While Chen Mu was lost in thought, Ximen Zhanpeng's heart was already in turmoil.
"How is that possible? Even if Beiyuan- nii and I were to fight purely with our bare hands, I would have the upper hand in at least the first three moves."
But this person who looks exactly like Chen Mu was able to force me to retreat so quickly.
His battle with Chen Mu was so intense that it had already attracted the attention of the golden ferocious ape in the distance. He knew very well that if this battle continued, he would inevitably be defeated.
Snap! Whoosh...!
Ximen Zhanpeng suddenly unleashed his power, forcing Chen Mu back once more. Then, he turned around and began to flee.
Chen Mu also noticed the golden ferocious ape rushing over. It was the first time he had seen such a creature, and without enough knowledge about it, he dared not be careless. So he let Ximen Zhanpeng go and climbed towards the top of the mountain.
Whoosh whoosh!
The ferocious ape had a natural advantage in climbing, so Chen Mu was caught up by it after climbing for a short time.
Thump! Crack! Crack! Crack!
When Chen Mu first entered the True Body Grotto-Heaven, he was not yet used to fighting purely with physical strength, so even some ordinary ferocious beasts could pose a threat to him.
But now he is more than ten times stronger than when he first entered the True Body Grotto-Heaven. He is like a humanoid tyrannosaurus, smashing the golden ferocious apes one by one, causing them all to fall off the stone wall.
"Don't rush to kill those two divine sons; let's find their substitutes first."
Without his spiritual senses and ability to detect with his Divine Soul, Chen Mu found it difficult to accurately judge the strength of his enemies, since some ferocious beasts were cunning and knew how to conceal their strength.
Therefore, he dared not be careless about any ferocious beast he encountered here. Only after fighting them and having a general understanding of their strengths and weaknesses would he dare to venture deep into enemy territory alone and fight against overwhelming odds.
The physical strength of these ferocious apes is roughly equivalent to that of Mid Saint Level cultivator, with some exceptionally powerful individuals reaching the Saint Level Late Stage. Chen Mu's physical strength, however, is already at the Quasi-God Level, only one step away from a true Divine Body. How could these ferocious apes possibly shake him?
He jumped down the stone wall, knocking away the golden ferocious apes that pounced on him along the way, and finally rushed into the cave where Talisman-Robed Chen Mu was hiding.
At this moment, Talisman-Robed Chen Mu robes, looked extremely disheveled. He was covered in blood, his talisman robes were tattered, and even one of his arms was missing, leaving only a bloody lump on his shoulder.
"Phew! If you hadn't come soon, I really would have died here."
Although Talisman-Robed Chen Mu's consciousness was not independent, it still had emotions and pain. When he saw that his main body had finally arrived, a trace of relief flashed in his eyes.
"Sorry, leave the rest to me!"
Seeing his stunt double injured felt to Chen Mu like his own limbs being anesthetized and undergoing surgery. Although he couldn't feel the pain, he felt extremely distressed.
Moreover, once the Divine Soul merge, he will experience everything the substitute went through again in his mind.
When he is outside, because he can separate his Divine Soul from his body, his Divine Soul can gradually merge even when they are tens of kilometers apart.
But here, they can only merge when their bodies touch each other.
Inside the cave was another ferocious ape with dark golden fur. Although it wasn't very tall, it had an arrogant look in its eyes and a leader's aura, and was probably the leader of the group of ferocious apes outside.
After forcing Talisman-Robed Chen Mu, to this spot, he originally intended to exhaust Talisman-Robed Chen Mu's strength before killing him.
After Talisman-Robed Chen Mu's physical strength had reached the Saint Level Late Stage, and if he were to struggle in his death throes, he himself might get injured.
But it didn't expect that Talisman-Robed Chen Mu had such good endurance. It trapped Talisman-Robed Chen Mu here for several days. Talisman-Robed Chen Mu had no food or water, but he still hadn't shown any obvious signs of fatigue.
"Hiss...!"
The sudden appearance of Chen Mu's true form made him very uneasy, so he let out a terrifying scream in an attempt to scare Chen Mu away.
"You despicable beast, die!"
Upon seeing the injuries on his stand-in, Chen Mu became truly enraged. He kicked off with all his might, his fists radiating golden light as he fiercely struck the Dark-Gold Ferocious Ape.
Hypermetabolism Fist!
In the True Body Grotto-Heaven, most martial arts techniques are unusable because they generally require the mobilization of external energy.
Martial arts techniques that operate only within the physical body are called melee combat techniques, and very few cultivators master them.
Although Chen Mu had never practiced hand-to-hand combat, his AI contained some knowledge about it. After further research and development, he created this Hypermetabolism Fist.
The Hypermetabolism Fist can instantly activate cell activity, sacrificing a large amount of the body's nutrients to unleash power several times greater than usual.
Under such power, even though the Dark-Gold Ferocious Ape's physical strength was comparable to the Saint Level Peak, it would still be difficult for it to withstand it.
Boom! Clang! Clang...!
After a fierce battle, the Dark-Gold Ferocious Ape realized it was no match for Chen Mu and roared as it tried to escape.
However, the cave was cramped, and Chen Mu gave him no chance to escape. Every time he unleashed his power, it was suppressed by Chen Mu's golden giant fist.
This place was originally a desperate situation arranged by the Dark-Gold Ferocious Ape for Talisman-Robed Chen Mu, but now it has become his burial place.
boom...!
After a fierce battle lasting about fifteen minutes, the Dark-Gold Ferocious Ape finally fell silent after Chen Mu shattered its skull with a single punch, leaving it lifeless.
After the Dark-Gold Ferocious Ape died, a wisp of bright red mist rose from its corpse. Chen Mu beckoned and absorbed the mist into his body. He then felt the crimson mist in his sea of consciousness grow much stronger.
"So many Profound Mystery Fragment. Killing one of these ferocious beasts yields more Profound Mystery Fragment than killing a hundred ordinary ferocious beasts."
"As expected, the only way to absorb the Profound Mystery Fragment faster is to slay those powerful ferocious beasts."
Although Chen Mu had killed some ferocious beasts in the past two weeks, this was the first time he had encountered one of the level of the Dark-Gold Ferocious Ape. He hadn't expected to reap such a rich harvest.
"It's a pity this ferocious ape is humanoid, otherwise we'd have dinner sorted for tonight."
Chen Mu secretly regretted it.
With his cultivation level, he should have been able to abstain from grains, but in the True Body Grotto-Heaven, he could not absorb any external energy. Therefore, after consuming his physical strength, he had to eat, otherwise he would soon become weak.
He then turned around and walked over to his stunt double, carefully checking the double's condition.
The stunt double was in very poor condition; his left arm was missing, and several of his internal organs were ruptured, leaving him essentially crippled.
"Forget it! We don't need this flesh and blood substitute anyway. Let's retrieve the Divine Soul first."
Because the substitute body contained Soul-Devouring Insect, Chen Mu originally planned not to fuse with the Divine Soul for the time being, and to take the substitute body with him for the time being.
After all, cultivating this flesh and blood substitute was too expensive, and he was unwilling to give it up.
However, this flesh and blood substitute is now half-crippled, and repairing it in the future would still require a lot of resources, which is not much different from the cost of re-cultivating it. Therefore, he finally decided to give up.