In an unremarkable corner of the armor, two small words were branded."Streamlight Armor!"
"Streamlight Armor is merely a defensive artifact. Reasonably speaking, its aura should be inferior compared to offensive artifacts. It shouldn"t be as flamboyant. However, in comparison, this axe"s aura is inferior. At the very least, this armor is a high-quality mid-grade artifact. There is a chance it could even be a peak mid-grade artifact." Same grade defensive artifacts also had a further hierarchy among them. If this Streamlight Armor were sold, it would fetch about forty thousand mid grade spirit stones without a doubt, while the axe would, at most, fetch about thirty five thousand mid grade spirit stones.
"I should clear the True Yuan inside first before anything else."
The Streamlight Armor had been used by someone before, and had that person"s True Yuan inside. The armor combined with one"s bodily energies, and thus, in order to use it, one had to expel the previous owner"s True Yuan. Of course, even if he didn"t clear it right now, it would be cleared after repeated use. Only, it would waste some time.
Following Ye Chen"s palm, the Green Lotus True Yuan poured into Streamlight Armor. Indistinctly, a cyan colored radiance appeared on the armor, along with an indistinct yellow colored one. Bit by bit, the yellow radiance was erased, leaving a magnificent cyan colored radiance in the end.
"Done!"
Feeling that there was no residual True Yuan of anyone else, Ye Chen shook the armor with his True Yuan, cleaning away all the dust and stains on its surface. He then removed his exterior blue dress and wore the armor inside, which fit him right more or less.
Buzz!
The defensive True Yuan soared, shaking the air.
"So powerful! It"s about a thirty-seven percent amplification in defense."
Although Ye Chen was an early peak level Astral Reaching expert, he had already cultivated Green Lotus Sword Arts to the thirteenth layer. The purity of his True Yuan was simply incomparable, and had a defense comparable to a peak mid-level Astral Reaching expert. Now, with the amplification of the Streamlight Armor, his defensive True Yuan had strode to the next grade, attaining the level of a late Astral Reaching expert.
"With this, my battle power has increased even more, not far from the level of the ten great swordsmen." Three big underlying factors embodied battle power: attack, defense, and speed. Ye Chen"s self-evaluation was- attack at the excellent grade, defense at the high grade, and speed at the high grade. High was the level of a late Astral Reaching expert, and excellent was that of a peak late Astral Reaching expert. There was a further superior grade beyond the excellent grade according to him- the level of peak Astral Reaching experts. For example, the Sword Ancestor"s attack was superior grade. As for his defense and speed, they were both excellent grade. A sword artist"s attack had always been stronger than his defense and speed after all.
Of course, this was under usual circ.u.mstances. If he were to use Great Small Blood demon Disintegration technique, Ye Chen"s evaluation would be further increased. His attack would probably reach superior grade, defense excellent grade, and speed also at the excellent grade, only a few steps away from the level of peak Astral Reaching experts.
Unfortunately, with the increase in his cultivation base, the use of this technique would undoubtedly fade away. The battle power amplification it provided now probably wouldn"t have any effect once he attained the middle level of Astral Reaching realm.
…
On the fourth day of Ye Chen inside the battlefield, an unexpected group arrived on the islands.
"You five divide into teams and watch over every island. If he comes out, immediately track him with Soul Seeking Bird. Daoist Jin Huang could have arrived two days earlier. But, to a.s.semble people and horses, he had to wait two days. In order to kill Ye Chen, he has gone through a lot of painstaking efforts.
"Yes!"
Numerous sounds of agreement could be heard.
Nodding his head in satisfaction, Daoist Jin Huang said to Rock Elder, "Old Rock, we"ll go in together. As long as he is still inside, there is a good chance he"ll go to the Demon Defiance Fort. This is our chance."
Rock elder, who was more or less the same age as Daoist Jin Huang, sneered in response, "There are a total of three Blood demon Defiance Forts in the two s.p.a.ces of the battlefield. If we have enough time, finding him shouldn"t be a problem. Our understanding of Blood demon battlefield is not something anyone could compare with."
"Hmph! This is him seeking his own death. He could have gone anywhere, but decided to rush inside the Blood demon battlefield. Very well, let"s go in."
Shua!
Daoist Jin Huang took the lead and rushed inside, followed closely by Rock Elder.
…
"Ah!"
The more one moved towards the center of the mountains, the more blood demons would appear. Many times, Ye Chen had seen human experts being devoured in flesh. Usually, he chose to ignore such events and continued on his treasure hunt, casually killing blood demons that he encountered with his sword.
At the center of the mountains was a flat mountain peak, on the peak of which was a gigantic metal fort. Looking from outside, the fort seemed to have four floors. The lowest floor had the maximum windows, closely following each other. The second floor"s windows were next in number, having a specific distance between them. On the third floor were merely a hundred or so windows, and each had their independent balconies. The fourth floor could even be said to be luxurious, with huge independent balconies, appearing magnificent. Their number, however, didn"t even amount to ten.
The fort was shrouded in a milky white light. Every now and then, a human expert would rush inside the milky white light, and the blood demons chasing him would be stopped outside the cover of the light without exception, having to return empty-handed.
"Haha, come kill me!"
Entering the milky white light, the human expert who had been battered and exhausted stopped and suddenly turned out, heartily laughing and willfully mocking the blood demon.
The blood demon gnashed its teeth. But, this white light was not something it could break through.
"Hmph! My brothers died at your hands. Sooner or later, I"ll have my revenge." The Blood demon couldn"t do anything to him, and he also couldn"t do anything to blood demon. One couldn"t attack outside from inside the light. After cursing for a while, the man hatefully turned out and walked towards the fort"s huge entrance.
"Interesting! Blood demon battlefield"s second s.p.a.ce even has this metal fort for the protection of humankind and supporting them."
Ye Chen was quite clear on the Blood demon Battlefield"s cruelty. Human experts were after all foreigners here. They suffered suppression from the world while blood demons appeared and disappeared as they pleased, some from the open, and some from the dark. The human casualties here were huge. There were only a few hundred conveyor gates, distributed without a rule or rhythm. Moreover, there were usually blood demons waiting in ambush near the gates, which made them even more dangerous. If one managed to be conveyed out, one might be delivered to a dangerous location once they wished to enter again. However, this metal fort was different. One could go in for a rest and understand the dangers inside the battlefields, and wouldn"t have to go in and out of the battlefield again and again.
"With this fort, staying in the Blood demon battlefield for a year or so wouldn"t be a problem. So, this is a place to hone one"s battle skills!"
Ye Chen stepped out towards the metal fort.
Shua!
Numerous blood lights swarmed at him.
"Die, Green Lotus Qi Transformation!"
With a slash of the Star Scar sword, an illusory green lotus flickered, emitting out dozens of sword qi strings which immediately shredded apart the attacking blood demon"s body.
"A powerful human expert!"
The high-grade blood demon immediately stopped its charge, allowing Ye Chen to go over.
The milky white light didn"t pose any resistance to humans at all. The moment Ye Chen pa.s.sed through the light, he felt warm, as if standing in sunlight.
Shua!
His body landed on the ground before he advanced towards the fort"s entrance.
"Young master, I see you look unfamiliar. Is this your first time coming to the Demon Defiance Fort?" Outside the entrance, an aging yet charming woman saw Ye Chen. Her eyes brightened before she walked over.
"Demon Defiance Fort? A good name!" Ye Chen nodded his head, "Yes. You"re the fort"s receptionist?"
"No, the Demon Defiance Fort has no receptionist. It doesn"t belong to any power or individual." The woman shook her head.
"Then why would you receive me?"
The woman smiled bitterly, "Young master, to tell you the truth, I no longer have any food left. I wonder if you can spare me some food. I can exchange it for spirit stones."
"Use spirit stones for food?" Ye Chen was somewhat flabbergasted. Outside, a low-grade spirit stone was equivalent to two thousand taels of silver. Could it be she hadn"t gone out for long time? Thinking on this line, figuring out her actions was quite easy.
"Rest a.s.sured, I"ll give ten mid grade spirit stones for fifty kg rice and some dry meat. What do you say?"
The woman"s face was full of expectations. Astral Reaching experts also needed to eat. In fact, despite them undergoing several months long close-door cultivation sessions, they still had to eat in that duration. Moreover, their appet.i.te was more than ten times that of normal humans. Only after reaching the Sea of Souls realm would one have taken the first step to break away from the problems of food.
At this moment, Ye Chen was still thinking. The Blood demon Battlefield was exceptionally dangerous. One could easily enter, but not leave. Especially outside the metal fort, numerous ferocious blood demons lied in wait. When he entered, he had to endure several powerful attacks. Had it been someone weak, they would have immediately died. The ones who could enter and leave as they pleased were only powerful late Astral Reaching realm experts, and even they couldn"t be completely certain of their safety. If they ran into a peak high-grade blood demon, they might still die all the same.
As he thought up to this point, Ye Chen"s hand stroke his back. There was a section of withered skin, which was caused by joint attacks of several high-grade blood demons. Although he had taken a Blood Yang Flower, blood demons not only consumed blood and qi, they could even consume flesh. Such an injury required some time to recover. Fortunately, he now had the Streamlight Armor, safeguarding him to some degree.
"Young master, please have some mercy! I"ve stayed here for two years! It"s not that I haven"t thought of leaving, but those blood demons are very crafty. They have set up numerous ambushes outside. Many of the people who try going out die immediately. Only late Astral Reaching experts have some chance, and during these two years, I"ve almost exhausted all my spirit stones in order to purchase food." The woman"s appearance seemed quite pitiful.
As his attention returned, Ye Chen threw out a packet of rice and package of dry meat to her, "You don"t need to give any spirit stones. Just tell me about the affairs of the Demon Defiance Castle."
Ye Chen had a kind of ridiculous thought. There ought to be a lot of Astral Reaching experts like this woman. If he could bring food in, he could earn a lot of spirit stones. After all, he had a lot of storage rings on him. Moreover, there was even a mid-grade storage ring. Of course, this thought only surfaced for a moment. The Blood demon Battlefield also posed a huge threat to him. Not to mention his strength was not sufficient, even if it were, he wouldn"t do such an affair, lest he wished to lose face.
Soon after, Ye chen thought of another issue. This Blood demon battlefield was simply a trap. The odds of one living out of three was merely wishful thinking. Those with good luck could get out of the conveyor gates. However, those who couldn"t make it to the conveyor gates and reached the fort would be trapped within for a long time.
"Alright, many thanks young master!" The woman excitedly nodded her head, immediately storing the food away.