Mu Chen had always been good-natured, but even a Buddha has a temper.
With a belly full of fire, how could he possibly go easy on Wu Yingying?
After capturing Wu Yingying, Mu Chen roughly pinned her across his lap and, without a shred of politeness, swung his palm down repeatedly against her plump buttocks.
"Smack! Smack! Smack!"
His movements were like a storm, showing no mercy.
At first, Wu Yingying let out cries of pain, cursing him as a "lecherous Zhou Yuan" and the like, but eventually, she bit down on her red lip, enduring it with everything she had, refusing to beg for mercy.
After a few minutes of this punishment, Mu Chen grew bored and stopped.
Glancing down, he saw the beautiful girl in red, with her stunning looks and figure, lying across his thighs in an incredibly awkward posture, her eyes brimming with tears as she sobbed silently.
Plump, crystalline teardrops spilled from the corners of her eyes, sliding down her cheeks.
Finally, they fell drop by drop to the ground, soaking into the soil.
"Ah, this."
Mu Chen scratched his head, scrambling to let the girl go.
If Wu Yingying had kept cursing him loudly, he wouldn't have felt a shred of pity.
But... he was terrified of women crying; he had absolutely no experience with it.
The fiery little chili pepper had been reduced to a wilted little green pepper.
"Swish!"
Just as Mu Chen was about to release the beauty on his lap, a cold glint flashed.
At this moment, there was no trace of the pitiful, tearful beauty left in Wu Yingying. She raised her head, wiped away her tears, and pulled a snow-white short blade from her robes to strike.
The quasi-artifact Crescent Moon Blade gifted by Heavenly King Wu had been knocked away and not yet retrieved; this was another spare weapon she had summoned from her spatial spirit tool.
"You lecher, I'm the one who should have won!"
Wu Yingying smiled through her tears, gripping the white blade and aiming straight for Mu Chen's heart.
"I knew you wouldn't be so well-behaved."
To the girl's shock, Mu Chen merely shook his head with an "I knew it" expression, and before her horrified eyes, he casually swatted the white blade away.
"Ah! If you have the guts, just kill me!"
Wu Yingying shrieked, seemingly giving up in resignation.
"That won't be necessary, but..."
"Lecher! What are you doing? Don't come over here!"
Mu Chen chuckled, and amidst the girl's struggles, screams, and utter humiliation, he stripped off all her clothing on the spot and tossed her directly into a nearby stream.
"There, I'm returning your token."
"I don't hide my name or change my surname; I am Zhou Yuan of the Hundred Spirit Continent. If you have the ability, come find me at the Hundred Spirit Continent. If this young master dodges you even once, I'll change my surname!"
Mu Chen flicked the Blood-Colored Token into the river and walked away, feeling perfectly satisfied.
Splash! Water sprayed across the river.
A fair little mermaid leaped from the riverbed, raising a slender hand to catch the incoming Blood-Colored Token, revealing that beautiful face that was both charming and vexed.
I didn't expect this guy to have some conscience left; he didn't forget to return my token.
Wu Yingying hid most of her body in the water, leaving only her head exposed. She stared blankly in the direction where the youth in white had disappeared.
"Ah! Zhou Yuan, this girl is going to kill you!!"
The next moment, a roar of fury echoed across the entire stretch of the river.
Lowering her head, Wu Yingying was stunned to discover that the hundreds of points she had painstakingly accumulated over the past month had long since been drained by the "lecher" she had just cursed.
"Hmph, hmph, hmph~~"
In the distance, our young prince hummed a cheerful tune as he walked away, moving further and further off.
The Spirit Road was filled with danger, with a threat of death at every turn.
Beyond the human geniuses hunting one another, there were all sorts of fierce mid-to-high-level spirit beasts roaming about, with the strongest among them rivaling those in the Spirit Soul realm.
For the youths of the Great Thousand world whose spiritual energy did not exceed the Spirit Movement Realm, even those who had cultivated the supreme Level 9 Spirit Body would likely be unable to withstand a single strike from a high-level spirit beast.
Therefore, the Five Great Academies had established several Sanctuary locations in five different directions, intended for human geniuses to rest and find shelter from spirit beasts.
Of course, there were strict limits on the frequency and duration of their use.
However, Mu Chen had never once entered a Sanctuary.
Over the past half-year, thanks to his relentless, frantic hunting day and night, the points within his Blood-Colored Token had quickly surpassed eight hundred, pushing toward the one-thousand mark.
Spirit beasts, spirit plants, and even the human geniuses who were fellow participants were all his targets.
Whenever he set his sights on someone, he never missed.
Towering peaks reached into the clouds, shrouded in mist all year round, as if they were a fairyland.
A youth in white emerged from the dense forest, his eyes sharp and piercing like lightning. He climbed the mountain without a moment's pause, his pace swift, and soon he vanished from sight.
Halfway up the mountain lay a ravine devoid of any flowing water.
Amidst the withered yellow landscape, a splash of vibrant red stood proudly, swaying in the wind.
The crimson plant was brimming with spiritual energy, its stem long and slender, emitting an exotic fragrance.
Its leaves were emerald green, clear and translucent like jadeite.
At the very top, a large, plump fruit was held aloft, roughly the size of an egg.
"Found it, the Red Cloud Crimson-Refining Fruit!"
Upon reaching his destination, Mu Chen's eyes lit up; his long and arduous journey had not been in vain.
The Red Cloud Crimson-Refining Fruit was a fire-attribute spiritual plant that could strengthen the physical body and amplify spiritual power.
In the Spiritual Road Plane, where spiritual power was strictly forbidden, the greatest utility of this plant was to enhance physical strength and elevate the level of one's spiritual body.
This was the very opportunity for Mu Chen, who possessed a peak fourth-level spiritual body, to make a breakthrough!
With the opportunity right before him, he did not let the treasure cloud his judgment.
In the Great Thousand World, wherever rare treasures existed, there was bound to be a powerful exotic beast guarding them.
Mu Chen stood outside the ravine and flicked his finger, sending a small pebble whistling through the air.
Had it struck true, the ripening spiritual fruit would have been smashed to pieces.
Bang! A mysterious black shadow flashed, and the stone mid-flight was instantly pulverized into dust.
A whip—no, it was clearly a long, bizarre tentacle.
"Roar!"
Before Mu Chen could clearly see the creature, a bestial roar echoed, and the ground shook.
Soon, a ferocious beast about half the height of a man with a hideous appearance appeared on the scene.
Its main body resembled an adult lion with golden manes, looking majestic and powerful.
Its body was covered in strange tentacles, numbering seven or eight, each a zhang in length.
At the tip of each tentacle was a greyish-white snake head, triangular in shape, flicking its tongue.
The constant hissing sound of the tongues revealed them to be living creatures.
A lion, an octopus, and venomous snakes—this bizarre combination had forged the fearsome reputation of the Lion-Bodied Snake-Dancing Beast, which was a mid-level spiritual beast upon reaching adulthood.
"A fifth-level spiritual beast, one rank higher than my spiritual body."
Mu Chen carefully sized up the guardian beast and quickly made his assessment.
This Lion-Bodied Snake-Dancing Beast was already an adult and could battle a warrior at the mid-stage of the Spirit Wheel.
It had been guarding this Red Cloud Crimson-Refining Fruit day and night, never leaving its post.
Clearly, it was highly vigilant, intending to consume the ripening fruit to step into the late-stage of the Spirit Wheel.
"Roar! Roar!"
The Lion-Bodied Snake-Dancing Beast crouched low, roaring continuously to warn anyone attempting to approach.
Mu Chen felt a headache coming on.
Over the past half-year, he had only managed to hunt a few fourth-level spiritual beasts, which were mid-level spiritual beasts comparable to the early-stage of the Spirit Wheel; he had no confidence against a big guy like this that was about to enter the late-stage of the Spirit Wheel.
Furthermore, this beast had thick skin and flesh, with all its weaknesses located on its abdomen.
Unless he could knock it into the air, most of his attacks would be useless.
This was quite tricky!