Time was forever so cold and indifferent. No matter how many splendid blossoms withered or how many stars fell from the heavens, it never paused for even an instant.
Spring passed and autumn came. The leaves in the forest turned yellow, then green, and green, then yellow again.
In the blink of an eye, two years had passed since Old Ent's departure. Yet Old Ent had never returned, leaving Chen Yun deeply worried. He had gone several times to ask a few sages about Old Ent's situation. As far as he was concerned, they ought to know something, but to his disappointment, all the sages had merely shaken their heads and said they did not know.
Even though Chen Yun found it somewhat hard to believe, he could not detect the slightest trace of anything unusual on the sages' faces.
Siri comforted him, "Little Chen, don't worry. Your grandfather must have been delayed by something important. He'll definitely be fine. Don't you trust your grandfather's strength? What you need to do now is work hard to improve your own strength, understand?"
Chen Yun could only nod.
The dense jungle stretched as far as the eye could see. Ancient trees towered into the heavens, while barrel-thick vines coiled around them like writhing dragons. A faint scent of rotting wood drifted through the air, and the roars of beasts rang out from time to time. The entire jungle resembled the Primordial Old Forest, brimming with ancient vitality.
"Roar! Roar!" A burst of furious beast roars suddenly rang out, making one wonder what had happened to enrage it so.
A huge vicious beast, its entire body covered in scales patterned with tiger-like stripes that somehow lent it a trace of beauty, was three meters long. Its head resembled that of a crocodile, and its massive body was like a small hill. It angrily pounced at a tiny black shadow, but the shadow was incredibly fast. The huge beast could never touch it, which made it even more furious. Savage impatience gleamed in its eyes.
A tiny crawling insect actually dared to provoke it—and even toy with it like this. It was the King of this region, after all: a Fifth Order Upper-class Crocodile Tiger Beast. Its attack power was exceptionally formidable. Its only weakness was its relatively slow speed, but even Fifth Order Peak vicious beasts generally did not dare provoke it.
Vicious beasts above the Fifth Order usually possessed titles. This Crocodile Tiger Beast was a Sect Beast. Sixth Order vicious beasts were called Emperor Beasts, Seventh Order ones Imperial Beasts, Eighth Order ones Sacred Beasts, Ninth Order ones Venerable Beasts, and Tenth Order ones Divine Beasts. However, no Divine Beast had appeared on the continent for several hundred years. Even Venerable Beasts were extremely rare, with the last one having appeared a hundred years ago.
The Crocodile Tiger Beast before him was extraordinarily powerful. Its entire body was covered in scales, and its defense was astonishing—comparable to that of a Fifth Order Peak, or even a Sixth Order, vicious beast. Its attack power was likewise unquestionably formidable. Its only flaw was its slow speed. Even so, harming it was extremely difficult, and killing it was harder still.
Chen Yun was even less capable of it. Although his physical strength had already reached the Fourth Order Peak and he could step into the Fifth Order at any time, while his battle aura had only just reached the Fourth Order, dealing with this Crocodile Tiger Beast remained extremely difficult. If not for his astonishing speed, he would have lost to it long ago.
Chen Yun panted as he dodged the Crocodile Tiger Beast's foreclaw, his solemn gaze fixed on the enormous beast before him. His face was filled with helplessness. The beast's entire body was practically a tortoise shell. Even a full-powered strike could only leave a dent without harming its vitals.
"Damn it!" Even Chen Yun's mild temperament could not stop him from swearing. He had already been fighting this vicious beast for several days, yet he still could not defeat it.
Wiping the sweat from his face, Chen Yun stared intently into the Crocodile Tiger Beast's eyes. Every living creature, no matter how powerful, always had eyes as a weakness. But this Crocodile Tiger Beast was truly cunning. Several times, Chen Yun had taken the opportunity to get close and launch a sneak attack on its eyes, only for it to close them in time. Its eyelids were also exceptionally well-defended, causing all his attempts to end in failure.
What should I do? Chen Yun wondered silently. His attention wavered for just an instant. Yet in that instant, the Crocodile Tiger Beast swiftly turned, rapidly closing the distance between them. Then came a thunderous boom that split the heavens and shattered the earth. The Crocodile Tiger Beast slammed both forelimbs into the ground, and the entire earth shook. Several cracks rapidly spread outward in a circle, while the enormous shockwave compressed the air until it burst with a series of explosive sounds.
The tremendous noise instantly snapped Chen Yun back to his senses. By the time he realized something was wrong, it was already too late. A terrifying force struck him, and his body flew far away like an anti-aircraft shell before crashing heavily into a tree. His internal organs felt as if they were about to split apart, and he could not stop a mouthful of blood from spraying out.
"I was careless. I was careless!" Chen Yun regretted inwardly.
Letting one's attention wander in battle was fatal. Even a lion needed to use all its strength when pouncing on a rabbit, let alone Chen Yun, who was no lion—and the Crocodile Tiger Beast was certainly no rabbit.
Although he had once fought desperately against the outsiders who invaded the village and, at the cost of mutual injury, killed a Fifth Order Sect Master, that had only been a Fifth Order Lower-class Sect Master.
His strength had improved greatly since then, but his momentary distraction had allowed the Crocodile Tiger Beast to seize the opportunity and unleash its Innate Skill, War Stomp. The move's might was tremendous, far beyond what Chen Yun could withstand.
This kind of innate technique was a talent that only vicious beasts who had reached the Fifth Order or above could possess. Normally, a vicious beast could form only one, and having two was rare. As for more than two, he had never even heard of such a thing. These innate skills were formed to compensate for a beast's own weaknesses. The Crocodile Tiger Beast had slow speed, so it had developed War Stomp, an indiscriminate attack covering a radius of five meters. Thus, when Chen Yun's attention wavered, it seized the chance to approach and heavily injure him.
The pain throughout his body made Chen Yun suck in sharp breaths. He had already experienced this move from the Crocodile Tiger Beast before. At the time, he had remained vigilant and relied on his speed to dodge it. Now, however, his distraction had left him no time to escape.
Of course, using such an Innate Skill consumed a great deal of strength. The Crocodile Tiger Beast had already used it twice and was utterly exhausted. It should have been unable to use it again.
But Chen Yun had never imagined that the beast could unleash it once more. Clearly, the Crocodile Tiger Beast had lost patience. It had never expected the human to become distracted in battle, so it had forced itself to use War Stomp even at the cost of exhausting itself. In its view, that annoying fly must have died beneath the attack. After all, it had used this move to kill vicious beasts of the same order before. That weak human should have been blasted into mincemeat.
Thinking of this, it could not help feeling relieved. That fly had been pestering it for more than half a month, and now it had finally eliminated him—even if it was already completely exhausted.
Its expectations were clearly wrong. Chen Yun was no ordinary person. His physical strength was comparable to that of a Fifth Order vicious beast. It was only because he had taken the Crocodile Tiger Beast's Innate Skill head-on that he had suffered such serious injuries. The attack's force had probably reached the Sixth Order.
His body had been heavily wounded, but these injuries were still insufficient to rob Chen Yun of his ability to move. He quietly regulated his breathing for several minutes. Seeing that the Crocodile Tiger Beast had not pursued him, he could not help baring his teeth in a grin. That beast must have exhausted itself and collapsed. With that thought, Chen Yun slowly stood and quietly approached the Crocodile Tiger Beast's location. Parting the weeds with both hands, he saw that the beast had indeed collapsed on the ground, its eyes closed as it rested.
A sinister smile crept across Chen Yun's face. Damn it, even with your eyes closed this time, I can still kill you.
He slowly approached the Crocodile Tiger Beast. Looking at the enormous creature from close range, Chen Yun could not help clicking his tongue repeatedly. This fellow is really huge! He walked toward the Crocodile Tiger Beast's head, raised his right hand, and made a knocking gesture, while every muscle in his body tensed.
"Hey, big guy! Wake up!" He tapped on the Crocodile Tiger Beast's eyelid, his face already flushed from holding back his laughter.
The Crocodile Tiger Beast was sleeping soundly. The battle had truly exhausted it, leaving it utterly fatigued. Now, a sudden tapping on its eyelid woke it.
Still groggy and wondering what was happening, it opened its eyes—and was scared out of its wits.
A hand shaped like an eagle's claw was swiftly reaching for its eye. Behind it, a sinisterly grinning face could be seen through the haze. Before it had time to think, a burst of excruciating pain struck, and its consciousness rapidly faded.
What appeared in Chen Yun's hand was a Fiery Red core. Although its surface was covered in scraps of flesh, they could not conceal its dazzling, bewitching radiance. This was a vicious beast's crystal core, the concentrated essence and source of vitality of its entire body. Losing its crystal core meant losing its life. Generally, only vicious beasts of the Fourth Order or above possessed crystal cores.
Vicious beast crystal cores were generally divided into five colors: Fiery Red, transparent, dark green, black, and white. They corresponded to irritability, gentleness, treachery, and calmness, respectively. Clearly, a vicious beast's temperament determined the color of its crystal core.
These were merely the most common types. This summary was naturally incomplete. After all, the War God Continent was vast and boundless, making a complete classification impossible.
Clutching the crystal core in his hand, Chen Yun could not help grinning. "I finally got you! That sure wasn't easy!" he muttered happily.
He had just used up the last of his strength, and now his entire body was limp. Fortunately, this place was relatively safe. After all, the Crocodile Tiger Beast was the King of this region, and other vicious beasts normally would not enter its territory.
Chen Yun therefore sat down with difficulty, crossed his legs, and held his hands in a rounded position before slowly and skillfully forming one hand seal after another.
Chen Yun could now skillfully master the cultivation method of the first level of the Body Refining Art. He had initially spent only half a year grasping its fundamentals, and over the following two years, he had gained an even deeper understanding of its excellence. In particular, he felt that the hand seals were like a key. As his hands moved, streams of energy slowly appeared inside his body, as if they had come from some unknown place. This set of hand seals was the key that opened that place.
As the hand seals moved, the space around him slowly began to ripple and rotate, centered on Chen Yun. It resembled a vortex, except that it strangely spread outward. The range was not large, forming only a sphere that happened to envelop Chen Yun.
Within this spreading range was a comparatively dense amount of Internal Qi, while the surrounding battle aura also rushed madly toward Chen Yun. The amount of battle aura and Internal Qi within the area became almost exactly equal. This phenomenon was truly puzzling and astonishing. Chen Yun's spiritual sense guided the Internal Qi through his body along some mysterious route.
As time passed, Chen Yun felt his strength recover at an astonishing speed. Cultivating immediately after an exhausting battle produced the best results. In only an hour, he had completely recovered.
Yet Chen Yun did not stop. His hands continued forming the seals without the slightest impatience. Time gradually passed. The seals formed by his hands grew faster and faster, and the Internal Qi within his body circulated with increasing speed. Before he realized it, Chen Yun had cultivated the first level of the Body Refining Art to the perfected stage.
Moreover, as time passed, this state grew increasingly flawless.
Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, two months had passed. Chen Yun's body remained motionless like a sculpture, while a colorless, transparent hemispherical shield covered a ten-meter radius, with Chen Yun at its very center.
Outside the Spatial Shield, an aged figure floated in midair. That was right—it was floating there in an utterly uncanny manner, relying entirely on its own strength. One had to know that only a powerhouse of the War Emperor Level could accomplish such a feat!
This Spatial Shield was precisely the mark of a War Emperor powerhouse. It could use the power of space to form a protective barrier that isolated aura and concealed one's presence. Its defensive strength was also extraordinary, and warriors below the War Emperor Level found it exceedingly difficult to break. This person was none other than the Sage Siri.
Siri had already been at the War Emperor Peak for many years, and he had successfully stepped into the War Emperor Level a year ago.
A little over a month earlier, Siri had sensed an unusual fluctuation here. Out of curiosity, he had hurried over, only to be startled by what he saw. The corpse of a Crocodile Tiger Beast lay on the ground, while Chen Yun sat nearby, cultivating.
Siri could only sigh helplessly. This kid is a monster. With Fourth Order Peak strength, he actually killed a Crocodile Tiger Beast with astonishing defenses and practically no weaknesses. Judging from the state of the corpse, it had clearly been killed when Chen Yun pierced directly through its eye and dug out its crystal core.
The Crocodile Tiger Beast guarded its eyes extremely carefully. Attacking from there was practically impossible. Thus, people generally did not hunt Crocodile Tiger Beasts. Unless one's strength far exceeded that of the beast, no one would undertake such a thankless task.
Siri truly could not imagine how this kid had managed it. If he knew how Chen Yun had killed the Crocodile Tiger Beast, his jaw would probably have dropped in shock.
At that moment, Siri slightly furrowed his brows and quietly watched Chen Yun sitting on the ground. Chen Yun's aura had dropped to an extremely low point, but Siri showed no sign of worry. He understood that Chen Yun was currently at the critical stage of advancing.
However, two months had already passed. Normally, advancing to the Fifth Order Sect Master would take no more than a month, yet Chen Yun still showed no movement at all. Instead, his aura had grown lower and lower until it reached its lowest point, where it had remained for more than half a month.
Although Siri was puzzled, there was nothing he could do to help at a time like this. He could only stay there and guard Chen Yun, preventing him from being disturbed.
As Siri watched Chen Yun and quietly pondered, Chen Yun's body suddenly shook. A vast, surging aura abruptly erupted from within him, and the powerful fluctuations radiated outward. Even the Spatial Shield rippled with faint waves.
Siri's eyes suddenly burst with dazzling light. This was a Spatial Shield! Chen Yun had only just advanced to the Fifth Order, yet he had caused faint ripples to appear across it. Even a War Emperor Peak powerhouse would find it difficult to damage this barrier, and an ordinary War Emperor could not shake it in the slightest. Yet Chen Yun, merely a Sect Master who had just advanced, had caused waves to ripple across it. Although they were faint, this alone was astonishing beyond belief.
Is this the might of a Dragon Blood Warrior? Even his grandson Wright, a Berserk Warrior, found it difficult to cause the slightest disturbance in the barrier. Only after going berserk could he produce a barely perceptible ripple, appearing and vanishing intermittently.
At this thought, Siri could not help feeling envious of Old Ent. Thinking of Old Ent also brought a sigh to his heart. Old Ent's journey was probably fraught with danger. Alas!
But just then, a scream interrupted Siri's thoughts. Chen Yun's entire body convulsed, his face twisted in agony. The muscles all over his body writhed incessantly, while the sound of bones cracking and shattering rang from within him, sending chills down one's spine.
Blood began to seep from Chen Yun's body. He rolled about painfully on the ground, wishing only that he could pass out. The intense pain throughout his body nearly drove him to collapse. It was pain that pierced deep into his soul. He felt as if every cell in his body were shattering and colliding with one another.
This time was dozens, even hundreds, of times more painful than when he had first advanced to the First Order. Chen Yun's consciousness had already grown hazy.
"Is this a physical advancement?" Just as Chen Yun suffered in agony, Siri was about to rise when he suddenly stopped and muttered to himself.
"Alas! He can only rely on himself now. I can't help him at all. In fact, I'd probably only make things worse! This is too monstrous. This kind of pain is truly..." Even though Siri was a powerhouse of the War Emperor Level, witnessing this still made his heart tremble.
The agony continued. Chen Yun lay on the ground, his entire body devoid of strength and his expression horribly twisted, yet he did not make a sound. He no longer had the strength to cry out and could only groan occasionally as his whole body trembled nonstop.
At that moment, a clear dragon's roar rang out. Immediately afterward, a layer of azure dragon scales rapidly appeared across Chen Yun's body, with faint golden lines flowing over them from time to time. A dragon tail over two meters long rapidly grew from his lower back, covered in densely packed, cone-shaped protrusions that flashed with cold light. Anyone could imagine the consequences of being struck by it.
Two small golden dragon horns suddenly appeared on Chen Yun's head, their tips flashing with chilling radiance. Floating in the air, Siri's pupils contracted sharply. A Dragon Blood Warrior!
Although he had seen Chen Yun transform before, observing it so carefully and from such close range still left Siri deeply shaken.
Clearly, Chen Yun's transformation had changed greatly. Those radiant dragon horns were especially eye-catching.
At the time, Chen Yun felt as though he was about to lose consciousness. His entire body hurt until it had nearly gone numb.
But just then, a strange, inexplicable fluctuation came from deep within his Soul Sea. Immediately afterward, a small golden dragon shimmering with azure light emerged from the Soul Sea. Accompanied by a high-pitched dragon's roar, it shot toward the sky above the Soul Sea. Golden light bathed the entire Soul Sea, and a gentle energy rapidly spread throughout Chen Yun's body. His severely injured body miraculously began to heal.
That gentle energy continued circulating through his entire body, bringing a tingling sensation. The comfort was so overwhelming that Chen Yun nearly cried out in pleasure.
Gradually, his injuries were almost completely healed. The movements within Chen Yun's body slowly subsided, and the dragon scales on the surface of his body strangely retracted into his skin, leaving not the slightest trace. The dazzling golden dragon horns also slowly withdrew, leaving behind only a flash of light.
Chen Yun gradually regained consciousness. He slowly opened his eyes and blinked several times before finally coming to his senses.
Suddenly, Chen Yun jerked his head up, only to discover that Siri was hovering in the air, staring at him with a stupefied expression.
"Ahem... Grandpa Siri, what are you doing here?" Chen Yun asked in confusion.
"Huh? Heh heh, you brat. You actually dared to attempt a breakthrough in this forest. I've been here protecting you for nearly two months!" Siri finally recovered and said with a hearty laugh.
But immediately afterward, he seemed to notice something. His face filled with amusement as he looked at Chen Yun.
"Huh?" Seeing Siri's strange expression, Chen Yun instantly sensed that something was wrong. He suddenly felt a chill throughout his body and finally understood. His face flushed crimson as he sprang up and dashed toward a nearby patch of grass.
An almost 6,000-character chapter, delivered as promised. Everyone, please continue to show your support!
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