Lush, dense forest stretched beneath towering trees that seemed to pierce the clouds. Withered leaves and humus carpeted the ground.
Now and then, a dead branch fell, half-buried in the leaf litter, or even disappearing completely beneath it.
If you didn't want to get hurt for no reason while racing through the jungle, you'd better watch out for those dead branches underfoot.
On Dongyuan Planet, a world teeming with strange creatures, some dead branches could be harder and sharper than metal. You wouldn't want to kick one...
The village chief, Shenghui, and "the Wise Guy," Sijian, floated among the leaves. One was a Universe Rank Ninth Order warrior, and the other was a Cosmic Level Third Order warrior. They were both powerful enough to easily escape the pull of gravity and fly freely!
Everyone else, Flying Star Rank (Star Rank) and below, clung to the tree trunks in all sorts of poses. The luckier ones had branches to stand on, while some even hugged the trunks with their whole bodies.
They were all trying to get the best seats in the front row to watch Yuan, fully armed and holding an elegant longsword, slowly approach the first Desolate Beast he had ever faced: a Fang Beast (boar-type).
Sijian stood with his hands on his hips, wearing armor made of irregular light-blue metal plates. It looked far more pleasing than the multicolored armor Shenghui wore. He smiled and commented,
"An Earth Rank Fifth Order Desolate Beast is hard to find. This Fang Beast probably got separated from its herd while they were fleeing from hunters..."
Yuan's Spiritual Force could now control a formation of thirteen A9 metal throwing knives, easily slaughtering this "wild boar." But that would defeat the purpose of honing his skills.
"How many moves do you think Yuan will need to beat it without using his Spiritual Force?" someone in the trees asked discreetly, inviting bets.
"Stop talking and watch carefully. Pay attention to how a true genius at the Artistic Conception Level attacks. It might help you comprehend a Conception!" Shenghui interrupted sternly.
At last, everyone fell silent, waiting quietly for Yuan's performance.
Like a nimble leopard, Yuan darted behind a fallen tree trunk and looked toward the Fang Beast nearby.
The Fang Beast's entire body was covered in black fur, each hair like a black steel spike. A dark-gray horn jutted from its head like a sharp sword!
In the faint light scattered into the forest at noon by the accretion disk of Tuya Black Hole, the horn gleamed with a cold, reflected light.
"This is my first battle. I have to make it a good one!" Yuan stared intently at the Fang Beast, which was searching for prey ahead.
"Grr... Grr..."
The Fang Beast growled, its murderous eyes sweeping over its surroundings.
"It's found me." Yuan's heartbeat quickened. He felt no fear, unlike what he'd expected. Instead, he was excited!
"Boom!" The Fang Beast suddenly charged, as if it had become a speeding armored vehicle, and slammed straight into the fallen trunk shielding Yuan.
Yuan dodged nimbly like a monkey. With a thunderous crash, the trunk went flying, spinning through the forest and smashing into several trees.
After decades of wind and sun, the cracked trunk broke apart into pieces. The sharp crack of splitting wood and the rustle of branches and leaves shook by the impact carried far through the forest...
The instant he dodged, Yuan charged toward the Fang Beast.
"Beast, die!" Yuan growled. His whole body shot toward the Fang Beast like a bolt of lightning.
The Origin Energy weapon sword in his hand flashed as he thrust it straight at the Fang Beast's neck.
The Fang Beast, having just knocked the trunk aside, seemed unable to turn in time. But just as Yuan drew near—
Whoosh! A dark blur came slashing toward his head.
"So fast!" Yuan jumped in fright. He pushed off with one foot and barely managed to twist aside, avoiding the blur.
It was the Fang Beast's tail, as thick and hard as an iron whip!
"Thud! Thud!"
After whipping its tail, the Fang Beast's agility suddenly soared. It lunged fiercely at Yuan.
Its thick iron hooves and sharp, swordlike horn stabbed toward him.
"Damn, this Fang Beast is fast!" Yuan immediately stepped back, forced to brace his palm against the flat of the blade near its tip and push forward.
"Bang!"
The blade collided violently with the Fang Beast's iron hoof. At the moment of impact, Yuan used the recoil to dive backward, then rolled across the ground to absorb the force.
The Fang Beast charged after him at full speed. Yuan flipped around and planted a foot against the trunk of a nearby tree, then darted behind another tree in an instant.
The trees blocked the Fang Beast, preventing its rapid charge from having any effect.
The Starship Humans watching from a short distance away all nodded slightly.
"Chief, Yuan's reactions are pretty good. After ten days or so of training, he's nothing like a novice anymore!" Sijian said with a smile.
Shenghui nodded with a smile. "I thought he'd have a hard time facing the Fang Beast for the first time!"
Sijian commented, "His reflexes are incredibly quick, and his fundamentals are excellent. Using the flat of his sword to absorb the force was especially clever. His movements are smooth and flowing!"
"I think he'll soon master how to use his Light Artistic Conception in actual combat!" Shenghui's eyes burned with excitement.
With Shenghui's Universe Rank neural response speed, Yuan's fight with the Fang Beast played out like a "sloth"—so slowly it was like watching an animated picture one frame at a time!
What was rare was seeing the process of an ethereal Conception entering actual combat!
After all, even the strongest person in Shenghui's village had only barely transformed his Conception into a Domain when he entered Universe Rank several thousand years ago.
Even now, he had only reached the seventh level of Flame Domain, with just a sliver of a chance of entering Domain Lord Rank.
Yuan was utterly focused, but inwardly startled. "This Fang Beast is so cunning. It deliberately acted weak at first, then suddenly attacked me with its tail, followed by its iron hooves and sharp horn, one attack after another."
"Then came that frenzied charge... Those moves in succession. Thank goodness I've made some progress practicing the Die Feng Sword Art these past ten days. I have much finer control over the strength of my whole body now!"
If Yuan hadn't practiced the Die Feng Sword Art so intensely over the past half month, that wave of attacks would have forced him to use his Spiritual Force to avoid getting hurt.
"Grr..." The Fang Beast growled. It didn't foolishly try to ram the sturdy trees. Instead, it leaped past one thick tree after another, then charged toward Yuan.
"Beast, you're dead this time!"
Yuan kicked a nearby piece of broken wood. It shot toward the Fang Beast like a stone launched from a catapult.
The Fang Beast didn't slow down at all. It merely lowered its head slightly, and its razor-sharp horn easily sliced through half the wood before the pieces fell away.
After kicking the wood, Yuan had immediately charged toward the Fang Beast.
"Grr..." As the Fang Beast knocked the wood aside, it turned its head at once and thrust its swordlike horn at Yuan.
"Die!" At that moment, Yuan spun nimbly, like a butterfly, evading the Fang Beast's horn with exquisite precision.
As he spun, Yuan's Origin Energy weapon sword swung out in an instant, using the force of his rotation!
The blade's gleam traced an arc, accelerating rapidly!
"Pfft!" Fast as lightning, the spinning slash struck the Fang Beast's neck.
Psh! Yuan could clearly feel the hardness of its fur and the toughness of its hide.
As expected of a Desolate Beast from Dongyuan Planet, its body was as tough as that of an ordinary Star Rank beast from a star region!
Bright red blood seeped out. Yuan's slash had cut only about five centimeters into the Fang Beast's neck before it could go no farther.
"Roar!" The Fang Beast howled furiously and suddenly swung around to ram Yuan. Badly wounded, it was even more frenzied!
Light! Light! Light! A marvelous Conception spread around Yuan, making Shenghui and Sijian's pupils contract sharply!
Completely absorbed in the fight, Yuan didn't notice that something strange seemed to have changed around him.
The light began to distort. In the eyes of the onlookers, the scene of Yuan facing off against the Fang Beast rippled in a regular pattern, as though a stone had been dropped into still water!
Now even the Flying Star Rank and Earth Rank observers sensed something was amiss!
Drip. Drip. The Fang Beast's foul-smelling blood rolled down its thick neck and dripped onto the ground, strewn with dead leaves and decaying foliage.
Its eyes glinted with madness. With a series of low growls, the Fang Beast charged at Yuan again and again, each time as fast as lightning.
Its iron hooves, horn, and tail unleashed one attack after another without pause.
"Its neck is injured. Its ability to turn has clearly been reduced." Yuan dodged nimbly.
Whoosh! Yuan advanced instead of retreating, slipping aside with an elegant dodge. The Fang Beast's sharp horn passed within barely three centimeters of his body.
Yet those three centimeters were like a vast chasm, keeping the Fang Beast from harming him in the slightest.
Yuan raised his Origin Energy weapon sword and slashed down with a swift vertical strike! The Fang Beast let out a furious, startled roar at the piercing whistle of the blade and suddenly drove off with all four legs, trying to evade the slash.
But Yuan's sword was too fast. He heard the blade sink into flesh.
"Shk!" It struck the neck again. Though it wasn't the same spot as before, this time it cut about eight centimeters deep!
"Hmph. After the last injury, its neck muscles can't exert their full strength to resist. Its neck will be even less well-defended next time."
As soon as Yuan landed the slash, he dodged back, easily avoiding the Fang Beast's frenzied retaliatory attack. Then he closed in again!
"Grr... Grr..." The Fang Beast roared in fury and madness.
"One last time!" Yuan swayed through three quick steps, and a blurry afterimage seemed to appear.
He dodged the Fang Beast's attack once more, then followed his nimble footwork with a fierce slash!
"Pfft!" At first, the sword struggled to pierce the flesh.
Suddenly, dazzling silver-white light shone across Yuan's sword. The entire Origin Energy weapon sword radiated a blinding silver-white glow!
The resistance immediately plummeted. Yuan's Origin Energy weapon sword sliced through the Fang Beast's head like a blade, plunging diagonally almost two-thirds of the way in. He swiftly withdrew the sword and leaped back!
Blood gushed from the enormous wound like water from a faucet!
"Aaagh!" With a miserable howl, the Fang Beast convulsed, all four hooves kicking wildly without control and scattering the dead leaves and humus.
Then the Fang Beast, still thrashing without control, charged into a thick tree with a thunderous crash, shaking leaves loose.
Dead leaves drifted down from above! If you ignored the deadly danger and the terrifying Fang Beast, the scene was rather beautiful.
Before you continue