Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN)
chapter-404

Hers was a flawless face. Rosiness interspersed with bright jade, and it was especially those lips that gave off an endless charm.

Just seeing half her face was enough beauty to make it so Long Chen was unable to look directly at her. Now that her whole face was revealed, Long Chen felt as if the entire world had stilled. The only thing he could hear was his drum-like heartbeat.

Previously, the atmosphere had been too tense, and Long Chen hadn’t paid any attention to Yue Xiaoqian’s face. Furthermore, from his previous experience, he hadn’t dared look her in the face again. But now that he was looking at it directly, he was absolutely speechless.

Being foolishly stared at by Long Chen, Yue Xiaoqian blushed and hurriedly turned her face away.

“Cough, sorry, I couldn’t help it.” Only now did Long Chen come back to his senses.

In terms of her face, only Meng Qi could possibly match Yue Xiaoqian’s beauty. However, the two of their beauties were completely different styles.

Meng Qi’s beauty was like that of an immortal fairy who did not consume the food of common mortals, while Yue Xiaoqian was one that would make a person’s heart and soul quiver.

Just looking at her face could cause a person to sink into endless depravity. That kind of beauty was incredibly dangerous, but when people saw it, they wouldn’t be able to sense the danger.

That kind of dangerous beauty gave people the feeling she was a beautiful demon. But her eyes were pure and holy, giving people a contradictory feeling.

It was precisely this kind of feeling that caused Yue Xiaoqian to possess an irresistible beauty.

She once more took out a veil and properly covered her face, only revealing her two eyes. “My mother said not to let others see my true face, so it was my fault for not covering it. You don’t have to apologize.”

Was this what it meant by a beauty capable of causing a calamity? Long Chen couldn’t help smiling bitterly at himself. At the same time, he was deeply moved that the thousand major worlds were full of extraordinary things.

If Yue Xiaoqian suddenly took off her veil in the middle of a fight with people, just how many people would be able to hold back their shock? Just the slightest break in their rhythm would probably cause them to become a corpse.

“Your mother is a good person,” laughed Long Chen.

“How did you know? My mother is a very, very good person.” Yue Xiaoqian hadn’t heard Long Chen’s other meaning, so she was actually happy to hear him praise her mother.

Long Chen just smiled slightly without saying anything. He really did feel like the two of their intelligences were not on the same frequency, and communicating seemed to be a bit taxing.

All the Abyss of Fiends’ Devilmen corpses had been handled now, and all the devil cores had landed in Yue Xiaoqian’s pocket. Other than some of the fiendish aura remaining here, the terrifying pressure had already disappeared.

Both Long Chen and Yue Xiaoqian were completely exhausted, and so the two of them found a corner to rest.

Those continuous battles had completely depleted all their energy, and then they had only narrowly escaped alive from mortal danger several times. Even people as strong as them were exhausted.

That was especially true of Long Chen. In his attempt to subdue the dragon scale, his Spiritual Strength had been mostly used up. After consuming a healing pill, he wasn’t able to endure it any longer and fell asleep against the rock wall.

Yue Xiaoqian wasn’t much better off than him. Feeling waves of exhaustion battering her, she fell asleep on Long Chen’s shoulder.

Long Chen slept soundly. Within his daze, he seemed to feel a pair of hands gently caressing his cheeks, as well as hear a soft murmuring that made him feel like he was floating in the clouds.

He didn’t know how long he slept for, but he suddenly awoke. The Abyss of Fiends was still present, but Yue Xiaoqian was not.

Long Chen hastily looked around and called out to her, but there was no reply.

Taking a couple steps forward, Long Chen suddenly saw eight odd bones with special lines carved into them.

Those bones were incredibly ancient and emitted a strange pressure. They were arranged in an orderly, square pattern three meters long.

He reached out to grab one, but he had only just touched it when the bone instantly turned to ash.

“Spatial strength.”

Long Chen sensed a spatial fluctuation when that bone dissipated, one that was similar to when a transportation formation was activated.

However, this spatial strength was a bit different from the spatial strength of transportation formations. But as for how they were different, Long Chen was unable to tell.

“Looks like she’s already left the secret realm.” Long Chen sighed. Yue Xiaoqian had previously revealed that she didn’t need to wait for when the Jiuli secret realm’s exit opened. Back then, Long Chen hadn’t taken that to heart, but now seeing these bones, he knew she had used some kind of secret technique to leave.

For some reason, Yue Xiaoqian’s departure gave him a feeling of disappointment and frustration, as if he had lost something. “No matter how you put it, we can count as friends. Leaving like this really is rude.”

She had already left, but her fragrance still lingered on his body. Everything almost seemed like it was a dream. But when a scale floated out of his hand, emitting a green light and a powerful dragon might, he knew it wasn’t a dream.

Long Chen sighed, but then he suddenly sensed something odd. Looking at his arm, he saw a crescent moon had appeared there.

It was only an inch long, and although it was just a simple design, it still gave people a vivid and lifelike feeling as if it was a real moon.

“She left this on me?”

This mark seemed to have become a birthmark, fusing into his skin and flesh. There was no way to erase it at all.

Girls really were girls, all liking to do these unreasonable things. But at least she hadn’t left this mark on his face.

Lightly rubbing that crescent moon on his arm, a strange feeling arose in Long Chen’s heart. It was as if he could once more see that soul-stealing face.

“I should also get going.” The atmosphere here in the Abyss of Fiends was very oppressive. Climbing out, as soon as he arrived outside, he couldn’t help taking a deep breath.

He temporarily put aside Yue Xiaoqian’s matter. If she had left, then she had left.

“Right now, the most important thing for me is to connect to the dragon scale. Although it doesn’t reject me, in order to use it, I’ll need to nourish and communicate with it more.”

Long Chen found a place to seclude himself nearby. This time, his seclusion wasn’t for cultivation, but to connect with the dragon scale. Although the dragon scale had merged with his body, he still didn’t know how to use it. He would have to figure this out on his own. However, he had no idea how to do this, as the dragon scale wasn’t a true living thing.

What he hadn’t expected was that it took him over two months before finally figuring out a portion of the abilities of this dragon scale.

Although he hadn’t completely figured it out, he felt he no longer had that much time to waste. It had already been over half a year since the secret realm had opened.

In other words, it had been over three months since he had fought with Yin Luo. By now, he would have advanced to Bone Forging.

Furthermore, there were countless opportunities within the Jiuli secret realm. He was not the only one who had obtained great opportunities. Perhaps there were other people who had obtained even more heaven-defying opportunities.

But rather than those opportunities, Long Chen was more worried about everyone’s safety. He wanted to go out and take a look at what was happening. It had been three months since he had revealed himself, so he didn’t know what was happening within the rest of the secret realm.

While connecting to the dragon scale, he had also advanced a level, reaching the fourth Heavenstage of Tendon Transformation.

However, this was the Jiuli secret realm. The spiritual qi here was extremely dense. Most likely, everyone had already broken through to the Bone Forging realm by now. Other than dead people, Long Chen was probably the only one still in the Tendon Transformation realm.

That was because many people had already been at the late Tendon Transformation realm when the secret realm had opened. There were some who had even focused completely on breaking through as fast as possible before going out in search of opportunities. That way they would have a higher chance of surviving.

By the time they managed to break through, quite a few of those opportunities would have already been taken away by others. However, they had their own plans. That was to plunder.

Relying on their superior cultivation base from their advancement, they would take advantage of those that hadn’t to kill and rob. That would give them an even higher chance of obtaining treasures.

Without even thinking about it, Long Chen could guess that in the last two months, a rain of blood had fallen in the Jiuli secret realm. Who knew how many people were buried in the ground now.

After this much time, the weak had already been killed. As for those that had managed to survive, they were all experts amongst experts. After that rain of blood, the secret realm should have now entered a period of quiet calm.

That was because those who had remained after that bloodbath were all very powerful, and the majority of the treasures and opportunities had already been snatched away by people. There was no need to waste time on futile effort, so it was better for people to take advantage of the spiritual qi here to properly temper their bodies.

Furthermore, after advancing to Bone Forging, the most important thing was to temper your bones. The more you could temper, the stronger you would be.

It could be said that of the five Houtian realms^[1], the Bone Forging realm was the one with the greatest combat difference between the weak and the strong. That was something that didn’t have to do with cultivation base, but with how many bones you had tempered.

Just before the exit of the Jiuli secret realm opened, according to previous experience, the Righteous and Corrupt paths would undergo an immense battle.

Although there were many entrances to the Jiuli secret realm, there was only one exit. That exit was located in the most core place of the secret realm.

There was a huge mountain valley there. That place had been called Death-Deciding Valley. When the secret realm’s exit opened, a teleportation gate would open in front of Death-Deciding Valley. By activating the special tablets each person had on their body, they would be sent out of the secret realm.

Everyone from the Righteous and Corrupt paths would gather there at that time. That was because this teleportation gate would only stay open for two hours. If you didn’t enter it in time, you would forever be left in the secret realm.

Each time, the Righteous and Corrupt paths would have an immense final battle before that exit opened. That was both a competition between the two paths, as well as a bloody battle for treasure.

The people who benefited the most from this final battle were always the Chosen. In this kind of battle, very few Chosen died. The majority of those who died were the weaker geniuses.

Naturally, those slain geniuses would have all the treasures in their spatial rings be taken away by the top experts.

And it was because of this that those top experts wouldn’t target the weak at the beginning. Instead, they would wait for the final battle. Then, not only could they kill their enemies, they could also take their treasures, as well as raise their fame. It was three birds with one stone.

But currently, the secret realm was in a state of calm. Many people had already found a place to undergo secluded cultivation, trying to raise their strength. The majority of those people weren’t focused on gaining the power to kill their enemies, but on protecting their lives.

Only a few of the absolute top experts were confident enough to continue strolling around the secret realm, trying to test their luck.

It was on the third day after Long Chen had left his seclusion that he ran into two experts that blocked his path.

^[1] To avoid any possible confusion, the Houtian realms here refers to the five realms that are focused on tempering the body. Those would be Qi Condensation, Blood Condensation, Tendon Transformation, Bone Forging, and Meridian Opening.