The high mountain peak was completely enveloped in a bitter, howling gale that swept violently across the jagged black granite cliffs.
Sitting motionless upon the solitary, ice-encrusted stone, Li-Wen appeared like an ancient statue carved from adamantine, untouched by the biting cold or the passage of time. His light-grey robes fluttered wildly against the wind, yet his posture remained as unyielding as a primordial mountain.
Inside his body, however, a process of profound, microscopic transformation was taking place.
The newly forged Divine Spiritual Core inside his Dantian roared like a miniature golden sun, spinning at an incredible velocity. With every rotation, it generated an immense gravitational pull, drawing the raw, wild environmental Ki of the Cloud-Piercing Mountains through his pores.
The chaotic elemental energy entered his body as swirling torrents of violent purple mist. Yet, the moment it passed through Li-Wen's nine fully opened meridians, the supreme conduits of the Void Sovereign Technique crushed the wild nature of the energy, refining it into pure, liquid silver-gold Ki that flowed directly into his Dantian.
The subtle, jade-like luster of his Jade-Bone Foundation pulsed in perfect harmony with his heartbeats. Every muscle fiber, every bone, and every drop of blood in his body felt packed with latent, volcanic power.
"The First Stage of the Earth-Realm allows a cultivator to condense atmospheric energy into a liquid spiritual sea," Li-Wen analyzed silently, his mind drifting into the vast ocean of his ancient memories. "For ordinary mortals, expanding this sea requires months—sometimes years—of quiet, painstakingly slow meditation. Their fragile meridians cannot handle rapid intake. But my Divine Core was forged using the supreme laws of the cosmos. Its capacity is boundless, limited only by the quality of the resources I consume."
Slowly, Li-Wen opened his eyes.
The double golden halos within his deep, dark pupils flared brightly, piercing through the dense cloud layer like two beams of celestial light.
ROAR—!
Suddenly, a thunderous, violent roar erupted from the deep, primeval jungle situated nearly five miles beneath the mountain peak.
The soundwave was so immense that it set off a chain reaction of kinetic tremors through the rock face. Massive boulders cracked and slid down the thousand-foot cliffs, creating localized avalanches that shattered into dust in the deep, dark ravines below. The roaring beasts in the lower perimeters of the forest instantly fell dead silent, cowering in terror under the terrifying pressure of a superior predator.
Li-Wen's ears twitched slightly. A faint, cold smile touched the corner of his lips.
"A Fourth-Tier Demonic Beast," Li-Wen murmured softly, his voice carrying an unhurried, terrifying calm. "Equivalent to a human cultivator at the Middle to Late Stages of the Earth-Realm. A beast of this caliber possesses a dense, concentrated blood essence and an elemental core. Exactly the fuel I need to solidify my Earth-Realm foundation and push toward the Second Stage."
Without taking a preparation breath, Li-Wen leaned forward and stepped casually off the edge of the thousand-foot abyss.
SWOOSH!
He did not plummet like a heavy rock. Instead, a dense cushion of silver-gold Ki erupted beneath the soles of his cloth boots, resisting the pull of gravity. Gliding through the violent air currents like an ethereal grey hawk, Li-Wen crossed hundreds of feet per second, descending with terrifying speed into the dark, primeval canopy below.
The valley floor was a realm of ancient, twilight dread.
Gigantic ancient trees, their trunks as thick as iron towers and their canopy blocking out all sunlight, created a perpetual twilight. The air was thick, heavy, and rank with the stench of sulfur, rotting spirit plants, and centuries of spilled monster blood. Bioluminescent, poisonous fungi clung to the damp bark, casting an eerie, pale green glow across the mossy ground.
Li-Wen landed soundlessly upon a massive tree branch fifty feet above the damp soil.
The moment his feet touched the wood, his entire presence vanished. Through the mastery of the Void Sovereign Technique, his breathing ceased, his heartbeat slowed to an imperceptible rhythm, and his body merged perfectly with the ambient thermal energy of the forest. Not a single leaf rustled; to any sensory perception, he simply did not exist.
Directly beneath his branch, in a wide clearing strewn with crushed bones and pulverized armor, stood the owner of that thunderous roar.
It was a Shadow-Flame Fiend-Tiger—a massive, twenty-five-foot behemoth covered in pitch-black, obsidian-like fur that seemed to actively absorb the surrounding light. Down its spine ran a jagged crest of bone spikes that flared with dark purple, ethereal flames. Its long, whip-like tail ended in a heavy, spiked iron club that lazily lashed against the ground, shattering ancient boulders into fine powder with the slightest impact.
The Fiend-Tiger was currently crouched over the warm carcass of a Third-Tier Iron-Hide Bear, its razor-sharp, six-inch fangs tearing effortlessly through the bear's heavy metallic hide.
However, Li-Wen's golden eyes were not focused on the creature itself. His gaze bypassed the monster, locking onto the sheer rock wall behind the creature's dark lair.
Nestled inside a narrow crevice in the cliff face grew a gnarled, blood-red vine. Hanging from its stem were three translucent, crimson fruits that pulsed with a rhythmic, heart-like glow—the Blood-Vein Spirit Fruit!
"High-Grade Earth-Grade spirit herbs," Li-Wen evaluated instantly, his divine sense analyzing the rich vitality radiating from the fruits. "Plucked from the earth after absorbing a century of subterranean blood energy. If I refine these three fruits alongside a Fourth-Tier Beast Core, my physical force will easily break through the seventy-thousand-pound barrier."
CRACK!
Just as Li-Wen prepared to drop down and end the beast, a sharp, distinct sound of a snapping branch reverberated from the eastern perimeter of the clearing.
The Shadow-Flame Fiend-Tiger froze instantly.
It lifted its massive skull, blood dripping from its dark jowls. Its glowing yellow eyes snapped toward the eastern tree line, its black fur standing on end as dark purple flames flared wildly down its spine.
ROAR—!
From the shadows of the eastern woods, three shadows leapt into the clearing, landing in a disciplined, tight triangular formation.
They were dressed in pristine, silver-bordered white robes adorned with an embroidered golden soaring hawk—the distinct, highly recognizable uniform of the Provincial Imperial Envoy!
The leader of the trio was a tall, stern-faced middle-aged man carrying a massive, double-edged broadsword strapped to his back. His breathing was heavy, and his aura radiated a sharp, suffocating pressure—a genuine Fourth-Stage Earth-Realm Expert!
Flanking him were two younger cultivators, a young man and a young woman, both wearing arrogant expressions. Their clothes were expensive and spotless, and their cultivation sat at the First Stage of the Earth-Realm.
"Captain Liu, look!" the young female disciple exclaimed, pointing her slender longsword toward the cliff crevice. "It really is the Blood-Vein Spirit Fruit! The scouting report from the guild was completely accurate!"
The middle-aged leader, Captain Liu, did not share her excitement. His eyes remained locked onto the twenty-five-foot flaming beast, his face darkening significantly as he slowly rested his calloused hand on the hilt of his broadsword.
"Quiet, Yu-Er!" Captain Liu barked in a harsh, disciplined whisper. "Do not let your guard down! That is an adult Shadow-Flame Fiend-Tiger! Its speed is twice that of a normal feline beast, and its purple shadow-flames can melt refined iron armor in seconds! We are in deep danger!"
The young male disciple, Zhao Chen, sneered with immense disdain, pulling a glowing silver talisman covered in intricate runes from his silk sleeve.
"Captain, why are you being so overly cautious?" Zhao Chen scoffed arrogantly. "We are official Envoys of the Provincial Imperial Guard! With your Fourth-Stage cultivation and our combined Imperial Array Talismans, why should we fear a brainless, wild brute in this backwater wilderness?"
Up on the high branch, hidden safely within the deep shadows of the canopy, Li-Wen watched the three imperial cultivators with an expression of quiet, cold amusement.
"Fools," Li-Wen thought, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Ignorant of true danger, relying on superficial status and fragile tools. To display such arrogance before a Fourth-Tier apex predator... they will pay for their ignorance with blood."
ROAR—!
The Shadow-Flame Fiend-Tiger did not give the humans any time to plan or debate.
Feeling its territorial boundary violated and its prized spirit fruits threatened, the beast's dark purple flames exploded outward! The sheer heat instantly vaporized the damp moss beneath its paws, turning the ground into scorched earth.
SWOOSH!
In a fraction of a millisecond, the massive twenty-five-foot creature vanished from its spot, transforming into an incomprehensible blur of shadow and dark fire!
"So fast!" Captain Liu's face turned pale as paper.
"Imperial Defensive Array—ACTIVATE!" Captain Liu roared at the top of his lungs, pulling his massive broadsword from his back and slashing outward in a wide arc. A crescent wave of icy-blue Ki erupted from the steel, forming a protective barrier in front of his team.
BOOM—!
The Fiend-Tiger's heavy, iron-barbed tail whipped through the air like an iron siege ram, slamming directly into the blue Ki barrier!
The kinetic impact was staggering. The icy-blue barrier shattered like fragile glass into thousands of spark particles! The resulting shockwave slammed into the two younger disciples, blasting them backward through the air and sending them tumbling violently across the muddy ground.
"ARRGH!" Zhao Chen screamed in agony as a stray ember of the purple flame brushed against his left arm. The high-grade defensive cloth of his imperial robe incinerated instantly, charring his flesh black within a second.
"Hold your positions!" Captain Liu yelled desperately, stepping directly into the path of the beast to protect his injured subordinates.
His broadsword flared with intense, surging blue light as he executed the Imperial Torrent Sword Technique. A flurry of a dozen sharp, heavy sword strikes sliced through the air, clashing against the monster's dark hide.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Sparks flew wildly into the gloomy clearing as tempered steel struck dark bone spikes. However, the Shadow-Flame Fiend-Tiger possessed an absurdly thick physical hide. It completely ignored the shallow cuts bleeding across its shoulders, its yellow eyes burning with bloodlust as it opened its massive, flaming jaws and snapped down directly toward Captain Liu's neck!
"Captain!" the female disciple, Yu-Er, shrieked from the ground, her voice cracking in pure terror.
Captain Liu's heart sank into absolute, ice-cold despair. His legs felt heavy, his arms completely numb from the brutal kinetic feedback of his own sword strikes. He realized too late that this beast was at the absolute peak of the Fourth-Tier—far beyond what a standard Fourth-Stage Earth-Realm human could handle alone.
Is this the end? Captain Liu thought, closing his eyes in resignation as the foul, burning breath of the beast washed over his face. Killed in an unnamed clearing by a beast...
Just as the razor-sharp fangs were an inch away from severing Captain Liu's head from his shoulders—
SWIISH!
A casual, light-grey blur dropped silently from the sky, descending directly into the narrow space between the terrified captain and the rushing, multi-ton monster!
Li-Wen did not pull a weapon. He did not deploy a protective talisman or chant a defensive spell.
He simply extended his left hand, forming a casual, relaxed open palm against the rushing, flaming skull of the massive Shadow-Flame Fiend-Tiger.
BOOM—!
A violent, deafening explosion of sheer kinetic energy shattered the silence of the forest!
The ground beneath their feet instantly collapsed by three feet, forming a perfectly circular crater in the dark soil. The compressed shockwave radiating from Li-Wen's palm was so intense that it completely blew away the dark purple flames covering the beast's skull, extinguishing them instantly!
The massive, twenty-five-foot Fourth-Tier demonic beast came to a sudden, absolute halt in mid-air—its entire multi-ton momentum completely neutralized by the single, slender hand of an eighteen-year-old youth in light-grey robes!
Captain Liu opened his eyes, his jaw dropping so wide it nearly touched his chest. He stared at the back of the grey-robed youth, his mind completely blank.
"W-What... What kind of monster is this?!" Zhao Chen stammered from the mud, clutching his burned arm, his eyes wide with utter, horrifying disbelief.
Li-Wen stood calmly in the center of the sinking crater. His light-grey robes fluttered gently in the wind generated by the impact. His face was entirely devoid of emotion, as if he hadn't just stopped a charging apex predator, but had merely caught a falling leaf from a tree.
He looked into the glowing yellow eyes of the beast, which was mere inches from his face.
"Your breath is foul," Li-Wen said softly.
ROAR?!
For the first time in its life, the Shadow-Flame Fiend-Tiger felt a deep, primal sense of absolute terror. Its yellow pupils shrank to tiny pins. Instinct screamed at it to retreat, to run as far away from this human as possible!
It violently thrashed, trying to pull its head back, but Li-Wen's slender fingers tightened slightly around the bone crest on its skull. His grip was absolute, locking the multi-ton beast in place like an ancient vice forged from indestructible divine steel!
"Since you delivered yourself to my doorstep..." Li-Wen smiled cold, his golden pupils flaring with supreme divine power. "...I shall accept your vitality and your core."
Void Sovereign Technique: Shattering Sovereign Fist!
Li-Wen pulled back his right hand, making a simple fist.
Instantly, the surging ocean of liquid silver-gold Ki within his Divine Spiritual Core compressed into his knuckles, radiating a light so bright it illuminated the dark canopy like daylight!
BANG—!
The punch drove straight into the center of the Fiend-Tiger's massive chest!
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!
A sickening, terrifying sound of hundreds of bones shattering simultaneously reverberated through the clearing!
The immense kinetic force passed straight through the monster's twenty-five-foot body, bursting out from its back in a visible cone of shockwave that completely obliterated a hundred-foot swath of the dense jungle behind it! Trees were snapped like twigs, and boulders were reduced to dust!
The Shadow-Flame Fiend-Tiger didn't even have the chance to roar or whimper. Its internal organs, heart, and spine were instantly liquefied into fine crimson dust under the tyrannical force of the fist.
The massive body went completely limp, collapsing onto the muddy ground like a giant sack of stones—dead beyond dead.
Silence returned to the clearing. It was an absolute, heavy, and suffocating silence.
Captain Liu, Zhao Chen, and Yu-Er stood completely frozen, resembling marble statues. The three Imperial Envoys, who had spent their entire lives looking down on everyone outside the Provincial Capital, felt as if their entire reality had been ripped apart and rewritten.
A youth who appeared no older than eighteen had just killed a Fourth-Tier Demonic Beast—with a single, unadorned, physical punch!
Li-Wen completely ignored the paralyzed imperial cultivators.
He casually bent down, his hand piercing through the beast's crushed chest with effortless grace, pulling out a glowing, deep-purple Fourth-Tier Beast Core. The core throbbed with immense elemental energy, which Li-Wen casually wiped clean and slid into his sleeve pocket.
Then, with a fluid, effortless step, he glided up the thirty-foot rock face like a feather floating upward, reaching the narrow crevice. He plucked the three translucent Blood-Vein Spirit Fruits from the vine, placing them carefully into his bamboo container.
Having secured his loot, Li-Wen turned around and prepared to leave.
"Senior... Senior Hero!"
Captain Liu finally found his voice. He dropped his broadsword, stepped forward with trembling legs, and bowed so low his forehead almost touched the muddy ground. His entire body trembled with profound awe and intense, underlying fear.
"I am Liu Cheng, Captain of the Third Imperial Guard Unit of the Provincial Capital!" Captain Liu shouted, his voice shaking violently. "Thank you, Senior Hero, for saving our lives from this beast!"
Li-Wen paused on the rock ledge, turning his head slightly. His ancient golden pupils swept over the three bruised envoys with absolute detachment.
"I did not save you," Li-Wen stated coolly, his voice echoing through the clearing. "You were simply standing in the path of my prey."
Zhao Chen's face flushed bright red with deep embarrassment, but he pressed his lips together, not daring to utter a single arrogant word. The memory of that terrifying, mountain-shattering punch was forever scorched into his soul. He knew with absolute certainty that if he angered this youth, a single flick of his finger would erase him from existence.
Captain Liu swallowed hard, hurriedly reaching into his spatial ring and pulling out a luxurious, gold-embroidered scroll stamped with an official dragon seal.
"Senior Hero... your strength is truly divine and unprecedented!" Captain Liu said hastily, holding the scroll up with both hands above his head. "Given your extraordinary talents and young age, you must be traveling to the Provincial Capital for the upcoming Imperial Academy Selection! This is an official Imperial Recommendation Pass! It grants the holder the authority to bypass all tedious preliminary trials and enter the final tournament directly!"
Li-Wen looked down at the gold scroll in Captain Liu's hands.
He had no interest in mortal imperial titles or recognition, but skipping the mundane, time-consuming preliminary rounds against weak cultivators fit his goal of efficiency perfectly. It would save him weeks of mindless fighting.
"Hand it over," Li-Wen commanded smoothly.
"Yes, Senior!" Captain Liu hurriedly scurried forward, presenting the scroll with the utmost reverence, as if offering a holy relic to a deity.
Li-Wen reached down, casually taking the scroll and slipping it into his light-grey robes.
"Consider your lives paid for," Li-Wen said calmly.
Without waiting for a response, Li-Wen took a step into thin air.
BOOM!
A light shockwave of silver Ki exploded beneath his feet. His figure blurred into a grey phantom, leaping across the high mountain cliffs at speeds that defied human vision, vanishing into the deep purple fog of the northern horizon within seconds.
Captain Liu remained bowing on the ground for a long time, watching the empty sky where the youth had disappeared, cold sweat dripping continuously from his chin.
"Captain..." the female disciple, Yu-Er, whispered weakly, staggering over while holding her sore shoulder. "Is he... is he really a human youth? That pressure... it felt like facing an Elder from the Ancient Sects!"
Captain Liu took a deep, shaky breath, slowly standing up and wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. He looked at the shattered forest behind the dead beast, his eyes filled with profound dread.
Two days later, deep in the northern core of the Cloud-Piercing Mountains, inside a secluded, ancient cave hidden ten thousand feet above sea level within the thick cloud layer. Li-Wen sat cross-legged on a flat jade-like stone at the center of the cavern. Floating directly in front of him was the pulsing, deep-purple Fourth-Tier Beast Core and the three glowing crimson Blood-Vein Spirit Fruits. The ambient energy inside the cave had reached a point of absolute saturation. The sheer concentration of spiritual energy had turned into a fine, golden mist that gently washed over Li-Wen's body, absorbing directly through his skin pores. Li-Wen opened his eyes, the twin golden suns inside his pupils burning with terrifying, divine brilliance. "With the blood vitality of these three Blood-Vein Spirit Fruits and the dense elemental energy of a Fourth-Tier Beast Core..." Li-Wen murmured, his voice echoing with supreme confidence against the cave walls. "...not only will my Earth-Realm foundation solidify completely, but I shall also break through directly to the Second Stage of the Earth-Realm!" He raised his hands, executing a series of ancient, intricate hand seals. *SWOOSH!* The Void Sovereign Technique roared to life! A silver-gold vortex erupted from his palms, instantly crushing the Fourth-Tier Beast Core and the three spirit fruits into a liquid river of flaming crimson energy that surged violently into his mouth! Li-Wen closed his eyes, plunging his divine consciousness back into the boundless, eternal sea of cosmic cultivation.
See you in next chapter.....