Chapter 2471: Dedicated Practice

The divine hall shook gently, and Jian Chen seemed to hear a grunt from the artifact spirit.

Jian Chen’s lips could not help but curl into a smile. He knew he could already cause some problems to the artifact spirit with the Soul-destroying technique he had grasped.

Of course, it was only some problems. After all, his current Martial Soul Force was only equivalent to an early OverG.o.d.

If it were not for the fact that Martial Soul Force could bypa.s.s the defences of the divine hall and directly attack the artifact spirit inside, it probably would not fail to even scratch the divine hall’s itch.

After all, the greatest advantage of an artifact spirit of a divine hall was that they could use the object itself against enemies. As a medium quality G.o.d artifact, even Infinite Primes could do nothing to it.

However, once the tough sh.e.l.l they relied on was rendered useless, they would become extremely frail.

Martial Soul Force just happened to be the ultimate countermeasure against artifact spirits like that.

“Artifact spirit, was the scratching comfortable?” Jian Chen sat on a rock before the divine hall and said as if he was trying to hold back a smile.

“Hmph, it was comfortable. It was comfortable, alright. It was too comfortable. Jian Chen, you brat, keep it coming. Why did you stop? Have you lost the ability to keep casting it?” said the artifact spirit provokingly.

“I can’t use the Soul-destroying technique I just grasped at will. I have not reached the point where I only need a thought for it. I just happened to be in need of practice. Since you desire your itches to be scratched by me so much, I’ll give you what you want,” Jian Chen said indifferently. With that, he closed his eyes and used the Soul-destroying technique again.

“He’s actually using it a second time? Hmph, using a secret technique like that will definitely take quite a toll on him. Let’s see how many times he can use it…” murmured the artifact spirit that hid in the divine hall to himself as he became alert.

Although the Soul-destroying technique earlier was not enough to harm him, the attack was enough to affect him to a certain degree. Once or twice was fine, but if there were a few more times, it would not feel great even if it could not injure him.

Afterwards, Jian Chen sat before the divine hall and used the Soul-destroying technique time and time again. As he used it more and more, he gradually gained a better grasp over it. The time it took him to cast it each time shrunk from once every two hours to once an hour to once every forty minutes.

Whenever Jian Chen’s Soul-destroying technique struck the artifact spirit, the divine hall would tremble gently. The trembling became stronger and stronger as Jian Chen used the Soul-destroying technique more and more.

“It’s comfortable. It really is comfortable. This feeling is fantastic. In the ten million years I’ve been alive, I’ve never experienced something so wonderful. Jian Chen, hurry up…” The artifact spirit’s voice rang out, but in reality, his face hidden within the divine hall had begun to warp.

He had endured several attacks from the Soul-destroying technique. Each attack would strike his consciousness with great accuracy. Although he was not injured, it was a horrible feeling.

It was a pain just like a headache. A headache could not harm his soul, but it was definitely not a nice feeling.

That was the pain that the artifact spirit currently went through.

Finally, after casting it over a dozen times, Jian Chen stopped. He had basically depleted all of his Martial Soul Force.

“I’ve already shortened the time to condense the Soul-destroying technique to half an hour. Although I’m still quite far off from being able to use it in an instant, it’s quite an improvement.” Jian Chen stood up and made his way over to the cave where he could harvest Martial Soul Rock.

“Jian Chen, why aren’t you continuing? Are you just going to leave like this? I haven’t had enough yet…” The artifact spirit provoked him from behind.

Only when Jian Chen completely vanished did the artifact spirit let out a long sigh. “He’s finally gone. If this continues, he’ll drive me mad. Why did it have to be me who came across this b.l.o.o.d.y Martial Soul Force…”

With Martial Soul Rock, it was extremely simple for Jian Chen to recover Martial Soul Force. He only needed to collect the rocks and absorb the Martial Soul Force inside.

Moreover, Jian Chen absorbed Martial Soul Force at an extremely rapid rate. On the next day, he had completely returned to his peak condition. He left the cave and arrived before the divine hall to practise with the artifact spirit again.

The artifact spirit naturally could not go without saying a few offensive remarks when he saw Jian Chen. He provoked and scoffed at him.

However, Jian Chen turned a deaf ear to it all. He was too lazy to pay attention to it. He began casting the Soul-destroying technique as soon as he arrived.

Several hours later, Jian Chen had used the technique over a dozen times and left due to running out of Martial Soul Force. He returned to the cave to recover Martial Soul Force.

On that day, his speed to condense the attack increased once again. He went from one every half an hour to twice every half an hour.

Afterwards, Jian Chen would use the artifact spirit for practice daily. Finally, after half a month of practice, he became much more familiar with the usage of the Soul-destroying technique. The time it took him to condense the technique had shrunk to half a minute.

“Half a minute each time is still too long. I need to be able to condense it in a thought. I need to be able to cast it in an instant. Only then will it be a surprise attack.” Jian Chen was still dissatisfied. He continued to devote himself to practice.

However, the further he progressed, the more difficult it became. After another three months, Jian Chen was finally able to use the Soul-destroying technique at will. He could cast it instantaneously.

It was also from that moment onwards that he truly grasped a secret technique that involved Martial Soul Force!

This secret technique could make his Martial Soul Force attacks even sharper and even more powerful.

Of course, the artifact spirit underwent unspeakable torture during those months. He seemed to go through h.e.l.lish pain; he who had existed for millions of years learned what it meant by living h.e.l.l and how days could seem as long as years.

His att.i.tude towards Jian Chen changed again and again. At the very start, he constantly made scathing remarks, scorning him all day long. However, from the second month onwards, he fell silent. He would often go silent for days on end.

During the last month, the artifact spirit seemed to be driven a little mad from the torture. It directly began to curse loudly after the silence from before.

“I can practise a second secret technique now. It’s called the Heaven-severing technique!”

“The Heaven-severing technique is extremely powerful. It’s specially designed for opponents more powerful than me. However, the Heaven-severing technique leads to intense overexertion, so it’s a trump card. It will drain half of all my Martial Soul Force each time I use it. The more powerful my Martial Soul Force becomes, the more powerful the Heaven-severing technique will become…”

“With first senior Hun Zang, second senior Chu Jian, and third senior Yue Chao’s Martial Soul Force as Ninth Heavenly Layer Chaotic Primes, they can probably kill weaker Grand Primes in a split second once they use the Heaven-severing technique…”

“Although the Heaven-severing technique is even more difficult to practise than the Soul-destroying technique, I need to grasp it as soon as possible. That way, once my Martial Soul Force reaches a sufficient level, I’ll have another trump card, a trump card that’s only second to the Profound Sword Qi!”