by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
But when she smiled, it made people feel as if they had instantly entered a fairyland, and even their hearts and spirits would be baptized, and their souls would sublimate to a higher realm. That level of beauty was an absolute pinnacle.
“Meng Qi, you should smile more in the future. Your smile is really too good-looking.” Long Chen held her hand.
Having her hand held by Long Chen, Meng Qi’s body shook. Seeing that Long Chen’s expression was completely sincere now, she felt a burst of warmth.
Suddenly, footsteps rang out and Meng Qi jumped in fright, hastily pulling back her hand.
Long Chen had only just had a chance to hold Meng Qi’s hand. He hadn’t even had a chance to enjoy that ecstatic feeling when those hurried footsteps rang out, infuriating him.
He was just about to curse whoever it was that had come when his expression changed slightly.
Chapter 374 Yin Luo’s Whereabouts
The person who had come possessed a powerful aura that caused space to twist around him. He was surprisingly a Chosen. His clothes marked him as a Righteous disciple.
But the shocking thing was that his eyes were absent-minded, and his aura was chaotic. His life force was rapidly fading.
That person seemed to have lost himself in panic, and his expression was full of terror. He was fleeing with all his might, not even caring about the direction. He was coincidentally running in Long Chen and Meng Qi’s direction.
That person was still dozens of meters away when he suddenly collapsed on the ground. Long Chen and Meng Qi hastily went over.
“Let me.” Meng Qi had been about to extend her hand when Long Chen stopped her. He ran up to him and swept his divine sense over his entire body. Only when he didn’t find any anomalies did he turn him around.
“Wake up! What happened?”
“Corrupt… Corrupt…” That person was already on the verge of dissociating. His eyes were losing all their light, and he was replying completely unconsciously.
Long Chen’s heart chilled. From his previous examination, he had already seen that all this person’s meridians had exploded.
Normally, he shouldn’t even have had any energy to run. It was unknown what secret technique he had used. He had overdrafted his life force to continue fleeing.
But his life force was no longer able to continue. His body was already starting to decompose. Long Chen hastily poured his spiritual qi into his body. “What happened?!”
With the assistance of Long Chen’s spiritual qi, that person regained the slightest bit of energy. “Corrupt path… Yin Luo… killing… stealing…”
“Where is he killing people?” asked Long Chen hastily.
But after saying those last six words, this person was no longer able to hold on. His head tilted to the side, and his life force was completely severed.
“His entire body’s meridians have exploded, and the majority of his bones are broken. It looks like he was crushed by a kind of a multi-target attack.” Long Chen’s expression was solemn.
“Who could be so powerful that they could launch a group attack that is capable of one-shotting Chosen?” Meng Qi was shocked. But then her expression changed. “That Yin Luo he mentioned, he was referring to the Corrupt path’s top expert?!”
Long Chen nodded. “That’s the most likely scenario. Other than Yin Luo’s natural energy attacks, I don’t know any other kind of power that can practically decompose a Chosen.”
Just from looking at this person’s injuries, Long Chen could tell that that bastard’s ability to control natural energy had advanced once more. Yin Luo truly was terrifying.
At this time, Chu Yao and Lu Fang-er had also rushed back due to the clamor. When they heard what had happened, their expressions changed. The Corrupt path’s number one expert, Yin Luo, was in the vicinity. That gave them a great deal of pressure.
Just Yin Wushuang was already terrifying. But now the Corrupt path’s number one expert, the one equally famed as Han Tianyu, was near them. Those two were truly unrivaled existences within their generation.
“What should we do? Should we leave?” said Lu Fang-er worriedly.
“We can’t. As members of the Righteous path, we must be chivalrous, help out the weak, and uphold justice. I’ve decided to get revenge for this brother.” Long Chen shook his head, appearing like the picture of righteousness.
Meng Qi and Lu Fang-er couldn’t help being stunned. They hadn’t imagined Long Chen would suddenly practically turn into a different person. Meng Qi advised, “Long Chen, it’s not like you had any relationship with this person…”
“Sister, you’ve been duped. How would Long Chen have such good intentions as to getting this person his revenge? He’s just trying to kill people for their treasures.” Chu Yao pulled on Meng Qi’s hand and laughed.
“Cough, did you have to say it so directly? How about this, I will carry the pretense of stealing treasure all so that I can get revenge for this brother. After all, he did give me some clues,” said Long Chen with some embarrassment.
Meng Qi and Lu Fang-er looked at each other in dismay. Long Chen wanted to kill the number one expert of the Corrupt path for his treasures? That was too crazy.
“Are you serious Long Chen?” Meng Qi and Lu Fang-er asked at the same time.
“Sisters, you must still be unaware. Long Chen is already acquainted with that Yin Luo. Before the Jiuli secret realm opened, there was a great Righteous and Corrupt path war. For some reason, Yin Luo was sent to Long Chen’s particular war zone, and as a result, Long Chen severed one of his legs,” said Chu Yao.
“Is that true?!” Meng qi and Lu Fang-er were both shocked. That was far too hard to believe.
Chu Yao told them about what had happened in that battle. From beginning to end, Meng Qi and Lu Fang-er were incomparably shocked. They had never imagined Long Chen had grown to such a terrifying realm.
Back when they had first met him, Long Chen had only been at the third Heavenstage of Qi Condensation.
But in just over a year, Long Chen was now able to stand shoulder to shoulder with peak experts like Yin Luo and Mo Nian.
“That battle didn’t really count. It was only because I had Mo Nian and Chu Yao with me that we won in the end. If it had just been myself, I would have been completely oppressed by Yin Luo.” Long Chen bitterly smiled. He had never considered himself to have been that amazing in that battle, as it had only been won through everyone’s contribution.
Meng Qi shook her head and praised, “That’s not the same. At that time, you were only at Blood Condensation, while Yin Luo had reached Tendon Transformation; you were separated by a major realm. Long Chen, you really are powerful.”
Although countless people had praised him and he had seen countless worshipful gazes, those didn’t cause any great waves in Long Chen. But being praised by Meng Qi, pride involuntarily swelled within him.
However, he still shook his head. “Yin Luo’s strength has reached an abnormal level. Back when we first entered the secret realm, he ended up immediately targeting me, and I almost died to him.” Long Chen told them about what had happened with Yin Luo at the beginning. His expression was extremely solemn. “At that time, Yin Luo’s control of natural energy was still coarse. But looking at this person’s wounds, it seems Yin Luo has already gained a measure of control over his Xiantian power, and so he must be even more terrifying.”
The most abnormal part about Yin Luo was that he had refined Xiantian essence blood and was able to control a measure of natural energy, something only Xiantian experts should have been able to do. But Yin Luo was able to do so in Tendon Transformation. Although it was just a small amount, it was enough to allow him to dominate anyone in the same realm.
It was unknown just what techniques Han Tianyu had for him to stand on the same level as Yin Luo. But Han Tianyu’s trump cards were definitely not inferior to Yin Luo’s.
“Long Chen, how sure are you of being able to defeat Yin Luo?” asked Meng Qi.
Long
Chen hesitated. “Conservatively, it should be around fifty percent. But my chance of killing him is probably zero. So, I’ll need your help.”
“You want to kill him?” The three women were all stunned. Long Chen was crazy. He wanted to kill a top expert?
“This is probably my only chance to kill Yin Luo. Back when Yin Luo chased after me, his cultivation base had already reached the ninth Heavenstage of Tendon Transformation. Now that over two months have passed, he should have reached the peak of Tendon Transformation, and perhaps he has already begun to touch that barrier. So, killing him now is my only chance. If he advances to Bone Forging, there’ll be no chance at all.”
With the assistance of his medicinal pills, Long Chen’s cultivation base had just reached the second Heavenstage of Tendon Transformation recently. Trying to catch up to Yin Luo in terms of cultivation base was just folly.
So Long Chen placed great importance on this opportunity. The enmity between the two had reached the point where they would fight a battle to the death the instant they saw each other. This was the most opportune moment for Long Chen.
The three women nodded when they saw Long Chen was so confident, and so they didn’t try to dissuade him any further.
“I don’t need the three of you to directly fight. It’s best if you conceal yourselves at first and just prepare to stop him from running. If we end up in a draw or I’m not able to defeat him, just give up on the plan and run. I have my own methods to escape him, so you don’t need to worry about me,” warned Long Chen.
Although the three of them were extremely powerful, especially Meng Qi and Chu Yao, Long Chen didn’t dare place them in such danger.
The person they were targeting was the number one expert of the Corrupt path. If even one of them ended up in an accident, then even ten thousand deaths wouldn’t be able to wash away his guilt.
“Little Snow will lead the way. On the way, Meng Qi, show me your best attacks and your fighting style.” Long Chen summoned out Little Snow. With his nose, it was easy to trace where that fellow had come from.
After burying that person, the four of them began to follow Little Snow even deeper into the Forest of Darkness.
With Little Snow leading the way, Meng Qi began to explain her various spiritual attacks. At the same time, she imparted several principles and usages of spiritual attacks to Long Chen.
Long Chen was astonished by how complicated these spiritual attacks were. Compared to the ones Lu Fang-er had taught him, it was much more taxing to use these.
Even with Long Chen’s incredibly vast soul energy, some of those soul arts would require his full strength to use.
Long Chen finally understood why Lu Fang-er had been unable to come into contact with these soul arts. That was because her Spiritual Strength was too lacking to use these powerful techniques.
From Meng Qi’s explanations, Long Chen couldn’t help but sigh that soul arts were really too powerful. The amount of knowledge and theories contained within them were as vast as an ocean. As they traveled atop Little Snow, Meng Qi became Long Chen’s secret teacher.
Long Chen himself was an alchemist, and he possessed his Pill Sovereign memories. His ability to control his Spiritual Strength had definitely reached a masterful level.
Although the methods to circulate soul energy were different between soul arts and pill refining, the countless differences didn’t change the fact that they were from the same origin. The principles were similar, and Long Chen comprehended them extremely quickly.
As a result, Meng Qi reacted in the same way as Lu Fang-er had and ended up completely stunned by Long Chen’s terrifying talent. No matter what soul art it was, Long Chen would essentially be able to comprehend the whole thing as soon as she explained it once.
Then he would ask her some questions about some specifics, and the questions he brought up were always the areas that were easiest for people to end up making slip-ups. After those few questions, he would have a fundamental understanding on how to use it.
It wasn’t just Long Chen who was benefiting from Meng Qi’s knowledge. Chu Yao was also learning many things as her soul energy was also extremely powerful. She used her powerful soul energy to control her wood energy. These transformations and methods to use soul energy showed her many new ways to control her wooden stakes.
“Slow down.” Long Chen suddenly waved his hand. Little Snow had sent back news that there were traces of battle ahead.
This should be in the direction where that injured person had come from. The four of them began to carefully advance. In just a couple of hundred meters, they saw Little Snow. Not far from Little Snow were two corpses, and the ground was a complete mess.
Although the two of them had died, their powerful auras had yet to completely fade, and it was possible to tell that these two had also reached the Chosen-level.
“Looks like it was here. There’s a basin up ahead with mountains on all sides, and there’s only one entrance. Then let’s act according to the plan. You three, guard the entrance here, and I’ll go on ahead.”
“Be careful,” the three of them warned him at the same time.
Long Chen smiled slightly and nodded. He carefully ventured ahead.
Chapter 375 A Decisive Battle to the Death
In front of Long Chen was a huge basin. It was thirty miles in diameter. Although he called it a basin, it could also be described as a well. The cliffs surrounding it were all extremely steep, looking like they had been cut open with a blade. The mountains were miles high.
These mountains surrounded it on all sides. If you were to look from above, it would look just like a circular well. There was only a narrow passage that led into the basin.
This passageway had been turned into a complete mess. The ground was crumbling and waves of earth had piled up. Furthermore, these marks were clearly fresh, proving an intense fight had occurred here not too long ago.
Long Chen had told the three women to act in accordance with their plan and guard the entranceway. If someone were to run out from inside, it would be difficult for them to notice the ambush outside.
The passageway was less than a dozen meters wide at any time, and it went on for a dozen miles. Long Chen carefully walked through it until he reached the basin. There, he was amazed to see that the basin was filled with lush trees soaring to the heavens. It was completely different from the environment outside.
Bang!
Suddenly, a muffled sound came from the distance, and Long Chen stealthily took out Devil Decapitator, raising his concentration to its limit as he crept over in the direction of the sound.
After traveling several miles, Long Chen suddenly saw a certain figure, a very familiar figure. It was Yin Luo.
At this time, Yin Luo was crazily brandishing his spear. In front of him were densely packed, fist-sized, golden insects.
His spear smashed into one of the golden insects, and shockingly, a metallic sound rang out.
Long Chen was surprised to see that despite Yin Luo’s strength being great enough to smash apart mountains, his spear was only able to send some of those insects flying away with each strike. He wasn’t able to smash them to death.
“Metal Devouring Insects…” Long Chen was shocked. Those fist-sized insects with translucent wings and a golden shell were called Metal Devouring Insects.
They were an extremely unique kind of Magical Beast. When they were fully mature, they would still be only the size of a fist. They didn’t have a crystal core, but they had been classified as third rank Magical Beasts.
That was because a single matured Metal Devouring Insect could kill a third rank Magical Beast. The most terrifying thing about them was their teeth.
They relied on eating metallic ores to live. Not only were their bodies hard as metal, but they were also extremely tough. External force attacks were mostly unable to kill them.
The most terrifying thing was that Metal Devouring Insects were Magical Beasts that lived in groups. It was common for hund
reds or even thousands of them to gather together and dominate a vein of ore. Only when that vein was exhausted would they move on together to find another vein.
Long Chen was a bit curious about why Yin Luo would fight with these Metal Devouring Insects. He looked into the distance. When he saw a certain sapling growing in front of a cave, his heart began to pound frantically, and he almost cried out.
“Qilin Fruit!”
Long Chen shouted inside. He had searched for the Qilin Fruit for so long, and now he managed to find it in the secret realm. If he could obtain the Qilin Fruit, he’d be able to refine the Alioth Pill, and thus condense the Alioth Star.
Long Chen took a deep breath and suppressed his intense emotions. He carefully examined the situation.
This Qilin Fruit Tree was three feet tall, and there were over ten oddly shaped fruits growing on it. Those fruits all had scale-like patterns on them.
The fruits were the size of a longan. Long Chen could clearly see that several of the Qilin Fruit’s scales had already turned golden, meaning that they had ripened and could immediately be used to refine the Alioth Pill.
Long Chen wished he could instantly charge over and snatch the tree. But he suppressed that desire.
The Qilin Fruit Tree was on top of a cave. Countless Metal Devouring Insects were furiously flying out from there, attacking Yin Luo.
Long Chen instantly understood that Yin Luo had come for the Qilin Fruit Tree. But that tree was in the Metal Devouring Insects’ territory. They wouldn’t let Yin Luo approach, and so they were crazily attacking him.
Yin Luo was too afraid of damaging the Qilin Fruit Tree, and so he didn’t dare release his full-strength attacks. He could only use his spear to continuously strike those insects.
Although they wouldn’t die from being struck by his spear, once they were knocked into the hard cliff behind them, they usually lost consciousness.
There were already hundreds of Metal Devouring Insects that were unconscious in front of the cliff.