While Lu Chen and the other man were hunting demonic beasts, no one knew who had teased Nantian Yijian by saying that his playing was truly pleasant to hear.
At first, everyone had merely been teasing him. But after Nantian Yijian played for himself once, he genuinely found his posture while playing the zither breathtakingly celestial. Every day, he dressed in plain white robes and played in the camp tent. In the end, everyone truly could not stand it anymore and drove Nantian Yijian outside.
Nantian Yijian had no self-awareness whatsoever. Instead, he mocked everyone for being ignorant and started playing outside the camp again.
"Scrape, scrape..."
"Rustle, rustle..."
"..."
The instant Nantian Yijian began playing, the cultivators nearby started cursing.
"Who the hell is that? I'm going to kill him..."
"Don't hold me back."
"Let's all rush him together..."
But when everyone saw that the sound came from Fengtian Prefecture, none of them dared go over and invite trouble upon themselves. Still, their tongues did not stop.
"Whoever goes, I'll give him one Spirit Stone."
"I'll give ten. Which one of you will go?"
"I'll give fifty. Make him stop already, I'm dying."
Nantian Yijian ignored everyone's curses.
The cultivators outside kept mocking him, cursing Nantian Yijian and his ancestors for eighteen generations, yet not a single person stepped forward to drive him away.
The entire day passed amid curses and the sounds of "scrape, scrape... rustle, rustle" from the zither.
Just as Nantian Yijian prepared to continue on the second day, he had barely stepped out of the tent when two burly men suddenly leaped out from the tent behind him, threw a sack over Nantian Yijian's head, and gave him a savage beating.
Seeing this, the surrounding cultivators immediately cheered, "Get him! Beat him!"
"Let that bastard play the zither..."
"Someone finally dealt with him."
"..."
Hearing everyone's shouts, the burly men hit even harder as they yelled, "I'll break your grandma's legs! Someone said your playing sounded nice, and you really thought it sounded nice? It sounds so awful it's killing me!"
Inside the sack, Nantian Yijian still refused to yield. "That's because you people don't know how to appreciate it. This young master's masterpiece is peerless beneath the heavens. You don't understand."
Hearing Nantian Yijian still talking back, the burly men struck even more viciously. "Peerless beneath the heavens, are you? I'll show you peerless beneath the heavens! Damn it!"
"Ah! I know who you are now. Brother Xiao Ma, right? Big brother, stop hitting me, stop hitting me! I was wrong. I'll change locations." Nantian Yijian could not take it anymore and hurriedly begged for mercy.
Yet the burly men did not stop at all. They gave him another brutal thrashing, and once the two had vented their anger, they directly tossed Nantian Yijian into the bushes beside them.
Nantian Yijian struggled out of the sack and poked his head out to look around. Finding that everyone had already left, he started shouting again, "Exactly! This young master is unmatched in the world. You are all vulgar people—how could you possibly compare with me?"
As he spoke, Nantian Yijian straightened his white robes and began walking into the forest, only to run into Lu Chen and Young Master Jun, who were competing to hunt demonic beasts.
Seeing Lu Chen and Young Master Jun competing fiercely in their hunt, Nantian Yijian began playing the zither beside them. "Little Lu, Little Junzi, your ears are blessed today. Listen to this new tune I learned."
With that, he began to play. Yet the zither music—"scrape, scrape"—was unbearably unpleasant. Even the demonic beasts became wildly agitated from hearing it, and Lu Chen was nearly attacked.
Lu Chen hurriedly stopped Nantian Yijian.
"Yijian, stop playing already. You're not cut out for playing the zither. You should come hunt demonic beasts with us and practice your sword-control techniques instead."
But Nantian Yijian paid no heed to their shouts, muttering, "Could it be that in this world, I alone possess the artistic conception of a young master?"
"How tragic, how lamentable." As he spoke, the strength in his hands gradually increased, and the zither became even more piercing. Nantian Yijian remained immersed in his own music.
"Scrape, scrape." "Nonsense and screeching."
"Scrape, scrape." "Nonsense and screeching..."
"..."
Lu Chen and Young Master Jun hurriedly drove the demonic beasts away as they ran, thinking only of getting as far as possible from Nantian Yijian's devilish zither music.
Lu Chen and Young Master Jun got farther and farther from the camp. At that moment, they encountered an enormous snake-shaped demonic beast. After two days of hunting, this was already the last demonic beast.
Once they killed this demonic beast, Lu Chen's thousand demonic beasts would all be complete. Looking at the snake-shaped demonic beast before him, Lu Chen prepared to rush forward and finish it within ten minutes.
Young Master Jun followed behind Lu Chen. Seeing Lu Chen charge toward the demonic beast ahead, he was about to follow, but when he saw the purple glow atop the snake-shaped demonic beast's head, he immediately thought, Not good. This is a Purple-Eyed Sky-Swallowing Python in the Breath Regulation Realm.
Like humans, demonic beasts could develop a divine ability every time they crossed into a new realm, and they were even more likely than humans to develop such abilities. These divine abilities generally appeared around the brows and eyes, waist and abdomen, or ankles. At this moment, a divine ability flickering with purple light was present between the snake-shaped demonic beast's brows.
"Little Lu, come back quickly! We're no match for it."
But the moment Young Master Jun spoke, the snake-shaped demonic beast had already noticed Lu Chen. Its demonic eyes flickered constantly, and its forked tongue repeatedly darted from its mouth.
Young Master Jun ran up to Lu Chen. "This isn't an ordinary demonic beast. It's a Sky-Swallowing Python in the Breath Regulation Realm. Do you see the spot between its brows? That is a divine ability that can only form upon reaching the Breath Regulation Realm. After forming this divine ability, its name becomes the Purple-Eyed Sky-Swallowing Python."
Lu Chen stared at the snake-shaped demonic beast's brow and discovered that there truly was an eye there, glowing purple.
Lu Chen felt that he had truly been careless. He called out to Feng Tiancheng in his mind, wanting to see whether he had any solution, but Feng Tiancheng did not respond.
"Not good. I was too impulsive. I charged over without seeing clearly."
"This isn't your fault. You never studied in a sect, so it is normal for you not to know these things."
"The Sky-Swallowing Python is incredibly fast. Once it spots you, it is basically impossible to escape. This one seems to have only just entered the Breath Regulation Realm. If we fight with everything we have, we should be able to defeat it."
"Let's treat this battle as a real competition and see who wins in the end."
Lu Chen looked at Young Master Jun and recognized his own shortcomings this time. Everything had gone too smoothly for him lately, making him somewhat arrogant and careless toward enemies. If this continued, what talk could there be of saving his grandfather? Everything would be in vain.
Lu Chen adjusted his mindset and said, "Fine. Then let us compete once more and see whose skills are stronger."
Inside the Twin Fish Token, Feng Tiancheng watched Lu Chen's performance and secretly nodded. This time, he had deliberately chosen not to remind Lu Chen.
Feng Tiancheng understood that he could not remain by Lu Chen's side forever. Although Lu Chen possessed a firm mind and a goal of his own, everything had gone smoothly for him ever since he began cultivating. This was praise that killed without a blade. If Lu Chen did not set his mindset straight, he would certainly pay the price for it in the end.
Lu Chen and Young Master Jun looked at the Sky-Swallowing Python before them and each used their attacking methods. This was an unprecedented challenge. As long as he and Young Master Jun coordinated closely enough, they could still kill this Purple-Eyed Sky-Swallowing Python.
"Star Serpent Hidden in Clouds!"
"Azure Emperor Divine Tree!"
Lu Chen used Star Serpent Hidden in Clouds to leap behind the Sky-Swallowing Python. At the same time, he released the Divine Tree Tentacles and began constantly harassing the Sky-Swallowing Python, while Young Master Jun attacked it from the front with his spear.
The Purple-Eyed Sky-Swallowing Python was incredibly fast. Of every ten attacks Lu Chen and Young Master Jun launched, they could often only land five.
Seeing this, Lu Chen shouted, "Little Junzi, we need to change our approach. We need to draw this beast's attention, or sooner or later, it'll wear us to death."
As he spoke, Lu Chen flashed backward and joined Young Master Jun in trapping the Purple-Eyed Sky-Swallowing Python between them.
Young Master Jun shouted at Lu Chen, "Hold it back. I'll go unleash the Heavenly Dao Control Art."
"Azure Emperor Divine Tree: Bind, Absorb Spiritual Energy!"
Lu Chen controlled the Divine Tree Tentacles, splitting them into over a hundred smaller tendrils. This time, Lu Chen no longer concealed the secret of the Divine Tree Tentacles absorbing the spiritual energy of living beings. Red light blotted out the sky from the tendrils, and more than a hundred crimson true dragons, as though cast from red metal, formed an immense radiance and charged straight at the Purple-Eyed Sky-Swallowing Python.
In that instant, even the air around the sky seemed to be shaken by that luxurious and overwhelming aura. The crimson tentacle dragons wrapped entirely around the Purple-Eyed Sky-Swallowing Python's body, and in an instant, its aura dropped by a huge margin.
Young Master Jun stared at the Purple-Eyed Sky-Swallowing Python in astonishment. Lu Chen's methods were something he had never seen before.
"Heavenly Dao Control Art: Heavenly Thunder Art!"
Young Master Jun raised his twin spears and spun them before him, creating blossoms of spear-light. Slowly, dark clouds began gathering in the sky, and blue lightning continuously descended from the clouds, striking the Purple-Eyed Sky-Swallowing Python.
Watching the heavenly lightning fall without end, Lu Chen finally truly understood the power of the Heavenly Dao Control Art. He thought, Good thing it didn't strike me last time, or I would have been finished.
But the Purple-Eyed Sky-Swallowing Python was, after all, a demonic beast of the Breath Regulation Realm. After being struck by heavenly lightning several times, it violently broke free of Lu Chen's restraints and fired a beam of purple light from the eye between its brows, straight at Young Master Jun.
With a "pfft."
The purple light pierced directly through Young Master Jun's body. Blood instantly soaked his clothes, and while his body still maintained the posture of releasing heavenly thunder, he fell stiffly backward.
"Heavenly Dao Control Art: Heavenly Thunder Art, Heavenly Thunder Incarnation!"
After unleashing his final move, Young Master Jun began to lose consciousness. Lightning continuously emerged from his body, flooding through his entire form.
Seeing Young Master Jun covered in blood and collapsed on the ground, Lu Chen's eyes instantly turned red. He released every Divine Tree Tentacle he had and attacked the Sky-Swallowing Python.
The life spiritual energy in the Sky-Swallowing Python's body was continuously absorbed, and Lu Chen chose to pour all of it into his hands. His hands began forming the seals of the Six Yang Palms that Split the Heavens while he simultaneously unleashed Dragon Descends to the Sea. The Divine Tree Tentacles continuously held back the Sky-Swallowing Python.
The Sky-Swallowing Python howled in pain and turned to charge at Lu Chen. Lu Chen intended to stake everything on this. At this point, it was either life or death.
Slowly, all the spiritual energy in Lu Chen's body gathered into his hands. The surrounding spiritual energy was endlessly compressed. At Lu Chen's moment of utter resolve, the Six Yang Palms that Split the Heavens truly opened its first yang. The firelight in his hands gradually drew together into the shape of a round sun, all its fiery force contained within it.
"Six Yang Palms that Split the Heavens: Blazing Sun Splits the Heavens!"
Looking at the charging Sky-Swallowing Python, Lu Chen bit through the tip of his tongue and sprayed a mouthful of Essence Blood into the round sun. He shouted, "Beast, come on! Let's see which of us kills the other!"
"Star Serpent Hidden in Clouds!"
Then Lu Chen gave a great shout. Star Serpent Hidden in Clouds sent him directly above the Sky-Swallowing Python's head, and he slammed the round sun down onto its crown. In that instant, the round sun's might spread in every direction, vast stretches of space cracked apart, and the raging wind howled, blasting the surrounding trees into powder.
The vast crimson flames within the round sun seemed to have found a breakthrough, tearing toward the eye between the Sky-Swallowing Python's brows and releasing waves of scorched stench. These crimson flames had all been transmitted from the Yang Sea Pearl. It was an imperial artifact; its power was not something a Sky-Swallowing Python in the Breath Regulation Realm could endure.
The Sky-Swallowing Python convulsed in endless pain, its tail repeatedly lashing against Lu Chen's body.
Lu Chen was gradually losing consciousness by then, but his body's instincts still controlled the round sun as it relentlessly attacked the Sky-Swallowing Python.
Lu Chen's hands were like a volcano that had accumulated power for thousands of years, now erupting all at once, destroying heaven and earth!
At last, the eye between the Sky-Swallowing Python's brows was torn open, blood pouring out continuously. Lu Chen could no longer hold on and was sent flying by a sweep of the Sky-Swallowing Python's tail.
The Azure Emperor Divine Tree hurriedly split off some of its tendrils to catch Lu Chen, while the other tendrils plunged deeply into the Sky-Swallowing Python's brow. Upon touching flesh and blood, they began absorbing the Sky-Swallowing Python's life essence and transferring it to Lu Chen.
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