It had to be said, her stratagem had essentially achieved its purpose. Long Juxue's powerful breakthrough left the top geniuses of the Four Great Sects all gripped by a deep sense of helplessness—the feeling that they simply could not contend with her.
It was not that they were unduly modest. Everyone understood that once a body of Innate Constitution broke through to the Heavenly Spirit Realm, there was no possibility of matching them at the same level.
Even someone as formidable as
As for the others, despite their own remarkable talents, they had even less chance of challenging Long Juxue.
The more she put on airs and made a grand spectacle of herself, the more Jiang Chen felt that the woman was actually insecure at heart.
The entire Heavenly Spirit Area had sunk into an atmosphere of resignation, but Jiang Chen remained unmoved. His Dao heart was unaffected in the slightest, and he continued cultivating at his own pace.
Refining the Fire Crow King's crystal core had reached a stage where failure was simply not an option.
Unfortunately, time was still slightly short. Jiang Chen calculated that at this rate, if he were given one more month, his chances of breaking through to the Heavenly Spirit Realm would reach sixty to seventy percent.
But now, with the one-year deadline approaching ever closer and time growing ever more pressing, his odds of breaking through stood at only twenty to thirty percent.
However, the Fire Crow King's crystal core brought Jiang Chen more than just an improvement in cultivation level—it provided a clear and significant boost to his overall strength.
Jiang Chen could now simultaneously control eighteen Ice Fire Demon Lotus vines.
He was especially adept with the fire lotus vines, wielding them with the ease of a fish in water.
The Fire Crow King's crystal core played a no small role in promoting the development of his fire spirit meridians.
As time continued to slip away, only one month remained before the one-year deadline. Jiang Chen did the calculations in his mind.
"At this rate, breaking through to the Heavenly Spirit Realm before the deadline will be extremely difficult. With time so tight, if I continue pursuing the breakthrough, the probability of success is at most thirty percent. For a mere thirty percent chance, burning through this last month simply isn't worth it."
Jiang Chen mused. Long Juxue had already broken through to the Heavenly Spirit Realm—that was an unchangeable fact.
"If I reach the Heavenly Spirit Realm, defeating Long Juxue would be absolutely certain—a complete crush. But given the current trend, with only thirty percent hope of reaching the Heavenly Spirit Realm before the deadline, perhaps this final month would be better spent honing my martial techniques. In a ring match, with my sixth-level Spirit Realm cultivation facing a seventh-level Spirit Realm opponent, I won't be at any notable disadvantage in terms of raw cultivation. If I can gain a decisive edge in martial techniques and combat skills, defeating Long Juxue isn't necessarily impossible!"
Jiang Chen turned the matter over in his mind.
If he didn't refine his martial techniques and instead spent this entire month chasing the Heavenly Spirit Realm breakthrough—only to fail—his techniques would have received no proper tempering either, leaving him at a disadvantage when the time came.
But if he devoted this final month to polishing his martial techniques and achieving true mastery, the gains for the final showdown might actually be far greater.
The Blue Sea Counter-current Blade and the Kurong Shenquan—he had already fully mastered both and had no need to refine them further.
The Moon-Shattering Flying Knife, however, comprised four techniques, and he had previously practiced only two. The remaining two—"Flowing Light Stance" and "Lightning Stance"—had yet to be learned.
Jiang Chen decided to master these two techniques first.
Of course, his original Heavy Feather Flying Knives were no longer adequate in quality. That grade of flying knife was sufficient against low-level Spirit Realm martial artists, but in this competition, his opponents would be Heavenly Spirit Realm geniuses.
The Heavy Feather Flying Knives simply wouldn't cut it anymore.
He drew seven fire crow king tail feathers from his storage pouch and decided to forge a batch of Fire Crow Flying Knives following the specifications of the Heavy Feather Flying Knives.
Incorporating the Power of Metal Essence and fusing it with the Power of Fire Essence, the quality of these flying knives would be at least ten times superior to the previous Heavy Feather Flying Knives.
With the Heavy Feather Flying Knives as a template, crafting them was not difficult.
Before long, Jiang Chen had forged seven brand-new flying knives. These knives carried the killing aura of the Fire Crow King—simply holding one in his hand radiated a powerful sense of lethal intent.
Jiang Chen had already cultivated all four complementary divine abilities of the Moon-Shattering Flying Knife to a certain level, so practicing the "Flowing Light Stance" and "Lightning Stance" posed no particular problem.
After roughly seven or eight days of relentless practice, he finally grasped the core mysteries of these two techniques.
The Flowing Light Stance—the key was speed.
The Lightning Stance—the key was deception.
At first glance, these two techniques appeared somewhat similar, but their core mysteries were entirely different. Different core mysteries meant different levels of power.
"The Moon-Shattering Flying Knife is certainly useful, but against true Heavenly Spirit Realm martial artists, it might not be effective enough. To crush Heavenly Spirit Realm opponents, my real trump cards are still the Yuan Magnetic Gold Mountain and the Ice Fire Demon Lotus."
Jiang Chen had always placed great importance on the Ice Fire Demon Lotus. Every time he broke through a level, he would raise the Demon Lotus's grade, continuously evolving and enhancing its power.