Chapter 16: Outsider

Even from hundreds of li away, one could see that fissure tens of li long on the distant cliff face.

Rolling magma continuously poured from the fissure; the great river flowed across the basin, plunged into the abyss, and violently collided with the magma below.

A fierce wind rose, howling as it blew in, bringing rolling heat waves and thick steam.

Wu Tie stood on a small hillock, spear in hand, gazing at that dazzling red light.

Behind him, a venomous funnel spider the size of a mung bean drifted down from the sky, its bloated abdomen trailing an extremely fine silk, slowly descending toward Wu Tie's nape.

Wu Tie narrowed his eyes; an invisible field enveloped a hundred-meter radius. The spider was still a dozen meters away when he suddenly thrust his left fist forward, crushing the tiny spider with a 'pop'.

'Commanding Heaven and Earth!'

This is the name Lao Tie gave Wu Tie's innate divine ability.

It is an extremely powerful, terrifyingly potent innate divine ability; its initial manifestation allowed Wu Tie to sense every stir of wind and grass within a hundred meters around him and directly affect anything within a dozen meters of his person.

As Wu Tie grew stronger, 'Commanding Heaven and Earth' could truly command all tangible and intangible forces in the outside world.

A gray rock lizard suddenly burst from a large patch of mushrooms, charging foolishly at Wu Tie. It ran madly, drooling thick, foul saliva from the corners of its mouth.

Wu Tie turned and regarded the adult gray rock lizard, about five meters long.

The lizard was still a dozen meters away when Wu Tie swung his left hand; a stone the size of a human head shot up with a 'whoosh', whistling sharply as it smashed into the lizard's skull.

With a dull thud, the lizard staggered, fell over, and tumbled a few times on the spot.

Before it could rise, Wu Tie repeatedly waved his left hand, launching stones high into the air that then crashed down, each blow hammering the lizard's head.

In just a few breaths, the lizard's skull was shattered, its body twitching, unable to move any further.

Ha-ha, he laughed loudly, heart elated, took a few steps forward, then leapt with the momentum. An invisible field enveloped his body, and he glided down from the small hill tens of meters high, soaring lightly over a hundred meters.

Seeing he was about to land, Wu Tie glared, a gust rose from the ground, and his body, light as a leaf in wind, flipped back, retracing his path to glide back onto the hillock.

His feet struck the ground heavily; he staggered back two steps, gulping air.

Grinning with excitement, he raised his spear with both hands and thrust it forcefully into the sky dozens of times.

Such gliding was hardly different from flight.

If his innate divine ability grew a little stronger, achieving short-distance flight would certainly not be difficult.

After a few laughs, Wu Tie whistled; a metal spider sprang over cheerfully, its back splitting to release a lump of gray metallic fluid that quickly solidified into a blade about a meter long.

Wu Tie split the gray rock lizard into a dozen pieces; a dozen metal spiders swarmed up, dragging the prey back toward the Ancient Divine Weapon Camp.

Having awakened his innate divine ability, Wu Tie's hunting and survival skills surged.

He could constantly monitor every stir within a hundred meters around him, making surprise attacks impossible.

Those venomous tiny spiders and lizards, once within a dozen meters of Wu Tie, would be crushed outright; even the largest, black-ringed snakes several meters long could approach no closer than a few meters before being immobilized in midair by the invisible field and severed at the waist.

Wu Tie's hunting efficiency soared; in just two months he successively took dozens of Foundation Establishment elixirs.

That day, in the Ancient Divine Weapon Camp, Wu Tie's Foundation Establishment form finally broke through to the 360th stance, just as Lao Tie had said—an invisible valve. When he correctly performed the 360th stance's movement, Wu Tie clearly heard crisp sounds emanating from throughout his body.

Blocked meridians opened one by one; invisible valves opened everywhere, and countless hot spots large and small across his body simultaneously sprayed white vapor.

Foundation Establishment elixirs were rapidly consumed, while streams of heat surged swiftly through his interior.

Instinctively, he began again from the first stance of the Foundation Establishment form, repeating the sequence up to the 360th, over and over.

Heat surging forth from within his body grew steadily stronger; as Wu Tie moved, these currents flowed pleasantly through him, leaving his whole body utterly relaxed, and he could clearly feel his power continually increasing.

The trouble was that his entire skeleton tingled intensely; as he continually took Foundation Establishment elixirs, his joints grew rapidly.

With a series of 'cracks', when Wu Tie completed his twentieth run from the first to the 360th stance, his height increased by about half a foot. His streamlined muscles twitched rapidly, sweat continually seeped out, and every pore exhaled hot air.

Above the ceiling, an electric vortex appeared, and a huge metal ingot sank down heavily.

Wu Tie ceased his Foundation Establishment movements, strode over, embraced the metal ingot with both arms, and with just a slight effort lifted it easily over his head.

"Perfect Foundation Establishment, bodily strength exceeding ten thousand catties!" Lao Tie grunted satisfied: "Not bad… all thanks to my efforts!"

Lao Tie suddenly burst into laughter: "Hahaha, all thanks to my efforts… who says I'm just a butcher who only knows how to hack and kill? Isn't my work as a mentor also quite good?"

Da Tie swayed beside Lao Tie, muttering a few vague hums.

Lao Tie's voice dropped several registers: "That's right… a few small mistakes, this kid nearly died several times… but I'm doing this mentorship for the first time—who hasn't had a first try? What's there to fear about mistakes?"

Lao Tie's voice sank further: "This kid isn't dead, is he? Well… well, you also have some credit… you also have some credit… but first learn to speak properly—your humming and hawing is only understandable to me."

Wu Tie slammed the metal ingot onto the ground, producing a tremendous bang.

He bent his arms, staring at them in disbelief and wild joy.

He clearly recalled that Wu Zhan, when his three elder brothers Wu Jin, Wu Yin, and Wu Tong broke through the first layer of Foundation Establishment, had said the family's Breaking Heaven Fist could grant one over a thousand catties of bodily strength when condensing vital energy.

Yet he, through practicing the Foundation Establishment form, had achieved perfect Foundation Establishment, possessing over ten thousand catties of bodily strength!

This metal ingot weighs ten thousand catties, yet Wu Tie lifted it without strain, feeling rather light. His bodily strength must exceed ten thousand catties; by his own estimate, it lies somewhere between twenty and thirty thousand catties.

"Lao Tie! Da Tie!" Wu Tie turned, fixing his gaze straight on Lao Tie and Da Tie.

"You're still far off… little rookie!" Lao Tie laughed heartily: "Now you can count as a qualified little rookie… but no matter how strong a rookie, it's still a rookie, liable to be gulped down in one bite by the enemy."

"Keep hunting… keep cultivating!" Lao Tie's eyes flared with bloody light, forcing Wu Tie to look away lest he meet his gaze: "Wu Tie, don't grow complacent over a trifling achievement; with your puny strength… back then you weren't even qualified to set foot on the battlefield!"

A fierce wind blew down the wide riverbed, and dozens of massive hippopotamuses lumbered out, moving to the richest patch of ferns where they tore at the dense, juicy fronds with gaping mouths.

Wu Tie stood on a small dirt mound hundreds of meters away, excitedly watching those hippos.

After gazing at those big fellows for a while, Wu Tie turned his gaze toward the distant lava fissure.

Lao Tie sternly warned Wu Tie—before he possessed sufficient strength and obtained Lao Tie's permission, he was not to approach that magma fissure again.

Over there the temperature is high, moisture abundant; nutrients carried by mist and gale from the depths of the abyss are plentiful, making the vegetation far denser than that of the half-basin where the Ancient Divine Weapon Camp lies, the animal populations larger and more complex, and huge, powerful creatures even more dangerous.

Whereas the half-basin holding the Ancient Divine Weapon Camp, being closer to the outlet of the underground river waterfall where Wu Tie entered this otherworld, has cold river water, lowering the temperature; thus its flora and fauna are sparse, and even large creatures dislike wandering there.

Wu Tie's present strength makes roaming this half of the basin safe.

If he dares to venture closer to the lava fissure, no one can guarantee what he will encounter.

"Hunt… more Foundation Establishment elixirs… keep cultivating, then keep growing stronger!" Wu Tie raised his spear and strode toward the herd of hippopotamuses.

The invisible field flowed around him; Wu Tie could dash seven or eight meters with a single step, and sometimes, leaping up, he could lightly push off a fern or mushroom cluster and glide lightly a dozen meters away.

In just a few breaths' time he charged three or four hundred meters; Wu Tie waved his left hand, a fist-sized stone shot up from the ground, tracing an arc, and heavily smashed into the nose of a twelve-meter-long giant hippopotamus a hundred meters away.

That blow was extremely heavy, directly breaking the skin and drawing blood.

The giant hippopotamus, which had been biting a large bunch of fern fronds, roared in pain, its eyes suddenly bloodshot, and it snorted as it charged at Wu Tie.

Wu Tie let out a loud shout, then surged forward; when he was still several tens of meters from the hippopotamus, he fiercely hurled his spear with his right hand.

The spear spun violently, drawing an arc, fiercely piercing the hippopotamus's spine, driving deep into its massive body, and precisely piercing its heart.

The hippopotamus staggered forward several tens of meters, then collapsed heavily to the ground, weakly moaning.

Wu Tie raised Chiyou's Tooth, walked up to the hippopotamus, and Chiyou's Tooth shattered its thick skull, completely ending its suffering.

The twelve-meter-long giant hippopotamus weighed nearly a hundred thousand catties.

The distance from here to the Ancient God Soldier Camp has already exceeded the range of activity of the metal spiders.

Wu Tie pulled out his spear and slung it behind his back, then clasped both exposed tusks of the hippopotamus with both hands, exerting his full strength.

All his physical strength exploded, streams of heat surged within his body, and with the aid of primal power, Wu Tie's strength suddenly more than doubled.

The ground's soil was very fertile, covered in moss, and extremely slick.

Wu Tie let out a low grunt, dragging the massive beast backward step by step.

The ground trembled slightly; the beast slid bit by bit as Wu Tie dragged it, his skin faintly flushed, and heat continually rose from his body.

Only after dragging the hippopotamus into the metal spiders' activity range did Wu Tie exhale heavily, plop down on the ground, and pant heavily.

He chopped the giant beast into pieces with his long blade, and the metal spiders hurried back and forth, carrying the flesh and blood to the Ancient God Soldier Camp.

This giant beast is so heavy that the yield from this hunt alone could probably produce over a hundred Foundation Establishment elixirs.

Wu Tie gained a deeper understanding of Old Tie's words.

"Intelligent beings are actually no different from beasts; greater power lets one seize a stronger territory and become a greater lord."

"A lord who seizes power by force holds the power of life and death over everything in his domain."

"As long as you have sufficient strength!"

"Lord"!

While chopping at the hippopotamus with his blade, Wu Tie also glanced toward the distant lava fissure.

This basin, with a radius of about a thousand li, he could consider himself lord of half the territory; the other half awaits his conquest!

"Strive!" Wu Tie raised his sharp long blade and cleaved the hippopotamus's thick vertebral column in two with a single stroke.

Another month passed.

Wu Tie stood on a small hill, gazing at the nearby riverbank.

Two water pythons were rolling in the shallows, one about fifteen to sixteen meters long, the other about twenty meters long. According to the knowledge Old Tie imparted, this is the breeding season, and the water pythons inevitably must do things dictated by heavenly morality.

"Once you lay your eggs, you'll be mine." Wu Tie chuckled as he looked at the two large creatures.

Old Tie advised Wu Tie that hunting is a necessary path to strength, but hunting must have limits; one cannot drain the pond. Just like these two large water pythons, after they breed offspring we can hunt them again, ensuring a continual supply of prey for Wu Tie to consume.

The first layer of the Foundation Establishment realm is not yet difficult; the further one goes, the greater the resources consumed, so we must ensure sustainable development of resources.

Staring fixedly at the two rolling water pythons for a while, Wu Tie suddenly tensed all over, and his hairs stood on end.

Just a short distance out on the river, a spindle-shaped black object suddenly surfaced. It split open in several places, and several tall ox-tribe warriors gasped as they half-emerged, grabbing a few wooden paddles and frantically rowing toward the riverbank where Wu Tie was.

In just over half an hour, the ox-tribe warriors paddled, bringing that black object several meters long to the riverbank.

They had just landed when another identical black object surfaced on the river.

It split open in two cracks; a blood-soaked youth poked his head out, and from across the river twenty-odd li away he screamed hoarsely: "You can't escape… you will all die! I will kill you myself!"

Then two more youths emerged, grabbed wooden paddles, and likewise rowed toward the riverbank in pursuit.

Wu Tie stared at them, dazed.

It looks like they also came from that huge waterfall into this strange realm.

Moreover, the two groups before and after are clearly enemies.

Gripping the spear shaft tightly with both hands, Wu Tie instinctively felt a sense of unease and anger.

This basin is Wu Tie's territory; these outsiders have intruded upon his territory.

More importantly, there is the Ancient God Soldier Camp, as well as Old Tie and Big Tie.