Chapter 83: Wood Soul Essence

One year later.

"Moving Mountain!"

Bang!!!

A terrifying sound suddenly erupted; amidst the violent roaring, accompanied by the noise of a large amount of shattered stone falling into powder.

"Whoosh——"

The dense dust gradually drifted away, revealing a huge-bodied turtle.

No, its rugged shell and the fine black scales covering its entire body showed that it was no ordinary turtle.

"Finally, I've gotten started."

Yunhe's panting gradually eased; looking at the destruction he had caused, he revealed a satisfied expression.

As his Demon Beast Body entered the early Second Stage, the Carrying Mountain Technique he cultivated finally succeeded in reaching its second layer, the Moving Mountain chapter.

And what he just used was precisely the Moving Mountain technique from the Moving Mountain chapter!

No, 'Moving Mountain' cannot be considered a pure technique; rather, it is more like a fusion of technique and body technique.

By circulating the demonic power within his body through a special method, stimulating his meridians and flesh, he could unleash three times his normal strength!

But don't underestimate this threefold increase.

You must know that as a demon beast, Yunhe's normal strength is already terrifying; instantly erupting with three times that power makes for an extraordinarily terrifying strike, even stronger than using some spiritual artifacts.

The bodies of demon beasts are themselves their greatest weapons.

Moreover, as cultivation deepens, the multiplier of explosive strength will also increase.

"Leaning Against Mountain chapter" tempers the body, while the "Moving Mountain chapter" unleashes the gains from that tempering to the maximum extent; I'm a little curious what the "Carrying Mountain chapter" will bring.

After regulating his breath, Yunhe took out a Breeding Pellet from his storage bag and tossed it into his mouth.

He closed his eyes.

As the Breeding Pellet entered his stomach, a surge of extremely pure energy instantly spread, but it was quickly swept up by Yunhe's demonic power and began to circulate according to the method of the Carrying Mountain Technique.

Compared to the elixirs he had taken before that advanced a human cultivator's cultivation base, it was indeed the Breeding Pellet specially made for demon beasts, and its effect on him was greater.

Not long after.

Yunhe awoke from his cultivation.

He lifted his head and gazed in a certain direction.

"I should be able to go try exploring a bit."

Earth Escape Technique!

His huge body vanished from the spot in the blink of an eye.

Deep Ravine

On a sheer cliff face, there was an extremely abrupt huge pit, as if something that had originally grown there had suddenly been dug out.

Yunhe slowly floated up from the earth.

Having successfully broken through to become an early Second Stage demon beast, and with the Carrying Mountain Technique cultivated to the second layer, his understanding of the Earth Escape Technique also deepened considerably.

Although it couldn't be said to be as free as moving in water, it did make him much more agile.

Hum——

A domineering demon sense cautiously spread.

At a distance of a hundred zhang, it could barely reach the bottom of the ravine.

"How did that guy get up?"

Yunhe climbed to the edge of the cliff, looked down, and saw a few tiny green plants standing out starkly against the black, rugged rock face; the bottom of the Deep Ravine was a rushing river, its destination unknown.

After a slight hesitation, Yunhe climbed down along the cliff.

Such a rock face posed no problem for him now, but the stone here was extremely hard; even though his Earth Escape Technique had improved somewhat, moving was still very slow, not as fast as climbing down this way.

When he reached the surface of the Deep Ravine's river, a bone-chilling cold seeped up from the water, making him shiver involuntarily before he slowly acclimated.

Turtles, after all, still dislike low temperatures.

After circulating the Three Yang Heavy Water within his body once, Yunhe finally felt comfortable again.

"However, growing in such a low-temperature place will also strengthen a demon beast's body considerably."

He slowly waded into the water.

The icy lake water did not even cover his shell as Yunhe entered the river at the bottom of the Deep Ravine.

His demon sense spread out again.

"What a guy, how deep is this place?"

His demon sense actually still couldn't reach the riverbed, and as it extended downward, it also felt a viscous resistance.

Although he hadn't managed to touch the lake bottom, Yunhe still followed some traces and aura to find the former dwelling of that Horned Viper.

He quickly retracted his demon sense.

"This place is too mysterious; unless absolutely necessary, it's better not to casually extend one's demon sense, lest one provokes something that shouldn't be provoked."

Yunhe silently warned himself while swimming toward a riverbank in the water.

At a position roughly three zhang above the river surface, there was a zhang-wide hole that looked pitch black from outside, but at the entrance Yunhe saw several pieces of darkened scales.

Those were exactly the scales of that Horned Viper.

Many demon beasts will leave things such as hair, scales, urine, etc., in one place to mark the extent of their territory; and the scales here naturally represent the cave beneath this river, which is the Horned Viper's den.

Yunhe carefully swam inside.

As he went deeper, the cavern grew larger, and the whole cavern showed an obvious downward slope, while the water inside the cavern dwindled.

After a short while, Yunhe had already arrived at a dark, damp underground cavern that emitted a foul odor.

Drip—drip—

Water droplets dripped from the stone stalactites hanging from the cave ceiling, and the glowing moss visible everywhere increased the cave's visibility.

「Zzz—」

Suddenly, a faint electric current flickered to life in the dim cave, and that sound was especially abrupt.

Yunhe narrowed his eyes and quickly located the source of the movement.

In this wide corner of the cave lay a round stone polished to extreme smoothness, with obvious grooves worn into it by countless crawls of a horned viper.

One can imagine that horned viper coiled around this stone day and night, gradually absorbing the weak lightning it emitted, allowing itself to adapt to electricity.

'No wonder. Logically speaking, even if a horned viper awakened a trace of flood dragon blood, it would still be just a viper, not a flood dragon; even if it broke through to the Second Stage and awakened its innate divine ability, it shouldn't be related to lightning.'

But before Yunhe could approach, he heard a faint stirring from deep within the cave.

The next moment.

A python covered in deep-green scales shot from the depths of the cave, a fat rat clenched in its jaws.

Upon seeing Yunhe, the python spat out the rat, its tongue hissing, a threat clear as day.

'Is this the horned viper's nest taken over after it died a few years ago?'

But...

This python's strength is obviously lacking; it is merely at the First Stage Late.

Yunhe drew a slight breath.

「Oh!! 」

A sudden shout rang out, echoing within the cave.

The python facing the sound instantly froze; its previous ferocity vanished completely, and before fear could even rise, it stood rigid in place.

Even against a Second-tier Beast, skillfully using divine sense and Demon Sense with the Thunder Sound Technique is especially effective.

'So that's how it felt when that phoenix killed the golden carp and the black snake back then.'

Yunhe sighed inwardly.

Recalling how he had guarded a blood-reverting lotus for months, only to have the golden carp snatch the victory, and if not for the phoenix's appearance, he could not have avenged himself.

Without realizing it, he had grown to the level of that phoenix from before.

He stepped forward slowly.

He pinned the python underfoot with one claw, and with the other lightly hooked out a fist-sized snake gallbladder.

He swallowed it whole.

A faint warmth spread from his organs throughout his body.

'Hmm, a little nourishment.'

He walked to the smooth round stone, penetrating the thick rock layer, and could faintly see a weak glow seeping out from within.

Yunhe immediately hesitated not, raised his claw, and came down heavily.

Bang!!

'Huh.'

With a single claw strike, only a few tiny cracks appeared on the stone.

You must know that with his current strength, even a casual swipe could kill a First Stage Late demonic beast.

Even an early Second Stage demonic beast would not dare to take it lightly.

This confidence came from having been tempered in 「Three Yang Heavy Water」 and aided by elixirs.

'Somewhat interesting.'

He raised his claw again, muscles instantly tensing as demonic power swiftly circulated.

Move Mountain!!

Whoosh—

One claw fell.

The round stone exploded into fragments.

His claw spread open.

There lay a gold stone the size of a finger, jumping with arcs of lightning, somewhat unsettled in his claw palm.

Each time a golden flash of lightning appeared, Yunhe felt his claw go numb and hot.

'Hiss—'

Even more astonishing, merely touching this gold stone caused wisps of smoke to rise from his claw.

The scales on his claw palm and the lightning bursting from the stone collided!

Yunhe quickly summoned a larger raw fragment, placed the gold stone upon it, and the burning sensation on his claw gradually faded.

Looking again, his claw palm bore a conspicuous burn mark!

Although he had broken through to early Second Stage and his bloodline had mutated, Yunhe had not yet tested the defensive strength and hardness of his own scales, but he estimated they would certainly not be weak.

Yet simply gripping this gold stone branded him with a burn.

However, after contacting the round stone's fragments, the gold stone became much more subdued.

'What is this thing?'

Even after Yunhe had perused many volumes of the Qingzong Sect's archives, he could not identify this thing.

Woo—

Suddenly.

In the spot where the round stone had been, after Yunhe smashed it, a pitch-black circular hole was revealed beneath.

And at that moment, a chilling, deathly aura rose from within the hole.

At the same time, Yunhe could clearly sense something drilling swiftly upward from the rock passage beneath the hole.

The speed was so fast that Yunhe instinctively felt a hint of threat; the black scales on his body made a shush sound.

He also didn't have time to notice the golden stone, he calmed his mind, his body tensed.

The next second.

Boom!!!

The ground burst open with a boom; countless splashes flew, and in the rising dust Yunhe's Demon Sense spread, detecting a small Weak Tree Spirit demon beast.

Wah!!!

Suddenly a sound like a child's wail rang out, and Yunhe suddenly felt his mind inexplicably dazed.

Oh no!

Fortunately, his Demon Sense was far stronger than most mid-phase Second Stage demon beasts.

When he regained his senses, he saw a demon beast with a hunched waist, large head and small hands, its body covered in wood grain, its arms extremely long and covered in sparse black roots, its claws extremely sharp, swinging its claws to slash at him.

This is a mid-phase Second Stage demon beast!

Yunhe made a judgment in an instant.

Immediately, he shoved his head into his shell.

The beast's claw landed on his shell.

Screech—

Accompanied by this harsh, teeth-grating screech, brilliant sparks flew.

Suddenly.

Yunhe recalled the demon beast's name.

Wood Soul Essence!

He immediately opened his mouth wide without hesitation.

Ang!!!

He matched his Demon Sense against it, he wasn't afraid.

(End of chapter)