Chapter 26: Red Leaf Academy

  One month later.

  Deep in the night, in the Nanman mountain range forest.

  Chen Xiao's expression was focused, his fists emitting a faint white aura, one punch slammed into the rock.

  Bang!

  Boulders the size of millstones shattered and splashed down, falling to the ground. Clearly visible were these stone fragments, each the size of a dragon's eye, uniform in shape, like pearls.

  Chen Yao had already reached the first heavy boundary of Da Boren Quan - Collapsing Stone like Pearls!

  "It turns out that the explosive power is actually achieved through the accumulation of internal force by twisting, wrapping and kneading the muscles, and then suddenly releasing it, making the body like a fully drawn bow and the fist like a tightly strung arrow. As soon as the force is released, it's what we call 'explosion'!"

  Chen Xiao murmured to himself and immediately resumed his training, practicing each move with precision.

  In this half month, his life was monotonous and fulfilling. During the day, he explored culinary skills in the small black room, and at night, he followed Ji Yu to this forest to practice Da Boren Quan, while also meditating, exercising, and contemplating the Fuxi divine image. Every moment of time was fully utilized by him.

  Under such a heavy load of ascetic practice, Chen's temperament had undergone a subtle change, with a sharp and stern aura between his eyebrows, like a precious sword, containing a fierce and powerful energy. His muscles were more defined, with a jade-like luster, as if they contained infinite power.

  Bang bang bang......

  Fist breaks through the air, emitting a low and piercing sound of breaking through the air. This is the power of muscles condensed to a certain intensity, causing air vibrations.

  When this shock reaches a certain degree, it has reached the second heavy boundary of Dahuaquan - collapse like powder. One punch hits the rock, and the stone is crushed into powder, which disperses in the wind.

  Sweat dripped profusely, mixed with heavy gasps and the rumbling of fists, echoing for a long time in the empty forest.

  Three hours later.

  Chen Tuo collapsed to the ground with a thud, utterly exhausted, his entire body aching and weak, not even willing to move a finger.

  "Junior Brother, I've now cultivated my Qi to the 8th level of Pre-Heaven and my physical body has also advanced to the Pre-Heaven realm. Tell me, at this rate, when can I reach the Purple Mansion realm?" Chen Tai asked softly, turning his head to look at Ji Yu who was reclining in a rattan chair.

  Ji Yu, as usual, eating meat and drinking wine, replied: "At least for a year or more, whether it's the Shénmó Liàntǐ Flow or the Liànqì Flow, opening up the Zǐ Fǔ is an extremely difficult hurdle. Your cultivation progress is already fast enough, no need to be so desperate."

  "Alas, I have too many enemies. If I don't go all out, how can I become stronger?"

  Ji Yuohuo raised his voice and held up the wine gourd in his hand, asking: "Want to drink another mouthful?"

  Chen Xuan shook his head repeatedly, "No, the power contained in the wine is too terrifying. Even if I can use it, it will make me unable to practice my fist for seven whole days, and the sudden surge in cultivation is of no benefit to my own cultivation. Not drinking is better."

  It's a fact that since drinking a few mouthfuls of strong wine from the gourd half a month ago, Chen Yao has successfully broken through to the Xiantian realm with his physical body refinement, but the aftereffects are also very obvious. The sudden surge in power makes it difficult for him to move freely, and to avoid instability, he spent another half month mobilizing the Thick Earth Star and Pure Wood Star to re-forge his physical body. The process was so arduous that Chen Yao still has lingering fears.

  Ji Yu said with some regret, "Indeed, as you said, relying on external objects to break through the boundary is most likely to cause instability in one's foundation. Later, when trying to rush into even higher realms, it's easy to go astray and fall into demonic states. However, once you reach the Purple Mansion realm and establish your Dao foundation, you won't have to worry about these problems."

  The truth is simple, and Chen Yao understands that before opening up the Purple Mansion, whether it's the acquired realm or the innate realm, everything is just preparing to lay the foundation for the Tao. Only when the foundation of the Tao is solid can one go further on the path of cultivation. At this stage, relying on external objects to impact the boundary may allow for rapid advancement, but compared to the future path of the Tao, it's clearly not worth the loss.

  "In fact, wanting to enhance strength, actual combat is undoubtedly one of the best choices."

  Ji Yu suddenly spoke up, saying slowly: "The richness of actual combat experience also plays a crucial role when facing the enemy. A strong person who has been tempered in life-and-death battles can even challenge opponents with higher cultivation levels than him."

  Having great potential doesn't mean you can bring it into play.

  Martial skills are exquisite, but if they have never been tempered by blood and fire, they are also fancy fists and embroidered legs.

  Chen Yuanshan thought so too.

  "In this mountain forest, many monsters roam, the deeper you go, the stronger the monsters are. There are no lack of powerful great demons, but with your current strength, it's better to find some congenital boundary monsters to practice on." Ji Yu pointed to the depths of the forest and suggested.

  Beasts, after gaining spiritual intelligence, can absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to transform into demonic beasts. After going through arduous cultivation, they can enter the pre-heavenly realm like humans, and then embark on the path of seeking immortality.

  According to the difference in bloodline, yao beasts are further divided into ordinary yao beasts and divine beasts.

  Ordinary demonic beasts can transform into human form at will when they reach the Pre-Heavenly Realm, while divine beasts find it extremely difficult to transform into human form. Some divine beasts need to reach the Purple Mansion Realm to transform, some need the Yellow Court Realm, and some even higher...

  However, the divine beast has the blood of ancient demons and was born with intelligence, extremely high innate talent, and strength that far surpasses ordinary demon beasts.

  "Killing a congenital demon king? I haven't seen one in these days, have I?"

  Chen Xiao was taken aback, fighting a demon beast wasn't any different from fighting a human, on the contrary, demon beasts often had an advantage in terms of aura. Among demon beasts, a first-rate demon that occupied a territory must have risen to power through constant battles and killings. Their battle experience made them cunning, and with just one glance, they could intimidate their opponent to the point where their scalp would go numb, making it impossible for them to exert even half of their strength.

  Ji Yu smiled and asked back, "Do they dare to get close to here?" A hint of disdain and condescension seeped through his casual tone.

  Chen Xiao suddenly realized, he almost forgot that Ji Yu was a hundred-thousand-year-old cave spirit who had survived for millions of years. His original form was actually a Qilin with four hooves as black as ink and a single horn on his head. Those demonic beasts dared to approach this side? They were simply asking for abuse!

  No more nonsense, after regaining his strength, Chen Yu adjusted his clothes and headed straight into the depths of the forest.

  The forest was dark and quiet, and Chen Xiao had been walking for nearly an incense stick's worth of time before he encountered a demon beast that was barely at the early stage of the Post-Heaven Realm.

  However, Chen Tang became more cautious, and this kind of place was where ordinary innate realm cultivators dared not enter. If one wasn't careful, they might be ambushed to death by ferocious and cunning demonic beasts.

  As they journeyed deeper, Chen Ting killed a few demonic beasts along the way, but unfortunately, these demonic beasts were too weak, and he couldn't muster up any interest.

  After proceeding for more than ten li, Chen Yu suddenly stopped in his tracks, a hint of surprise flashing across the bottom of his eyes.

  "There's a fight!"

  Chen Xiao's divine soul was much stronger than that of other cultivators of the same rank, and had already reached the verge of a breakthrough, which also allowed him to capture movements that ordinary people could not detect.

  At this moment, he relied on the power of his divine soul and heard the faint sound of fighting coming from afar.

  Unexpectedly, in this dark night and deep mountain forest, there is actually someone who dares to come in... Following the sound, Chen Xiao hurried over quietly.

  In front was a slightly desolate rock pile, with the starlight on top of one's head, one could vaguely see human shadows flashing by. In addition to this, there were also sounds of beasts howling that made one's heart skip a beat.

  When still a hundred paces away from the rock pile, Chen Xiao took a deep breath and jumped onto a large tree, hiding in the treetop to get a clear view of what was happening far away.

  In the open space in the center of the rock pile, a chaotic scene unfolded. At this moment, two men and one woman were dancing with swords in hand, surrounding and attacking a huge monster.

  This monster resembles a tiger and leopard, its body is over two zhang long, its fur is like silver, its four limbs are thick and sturdy like pillars, its large mouth is full of sharp teeth shaped like saw blades, its sharp claws are three feet long, as sharp as knives.

  This is an adult Silver Wind Leopard, with strength equivalent to the Post-Heavenly Full Circle Realm. Its sharp claws are like knives, its speed is extremely fast like the wind, and it is extremely skilled in stealthy ambushes. What's even more dreaded is that the Silver Wind Leopard's sharp claws carry deadly poison, and if one is poisoned and not treated promptly, their entire body's meridians will be incinerated, rendering them a useless person.

  Chen Ting noticed the red leaf pattern on the sleeves of the two men and one woman, and a name of an unorthodox school floated into his mind - Red Leaf School.

  The Hongye Academy is located in the Academic District of Songyan City, with more than 300 disciples. It is adjacent to the Tianxing Academy and its strength can be ranked among the top ten academies.

  The most talked-about is Ye Qiu, the master of Hongye Academy, who is a knife cultivator with a unique skill called Red Leaf Knife Technique. It's said that his real strength is so strong that he can fight against Luo Chong, the first high-ranking officer under General Manor.

  The two men and one woman besieging the Silver Wind Leopard were not particularly strong, but their coordination was quite tacit. They must have practiced a multi-person strike technique. The three long knives splashed like rain, weaving a dense knife net that trapped the Silver Wind Leopard in the corner, leaving it only to struggle and wait for death.

  "Looking for death!"

  Seeing the Silver Wind Leopard unwilling to give up and wanting to launch a surprise attack, the blue-shirted youth standing in the middle position suddenly let out a loud roar, slashing out three knives in succession. The sharp knife aura forcibly repelled the Silver Wind Leopard's offensive.

  A man and a woman next to him took advantage of this gap, and launched a fierce attack without hesitation. The snow-bright and sharp blade edges, like raindrops, slashed towards the Silver Wind Leopard's body.

  Behind them were towering hard rocks, with no room for retreat. Just as the Silver Wind Leopard was about to be killed on the spot, Chen Tai, hiding in the treetops, sensed that something was amiss.

  Something's off!

  That silver wind leopard was too calm, even when it was deeply trapped in a desperate situation, its eyes were still calmly fierce, and from time to time, it would reveal a hint of cold and cruel complacency.

  As expected, there's an ambush!

  Chen Xiao's divine soul was incredibly powerful, and as soon as he sensed something amiss, he suddenly noticed that more than a dozen agile beastly shadows were silently closing in around the rocky outcropping...

  Roar! Roar! Roar!

  More than a dozen beastly roars intertwined with each other, like the sound of an attacking horn that pierced through the thick darkness of night.