Further Changes Emerge: A Mysterious Stone Tablet

After the roots could not go any deeper, the Azure Emperor Divine Vine began to unfurl another branch upwards, continuously dripping pure Spiritual Energy from it.

Lu Chen looked at the Azure Emperor Divine Vine. The current Azure Emperor Divine Vine was completely different from before. It now looked more like a tree, and calling it the Azure Emperor Divine Tree would be more fitting.

The Azure Emperor Divine Tree gradually stopped changing. Two small fish joyfully leaped around in the Sea of Qi, continuously spitting the Spiritual Energy from their mouths into the circular pit. Slowly, the Yin Yang Plate pattern at the base of the original Azure Emperor Divine Tree absorbed and rotated, transforming into a Tai Chi pattern. At this moment, the two small fish jumped directly into it, starting to swim and leap within. Lu Chen looked at the red and blue Tai Chi pattern beneath the Azure Emperor Divine Tree, feeling it was a magnified version of the Twin Fish Plate.

Slowly, the Sea of Qi within the Celestial Pool returned to calm. The Twin Fish began to wander around again. The Azure Emperor Divine Tree continuously absorbed Spiritual Energy and dripped Spirit Liquid. Everything was peaceful, but Lu Chen could clearly feel the distinct joy of the Azure Emperor Divine Tree and the Twin Fish; their intelligence had become even more apparent.

Lu Chen withdrew his gaze and shared his feelings with Feng Tiancheng, feeling that he might have obtained an extremely good opportunity.

Feng Tiancheng told Lu Chen, "In the cultivation of heaven and earth, strange events happen frequently. What is meant to be will eventually be encountered, so there's no need to overthink it. Doing what's in front of you is the most important thing."

However, Feng Tiancheng's mind was already racing with ten thousand mythical creatures. He had lived for tens of thousands of years and had witnessed many astonishing feats. Often, a single mutation could turn someone into a powerful being. Yet, in Lu Chen's case, how many opportunities had he encountered in just these few days? If Feng Tiancheng weren't mindful of his status, he would have already spewed a string of curses.

But Feng Tiancheng carefully recalled the scene just now. He had seen many things that didn't quite make sense recently. Although anything was possible in the cultivation world, after experiencing so much, he felt a sense of strangeness, almost eeriness. He recalled an ancient saying: "In the cultivation of heaven and earth, there is a prosperous era every three thousand years, and a great change every nine thousand years."

Now, calculating it, it was already close to nine thousand years. It seemed that heaven and earth were about to undergo another earth-shattering change, perhaps the greatest one in history. For now, all he could do was take things one step at a time.

Lu Chen processed the remaining bones and meat of the Ironclad Rhinoceros, storing them carefully, intending to exchange them for Spirit Stones after he left.

As the sky gradually darkened, Feng Tiancheng returned to the Twin Fish Plate space to continue resting. Lu Chen found a cave, started a fire to roast meat, and while resting, pondered his shortcomings during the battle with the Ironclad Rhinoceros and what improvements were needed in his Spiritual Energy usage. Today was his first time hunting a Demonic Beast, and the harvest was quite good.

His coordination with Martial Skills was becoming stronger, and his use of Spiritual Energy was more refined. He had also gained an offensive method like the Azure Emperor Divine Tree. Previously, he could barely use the Six Yang Palms that Split the Heavens once, but he felt he could now use it at least four times. If he combined it with the Nine Transformations of the Golden Serpent, Lu Chen felt his combat power could reach another level.

Lu Chen reached out and summoned the Azure Emperor Divine Tree. A passage opened in front of him, and tentacles emerged from its depths, covered in fire and ice. They drifted around Lu Chen. One particularly thick tentacle lay beside Lu Chen, rubbing against his face.

Lu Chen could clearly feel the tentacle's affection. His control over the Azure Emperor Divine Tree was now much easier.

Lu Chen looked at the Giant Rock in front of him. The thought of attacking had just formed when a group of tentacles immediately struck, shattering the Giant Rock into pieces. They then floated back cheerfully, rubbing against Lu Chen as if trying to please him.

Lu Chen experimented with the trees and the ground in front of him one by one, and he found that he could achieve his goal without letting the tentacles absorb life energy. Furthermore, Lu Chen discovered that since the Azure Emperor Divine Tree entered his Sea of Qi, it had continuously absorbed Spiritual Energy. The Spiritual Energy within him had become even purer, gradually transforming from Spiritual Energy into Spirit Liquid. Moreover, simply using the Azure Emperor Divine Tree without adding other offensive attributes consumed almost negligible Spiritual Power, and its power was even greater than before.

Lu Chen retracted the tentacles and began to eat the roasted rhinoceros meat. The harvest of the day was enough for him to understand the importance of Life and Death Combat for Cultivators. He decided to hunt a thousand Demonic Beasts within a month to improve his Martial Skill coordination.

Lu Chen used Star Serpent Hidden in Clouds to charge through the forest, constantly searching for Demonic Beasts. Today, he had encountered forty Demonic Beasts, but they were all low-level ones that had just entered the Qi Gathering Realm, and none had even formed a complete Demonic Core. They were all killed by a single tentacle from Lu Chen's Azure Emperor Divine Tree.

Just then, he suddenly heard a tiger's roar from afar, followed by a flock of birds scattering in all directions. Low-level Demonic Beasts began to flee outwards.

Lu Chen looked at the situation and understood that there was a Demonic King there. This was a perfect opportunity for his training. He quickly rushed over.

Behind a large tree, a giant tiger was fiercely biting the hind leg of a wild boar, charging and thrashing. The wild boar was not to be outdone, turning its tusks towards the tiger.

Feng Tiancheng's voice came out, "This Earth-Shaking Tiger at the eighth level of the Qi Gathering Realm has good speed and strength. It's a decent Demonic Beast in the Qi Gathering Realm. The other is a Golden Bone Tusked Boar, just reaching the seventh level of the Qi Gathering Realm. However, the Golden Bone Tusked Boar has extremely high defense and its tusks are very powerful. But with a difference of one realm between them, the outcome is basically predetermined. Within fifty moves, the Golden Bone Tusked Boar will definitely be defeated."

Lu Chen watched the Earth-Shaking Tiger and the Golden Bone Tusked Boar tear and bite at each other. Although the Golden Bone Tusked Boar's defense was relatively high, its hind leg had already been torn by the Earth-Shaking Tiger.

During this process, one of the Golden Bone Tusked Boar's tusks was broken, and its belly had several claw marks. Meanwhile, one of the Earth-Shaking Tiger's eyes had been blinded by the boar's tusk, and its belly had several punctured holes. Its movements gradually slowed down.

Just as Feng Tiancheng had said, the difference of one realm had already made the outcome somewhat clear. The Earth-Shaking Tiger was capable of putting the Golden Bone Tusked Boar to death.

The Golden Bone Tusked Boar saw that the situation was not good, stared at the Earth-Shaking Tiger, and continuously scraped the ground with its feet. It then looked around. Lu Chen understood what was happening; this Golden Bone Tusked Boar was preparing to flee. Lu Chen felt that both Demonic Beasts were heavily injured, and it was the perfect time to strike while the iron was hot. He was about to charge forward.

Just as the Golden Bone Tusked Boar charged towards the Earth-Shaking Tiger, feigning an attack to escape, Lu Chen seized the opportunity and directly attacked the Earth-Shaking Tiger with Silver Serpent Emerging from its Lair. He then released tentacles beside the Earth-Shaking Tiger to entangle and attack it. He knew the tentacles couldn't defeat the Earth-Shaking Tiger in a short time, but he hoped they could hold it off long enough for him to kill the Golden Bone Tusked Boar.

Lu Chen's true body used Star Serpent Hidden in Clouds to leap onto the Golden Bone Tusked Boar's head and struck its head with a palm. The Golden Bone Tusked Boar staggered, glanced at Lu Chen as if to say, You insignificant human dare to stop me? But at this moment, the Golden Bone Tusked Boar was too heavily injured and unwilling to get entangled with Lu Chen, only wanting to leave this place quickly.

Lu Chen saw the boar's intention and continuously charged and dodged, leaving wounds on the Golden Bone Tusked Boar. Taking advantage of the boar's excessive blood loss and inability to support itself, Lu Chen directly formed a hand seal and unleashed the Six Yang Palms that Split the Heavens, striking the Golden Bone Tusked Boar's belly. With a single palm strike, he smashed open the boar's abdomen.

Thus, the Golden Bone Tusked Boar of the seventh level of the Qi Gathering Realm was eliminated.

Lu Chen then flashed towards the Earth-Shaking Tiger. The Earth-Shaking Tiger was exhausted from fighting the divine tree's tentacles, but an eighth-level Qi Gathering Realm beast would not fall so easily.

Lu Chen used Silver Serpent Emerging from its Lair on the Earth-Shaking Tiger, confusing its attack. Then, using Star Serpent Hidden in Clouds again, he leaped onto the Earth-Shaking Tiger's head and struck its remaining eye with a palm.

With a "poof" sound.

The Earth-Shaking Tiger could not dodge in time, and its remaining eyeball was shattered by Lu Chen.

Having lost both eyes, the Earth-Shaking Tiger was furious, throwing Lu Chen away and roaring loudly towards the front.

The Earth-Shaking Tiger, unable to discern direction without its eyes, posed a greatly reduced threat to Lu Chen. Lu Chen and the divine tree's tentacles attacked the Earth-Shaking Tiger from left and right. With Star Serpent Hidden in Clouds, Silver Serpent Emerging from its Lair, and tentacle attacks, the Earth-Shaking Tiger's counterattacks gradually slowed down.

Looking at the Earth-Shaking Tiger, Lu Chen unleashed Silver Serpent Emerging from its Lair. Two afterimages probed in front of the Earth-Shaking Tiger. The Earth-Shaking Tiger instantly pounced, and the afterimages were torn to shreds. Lu Chen broke out in a cold sweat, thinking, What a sinister beast. If I had rashly charged forward just now, I would have been torn to pieces.

Lu Chen dared not take any more risks and could only slowly wear down the Earth-Shaking Tiger step by step. With Lu Chen's final Six Yang Palms that Split the Heavens, the Earth-Shaking Tiger let out a roar and slowly fell.

The Earth-Shaking Tiger of the eighth level of the Qi Gathering Realm was eliminated.

Lu Chen, exhausted, collapsed on the ground and used the tentacles to absorb the life energy from the Earth-Shaking Tiger and the Golden Bone Tusked Boar to replenish himself. Just then, a crisp "bang" sounded from Lu Chen's body. Based on the previous two days of Demonic Beast battles, Lu Chen successfully advanced to the sixth level of the Qi Gathering Realm.

This was Lu Chen's first advancement since emerging from the Secret Realm. Lu Chen clenched his fist and felt the strength in his body. As Lu Chen entered the Qi Gathering Realm, his physical strength had already reached the Grand Perfection of the Qi Gathering Realm.

After several body tempering sessions and receiving fortuitous encounters, Lu Chen's physical strength increased by approximately one thousand jin for each minor realm as his cultivation progressed in the Qi Gathering Realm. Now, Lu Chen's punch was likely fifteen thousand jin.

Lu Chen recovered his strength and began to clean up the battlefield. He efficiently butchered the two Demonic Beasts, storing the hides, meat, bones, and other materials in the Twin Fish Plate space. He then fed the two Demonic Cores to the Azure Emperor Divine Tree as a reward. The Azure Emperor Divine Tree extended its tentacles and affectionately rubbed Lu Chen's face.

Just as Lu Chen sat on the ground to rest, the divine tree's tentacles suddenly pulled a stone tablet from afar.

Lu Chen took the stone tablet. Lu Chen did not recognize the characters on the stone tablet, but something in his bloodline seemed to be pulling him. The four characters "Seven Slips of the Cloud Scroll" entered Lu Chen's mind.

Lu Chen examined the body of the tablet and saw the words "Azure Emperor". Suddenly, his eyes narrowed, and he quickly summoned Feng Tiancheng.