Chen Xuan had already cultivated his Matter Origin Imprint to the fifth layer. Now he needed to hunt ferocious beasts in the Immortal Sword Domain and break through to the sixth.
Chen Xuan spread his divine sense and sped forward a little over a hundred li before encountering a ferocious beast whose Matter Dao origin had reached the sixth layer.
It was a pitch-black construct shaped like a giant scorpion, fully five zhang long. Overlapping metallic plates covered its shell, each flowing with dark-gold patterns that resembled naturally formed marks of the Matter Dao. A light snap of its two enormous pincers gouged a deep trench into the ground, sending metal fragments flying like rain.
The sheer weight of its power far surpassed that of any beast in the first three levels.
Chen Xuan did not rashly approach. First, he used the Time Origin Imprint to lay a slowing field around himself, then activated the Matter Origin Imprint to probe the giant scorpion's shell, hoping to sense its internal material structure.
But the instant his divine sense touched it, his brow furrowed. The shell's material density far exceeded that of ordinary metal, and its internal structure interlocked in layers like chains. Ordinary methods of matter manipulation could not penetrate it, much less extract its core.
Against the shells of this level's beasts, even his fifth-layer Matter Origin Imprint felt somewhat powerless.
The giant scorpion was already charging at him, its enormous pincers crossing in a shearing strike with a shriek that tore through the air.
Chen Xuan dodged sideways. The temporal slowing field reduced the pincers' speed severalfold, but their weight was truly terrifying. Even slowed, the wind from their passing still carved a shallow dent into his protective divine light.
He made an immediate decision and changed tactics.
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