Chapter 676: The Ascendant

In the beginning, every time Chen Yan condensed one thousand True Essence Dharma Forms, the Saint-Breaking Tree would bear one 【Blood】 Saint-Breaking Fruit.

A single True Martial Path personal universe requires roughly sixteen thousand True Essence Dharma Forms worth of Qi-blood energy.

However, the resonance of the personal universe's power is already far superior to True Essence Dharma Forms in its utilization of Qi-blood.

A faint joy stirred in Chen Yan's heart.

With these Saint-Breaking Fruits, he could condense a third True Martial Path personal universe within an extremely short period of time.

One must know that the power brought by the Saint-Breaking Fruit is no different from Chen Yan's own power, so the process of becoming stronger is even faster than consuming potions.

The only issue of time is actually the condensing of the personal universe and the birth of the life-death aura from destroying the personal universe.

At this moment.

"Chen... Chen Yan, have you already reached the Eighth Rank?"

Someone spoke, their voice carrying a hint of tremor.

Since Chen Yan could display Eighth Rank power, he must certainly be at the Eighth Rank.

But now, Chen Yan gave them a strange feeling.

Chen Yan shook his head slightly and signaled to Ke Qingxuan.

Immediately, Ke Qingxuan explained the changes in Chen Yan.

A long while later.

Sounds of gasping in cold air rang out one after another.

"The True Martial Path..."

Lu Jianxia murmured, her heart pounding:

"Merging the Qi-blood and Body-Refining paths—this is simply inconceivable."

The look in her eyes as she gazed at Chen Yan changed once more.

Chen Yan had truly become a giant mountain standing before the Five Clans.

If he did not die this time, Chen Yan might reach the level of deterrence that only Lu Xunyang possessed.

The Chen Yan of the past, while having a reputation, lacked sufficient strength.

Soon.

Chen Yan began to circulate his True Martial power, opening up the connection between Xia Long and the others and their true bodies.

Having tried it once already, Chen Yan was becoming increasingly proficient.

Until the early hours of the morning.

The group arrived inside a city.

The architecture here was rather eerie, with extremely strange-looking sculptures everywhere.

Spires painted in black lacquer stood across the entire land.

Surrounding the spires were rows of very crude, simple houses.

The streets were muddy, filled with filthy excrement and foul water everywhere.

On both sides of the street, many men and women, barely covered by rags, lay about without minding the filth, their eyes dull as they stared at the moonlight.

Their bodies were covered in black spots, like pigs or dogs waiting for death.

Suddenly, shrieks that did not sound like they could be emitted by the human race would ring out.

Someone had transformed into an Ancient God Beast.

The entire street became lively as neighbors holding weapons rushed out one by one, beginning to plunge their blades into the bodies of their former friends.

Some were numb, some were sorrowful, and some were conflicted.

Young children of ten or so began to cry loudly.

Even so, two streets over, low moans of reproductive desire continued to emanate from the houses on both sides of the street.

"You'll get used to it." Wu Song led the group through the streets:

"Although I don't know what the outside world is like, at least it's better than here."

He led the group into a spire and arranged accommodations for them.

"This is the edge of Blood Town, it's still considered safe." Wu Song looked at Chen Yan in the room and said in a deep voice:

"I think we should wait until at least a few of your people reach the Eighth Rank before we attack. The day after tomorrow, the mayor of Henggu Town will bring people over."

Chen Yan sat cross-legged on the bed and nodded.

He had already opened the connection between Lu Jianxia and her true body.

She was already on the verge of advancing, so it was estimated she would reach the Eighth Rank in no more than two days.

There were also Xia Long and Luo Wuji; these two were also about to make a dash for the Eighth Rank.

"These two of mine need to go into seclusion; try not to let anyone disturb me."

Chen Yan spoke.

Wu Song choked:

"Aren't you finished with your cultivation?"

He had seen with his own eyes Chen Yan digest all the energy in a bottle of potion and then give birth to ten strands of life-death aura.

"I need to master my own body." Chen Yan said.

The Saint-Breaking Tree was Chen Yan's greatest secret.

No one knew that after Chen Yan swallowed all the Saint-Breaking Fruits, he would give birth to another True Martial Path personal universe within these short two days.

Chen Yan's eyes gleamed.

Back when he fought the Dark-Devouring Mother Tree, the True Martial Path had not yet been born, and at that time, he only had one strand of life-death aura.

That was why his battle against the Eighth Rank had been so difficult.

But as of now, Chen Yan seems to have gained the ability to battle the Dark-Devouring Mother Tree relying solely on his personal strength.

At the very least, the Dark-Devouring Mother Tree's rule-based techniques can no longer affect Chen Yan at all.

Of course, with only two personal universes, Chen Yan's odds of winning are still below fifty percent.

If Chen Yan could give birth to a third True Martial Path personal universe, then everything would be different.

Time passed slowly.

A day and a half later.

"A great humiliation, a great humiliation!!!"

A tragic, mournful cry resounded through the streets of the small town.

A tall, fat man wearing a black sun hat and fine robes, whose fair appearance looked out of place in this world, was slapping his own face while shouting.

Behind him followed over a dozen powerful human Creation-realm cultivators.

The tall, fat man walked to the school entrance, only to see the Fat-Faced Principal already waiting there, glaring at the man and saying:

"I don't care, you must track down Yu Lai... Chen Yan, right, his name is Chen Yan, I want to expel him!!!"

The Fat-Faced Principal's fleshy face trembled with anger:

"And those students who fled the school with him, I want to expel them all!!!"

The tall, fat man nodded with a laugh, bowing while stroking his hat:

"This is my duty as the Town Mayor."

As he spoke, he looked inside the school:

"Could you let me take away a student who has a connection to that Chen Yan? I need clues."

The Fat-Faced Principal narrowed his eyes, then nodded and shouted into the school:

"Yu Laiwei, come out for a moment."

Soon.

The tall, fat man left with Yu Laiwei, the smile on his face completely vanishing:

"Wu Song has disappeared; it must be Wu Song's doing. If I catch him, I will definitely slice the flesh off his body piece by piece."

An infinitely cold expression appeared in his eyes, and behind him, those dozen people nodded angrily one by one.

Yu Laiwei frowned.

He could sense that these people were all human.

Soon.

The tall, fat man arrived in front of the hospital, knelt down directly, and began to wail:

"Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom!!!"

He wiped his tears while kowtowing:

"Mom, your son's position as Town Mayor is about to be lost!"

The more he cried, the louder his voice became, and he wept until he was a mess of tears.

"What is he doing?" Yu Laiwei frowned as he looked at the others.

But he saw that those people only glanced at him indifferently, with no desire to answer at all.

"Mom!!!"

The fat-faced man was still crying.

A long time later.

A young girl wearing a hospital gown walked out of the hospital and looked at the tall, fat man indifferently:

"Why are you not yet at the Eighth Rank?"

The tall, fat man's expression trembled: "Son originally asked Wu Song to come to the hospital to get the medicinal liquid, but Wu Song told me he didn't get it."

The girl furrowed her brows:

"You idiot, he did steal the medicinal liquid, but he never gave it to you."

She was wearing a hospital gown and was barefoot, yet she stood on the steps, her entire body radiating intense malice.

Yu Laiwei was shocked; this was not a human at all, but an Ancient Divine Beast.

Such an Ancient Divine Beast was actually the Town Mayor's mother.

The next instant, the girl swept her gaze toward Yu Laiwei.

*Swoosh. *

Yu Laiwei's eyes burst open instantly.

"Ahhhhh!!!"

Yu Laiwei screamed:

"How dare you, how dare you do this to me!!!!"

"You blind thing, remember, I cannot be looked at directly," the girl said indifferently.

Just then, a nurse appeared inside the hospital, looking at the girl in surprise:

"Li Li, you've been discharged?"

The girl named Li Li waved her hand:

"I'll be back soon."

As Li Li spoke, she strolled past the tall, fat man, arrived in front of Yu Laiwei, and reached out with one hand.

In an instant, Yu Laiwei stopped screaming.

Streams of light were pulled directly out of his brain by Li Li, and Li Li's expression tightened.

"Chen Yan, Heavenly God General, Lu Xunyang..."

She chewed on these few words, then said indifferently:

"So it was that brat who came to steal the potion that day; I vaguely sensed him, but I was still in deep slumber at the time."

Anger appeared in the eyes of the tall, fat man:

"Mom, what should we do now?"

"What to do?" Li Li spoke coldly, pointing a finger at the void, as strands of life-and-death Qi and malice spilled out.

"Determine, trace."

Hum.

The malice and life-and-death Qi combined, morphing into dozens of blurry phantoms.

These phantoms ran out of the small town and flew toward a certain direction.

It could be vaguely seen that these phantoms had the exact same movements and expressions as Chen Yan and the others yesterday.

"Mom, you've become even stronger."

Li Li said nothing, merely waving one hand, and everyone flew into the high sky.

"You... what are you doing?" Yu Laiwei's eyes were already blind, but at this moment, he clearly sensed what was about to happen outside and shouted hurriedly:

"He is Chen Yan, how can you just dispatch one Rank 8?"

Yu Laiwei shouted in a low voice:

"To kill Chen Yan, why not dispatch another Rank 8 to ensure there are no mistakes?"

"Shut up." Li Li said indifferently:

"Since I have taken action, those people are already on a path to death."

Yu Laiwei gritted his teeth:

"Since you extracted my memories, you naturally know that Chen Yan can kill Rank 8 Ancient God Beasts.

You must know that humans can also kill Rank 8 Ancient God Beasts; we are all humans..."

Boom.

The tall, fat man punched Yu Laiwei's body:

"Who is human? Who are you insulting? Who are you insulting?!"

He was enraged, grabbing Yu Laiwei's head with both hands.

The next instant.

Chirp!

A screech resounded; the girl named Li Li suddenly changed, her mouth suddenly widening to bite off Yu Laiwei's head, chewing as blood splattered.

"Don't waste time."

Li Li spoke, opening her mouth again, which had become the size of a door, and stuffed all of Yu Laiwei into her mouth.

As she chewed, her mouth gradually shrank, returning to normal.

Li Li wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, revealing a satisfied expression:

"Finally, I'm not hungry."

She smiled faintly, still feeling a bit unsatisfied, and looked toward the school.

The next instant, Li Li's pupils constricted.

Inside the school, in a dormitory, Chen Changyuan slowly opened his eyes, his gaze piercing through layers of walls to meet Li Li's eyes.

"He was my subordinate, yet you ate him."

Chen Changyuan spoke indifferently, a murderous intent spilling from the depths of his eyes.

Li Li's face turned cold, feeling that unspeakable aura within Chen Changyuan's body.

How could this be...

"My... my mistake!" Li Li hurriedly bowed, stuffing her hand into her mouth and retching.

A pile of flesh and blood was vomited out by her.

"Determine, backtrack." Li Li said.

The next instant, that pool of blood began to reassemble, turning back into the form of Yu Laiwei.

Even his eyes were restored.

"Ahhhhh!!!" Yu Laiwei screamed; just a moment ago, he had been eaten alive, bite by bite.

That unspeakable terror made it hard for him to accept.

He looked at Li Li, backing away continuously, terrified to the extreme.

Inside the dormitory.

Chen Changyuan said slowly:

"Since you want to kill Chen Yan, why not bring another Rank 8?"

Li Li's expression shifted slightly:

"Except for me, the others are still in deep slumber.

However, I read Yu Laiwei's memories; that Chen Yan only had the chance to kill the Dark-Devouring Mother Tree by relying on his own divine artifact and Yu Clan technology.

Now he has no divine artifact, nor Yu Clan technology, and his own power is suppressed by the rules of this world.

I only need one thought to kill him."

Chen Changyuan nodded:

"Still, be careful; the fact that he could burn the contract by relying on his own life-and-death Qi means he is already different."

Li Li laughed:

"I can do that too; this is merely a basic application of Rank 8 power."

Chen Changyuan was finally reassured:

"I am still in the midst of advancing to the eighth rank; if you feel you cannot win, return first, and wait for me to set out together."

Li Li bowed:

"Yes!"

PS: My apologies, regarding my state during this period, I, Dongzi, want to strive for success, I want to write better stories, please criticize me, I want to break my limits!