20 Years Old! Saint Domain?

Deep within Demon Flag Mountain.

The surging battle spirit in Lei Wen's eyes rose again, only to be forcibly suppressed by him.

Don't rush.

That madly stirring heart gradually stilled.

It was as if someone had pressed a pause button.

The violent elemental currents still raged.

Yet the clashing sounds from the core area abruptly vanished.

Lei Wen held his breath, his entire body like a stone statue, crouching beneath the roots of a massive ancient tree.

He forcefully lowered his racing heartbeat to its limit.

A kilometer away.

What had originally been an unending battle.

The enormous Earth Bear rose onto its hind legs.

The deep wound on its chest, so deep that bone could be seen, still poured blood outward.

Yet it had not fallen.

Its pair of eyes, flickering with an earthen yellow glow, revealed a chilling calm.

In midair.

White Bone Wings' sole remaining wing slowly flapped. Its aura had grown somewhat weak, but it still held its head high with pride.

"Is this your limit?"

The Earth Bear's voice was deep and heavy, carrying a trace of mockery.

"Big bear."

"If I want to leave, you can't stop me."

White Bone Wings sneered.

Its voice was sharp and piercing, like metal scraping against stone.

"Coward."

The Earth Bear suddenly withdrew the paw it had been about to strike with.

Both sides were injured. Continuing the fight would only benefit the other Sacred Beasts.

Though it was a beast, it was not stupid.

A flash of light.

White Bone Wings turned into a white blur and vanished into the sky.

The Earth Bear gave a heavy snort.

Its huge bear paw slapped the ground.

With a rumble, earth and stone churned.

Its massive body was wrapped in the ground, then slowly sank underground and disappeared without a trace.

Only a battlefield in ruins remained, bearing witness to the terrifying collision between two Saint Domain beasts.

Lei Wen crawled out from beneath the roots.

Cold sweat soaked his back, sliding down his forehead.

"What a monster."

Lei Wen let out a breath and brushed the mud from his body.

No sympathy.

No pity.

These Sacred Beasts were far smarter than many humans.

"Forget it."

"Let's retreat first."

Spring passed, autumn came.

The days deep within Demon Flag Mountain were the harshest.

In the blink of an eye, two years had passed.

Deep within Demon Flag Mountain, in a valley blanketed by ice and snow year-round.

A roar echoed, and snow as large as goose feathers crashed down like a curtain.

"Boom!"

A towering giant elephant over twenty meters tall crashed onto the ice, shaking the entire valley.

The giant elephant's skull had shattered. It had long since died.

In midair.

A gigantic creature over a hundred meters long slowly descended.

Its snow-white scales reflected a metallic gleam beneath the sunlight, while its enormous wings covered the sky.

With every breath, visible white frost spewed from its nostrils.

A Ninth Rank Warrior beast, an Icefrost Giant Dragon.

It was also Lei Wen's beast companion, Xiao Bai.

"Can you stop being so violent next time?"

From within the ice cave came a voice that had begun to change.

A tall figure walked out from a nearby ice cave.

He was bare-chested.

His lean muscles were sharply defined, yet seemed like countless steel cords twisted together, brimming with explosive strength.

This person was the twenty-year-old Lei Wen.

Lei Wen now had a little less of the youthful immaturity he possessed two years ago, and much more of the sharpness of a blade.

"Roar~"

Xiao Bai lowered its head.

Its enormous dragon head came before Lei Wen, letting out a slightly aggrieved growl.

"Alright."

"I know you've worked hard."

Lei Wen patted those massive dragon scales. They felt icy and hard.

He walked over to the giant elephant carcass without any unnecessary movement.

His right hand formed a blade, then casually slashed.

"Shk!"

The hide of the fierce giant elephant, hard as iron, was smoothly sliced open under that palm.

There was no Spirit Qi glow.

It was pure physical strength, combined with some mysterious skill.

"Ship it out..."

"Ship it if you can..."

"I've already done all the preparations for the barbecue..."

As he expertly butchered the Ninth Rank Warrior beast, Lei Wen muttered to himself.

That great battle from two years ago felt like a seed.

Over those two years.

Lei Wen had locked himself within this isolated ice-and-snow valley.

Every day, other than eating, he trained.

He ate the flesh of Ninth Rank Warrior beasts and drank icy spring water rich in heaven-and-earth elements.

As a result, both Lei Wen's body and Spirit Qi had reached the limits of a Ninth Rank Warrior.

Even without using Spirit Qi.

Relying solely on physical strength.

Lei Wen could punch an ordinary Ninth Rank Warrior beast to death.

But that was still not enough.

That invisible barrier was clearly as thin as a sheet of paper, yet he simply could not break through it.

"Hmm..."

After tossing the best piece of rib meat to Xiao Bai.

Lei Wen cut off another piece, set it over the fire, and began roasting it.

The flames danced.

Illuminating his contemplative face.

What exactly was power?

The Earth Bear's power was heaviness, suppression, like an enormous mountain that made people sigh in awe.

White Bone Wings' power was tearing, speed, a sharpness that seemed capable of ripping even space apart.

What about my power?

"Sizzle."

Fat from the roasting meat dripped into the fire.

Lei Wen stared blankly at the dancing flames.

Flames were light, yet could burn everything.

Ice was cold, yet could nurture life.

Over the past two years, he had witnessed the tyranny of this valley.

The snowflakes drifting down appeared soft.

Yet when countless snowflakes gathered into a snowstorm, their might was enough to make even Xiao Bai retreat.

"It isn't simply the accumulation of physical strength."

"Nor is it a crude stacking of limits."

Suddenly.

Lei Wen rose to his feet.

He walked to a waterfall deep within the valley.

The waterfall was cold.

The surrounding area was frozen solid year-round, yet the waterfall never froze.

Water splashed everywhere.

Every droplet was like a flying blade.

Lei Wen stood quietly beside the waterfall.

Watching the tireless flow.

Water.

The softest, yet also the hardest.

It could flow around rocks blocking its path, yet it could also erupt with enough force to shatter all obstacles in an instant.

"I understand."

"I've been trying to imitate the Earth Bear's heaviness and White Bone Wings' speed."

"But I forgot that I'm human."

"Human will is the king that controls all power."

Lei Wen slowly closed his eyes.

Within his mind.

That battle he had simulated countless times appeared once more.

But this time.

The protagonist was no longer those two beasts.

It was Lei Wen himself.

In that spiritual world.

Lei Wen no longer dodged the Earth Bear's strikes, nor did he pursue White Bone Wings' phantom.

He simply stood there quietly.

The next moment.

His palm flipped over, and a pitch-black long sword appeared.

A sword meant to pierce through the heavens and sever every shackle.

That will, refined to its utmost limit through pure physical strength, immediately resonated with something miraculous.

Outside.

The previously raging snowstorm suddenly came to a halt.

It was not the snow that had stopped.

Rather, the currents of air throughout the space had been seized and controlled by some immense force.

Xiao Bai, which had been feasting on the fierce giant elephant, suddenly raised its head. Its huge dragon eyes were filled with shock.

It sensed it.

A majesty called terror, centered on its master, was wildly spreading in every direction.

That majesty carried unruliness, as though it intended to suppress everything.

Like an undercurrent beneath the sea, calm on the surface yet containing enough power to destroy everything.

Ripples spread across the water.

Lei Wen slowly raised his hand.

He did not use any magic.

Yet the serene water plants around him and the fallen petals all floated into the air.

"This is... control."

Lei Wen narrowed his eyes.

His originally pitch-black pupils now faintly glimmered with two streaks of divine light.

That was the outward manifestation of mental power once it had grown powerful enough.

He took a step forward.

There was clearly nothing beneath his feet, yet it felt as though he had stepped onto solid ground.

One step, two steps, three steps.

He walked through the air as if climbing stairs, step by step ascending into the sky.

Saint Domain.

Only those who had reached the Saint Domain, whose mental power could resonate with the elements of heaven and earth, could walk through the air.

Twenty steps.

A Saint Domain Expert!