Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“I’ll be taking this blood demon crystal.” Putting the mid blood demon crystal in his storage ring, Ye Chen said to Anicca Spear King and Iron Monkey King.
Anicca Spear King immediately nodded in response, “You killed the Blood Demon King, so the blood demon crystal naturally belongs to you. I and monkey owe you our lives.”
Anicca Spear King was not the one to haggle for petty benefits. As far as he was concerned, being alive was the most joyous thing at the moment.
“No need to mention it. I would have killed that Blood Demon King even if you weren’t here.” Ye Chen didn’t think that the counterpart had to feel indebted. He was able to obtain a mid grade Blood Demon Crystal because of them.
Iron Monkey King was frank and honest by nature, “Old Chang is right. If your life is in danger, we’ll stake our lives to help you.”
“Hehe, if you want to.” Ye Chen smiled. Although they were strangers, he felt that these were worth getting acquainted with.
“I’m Changchi Feng, title Anicca Spear King. And he is my friend, Iron Monkey King. May I ask the benefactor’s name?” Anicca Spear King retracted his spear and cupped his fists.
Ye Chen said, “Ye Chen.”
“Ye Chen! You’re that Ye Chen who scored the first rank in Life and Death Substitute List and injured Giant Wolf King?”
“Right.” Ye Chen had no intention of hiding his identity.
“You’re said to have a strength of low step Kings, but it seems like your battle strength has already reached mid step Kings’ level now.” He could easily see that Ye Chen was able to easily kill a mid level Blood Demon King because he possessed the Destruction Sword Intent. It was one of the strongest sword intents and had a restraining effect on almost everything, including the Undying Body. If two sword artists with the same strength as Ye Chen were to inflict injuries on a King, the result would be completely different even if the extent of the injuries was the same. The injuries inflicted by Ye Chen would require a lot more Zhen Yuan to be healed.
However, attributed sword intents were extremely hard to evolve, and Destruction Sword Intent was one of the hardest one. Who knew how Ye Chen was able to evolve his Destruction Sword Intent to the sixth step!
Of course, he didn’t know that Ye Chen originally had three great sword souls—Slaughter Sword Soul, Destruction Soul, and Immortal Sword Soul. Destruction Sword Soul advanced by leap and bounds because it first devoured the Slaughter Sword Soul, then resonated with the Immortal Sword Intent once the latter reached the fifth step.
Destruction Sword Intent evolved into the sixth step while Immortal Sword Intent reached the late stage of the fifth step from the beginning phase, evolving by two small steps. This was the effect of resonance.
Unfortunately, resonance required two great sword souls to be at the same level. There would be no sword soul resonance again until the Immortal Sword Soul also reached the sixth step.
Anicca Spear King and Iron Monkey King were both solitary kings. They were both free and easy-going by nature, and thus, were able to become interracial brothers. Although Ye Chen had not spoken much, they could feel his upright and frank sword dao and elegant temperament. Feeling impressed, they felt like striking a friendship with him.
“Ye Chen, if you have time after you leave Bloodlight Ocean, you can find me at Monkey Island. You can drink as much of my supreme grade monkey wine as you would like. I will not dare to even frown.” Iron Monkey King said,
“Supreme grade monkey wine?” Ye Chen found the name familiar.
“Hehe, don’t miss this chance, Ye Chen. A cup of monkey wine can increase a month’s cultivation base, and it’s extremely tasty. You will never be able to forget it. When I go to his place, he doesn’t dare let me go wild with drinking.”
Ye Chen had no clue, but Anicca Spear King was quite clear that this supreme grade wine was iron Monkey King’s lifeblood. When he went to meet Iron Monkey King, although the latter was pretty liberal with the wine, he never gave him a free reign. After all, the materials needed to brew the wine were too costly, and the brewing itself was pretty challenging. A cup of monkey wine was the result of at least a year of iron Monkey King’s efforts.
“Alright, I will! I’m afraid that you’ll have to go back on your words at that time.” Ye Chen widely grinned. A cup of wine increased the cultivation base by a month? He would have to go and check out this wine no matter what.
“Why would I? You can drink it all if you want to!” Iron Monkey King’s eyes were wide open.
Ye Chen and Anicca Spear King heartily laughed.
“Alright Ye Chen, I and Iron Monkey King are leaving this place!” Anicca Spear King and Iron Monkey King had obtained some low level Blood Demon Crystals. Although they were hoping to get some more, the appearance of mid level Blood Demon King had thoroughly drained them. They were no longer in their peak condition.
“I’ll be staying a few more days.”
With the Destruction Sword Intent, Ye Chen could obtain Blood Demon Crystals much more easily than others.
“That’s fine. With your Destruction Sword Intent, as long as you don’t run into a peak mid level or high level Blood Demon King, you’ll be fine. But, be careful to not stay too long. Your Destruction Sword Intent can restrain Blood Demon Kings, but it will not have as big of effect on Hetero Blood Demon Kings.” Anicca Spear King warned.
‘I’ll keep that in mind.”
Ye Chen was naturally aware that Bloodlight Ocean was no treasure trove. Till this moment, he never approached the core of Bloodlight Ocean. The danger would exponentially increase as one went closer to the core, and by the same token, the chance of the Blood Crystal Flower appearing would also increase.
“Then, we’ll take our leave here. If you want to look for us later, come to Monkey Island or Cloudlock Island.”
“Sure!”
With that, Anicca Spear King and Iron Monkey King left while Ye Chen went looking for a place to refine the mid level Blood Demon Crystal. But, even after searching for a while, he found no suitable place and had to return back to the underground cave where he’d replenished his Zhen Yuan.
Blocking the cave’s entrance, Ye Chen sat cross-legged at the center of the cave. Followed by a faint glimmer inside the storage ring, the mid grade Blood Demon Crystal appeared in his hand.
Buzz!
It was much more lustrous and gorgeous compared to the low grade Blood Demon Crystal. If the latter were a precious crystal, then the former was a red diamond. Ye Chen could feel the immense and pure vital force contained inside the crystal. It was precisely this vital force that would evolve his spirit body. At the later stages, spirit body also reflected the level of one’s life force.
The method of refining Blood Demon Crystal was unusual. One had to open a wound and let the crystal come in contact the blood. Only then could the process of refining be carried out.
Rip!
A cut opened in Ye Chen’s palm by itself before he pushed the Blood Demon Crystal inside.
“So numbing!”
As the Blood Demon Crystal started to refine, Ye Chen could feel a tingling and numbing sensation emerge from all over his body as if ants were crawling on his body, along with faint stabs of pain.
“I didn’t feel much when I refined low grade Blood Demon Crystal. Mid grade is indeed different.” Ye Chen was not alarmed, but delighted.
The numbness and tingles slowly turned into aching, which again turned into a biting pain. It was as if the insides of his body had been filled with an acid that was corroding his flesh and bones. Sweating buckets, blue veins popped on his forehead one after another.
Rip Rip!
A black substance poured out Ye Chen’s pores, covering his entire body while a faint fishy smell slowly filled the cave. However, after a few moments, the temperature of Ye Chen’s body shot up, incinerating the black substance as well as his clothes. In the end, his body only had an armor left on it.
With mind as two, Ye Chen took off his armor.
The Blood Demon Crystal at the center of his palm had been refined more than half, and only a fingernail’s size was left.
“Refine for me!”
Gnashing his teeth, the blood in his palm surrounded the remaining crystal and drowned it.
Surge!
Surge!
After an unknown amount of time, a powerful ripple of life force spread out of his body. Lightning rippled inside the cave, not clear, but substantive. At the same time, a special magnetic power surrounded his body. This was life force creating a magnetic field upon reaching a certain degree of strength.
Two hours!
Four hours!
Six hours!
A day!
The Blood Demon Crystal was refined by now, but the breakthrough was still underway as Ye Chen was madly circulating life force, pushing toward the fifth step spirit body. Soon, another day passed by. The magnetic field of life force had already crossed the strength of fifth step spirit body, but it was unstable, flickering between strong and weak.
The next day…
Rumble!
The powerful magnetic field of life force swirled the small matter as well as the flickering lightning inside the cave into spirals. Ye Chen seemed like a minute star, influencing everything around him. Anybody who approached him would be influenced by this force field. Only those who had attained the fifth step spirit body would be completely safe.
“Fifth step spirit body, form!” Ye Chen suddenly opened his eyes, which flickered like lightning.
Fifth step spirit body and fourth step spirit body were vastly different. At the fifth step, the vital force field of the body could be projected outside, indicating one’s life force strengthening to a new height.
“Fourth step spirit body is a necessity for Life and Death Realm, while fifth step spirit body is the standard. Achieving this step, my distance from Life and Death realm has further reduced.”
As his strength increased, Ye Chen’s opponents would become increasingly strong and rare powerhouses. Fifth step spirit body had a great significance for him. His defense had strengthened, so opponents like Poison Fire King would be hard-pressed to injure him, and he would not be gravely injured in a single exchange even against the opponents like the masked-man’s projection. Ten percent Zhen Yuan would be enough for him to use Undying Body and completely recover.
In other words, with the fifth step spirit body, Ye Chen would not be easily injured. Furthermore, he could save a lot of Zhen Yuan and fight battles of attrition much more efficiently. In addition, the healing ability of his body itself had become like that of a star. After being destroyed, it could slowly heal itself. This was the ability brought by the strengthening of vital magnetic field.
Creak!
With a clench of Ye Chen’s fist, the cave shook, making his whole being look like a volcano.
“Cultivating to limb regrowth of Undying Body, the Dragon Power had already strengthened my body. Meanwhile, the fusion of Zhen Yuan and cells has increased my explosive power by dozens of folds.”
Cultivating Zhen Yuan and cultivating the body differentiated in later stages. In Zhen Yuan cultivation, Zhen Yuan would fuse with the cells, increasing the body’s explosive power, which would make one not weak in close combat. However, it was far inferior to body cultivation. In body cultivation, the explosive power was produced by the cells themselves, far surpassing the former case.