Pain spread through Chen Xian's entire body. He clenched his fists tightly and endured it by force, while wisps of black qi gradually seeped from the corners of his eyes.
"Urgh...!"
A pained groan escaped his lips. Chen Xian desperately restrained himself, refusing to let himself fall into demonic deviation!
He knew that so-called demonic deviation was likely qi deviation.
This was the backlash from deducing cultivation arts. Once he suppressed it, the demonic deviation would fade.
Chen Xian did not rush to continue the deduction. After restraining himself for a long while, he saw the surging blood qi heading north from above Blood River Forest, seemingly chasing Chen Quanwu and the others. He finally breathed a sigh of relief.
While suppressing his consciousness, he headed toward Black Wind Valley.
North.
Chen Quanwu had led the Demon Slayer Soldiers more than sixteen kilometers away. Seeing the blood qi drawing closer and closer, his expression turned incomparably grim. "Retreat! Fall back to the Ninth Camp!"
At this moment, he was certain that the demon chasing them was absolutely a Lesser Demon King.
The Demon Slayer Soldiers swiftly withdrew.
Boom!
Within the blood qi, a blood-haired man suddenly descended to the ground. The force of his landing smashed a three-meter-wide pit into the earth, and terrifying blood-colored demon qi billowed outward.
He carried a massive saber in one hand. His blood-red eyes stared northward as though he could see Chen Quanwu. With a cold snort, he roared and continued the pursuit.
A short while later.
The Lesser Demon King caught up to Chen Quanwu. From a hundred meters away, he swung his saber.
A thirty-foot-long bloody blade shadow shot forth at lightning speed, slashing toward Chen Quanwu's back.
Chen Quanwu's expression was hideous as he swung his spear to block it.
Yet in the next instant, the thirty-foot blade shadow sent him flying.
Fortunately, the strike had come from a hundred meters away. At close range, Chen Quanwu would likely have been cut down.
Pfft!
Chen Quanwu tumbled across the ground, vomiting blood wildly.
Even the swift horse beneath him was blasted away, rolling across the ground as it let out a mournful whinny.
Chen Quanwu had no time to care for his mount. He sprang to his feet and fled for his life at top speed.
The Lesser Demon King continued the pursuit. When the Demon Slayer Soldiers tried to resist, more than a dozen were cut down with a single slash.
"Retreat!"
Chen Quanwu roared in fury. He could not even withstand one saber strike from the Lesser Demon King, let alone the Demon Slayer Soldiers under his command.
Everyone ran wildly for their lives.
After another few miles of pursuit, the Lesser Demon King sensed a terrifying aura coming from the human side and finally stopped.
"Lowly humans!" Cold fury flickered in the blood-haired, burly man's eyes.
The moment he received the distress signal, he had rushed over to kill.
But once Chen Quanwu discovered him, he immediately ordered a retreat, drawing him too far beyond Blood River Forest and into human territory.
He watched Chen Quanwu escape, yet he did not dare chase farther.
The blood-haired, burly man snorted coldly and turned back with his long saber in hand.
As he neared Blood River Forest, he suddenly spotted another group of human soldiers at Seven Mile Peak to the west.
"They escaped, so I'll kill you instead!"
With a cold snort, the Lesser Demon King raised his saber and charged toward Seven Mile Peak.
When Chen Xian saw the surging blood qi chase northward, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Only after the sensation of demonic deviation vanished did he continue deducing martial arts.
After three thousand months of day-and-night deduction, you attempted one hundred and sixty-eight methods of forging a Dao foundation, injured yourself one hundred and sixty-three times, succeeded five times, and still failed to deduce a perfect follow-up cultivation art.
Pain swept through his body once more, especially his five viscera and six bowels, but he gradually recovered under the nourishment of fiery Origin Qi.
"Not one of the five cultivation arts is perfect?" Chen Xian frowned and continued the deduction.
After three thousand months of tireless day-and-night deduction, you finally deduced the follow-up cultivation art of the Ox Demon Spirit Flame Art. It was nearly perfect, and you renamed it the Ox Demon Golden Flame Technique. Not yet initiated.
Seeing the panel notification, Chen Xian finally let out a breath. The bloodshot in his eyes gradually faded, restoring their clarity.
After calming down, he summoned the panel:
Martial Art: Ox Demon Golden Flame Technique (Not Yet Initiated) Experience: 43421 points Realm: Perfection of Awareness Lifespan: Three hundred and fifty years
"The Ox Demon Golden Flame Technique and the Ox Demon Golden Flame Technique may look similar, but their grades and power are vastly different." Chen Xian muttered, glancing toward the northeast and discovering that the surging blood qi had dispersed.
That formidable demon must have clashed with Chen Quanwu and the others. Chen Xian quickly caught up to Ding Chen and told him to lead everyone back to defend Black Wind Valley at once.
Looking at the remaining forty thousand-plus Experience Points, Chen Xian began raising his cultivation realm.
After five thousand months of arduous tempering, your Ox Demon Golden Flame Technique has reached the beginner level. Origin Qi fills your Jade Sea, Spiritual Sense reaches three hundred meters, and forging a Dao foundation has failed. After five thousand months of diligent cultivation, your Ox Demon Golden Flame Technique has reached minor accomplishment. Origin Qi in your Jade Sea has liquefied, Spiritual Sense reaches five hundred meters, and forging a Dao foundation has failed.
Chen Xian's brows sank slightly. Ten thousand months had passed, yet he still had not successfully forged a Dao foundation. Converted into years, that was nearly a thousand years.
At a ratio of six to one, even after one hundred fifty to sixty years, he still had not forged his Dao foundation.
This talent...
Chen Xian was naturally speechless.
Of course, even if his talent was poor, the panel made up for it.
It seemed as though it would take more than a century in the real world, but in truth, he did not need to spend that long.
As long as he had enough Experience Points, he could deduce martial arts and raise his strength without limit.
After five thousand months of diligent tempering, your Ox Demon Golden Flame Technique has neared major accomplishment. Origin Qi gradually liquefies, Spiritual Sense reaches seven hundred meters, and your Jade Sea contains one hundred drops of Origin Force. Foundation forging begins. Experience: 23421 points
Only after consuming twenty thousand Experience Points did Chen Xian realize that he had begun forging his Dao foundation.
In an instant, the Origin Qi in his Jade Sea began spinning madly, circulating on its own along the meridian pathways of the cultivation art.
The surging Origin Qi could automatically billow more than thirty meters outward before drawing inward, then erupting again.
After repeating this more than a dozen times, the Origin Qi became exceptionally condensed, winding around his body within a three-meter radius and forming a rotating gale of astral energy.
Forging a Dao foundation brought no pain. As time passed, the astral-energy gale around him gradually weakened until it was all absorbed into his body, flowing through his meridians and into his Jade Sea.
At the center of the Jade Sea, those hundred drops of liquefied Origin Qi were called Origin Force.
The Origin Qi was condensing into shape.
Soon, the Origin Force began to rotate, forming a solid vortex.
Once the vortex formed, it began drawing in and expelling the roiling Origin Qi within the Jade Sea. Drops of Origin Force continuously emerged from the vortex before merging back into it.
"So this is the Dao foundation?" Chen Xian examined his Jade Sea inwardly, staring at the dark-golden vortex rotating at its center, like a whirlpool appearing in a river.
Origin Qi coiled around it, constantly being spun into the vortex's mouth, after which a drop of Origin Force emerged from its center.
The cycle repeated endlessly, unceasing and inexhaustible.
Once he understood, Chen Xian breathed a sigh of relief. That vortex was the forged Dao foundation.
No matter how his Origin Qi surged and crashed, the Dao foundation vortex would not disperse. It was incomparably solid, like an ancient well slowly turning as it gradually spat out dark-golden fire Origin Force.
He did not know whether others forged their Dao foundations in the same way, but after the panel's enhancement, this was the transformation within his Jade Sea.
Chen Xian closed his Spiritual Sense Eye and looked toward the northeast. Suddenly, his gaze froze.
"They're coming this way?"
The surging blood qi that had been chasing Chen Quanwu gathered once more and rushed toward Seven Mile Peak, where he was.
"Brother Ding, retreat! Quickly...!"
Chen Xian could not help shouting, his voice rapidly carrying outward.
Hearing the cry, Ding Chen looked east. When he clearly saw that the mass of blood qi was coming straight for them, his face turned deathly pale in an instant. He called for Wang Yan, Qin Fei, and the others to quickly retreat toward Black Wind Valley.
Before you continue