Inside the Dark Forest, Qin Wentian carried Fan Le as he rapidly walked away. Although he was exhausted, he had no choice since they had to quickly leave this area before enemies located them again. The current Qin Wentian and Fan Le had no more strength to engage in battles.
“How unlucky.” Fan Le grumbled dejectedly, “Had I know this would be so dangerous, I would not have signed up for this. I’m still a virgin, you know?”
“Shut the f*ck up.” Qin Wentian cursed in a low tone. This fatty was really talkative.
“Hehe, how are you feeling now that your Bloodline Limit stopped seething?” Fan Le continued asking, “and what’s going on with this puppy? Why does it keep following us?”
“If you continue to be a chatterbox, I swear I’m going to leave you behind.” Qin Wentian was extremely fatigued. Earlier, both he and Fan Le had entered into a state of semi-madness, brought on when their Bloodline Limits seethed and surged. After that period of heightened combat ability, their body switched to a “recovery state”, causing them to enter a period of weakness. In addition, both of them had fully exhausted the Astral Energy in their body, which led to this extremely weakened state.
This was especially true for Fan Le. Even after expending all his strength, he was still hit by the tail-end of Orchon’s spear, causing his head to bleed incessantly. Luckily, Qin Wentian was skilled in the acupuncture needle arts and managed to stop the bleeding. Even so, the current Fan Le was entirely devoid of strength.
Thinking of this, Fan Le muttered to himself, “If there’s a debt of hatred, it should be repaid as soon as possible. However, the genius me is still young. I would still need a a few more years to cultivate. By then, it wouldn’t be too late for me to seek my revenge.”
“Qin Wentian, why is your cultivation level so low? If you were at the Arterial Circulation Realm, you would have easily defeated him earlier.” Fan Le continued grumbling.
“There’s a cave dwelling in front.” Qin Wentian directly ignored the chattering Fan Le and proceeded towards the cave dwelling. In their current condition, if they met a demonic beast now, it would mean their death.
As they entered, Qin Wentian gently let Fan Le down, as he too, collapsed on to the ground, drawing in huge breaths.
“Fatty, let’s recover our energy first. If we don’t, this place will become our burial ground once we encounter even a single demonic beast,” Qin Wentian stated. He then sat down cross-legged, entering a meditative state. Soon after, Fan Le agreed and mirrored Qin Wentian’s actions.
“Surely we won’t be so unlucky.” Right after he shut his eyes, Fan Le’s eyes snapped open, only to see a nearby demonic leopard staring at them
Qin Wentian’s expression froze, and he stared at the demonic leopard before struggling to get up his feet.
“Buzz.” The demonic leopard’s movements were fast and brutal. Similar to a burst of electricity, it appeared in front of them in an instant. At the same time, however, the body of the snowy puppy by Qin Wentian’s side flickered, leaving behind afterimages with a speed even faster than that of the demonic leopard.
“Grrrr……” A low growl sounded out from the snowy dog, causing Qin Wentian to be thunderstruck. The body of the snowy puppy actually expanded a few times in size until it became roughly the size of a 3rd-level demonic wolf. The snowy puppy unhinged its canines and lunged forward, biting the throat of the demonic leopard.
In that instant, the body of the demonic leopard slummed to the ground. With its throat torn apart, it died shortly after.
“Transformation? It can do that?” Fan Le and Qin Wentian both stared at the snowy puppy, dumbstruck. What made them even more speechless was that after the snowy puppy scampered back towards the cave dwelling, it had a fawning expression on its face. That fawning expression, how they felt like beating it up…… The body of the puppy gradually reduced back to its original size, making the fawning expression even more adorable.
“This little fellow actually pretended to be a pig to eat a tiger. Let’s call him Little Rascal.” Fan Le chortled.
“Low class.” Qin Wentian disdainfully glanced at Fan Le, “But then again, this name is quite fitting.”
After which, Qin Wentian also grinned. The poor, pitiful dog was named “Little Rascal” from then on.
Leaving ‘Little Rascal’ outside the cave to stand guard, Qin Wentian and Fan Le felt more reassured in their hearts. By the time night descended, their Astral Energy was fully recovered. Fan Le opened his eyes, only to hear crackling sounds emitting from within Qin Wentian’s body. Fan Li clicked in tongue in annoyance. Even he, the genius fatty, did not cause such a large commotion when he was cultivating.
But still, he has to admit that Qin Wentian was truly dedicated. Qin Wentian had immediately used techniques to refine his body as soon as he finished recovering.
Naturally, Fan Le knew very clearly that after experiencing today’s events, Qin Wentian had no choice but to hope that he could improve his cultivation base as soon as possible. He still had many enemies waiting for him.
“Orchon, Orfon, just wait for it.” Fan Le chortled with a wretched smile that was filled with hints of coldness. Standing up and patting his stomach, he walked towards the demonic leopard’s carcass. Now that they had recovered, it was time to eat.
After Qin Wentian opened his eyes, he saw Fan Le using his bare hands to handle the flesh of the demonic leopard in an unrefined manner. Roasting the flesh and stuffing it into his mouth, Fan Le soon had his entire face covered in grease.
“You bumbling idiot, why do you have to be so attract so much attention after recovering your strength? Don’t you know the smell of roasted meat and the fire would attract other demonic beasts?” Qin Wentian scolded Fan Le in a low voice. Despite of their overexertion earlier in the morning, their strength had fully recovered during the span of half a day.
“We should hurry up and eat our fill before moving on.” Fan Le ate with gusto, so Qin Wentian began to eat as well. As they were eating, Little Rascal trotted over to their side and whimpered, directing its puppy-eyed look on Qin Wentian.
“How much can someone of your size eat?.” Qin Wentian tossed a piece of roasted demonic leopard meat over to Little Rascal, who happily chewed on it.
“Although demonic beasts normally absorbed the Yuan Qi of Heavens and Earth to aid their growth, this leopard meat is a great source of nourishment.” Fan Le explained as he ate. Qin Wentian agreed as well. He could feel that there was a source of energy within the demonic beast meat he had just eaten.
“We are truly going to enjoy eating all these good foods for the next coming month.” Soon after, Fan Le stood up and said, “There are demonic beasts approaching. Let’s move.”
“Right.” Qin Wentian inclined his head in agreement as he beckoned Little Rascal before swiftly leaving the cave dwelling.
Upon finding another resting area, Fan Le immediately fell asleep while Qin Wentian cultivated, leaving Little Rascal to stand guard.
During the day, the three of them ventured deeper into the Dark Forest, where they hunted demonic beasts and enjoyed the taste of their flesh.
In the blink of an eye, it was already the 10th day since the applicants had started the training exercise. Now, all of them were deep inside the Dark Forest, where they had to be extremely careful.
In a forest region, there was a group of people slowly walking about. A fierce wind blew past as the expressions on their faces underwent a drastic change. At this moment, they saw an immense iron-armored rhino dashing over, tearing apart the ancient trees that were in its way.
“It’s a demonic beast that’s at the peak of the 3rd-level. A demonic beast that possess tyrannical strength, the iron-armored rhino!” The group of people shivered in their hearts. Although they wished to escape, it was to no avail as the rhino dashed in their direction.
What was even more surprising was that behind the iron-armored rhino, there were actually two youthful figures madly chasing after it with frightening intensity.
“Fatty, make your move.” A voice called out. The spectators only saw the flashes of Astral Arrows travelling in a beautiful arc, flying precisely towards the rhino as if the arrows had eyes attached to them. Nine arrows flew in rapid succession, sealing the path in front of the rhino and causing it to halt in its step. The second youth sped over, and with indiscernible movements, he struck forth with a fist of immense might, accompanied by a dragon’s roar.
“Boom.” The youth’s fist landed on the head of the rhino, releasing shockwaves that trembled the trees around it. The body of the rhino convulsed violently before slumping down to the ground, releasing its final death cry.
“What a domineering strength! Iron-armored rhinos are known for their defence, but this one was killed in a single strike.” The spectators’ hearts shivered, and soon after, they saw a snowy white puppy leap onto the shoulders of the slain rhino, showing a lewd expression on its face.
The youths were none other than Qin Wentian and Fan Le. When Fan Le walked out, he said to Qin Wentian, “How perverse. Your strength is even more tyrannical now that you’ve broken through to the 9th level of the Body Refinement Realm.”
During the past ten days of cultivation, Qin Wentian had successfully stepped into the 9th level, which was also the last level for the Body Refinement Realm.
Currently, the clothes he wore were worn and tattered. He smiled when he looked to Fan Le, “Fatty, are you jealous?”
Qin Wentian used the tyrannical Astral Energy alongside the Tempered Thousand Hammer Refinement Technique in order to temper his body. With the boosting effect granted to him by the Heavenly Hammer Constellation in the 5th Heavenly Layer, how could his strength not be terrifying?
“Me jealous of you? Are you able to control your Bloodline Limit with your will?” Fatty Fan Le put his hands on his hips and laughed at Qin Wentian, knocking Qin Wentian off his pedestal. Currently, Qin Wentian had no way to control nor steer the energy granted to him by his Bloodline Limit. Thus, its full power couldn’t be brought to full display, and it could only be contained within his body.
“Other than that Subduing Snake Fist, don’t you know any other technique?” Fan Le continued laughing.
“After I break through to the Arterial Circulation Realm, I will directly cultivate innate techniques. To me, the only critical thing now is to break through,” Qin Wentian replied. He would choose an innate technique that was suitable for him after successfully condensing his second Astral Soul.
“Right, quickly break through. That day, Orchon caused us to lose our face. I’m afraid if we don’t ignite our Bloodline Limit, even dealing with Orfon is going to be difficult.” Fan Le blinked his eyes as they continued walking.
Qin Wentian nodded his head. Previously, he was able to defeat Orfon, whose cultivation base was a realm higher than him, because he ignited his Bloodline Limit, immensely heightening his combat ability. If not for that, even though he was at the 9th level of the Body Refinement Realm currently, it would still be tough for him to defeat Orfon, who was at the 2nd level of the Arterial Circulation Realm.
In another forest region in the Dark Forest, a group of flying beasts hovered in the air. Below them were Orfon, Makino, and two other figures.
“Orfon, that youth of the Qin Clan from the Sky Harmony City is only a Body Refinement Realm cultivator, yet you actually wanted me to deal with him?” One of the unknown figures looked at Orfon with a heavy sense of disdain in his eyes. After all, this person was a 2nd year senior of the Emperor Star Academy and had cleared four out of the nine main meridians inside his body. Not only was he at the 4th level of the Arterial Circulation Realm, he was also a member of an aristocratic clan.
Within the Dark Forest, although the nine martial academies were holding their examinations here, it was impossible for them to stop others from entering. Haku met Orfon by chance as he was training within the Dark Forest.
As for the other figure, he was Ye Zhan from the Ye Clan, a cultivator at the 2nd level of the Arterial Circulation Realm as well as a member of the Royal Academy.
“That fellow still had a companion who possesses a Bloodline Limit. Both of them are extremely hard to deal with.” Orfon slightly squinted his eyes. Qin Wentian also possessed a Bloodline Limit, but he didn’t want to let the others know of this. He had to ensure Qin Wentian’s death within the Dark Forest. Only then would he be able to rid himself of the humiliation from his defeat.
“Makino, make your move.” Orfon commanded. Makino’s gaze rested on the flying beasts hovering in the air, and soon after, each of the beasts flew off in the eight directions before disappearing without a trace.