Chapter 225 - 224: Massive Enhancement
Chapter 225: Chapter 224: Massive Enhancement
GULP!
Wu Chen took a pill from his storage pouch, one with an effect similar to a Nourishing Essence Pill. He popped it into his mouth, tilted his head back, and swallowed.
As the pill entered his stomach, the five small, silver-white snakes within his organs began to writhe and swim. They circled the pill just once, and the ox-eye-sized pill visibly shrank.
In less than half a quarter-hour, the ox-eye-sized pill vanished completely, devoured by the five silver snakes inside him. It transformed into pure Qi and Blood, which merged with his own body.
’Just as I thought!’
Seeing this, Wu Chen’s eyes narrowed slightly.
With such a powerful internal presence, never mind whether he could rely on it to protect his heart and lungs if he were stabbed in the chest during a life-or-death battle with a strong enemy in the future.
Even if he were severely injured, he could swallow a pill and use this internal presence to forcibly sustain his life, perhaps even cheating death itself!
After all, when an ordinary person took a pill, the digestion time was measured in hours or even days.
In a moment of life and death, how could that possibly be fast enough?
But for him, it was measured in mere minutes.
On the brink of life and death, the difference was more than just night and day!
’This trip to Hidden Wind Valley... even if a fight doesn’t break out, or if no one from Hidden Wind Valley manages to break through our encirclement and I don’t earn any merit, just learning this Body Refining Skill has been more than enough of a reward!’
After mastering a Martial Art, his realm had improved, and his physique was now in a class of its own within the Leakless Realm. The source of his Rhombic Crystal had also been slightly elevated. It wasn’t much, but it was another step closer to the next transformation.
It was merely a matter of accumulation.
The internal presence in his five organs had now properly condensed into strands, and his speed at digesting pills was likely unmatched by anyone in the same realm.
It was safe to say that Wu Chen was very satisfied with this trip to Hidden Wind Valley.
SHHHF!—
Suddenly, Wu Chen heard the sound of a tent flap being drawn aside amidst the whistling wind. He turned his head and saw a graceful figure emerging from a tent, yawning as she walked in his direction.
It was now the latter half of the night, still three hours before dawn. It clearly wasn’t a time for a leisurely stroll.
Wu Chen assumed Sun Yuting was still half-asleep and a little dazed, so he called out sharply:
"If you need to relieve yourself, go do it somewhere else. Don’t come over here."
"You!"
Hearing this, a trace of indignant shame appeared on her delicate, oval face in the moonlight.
Sun Yuting’s sleepiness vanished in an instant. She strode right up to the young man, jumped up to throw a punch, and said furiously:
"How can you be so ungrateful? I came to take your shift!"
It was the latter half of the night, the most difficult part of the watch. Besides, the wind in Hidden Wind Valley was bitterly cold. Who besides those freaks from Hidden Wind Valley could stand it?
Wu Chen shook his head. "No need."
Sun Yuting tilted her head, staring at Wu Chen with a frown.
"Look at you! Your lips are white from the cold, and your face is so haggard. And you still have the nerve to say ’no need’?"
"Why are you being so stubborn? Do you enjoy pushing yourself too hard?"
Wu Chen didn’t reply.
The cold air really didn’t affect him much. The main issue was that when he went to the mountaintop earlier, he had swallowed so much cold qi. The sharp, knife-like wind had entered his stomach, but the physical pain and injuries had already been smoothed over by his Rhombic Crystal’s source and his internal presence.
But the pain in his mouth and throat was seared into his memory and wasn’t so easily dispelled.
That was why his face was a bit pale, making him look as if he couldn’t withstand the biting wind.
However, he knew his own condition. Wu Chen was about to shake his head and refuse again, but his arm was forcefully pulled up, and he felt a soft warmth against his bicep.
"Go get some rest. I am a Golden Eagle Captain, after all. Don’t tell me I can’t even handle a night watch?"
"You’re looking down on me way too much, aren’t you?"
"And another thing, why are you so heavy!"
Sun Yuting tugged on Wu Chen’s arm, leaning back and pulling with all her might. Her delicate features scrunched up, but Wu Chen remained completely motionless.
"Alright. In that case, I’ll have to trouble Captain Sun."
Wu Chen had no choice but to agree, lest the pulling and tugging led to contact with places that shouldn’t be touched.
As he spoke, he pressed down on the delicate hands on his arm, forcefully pulled his own arm from her warm embrace, and walked straight toward his tent.
He didn’t give Sun Yuting any more chances to pester him.
"Hmph, it’s not like I was going to bite you..."
Sun Yuting watched his retreating back and muttered speechlessly to herself.
...
The moon fell and the sun rose, a cycle repeating itself.
The following days were filled with tedious waiting.
Although Wu Chen suggested he stand guard alone for the next few days, the others felt too embarrassed and adamantly refused.
In the end, they rotated the night watch among themselves, and there was nothing more to be said about it.
They just didn’t know how long they would have to wait in the mountains before the Demon Suppression Bureau’s final encirclement began. Though no one said anything, a sense of anxiety was visible on everyone’s faces.
This was especially true for the five Silver Wolf Captains. They were only at the Organ Refining Realm, and the feeling of cold qi seeping through their bodies was not a pleasant one for them.
As for Wu Chen and Sun Yuting, their realms were the highest, so they were naturally untroubled.
’But...’
During the day, they had nothing to do. Aside from two Silver Wolf Captains standing guard in the vicinity, everyone else sat and rested by the tents.
Wu Chen lifted his gaze toward the mountaintop, his expression thoughtful as he looked at the figure on the giant boulder.
Three days had now passed since they arrived at Hidden Wind Valley, and it had also been three days since he had sealed the body of this Hidden Wind Valley Elder.
The man was about to break free from his control.
’Seal him for another three days?’
Wu Chen studied the figure, thinking that if the battle on the mountain didn’t start soon, this would be his only option.
With this in mind, he stood up, deciding to seal the Elder’s limbs again to prevent his escape.
Under the bright blue sky.
On the giant boulder.
The Hidden Wind Valley Elder, whose limbs were gradually regaining feeling as he was about to regain his freedom, felt an inexplicable gaze upon him before he even had time to rejoice.
He was incredibly familiar with that gaze. In an instant, his entire body went cold, as if he had been plunged into an ice cellar.
His limbs, which had just regained sensation, inexplicably began to go numb again, refusing to obey his commands.
The blazing sun was clearly right above him, yet he couldn’t feel a single trace of its warmth.
’This guy... is he finally going to make his move?’
He weakly lifted his head and, sure enough, saw the source of that chilling gaze, just as he had expected.
As the young man slowly rose and began to walk toward the boulder, the only thing left in the eyes of the figure upon it was despair.
He could feel his doom approaching, step by step.
Before the young man had even taken two steps, the life force within the old man’s body became intermittent, and his breathing grew as faint as a gossamer thread.
He was about to be scared to death!
’You can’t die on me now!’
Sensing the Hidden Wind Valley Elder’s faint aura, Wu Chen couldn’t help but grimace. ’Am I really that scary? To frighten him this badly?’
He quickened his pace, preparing to use his internal presence to protect the old man’s heart meridian first. He needed the old man to hold on for a few more days so he could use him to kill with a borrowed knife later.
But at that moment, he froze. His gaze shifted from the old Elder of Hidden Wind Valley to the peak of Hidden Wind Valley behind him.
He felt that some kind of prelude was brewing on the mountaintop.
He didn’t have to wait long. Just a few breaths later:
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!—
Violent roars exploded through the valley, followed by the sound of clashing blades.
’The fight’s finally starting!’
Wu Chen’s expression relaxed. He had been waiting for days, and wasn’t this the very moment he was waiting for?
As the roars subsided, Sun Yuting and the few Silver Wolf Captains behind him reacted quickly, grabbing their standard-issue sabers and abruptly standing up. Their eyes were fixed grimly on the mountaintop.
And at that same moment, on the giant boulder.
The Hidden Wind Valley Elder, whose body had been about to collapse, immediately sat bolt upright upon hearing the huge commotion from behind.
His intermittent breathing instantly became smooth and steady, returning to normal.
He was alive!
He twisted his neck with difficulty to look at the mountaintop, knowing that the final battle between Hidden Wind Valley and the Demon Suppression Bureau was about to begin.
And this was his chance to survive!
Amidst the expectant gazes of several people, three figures indeed charged down from the mountaintop.
These figures were slender and their movements were exceptionally agile. They leaped between the mountain rocks, completely unimpeded.
As the figures drew closer.
Their faces were gradually revealed to everyone.
They were covered in messy, withered-yellow fur, with hairy faces and protruding, beak-like mouths.
A flicker of confusion appeared in Wu Chen’s eyes.
’Is this what happens when Cold Qi Body Forging goes wrong and one descends into madness?’
But Sun Yuting, beside him, had already recognized what they were. Her red lips parted as she cried out in shock:
"The Demon Race! They’re Demon Fiends!"
"Your Hidden Wind Valley is colluding with the Demon Race!"
"You’re feeding the people of my Great Yun to demons!"