Departure

Chapter 28: Departure

As dusk faded, the sky began to lighten, as if slowly eroding the dark canopy, heralding the arrival of a new day. Tomorrow was always a word filled with unknowns, evoking endless anticipation.

A slightly burly figure stood quietly, his eyes, like stars, gazing at the village gradually shrouded in mist, a hint of sadness in his gaze.

This was Chen Yun. Today, he was leaving the village where he had lived for twelve years, and he couldn't help but feel reluctant. He hadn't slept all night, Old Ent's matter constantly swirling in his mind, coupled with the impending departure, it made him feel a mix of emotions.

He had talked with Siri for a long time last night. Siri had told him many things and even gifted him a space ring. Despite Chen Yun's repeated refusals, he couldn't refuse Siri's kind gesture, which made Chen Yun feel secretly grateful.

One had to know that space rings were extremely precious. Only cultivators at the War Emperor level and above could refine them, because only they understood the power of space. The ring Siri gave Chen Yun was one he had refined himself.

Since he had only just entered the War Emperor realm, and War Emperors only possessed rudimentary spatial skills, this space ring was only a mere five cubic meters in size. Even so, it was quite valuable.

Space rings were very rare on the continent. Generally, only major families or cultivators at the War Emperor level and above possessed them. Of course, given the vastness of the continent, there were scattered rings to be found. Once, someone hunting Fierce Beasts in the forest stumbled upon a dilapidated ruin and found a space ring. However, that person was later killed for it.

One could imagine the preciousness of space rings. Therefore, no matter how good an item was, without powerful strength and background, possessing such an item would only bring disaster.

However, Chen Yun was unaware of this at the moment, and Siri hadn't told him. In Siri's mind, Chen Yun's strength was already considered that of a master, so it didn't matter.

Sigh! Chen Yun let out a low sigh, turned abruptly, and strode away into the distance.

The villagers were still asleep, and no one knew Chen Yun had left. However, in a dark corner, a pair of bright eyes quietly watched the departing Chen Yun. Until Chen Yun's figure disappeared from their sight, a sharp glint flashed in those eyes, and a low murmur arose: "War God Academy? Heh, I'll come for you!"

Immediately, the bright eyes vanished. The village remained quiet. Chen Yun had left, but he didn't know that a pair of eyes had silently watched his departure from the shadows.

Not long after, the sky was fully bright. The morning forest gradually became lively. Birds chirped, rustling sounds came from the grass, and low roars of beasts echoed one after another, presenting a vibrant scene.

Just then, a sound of wind breaking through the air erupted, and the powerful aura emanating from it silenced the surroundings. A black shadow flashed by, its speed so fast it was like a streak of light, even leaving afterimages. The figure darted left and right among the dense trees, its movements erratic and elusive.

Finally, the figure stopped. "Hoo hoo..." Large beads of sweat rolled down its face. It was Chen Yun. He was panting heavily. After his sharp eyes swept the surroundings, he relaxed, sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and quietly regulated his breathing.

Chen Yun had been traveling at high speed all the way. In fact, it wasn't just traveling, but also training his speed and agility. Along the way, Chen Yun had not used Internal Qi or Battle Qi, relying solely on his physical body to run.

This forest was called the Hundred Thousand Forest. As the name suggested, it was vast. Some exaggeratedly claimed the entire forest stretched for ten thousand miles from east to west and thirty thousand miles from north to south, making it the most expansive forest on the War God Continent and one of the continent's major dangerous areas.

It was home to countless Fierce Beasts and was divided into four major regions. The outer areas were generally inhabited by Fierce Beasts of the First to Third Orders and ordinary wild beasts. The second region was generally home to Fierce Beasts of the Fourth to Sixth Orders, mostly Fourth and Fifth Order, with only a few Sixth Order Fierce Beasts. The third region was mostly populated by Sixth Order Fierce Beasts, and there were quite a few Seventh Order Fierce Beasts. Its core territory was the domain of Eighth Order Sacred Beasts, and it was rumored that Venerable Rank Fierce Beasts lurked there, indicating its high danger level.

Chen Yun's route was through the second region. This route was also the one Siri had pointed out to Chen Yun, heading directly towards the War God Academy.

Chen Yun now realized that the village he lived in was actually located in the third region, albeit in a very remote area with treacherous terrain surrounding it. Otherwise, in a region like the third, where Sixth Order Fierce Beasts roamed freely, even with the village's considerable strength, it couldn't withstand the onslaught of swarms of Sixth Order Fierce Beasts!

He had only reached this point by following Siri's designated route, winding his way around. He hadn't encountered any particularly powerful Fierce Beasts along the way. He had initially wanted to train, but in the end, he thought of practicing his speed.

After regulating his breathing for a while, Chen Yun stood up, touched the space ring on his left hand, pondered for a moment, closed his eyes, sensed it slightly, and then headed in the direction of distant Fierce Beast roars.

The village Chen Yun lived in was completely self-sufficient and did not use the common currency of the continent. Since Chen Yun was coming to the mainland, he would need money, so he had to hunt Fierce Beasts himself to obtain Crystal Cores, as Fierce Beast Crystal Cores were quite valuable.

The common currency on the continent consisted of copper coins, silver coins, gold coins, and purple gold coins. 1 purple gold coin = 100 gold coins, 1 gold coin = 1000 silver coins, 1 silver coin = 1000 copper coins.

A common family on the continent spent only about twenty gold coins a year.

Fierce Beast Crystal Cores were so valuable because they were the source of a Fierce Beast's entire strength, containing immense energy. They could be used to forge weapons, greatly increasing their power. High-level Fierce Beast Crystal Cores could also be used to set up spatial teleportation arrays. Some Crystal Cores with pure energy could even be used for cultivation; the dense energy contained within could increase a cultivator's cultivation speed several times, or even more than ten times. However, this still depended on the level of the Crystal Core. Pure Crystal Cores were generally rare.

Generally, Fierce Beast Crystal Cores of the First to Third Orders ranged from 10 to 100 gold coins, increasing incrementally. Fourth Order Crystal Cores could sell for 200 to 300 gold coins. Fifth Order Crystal Cores could sell for 400 to 600. Crystal Cores of the Sixth Order and above were extremely valuable. A Sixth Order Crystal Core could sell for over a hundred thousand gold coins. Seventh Order Crystal Cores were much more expensive than Sixth Order ones, selling for millions of gold coins. As for Eighth Order Sacred Beast Crystal Cores and Ninth Order Venerable Beast Crystal Cores, they were priceless and their value could not be measured in money. As for Tenth Order Divine Beast Crystal Cores, they were practically legendary.

Chen Yun concealed his aura and quickly moved forward. Before him were two Fifth Order Sect Beasts: one was a massive, mid-Fifth Order Tiger-Striped Beast, and the other was a relatively smaller, lower-Fifth Order Gale Wolf King.

The two Fierce Beasts were fighting. The Tiger-Striped Beast leaped forward, pouncing on the Gale Wolf King. The Gale Wolf King was not to be trifled with either; with wind-like speed, it dodged the Tiger-Striped Beast and fiercely slashed at it with its sharp claws, leaving a deep wound on the Tiger-Striped Beast.

The Tiger-Striped Beast roared, and a powerful sonic wave rippled towards the Gale Wolf King, sending it flying far away. It spat out a mouthful of wolf blood. This made Chen Yun, watching from the shadows, marvel. He never knew the Tiger-Striped Beast could attack with sound waves; he had never heard of it or seen it before.

The Gale Wolf King was heavily injured by the Tiger-Striped Beast's carelessness, but it was still a Fifth Order Sect Beast, and it wouldn't be so easy for the Tiger-Striped Beast to kill it.

Seeing the Gale Wolf King lying on the ground, severely injured, the Tiger-Striped Beast let out a triumphant roar and slowly walked up to it. It then raised its front two paws and brought them down with a gust of wind towards the Gale Wolf King.

However, the Gale Wolf King, which had been lying on the ground, severely injured, suddenly dodged to the side, escaping from under the Tiger-Striped Beast's claws with lightning speed. It opened its maw and bit down fiercely on the Tiger-Striped Beast's hind leg. The Tiger-Striped Beast roared in anger at this attack and violently shook its body, releasing a powerful airflow. The Gale Wolf was violently thrown aside. Before the Gale Wolf King could react, the Tiger-Striped Beast's massive body lunged forward.

Seeing that escape was inevitable, the Gale Wolf King's fierce eyes flashed with madness. Its abdomen bulged, and it spat out a spherical energy ball, carrying a destructive aura, towards the Tiger-Striped Beast.

Immediately, a world-shattering explosion occurred. The Tiger-Striped Beast's massive body was thrown into the air and then slammed heavily onto the ground, motionless. A large hole had been blasted in its head. As the Gale Wolf King was also very close to the explosion point and severely injured, it was also blasted to death.

Thus, the two Fifth Order Sect Beasts perished.

Chen Yun, hiding in the shadows, watched the scene with a stunned expression. He had originally intended to deal with these two Fifth Order Fierce Beasts himself, but he had suddenly become curious about the Tiger-Striped Beast's sonic wave attack and stopped to watch their fight. He hadn't expected it to end so quickly.

Shaking his head helplessly, he slowly walked out. It seemed like a great gift had been delivered to him – two Sect Beast Crystal Cores! They should fetch a good price, he thought. At this time, Chen Yun was still unaware of the price of Crystal Cores.

He took out a sharp, half-meter-long knife from his space ring. This small knife had been with Chen Yun for over five years. He usually used this knife to dissect Fierce Beasts after training and hunting them in the forest.

He nimbly extracted the Crystal Cores. The surface of the Crystal Cores was very smooth. They only needed to have the surrounding flesh and blood removed; they didn't need to be washed with water.

The Gale Wolf King's Crystal Core was white, while the Tiger-Striped Beast's Crystal Core was fiery red. This indicated that the Tiger-Striped Beast was a berserker type of Fierce Beast, and the Gale Wolf King was a calm type. From the fight between the two Fierce Beasts, one could see that the Gale Wolf King's calm nature allowed it, with its lower-Fifth Order strength, to fight the mid-Fifth Order Tiger-Striped Beast to a mutual destruction. This showed the importance of a calm mind in battle.

Calm-type Fierce Beasts were a very powerful type among Fierce Beasts.

Chen Yun recognized this and secretly warned himself. It was precisely because of this that he was able to turn danger into safety in future battles.

Chen Yun continued on his journey. The Fierce Beasts he encountered gradually increased.

As his route gradually approached the third region of the forest, the strength of the Fierce Beasts he encountered also grew stronger. During this time, he even encountered a lower-Sixth Order Fierce Beast. Chen Yun managed to kill it using only his physical strength and Battle Qi, without using Internal Qi. As a result, he sustained some rather serious injuries.

However, for Chen Yun, who had been training with Fierce Beasts for a long time, this was nothing.

This forest truly lived up to its name, the Hundred Thousand Forest. Chen Yun had been traveling for half a month and still hadn't gotten out, even though he was traveling at high speed. If not for Siri's directions, he would have suspected he was lost.

There was no other option but to keep walking. He believed he would be out soon!

Another ten days passed. Chen Yun walked slowly through the forest. The travel during this period had indeed made him a bit weary, but the gains were quite substantial. Not only had his cultivation seen some progress and his physical speed improved, but his Internal Qi and Battle Qi had also advanced somewhat. His Internal Qi had reached the peak of Fifth Order Lower Rank, just one step away from entering the Fifth Order Middle Rank. His Battle Qi had also reached the peak of Fourth Order Middle Rank. It could be said that the gains were immense, considering that after Fourth Order, the further one progressed, the more difficult it became to improve.

Moreover, the harvest of Fierce Beast Crystal Cores was not small either: one Sixth Order Fierce Beast Crystal Core, ten Fifth Order Fierce Beast Crystal Cores, and a whopping thirty Fourth Order Fierce Beast Crystal Cores. As for those below Third Order, there were about twenty-odd in total. This also showed that as Chen Yun's strength improved, his sights were set higher!

Gradually, the light around him grew brighter and brighter, which couldn't help but fill Chen Yun with a surge of pleasant surprise. It seemed he was about to exit this damned forest, as he had been traveling through it for nearly a month.

Although this amount of time wasn't much for Chen Yun, who had spent a long time in forests, he was in a hurry to leave this forest and enter the outside world. This was something he had always dreamed of! How could he not be eager?

Chen Yun let out an excited long cry, accelerating his pace. Instantly, the sound of wind breaking through the air erupted.

But just then, a woman's crying voice rang out, "Ah!"

Chen Yun abruptly stopped, his expression changing slightly, and he frowned, "What is this?"

After all, he rarely interacted with outsiders, and he was momentarily taken aback. However, his reaction was not slow; he turned and rushed rapidly in the direction of the sound!