Battle Against a Saint-level Magical Beast

"Finally, the Saint realm." Sean felt immense joy in his heart. Given the chaotic situation currently plaguing the Zhongyuan Continent, reaching the Saint realm finally granted him a sliver of self-preservation. Even if he were wanted by the Darkness Church, as long as he didn't run into a god-level expert, he might not be guaranteed a win, but his chances of escaping would be significantly higher.

However, having just achieved the Saint realm, he was still unfamiliar with the power within his body. At the same time, he needed to create ultimate techniques suited to his current level.

Becoming a Saint had little to do with the Profound Mysteries of the Laws; it was purely the result of energy cleansing the body to reach the Saint realm, which also served as the foundation for beginning to comprehend the Laws of the world.

As for the Shadow Clone, he could currently manifest four bodies, but it seemed he was only using the technique by instinct. He didn't fully understand it yet, and what he needed to do next was to gradually comprehend the profound mysteries within it.

"My lord." A black, bird-like magical beast with the form of a phoenix, radiating black flames, walked over.

"Aidis, is something the matter?" Sean asked.

Level 9 magical beasts generally possessed high intelligence, though they could not speak human languages. However, Sean's soul was highly developed, and over the past year or so, he had learned the language used between these beasts.

Although the area with high elemental concentration brought about by the sealing magic array only spanned a few miles, the long duration had attracted many magical beasts to the area.

However, in the absence of any Saint-level beasts, these creatures were no match for Sean, who could control the Purple Blood God Sword.

Once a balance was established, factions formed. Most magical beasts kept to themselves, avoiding conflict with Sean, while a small minority had effectively defected to him. Aidis was one of them, as Sean occupied the position closest to the magic array, where the concentration of darkness elements was highest.

"My lord, I have some bad news. I fear the secret of this place might be known to a Saint-level magical beast living deep within the Dark Forest," Aidis said.

"A Saint-level magical beast? How would they know?" Sean frowned and asked.

In truth, he hadn't expected to keep this place hidden for a very long time; he only needed a little more time. He had already spent over a year here, taking advantage of the dense darkness elements.

Becoming a Saint had essentially achieved his goal. He was still staying here only to improve himself further. Although a Saint's primary combat strength came from the improvement of the Profound Mysteries of the Laws, the early and middle stages still relied on the amount of energy within the body. Furthermore, the higher the energy, the more advantageous it should be for future comprehension of the Laws.

Although there were many Saint-level magical beasts within the Dark Forest, they mostly lived in the core depths. Given the vast surface area, it was difficult to encounter a Saint-level beast even within the forest.

"It is the descendant of a dark Saint-level magical beast. It came here a while ago and had been cultivating peacefully, so we didn't pay it any mind. But suddenly, some time ago, it disappeared. I fear it went back to inform that Saint-level beast," Aidis said worriedly.

For these Level 9 magical beasts, becoming a Saint was a dream, but the difficulty was immense—one could say it was one in a hundred. Even among a hundred Level 9s, it was not certain that even one could become a Saint. Moreover, the cultivation methods of magical beasts could not be passed down like those of humans, and because their species differed, even if they obtained the cultivation methods of humans or other beasts, they would be ineffective.

Therefore, these Level 9 beasts had not reported this anomalous area to any Saint-level beings, as reaching the Saint realm themselves was what mattered most.

But there was no guarantee that, as their numbers grew, someone wouldn't go and report it.

"What is the true form of that Saint-level magical beast?" Sean asked.

"It is a dark-attribute tiger-type magical beast, extremely ferocious," Aidis said.

"It doesn't matter. Let it come," Sean said, not overly concerned.

"Very well, my lord. I will not disturb you further." Aidis knew that the human before him was already a Saint and dared not intrude further.

Sean nodded and continued his closed-door cultivation. He still needed to utilize the excellent conditions here to absorb more darkness elements while attempting to understand the Profound Mysteries of the Darkness Element and the Shadow Clone.

As for the treasures he could materialize, once he reached the Saint realm, he could exchange for all the ownerless items that appeared before Linley became a god. However, before Linley entered the Necropolis of the Gods, the items that appeared in the Yulan material plane were of little value.

After the Necropolis of the Gods, there were many treasures, such as divine artifacts and several lower-god sparks, but they were of little significance. He already possessed the Purple Blood God Sword, so he had no need for offensive weapons. He did have a material defense divine artifact, which Sean had already materialized and refined. Along the way, he had also obtained the Life Source Pearl from the Necropolis of the Gods, a supreme treasure for Saints that could rapidly heal the body, even restoring severed limbs.

With a lower-level material defense divine artifact, a broken soul-defense Sovereign Artifact, an offensive high-level divine artifact, the Life Source Pearl, and his own comprehension of the basics of the Shadow Clone and darkness elements, combined with the formidable body of a God-Eater Rat, Sean was essentially safe as long as he didn't encounter a god.

Half a month passed quickly. Sean was still immersed in the comprehension of the two Laws of the darkness element when, suddenly, from the depths of a shadow beside him, a large black tiger appeared and viciously swiped a claw at Sean, who was in the middle of his cultivation.

Sean merely smiled at the corner of his mouth and casually swiped his left hand. A palm and a claw collided. "Boom!" A deafening roar erupted, and the powerful shockwave blasted everything within hundreds of meters away. The trees in the middle were all shattered into dust. The tiger that had just launched the sneak attack was sent flying back as quickly as it had arrived.

"Damn it, what kind of 'just entered the Saint realm' is this?" The Saint-level black tiger felt deceived. Although it wasn't considered strong in the Dark Forest, there were few in the entire forest who could send it flying with a single blow. Such an existence, and a human at that, must have reached an incredibly high level of cultivation.

It wasn't stupid; it knew that if it encountered such an expert, it would surely die if it didn't run. So, it immediately shrank its body and burrowed into the ground.

This was its ultimate technique. Although it wasn't an earth-attribute magical beast, once its body shrank, it could burrow through the ground extremely quickly by relying on its Saint-level power. Once it reached the deep underground, no matter how strong the enemy was, there would be nothing they could do.

In a moment, the black tiger reached the deep underground and let out a sigh of relief. Just as it prepared to find a direction to escape, it suddenly heard a voice beside it: "You burrow quite fast. If I didn't know the Earth Walk magic, I really might not have been able to do anything about you."

The black tiger was scared out of its wits. The person who had arrived was naturally Sean, the target it had just tried to ambush. A flash of black light surrounded Sean, and suddenly four tigers appeared, identical in size and aura, making it impossible to distinguish the real one.

"Oh? Shadow Clone?" Sean's eyes lit up. This tiger's execution of the Profound Mysteries of the Shadow Clone was even better than his own.