AGM 156 – Ranked #9 in the Warheast Index
Qin Wentian’s black hair fluttered behind him, as he gazed at Qian Mengyu, he asked. “The sword technique you used earlier, was that the Nine Swords of Life?”
Qian Mengyu was startled. “How did you know that?”
Qin Wentian said that he came from a small country, how would he know that the sword technique she used earlier was the Nine Swords of Life?
“I once saw someone executing that exact sword technique.” Qin Wentian replied. This set of sword techniques was what Gongyang Hong had displayed back then when they were attempting to crack the riddle of the paintings. Eventually, they discovered that this particular sword technique was the favourite sword technique of the girl Gongyang Hong loved most, but what happened to them exactly, Qin Wentian couldn’t be sure.
“Thanks for your help earlier.” Qin Wentian smiled.
“You should start worrying about yourself.” Qian Mengyu shifted her steps away. Although Qin Wentian recognised the Nine Swords of Life, she had no reasons to help him further. It wasn’t that easy for her to enter the testing grounds and naturally she wouldn’t want to die here.
Qin Wentian glanced at his surroundings. Indeed, this was not going to be so easy to resolve.
Psst! Abruptly Qin Wentian’s body flickered, as the pair of illusory Garuda wings appeared on his back, retreating in the direction of a narrow gap.
Only to see two people stepping up, intending to block his path. Qin Wentian didn’t slow in the slightest. He blasted out with his Mountain Splitter, aiming at one of the two that obstructed him.
Puchi! A crisp sound echoed in the air as one of the bodies of the blockers turned illusory after suffering a halberd strike right through his brain. At the same time, Qin Wentian sent out a palm imprint to his left.
BOOM! A tremendous force could be felt. Borrowing the power of the impact, Qin Wentian soared into the skies, then landed outside the encirclement and frenziedly dashed away.
“What a marvelous usage of the Garuda Movement Technique, he should have already cultivated that to the Great Perfection Level at the Arterial Circulation Realm.”
The countenances of those from the Azure Emperor Palace all changed. One by one, they all followed after Qin Wentian using the exact same movement technique – the Garuda Movement Technique.
And as for that handsome-looking youth and his sidekicks, they came from the Sky Demon Sect. When they executed their movement techniques, sounds of a raging tornado could be heard. Their speed was actually also incredibly fast.
“Nice guts. It isn’t good to make an enemy out of those from the Sky Demon Sect.”
Qian Mengyu executed her own movement technique too as she followed after.
Qin Wentian clearly understood that the people in this testing grounds were not cultivators of Chu. And those who stood at the pinnacle of the Arterial Circulation Realm in Chu were nothing compared to the elites in here. No matter which of those that was in the testing grounds, as long as they were placed in Chu, they would definitely be the elites among the elites, and especially for that handsome-looking youth with a hint of demonic air in his eyes. Earlier when Qin Wentian exchanged blows with him, he was stunned by the incredible prowess of that guy.
He wasn’t so blind in his self confidence to handle the encirclement earlier with just a cultivation base at the 8th level of Arterial Circulation. And as such, he could only choose to escape first with the Garuda Movement Technique.
Currently, after he cultivated to the large success stage of the Garuda Movement Technique [Arterial Circulation Realm], there shouldn’t be anyone at the same realm able to overtake him in speed.
As a result, his pursuers became fewer and fewer as most couldn’t keep up. Among those that could keep up, the most notable ones were the handsome youth from the Sky Demon Sect, Yue Qingfeng from the Azure Emperor Palace and Qian Mengyu from the Greencloud Pavilion.
During the way, they also met other experts. And upon seeing the situation, the other experts also decided to chase after Qin Wentian together.
There was a river in front of Qin Wentian. Gathering his momentum, Qin Wentian rose sharply from the ground as he soared into the skies like a garuda, landing on the opposite bank.
The other pursuers all caught up, and respectively executed their innate techniques as they crossed the river.
Very quickly, Qin Wentian galloped into a forested region which caused the faces of his pursuers to turn unsightly. There were so many experts within the group of pursuers, yet they had no way to continue chasing him.
Instead of spending such a huge amount of time chasing him to no avail, they might as well be killing the warbeasts.
Yet they didn’t know that at this moment, the embers of fury were burning deep within Qin Wentian’s heart. In this testing grounds, how many warbeast spirits were there that were stronger than the one he absorbed? Why did they have to force him to such an extent?
At the end of the forested region there was actually a stone mountain with a waterfall cascading down from it. Lakes were on both the left and right sides of it, this was actually a place with no paths of retreat.
Qin Wentian slowed his steps as he halted. Behind him, he could hear sounds of panting. The handsome-looking youth from the Sky Demon Sect was the first to catch up with him.
Yao Sheng had a pair of illusory wings belonging to the legendary Roc behind his back. His gaze held hints of demonic air within them as he drifted in the air towards Qin Wentian; the gentle palm power of his was sent out once again.
Buzz! Qin Wentian’s ancient halberd smashed forwards with all he had, piercing out with a speed akin to lightning.
Yao Sheng shook his palms as Demonic Qi frenziedly erupted. His palms transformed into a gigantic bear paw as it smashed forwards, colliding with the ancient halberd of Qin Wentian. Yao Sheng’s body was light beyond comparison and at the moment of impact, he redirected the force and shot forwards, brushing past the ancient halberd and getting closer to Qin Wentian. Releasing a demonic light screen, the rays of his attacks enveloped Qin Wentian, and he blasted forth with that seemingly weak and gentle palm strike once again.
Qin Wentian didn’t retreat. The bloodline that had the dominance of a monarch surged crazily in his body. Replying to the palm attack with a palm strike of his own, he smashed forth with the strength of a mountain peak.
BOOM. A scary afterwind billowed in the surroundings. Both of them were forced back by the impact. Qin Wentian’s arterial pathways were shuddering, while his heart was palpitating madly. The innate techniques of his opponent were too mysterious and crafty.
Yao Sheng was forced by a single step and a strange glow flashed in his eyes. Soon after, the glint of coldness in his eyes became stronger and stronger.
A towering surge of Demonic Qi exploded out, and a plate of scaly armor formed on the sides of his arms as demonic light gushed forth from his eyes. The wings of the roc on his back materialized again, as the demonic light it exuded became increasingly bright. At this moment, he didn’t seem like a human anymore, but rather a demon.
With a strong gust of wind, Yao Sheng lunged again towards Qin Wentian.
“Fallen Star Stance.” The ancient halberd in Qin Wentian’s hands exploded forth with tyrannical might, as terrifying spirals formed at the tip of his halberd.
The palms of Yao Sheng stuck out forwards and thunderous sounds rocked the air. His body was akin to an agile snake, actually evading Qin Wentian’s strongest attack, as he transformed into a blur of shadows.
“DIE!” A shrill voice spat out. Yao Sheng’s arms somehow lengthened as they transformed into sharp claws, slashing towards Qin Wentian’s head.
The ancient halberd in Qin Wentian’s grasp trembled and he spat out a sword beam. With a roar of rage, his left palm unleashed the Falling Mountain Palms as both of their attacks frenziedly clashed together. Qin Wentian was once again ruthlessly forced backwards by the impact.
Despite using the power of his bloodline limit, he was still forced into retreat. Staring at the body of Yao Sheng, Qin Wentian could also faintly sense the presence of another bloodline limit. However, the blood in Yao Sheng’s body seemed strange. It was as though… the blood in his body was that of a beast!
The other pursuers gradually caught up and couldn’t help but be dumbfounded seeing that Qin Wentian had not been killed by Yao Sheng’s hands yet. This mysterious person that ought not to be here in the testing grounds actually had a strength level that was so astounding.
BOOM! And at this very moment, tremors shook the earth. The hearts of the crowd shuddered as they turned their gazes ahead, only seeing something akin to a mountain moving.
Rumbling sounds rang out as huge rocks and stones from the mountains fell downwards like meteorites from the skies. The sounds made by the falling rocks were extremely scary while a terrifying Demonic Qi blasted out to the surroundings.
ROOARRRR~ An earth-shattering howl rang out, causing the ground to split apart. The water in both the lakes frenziedly gurgled and underneath the waterfall, a terrifying demonic beast appeared, its movements causing huge waves to crash down like a tsunami.
The body of this beast was serpentine in nature, and was coiled underneath the waterfall. The body size of this beast couldn’t be determined yet, its body was covered by armor of scales and there were sharp stings embedded on the scaly armor. Both of its arms were huge and ended in five claws. Its body shape was long and sinuous, curved like a hook, emanating a cold and sharp sensation.
At this moment, this demonic beasts opened its maw and roared in rage. The sharpness of its jagged teeth struck fear and terror in the hearts of the crowd. This was many times stronger compared to the other demonic beasts that they had seen.
“Blue-scaled Flood Dragon, ranked #9 in the Warbeast Index.”
The hearts of everyone were trembling as they looked at the demonic beast. A spirit belonging to one of the top 10 beasts in the warbeast index was what all these cultivators wanted to achieve the most.
But, the combat prowess of the top ten demonic beasts could be considered heaven-shaking and earth-shattering, and almost invincible in the realm of Arterial Circulation.
“What a powerful demonic beast, if I absorbed its spirit, wouldn’t that give me a tremendous boost to my sensory abilities, allowing me to form an innate connection to the Blue-scaled Flood Dragon Constellation in the 5th Heavenly Layer?” A fluctuation arose in Qin Wentian’s heart. If he guessed correctly, he had already decided which Astral Soul to condense for his 3rd Astral Soul.
There were so many demonic beasts listed in the Warbeast Index, and would allow cultivators to easily sense the existence of the demonic beasts’ respective constellations in the Heavenly Layers, for those that were successful in condensing a beast-type Astral Soul, their physical combat prowess would undoubtedly heighten immensely.
But even so, no matter what beast-type astral soul it was, being able to summon the physical aspects of it was a different ball game altogether.
Qin Wentian understood the reason why summoning-type cultivators were so rare. It was because of the immense difficulty. If one didn’t have enough talent, the physical form of the beast they summoned wouldn’t be much help at all.
In the perspectives of many people, summoning-type Astral Souls were all trash despite the fact that there were some genius summoners that possessed terrifying strength.
At this moment, the desire to be a future beast summoner became stronger and stronger within Qin Wentian’s heart.
If one day he could summon different types of imposing warbeasts whose roars shook the Heavens and Earth, how awe-inspiring would that be?
Naturally this was merely a small bud of thought in his heart and was far off in the future. What he needed to do now was to deal with the situation that was in front of him.
The ranked #9 Blue-scaled Flood Dragon wasn’t ranked number #9 for nothing.
Inclining its proud head, it glanced down with disdain at the human cultivators. That pair of demonic sharp eyes brimmed with killing intent.
Psssst! Abruptly, the flood dragon began its movement. Its immense body appeared in front of Qin Wentian in an instant, as the thick and scaly arms shot forth, the terrifying claws breaking apart the mountain peaks, piercing towards Qin Wentian’s body.
Qin Wentian’s bloodline limit roared in protest, as he exploded forwards with Fallen Star. The ancient halberd howled in madness as it met the claw strike of the flood dragon head on.
BOOM!
The body of Qin Wentian was flung through the air as Qi and blood roiled haphazardly in his body, causing him to involuntarily spit out a mouthful of fresh blood. The ancient halberd in his hands shuddered, as though it had almost reached its breaking point.
“How powerful.” Qin Wentian’s heart trembled. Although its power was suppressed to the pinnacle of a 6th level demonic beast, the might it possessed was actually ridiculous to such an extent.
Was this the power of the top 10 ranking beasts? It seems that it was going to be unfathomably difficult for Qin Wentian should he wish to ascend to the 8th level of the Heavenly Star Pavilion. At the very least, it was almost impossible for him at this moment.
The Azure Emperor’s requirement for one to step onto the 8th level of the Heavenly Star Pavilion was that one had to obtain the spirit of one of the top ten ranking demonic beasts listed in the Warbeast Index. This requirement was undoubtedly several times more difficult compared to obtaining the championship of the Jun Lin Banquet.
Despite the fact that he could obtain the championship of the Jun Lin Banquet, his power was still far from being able to slay a demonic beast ranked within the top 10.
One could see how great the disparity was between the difficulty of the two tasks. What on earth did the Azure Emperor leave behind on the 8th level of the Heavenly Star Pavilion?!