts and focused on perfecting his Dharma appearance.

The fourth Dharma appearance was a nebula, which was not like the Black Hole Physiognomy that could achieve perfection by merely devouring energy. It required Shi Hao to continue visualizing the nebula and slowly complete its rules.

Even though Shi Hao was exceptionally talented, this process would take at least about six months.

By such calculations, it would take Shi Hao at least five years to perfect ten Dharma appearances in the most ideal condition, not even considering the need to merge the ten appearances into a Cosmic Stars Map.

Although he had not yet reached the final step, Shi Hao believed that merging the ten appearances would be as difficult as ascending to heaven and truly defying the natural order. Who knew what unexpected issues might arise?

But knowing this, Shi Hao was still determined to walk this path.

—Yue Ying even felt it would be better if he fully developed his Tyrant Body, as that might only allow him to contend; in the Immortal Realm, such strength could only rank him in the top hundred!

How could he accept that?

I must become the strongest!

Shi Hao sat down cross-legged and began to recall his experiences within the nebula, then meticulously started to refine and complete the rules bit by bit.

Here, he was merely a spiritual entity and naturally would not feel hunger, allowing him to devote himself entirely to cultivating his Dharma appearance.

He was not even aware of it, but suddenly, his consciousness was abruptly pulled back and returned to his physical body.

Was that thirty days already?

Checking briefly, Shi Hao could not help but smile.

The cultivation over these thirty days had made evident progress; the nebula Dharma appearance had further improved. After another four or five times, it should be able to reach perfection.

From Shi Hao’s perspective, this indeed took about six months; however, in the outside world, only around fifteen days would have passed.

The Great Void Realm really was a wonderful thing, and moreover, the higher the realm, the more beneficial it was because, starting from Self-Observation, it involved the speculation of rules, which naturally required a considerable amount of time, especially in terms of the mind.

Just that the Contribution Value was a bit lacking.

Shi Hao didn’t care; after drinking some water, he went out. The old man in green clothes was still sitting there, seeming never to need rest.

"Another ten days," said Shi Hao boldly as he handed over his Identity Token.

At that moment, someone else came over, intending to enter the Great Void Realm. Hearing Shi Hao’s comment, she couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

This was a woman, delicate and lovely. Covering her mouth, she said, "It’s only ten days in the Great Void Realm, yet you speak so grandiosely. It’s really amusing!"

She was taking things for granted. Shi Hao was merely at Self-Observation; it was already good enough for him to have the opportunity to enter the Great Void Realm, at most it would be an outside world day.

Shi Hao ignored her. He always lacked patience with people who were overly self-satisfied.

However, the green-robed old man smiled, deducted the Contribution Value first, then handed the Identity Token back to Shi Hao, saying, "Three thousand Contribution Value has been deducted."

He certainly said this on purpose.

"Alright," Shi Hao took his Identity Token and turned to leave.

Pfft!

The woman immediately burst out, her face filled with astonishment.

My goodness, he is merely at Self-Observation; why does he have three thousand Contribution Value?

Are you the dean’s illegitimate child, so he directly allocated the Contribution Value to you?

Otherwise, she really couldn’t imagine how someone at Self-Observation could obtain such a high Contribution Value.

You should know she was from the Founding King Court, and even she had only gained a little over two thousand this time.

There must be some trickery!

...

Shi Hao didn’t care, he returned to his stone chamber, put on his helmet, and entered the Great Void Realm again, without wasting a single moment, he immediately began to cultivate his Dharma appearance.

This time, he had a full one hundred days.

If put in the outside world, this would actually only amount to ten days.

Swoosh, Shi Hao’s spirit returned to his body once more, this time, he felt a slight mismatch between his body and spirit again, as he took a small step forward, he ended up moving at least two inches more than intended.

It took a while before Shi Hao adapted, and the exaggerated discoordination no longer occurred.

He was only a tiny bit away from perfecting the fourth Dharma appearance, but Shi Hao did not continue, because the separation between body and spirit had been too long, and continuing would be dangerous, exacerbating the discordance between the two, which could lead to serious problems.

Moreover, his power had not yet reached the pinnacle of the four appearances, so he wasn’t missing much by taking a few more days.

Furthermore, his body had only experienced eleven days, but his soul had endured a hard practice of one hundred and ten days, he was too exhausted and needed a good rest.

He returned to his residence.

"Shi Lao—"

Bang!

Xu Zeqi had just called out when he saw Shi Hao not even sparing him a glance, directly entering the house and closing the door, leaving Xu Zeqi somewhat awkwardly touching his nose.

"This guy must have been dumped by a woman, yes, definitely!" he asserted with certainty.

Shi Hao fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, and slept for a full day and night. Upon waking up, he stretched leisurely, feeling refreshed and full of energy.

He left his house, planning to visit the Great Void Realm once again to completely perfect the Nebula Dharma appearance, and then head to the Elemental Cave, allowing the Black Hole Physiognomy to devour enough Elemental Cores. By doing so, he would be able to reach the pinnacle of fourth appearances at the fastest speed and then strike at the fifth.

—The academy rules state that one must enter the earthly grotto every six months, and if the Elemental Creatures ever start a riot, then one must be ready to be conscripted at any time.

Of course, if you’re willing to venture into the earthly grotto more frequently, no one would object if you went every month, or even stayed there every day.

Running to the South Wood Continent, Shi Hao realized his cultivation was truly low; the top talents were already at the Supplementing Divine Temple, while he had not even reached the ninth realm, a great deficiency indeed.

Huh?

As he opened the door, he saw a person.

—Xie Tianyi.

"Shi Hao, I challenge you," Xie Tianyi said, his tone was flat, but there was an indescribable confidence in his voice.

It seems this guy has greatly improved his strength.

Shi Hao was indifferent, nodded, and said, "Sure."

It was a good opportunity to test the power of the fourth Dharma appearance.

The two went to the martial arts field and requested a teacher from the Supplementing Divine Temple to act as both referee and arbitrator.

The news spread quickly, attracting many spectators almost immediately.

Shi Hao was not very well-known, but Xie Tianyi was different; he was known as the number one talent in West Rock’s Self-Observation Realm—at least he once was—and even in the Heavenly Palace Academy, he was quite well-known.

Of course, this mainly applied among students from the West Rock and Eastern Fire Continents. The students from North Silver and South Wood Continent didn’t pay him much attention.

Thus, the spectators were primarily students from the West Rock and Eastern Fire Continents.

"Hehe, this kid actually dared to agree to a duel with Xie Tianyi, how amusing."

"Hmph, Senior Brother Xie is one of the proud elites of our West Rock Continent!"

"Just wait and watch him be defeated miserably!"

Students from the West Rock Continent all sneered coldly, most of them belonged to the West Rock Alliance, with only a few independent rangers being the exception.