531: Necessary conditions for promotion to Martial God

You Guang and You Zhi left with strange expressions.

Shen Bei watched them leave, his gaze deep as he looked at their retreating figures.

Thinking about how he had repeatedly jumped between the You Family and the Night Watcher, yet remained completely unharmed, and was even treated as a VIP.

This feeling was simply too exhilarating!

At this moment, Shen Bei felt that his trip into the underground, putting aside Suspended Lantern Sect for now, just his current achievements were enough to shock Bai Wei and the other Twelve Heavenly Kings.

Even with the odd object mask as a disguise, there were probably few Martial Artists who dared to become a famous figure in the Imperial City using his method.

“I just don’t know when the next batch of Martial Artists wearing odd object masks will arrive in the Imperial City.”

Shen Bei stroked his chin. If he could connect with them, Shen Bei would go to any lengths to infiltrate the Night Watcher with his own people.

Pondering these thoughts, it was still early for rest. He sat down cross-legged, and the Seven-Colored Divine Radiance began to circulate.

Although this substance remained stable in Shen Bei's body after he digested it.

The more it was consolidated, the safer it would be.

If left unchecked, and he failed to advance to Martial God, the final result would be its complete dissipation.

The Celestial Human Attraction, though available, was rare.

This was equivalent to paving the way for a Great Cultivator of Divine Power Realm.

Therefore, whenever Shen Bei had nothing to do, he would temper and consolidate the Seven-Colored Divine Radiance, maintaining it in its Peak state.

The next moment.

Shen Bei’s mind sank into his Qi Sea. At the center of the Qi Sea, a mass of mist, flowing with Dao rhyme, steadily resided.

Shen Bei refined the essence of Martial Artists with the Seven-Colored Divine Radiance. Streaks of True Qi merged into the mist in his Qi Sea, and the mist slowly grew larger and became increasingly dense.

The essence of Cultivators was the easiest to refine, and this process was very fast.

Soon, the Qi Sea was filled with mist. As the mist gathered, faint dampness began to appear.

Shen Bei was completely immersed in it. Of course, with the circulation of the Seven-Colored Divine Radiance, Shen Bei's aura was improving at a visible speed. The mist in his Qi Sea became denser and denser, and the dampness also grew, gradually condensing into tiny raindrops.

This rapid change would undoubtedly astound anyone who witnessed it. For an ordinary Martial Artist, reaching this stage would require consuming an immense amount of Medicinal Pills and other resources, but Shen Bei achieved it in one go.

When the essence of Shen Bei's Seven-Colored Divine Radiance was completely consolidated, his Qi Sea was now extremely abundant, enveloped in a thick fog. Within the fog, dampness permeated, and especially at the center of the Qi Sea, the seven-colored mist was incredibly dense, already forming visible raindrops.

True Qi began to condense into liquid!

This was the sign of a Nine-Rank Martial Artist reaching the Peak. After this, one would have to experience the Little Five Decays of a Martial Artist to have a chance to advance further to the Divine-Grade Martial God level.

This was no longer something that could be achieved casually.

It was important to know that whether it was a Martial Artist on the earth's surface or a Cultivator in the underground, each time they crossed a rank, they had to meet corresponding hard targets.

For example, from Rank One to Rank Two, one had to reach a certain value in strength attributes to advance to Rank Two.

After advancing, the Martial Artist did not need to temper or excavate their own attributes; Rank Two came with inherent attributes!

However, the advancement from Nine-Rank to Martial God was relatively more troublesome.

According to the information Shen Bei obtained, one had to experience the “Little Five Decays.”

Simply put, everything that the “ears, nose, mouth, eyes, and mind” detested would become a test. If one could overcome it, they would enter the Martial God Realm.

If one could not endure it, they would remain stuck, with no shortcuts available.

Shen Bei had also asked Bai Wei what the Little Five Decays felt like.

Bai Wei clicked her tongue a few times, only leaving him with one sentence: “It can only be understood, not explained.”

Shen Bei had scoffed at that time.

He hated obscure and mysterious tones the most.

At this moment, Shen Bei exhaled softly, awakening from his Cultivation.

Although it was late autumn, the crickets and insects still chirped.

In the past, Shen Bei would lie on a rocking chair under the osmanthus tree, smelling the osmanthus fragrance and listening to the chirping of insects, feeling a sense of ease and comfort.

But today, listening to the chirping of insects, he only felt irritable and restless, finding the chirping incredibly noisy. An uncontrollable anger rose in his heart, making him want to drive away all the insects of the night.

The wind was also annoying!

The wind rustled the leaves, creating an unbearable noise!

The osmanthus was also annoying!

It blew down and landed on the chair. Although the sound was almost inaudible, he heard it.

It was like a needle piercing his heart, this sound was so detestable.

All the sounds around him were clamorous and disturbing!

Shen Bei instinctively covered his ears with his hands!

But then he found his hands were annoying, and his ears were annoying!

The sound of his hands touching his ears, the sound of his eardrums vibrating, was like a fly.

Shen Bei only felt extremely uncomfortable, wanting to hide and escape from all these sounds.

Shen Bei desperately circulated his True Qi to calm his inner turmoil, which was on the verge of collapsing due to the noise.

Shen Bei desperately circulated his True Qi to calm his inner turmoil, which was on the verge of collapsing due to the noise.

“The Little Five Decays! Has it descended already?”

Shen Bei had initially thought that even if he reached Nine-Rank, the Little Five Decays would descend later.

But he had not expected it to arrive so quickly.

The Little Five Decays of the Celestial!

Ears, nose, mouth, eyes, mind!

Hearing, smelling,

Tasting, seeing—detesting everything, feeling disgusted and irritable at anything encountered, as well as depressed.

At this moment, Shen Bei was experiencing the “ear” aspect of the Little Five Decays. Any sound his ears heard felt like noise; even the most beautiful singing sounded utterly annoying.

Moreover, every tiny sound would be magnified.

This was one of the Little Five Decays. Without resolving this issue, it would be impossible to immerse oneself in Cultivation.

Although Shen Bei’s Cultivation hardly relied on tempering himself or meditating.

Or rather, conventional Cultivation methods had no effect on Shen Bei at all. If it weren't for the System, Shen Bei would be a weakling; there was no doubt about that.

Shen Bei's achievements today were all due to activating the daily settlement panel, which allowed his strength to naturally increase.

However, although Shen Bei did not need conventional Cultivation, he still had to follow the regular steps for Cultivating Martial Skills. Since others Cultivated Martial Skills in a certain way, Shen Bei could not be an exception.

Now, with such interference, being unable to Cultivate Martial Skills peacefully meant falling behind.

Moreover, coupled with the mental exhaustion brought by the noise, if he could not overcome it, his strength would naturally be affected.

But if he did overcome it, his hearing would greatly improve, far surpassing ordinary Martial Artists.

It was equivalent to undergoing a significant transformation!

This situation was different from a complete mental breakdown.

A complete mental breakdown was occasional fits of madness that, with a little suppression, would quickly return to normal.

The Little Five Decays, however, were a continuous bombardment.

One after another, they interfered with the normal functioning of his five senses.

Shen Bei took a deep breath, continuously using True Qi to cope with the Little Five Decays, enduring the feeling of collapse and discomfort brought by the noise.

…

Meanwhile, in a secluded courtyard in the Imperial City, many people were gathered, and You Zhi was among them!

“You mean… Shen Bei will sneak out tonight to find women?” A Cultivator sitting on one side looked at You Zhi with some disbelief.

You Zhi nodded, recounted what Shen Bei and You Guang had said, and then added, “He thinks it’s safest right now, and no one would expect him to dare to do such a thing!”

The group exchanged glances; indeed, they had not expected Shen Bei to do such a thing.

This kid must be crazy, right? Knowing that many people wanted to kill him right now, instead of hiding to weather the storm, he actually went to find women! Was he really that desperate?

“Heh heh! As expected of a pampered young master, he really won’t let himself suffer any grievances.” Someone sneered, “What do you all think? Is it credible?”

“It is naturally credible. If it were any other reason, I would suspect it to be a Night Watcher setup. But for this reason, I believe normal people wouldn’t think of it. Only someone who genuinely has such thoughts would do this.”

Everyone nodded and looked at You Zhi.

You Zhi thought for a moment and said, “I’ve already told you the reason why he went to the Night Watcher. Moreover, he is very close to the You Family. What he said to You Guang is highly credible. I don’t think the Night Watcher instructed him to do this.”

At this point, You Zhi paused and added, “It’s just that regarding this matter, I have a slightly different opinion.”

You Zhi’s attitude was very humble because many of those present were stronger than him.

“Speak your mind!” A man sitting at the head of the table waved his hand and said to You Zhi.

You Zhi looked at the other person gratefully. Although he belonged to the Hong Long lineage, an existence like Hong Long would not directly be responsible for him.

The one directly responsible for their You Family was this Nine-Rank expert who had just spoken, who was also the Old Master of the Gong Family in the Imperial City.

“I do not agree with everyone’s decision to deal with Shen Bei!”