Chapter 103: Retempering of the Body
When Xiao Chen saw the might of the Purple Thunder True Fire, he revealed a shocked expression. He never expected, after condensing an Origin Flame of the Purple Thunder True Fire, it would be so powerful.
Xiao Chen took out a wooden pole and stood it upright on the ground. He held the Lunar Shadow Saber and raised his concentration to its peak. He entered into a state void of thoughts, The heaven and earth serve me, and the saber!
“Drawing the Saber! Chop!”
“Shua! Shua! Shua!”
Xiao Chen hacked out continuously nine times the wooden pole was chopped into ten sections. This incredibly light wooden pole did not move at all; it did not even wobble.
Xiao Chen sheathed his saber and stood upright; he displayed a big smile. He was not far from achieving the Great Perfection of this Drawing the Saber.
Xiao Chen took out the Seven Leaf Flower’s petals from the Universe Ring. Xiao Chen was deep in thought for a while. He returned to the flat rock once again and sat down cross-legged.
He plucked a red flower petal and placed it in his mouth slowly. The petal melted instantly when it was placed in his mouth. Immediately after that, it permeated Xiao Chen’s skin and flesh, causing him to feel an unbearable pain.
There was not a place in his body that did not feel pain; it was like needles piercing him. Xiao Chen clenched his jaw and endured. This was the Seven Leaf Flower cleansing his marrows; thus, this was a necessary pain.
Xiao Chen felt as if his skin had fallen off. When a gentle breeze blew, he felt an exceptional pain. Xiao Chen did not dare to open his mouth; he was afraid that if he opened his mouth, he would bite his tongue off by accident.
In a split second, his face was covered in so much sweat, as though he just took a shower. Such unbearable pain persisted and only stopped after two hours.
The instant the pain vanished, Xiao Chen felt all his pores open. He felt a comfortable feeling spread throughout his body. His black skin changed drastically, becoming snow white and causing one to feel happy.
Xiao Chen clearly felt the strength in his body increase significantly. He felt joy. He no longer hesitated and placed a white petal into his mouth.
Finally, Xiao Chen swallowed all seven different colored petals. All of these simply caused inhumane torture for Xiao Chen. Every time he swallowed a petal, the pain would double.
Xiao Chen nearly fainted from the indescribable pain by the time he swallowed the seventh petal. If it were not for the fact that his spirit was stronger than normal, Xiao Chen would have fainted long ago, never to wake again.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Xiao Chen stood up on the rock, the bones in his body cracked and rattled. After cleansing the marrow seven times, the bones started to remodel themselves.
After the remodeling was done, Xiao Chen discovered he had grown significantly taller. He was originally 1.7 meters but now he was 1.8 meters. A growth of 10 centimeters.
His face, that seemed sculpted using a knife, became even more handsome. The strong aura became reserved, like a treasured sword being sheathed.
Occasionally a bright gleam flashed in Xiao Chen’s eyes. His aura immediately turned sharp, like a treasured sword being unsheathed with a cold, sharp gleam flashing in all directions.
His body had already undergone the tempering of the heavenly thunder and, now, his marrow was cleansed by Seven Leaf Flower’s seven petals. His body’s strength had reached a very shocking level.
Xiao Chen jumped down from the rock and sent a violent palm strike at a huge stone nearby. He did not use any Essence and relied only on his physical strength.
“Bang!”
Countless small cracks appeared instantly on the huge rock. The cracks extended out unceasingly and the stone turned into countless small fragments, flying wildly into the air.
Xiao Chen looked at the rock fragments that fell to the ground. He sighed in his heart. When Xiao Chen first arrived in this world, he was unable to condense his Martial Spirit.
At that time, his biggest dream was to train until he had a very strong physical body. This was because there were some people, in this world, who were unable to condense their Martial Spirit but were able to make their mark by training their physical body.
He did not expect to be able to achieve the small success stage of training the body, despite being on a different path now.
The bright sun hung high above, shining its light all over the land. The surface of Zhuang River was shimmering, reflecting the resplendent light of the sun.
Xiao Chen leaned on the rock and took out the map, which caused him to be chased, from the Universe Ring. He examined the map many times before but did not discover anything.
The location of the Ancient remnants on the map should be located somewhere in the inner reaches of Savage Forest. Unfortunately, Xiao Chen had never been in the inner reaches of Savage Forest before.
He was not able to tell where exactly the location was according to the map. This map required one to be extremely familiar with the inner reaches of Savage Forest for them to understand it.
The remnants of the ancient people would definitely have many treasures, Spirit Weapons, Battle Armors, ancient Martial Techniques, Secret Treasures… All this held a fatal attraction to Xiao Chen.
The ancient era was ten thousand years earlier than the Tianwu Dynasty. This was the most glorious moment of the human race. The streets all over the kingdom were filled with saints; they were able to split the mountains and divert the rivers.
There were even legends that claimed there were Martial Gods born in that era. They were able to pluck the stars and the moon from the sky or spit stars from their mouths. Unfortunately, that glorious age was buried in the river of time. Virtually none of the inheritances of the ancient people were preserved.
Between the Tianwu Dynasty and ancient era, there was a blank spot of history. No one knew what happened during that period. The ancient people seemed to have vanished without a trace.
Most people think the ancient people were exterminated by the demons of the Demonic World. After all, that was how the Tianwu Dynasty was destroyed.
However, aside from the three Holy Lands, no one knew the truth. The three Holy Lands had never revealed any news about the ancient era.
Xiao Chen was very interested in the ancient era. He had a faint suspicion that the Azure Dragon Martial Spirit in his body might have appeared then.
Unfortunately, he was not familiar with the inner reaches of Savage Forest; the map in his hand was useless.
I have to work with someone, Xiao Chen thought in his heart. When Xiao Chen had that thought, he immediately thought of someone.
“En, it shall be him,” Xiao Chen said as a smile appeared on his face.
After Xiao Chen said that, he sent his Spiritual Sense into the Spirit Blood Jade. He saw the unconscious Xiao Bai and the smile on his face slowly faded away. A flash of killing intent appeared in his eyes as he muttered, “It is time to leave. Coincidentally, I can deal with these two matters together.”
…
Xiao Chen left the illusion formation and headed to the periphery of Savage Forest. Soon, he met a group of cultivators that were training in Savage Forest.
Xiao Chen’s appearance was now very different from the past. The originally young and tender temperament had vanished, becoming very steady instead.
That group of cultivators did not pay too much attention when Xiao Chen walked past. However, after Xiao Chen placed a certain amount of distance between them, one of the cultivators seemed to have suddenly remembered something and took out a portrait.
“Look! Doesn't that person look like the person wanted by the Jiang Clan?” the cultivator asked as he held the portrait.
When the people to the side took a careful look, they said, “Not really, the Jiang Clan’s people said that he is a 16 or 17-year-old youth. The person that just walked by does not have the temperament of a youth.”
Another person said, “He clearly does not look like him. The person who just walked past is a Medial Grade Martial Master. However, the Jiang Clan’s people said that the person in the portrait is a Superior Grade Martial Disciple. That is no way a person can raise his cultivation by so much in just these few days.”
“However, I feel that there are some resemblances; I’m not sure how but I just feel so,” another person to the side offered an opposing opinion.
The leader of this group was a man with a horrifying saber scar on his face. When he saw Xiao Chen’s back, he did not say anything. After a long time, he said in a sullen voice, “It is the person in the portrait. Although he has changed his clothes, he did not change his shoes.”
The rest of the group took a quick look. Indeed, the shoes in the portrait were exactly the same as the one that person was wearing. After they found this clue, the more the group looked, the more they found that he was alike. They were now certain that he was that person.
“Boss, should we? The Jiang Clan offered a reward of 1000 gold taels. That is as much as the entire earnings of the whole group for a year.”
“That’s right; he is just a Medial Grade Martial Master. All of us here are Martial Masters. Furthermore, boss, you are at the peak of Martial Master. There is no need to be afraid.”
The scarred man smiled sinisterly, “Do you think I’m a fool? I have sent Ninth Brother to follow him. He should have left some signs behind, waiting for us to take action.”
“Boss is indeed the boss; you are way more farsighted than us,” the group immediately flattered him.
A vicious look flashed in the scarred man’s eyes as he scolded them jokingly, “Speak less of this rubbish and quickly follow me.”
Before the group moved very far, they saw the sign left behind by their Ninth Brother. They immediately felt joyful and they increased their pace. A look of greed flashed in their eyes when they thought of the Jiang Clan’s 1000 gold taels reward.
“Where are Ninth Brother's signs? Why are they gone?” The group discovered that the signs that were guiding them suddenly disappeared after they traveled for a significant distance.
The scarred man saw a pile of ashes in front of him. He felt a bad premonition in his heart, “Where is Ninth Brother? Where did he go? Even if he was killed, there should still be a corpse!”
“I see him! Xiao Chen is there!” suddenly, someone in the group shouted out loudly.
The group looked in the direction he was pointing in. They immediately saw Xiao Chen beside a tree. When the scarred man heard his voice, he quickly put down the doubts he had in his heart and looked in that direction as well.
He only saw Xiao Chen standing beside the tree without moving, as though he had expected the arrival of the group. His face was devoid of shock and his black pupils contracted, causing the people not to be able to guess what he was thinking.
Suddenly, the scarred man felt something was wrong. He wanted to call out to stop him. However, these people were already consumed by greed and brandished their swords, rushing towards Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen suddenly opened his right eye and his aura changed. His clothes and black hair fluttered around. He was not unlike a treasured sword unsheathed, revealing a cold and sharp gleam.
There seemed to be a boundless flame burning in the depths of his eye. It then finally gathered and formed a rhombus shape of purple flame. This Purple Flame connected with Xiao Chen’s Spiritual Sense. He had already secretly planted a seed of fire on the bodies of these people.
In the instant, Xiao Chen opened his right eye and formed the purple light, the fire seed on the bodies of these people ignited. They were razed in a purple flame and turned into ashes before they could cry out in shock.
The scarred man felt that something was wrong and he already retreated backward. However, his left hand was still burning. He decisively took his sword and cut off his left hand.
Seeing the many piles of ashes on the ground, his jaw fell open and he was speechless. His face was filled with horror. A group of lively people was turned into piles of ash without signs or warning.
Is this the devil?
The scarred man finally knew what the pile of ash he saw earlier was. However, it was now too late.
Xiao Chen held the Lunar Shadow Saber in his hand and slowly walked over to him. This forest was extremely silent at this moment; only the sound of Xiao Chen’s footsteps remained, as well as the loud thumping of the scarred man’s heart.