The day had already became dark. The forest was filled with the soft and haunting cries of monsters which roamed at night.
In a purple colored area, a youth was laid flat onto the ground.
The cold wind slowly blew across his body, and he abruptly opened his eyes and sat up.
Looking around, Long Chen was relieved to find that he had not been sneak attacked by a monster when he was in an unconscious state.
It seemed like the purple colored region around the Poisonous Purple Herb was a sort of a prohibited area for other monsters, where most did not dare to go towards.
He unhurriedly stood up, and realized that there was something different about his body. Although his body had not increased in size or built, and remained the same slender structure, he felt as if his muscles had contained boundless power and dominating strength.
He struck his fist heavily onto the hard sturdy ground, and drew in a cold breath when he found that his one casual fist attack without the use of any skills had created a meter deep fist imprint within it.
This was unbelievable strong!
As he experimented with his newfound strength, he concluded that his fleshly body had been strengthened by at least 2 times after that agonizing and torturous fight.
If he were to fight against the same Purple Tiger Beast, he was confident of being able to win within 10 moves, as compared to the more that a hundred moves he had exchanged with it before finally defeating it.
Walking towards the Poisonous Purple Herb, he picked it up with his bare hands, and the slight poison that had invaded his body was easily dispersed by his dense Elemental Qi.
After he had carefully placed the flower within is storage bag, he turned his head to look towards the direction of the boundary of the Thousand Monster Forest.
The visible trail he had made ended at the periphery of the forest, and he figured that the assassins that would be sent to kill him were probably keep watch around that area, waiting for the moment he showed his presence before they took action.
He didn't directly leave the forest, but rather continued to fight against the other monsters within the area.
Since he was within a monster populated region, why shouldn't he take the chance to hone his combat skills and strengthen his combat power?
With a sword in hand, he went on his hunting journey.
Many days had passed, and Long Chen was sitting within a peaceful corner, his eyes closed in a mediating position.
While he was within the Thousand Monster Forest, he had alternated between fighting and killing monsters, and quiet cultivation.
Although killing monsters did give him Qi which allowed him to break through, the normal process of cultivating to increase his cultivation still triumph over this method.
As his cultivation rises, the Qi given by killing monsters were becoming negligible, while cultivation increases the Qi within him by a much faster rate.
There was another reason why hunting monsters was not as fast as cultivating in terms of cultivation speed, and it was that the Grade 3 Monsters within the forest were not limitless.
He had to take some time to find the monsters before he could hunt them down, which wastes a portion of his time.
Meanwhile, the Qi he gained from cultivation was always constant and consistent.
While the density of Qi energy within the Thousand Monster Forest was not as high as his courtyard within the Moonlight Sect, with the assistance of the Qi he gained from killing monsters, he managed to break through to the 8th Elementary Realm.
His cultivation speed had indeed slowed down while as his cultivation was rising, but to be able to break through each realm within the Elementary Realm within one week was already an astounding speed.
Not to mention how he had went from the 6th Elementary Realm to the 8th Elementary Realm in around a week plus a day.
Stepping within the 8th Elementary Realm meant that he was now in the High-Tier Elementary Realm.
He opened his eyes as his lips curled into a charming smile.
A small current of energy exploded from Long Chen and crashed onto the surroundings, disturbing the peaceful environment for a moment.
The Mid-Stage 8th Elementary Realm!
He had just made a small break through from the Early-Stage to the Mid-Stage.
This was not the only thing that he had improved in.
He pulled up the status screen to look at how he was doing.
Host: Long Chen
Age: 13
Cultivation Talent: Human Tier 2 (50/350)
Cultivation: Eight Elementary Realm (2750 Qi /5500 Qi)
Skills:
Shadow Sword [Grade 8] – Accomplished: 220/500
Bone Muscle Alteration [Grade 5] – Rudimentary: 50/500
Leopard Fists [Grade 5] – Ultimate Perfection: 450/500
Piercing Cloud Movement [Grade 7] – Perfection: 301/500
Sinking Barrier [Grade 7] – Accomplished: 110/500
Soaring Sword [Grade 7] – Perfection: 350/500
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Alchemy Talent: Mortal Tier 12 (50/140)
Alchemy Grade: 1 (170/200)
Both his Cultivation and Alchemy Talent had improved by one Tier. This was not something unexpected, as he had killed quite a bit of monsters and absorbed all of their talents.
Most of his skills underwent a comprehensive upgrade.
Especially Soaring Sword, which he had been practicing fairly much. Leopard Fists, since they were only at Grade 5, were much easier to comprehend than the Grade 7 skills, so its proficiency went up the most.
The least improved, other than his Bone Muscle Alteration disguise skill, was the defensive skill Sinking Barrier, since he did not need to defend much in most cases with his outrageous attacks.
A lot of time had passed. In the eyes of others, it was just a little more than week.
But for Long Chen, this was a week of unrestrained slaughter. The blood had reeked of his body, his clothes stained with the dry blood of the monsters, mixed with his very own blood that came from the injuries he had gotten.
He reached into his storage bag to take out a new set of clean clothes, and switched his attire, before he decided it was time to leave.
Long Chen's mouth rose up into a playful smile, as he thought inwardly, 'I wonder what you can bring to me this time.'
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Meanwhile, outside the Thousand Monsters Forest.
There were a few man dressed in black who were keeping watch over the periphery of the forest. Their faces were covered with a dark mask that kept their features hidden, while they themselves all hid in inconspicuous corners with their eyes were on full attention to the path ahead of them.
The 5 men were split into 5 different corners, separated by quite a distance, as though they were making a giant net meant to encompass the entire region, and ensure that their target did not leave from their sights.
In the middle, there was figure of a man. His eyes were indifferent and cold, and his robes were faintly fluttering under the soft and gentle winds that blew past.
His legs were not standing onto the ground, but rather, he was floating.
This was a sign that he was in the Sky Realm, because only those in the Sky Realm were able to fly.
The other 5 men were talking to each other using their communication jades, while the Sky Realm cultivator remained silent and nonchalant.
"We have already been waiting here for more than a week. My legs are starting to get sore. Are you sure that he is even still alive?"
"Young Master Chen has personally said that he would have the strength to defeat the Mid-Tier Grade 3 monster, but no matter how it sounds to me, this is absolutely ridiculous. How could a mere new disciple who recently got promoted even have the strength of a Mid-Tier Elementary Realm?"
"The information says that his bone age is tested to be 13 and our sources have already revealed that he is within the Elementary Realm. Why are you still harping on about? Just admit that you are jealous and continue paying attention!"
"Tsk. So what if I am jealous? In the end, wouldn't such a genius fall into my hands?"