The Battle of Giant Beasts

Chapter 37: The Battle of Giant Beasts

Xuanji's primordial spirit had formed, and the demonic energy throughout his body had already transformed into magical power. He had officially stepped onto the path of cultivation. Most notably, since he had been human in his previous life, his transformation into human form was nearly perfect. In some respects, he was even superior to great Primordial World deities like the Three-Legged Golden Crow and Kunpeng.

He rode the clouds away from the gorge, then continued on foot. The three-colored auspicious clouds were simply too conspicuous; even from a great distance, they would draw the giant beasts' attention. At present, Xuanji was only at the mid-stage of the Primordial Spirit realm. Although the Primordial Avatar had reached the peak of the late Loose Immortal stage, even with the Ancient Wild World Power bolstering him, he would still fall far short of an Earth Immortal.

Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals were on entirely different levels. The difference of a single realm was as vast as heaven and earth, clouds and mud.

The wilderness was a desolate stretch of mountains, its dark giant trees forming a forest that extended without end. Strange, black flowers grew here and there among them. During this Great Beast Calamity, none of the Primordial World's living creatures could escape unscathed—not even plants and trees. Now, at the dawn of the Era of Giant Beasts, it was impossible for Xuanji to find even a single natural treasure.

The mountain paths were rugged and hard to traverse. There were no roads yet. In the past, he hadn't thought much of it while riding the clouds, but now that he was walking the entire way in human form, Xuanji felt each step grow more difficult than the last.

Whoosh!

A nearby black, monstrous flower suddenly lunged at Xuanji. Its petals were covered in spikes, and it snapped toward him like a huge mouth. A fierce gust of wind surged around it; its speed was no slower than a peak late-stage Golden Core attack.

Boom! Bang! Crack!

The monstrous flower was very close, and its attack was fast, but it was still no match for Xuanji. With a wave of his hand, a mass of three-colored flame instantly shot out and enveloped the flower, scorching it. Within a few breaths, it had been burned to nothing, leaving only a faint wisp of black smoke to scatter into the air.

"I never thought that even a wildflower, something once found everywhere, would now possess strength on par with a peak late-stage Golden Core cultivator. The aura of the gods and demons really is terrifying!" Xuanji was fortunate to have been cautious and kept his distance from the giant trees and plants. Otherwise, he would surely have been killed by their attacks!

"With my current cultivation, it's too dangerous. Looks like I'll have to refine a few magical treasures to protect myself and fight my enemies." He pondered to himself. The Primordial World was now full of high-grade refining materials, and he also had the artifact-refining method deduced by the Heavenly Dao of the Ancient Wild World. He was confident that the magical treasures he made wouldn't be low-grade.

Once Xuanji had made up his mind, he immediately found a barren valley and entered it. The valley was narrow, easy for him to enter in his human form, but impossible for those giant beasts to get into.

Not a blade of grass grew in the narrow valley, and no living creatures could be seen. Before him stood sheer cliffs hundreds of feet high. Xuanji spread out his divine sense and sensed the earth and the inside of the cliffs. After a long while, a glint flashed in his eyes, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. He hurried to the cliff on his left and stretched out his right arm. Three-colored light blazed forth; when it faded, his right arm had transformed into a fearsome giant pincers. Golden patterns and talismans covered its blue-green surface, while rows of pitch-black spikes gleamed with a chilling, razor-sharp light.

Partial demonic transformation!

After a demon took human form and gained an Innate Dao Body, cultivation became easier, but its demonic body was still stronger by far.

Rumble! Bang! Crack!

The giant pincers plunged into the cliff before him at lightning speed. The solid rock was like paper or soft tofu, offering no resistance at all. Xuanji pushed his entire pincer into the cliff, then slowly pulled it back out. As it emerged, the entire cliff face trembled violently. The breach made by the pincers was webbed with spreading cracks, and small rocks kept crumbling down.

Bang!

The pincers came free, scattering broken stone. They had extracted an iron ore deposit twice as large as Xuanji himself. The ore was silvery white all over, with light flowing across its surface and faint golden threads of light flickering within.

"High-grade dark iron? And it contains Geng Metal energy?" Xuanji was somewhat surprised when he saw the ore. Dark iron was an excellent material for refining weapons, inferior only to Taiyi Gold Essence. This piece was the finest dark iron imaginable, and with the Geng Metal energy within it, it was every bit as good as Taiyi Gold Essence. In later ages, it would surely be enough to spark a war throughout the cultivation world.

After extracting the material, Xuanji immediately began refining it. Xuanji True Fire emerged once more. This flame was no ordinary fire. Golden Core cultivators could wield Golden Core flames, and those who reached the Primordial Spirit realm could use true fire. True fire was divided into three grades. Xuanji True Fire was a first-grade true fire formed by combining Heaven's Gang, Earth's Malice, and Taichu's power. Its might was enough to rival second-grade true fire, making it exceptionally powerful. After all, only those at the Hexu realm could wield second-grade true fire, while third-grade true fire was beyond the reach of anyone below the Loose Immortal realm.

Xuanji True Fire enveloped the dark iron and began to scorch and melt it, burning away the impurities and raising the grade of the material.

The dark iron was, after all, a refining material on par with Taiyi Gold Essence. Even beneath Xuanji True Fire, it melted slowly. But Xuanji wasn't in a hurry. He possessed twenty-five primordial spirits, so his magical power was practically endless. And with the Ancient Wild World's help, he could keep the Xuanji True Fire burning for a year or even half a decade without the slightest problem. Now that he had reached the Primordial Spirit realm, he no longer needed food; he could survive on the spiritual energy of heaven and earth alone.

Time passed slowly. Suddenly, the power of the stars surged. Though it was still daylight, Xuanji knew night had fallen. Half a day had passed, and half the dark iron had melted. The rest was melting more and more slowly. Its inner density had increased, naturally making it much harder to melt.

"I never thought artifact refining would be so difficult! It's nothing like the easy process described in the novels from my previous life!" Xuanji grumbled inwardly, then resolved to increase the power of his Xuanji True Fire. Melting a piece of high-grade dark iron was already so difficult. Later, when he tried to refine a Post-Heaven Spiritual Treasure, he might not be able to melt the materials at all, even if he had them.

As the iron continued to melt, the sun's power suddenly rose. After a full night of effort, nearly all the dark iron had melted, with only a small core remaining. At noon, when the sun's power was at its strongest, the last of the iron finally melted completely. Within the three-colored, dazzling divine flames, a large mass of molten gold and silver now floated, the essence of the dark iron and its Geng Metal energy perfectly blended together.

His divine sense entered the molten metal. At the command of Xuanji's thoughts, it gradually solidified into an old-fashioned great cauldron and a three-foot-three-inch sword. The cauldron had three legs and two handles, and its lid was divided into eight openings and the Nine Palaces. Yin Yang and the Eight Trigrams were contained within, while the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise—the Four Saints—were carved across its body. Gold and silver light flowed over it. The sword was plain and unadorned, yet it faintly radiated a razor-sharp edge.

As soon as the cauldron and sword solidified, Xuanji immediately began forming hand seals. His movements were extremely clumsy, but he made no mistakes. As he formed the seals, streams of three-colored spiritual light poured into the cauldron and sword. The two treasures trembled without pause as the light entered them, only falling still when Xuanji stopped.

He left a mark of his divine sense inside each treasure, then withdrew his Xuanji True Fire. The two treasures had now been successfully refined. A hazy, three-colored treasure light surrounded them, misty and luminous.

"Low-grade spiritual artifacts? Their grade is a little low, but for my first attempt, this is acceptable. Even the Primordial Sword is only a low-grade Immortal Artifact! The Sumeru Earth Formation and the Geng Metal Razor Formation have also been added." Xuanji was satisfied with the two spiritual artifacts he had made. Producing low-grade spiritual artifacts on his first try wasn't bad, after all—he was only at the Primordial Spirit realm.

(Classification of magical treasures, from lowest to highest: magical implements, precious artifacts, spiritual artifacts, Immortal Artifacts, Post-Heaven Spiritual Treasures, Innate Spiritual Treasures, Post-Heaven Supreme Treasures, Innate Supreme Treasures, Heavenly Dao Divine Artifacts, Ultimate Dao Divine Artifacts. Each grade is divided into low, middle, and high.)

The Xuanji Cauldron turned into a beam of three-colored light and entered the space between Xuanji's brows, settling inside the Ancient Wild World to be nurtured and attuned to him. With help from the Primordial Avatar, he was sure it would soon be raised to the Immortal Artifact level. As for the Xuanji Sword, he held it in his hand. With a spiritual artifact to help him, his chances of staying safe had increased considerably!

After finishing the artifact refining, Xuanji once more set out on his travels. This attempt had also greatly benefited his cultivation, leaving his magical power much more profound. There were three thousand Great Daos, and artifact refining was a path of cultivation too.

He traveled through the desolate mountains and wilderness, following rugged trails and passing places where all plants and living creatures had vanished. Now, all life in the Primordial World was evolving under the influence of the gods-and-demons aura. It was unlikely that any naturally born spirits would appear for tens of thousands of years—and even if they did, they would become food for giant beasts, Demon Trees, and flowers.

Whoosh!

A flash of three-colored light, and the Xuanji Sword struck down a hidden Demon Flower poised to ambush him. Rank, foul-smelling black blood spilled across the ground. Xuanji walked on at an unhurried pace, the Xuanji Sword circling around him. Sword control was effortless for him at this point.

Awooo! Roar!

Just then, a wolf's howl and a giant beast's roar echoed from far away. Xuanji's heart immediately leapt. He hurriedly put away the Xuanji Sword and concealed his aura, then quietly approached. Since leaving the gorge, he hadn't seen a single giant beast, and he was very curious. Clearly, two giant beasts were fighting. Xuanji didn't want to miss it, so he carefully crept closer under cover.

As he drew near, the wolf's howls and the giant roars grew louder, while the booming sounds of the fight rang out without pause. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth churned into wild winds. The ground and mountains trembled, and waterfalls and rivers surged...

"Is this what a battle at the Earth Immortal realm looks like? It's terrifying!" Before he had even reached the fight, its force had already made Xuanji feel unwell. His blood and vital energy ran in reverse, and his internal organs ached faintly. Startled, he quickly drew on the Primordial Avatar's power to bolster himself. Only after gaining the peak late-stage Loose Immortal's magical power did Xuanji recover. As for the Ancient Wild World Power, he couldn't use it unless absolutely necessary; otherwise, it might interfere with the Ancient Wild World's evolution or even cause it to regress.

After a long while, Xuanji finally saw the two giant beasts fighting. He was on a mountaintop, looking down at a vast, endless forest. Everything in sight was black: the trees, the flowers, and the giant beasts, all pitch-black.

Two giant beasts, each about a hundred zhang long, fought in the forest. One was a wolf, the other a leopard. Their bodies were covered in black iron armor bristling with vicious spikes, each one like a broad sword. Their tails resembled steel dragons, and every swing set off explosive booms. Their powerful gusts ripped some of the surrounding giant trees out by the roots.

Claws, fangs, tearing bites, tail strikes, collisions—and hundreds upon hundreds of broad-sword spikes flew around them, attacking as if controlled by sword arts. Xuanji stared in stunned silence. Every broad-sword spike was at least as powerful as the Xuanji who, bolstered by the Primordial Avatar, was wielding his full strength.

"These are only low-grade giant beasts. How powerful must the high-grade ones be?" As he pondered this, the two giant beasts below shot into the sky, fighting all the way into the clouds. Xuanji was startled into hiding at once. He concealed his aura, stopped breathing, and even lowered his body temperature as much as possible.

Bang! Bang! Clang! Clang! Rumble! Rumble!...

The two giant beasts battled from the clouds down into the forest, then back up from the forest into the clouds. Their fight swept across tens of thousands of miles.

The broad-sword spikes kept crashing into one another and shattering. Their iron armor was webbed with cracks under the fierce attacks, and black blood sprayed across the heavens and earth. Watching from hiding, Xuanji was utterly shocked by the brutality of the fight.