by Fiery Moon
What was going on? A deep fear crept up into Xiao Chen’s mind. Am I going to die like this?
The surging Spiritual Energy continuously gushed into his body. He did his best to redirect the Spiritual Energy in his meridians to his bones, skin and muscles but he could not keep up with the rate of the Spiritual Energy that was pouring into his body.
His meridians were already starting to show some tiny cracks and mixed in with the crack were some traces of fresh blood. A strong wave of pain was sent to his brain and Xiao Chen grunted and nearly fainted from the pain.
He sent his consciousness down, observing that his Dantian was still a formless mass. He clenched his jaw and decided to take a gamble. If this Spiritual Energy could not find an outlet, then he would explode and die soon. Only by successfully condensing his Martial Spirit could he refine the Spiritual Energy into Essence.
After making that decision, his consciousness immediately controlled the Spiritual Energy to smash against the Dantian. This new Spiritual Energy was much stronger than the Spiritual Energy he had used before and just like before, when it got close to the Dantian, it stopped.
However, this time, it did not bounce back. From the three major meridians of the chest, another wave of strong Spiritual Energy came and merged with the other stream, forming a stronger whole. And then with a bang, it slammed into the barrier surrounding the Dantian.
Xiao Chen vomited a mouthful of fresh blood from the impact but the Spiritual Energy still did not enter the Dantian.
Xiao Chen did not believe that he could not break the barrier, but regardless, he tried for a few more times and inadvertently failed each time. Starting to get angry, he continuously controlled the Spiritual Energy to smash against the barrier around the Dantian. After the fifth attempt, Xiao Chen had vomited five mouthfuls of blood. However, this time, he could obviously feel that the barrier softened.
He felt joy in his heart. But instead of gathering the Spiritual Energy for another attempt, he took a deep breath and allowed the Spiritual Energy in his body to accumulate freely. In a short moment, the gathered Spiritual Energy was stronger than earlier. It surged, under the control of Xiao Chen’s consciousness and seemed to have turned into a Flood Dragon, an ancient beast only seen in myths, snarling at the Dantian as it smashed against it.
“Boom!”
There was a loud boom that came from Xiao Chen’s body. The barrier in the Dantian that had obstructed Xiao Chen’s progress for eight years was actually broken. He ignored the pain and sent his consciousness down, wanting to see what was causing the problem within his Dantian.
A pair of eyes suddenly appeared and watched him. The eyes were like burning torches, showing a certain might.
Xiao Chen felt like a big mountain was pressing down on him. In this place, he was like an ant and the desire to worship this entity seemed to be pressed onto him. However, before he could be awed, an intense pain caused him to faint.
When Xiao Chen fainted, the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation did not stop circulating, which meant the surrounding Spiritual Energy still continuously poured into his body.
Unlike before, this Spiritual Energy did not get absorbed into his flesh and bones. It was all gathered in his Dantian. The Dantian, which was originally a formless mass, seemed to have dispersed and inside it was a small young Azure Dragon.
The eyes of the Azure Dragon were closed and its five claws were slightly parted. It was greedily sucking in the Spiritual Energy that was pouring in, its two whiskers gently swaying. It seemed extremely comfortable and its whole body rapidly swam around in circles, continuously sucking in Spiritual Energy. The soft skin of the Azure Dragon slowly hardened, but its shape did not change.
The surrounding Spiritual Energy slowly started to grow thin. Even places with denser Spiritual Energy would not be able to keep up with the rate the Azure Dragon was consuming it. Slowly, the surrounding Spiritual Energy was completely sucked dry and the recovery of the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth would require a long time.
The Azure Dragon did not seem satisfied and continued to demand more. However, there was no more Spiritual Energy left in Xiao Chen’s body. Moments after the dragon saw Xiao Chen’s strong flesh, even Xiao Chen’s body started to shrivel up—the Azure Dragon actually wanted to extract the Spiritual Energy within his flesh.
The Azure Dragon continued to absorb for another hour before stopping, its Azure skin turning even more solid and strong. It opened its eyes, extended its five claws. It then swam around in lively fashion and raised its head while releasing a ferocious roar, as if it was trapped for countless years and had finally seen daylight again!
This ferocious roar came out of Xiao Chen’s body, skyrocketing and piercing through the sky. The Spirit Beasts of the outer region of the Seven Horn Mountain all prostrated in fear. This sound seemed to contain a mighty pressure, as though it was made to cause them to feel fear.
At the same time, the Sect Masters of the Passionate Phoenix Palace, White Emperor City and the Divine Martial Gate of the Tianwu Continent all stopped what they were doing and looked into the distance, mumbling the same words—the Azure Dragon has awakened!
At this moment, Xiao Chen finally woke up. The first thing he noticed was the changes to his body, which had shriveled up. However, at the moment, he could not be bothered about this. He remembered that there had been a pair of mysterious eyes within his Dantian, which made him feel terrified. He quickly sat up into the lotus position and sent his consciousness into his Dantian.
But he no longer saw the eyes, only a small Azure Dragon. There were a few white clouds floating in its surrounding and its eyes were closed, silently waiting.
What was going on... he had clearly seen a pair of eyes that contained a strong vigor and might, such that he would never forget it. Could it be this was the work of that little Azure Dragon?
Chapter 7: Accidental Discovery, Shadowing
Xiao Chen controlled his consciousness to approach the Azure Dragon. His consciousness was almost stuck to the face of the Azure Dragon before it stopped, making the details of the dragon. incomparably clear. At this moment, the Azure Dragon suddenly opened its eyes, startling Xiao Chen. The Azure Dragon, however, did not seem to notice him and soon it closed both its eyes.
Xiao Chen hurriedly withdrew his consciousness. The gaze of the Azure Dragon was clear and its pupils seemed like a clear spring. Its gaze seemed to be able to draw out the souls of people and create a desire for them to serve it.
However, what was this Azure Dragon? He did not remember a dragon entering his body. Could it be a Martial Spirit? Had he succeeded in condensing his Martial Spirit?
Azure Dragon, Azure Dragon Martial Spirit, Xiao Chen suddenly recollected a very distant memory of this body.
Long ago, the Tianwu Continent had four great sects, the Sect Master of these four great sects had the bloodline of Holy Beasts. Disciples of their clans were born naturally with the Holy Beast Martial Spirit. Their cultivation speeds were much faster than others. Furthermore, the Holy Beast Martial Spirit had a spiritual nature, they were incomparable to regular Martial Spirits.
The Azure Dragon of the East, White Tiger of the West, Vermilion Bird of the South, and Black Tortoise of the North, each of the four great clans represented a cardinal direction. The Xiao Clan’s bloodline was that of the Azure Dragon of the East. However, thousands of years ago, because of an unknown reason, the Azure Dragon Holy Beast Martial Spirit stopped appearing in the Xiao Clan and their rich, powerful and distinguished clan was reduced into a local clan of a small town.
Xiao Chen shook his head and he couldn’t be bothered to think about these stuff. He was only concerned with the fact that he had condensed his Martial Spirit and could now condense Essence to practice Martial Techniques. He might not lose to Xiao Jian seven days later.
He once again sank his consciousness into his body, checking the status of the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation. Earlier, the
Purple Thunder Divine Incantation was frantically circulating, as if it was a sword tip pointing at his back. He didn’t want to enter a situation where there was a possibility that he would explode again.
What caused him to be pleasantly surprised was that the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation was circulating stably and that his cultivation realm had taken a big step forward. He had firmly consolidated the 1st layer of the incantation.
He temporarily ignored the Azure Dragon Martial Spirit and decided to focus on the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation for now. After cultivating the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation for a night, his strength had already increased exponentially. Furthermore, when he punched out with his fist, electricity would be emitted; one could easily imagine how powerful his fists would be.
He remembered that in the Compendium of Cultivation, it was written that after cultivating the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation, one could condense Purple Thunder True Fire. Since the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation’s realm had stably consolidated at the 1st layer, Xiao Chen decided to give it a try.
Xiao Chen got up and circulated the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation. As he did so, the eyes of the Azure Dragon in his Dantian opened and the three white cloud floating around it slowly started to thin out.
A pure and condensed Essence flowed from its body to Xiao Chen’s meridians. Xiao Chen’s mind was shocked and he could feel a sudden inflow of clear and cozy Essence. He carefully directed this energy to circulate within his body.
Following the method in the Compendium of Cultivation, this Essence headed towards his right hand and gathered there. The energy then came out from the four major acupoints of Tianquan, Jugu, Quze, and Neiguan, to gather onto his middle finger.
Suddenly there was a sizzling electrical light on his finger, it continuously flickered until all the electricity gathered onto the tip of his finger. A purple flame about the size of a peanut was formed.
Xiao Chen looked at the flame that was unceasingly swaying that looked as if it would be extinguished at any time. He smiled bitterly, killing people? Even in his original world, this flame could only be used to light a cigarette.
He waved his hands and extinguished the flame. Xiao Chen was not dispirited. The fact that he could succeed in condensing the flame on his first attempt was a great consolation.
Only, he did not notice that when he was extinguishing the flame, a small spark wasn’t completely extinguished and fell onto the ground. Once it touched the ground, it caused the surrounding dead branches and fallen leaves within half a meter to burn. The flame died out in a flash. If there weren’t a pile of ashes was not left behind and remanent heat on his face, Xiao Cheng wouldn’t have believed that there was a fire here just moments ago.
He was stupefied and just stood there blankly. After a while, Xiao Chen started to laugh wildly in joy. This flame was just too strong, just a small spark had such a strong might. After training the flame for a while, it should have a very strong destructive power.
Xiao Chen did not detest practicing the summoning of the Purple Thunder True Fire. After a few hours of practice, with just a thought, the Purple Thunder True Fire would be summoned in an instant.
“Puchi!”
A shadow on a big tree flashed by above Xiao Chen’s head and skimmed into the distance. Stopping what he was doing, Xiao Chen raised his head to take a look. That person was dressed in blue and he flew from tree to tree. In a blink of an eye, he left Xiao Chen’s field of vision.
This was not true airborne flight, the person was only using the momentum of hopping from tree to tree and an excellent movement technique to create the false impression that he was flying. Even so, the cultivation of that person was at least at the Martial Saint Realm.
Since when did Mohe City have a Martial Saint in blue robes? What purpose did he have in coming to the Seven Horn Mountain of the Xiao Clan? Xiao Chen felt somewhat suspicious.
Taking note of the direction that the person headed to, Xiao Chen hesitated for awhile before he decided to chase him to take a look. An expert at the realm of Martial Saint wouldn’t come to this Seven Horn Mountain for no reason.
He completely withdrew his energies and relied on the strength of his body to follow in the direction that the person in blue went. Xiao Chen dashed frantically. Even without using the Essence in his body, his body’s strength was so great that his speed was shocking.
The person in blue had a very fast speed, he had already disappeared without a trace. Xiao Chen could only move forward in a rough direction. If his luck was bad, then he would never find him.
After about an hour, Xiao Chen heard people chatting in low voices, Xiao Chen quickly stopped and carefully listened. After determining the direction of the voices, he proceeded forward once again.
The voices were getting clearer and clearer, Xiao Chen jumped onto a big tree and finally saw the person speaking. In an area, about 300 meters in front of him, the person in blue from earlier and a group of people were speaking in hushed voices.
Strange, why were there people from the Zhang Clan? There was a group of people speaking to the person in blue, and they wore clothing embroidered with a certain pattern, the symbol of the Zhang Clan. They were the strongest local power after the Xiao Clan and their ensigma of three white clouds was unmistakably embroidered on the chest area of their brown coats.
“Huchi!”
Suddenly there was the sound of panting behind him. Xiao Chen was startled and immediately circulated the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation. Gathering the Purple Thunder True Fire in his right hands, he was ready to take action.
Chapter 8: Cave of the Predecessor
“Cousin Xiao Chen, don’t move, it’s me.” Xiao Yulan stood at Xiao Chen’s side as she said in a soft voice.
After getting a clear picture of who it was, Xiao Chen released his breath and dissipated the flames on his finger. “Cousin Yulan discovered them too?” he leaned on the tree and asked.
She nodded her head, looking at the group of people in front, frowning, “Cousin, do you know who they are?”
“I am not very sure, but I know that those in brown attire are people of the Zhang Clan.”
Xiao Yulan withdrew her gaze and proceeded to scan Xiao Chen’s body. She found it strange and decided to inquire. “Cousin Xiao Chen, are you alright? You seem to be hurt.”
Within just a day, Xiao Chen’s figure had shriveled up, appearing incredibly weak. However, he had no external wounds on his body, which left him looking very strange.
Xiao Chen smiled bitterly. “It’s a long story.”
In the forest in front, where the person in blue was located.
“Elder Zhang, where is the cave of the predecessor you mentioned? Where have we been walking for all this time? I am running out of patience.” The voice of the person in blue carried a trace of anger as he spoke impatiently.
The person who was addressed as Elder Zhang appeared to be more than fifty years old, and his cultivation had already reached the peak of Martial Grand Master long ago. He was the Clan Head of the Zhang Clan.
At this moment, when he faced the person in blue, he did not dare to slight him at all, instead replying respectfully. “Senior, don’t worry. That cave was luckily discovered by one of my clan members, we should arrive there in another fifteen minutes.”
The person in blue just coldly snorted. “Then lead the way!”
The cave of a predecessor—it was likely that strong Martial Techniques and Cultivation Methods were stored there. There were often such legends, some coincidental discovery of a predecessor’s cave that eventually lead to great cultivation gains for the individual who lucked out. Apparently, Seven Horn Mountain also had one of these caves of some predecessor.
……
“So, cousin has already condensed his Martial Spirit, congratulations.”
Xiao Chen kept quiet about the Azure Dragon Martial Spirit, only explaining that he was in this state due to condensing
his Martial Spirit. It seemed this Xiao Yulan also knew of his reputation as trash, thus she did not question him further.
“Should we follow them?” Seeing that the group of people had already gone far away, Xiao Chen sought Xiao Yulan’s opinion.
“We follow!”
Xiao Yulan leapt down from the tree and gently landed on her feet. Afterwards, her figure flew forward by ten-some-odd meters, as though she was a fairy. Within a few breaths of time, she was already more than a hundred meters away.
What a fast speed, Xiao Chen quietly murmured. He leaped down from the tree and used all of his strength to keep up. Xiao Yulan evidently did not wish for Xiao Chen to participate in this and dashed ahead at a high speed with every intent to leave him behind.
Xiao Yulan was also afraid of drawing the attention of the person in blue and thus she also did not use her Essence. Although she moved fast, it was only using the strength of her body. With that alone, it would be difficult to leave behind Xiao Chen with his body strength.
Ten minutes later.
Xiao Yulan was flabbergasted at the sounds of Xiao Chen rushing over. Although she did not use any Essence, her cultivation was already in the realm of a Medial Grade Martial Master.
The strength of her body should be vastly stronger than that of a person who had just condensed his Martial Spirit, which meant that leaving Xiao Chen behind in the dust should be a very easy thing to accomplish.
Xiao Chen met Xiao Yulan’s gaze and craftily spoke. “Cousin’s speed is really fast, I nearly could not catch up with you.”
Xiao Yulan understood what he meant by these words, replying with a solemn expression, “The cultivation of that person in blue has reached the realm of Martial Saint. It is best for cousin to not enter these troubled waters.”
“In front of a Martial Saint, there is no difference between a Martial Disciple and a Martial Master. They would both die in one blow.” Xiao Chen stated without backing down.