After the Lady Boss “one shot killed” the Little Thunder, the three people continued their journey into the depths of Azure Dragon Gorge, with Wang Lu leading at the front.
However, along the way, they encountered several small and large battles. The monsters at the Azure Dragon Gorge have become particularly combative today. They continued to appear before them, and they even made threatening gestures to block them, which made the Lady Boss sigh at this recent anomaly; she really thought that the monsters’ oestrus period seemed to have arrived ahead of time. She was unaware that more than a week ago, the dose of laxative that Wang Lu and Wen Bao put into the water source was too large, which hugely impacted the environment here in a negative way.
The monsters that appeared were mostly category three low-rank monsters, not much different with Little Thunder in terms of power, and thus, they didn’t pose too big of a threat. Occasionally, some of them would appear too close; although the ensuing battles were intense, with the evil skill of ball breaking, the trio would always come out unscathed.
However, through these dozens of big and small battles, Wang Lu’s understanding of the Non-Phase Sword Bone became increasingly profound, and his appreciation of this method became deeper.
The adaptability and scalability nature of this method could be rated as top-notch. At this time, Wang Lu still didn’t have the method for the Ninth layer of the Non-Phase Sword Bone, nor was there somebody who pointed out the practical application of the Non-Phase Sword Bone to him. However, during those fights, he was able to dig out quite a few tricks.
For example, during the fight, with the Emperor Bone’s command, he could redistribute the total power of the more than two hundred bones to reinforce an individual bone through breathing.
After mastering this skill, if he met with the Little Thunder again, he could easily block the lightning strike with his hand by reinforcing it, bringing about only minor injuries.
In addition to that, if he encountered a certain monster with the ability to confuse the mind, he could use the independent nature of the Emperor Bone to produce intense pain at the critical moment, which would then stimulate his body and return his sanity. As he continued to dig further, he found even more wondrous uses such as stimulating his body to produce explosive force and so on.
… With so many similar skills, even with Wang Lu’s high perception, for a moment, he could only touch their outline. To further explore the depth of each of them, he still needed a lot of time. Even so, to smoothly go unimpeded into the depths of Azure Dragon Gorge, it was already a miracle for Wang Lu, a cultivator who had just stepped into the Qi Cultivating Stage.
In addition to Wang Lu’s outstanding performance, the fatty wasn’t just a bystander either. Wang Lu, the leader of the team, had a performance that was able to stir the usually seriously unmotivated dead fatty to try to keep up with him. Moreover, the dead fatty’s Black Iron Sword was actually very useful. In this Azure Dragon Gorge they would occasionally encounter a huge monster with a thick shell that was difficult to deal with; so they let the fatty deal with this. A direct, full power strike from this Black Iron Sword would crack open their hard shell.
After their last experiential learning, it was not just Wang Lu who gained something; Wen Bao continued to push his limits and finally broke through the eighth level of the Qi Cultivating Stage. As of this moment, the striking power of his Black Iron Sword was not inferior to those high-level Qi Cultivating Stage Senior Brothers! For a category three monster, it was still difficult for him to “one hit kill” them, but with the explosive characteristic of his Black Iron Sword Art, breaking their defense was more than enough.
Furthermore, as long as the fatty had broken their defense, Little Ling’Er’s ball bursting evil skill could easily pierce any sexual reproductive organ of any monster, without exception!
With this cooperation, the trio went unimpeded, ko’ing or killing anything that barred their way. Wen Bao secretly made a calculation, and he was surprised to find out that, although they didn’t deliberately look for wounded monsters, compared to the previous seven days of experiential learning, the number of monsters they had struck down was actually more!
No doubt the ball bursting evil skill played a part in this, but Wang Lu’s and Wen Bao’s great progress could also be seen.
The fatty could not help but wish Junior Sister Yue see this feat; it would’ve been so much better! The reason why Wen Bao fought his instinct to disobey Wang Lu’s invitation on these two experiential learning, and instead continued to follow Wang Lu staking his life was because he wanted this girl to look up to him!
But then again, if Yue Xinyao really came, the resulting psychological burden would overwhelm and paralyze him instead.
These fights happened for most of the day. When the late afternoon rays fell upon the Azure Dragon Gorge, the three had gone through the long and narrow canyon entrance into an open area, which was the hinterland of Azure Dragon Gorge. While trying to determine the directions, Wang Lu found out that there was a large thunderstorm a few days ago, and the nearby terrain had undergone a great change! However, this could not stump a top student like him. Soon, he identified the path towards where the Red Refined Fruit grew.
Speaking of the Red Refined Fruit, the last time he stumbled on it was because of mere luck. According to the specialized herbology book, this Red Refined Fruit should not grow here—the spiritual energy concentration in the area was not enough. Thus, it was tantamount to a miracle that there were several mature Red Refined Fruits here, making one amazed with the mystery of nature.
Therefore, in accordance with the Immortal Cultivation World’s tradition passed down through generations, which was “finders, keepers”, Wang Lu had long considered that Red Refined Fruit as his. The only problem was the Golden Thread Red Refined Snake that guarded beside it.
More than a week ago, this snake had forced Wang Lu to abandon the fruit. However, after a week had passed, not only did Wang Lu and Wen Bao had great power boost, they now even had Lady Boss who was even more powerful than them. As such, Wang Lu’s victory was already in the bag!
“Sister Ling, there are groves ahead of us, and inside there’s a Golden Thread Red Refined Snake, a category three lower rank monster. With three of us combined, it would be easy to deal with it.”
“Oh, are you sure?” Little Ling’Er didn’t show the same relaxed posture as Wang Lu; her pair of delicate eyebrows slightly frowned. “I feel it’s not going to be so easy…”
Wang Lu was silent for a while. “I can understand how you feel, Sister Ling. Based on the current situation here, it’s clear that there must be an old monster. However, with the lineup of our team, how could we not be able to clear it?”
The Lady Boss sighed. “I don’t think it’s good to pick the Red Refined Fruit that grows here. But, since you’re so confident, let’s just do it then.”
Wang Lu was certainly confident—not confident of his own eighth layer of Non-Phase, but of the Lady Boss! Although the Lady Boss had only shown her ball bursting evil skill all this time, the memory of how she “one punched” her Master has been deeply etched in his memory.
Having this God-level character in the team, how could any team leader worry about anything?
Therefore, he casually stepped into the groves. However, as soon as his footstep landed on the ground, a wave of unprecedented sense of crisis blew over him. The two hundred and six sword bones within his Inner Mansion simultaneously trembled. Driven by this feeling, Wang Lu did not hesitate to sidestep and twist his body. His twisted posture could shame even a circus performer; the Winding Step’s amazing close range capability was fully displayed to the fullest… Even so, he barely dodged the deadly golden light!
After he took three quick successive steps away from the groves, Wang Lu’s back had been soaked with cold sweat. Just now when he dodged, he saw the golden light pass through his side and directly went into the distant canyon wall. The golden light cut through those hard rocks like a hot knife cutting through a butter, which then fell down with a muffled rumbling sound.
What the hell was that!?
Even though it was an old monster, it was still a category three… How could it be so powerful!? This was impossible!
More than two years ago during the Immortal Gathering, Wang Lu had once encountered a category three monster, which was the behemoth Western Mammoth; a typical category three low-rank monster. Such a fierce beast could easily trample a hundred man army to death, and even destroy a small town… However, if they met again, Wang Lu wouldn’t be afraid of it! That stupid monster’s only weapon was its huge body. Though Wang Lu’s strength was still inferior to it, his “copper skin and iron bone” weren’t afraid of it at all! After entering the eighth layer of Non-Phase Sword Bone, even the Black Iron Sword’s full strike from the fatty almost couldn’t break his defense, not to mention that mammoth’s clumsy attack!
However, amongst the category three monster, the mammoth’s attack was actually one of the “friendly” ones. The destructive power of most of the category three monsters was greater than it; simply the variation of attack method alone was impossible to guard against… However, that all-conquering golden light just now was clearly far beyond the power of a category three monster. That kind of all-conquering, flying-sword-like golden light was an attack that even a Xudan Stage cultivator wouldn’t dare to meet head on, let alone Wang Lu.
Just as Wang Lu was still in shock, the second golden light came after him, but this time, Wang Lu was prepared; he once again unleashed his Winding Step ability by sidestepping and twisting his body and thus dodging the attack in time. However, before he could adjust his balance, the third golden light came right at him as if it was a calculated attack!
“Damn! Could this monster predict movement? Sh*t!”
Wang Lu inwardly cursed but knew that he could no longer dodge. He forced his body to twist in mid-air, trying to avoid his vital parts from being hit. At the same time, the two hundred and six Jade Pillars in his Inner Mansion lit up as all of their energies were concentrated on the breastbone. With the amount of vitality that he had now, as long as his vital parts weren’t injured, it would not matter to him regardless of how bad it would be. Also, he believed the opposite party’s successive attack wouldn’t last for long… However, he could only imagine how severe his injury would be if that strange golden light “tasted” his flesh.
At this time, seeing that something was wrong, Little Ling’Er finally made her move. With astonishing footwork, this girl rushed to Wang Lu’s side in lightning speed. Her left hand seized his collar and jerked him back. At the same time, she took a step forward and physically stood in front of Wang Lu!
Bang!
With a muffled sound, the golden light directly hit the girl. This golden light contained a powerful force, thus upon impact, it sent her flying before landing on a cluster of flowers.
At this point, Wang Lu had staggered a few steps to regain his balance. However, when he turned around, he saw the girl lying motionless among the scattered petals.
Suddenly, a buzzing sound appeared in his head and all his thoughts were scattered by a rush of intense emotion as a mass of red rose up within his field of vision. His front chest glittered with an indistinct golden gloss...
However, before this strange violent energy could burst, a scene that made him dumbstruck appeared before him.
“Tsk, you’ve got some strength.”
The girl lying on the flowers suddenly smiled, opened her eyes, and then slightly opened her mouth. After which, she, as if pulled by an invisible force, sprang up.
The next moment, Wang Lu saw several afterimages of the girl moving in directly towards the groves. When he turned his head to follow her, Little Ling’Er had already come out of the groves; her petite hand firmly held a seven inches long golden snake.
“Huh, you actually got an inner core… No wonder that rare Red Refined Fruit could grow here; it’s all because of you.”
“With your level, it’s really not easy to cultivate an inner core… But, you almost hurt my friend!”
The girl’s smile suddenly turned ferocious. The next moment, she suddenly tightened her grip!