Chapter 203: Breakthrough to Mid Clasping Yuan Realm
Translator: Sheryl Editor: Hitesh
Day after day, there were just more and more beasts coming out of nowhere. Beasts could be seen everywhere within a twenty miles radius.
The Gold Tripod City was the only big city inside the beast wave. It covered more than hundreds of miles squared, which was even bigger than the Wind City and the Happy City in the Wind Nation. Its population had reached an incredible figure of one hundred and fifty million, which was equivalent to the population of twenty small cities combined.
No matter where one looked on the streets, one could easily find a Clasping Yuan Realm warrior. Condensing Reality Realm warriors were the norm; as for the Astral Reaching Realm warriors that one rarely saw, they were no longer an urban myth here.
“Look! Isn’t that the inner master from the Sky Flying Devil Martial School – the Crown Master?”
“I think it should be the Fire Spirit standing right next to him, right?”
“They had been archenemy for decades. Who would have thought that they would become good friends that could walk together right next to each other?
“Geniuses would unconsciously compete with each other. The Crown Man and the Fire Spirit were considered top talents back in the days. Maybe it was because they did not want to lose to each other which is why they could reach the Mid Astral Reaching Realm together.”
“You are quite right. If a genius does not have a genius opponent, he will soon lose his passion. Therefore, there is always a bigger chance of becoming great geniuses when there are a lot of geniuses around.”
The Crown Man did not care much about the crowd’s gossip, and laughed, “Fire Spirit, you had killed one less beast than me… Ahaha, it seems like I am still winning.”
The Fire Spirit said with a serious tone, “You had only killed three rank 7 beasts, while one of the two beasts I killed was a top rank 7 beast.”
“Regardless, I still killed more than you. It is just the fact.” The Crown man would just not let go.
The Fire Spirit would not let go as well, “How about we fight for it? We were not able to have a winner during that fight a few months ago. But this time, we have to have a result.”
“I am not afraid of you. After the beast wave, you can pick the location.”
The two entered a restaurant as they kept bantering.
The restaurant owner did not dare interrupt the two, he just smiled as he followed them.
“Hey, we will sit here. Give us some small dishes and great wine!” The two sat down right next to the windows. The Crown Man had given his order to the restaurant owner.
“Okay! Be right there!”
The owner nodded and bent over a little as he backed out of the door.
Watching all those warriors walking pass the street, the Fire Spirit suddenly sighed, “The time really flies man. Decades have just gone in the blink of an eye.”
“Yah! I guess for us, we could probably get to the Late Astral Reaching Realm at the maximum… There is probably no chance for us to get any further.”
“I am already quite satisfied to be able to reach the Late Astral Reaching Realm since we are not really great geniuses. All those great talents have already achieved the Sea of Souls Realm by now.”
“Hehe, don’t compare man. I thought the generation which the Mysterious Queen belonged to was the peak era. But judging from what’s happening now, I believe that this generation of geniuses will be the real peak, it could almost compare to the Ancient era. For example, the Fire Spirit Prince from your martial institution, he had reached the peak of Late Clasping Yuan Realm when he was twenty-two years old, which was way stronger than our head disciple in my martial institution.” The Crown Man said with respect.
The Fire Spirit shook his head, “There is no comparison… Within the South Rudra region, probably only the champion of the Hidden Dragon Rank would be able to compete with the Mysterious Queen. But it is just a chance since the Mysterious Queen had reached the Astral Reaching Realm when she was eighteen, which was a record that has not been broken till now. Even after one thousand years.”
“One thousand years, yet no one can compete…what kind of honor is that? However, the Mysterious Queen was definitely an exception…”
Soon, the food and wine had arrived.
The two kept on chatting as they drank.
…
Only five hundred miles away from the Gold Tripod City…
Ye Chen and the beautiful lady were in danger once again.
And this time, they were facing a top rank 6 beast – the Iron Scale beast. It was an incredibly powerful beast that was shaped like a dog but covered with black scales.
“Angle Light Rain Cut!”
The beautiful lady expanded her body as the angled blade in her hand suddenly waved out more than hundreds of times. The blade qi landed on that beast like a wave of heavy rain.
Ting! Ting! Dang! Dang! …
Countless sparks were set off from the assault. The blade qi from the lady could only leave a light mark on the scales of the beast, unable to break even a single scale.
“No, this Iron Scale beast might not be as powerful as that Wind Wolf, but it still is not something we could fight against.”
Ye Chen’s body kept flashing, looking for the weakest spot of that beast to attack. Hearing her, he said, “Five hundred miles is not that far. You go ahead to the Gold Tripod City. I will stall the beast.”
The Iron Scale beast did not have the ancient beast blood, and could not be counted as one of the tyrants among the rank 6 beasts. However, if a standard peak-level Late Clasping Yuan Realm warrior ran into it, there was still a big chance for him to lose. Only for those martial geniuses who had great potential and most potent martial skills had the opportunity to kill it even with a lower cultivation. But of course, some peak-level Late Clasping Yuan Realm warriors putting all their passion into training great martial arts while striving towards Astra Reaching Realm would be able to beat the beast, and might even be able to kill it. However, between the two, one of them was a Mid Clasping Yuan Realm warrior, and the other was only at the peak of Early Clasping Yuan Realm. There was no way that they could beat the beast with that level of cultivation. Thanks to Ye Chen’s flying art, he was able to separate zhen qi shadows to confuse his opponent.
The beautiful lady asked in surprise, “You can handle this all by yourself?!!!”
“I have more than fifty percent of confidence in escaping.” Ye Chen said.
After a short hesitation, the lady said, “My name is Guo Lanyue, one of the executives of the Moon Pavilion. I own you one for this time. If you run into any kinds of troubles, you can come find me.”
She knew that Ye Chen had great movement arts. Being alone, he probably had a better chance of running away. With her being here, it might even be harder for him.
“You take care!”
Activating her zhen Qi, Guo Lanyue expanded her body and started flying out like a bird.
Roar!
The Iron Scale beast had been aggravated by Ye Chen. Seeing that Guo Lanyue had successfully left the battling zone, an intensified anger flashed through its eyes. The beast opened its mouth and breathed out a burning hot beast qi.
WHOOOOOOH!
The air started to twist drastically, as the red beast Qi started to follow right after Guo Lanyue.
Guo Lanyue had performed some kind of martial art which made her body suddenly flash in the air. The next second, her body had appeared in an entirely different direction. The red beast Qi had gone right past her, shattering her protective zhen qi layer. But fortunately, it was only the aftershock of the beast qi, which had not hurt her at all. After flashing for another couple of times, she was already miles away.
“The Lone Peak Kill!”
While the Iron Scale beast was still distracted, Ye Chen lifted up his Star Scar Sword and stabbed right into the beast’s neck. There was a gray patch which was indeed its weakest spot.
“Not good! Separate!”
The Star Scare was stuck five inches in. Ye Chen’s body shook, separating out three zhen qi shadows while his real body could escape from the danger.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Iron Scale beast had just thrown out one claw attack, tearing apart Ye Chen’s three zhen qi shadows.
“These few days, my Lone Peak Kill have combined with two other sword movements, which has increased the power drastically. However, it will still be quite hard to wound the beast.”
The Lone Peak Kill’s combining speed had become slower and slower; from combining three movements within a few days to the present level of only two movements at a time. Without any surprises, when Ye Chen reached the tenth or the eleventh movement, it would be even harder.
Regardless, after that sword attack, the beast was finally a little bit wounded. Although it did not make much of difference, it did enrage the beast even more. It opened its mouth and breathed out piles after piles of red beast qi. The huge amount of red beat qi turned into flowerlike shape in the midair, containing a huge attacking range.
There was nowhere to hide, nowhere to go!
Ye Chen bit on his teeth, activating all his zhen qi and created layers after layers of zhen qi barriers. Each one of them was half an inch thick.
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop...
The speed of Ye Chen creating zhen qi layers was not as fast as that of the red beast qi breaking them. In the blink of an eye, there were only last three zhen qi barriers in front of him.
The red beast Qi had still not burned out yet and kept going through Ye Chen’s protective layers. Right then, the Iron Scale beast had already caught up with Ye Chen, raising its right paws and attacking towards Ye Chen.
“One Sword Attack!”
With two hands on the sword, Ye Chen had become focused like he had never been before. It was as if he had poured all of his soul into his sword power and sword intent. Then he threw out a sword attack towards that red beast qi and the beast itself.
Chin!
The moment when the last zhen qi layer had been shattered, the sword light exploded in the air like a blue lightning, slicing through the sky and clashing with the huge horrifying claws.
The sparks were flying everywhere. Ye Chen had been blown away, puking out a huge chunk of blood midair.
Surprisingly, that Iron Scale beast also could not control its body and moved half a meter backward. Unlike Ye Chen’s previous attacks which could barely move its body, the sword light this time had an unbelievably strong power. It was so strong that even Ye Chen himself did not expect it at all.
‘I can feel that my sword intent has just moved forward one step closer. If a thirty percent mastered sword intent is entry level sword intent, then I should probably have reached mid-entry level now, with ninety-nine percent being professional-level and one hundred percent being expert level.’ His body shot out backward as thoughts flashed through Ye Chen’s mind.
Sword intent did not have a shape or form. Only people who had learned the sword intent could sense themselves and the other people’s level of sword intent. The others could only analyze it by comparing. That moment when his head and mind had completely been melted into his sword intent and power, Ye Chen’s sword intent had vaguely made some improvement, seeming more condensed and pure. It had changed and transformed his sword light to a more powerful level.
“Okay, although a lot of people had died from this beast wave, for me, it is an opportunity to become stronger. Maybe I can reach the expert level of sword intent faster than I thought.” The professional-level and the expert-level sword intent were not different, but only people with expert-level sword intent were able to train to a higher level.
Eh? I broke through! When he reexamined his zhen qi again, Ye Chen suddenly realized that his zhen Qi had started moving at a much faster speed. The zhen qi tornado in his dantian had expanded to twice its original size. The color in the middle was extra dark, and one could vaguely see the shape of stars which was a sign of reaching Mid Clasping Yuan Realm.
‘The warriors who made it out of piles of dead corpses are the ones with true power.’ This saying was indeed right. During the past half month of killing, Ye Chen had accumulated so many experiences. If he took his time and trained for a while, he would have eventually reached the Mid Clasping Yuan Realm. But obviously, under the pressure of fighting that Iron Scale Beast, it had been sped up.
The peak of Early Clasping Yuan Realm was only one step from the Mid Clasping Yuan Realm. However, because of Ye Chen’s top skills and power, even the slightest improvement in his cultivation would make a huge difference. The Ye Chen of now could easily beat up his self from before.
Right then, the Iron Scale Beast was absolutely furious. Its speed had suddenly been bumped up to what seemed like light speed. The black scale on the surface of its body started to give off a red shine.
“Good timing. I want to see how much my power has been improved.”
Without backing up an inch, Ye Chen threw out a sword attack with all his strength.
With this sword attack being thrown into the air, that bright blue sword light suddenly exploded. All the air around had been torn open immediately, turning into a vacuum space.