Seeking Aid

Qi Bei did not wake until noon. The instant he opened his eyes, a golden radiance stabbed at them like the sun.

He sat up and stared blankly for quite a while before recalling a few scattered fragments.

"Demoness..." As if waking from a dream, Qi Bei turned his head to search for Yao Rao, but apart from him, the cave was empty. The jade beauty had already left.

At that moment, Qi Bei saw characters glowing with a blue-green light on the cave wall.

"Travel south for two days, and you will leave the Undead Mountain Range. You and I owe each other nothing. As for what happened last night, treat it as a spring dream. Never mention it to anyone, or you will bring down enormous trouble upon yourself. If fate should bring us together..."

The writing ended there, but Qi Bei seemed to see Yao Rao's complicated expression.

Qi Bei laughed and muttered, "After becoming my woman, do you still think you can escape? Fate or no fate—if I say we're fated, then we're definitely fated. I planted my Dragon Seal in your soul. Even if you run to the ends of the earth, I can still drag you back."

Feeling completely refreshed, Qi Bei began examining his condition.

At that moment, the hazy golden inner force in Qi Bei's Dantian had become much more solid. As it shifted, it faintly took on the shape of a dragon.

"The First Transformation of the Divine Dragon actually came so easily." Qi Bei froze for a moment, his entire body flooding with pleasant surprise.

Qi Bei circulated his inner force into both hands. He felt them begin swelling rapidly as layer upon layer of golden dragon scales covered them, and sharp claws extended one by one.

Power—terrifying power—filled both hands.

With a loud shout, Qi Bei raked both claws across the cave wall. The sharp claws sank into the rock as easily as knives through tofu.

Then he dragged both claws toward either side. At once, the entire cave began to tremble, seemingly about to collapse from that single strike.

However, more than half of Qi Bei's inner force was instantly consumed. In other words, with his current inner force, he would be exhausted after using the attack twice.

But that was already terrifying enough. Suddenly using the Divine Dragon Transformation in battle could change one's fate.

Qi Bei shot out of the cave. The moment he emerged, the cave completely collapsed.

Qi Bei withdrew his inner force, and his hands returned to normal. At last, he had gained a sliver of confidence; he now had something to rely on to establish himself in this world.

He examined his body again and discovered that, at the middle Dantian in his chest, there were five additional milky-white rings of Battle Qi energy.

"Battle Qi energy—this is Battle Qi energy! Five rings condensed directly into existence. In other words, I now possess the strength of a middle-grade warrior in this world." Qi Bei felt pleasantly surprised once more.

A person had three major Dantians—upper, middle, and lower. Unless otherwise specified, "Dantian" referred to the Qihai in the lower abdomen. The middle Dantian was the Tanzhong point in the chest, while the upper Dantian was the Heavenly Aperture between the brows.

When Battle Qi in the middle Dantian was scattered and had not formed any rings, one was an apprentice warrior. Condensing one to three rings made one a beginner warrior; four to six rings made one a middle-grade warrior; seven to nine rings made one an advanced warrior. When the rings transformed into liquid, one became a King Grade Warrior.

If the liquid one day condensed into a core, that represented entry into the Earth Grade warrior realm.

One to three Battle Qi cores made one an Earth Grade warrior; four to six made one a Heaven Grade warrior; seven to nine made one a Saint warrior.

Qi Bei was impatient to find some undead to test himself against and try out the might of the Mad Dragon Battle Qi Art.

However, after searching for half a day, Qi Bei found nothing but shattered undead remains.

"Demoness, you've fallen in love with me, haven't you? Heh heh." With a turn of his thoughts, Qi Bei understood what had happened. Yao Rao must have feared that the undead would harm him, so she had cleared out all the undead in the surrounding area.

When Qi Bei thought of Yao Rao, the Divine Dragon pattern on his left palm flashed. He suddenly sensed that Yao Rao was not far away.

Yao Rao was indeed concealed nearby, watching Qi Bei. When she saw the cave collapse just after Qi Bei rushed out, she also sensed the unfamiliar energy fluctuations that had yet to disperse from his body. Even as mere remnants, that strange energy left her shaken.

Unfortunately, her position had prevented her from seeing Qi Bei's pair of dragon claws. Otherwise, she might well have assumed that he also possessed orc blood.

"Brat, what you cultivated was no Martial Arts at all. It was clearly (that) art..." Yao Rao cursed inwardly. Otherwise, how could his strength have advanced so terrifyingly after the two of them had been intimate? Then again, her own strength had also increased considerably. It seemed she had already touched the threshold of a Heaven Grade mage.

Seeing Qi Bei full of vigor, Yao Rao gave him a deep look. She believed that, given his rate of growth, the two of them might soon stand at the same level. Only then did she truly fly away from the Undead Mountain Range.

In a gloomy, damp jungle, a squad of ten Black Armored Soldiers maintained an arrowhead formation as they searched aimlessly for something.

"Captain, I just don't understand. It's already been eight months. Why hasn't the commander given up searching?" one of the soldiers whispered.

"Exactly. Eight months. Not to mention that good-for-nothing younger brother of the commander—even an Earth Grade warrior would face certain danger after venturing deep into the Undead Mountain Range," another soldier cut in.

At that moment, the burly man at the tip of the arrowhead formation turned and barked, "Shut up. A soldier's first duty is to obey orders. And you, Tie Tou—the commander's younger brother isn't someone you can insult. If I hear you say that again, I'll skin you alive."

"Captain, I, Tie Tou, speak only the truth. I respect the commander. If he ordered me to die, I, Tie Tou, wouldn't say a word. But that younger brother of his—hmph." The Black Armored Soldier Tie Tou stubbornly raised his voice. In the army, only fists earned respect; they looked down on the young masters and young ladies who could not even truss a chicken.

The burly man flashed in front of Tie Tou and slapped him flying. Then he followed like lightning, clamping an iron palm around Tie Tou's throat until his eyes bulged and his tongue lolled out.

"Since you've only just joined the Black Armored Army, I'll merely teach you a lesson. Otherwise, I really would skin you. The commander is our heaven, our god. He and Young Master Qi Bei share a bond deeper than blood. Insulting him is insulting the commander. I'll let you keep your head for now." The burly man spoke sternly as he released his hand.

"Yes, commander." Tie Tou held his head high as he answered, but unwillingness still flickered in his eyes.

"Back in formation. Continue searching." The burly man shook his head inwardly. Although he also looked down on Qi Bei Nord, he would never show it. The Black Armored Soldiers who had followed the commander for some time all knew how much he doted on this younger brother.

The squad advanced for about five li when the leading burly man's expression suddenly changed. He made several hand signals.

The ten men immediately contracted from an arrow formation into a cluster, forming a standard defensive formation.

Many undead suddenly emerged from the jungle and charged over like packs of wolves scenting blood.

The entire squad did not panic. Instead, they remained remarkably calm. One could judge the whole from a single glimpse; this alone revealed the Black Armored Army's superb discipline.

"Da Niu, send a distress signal. Everyone, use the Rolling Blade Formation and retreat toward the rear." The burly man issued the order without expression. The undead horde was enormous, visibly numbering more than a hundred, with more undead continuing to emerge behind them.

They had not even entered deep into the Undead Mountain Range, so such a massive undead horde was exceedingly rare. Moreover, it was still daytime, yet they had been unlucky enough to encounter one.

A flare shot into the sky and burst brilliantly above the Undead Mountain Range, shrouded in thin black smoke. It formed the shape of a roaring tiger and remained there for a long time.

Twenty li away, Qi Bei casually chopped the heads off three zombies. Seeing the flare explode in the sky, he could not help freezing.

"The Tiger Token? Isn't that the unique distress flare of the Black Armored Army under my elder brother?" Qi Bei pushed off with the soles of his feet and dashed toward the direction of the flare.