by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
It had connected to his soul now. It hadn’t even taken that long for that scale to be moved emotionally by Long Chen. It had now voluntarily merged into his body.
It was different from weapons. A dragon scale could not be placed in a spatial ring due to their pride. They could only merge with a person’s body.
As long as Long Chen wished it, it would come out of his body and move according to his desires. It was just like a part of his body.
Unbeknownst to Long Chen, the instant he succeeded in gaining control over the dragon scale, within an endless void, a large eye slowly opened.
Although it was just an eye, it was the size of a star. Along with that eye’s opening, countless stars within the void began flickering uneasily.
That eye looked toward a certain direction in the void. Incredibly far from it was a mote of dust. Within that mote of dust was Long Chen looking at the dragon scale in his hand with delight.
That eye merely stayed open for a moment before slowly closing again. The starry sky once more returned to calm as if nothing had happened.
“Long Chen, you really are smart!” Yue Xiaoqian praised. Long Chen’s intelligence really did make her admire him.
He was incredibly bold and scrupulous. If it had been her, she would have either believed the barbarian race expert and gone all-out trying to forcibly subdue the dragon scale, or she would have directly given up. She definitely wouldn’t have been like Long Chen, capable of coming up with such a brazen theory from faint clues and then even daring to act on it.
Long Chen was completely satisfied with the dragon scale. Looking at Yue Xiaoqian, he was just about to say something when he suddenly became unable to say a single thing.
[1] The first dragon form is , which is the name of the Azure Dragon found in Chinese mythology. The second dragon form is , which is another name for the Azure Dragon. So the raws are essentially saying azure dragons grow into (insert another name for azure dragons). I’m going with saying green dragons grow into azure dragons so it makes more sense.
Chapter 404 Her Departure
Hers was a flawless face. Rosiness interspersed with bright jade, and it was especially those lips that gave off an endless charm.
Just seeing half her face was enough beauty to make it so Long Chen was unable to look directly at her. Now that her whole face was revealed, Long Chen felt as if the entire world had stilled. The only thing he could hear was his drum-like heartbeat.
Previously, the atmosphere had been too tense, and Long Chen hadn’t paid any attention to Yue Xiaoqian’s face. Furthermore, from his previous experience, he hadn’t dared look her in the face again. But now that he was looking at it directly, he was absolutely speechless.
Being foolishly stared at by Long Chen, Yue Xiaoqian blushed and hurriedly turned her face away.
“Cough, sorry, I couldn’t help it.” Only now did Long Chen come back to his senses.
In terms of her face, only Meng Qi could possibly match Yue Xiaoqian’s beauty. However, the two of their beauties were completely different styles.
Meng Qi’s beauty was like that of an immortal fairy who did not consume the food of common mortals, while Yue Xiaoqian was one that would make a person’s heart and soul quiver.
Just looking at her face could cause a person to sink into endless depravity. That kind of beauty was incredibly dangerous, but when people saw it, they wouldn’t be able to sense the danger.
That kind of dangerous beauty gave people the feeling she was a beautiful demon. But her eyes were pure and holy, giving people a contradictory feeling.
It was precisely this kind of feeling that caused Yue Xiaoqian to possess an irresistible beauty.
She once more took out a veil and properly covered her face, only revealing her two eyes. “My mother said not to let others see my true face, so it was my fault for not covering it. You don’t have to apologize.”
Was this what it meant by a beauty capable of causing a calamity? Long Chen couldn’t help but smile bitterly at himself. At the same time, he was deeply moved that the thousand major worlds were full of extraordinary things.
If Yue Xiaoqian suddenly took off her veil in the middle of a fight with people, just how many people would be able to hold back their shock? Just the slightest break in their rhythm would probably cause them to become a corpse.
“Your mother is a good person,” laughed Long Chen.
“How did you know? My mother is a very, very good person.” Yue Xiaoqian hadn’t heard Long Chen’s other meaning, so she was actually happy to hear him praise her mother.
Long Chen just smiled slightly without saying anything. He really did feel like their brains were not on the same frequency, and communicating seemed to be a bit taxing.
All the Abyss of Fiends’ Devilmen corpses had been handled now, and all the devil cores had landed in Yue Xiaoqian’s pocket. Other than some of the fiendish aura remaining here, the terrifying pressure had already disappeared.
Both Long Chen and Yue Xiaoqian were completely exhausted, and so the two of them found a place to rest.
Those continuous battles had completely depleted all their energy, and then they had only narrowly escaped alive from mortal danger several times. Even people as strong as them were exhausted.
That was especially true of Long Chen. In his attempt to subdue the dragon scale, his Spiritual Strength had been mostly used up. After consuming a healing pill, he wasn’t able to endure it any longer and fell asleep against a rock wall.
Yue Xiaoqian wasn’t much better off than him. Feeling waves of exhaustion battering her, she fell asleep on Long Chen’s shoulder.
Long Chen slept soundly. Within his daze, he seemed to feel a pair of hands gently caressing his cheeks, as well as hear a soft murmuring that made him feel like he was floating in the clouds.
He didn’t know how long he slept for, but he suddenly awoke. The Abyss of Fiends was still present, but Yue Xiaoqian was not.
Long Chen hastily looked around and called out to her, but there was no reply.
Taking a couple of steps forward, Long Chen suddenly saw eight odd bones with special lines carved into them.
Those bones were incredibly ancient and emitted a strange pressure. They were arranged in an orderly, square pattern three meters long.
He reached out to grab one, but he had only just touched it when the bone instantly turned to ash.
“Spatial strength.”
Long Chen sensed a spatial fluctuation when that bone dissipated, one that was similar to when a transportation formation was activated.
However, this spatial strength was a bit different from the spatial strength of transportation formations. But as for how they were different, Long Chen was unable to tell.
“Looks like she’s already left the secret realm.” Long Chen sighed. Yue Xiaoqian had previously revealed that she didn’t need to wait for when the Jiuli secret realm’s exit opened. Back then, Long Chen hadn’t taken that to heart, but now seeing these bones, he knew she had used some kind of secret technique to leave.
For some reason, Yue Xiaoqian’s departure gave him a feeling of disappointment and frustration as if he had lost something. “No matter how you put it, we can count as friends. Leaving like this was really rude.”
She had already left, but her fragrance still lingered on his body. Everything almost seemed like it was a dream. But when a scale floated out of his hand, emitting a green light and a powerful dragon might, he knew it wasn’t a dream.
Long Chen sighed, but then he suddenly sensed something odd. Looking at his arm, he saw a crescent moon had appeared there.
It was only an inch long, and although it was just a simple design, it still gave people a vivid and lifelike feeling as if it was a real moon.
“She left this on me?”
This mark seemed to have become a birthmark, fusing into his skin and flesh. There was no way to erase it at all.
Girls really were girls, all liking to do these unreasonable th
ings. But at least she hadn’t left this mark on his face.
Lightly rubbing that crescent moon on his arm, a strange feeling arose in Long Chen’s heart. It was as if he could once more see that soul-stealing visage.
“I should also get going.” The atmosphere here in the Abyss of Fiends was very oppressive. Climbing out, as soon as he arrived outside, he couldn’t help but take a deep breath.
He temporarily put aside Yue Xiaoqian’s matter. If she had left, then she had left.
“Right now, the most important thing for me is to connect to the dragon scale. Although it doesn’t reject me, in order to use it, I’ll need to nourish and communicate with it more.”
Long Chen found a place to seclude himself nearby. This time, his seclusion wasn’t for cultivation, but to connect with the dragon scale. Although the dragon scale had merged with his body, he still didn’t know how to use it. He would have to figure it out on his own. However, he had no idea how to do so, as the dragon scale wasn’t a true living thing.
What he hadn’t expected was that it took him over two months before finally figuring out a portion of the abilities of this dragon scale.
Although he hadn’t completely figured it out, he felt he no longer had much time to waste. It had already been over half a year since the secret realm had opened.
In other words, it had been over three months since he had fought with Yin Luo. By now, he would have advanced to Bone Forging.
Furthermore, there were countless opportunities within the Jiuli secret realm. He was not the only one who had obtained great opportunities. Perhaps there were other people who had obtained even more heaven-defying opportunities.
But rather than those opportunities, Long Chen was more worried about everyone’s safety. He wanted to go out and take a look at what was happening. It had been three months since he had revealed himself, so he didn’t know what was happening within the rest of the secret realm.
While connecting to the dragon scale, he had also advanced a level, reaching the fourth Heavenstage of Tendon Transformation.
However, this was the Jiuli secret realm. The spiritual qi here was extremely dense. Most likely, everyone had already broken through to the Bone Forging realm by now. Other than dead people, Long Chen was probably the only one still in the Tendon Transformation realm.
That was because many people had already been at the late Tendon Transformation realm when the secret realm had opened. There were some who had even focused completely on breaking through as fast as possible before going out in search of opportunities. That way they would have a higher chance of surviving.
By the time they managed to break through, quite a few of those opportunities would have already been taken away by others. However, they had their own plans. That was to plunder.
Relying on their superior cultivation base from their advancement, they would take advantage of those that hadn’t to kill and rob. That would give them an even higher chance of obtaining treasures.
Without even thinking about it, Long Chen could guess that in the last two months, a rain of blood had fallen in the Jiuli secret realm. Who knew how many people were buried in the ground now.
After this much time, the weak had already been killed. As for those that had managed to survive, they were all experts amongst experts. After that rain of blood, the secret realm should have now entered a period of quiet calm.
That was because those who had remained after that bloodbath were all very powerful, and the majority of the treasures and opportunities had already been snatched away by people. There was no need to waste time on futile effort, so it was better for people to take advantage of the spiritual qi here to properly temper their bodies.
Furthermore, after advancing to Bone Forging, the most important thing was to temper your bones. The more you could temper, the stronger you would be.
It could be said that of the five Houtian realms[1], the Bone Forging realm was the one with the greatest combat difference between the weak and the strong. That was something that didn’t have to do with cultivation base, but with how many bones you had tempered.
Just before the exit of the Jiuli secret realm opened, according to previous experience, the Righteous and Corrupt paths would undergo an immense battle.
Although there were many entrances to the Jiuli secret realm, there was only one exit. That exit was located in the most core place of the secret realm.
There was a huge mountain valley there. That place had been called Death-Deciding Valley. When the secret realm’s exit opened, a teleportation gate would open in front of Death-Deciding Valley. By activating the special tablets each person had on their body, they would be sent out of the secret realm.
Everyone from the Righteous and Corrupt paths would gather there at that time. That was because this teleportation gate would only stay open for two hours. If you didn’t enter it in time, you would forever be left in the secret realm.
Each time, the Righteous and Corrupt paths would have an immense final battle before that exit opened. That was both a competition between the two paths, as well as a bloody battle for treasure.
The people who benefited the most from this final battle were always the Chosen. In this kind of battle, very few Chosen died. The majority of those who died were the weaker geniuses.
Naturally, those slain geniuses would have all the treasures in their spatial rings be taken away by the top experts.
And it was because of this that those top experts wouldn’t target the weak in the beginning. Instead, they would wait for the final battle. Then, not only could they kill their enemies, but they could also take their treasures, as well as raise their fame. It was like killing three birds with one stone.
But currently, the secret realm was in a state of calm. Many people had already found a place to undergo secluded cultivation, trying to raise their strength. The majority of those people weren’t focused on gaining the power to kill their enemies, but on protecting their lives.
Only a few of the absolute top experts were confident enough to continue strolling around the secret realm, trying to test their luck.
It was on the third day after Long Chen had left his seclusion that he ran into two experts that blocked his path.
[1] To avoid any possible confusion, the Houtian realms here refers to the five realms that are focused on tempering the body. Those would be Qi Condensation, Blood Condensation, Tendon Transformation, Bone Forging, and Meridian Opening.
Chapter 405 Compass Mountain
“Long Chen?”
Those two people were absolutely delighted to see Long Chen.
The two of them were from the Corrupt path, and after advancing to Bone Forging, their auras surged powerfully.
“Haha, he’s still only in Tendon Transformation. Kill him!”
“Don’t kill him; capture him alive.”
The two of them charged at Long Chen. The pressure of the Bone Forging realm crashed down onto Long Chen. That was the superiority of Bone Forging experts. Just the pressure they emitted could crush those below the Bone Forging realm.
Back in the monastery, Elder Sun had used his Bone Forging pressure to suppress Long Chen, almost crushing all of his bones.
However, the current Long Chen was no longer the old Long Chen. Even in the face of those Two-Winged Devilmen and the barbarian race expert, he hadn’t been affected by their pressure. This insignificant Bone Forging pressure was no different from a fart.
Well, to be precise, the difference was that their pressure was even less than a fart to him. That was because a fart was at least smelly, and so it still posed a definite threat to Long Chen.
Cracking sounds rang out as both their arms were broken at the same time. The two of them began to scream, but they had only gotten half of it out before it was cut off. Both their heads slammed into each other and then exploded like crushed watermelons.
Two corpses fell to the ground. Long Chen looked at his own hands in shock. He hadn’t expected two Bone Forgi
ng experts would be so easily killed in one move.
Although Long Chen had never feared ordinary Bone Forging experts, he had never thought he could dispatch them so easily.
“Looks like I’ve underestimated the power of the Alioth Star,” muttered Long Chen. Ever since condensing the Alioth Star, he had never had a chance to exchange blows with anyone, and so he had no idea what level he had reached.
Furthermore, in the Abyss of Fiends, the ones he had encountered were Two-Winged Devilmen and the barbarian race expert. Long Chen had been completely suppressed, and in the end, almost killed by the barbarian race expert.
That had caused him to forget what level he had reached. It wasn’t that he was too weak, but his enemies had been too monstrous.
Now, these two Corrupt experts had used their lives to tell Long Chen that he was also a monster.
After advancing to the Bone Forging realm, the first thing these two had done was to temper their arm bones. But their strongest arms were incredibly flimsy in the face of Long Chen.
After gathering their two spatial rings, he also went through their belongings and found dozens of other spatial rings.
Normally, a person would only wear a single spatial ring. That was because those that had reached their level all had high grade spatial rings that contained a space greater than three thousand cubic meters.
Such a huge space could store any number of treasures. As long as you didn’t treat a mountain as a treasure, you would be fine.
For them to have this many spatial rings, the two of them had definitely obtained them through killing. In other words, these two had to have immediately gone hunting prey as soon as they had advanced to the Bone Forging realm. Otherwise, there was no way they would have this many.
Long Chen placed all those spatial rings into a small pouch. That pouch already contained over a hundred spatial rings.
Those were mostly all things that people had ‘sent’ to him. That really caused people to be deeply moved. Nowadays, people had become incredibly generous. They not only sent over their spatial rings to him, they even sent over their lives. Sometimes, Long Chen was too embarrassed to accept them all.