Chapter 737: Comprehending the Artes (Two)

Jian Chen carefully read the information in the book. Afterwards, he closed his eyes and pondered for a while. He silently simulated the coalescence of the Radiant Saint Shield in his mind, before snapping open his eyes. His gaze immediately became determined.

“Radiant… Saint… Shield!” Jian Chen said, word by word. He slowly raised his right hand, and thick Radiant Saint Force quickly gathered in his hand. In just a single second, it gathered to form a meter-wide shield.

The entire shield was ethereal, as if it was a cloud of mist. The hand Jian Chen had extended towards it actually passed through it without any obstructions.

Jian Chen revealed an expression of disappointment. The Radiant Saint Shield was the ultimate shield to block attacks in terms of defence. Although the shield he had formed possessed a shape, it had no other use. It was completely and utterly useless, unable to even block a breeze, much less powerful attacks.

“Looks like grasping Radiant Artes is not easy. To convert the gentle Radiant Saint Force to extreme yang Qi is just too difficult. The true Radiant Saint Shield recorded in the book is something tangible and is much stronger than essence iron, yet the Radiant Saint Shield I’ve formed in only ethereal, nothing like the actual thing.” Jian Chen murmured to himself.

The gentleness and regenerative abilities of Radiant Saint Force innately restricted its potential for growth. As a result, Radiant Saint Masters were publically renowned as harmless people. Their weakness and inability to cultivate Saint Force made them the same as ordinary folk.

He had failed the first time, but Jian Chen did not become dejected at all. He read the description of converting Radiant Saint Force in the book carefully again. He understood that in order to practice Radiant Artes, the conversion of Radiant Saint Force was an extremely crucial step.

Jian Chen completely forgot about time in the Radiant Saint Tower. He devoted all his attention into the practice, while the small tiger that accompanied him did not interrupt Jian Chen either. It lay quietly on Jian Chen’s shoulder, constantly moving its little head, observing the surroundings curiously.

Half a day later, Jian Chen slowly put away the book in his hand. He raised his right hand again, and the surrounding Radiant Saint Force quickly coalesced, creating a meter-wide round shield once again.

Jian Chen stared at the shield in his hand in interest, but then his gaze became gloomy. He sighed gently, “This still isn’t enough. The shield’s still too ethereal. Looks like I still haven’t completely grasped the method of conversion.”

Jian Chen allowed the shield to disperse, but he did not continue looking at the book. He pondered for a while with his head down. In that half a day, he had already memorised all the information in the book. He could probably even recite it backwards, so there was no point in any more reading. Right now, he needed to master the conversion of Radiant Saint Force, because only then could he continue onto Radiant Artes.

“Youngster, you must be new.” Suddenly, an old voice echoed from behind, breaking Jian Chen’s train of thought.

Jian Chen turned towards the origin of the voice. He only saw an old man in hemp clothes with a clean cloth, wiping at the tables, chairs and walls not too far away. He actually made no sound at all.

Jian Chen immediately focused his gaze, staring deeply at the old man behind him. A sliver of shock flashed across his eyes. Before, he was in thought, but he remained vigilant of the unfamiliar surroundings. However, he did not sense when the old man had appeared at all. If the old man did not speak himself, perhaps Jian Chen would still fail to notice that there was an additional person.

“Youngster, you’re quite impressive. I’ve stayed here for so many years, and I’ve seen plenty of Class 6 Radiant Saint Masters. Though, basically all of them were over a hundred years in age. You’re the only one who’s reached Class 6 in your twenties.” The old man spoke extremely slowly. His old voice actually carried a powerless feeling, making him seem deficient in a vital energy of life.

Jian Chen stood up from the ground and clasped his hands at the old man, “Yang Yutian greets senior!” Jian Chen was unable to see through the old man at all. In Jian Chen’s eyes, he seemed to be an extremely normal old man, without any irregularities. However, Jian Chen was not so naive to believe so, and instead felt that the old man was even more profound.

“This old man is at least a Seventh Heavenly Layer Saint Ruler, or even beyond that!” Jian Chen estimated to himself. This was because if Seventh Heavenly Layer Saint Rulers wanted to conceal themselves, they could do something similar to the old man.

“Yang Yutian, practising Radiant Artes is not hard, but what’s hard is converting Radiant Saint Force. Before, basically all the new Class 6 Radiant Saint Masters would spend several years, or even decades in fully grasping the method to convert Radiant Saint Force. It cannot be achieved so quickly. You should take the book and go to a room for seclusion upstairs, just in case you break things in here.” The old man said weakly, like someone at death’s door. Since the very start, he focused on doing his own things, without even glancing at Jian Chen.

Jian Chen clasped his hands at the old man, and then returned the book back to where he took it from on the bookshelf. Afterwards, he went upstairs, planning on going into the rooms for seclusion mentioned by the old man to continue his comprehension.

There were quite a few rooms upstairs, each with their own small, wooden door. Behind the door was a small room encased in a barrier. Not only did the barrier possess great defence, it could block out all sounds as well, allowing people to practise inside without any interruptions.

Jian Chen looked around and discovered that many of the rooms had a piece of communication jade hung on their doors. It meant that the rooms were already taken.

Jian Chen found an empty room and hung his piece of communication jade onto the door, before entering it to continue his comprehension of converting Radiant Saint Force.

In the blink of an eye, Jian Chen had already stayed in the tower for half a month. In that time, Jian Chen did not leave the room at all, focusing all his energy practising Radiant Artes. Jian Chen also constantly fed the white tiger heavenly resources, allowing it to strengthen by quite a lot.

Inside the room for seclusion, Jian Chen sat on the icy floor peacefully. His hands were on his knees and in front of him, a shield glowing with soft light hung in the air. The shield was completely solid and seemed like a big white rock.

Jian Chen made a small gesture with his hand and the shield immediately hovered slowly towards Jian Chen. Jian Chen gently smacked the shield and a shield immediately gave out a deep sound.

Jian Chen could not help but have his lips curl into a slight smile. After half a month of hard study, he had finally grasped the method of converting Radiant Saint Force. At this very moment, he could already coalesce solid objects from Radiant Saint Force.

“That Radiant Saint Shield from just then should be able to block attacks from Great Saint Masters, but it’ll definitely break from Earth Saint Masters. Though, I can easily make the defence of this shield increase several times with my current ability. It should be able to block attacks from Heaven Saint Masters.” Jian Chen mumbled to himself.

Although Heaven Saint Masters, even when using Heaven Tier Battle Skills, struggled to injure his Chaotic Body, Jian Chen could not reveal his strength as a fighter in the City of God. If his identity was divulged, he would probably lose all the hard progress he had made, as well as face troubles from the union, because he already knew some secrets he should not know.

“I’ve already gotten a grasp of this Radiant Saint Shield. I wonder if there’s any more powerful defensive techniques.” Jian Chen left the room which he had stayed for half a month, arriving before the bookshelf with the Radiant Artes from before. He flipped through the books, one by one.

The old man discovered by Jian Chen half a month ago was nowhere to be seen.

Although there were several books on the shelf, most of them did not pique Jian Chen’s interest and only a few of them were methods of practising Radiant Artes.

“Radiant Saint Sword!” Jian Chen picked up a thick book. After flipping through it, he learnt that it was an offensive Radiant Arte, able to coalesce Radiant Saint Force into a powerful, giant sword, which could be controlled by thought to attack.

Jian Chen remembered the position of the book, before returning it to the shelf and continuing through the other books.

“Radiance Burst: shape converted Radiant Saint Force into rain drops and use the power of thought to control and attack. Area of effect.”

“Radiant Saint Armor: transform Radiant Saint Force into a tough but flexible substance and coalescing a layer of it on the body, to protect caster.”

“Radiant Saint: coalesce Radiant Saint Force to create a clone exactly the same as caster in the radius thought can extend to. Does not fear any attack!”

“Soaring technique: coalesce Radiant Saint Force under feet and soar in the air!”

…

Jian Chen read through the books on the shelf, one by one. As he read the details of each recorded technique, he felt more and more astonished. At this moment, Jian Chen had already completely abandoned the notion that Radiant Saint Masters were harmless and possessed no method of attack. Radiant Saint Master could become just as strong as fighters, just that this strength would only appear in the later stages, as all the Radiant Artes he had seen required at least Class 5 to practise. Also, it would be several times more difficult compared to fighters.