Strange Fish

Having been stunned by the Storage Spirit Ring and Spirit Stones, Ye Chen was not quite as excited upon seeing the Earth-Grade Low-Tier Manual. Of course, he was still delighted.

Setting the manual aside for the moment, Ye Chen took out the last item.

It was a long saber still sheathed.

The scabbard was a deep azure, carved with landscapes, birds, and fish. The hilt was long and slender, while the guard was a lifelike tiger's head, its jaws swallowing the blade.

Clang!

As the saber left its sheath, a dazzling streak of saber qi shot forth, carving a three-foot-long mark into the stone chamber wall. It was exceptionally sharp.

"What a fine Treasure Saber. It can actually release saber qi on its own." Ye Chen's eyes lit up. A weapon capable of releasing Qi Force on its own had already surpassed the realm of ordinary weapons and risen to the rank of a divine weapon. As he recalled, the Ye Family also possessed an inherited treasured sword named Shadowless. With a single thrust, it could pierce through the resistance of air and kill invisibly.

Barring surprises, this Treasure Saber was worth over a million Taels of Silver.

The only pity was that Ye Chen did not use a saber; he used a sword. In his view, the sword was the sovereign of all weapons, with the highest overall standing. Moreover, sword practitioners often made up half of all martial artists, yet very, very few could truly master it—fewer than with any other weapon.

The chilling blade vanished back into its scabbard, and Ye Chen's gaze returned to the scorched ground. If his guess was correct, the owner of this stone chamber was already dead. He had suffered qi deviation while practicing, reduced to ashes by the fire of True Qi. Naturally, the Storage Spirit Ring had fallen among those ashes.

Facing the ashes, Ye Chen bowed three times and muttered to himself, "Senior, although you did not leave much behind, these things are very useful to me. Ye Chen, an Outer Sect Disciple of the Flowing Cloud Sect, bows to you here. I hope you will not blame me for taking your belongings."

After bowing three times in succession, Ye Chen could not help but feel somewhat moved. Judging from the relics, this deceased senior's cultivation had not been low—at the very least, he had been above the Primal Origin Realm, perhaps even at the Star Extremity Realm. Yet in the end, he still could not escape the fate of qi deviation. From this, one could see the cruelty of cultivation: one had to confront calamities from without and overcome oneself within.

There was no knowing night from day in the underground world. Unable to find a way out, Ye Chen simply began cultivating the Jade Tempering Body Strengthening Art inside.

He had long since mastered the first art of the Jade Tempering Body Strengthening Art. He had cultivated the second art to the point where hardness and softness merged as one. What he lacked was the same thing Senior Sister Xu Jing possessed—the birth of Divine Strength within his body.

What was Divine Strength?

The most common fine horse on the True Spirit Continent was called the Black Brown Horse. This horse ran like the wind and possessed a powerful build. Without accelerating, a casual bump from it carried two thousand jin of force. That was called Divine Strength.

Ye Chen's strength was now around fifteen hundred jin, not far from two thousand. However, he knew that the farther one progressed, the slower one's strength increased. The time needed to gain those final five hundred jin would certainly exceed all that had come before.

Taking several bottles of Body Tempering Paste from his clothes, Ye Chen removed his garments and meticulously rubbed the paste over his body.

Only after his skin gleamed with oil, setting off every ridge and line of muscle, did Ye Chen assume his stance and begin practicing his punches methodically.

The fist art was still the Vajra Fist.

The more domineering the fist art, the more thoroughly it tempered the body. The Vajra Fist was no exception. Of course, the Vajra Fist he practiced now differed from before. He was practicing it in tandem with the formula of the Jade Tempering Body Strengthening Art's second art, one within and one without, making the effects even more apparent.

"Vajra Crossing the River!" "Vajra Pestle!" "Vajra Entering the Sea!" "Vajra Immeasurable!"

As Ye Chen performed each variation of the Vajra Fist, he gradually entered a state where self and surroundings were forgotten.

Faintly, the sound of blood rushing violently through Ye Chen's body could be heard, like the Yangtze River and great rivers in flood. In contrast, his heart beat slower and slower, yet with tremendous power. The thump, thump, thump sounded like a great drum being struck, shaking the marrow throughout his body.

After an unknown amount of time had passed, Ye Chen suddenly opened his eyes. His body sprang forward, and he drove a fist into the gray, dusty tree trunk.

Bang!

The great tree trunk was exceedingly hard, cracking open only along several thin fissures.

"What hard wood. Still, my strength has increased considerably. It should be around fifteen or sixteen hundred jin now! I never expected the formula of the Jade Tempering Body Strengthening Art to be so effective."

In just one or two hours, his strength had increased by nearly a hundred jin. That was something the Vajra Fist alone could not accomplish.

After resting for a while, Ye Chen felt a little hungry. His earlier exertions had completely consumed the excess energy in his body, and he needed to replenish it.

Walking to the riverbank, Ye Chen thought, The fish in here should be edible, right?

The river was deep and clear. Through the surface, he could see shadow after shadow in the depths. The smaller ones were a foot long, while the largest exceeded half a zhang. They swam remarkably fast; with a flick of their tails, they shot seven or eight meters away and vanished from sight in an instant.

Picking up a piece of broken stone from the ground, Ye Chen gave a low shout. "Hit!"

Driven by over a thousand jin of strength, the stone was even fiercer than a hidden weapon. It streaked through the air in a perfectly straight line and instantly plunged to the riverbed.

Ye Chen had only intended to test the fish's distance and the water's refraction. To his surprise, his casual strike actually hit a half-zhang-long shadow.

Splash!

At once, the shadow's body flipped over and burst from the water.

Amid the spraying water, a dark brown Strange Fish came into view. Spines protruded from its gills, its body was thick and powerful, and its surface was uneven and rough.

Opening a mouth full of serrated teeth, the Strange Fish bit toward Ye Chen's head.

Ye Chen smiled faintly, bent down, and punched the Strange Fish in the belly.

Clang!

The Strange Fish's skin was comparable to steel, greatly startling Ye Chen. His current punch was enough to blast a huge bluestone into powder, yet it could not break through the creature's defenses.

Smack!

Driven back half a meter by the Fist Force, the Strange Fish swept out its slender, ox-tail-like tail. The rushing wind howled, and even Ye Chen had no desire to take a hit from it.

At that critical moment, Ye Chen did not retreat. He drew the Treasure Saber from his Storage Spirit Ring and slashed out.

With a tearing sound, the Strange Fish's tail was severed.

The Strange Fish fell back into the river and desperately swam toward the depths, no longer daring to attack Ye Chen.

With a bitter smile, Ye Chen knew that without the Treasure Saber, dealing with this Strange Fish would not have been easy. Whether he could even break through its defenses would have been a question. Still, no Demonic Energy emanated from its body, so it could not be a Demonic Beast. It was probably an ancient species gifted by nature.

The fish tail was three feet long and as thick as a bowl. It was enough for Ye Chen to have a filling meal.

Ye Chen always carried a tinderbox with him. He quickly built a fire and set the fish tail over it to roast.

A quarter of an hour passed, and an aroma he had never smelled before drifted out, making Ye Chen's mouth water.

Grasping the fish tail, Ye Chen bit down. The fish meat was so tender he nearly bit his tongue.

"This is incredible. This fish tastes like beef, yet also like chicken, and it has an indescribably rich fragrance. It's wonderfully chewy. Wait, why is my body starting to heat up?"

Once the fish meat entered his stomach, Ye Chen's body suddenly blazed with heat. A current of warmth centered on his stomach and spread throughout every part of his body, seeping into his muscles, blood, and even his marrow, wave after wave, warm and comforting.