Chapter 17

Ye Xuan gritted his teeth as well, his heart filled with rage.

Xu Chen, just you wait. Once we reach the trial grounds, I will make you pay dearly.

With the help of the Spirit Venerable over these three days, he had also broken through to the mid-stage of the Third Grade.

Most importantly, he had learned an extremely powerful Superior Grade martial art: Heaven-Entangling Hand.

A Superior Grade martial art was rare even in the Jixia Academy; Xu Chen was certain to be defeated this time.

Thinking this, Ye Xuan once again voluntarily walked alongside the big man.

Despite the sour stench, he endured it.

"Is everyone ready? If so, we set off for the Star Cloud Forest."

Chi Lian, who led this mission, transmitted her voice through spiritual energy.

In an instant, all the new students across the entire plaza heard Chi Lian's voice.

"Ready."

The new students responded and climbed onto the backs of their flying spiritual beasts.

"Then let us depart."

Chi Lian also took Xu Chen's hand and said loudly.

In an instant, there were already three people on the back of the Flying Heaven Crane.

Li Ruoling's face turned black; it was overweight.

This junior uncle of hers was truly shameless; he didn't even want his own mount and just forced his way on.

Damn it, truly damn it!

All along the way, Li Ruoling's face was filled with resentment.

Until the group arrived above the Star Cloud Forest.

Here, spanning tens of thousands of li, towering trees stood in rows.

At a glance, it was nothing but flying birds and running beasts.

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Xu Chen looked down, remembering that his landing point was in the southeast region.

There lay another female lead, a fierce and terrifying one.

"Land at random locations, but remember, you may only operate on the forest's outskirts."

"The inner area teems with powerful spiritual beasts, even some of the sixth rank or higher; do not venture deep."

Chi Lian instructed.

Everyone nodded in agreement, then scattered to random landing spots.

As expected, Xu Chen landed in the southeast region.

The moment he touched down, Chi Lian chuckled lightly, "I'll be away for a while. Be a good boy, Xiao Chen."

Li Ruoling thought for a moment and added, "I have matters to attend to as well. I'll leave first; you may roam freely for now."

The two women knew this was the outer region, so there would naturally be no danger.

Thus, they departed one after another, eager to seize heavenly treasures and earthly gems.

After all, if they did not strike first, those treasures would end up belonging to the protagonist, Ye Xuan.

Xu Chen had no interest in paying attention; through ninety-nine lifetimes, he knew almost everything about this forest.

"I happen to need some heavenly treasures to temper my body. Being alone is perfect; I just won't steal the protagonist's."

Xu Chen pondered, constructing a map in his mind.

All the heavenly treasures appeared on the map like starlight, dot by dot.

Their names, appearances, effects, whether they were guarded by spiritual beasts, and how to deal with those beasts were all clearly visible.

Even the distance between each treasure and himself was crystal clear to him.

Therefore, he headed straight in a certain direction.

Watching Xu Chen's back, Ye Xuan sneered, "Looking for heavenly treasures? You're heading in the wrong direction. How ridiculous."

He possessed a Spiritual Venerable, whose spiritual sense covered the surroundings.

Finding spiritual herbs was extremely convenient for him.

With that thought, Ye Xuan walked in the direction opposite to Xu Chen.

As Xu Chen walked, he soon unearthed a body-tempering treasure: the Earth-Core Lotus.

This lotus looked identical to ordinary lotuses, except it lived underground.

The sap from its petals was an excellent treasure for refining the flesh.

"Delicious, quite sweet."

Xu Chen sucked on the petals while continuing his search for treasures.

About thirty minutes later, most of the body-refining heavenly treasures in the area had been found by Xu Chen.

"The Spirit-Refining Fruit tastes sweet too, with a rich fragrance. Truly a fourth-rank body-refining treasure."

"With this item's help, body refinement can achieve twice the result with half the effort, even without the assistance of gale winds."

Xu Chen bit into a red fruit, speaking with delight.

Faintly, Xu Chen's body once again radiated a golden light.

He felt completely at ease, sensing his physical strength rapidly increasing.

Before long, his realm had advanced by one level.

"It should be equivalent to the late stage of the third rank in physical strength."

Xu Chen said uncertainly.

In fact, his physical strength already rivaled that of a late-stage fourth-rank expert.

"Hmm?"

As he pondered, Xu Chen spotted disciples from his own academy fighting members of another faction.

They were battling over a bellflower, which also possessed body-refining effects.

"Good heavens, a fourth-rank bellflower."

He looked up and saw the other group dressed in black robes, their bodies emitting a faint black mist.

"Demon Sect disciples, just as the original plot described."

In the original text, the Demon Sect Saintess, Duanmu Xin, led her disciples into the forest to plunder.

At that time, Duanmu Xin possessed early-stage sixth-rank strength and killed anyone she encountered.

Later, she met Ye Xuan, who, aided by a Spiritual Venerable, defeated her.

In an instant, Duanmu Xin actually fell in love with Ye Xuan.

The plot was somewhat mindless, but it was a simple-minded novel; such things were not scrutinized.

Beautiful women must be taken in; the demoness Duanmu Xin was no exception.

Xu Chen gazed intently. Duanmu Xin had an extraordinary figure and an extraordinary face; she was truly a beauty.

She specialized in movement techniques, concealing her attacks within her steps, making her movements eerie and unpredictable.

In the blink of an eye, she could move a hundred meters to kill.

Soon, the disciples from some unknown city's academy were all slaughtered.

Then, as Xu Chen had predicted, Ye Xuan appeared.

"Immortal lady, killing our academy's members is perhaps a bit excessive."

Ye Xuan said with a smile.

Seeing Ye Xuan, a flash of disgust crossed Duanmu Xin's eyes.

The protagonist has arrived; finally, he has arrived.

Today she would see whether she could kill him.

If she could, then Xu Chen would have it much easier.

Therefore, she spoke coldly, "Die."

She had no more words; seeing Ye Xuan, she struck.