The dense primeval forest blotted out the sky and sun. Sunlight filtered through layer upon layer of leaves, casting mottled patches of light across the ground carpeted with dead branches, fallen leaves, and humus. The air was thick with the scent of damp earth, the fresh fragrance of vegetation, and a faint, barely perceptible stench of wild beasts.
A black figure darted silently through the forest like the most agile panther. His movements were swift and fluid, his footsteps so light they barely made a sound. Every leap, shift, and turn carried an indescribable strangeness and elusive grace, as though he had melted into the surrounding shadows.
It was Lin Chen, who had just emerged from seclusion with his strength surging once more.
After leaving that hidden cave, he no longer deliberately concealed his tracks. Instead, he began actively searching this perilous mountain forest for suitable "prey."
His powerful Body Tempering Realm Seventh Layer Late Stage cultivation filled him with unparalleled confidence! His preliminary mastery of the "Phantom Step" granted him unprecedented advantages in speed and evasion! Combined with the formidable "Surging Wave Palm" and his trump-card ability, Qi Projection...
He craved battle! He craved life-and-death struggles against powerful demon beasts to test his strength, temper his combat techniques, and... savor the thrill of tearing prey apart completely and turning it into nourishment for himself!
Of course, power had not gone to his head.
The depths of the Green Peak Mountain Range were fraught with danger! It was said that terrifying Demon Kings beyond the Body Tempering Realm, at the Foundation Establishment Realm, even existed there! With his current strength, rashly entering the territories of those powerful demon beasts would be no different from seeking his own death.
Therefore, he chose to operate around the mountain range's outer and middle regions. Most demon beasts here ranged from the Body Tempering Realm Fifth Layer to the Eighth Layer. They could give him sufficient challenge and pressure without leaving him completely unable to fight back.
Like an experienced old hunter, he carefully observed his surroundings. Fresh claw marks on the ground, gnawed plants, lingering scents in the air... none of these subtle traces could escape his sharpened, keen senses.
"Hmm? This footprint..."
Lin Chen suddenly stopped, crouched down, and carefully examined a massive, distinct hoofprint on the ground.
The hoofprint was circular, larger than both his fists put together! It was deeply embedded in the soil, with broken grass roots and moist dirt still clinging to its edges.
"What a huge hoof! And this aura is heavy and violent. A soil-element demon beast?" Lin Chen's eyes narrowed as he carefully distinguished the faint lingering aura in the air.
He rose and looked in the direction the hoofprints extended. Not far ahead, the bushes bore obvious traces of being violently rammed and crushed! Several small trees as thick as bowls had even been snapped cleanly in half!
"Judging by this destructive force, it is probably at least a demon beast at the peak of the Body Tempering Realm Seventh Layer, perhaps even the Eighth Layer!" Lin Chen's heart began to race!
Peak Seventh Layer? Or even the Eighth Layer?
This was exactly the opponent he wanted!
If he could hunt such a powerful demon beast, he would not only obtain a high-grade demon core and abundant flesh-and-blood essence, but also greatly temper his practical combat ability!
"Let's follow it and take a look!" Excitement and battle intent flashed through Lin Chen's eyes!
He immediately restrained his aura and pushed the Darkness Stealth ability he had just grasped—though he had only scratched the surface, its effect combined with the "Phantom Step" was astonishing—to the limit! His entire body seemed to become a faint phantom as he silently followed the massive hoofprints and trails of destruction!
The "Phantom Step" truly was incomparably profound! Even within this primeval forest, where the terrain was complex and obstacles stood everywhere, his speed remained astonishingly swift! And he moved without a sound, like a ghost!
After tracking for less than a quarter of an hour, a series of heavy footsteps, like beating war drums, and rough breathing faintly drifted over from ahead!
At the same time, an even denser, more violent yellow-brown demonic aura rushed toward him!
Lin Chen immediately halted and hid behind a massive boulder, cautiously poking his head out.
Several hundred meters ahead, in a clearing among the trees, a colossal creature had lowered its head and was restlessly pawing at the ground with thick hind hooves like iron pillars!
It was an enormous savage bull, as large as a small mountain!
Yet this savage bull was utterly unlike an ordinary cow!
Its entire body was covered in a thick, rock-hard layer of iron-gray keratin that gleamed with metallic luster! It was as though it wore an impenetrable suit of heavy armor!
Its head was enormous, its eyes blood-red and brimming with brutality and bloodlust! Two thick, curved horns like scimitars rose from its head, gleaming with an icy light! With every breath, two streams of scorching white vapor, thick with an earthy stench, blasted from its nostrils!
"Ironclad Savage Bull!!" Lin Chen's pupils abruptly constricted, and stormy waves surged through his heart!
This was actually the legendary Ironclad Savage Bull!
It was an exceedingly rare and powerful soil-element demon beast, renowned for its astonishing defense! It was said that an adult Ironclad Savage Bull could withstand the full-force attack of a Body Tempering Realm Ninth Layer martial artist with nothing but its heavy iron armor! Its terrifying brute strength and ramming force could even level a small mountain!
What alarmed Lin Chen even more was this!
The aura emanating from the Ironclad Savage Bull before him was robust, heavy, and violent—it had clearly reached the Body Tempering Realm Eighth Layer Early Stage!!!
It was a whole level stronger than he had expected!
Body Tempering Realm Eighth Layer! This was already a top-tier existence in the later stages of the Body Tempering Realm! Its strength was unquestionably far beyond that of an ordinary Seventh Layer demon beast! And with that monstrous defense...
Lin Chen felt his scalp go numb!
This bone seemed a little too hard to chew?!
Should he... retreat for the time being and return after raising his strength further?
A flicker of hesitation passed through Lin Chen's heart.
But!
The next instant!
An even hotter battle intent and desire erupted from the depths of his heart like a volcano!
Retreat?
Those two words did not exist in Lin Chen's dictionary!
The stronger the opponent! The tougher the challenge! The more it could stimulate his potential! The more it could make him stronger!
And besides...
This was an Ironclad Savage Bull! An Ironclad Savage Bull at the Body Tempering Realm Eighth Layer!
Its demon core! Its flesh-and-blood essence! Even its monstrous defensive talent!
If he could hunt it down! If he could refine it!
What tremendous benefits would he gain?!
Fortune was sought amid danger!
If one did not enter the tiger's den, how could one catch the tiger cub?!
"Let's do it!" Madness and resolve flashed through Lin Chen's eyes!
He would challenge this Body Tempering Realm Eighth Layer Ironclad Savage Bull!
He would use this challenge across realms to prove his strength and break through his limits!
Of course, he was not reckless.
Against such a powerful opponent, meeting force with force was nothing but courting death! He had to outwit it!
Lin Chen calmed himself, his mind spinning rapidly as he carefully observed the Ironclad Savage Bull pawing the ground in agitation, searching for its weakness.
The Ironclad Savage Bull was famed for its defense, and its thick suit of iron armor was nearly flawless. Its brute strength was astonishing, and once it charged, nothing could stop it.
But every advantage came with a disadvantage.
Its massive size also meant that its speed and agility were comparatively poor!
Moreover, no matter how formidable a defense was, there would always be relatively vulnerable areas! Its eyes? Its mouth and nose? Or the comparatively softer area of its abdomen?
And it was a soil-element demon beast. Though its strength was immense and its defense astonishing, speed and ranged attacks were surely its weak points!
"Speed, weaknesses!?" A sharp gleam flashed through Lin Chen's eyes as a preliminary plan gradually took shape in his mind.
He would use his greatest advantage—his speed and movement technique—to circle around this cumbersome savage bull!
Harass it continuously! Wear it down continuously!
Then find an opportunity to strike at its weaknesses!
As long as he could break through that layer of iron armor, even by just a little! He would have a chance to use the penetrating power of Qi Projection to inflict a fatal wound!
Having made up his mind, Lin Chen no longer hesitated!
He took a deep breath and silently circulated the qi within his Body Tempering Realm Seventh Layer Late Stage cultivation to the limit!
"Phantom Step"!
Buzz!
His figure instantly blurred! Like a ghost merging into the air, he silently and swiftly crept toward the Ironclad Savage Bull's rear flank!
The Ironclad Savage Bull seemed to sense something as well. It stopped pawing the ground irritably, slowly turned its huge head, and swept its blood-red eyes warily over the surroundings, letting out a low roar like muffled thunder.
But Lin Chen's movement technique was simply too strange! With the added support of Darkness Stealth, although the Ironclad Savage Bull sensed danger, it could not accurately lock onto his position for the moment!
The instant the Ironclad Savage Bull shifted its attention to the other side, Lin Chen moved!
"Now!"
Like an arrow released from the bow, he burst out from his hiding place! His speed reached the absolute limit, leaving behind a faint afterimage on the ground!
His target was not the savage bull's heavily armored body, but its comparatively vulnerable hind-leg joint!
"Surging Wave Palm! Five Waves!"
Lin Chen gave a low shout as the optimized Surging Wave Palm erupted with full force!
This time, he held nothing back! The vast liquid qi in his body surged wildly! Layer upon layer of palm imprints instantly stacked into five waves, forming a condensed, heavy, terrifying palm strike that seemed capable of smashing mountains apart as it viciously slammed toward the Ironclad Savage Bull's thick hind-leg joint!
This palm strike was fast! Powerful! And viciously angled!
Though the Ironclad Savage Bull was massive and slightly slow to react, it was still an Eighth Layer demon beast! Its battle instincts were extraordinarily sharp!
The instant Lin Chen launched his attack, it noticed!
"Moo!!!!!!"
It unleashed an earthshaking roar! Its huge body abruptly twisted, and that seemingly clumsy, iron-armored tail lashed out like a steel whip, sweeping fiercely toward Lin Chen with terrifying force that tore through the air!
The force of that tail could reduce a massive boulder to powder!
If it struck him, Lin Chen had no doubt that his tendons and bones would shatter!
"What a fast reaction!" Lin Chen was startled!
But he had prepared for this!
At the very instant the colossal steel tail was about to strike him!
"Phantom Step"! Pushed to the limit!
Like a ghost, his body slid to the side at an angle that completely defied all reason, narrowly escaping disaster!
Whoosh!
The colossal steel tail swept past the tip of his nose! The violent gust it raised scraped his cheeks painfully!
That was close!
Lin Chen silently counted himself lucky, but his hands did not pause in the slightest!
Bang!!!!
The Five-Wave Surging Wave Palm, containing his full-force strike, landed squarely on the Ironclad Savage Bull's thick hind-leg joint!
Yet what made Lin Chen's pupils abruptly constrict was this!
The terrifying palm force that could shatter boulders only produced a muffled boom when it struck the savage bull's hind-leg joint?!
The savage bull's hind leg swayed slightly. It let out a pained growl, but... that was all?!
There was not even a crack on the joint covered in thick keratin?!
"This... this defense... is too monstrous, isn't it?!" Horror surged through Lin Chen's heart!
His full-force attack had actually failed to even breach the opponent's defense?!
How was he supposed to fight this?!
"Moo!!!!!!"
Just as Lin Chen was reeling in shock, the Ironclad Savage Bull, now utterly enraged, launched another attack!
It suddenly lowered its head, and its two enormous scimitar-like horns, gleaming with an icy light, charged viciously at Lin Chen with unstoppable force, as though they would plow the very earth apart!
Its speed! Its power! Both had reached a horrifying level!
Lin Chen felt suffocating pressure rush toward him! It was as though a moving mountain were about to crush him into nothing!
He had no doubt that if those horns struck him, no matter how powerful his body was, he would be turned into a puddle of flesh on the spot!
"Phantom Step!"
Lin Chen did not dare slacken in the slightest! He pushed the movement technique he had only just begun to master to its absolute limit!
His figure instantly became like willow catkins in the wind, elusive and shifting! He dodged left and right, constantly leaping and turning around the Ironclad Savage Bull's massive body, leaving trails of afterimages behind!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Ironclad Savage Bull's horns rammed into the ground again and again! Every impact was like an earthquake, making the earth tremble violently! Deep, terrifying pits were left behind one after another! Broken stones flew everywhere, and dust filled the air!
The scene was perilous to the extreme!
Lin Chen's figure was like a tiny boat amid raging waves, swaying on the verge of capsizing beneath the savage bull's storm-like attacks! Danger lurked at every turn! Several times, he nearly took a direct hit!
But!
Relying on the unfathomably strange paths of the Phantom Step, as well as his reaction speed and battle instincts far beyond those of ordinary people, he narrowly avoided its attacks again and again!
"Roar! Roar! Roar!"
The Ironclad Savage Bull grew increasingly violent! It possessed terrifying power, yet it could never touch this human who was as slippery as a loach! This filled it with indescribable frustration and fury!
It began charging wildly! Stomping! Sweeping with its horns! Lashing with its tail! It destroyed all the surrounding trees and rocks, leaving the area in utter ruin!
Lin Chen, meanwhile, remained calm throughout!
While using his movement technique to circle around it, he carefully observed the savage bull's every move, searching for openings!
At the same time, he constantly tried using the Surging Wave Palm or qi finger beams to attack other parts of the savage bull's body!
Its eyes! Its mouth and nose! Its neck! Its abdomen! Even its anus?!
Bang! Bang! Ssh! Ssh!
All kinds of attacks continuously landed on the savage bull!
But the outcome remained despairing!
The savage bull's iron armor was simply too hard!
His palm force could only make it feel slight pain!
Though his qi finger beams possessed tremendous penetrating power, they could only leave shallow white marks on the iron armor. They could not inflict any real damage at all!
"No! This cannot go on!" Anxiety rose in Lin Chen's heart.
Although his qi was abundant and recovered quickly, such intense dodging and attacking consumed a great deal of energy!
Meanwhile, the Ironclad Savage Bull was thick-skinned, sturdy, and possessed astonishing endurance! If this continued, he would definitely be the first to fail!
He had to... find its true weakness! Then kill it with a single blow!
Lin Chen's gaze fell once more upon the savage bull's blood-red eyes, filled with brutality and bloodlust!
The eyes! They were one of the most vulnerable parts of every living creature!
But the area around this savage bull's eyes appeared to be protected by a comparatively thin layer of keratin! And with its enormous body, accurately striking its eyes would be incredibly difficult! One slight mistake, and he would be seriously wounded by its horns or massive hooves!
The risk was enormous!
But it also seemed to be his only chance!
"I'll gamble on it!" Ferocity flashed through Lin Chen's eyes!
He hesitated no longer! He began deliberately guiding the savage bull's attacks, using his movement technique to flicker repeatedly near its head, provoking it!
"Moo!!!!!!"
The Ironclad Savage Bull was indeed enraged! It abandoned its broad charges and sweeping attacks, concentrating every strike on Lin Chen, the "fly" constantly flitting before its eyes!
The massive horns thrust at Lin Chen again and again! Faster and faster! More and more powerful!
Lin Chen's figure grew ever more perilous! Several times, he barely skimmed past the edges of the horns! It made one's heart leap into one's throat!
Just as the savage bull lowered its head once more and charged at him with all its strength, carrying an unstoppable momentum,
A sharp light burst from Lin Chen's eyes!
Now!
He did not dodge again!
Instead, he suddenly dropped low! Like a gecko clinging to the ground, he slid at an unbelievable angle beneath the savage bull's enormous head in an instant!
Then!
He pressed his fingers together like a sword!
All the true qi of his Body Tempering Realm Seventh Layer Late Stage surged within him, gathering madly at his fingertips without reservation!
He even separated out an extremely faint trace of the refining power from the Myriad Dao Furnace, silently imbuing it into the finger light!
This finger strike contained all his strength! All his will! And... the furnace's indestructible nature!
"Break for me!!!"
Lin Chen roared inwardly!
Screech!!!!!!
An unprecedented dark-gold finger light, condensed to the utmost limit and faintly carrying a trace of destructive aura, shot from his fingertips like divine radiance splitting apart primordial chaos!
Its speed had reached the extreme! Its power had reached the extreme!
Its target was the Ironclad Savage Bull's huge, crimson left eye!!!
Squelch!!!!!!
There was no suspense whatsoever!
Even though the savage bull's eye was protected by a corneal layer!
Before Lin Chen's terrifying finger light, which contained all his power and was reinforced by a trace of refining force!
It was still as fragile as thin paper!
The dark-gold finger light instantly pierced through that layer of defense! It viciously stabbed into the savage bull's enormous eyeball! Its momentum did not diminish in the slightest as it went straight through its brain!!!
"Moo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The Ironclad Savage Bull let out the most shrill, agonized, and despairing earth-shaking bellow of its life!!!
Its enormous body suddenly froze!
All the savagery and bloodlust in its crimson eyes vanished in an instant! Only boundless pain and... the gray-white pallor of death remained!
Boom!!!!!!
Like a golden mountain collapsing and a jade pillar toppling!
The enormous body of the arrogant Ironclad Savage Bull, an eighth-layer demon beast as large as a small hill, crashed to the ground! Dust flew into the sky!
It was utterly dead!
Lin Chen stood where he was, breathing slightly as he looked at the fallen behemoth before him. Feeling the slight emptiness in his true qi after that all-out strike, a trace of fatigue finally appeared on his face—but far more than that was indescribable excitement and pride!
He had succeeded!
With the cultivation of the Body Tempering Realm Sixth Layer Peak—while appearing to be at the Seventh Layer Late Stage—he had challenged above his level and successfully hunted an Ironclad Savage Bull, a Body Tempering Realm Eighth Layer demon beast with absurdly formidable defenses!
This was unquestionably a glorious achievement worth taking pride in!
More importantly, this life-and-death battle had given him a deeper understanding of how to use his own strength, of Phantom Step and Surging Wave Palm, and of how to grasp the rhythm of battle!
This was the true meaning of tempering oneself through experience!
After the brief excitement, Lin Chen quickly calmed down.
He walked over to the Ironclad Savage Bull's massive corpse. Looking at that mountain-like body, blazing light ignited in his eyes once more!
An eighth-layer demon beast! And an Ironclad Savage Bull with astonishing defenses at that!
Its demon core! The essence of its flesh and blood! Even that absurd suit of iron armor... what a lavish... feast would they make?!
Before you continue