Chapter Nineteenth: A Life Hanging by a Thread

  The spiritual energy fluctuations disappeared, and Ye Chen also put his mind at ease, no longer worrying that the range of absorbing spiritual energy would be too large, causing fluctuations to attract powerful beasts. He sank his mind into his body, carefully observing the condition of his physical body.

  Those meridians are like a dense network in the body, intersecting and crisscrossing, as delicate as peeled spring bamboo shoots. Ye Chen smiled bitterly, but now his meridians were really too weak.

  "Huh...my skeleton..." Suddenly, Ye Chen discovered something astonishing - every single one of his bones was a brilliant white and more resilient than before he got injured.

  "What's going on? Did I unknowingly refine the impurities in my bones during that period of deep sleep, while also repairing the meridians inside my body with the help of blood and spiritual energy?"

  Ye Chen thought about it and finally came up with an answer, apart from this possibility, he couldn't find any other reason. Now, whether it's muscle or skeleton, they are much stronger than before, but only the meridians are extremely fragile and can't transport too much Qi and blood. As long as the meridians recover, his strength will be even greater than before he was injured.

  "Five segments of bone refinement peak! I've actually unknowingly reached the five-segment peak!" Ye Chen muttered to himself, feeling a bit incredulous. However, after some thought, he felt relieved. The nourishing of his meridians hadn't consumed much spiritual energy, but the seal within him had almost fully stored spiritual energy which was all depleted. So much spiritual energy had flowed into his bones, reaching the five-segment peak was only to be expected.

  In the past, when cultivating, most of the spiritual energy entered the cellular microparticles in the body, awakening their potential and transforming into lifeblood. Each time the spiritual energy cleansed and refined the physical body, it only went through nine cycles, which is far from the constant refinement that occurs every moment of this half month.

  However, Ye Chen currently has a five-peak boundary, but it is difficult to exert his strength, and the meridians cannot withstand it. Moreover, he feels that the skeleton has reached the limit of spiritual energy washing and refining, which means that spiritual energy can no longer penetrate into the bones for refinement. Relying solely on spiritual energy is not enough to break through the five-peak boundary and enter the six-peak marrow-washing realm.

  "It seems that only after the meridians are fully restored can the awakened cell particles break through the boundaries with the refinement of blood and gas." Ye Chen muttered to himself, then sighed, from the fourth stage to the fifth stage, four cell particles need to be awakened, and from the fifth stage to the sixth stage, it's likely that eight particles need to be awakened. Eight particles, how much spiritual energy is needed, how much time?

  "Roar!"

  Suddenly a loud roar came, like a thunderclap on a clear day, shaking Ye Chen who was deep in thought almost fell off the tree. His ears buzzed and his face changed color as he quickly climbed to the top of the big tree and looked towards the direction where the sound came from.

  "Is there nothing, or did the sound come from dozens of miles away, or even farther?" A look of astonishment flashed across Ye Chen's eyes. If that was indeed the case, then how powerful must that beast be, to let out a roar that shook dozens, no, hundreds of miles?

  Although he felt a little intimidated by the unknown guy who let out a loud roar, Ye Chen also had a strong curiosity in his heart. He quickly got down from the ancient tree and then restrained his breath, quietly and carefully moving towards the direction where the sound came from.

  Ye Chen darted between the shrubs and thorns, his mind tense, sensing every movement within tens of meters, avoiding the auras left by some wild beasts. After walking for about an hour, he had covered nearly ten miles, and hadn't detected any strong auras from powerful wild beasts.

  "Roar!"

  At this time, the roar came again, and Ye Chen clearly felt that the voice was closer, but it was still from a very distant place, at least several dozen miles away from where he was.

  "What is it?" Ye Chen thought to himself as he continued walking forward without stopping.

  Roars occasionally came, carrying furious anger emotions.

  Half a time later, Ye Chen finally arrived not far from the source of the sound. He climbed up a big tree and hid in the branches to look forward, and suddenly saw a bloody violent scene.

  About 100 meters ahead, in front of a huge waterfall, a one-zhang-tall black gibbon and a gray giant bear were fighting each other, both covered in blood. The ground around them was littered with shattered rocks, clearly smashed by their fierce strength.

  "Hoo-ah!"

  The grey bear stood up, its robust body like a house, and its massive paws slapped down fiercely, producing a loud sonic boom. Ye Chen saw the air around the paws swirling wildly, as if the space itself was trembling with each swipe of the paw. It was clear that this single palm contained an astonishingly tyrannical power.

  Bang!

  The black gibbon dodged too late and was slapped on the shoulder blade by the giant grey bear, instantly producing a cracking sound, the shoulder blade cracked open, and bright red blood spurted out. The one-meter-tall ape body flew several meters away, splashing up a layer of gravel, and pounding the ground into several fine cracks.

  "Hoo-ah!"

  The big grey bear let out a loud roar, its massive paws pounding against its chest, excitement evident in its voice.

  The black ape sprang up, its shoulder blades almost shattered, but it was still ferocious and unmatched, with two eyes flashing bloodthirsty light and furious anger.

  "Hoo-ah!"

  The black ape's entire body was filled with a violent and brutal aura, its hands pounding against its chest, its mouth wide open to reveal sharp white teeth. Its body began to grow larger, muscles bulging all over, eyes turning blood-red, and in an instant its breath became nearly twice as powerful.

  Ye Chen held his breath and stared at the scene in front of him in shock, the change in Hei Yuan made him think of two words, 'Frenzy'! Hei Yuan had gone into a frenzy.

  The giant grey bear stopped thumping its chest and cautiously watched the enraged black ape, seemingly intimidated. Its massive body involuntarily retreated several steps, each footstep thundering on the ground, causing the earth to tremble along with it.

  "Roar!!"

  The black gibbon went mad, its red eyes seemed to shoot out two rays of blood light, and it roared wildly as it pounced on the black bear. The ape's palm had sharp and pointed fingernails that brought forth a visible, sharp gust of wind, tearing through the air with a whooshing sound.

  "Pffft!"

  A stream of fresh blood spurted out, the grey bear let out a pained roar, five terrifying wounds appeared on its body, deep enough to see bone, and large amounts of blood flowed out.

  "Roar!"

  The giant grey bear also became furious and pounced on the black gibbon, its massive body slamming into it, its paws rotating rapidly as it slapped the gibbon's skull with great force.

  The black ape's eyes were full of ferocity, staring at the incoming bear paw without flinching or dodging, and swung its fists heavily to meet it.

  Bang!

  Fists and paws clashed, but the gray bear, which had been in absolute superiority just now, retreated several steps. At the same time, the black ape caught up and grabbed the gray bear's front paw with both hands, pulling it violently. With a tearing sound, the bear's arm was ripped off, and a large amount of blood splattered everywhere.

  The grey bear let out a mournful roar, and the other bear's arm suddenly stretched out, giving the black gibbon a bear hug. He was madly bellowing, wanting to hold the black gibbon tightly in his arms.

  The black ape waved its hands, leaving one terrifying wound after another on the gray bear's body, but the gray bear seemed to have lost all sense of pain. Its arm didn't relax in the slightest, instead it tightened its grip even more.

  "Pffft!"

  Blood splattered everywhere, a large piece of flesh was torn from the gray bear's head by the black gibbon. It let out a frenzied roar, opening its bloody mouth wide and biting down on the black gibbon's arm, causing a massive amount of blood to spurt out, with one hairy ape limb caught in its jaws.

  The black ape let out a painful howl, and the blood light in its eyes grew even stronger. Its other hand pierced through the gray bear's neck with a "puchi" sound.

  "Hmm..."

  The giant body of the grey bear shook violently, and the bear's arm that had been tightly wrapped around the black gibbon also fell to the ground with a loud thud, sending up a large cloud of dust.

  The bloody smell wafted out, so that even Ye Chen, who was over a hundred meters away, could smell the pungent smell of blood. The fierce battle between the two powerful beasts was truly brutal.

  Ye Chen estimated that these two beasts were at least above the eighth level, and even if he maintained his peak strength, he would absolutely be unable to withstand a single blow from either of them. The power was truly terrifying, far surpassing that of an eighth-level cultivator. In terms of pure strength, they were at least several times or even ten times stronger than same-level cultivators.

  "Hooray!!"

  The black ape crouched down, looked at the arm bitten off by the gray bear, let out a series of fierce roars, and with its hands transformed into claws, it kept falling, tearing the gray bear's body to shreds, intestines and internal organs were all minced meat, the ground was full of blood, it was extremely bloody.

  Ye Chen watched this scene and almost felt a vomiting sensation, this black ape was too brutal, making him feel cold all over his body. If he were to be discovered by it, would he end up like that gray bear?

  Ye Chen prepared to retreat quickly, he carefully climbed down the big tree, suddenly, a fierce and violent killing intent came from the waterfall side, Ye Chen was shocked in his heart, his whole body jumped up like a rabbit, jumping down from the tall tree over ten meters high, rolling on the ground to dissipate the impact force, without looking back, he fled swiftly.

  "Roar!"

  A loud roar came from behind, and then boom, boom, boom, the ground was shaking, and the sound of crashing continued. The black ape chased after him, knocking down several large trees along the way, with debris flying everywhere. As Ye Chen fled, a red glow flashed in his eyes, extremely cruel.

  Ye Chen ran for his life, feeling the guy behind getting closer and closer, his heart racing with fear. He turned his head to look back, and suddenly his whole body went cold. The black ape had caught up, only about ten meters away from him.

  A fierce and violent aura enveloped him, and Ye Chen felt the breath of death. His body quickly rolled out several meters to the side, and at the same time, a loud crash was heard, and a black figure fell into his previous position, creating a large crater on the ground, flattening all the grass and trees.

  "Roar!!"

  The black ape let out a fierce roar, its blood-red eyes fixed on Ye Chen a few meters away. Its black claws swiped through the air with a loud whoosh, creating a violent gust of wind that grasped towards him.

  Ye Chen calmed down and saw the claws coming, quickly dodging to the side.

  With a loud crash, the huge tree that was as thick as a water bucket in front of and behind him suddenly fell to the ground, struck by the black gibbon and split into two segments.

  "Bang! Bang!!"

  The black ape kept waving its hands and striking, each blow was extremely terrifying, all the big trees that passed by were broken, nothing could stop it, Ye Chen barely dodged behind a large tree, his life hanging by a thread, his reaction force was pushed to the limit, and he narrowly avoided each time.