BANG… the ground around Yang Chen shattered as a vast amount of energy circulated inside his body. His muscles buffed and veins bloated with the opening of the three profound nodes.
Even his black eyes visibly took a sea green colour. With the activation of the secret art, Yang Chen's aura along with his energy soared to a higher realm. It broke through the realms of a Nine Star and was quickly approaching the Battle Master level.
The increase stopped when the energy was about to reach that last step, falling only a little short.
Nevertheless, this increase in strength was no joke. In his current state, Yang Chen was comparable to a peak Nine Star Battle Apprentice who was on the verge of breaking through. He was in no way inferior to the Armoured Hog who was in a frenzied state right now.
RAWRRR… the beast roared and charged at Yang Chen with a momentum of a truck.
Yang Chen on the other hand stepped on the ground immediately causing numerous cracks to appear on it and directly rushed towards the oncoming demonic beats. He was intending to engage with the beast head on.
Winds gathered around his legs increasing his speed even further... [Wild Revolution Steps].
He brandished his sword, flames erupted out of the Flame Expelling Sword and just when the beast was a few inches away from him, he plunged his sword with all of his strength into its skull.
CLANG… weirdly, a metallic noise echoed out. The skull of the Armoured Hog was even sturdier than its carapace so much so that even a two star sword like the Flame Expelling Sword could not pierce through it in one go.
Failing to deal it the final blow, it was Yang Chen's turn to be pushed back. BANG... the head of the Armoured Hog came slamming into his body carrying him along with the sword stuck on its head with its charge.
The demonic beast kept charging, it intended to crash against a tree and smash Yang Chen into a pulp.
Knowing that how could he allow the beast to do what it wants? Yang Chen extended his hands, summoned all of his energy into his arms and inserted the sword deeper into its skull.
CRACK... At that moment, Yang Chen clearly felt something inside the demonic beast break. It gave a loud wail, and its charging stopped. Next, its centre of balance crumbled and it finally dropped onto the ground.
Yang Chen who got away at the last second from being squished under that huge body, rolled on the ground. He dusted his clothes and quickly got up on his feet.
Since he didn't receive any experience points even after that, he knew that the demonic beast was still alive. Scorched and slashed many times, even its head was stabbed by the sword, Yet the demonic beast refused to die until the very end.
"Such Tenacity" Yang Chen finally realised why no other demonic beats roamed around its territory and why it was the tyrant here. It was because nobody to mess around with this hulking fellow who was no different than an armoured tank.
GRAAHH… the beast wailed when Yang Chen approached it. With numerous wounds and a sword plunged inside its head, the Demonic Beast was no doubt in extreme pain.
"You are the first demonic beast that I met who showed such a tenacious will. But this is the end of the ropes for you" Yang Chen recognised the tenacity in the eyes of his opponent.
He knew that he was talking with an unintelligent beast; nonetheless, during their fight he was a little impressed by the latter. This was the first time he had met a demonic beast that was so resilient.
In a sense, its will to live was as strong as his own. Nevertheless, it had to die so that he could get strong. It was survival of the fittest here, if he didn't kill the beast, the beast would have killed him and it would have done so without batting an eye.
Emotions were useless, if he wanted to become strong, he needed to become a cold killing machine. Yang Chen grabbed the sword handle stuck in its head and gave it a few twists.
The beast wailed in pain, its dim eyes that were clinging to life, slowly dimmed down and before long it became completely dull. The Armoured Hog had succumbed to its fate.
[Ding… You have levelled up].
At last, the notification arrived, Yang Chen dropped to the ground and exhaled a deep breath of air he had been holding for a while.
He had been waiting for this notification. After continuously fighting demonic beasts day and night for the past two days, he had finally levelled up to become a Nine Star Battle Apprentice.
Just as Yang Chen was about to pull his sword out of the beast's head, his body suddenly jolted and intense pain assaulted every part of his muscles and nerves.
"W-what is happening? I did not receive any big injury so why?" Yang Chen struggled to contain himself from screaming.
"You idiot… it is the repercussion of using the first change of the Nine Brilliant Mysterious Change. Your body is far too weak to handle such a power yet, so it is the natural response of your body against a strong a power" Amon appeared out of thin air and floated around him.
"What?! You should have told me ahead… Kuhh" Yang Chen widened his eyes when he heard that. When learning the secret art, Amon never said anything about having to face intense pain after activating it.
"Did you think that you can obtain great power without any pain? It is only just some minor pain, give it some time, and it will become normal soon" Amon shrugged his shoulders and remarked.
This was some minor pain? You got to be kidding me!! He wanted to retort but he was too busy dealing with the pain.
"Get used to it, in the future you will have to suffer more pain when you learn the other eight changes. Hmm from what I can tell, your present body can only handle the activation of this technique only once and if push comes to shove twice. But not more than that".