Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN)
chapter-4477

“Retreat!”

Long Chen and Xia Chen shouted at almost the same time. They couldn’t bother with those pieces of immortal metal and just shot back. When they escaped the region of the barrier’s resistance, Xia Chen immediately put away his formation discs.

BOOM!

A terrifying black current blasted out of the barrier, sending Long Chen and Xia Chen flying.

Thankfully, Xia Chen had taken out several talismans to increase his defenses; otherwise, he would have been crushed by this current.

The current swept them over, propelling them forward. Suddenly, along with an explosive sound, they heard Ye Ling and Ye Xue’s startled cries.

Standing guard over the Esoteric Spirit Eye, Ye Ling and Ye Xue hadn’t seen anything crazy the entire time. However, the water level suddenly sank and exploded, and they saw Long Chen and Xia Chen come flying out of the Esoteric Spirit Eye.

Pieces of stone also came flying out, creating sizable craters upon impact with the ground.

“Heavens, what is this?!”

Ye Ling and Ye Xue stood in stunned silence. Meanwhile, Guo Ran, who had come to see what was going on, stared wide-eyed, almost unable to believe what he was witnessing.

At the sight of those natural immortal metals, Guo Ran couldn’t contain his excitement and let out a triumphant roar. In contrast, Long Chen swiftly made his way back to the Esoteric Spirit Eye.

The Esoteric Spirit Eye had returned to its calm appearance—as flat as glass. However, when he stood on it, he found that the surface of the water seemed frozen, and he was unable to enter it.

Moreover, the unending stream of pure primal chaos qi emanating from it had also ceased. Long Chen jumped in fright when he realized that. If, in pursuit of a few pieces of immortal metals, he had inadvertently deprived the Esoteric Spirit World of its primal chaos qi, the consequences would be catastrophic.

Ye Ling and Ye Xue’s expressions also changed. They ran over to the Esoteric Spirit Eye and stood on the surface of the water.

Fortunately, after a bit, the water softened, allowing them to immerse their hands for several inches. Simultaneously, the primal chaos qi gradually resumed its flow.

Long Chen breathed a sigh of relief. The reactivation of the primal chaos qi indicated that he hadn’t damaged the Esoteric Spirit Eye beyond repair.

Covered in sweat, Long Chen contemplated the gravity of the situation. If he had indeed destroyed the Esoteric Spirit Eye, the weight of that mistake would have haunted him all the time.

Two hours later, they could go several meters deep into the water, but that was the extent of their progress. Reaching the bottom would require a considerable amount of time.

Long Chen thought of the Stone Spirit who might be waiting for them on the other side. It was probably baffled and had no idea what had just happened.

No one knew whether it would still be there once they could go down again. Long Chen then sighed and swam back up with mixed emotions.

After surfacing once more, Long Chen saw Guo Ran hugging the pieces of immortal metals and talking to himself like a crazy person. As for Xia Chen, he had countless formation discs set up in front of him to check them for damage.

Fortunately, toward the end, Xia Chen had gathered them quickly, so only a few hundred were damaged. The rest were still fine. If he had been a bit slower, they would have been all ruined. Then he would have to cry.

“Boss, with this biggest piece of immortal metal, how about I make you a new weapon!?” Guo Ran ran over excitedly.

Hearing that, Long Chen was moved. Ever since the Minghong Saber exploded, he had never found a weapon that suited him. Testing the latter forms of Split the Heavens was impossible with an ordinary weapon, as it couldn't withstand his formidable astral energy.

If he had a good weapon, his combat power would definitely rise by a level. Reflecting on his past battle with Netherdragon Tianzhao, Long Chen mused that a powerful weapon would have significantly eased his victory.

However, Long Chen couldn’t help feeling a burst of pain as the image of a sinister, pitch-black divine weapon flashed in his mind. Sighing, he spoke, “These immortal metals should be used to equip our brothers if possible. I don’t need a weapon right now.”

“Alright. Then I’ll study and see how to use these materials best,” Guo Ran laughed excitedly. This dense fellow didn’t even notice the change in Long Chen’s emotions.

After obtaining these immortal metals, Guo Ran dragged Xia Chen away as they had to study how to purify Saint-level immortal metals together.

Having obtained a huge amount of essence blood from powerful experts, including the essence blood and runes of multiple Saints, along with Saint-level immortal materials, both of them now had ample room for improvement.

Ye Ling and Ye Xue returned to their people and started to extract the spirit stones from this area. They understood that they had nothing else to give him, and it was the only way they could express their gratitude.

Long Chen stayed by the Esoteric Spirit Eye for a day and night, but despite his efforts, he was only able to descend less than a hundred meters. Ultimately, he resigned himself to the fact that reaching the bottom again was impractical. At this rate, it would be months before he could make another attempt.

Hence, the matter of the Esoteric Spirit Eye could only be temporarily set aside. Long Chen then returned to the Earth Spirit race’s ancestral land. Immortal mist now covered this area, and the enormous holy tree was emitting divine light that enveloped the Dragonblood warriors beneath its crown. They seemed to be sleeping and cultivating at the same time.

When Long Chen sensed their cultivation bases, he jumped in shock. Only a few days had passed since his last encounter with them, yet the majority had already reached the ninth Heavenstage. Only a small fraction remained at the eighth Heavenstage.

Bai Shishi, Yu Qingxuan, and the others were surrounded by divine light, exuding a sacred aura. The rhythm of the ten thousand Daos resonated with their breaths. All of them had entered a state of being one with the heavens.

No wonder their cultivation bases had advanced so quickly, so the holy tree was helping them. Otherwise, even with the support of medicinal pills, such a speed would have been implausible.

“It’s rare for me to have nothing to do. It’s the best chance to increase my realm.”

Preoccupied with various affairs until now, Long Chen hadn’t had a chance to cultivate peacefully in a long while. There was no one to disturb him here, so he took out a Sacred Light Snow Lotus Pill and devoured it.

BOOM!

Its power erupted within him. Suddenly, a gentle energy enveloped him and lifted him off the ground.

It was the holy tree guiding him to its crown. At the top, Long Chen saw the twinkling stars in the sky, surrounded by condensed immortal spiritual qi.

“Many thanks.” Long Chen hastily thanked the holy tree, which was helping his cultivation. While assimilating the medicinal pill, he also absorbed the spiritual qi of heaven and earth. Typically, he would use his divine ring for this purpose, but thanks to the holy tree’s help, he didn’t need to.

Countless leaves seemed to form a spirit gathering formation for him. Without any disturbance, all the power of the Esoteric Spirit World was being drawn to aid Long Chen.

As millions of divine rays enfolded Long Chen, spiritual qi was infused into him, merging seamlessly with the energy of the Sacred Light Snow Lotus Pill. His aura grew crazily as the medicinal energy from the pill was flawlessly unleashed throughout him.

Long Chen was pleasantly surprised. With the holy tree helping him absorb the medicinal energy, the process became remarkably smooth. However, the effect of a single pill was insufficient to propel him directly to the seventh Heavenstage.

After all, the seventh Heavenstage was the start of the late stage, so the amount of energy required for Long Chen to make this breakthrough was terrifying.

Long Chen gritted his teeth and popped the remaining Sacred Light Snow Lotus Pills into his mouth one by one.

When the final one was absorbed, his bottleneck finally shattered, and Long Chen, with an explosive sound, ascended to the seventh Heavenstage. After reaching this level, he felt a profound enhancement in his strength and a closer connection to the stars in the sky.

“Senior, do you have time? We should refine some pills.”

Long Chen beckoned to the Earth Cauldron. This time, he wanted to rise all the way to the peak of the World King realm.