Chapter 407: Mysterious Bronze Sculpture
“Ka ca!”
Xiao Chen circulated the Dragon and Tiger Body Sculpting Art. This punch contained 125,000 of force. The force of the punch struck the internal organs of the Purple Python Tiger, instantly shattering them.
When its huge body was about to fall over, Xiao Chen rolled away and dodged it. The Purple Python Tiger’s corpse landed heavily on the ground with a loud bang.
Xiao Chen’s clothes were already torn apart at the chest when the Purple Python Tiger lunged for him. His fine black hair was a mess, and dust covered his body. He looked extremely miserable.
When the Blood Demon, who hid in the darkness, saw all this, he relaxed. He licked his lips, moving his tongue in a full circle, and revealed a greedy look in his eyes.
Xiao Chen stretched his body before taking out a sharp knife from his Universe Ring. He tore open the belly of the Purple Python Tiger and blood immediately poured out. An exquisite bronze sculpture also tumbled out of the Beast’s belly, covered in blood.
Xiao Chen stretched his hand, and a suction force pulled the bronze sculpture to him. It floated above his palm.
Xiao Chen stuck his saber in the ground next to him and took out an old piece of cloth. Then, he slowly wiped off the blood from the bronze sculpture. An extremely realistic sculpture filled with a supreme Dao appeared before Xiao Chen.
When Xiao Chen clearly saw the appearance of the sculpture, he felt it was very familiar. Suddenly, he remembered that he saw it in the Compendium of Ancient Secret Treasures from the Fire Li Sect.
Everything that appeared in the Compendium of Ancient Secret Treasures was a famous Secret Treasure from the Ancient Era. If it were not a Superior Grade Secret Treasure, it would not appear in it.
However, based on the aura of the bronze sculpture, it was clearly not the original. This should be a counterfeit.
“Si si!”
An extremely faint sound came from behind Xiao Chen. If he had not been paying attention, he would not have heard it.
I have waited so long for you!
The corners of Xiao Chen’s lips curled up, revealing a smile. Then, he stretched his hand out and grasped the Lunar Shadow Saber. He spun around and stabbed the saber towards the ground.
The tip of the saber struck a pool of flowing blood. Xiao Chen used a little force; purple electricity crackled and flickered on the snow-white blade.
“Ah…”
A mournful miserable shriek echoed, and the pool of blood transformed into a human figure. The Lunar Shadow Saber pinned the other party to the ground.
The pure and tyrannical lightning-attributed Essence rampaged within the body of this Blood Demon, causing it to twitch continuously without the ability to resist.
“Don’t kill me; I still have many Secret Treasures. If you let me go, I will give them all to you,” the Blood Demon attempted to bribe Xiao Chen in a quivering voice as a pained expression appeared on his face.
The Blood Demon felt horrified in its heart. It had originally thought that this person had fallen for his tricks and was not very strong. He did not expect a sudden attack, not even giving him the chance to dodge.
Xiao Chen, who had personally witnessed this Blood Demon swallow the heart of humans, did not believe his offer. If he tried to gain any small benefit from this crafty Demon, he would certainly suffer for it.
Xiao Chen pulled his saber out, and a fierce purple flame spewed from his right eye; he intended to burn this Blood Demon to death.
As the fierce purple flames raged, the Blood Demon shrieked mournfully before the sound slowly faded. After a moment, he was nothing more than a pile of ash.
Xiao Chen stabbed the pile of ash with his saber a few times, and a scarlet Demon Core appeared. The Demon Core contained a horrifying, baleful aura.
If the baleful aura in the Demon Core could be absorbed, it would greatly raise a cultivator’s killing Qi. At the same time, it could temper the Mental Energy of a cultivator. Such items were frequently rare.
However, the Demon Core from a low ranked Blood Demon was not worth much. The baleful aura within did not have much of an effect on Martial Kings.
Xiao Chen casually tossed the Demon Core into his Universe Ring. Then, he took out the Compendium of Ancient Secret Treasures. Soon, he found the origin of the bronze sculpture.
The creature depicted by the bronze sculpture was a mutated beast from the Ancient Era. This mutated beast was called Yan; it was the strongest fire-attributed mutated beast in the world.
[TL note: Yan in Chinese means flame. However, calling the beast Flame seems silly in English; hence I stuck to the pinyin.]
Yan consumed flames as its food. There were no flames in this world that it could not eat. The more flames it ate, the stronger the flames it could produce.
Using the Yan Beast as inspiration, the ancient cultivators created a Secret Treasure that could devour any kind of flame. Once the flames merged within, the Secret Treasure could spew a frighteningly powerful fire.
Although it could not compare to the true Yan Beast, it was not much weaker. Its might could not be underestimated. It was a peak Superior Grade Secret Treasure.
After Xiao Chen read the introduction, he played with the Secret Treasure in his hands. The bronze sculpture only flashed with some spiritual light. He said, “The radiance of a Superior Grade Secret Treasure can illuminate the sky. Its Spiritual Energy can extend for five kilometers. This Yan Beast bronze sculpture looks ordinary. It is indeed a counterfeit.”
Xiao Chen removed the remnant mark on the Yan Beast bronze sculpture and branded it with his own mark. Then, he prepared to use his Purple Thunder True Fire to test the might of this Yan Beast.
Suddenly, a loud sound came from the distant sky like a crack of thunder. It was so loud at it made the eardrums hurt.
Xiao Chen looked up and saw a huge whirlpool appear in the scarlet clouds in the distance. Countless bolts of scarlet lightning flashed across the sky.
A strong aura appeared on the ground and rose into the sky, scattering the scarlet clouds.
“Sou! Sou! Sou!”
Many cultivators felt this aura within the Demon Battlefield. Many of them could not resist their curiosity and looked up before quickly flying over.
When Xiao Chen felt the energy fluctuating in the air, he muttered, “What a strong aura! This is equal to that of a Martial Monarch. Is that what those half step Martial Monarchs are hunting?”
An intense curiosity appeared in Xiao Chen’s heart. He felt compelled to investigate the situation, but he eventually suppressed his curiosity.
Even the most ordinary half step Martial Monarch could deal with Xiao Chen with a few moves. It would be too naive of him if he tried to gain something from that situation.
Even worse, there was still a Demon as strong as a Martial Monarch. If he were not afraid, he could join in the excitement.
Xiao Chen retracted his gaze and continued to head forward while maintaining his guard. Along the way, he ran into a few more crafty Demons.
Some of them simply threw the Secret Treasure on the ground. They relied on the Secret Treasure’s aura to attract a cultivator’s attention while they launched a sneak attack.
Some of them even pretended to be human and tried to get close to Xiao Chen before s.n.a.t.c.hing an opportunity to make a move.
Xiao Chen saw through all these schemes. On his way to the Medial Grade Secret Treasure, he gained another three or four Inferior Grade Secret Treasures.
Xiao Chen stopped moving when he reached a messy stone forest. He muttered to himself, “I have finally arrived here. This is certainly the Demon Battlefield’s periphery. I hope Bai Lixi did not lie to me.”
The messy stone forest spanned for several thousand meters. Weird stones stood upright; each was at least ten-odd meters tall.
The atmosphere within the forest was very odd, very quiet. When the wind blew through it, a faint b.l.o.o.d.y scent reached Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen scanned the forest with his Spiritual Sense and soon found the Medial Grade Secret Treasure that Bai Lixi had mentioned.
A pair of black shoes lay quietly on top of a stone pillar in the middle of the forest. Xiao Chen could feel the shoes flickering with a dense Spiritual Light with his Spiritual Sense; its Spiritual Energy gave of a pressure.
The Spiritual Energy contained within the shoes was greater than that of a peak Inferior Grade Secret Treasure. This was, at least, an initial Medial Grade Secret Treasure. Bai Lixi had not cheated him.
Xiao Chen’s face lit up with joy. Coincidentally, the Windwalk Shoes he used could no longer keep up with him. They could now only raise his speed by ten percent.
Xiao Chen’s movement speed could not break through Mach 2 and had been stuck at a bottleneck.
Based on Xiao Chen’s experience while traveling here, Demons would frequently leave Secret Treasures on the ground to attract the attention of cultivators before killing them.
This place should not be an exception. If there were no danger, this Secret Treasure would have been claimed long ago.
Xiao Chen scanned the area again with his Spiritual Sense but did not discover the presence of any Demons. He had expected this, but it did not mean there was no danger.
The Demon’s ability to hide their aura was much better than humans. Unless Xiao Chen saw a Demon with his own eyes, it was very hard for his Spiritual Sense to pick up their presence.
Since this Demon could use a Medial Grade Secret Treasure as a lure, it was probably was not a low-rank Blood Demon. It would definitely be stronger than the low-rank Blood Demons that Xiao Chen could kill easily.
I have to think of a way to deal with this, Xiao Chen pondered as he waited outside the stone forest. He was not in a rush to go in.
Hidden enemies were always the most frightening. One could not antic.i.p.ate where would the enemy come from or how strong the enemy was.
“Xiu!”
Xiao Chen casually waved his hand and pulled over seven or eight stones of about the same size. What this forest lacked least was stone.
Xiao Chen sent out a few strands of Essence, gently making the stones float. Then, he used two fingers to send out a sharp saber Qi.
As Xiao Chen’s fingers moved, he carved a sculpture in mid-air. Stone shards fell continuously, and soon, an exquisite stone eagle appeared.
Xiao Chen did not stop his fingers and continued carving. Eight stone eagles quickly appeared, surrounding him and floating quietly in the air.
“Life Bestowal Spell!”
Xiao Chen shouted and pointed forward. The eight stone eagles in the air all came to life.
“Pu ta! Pu ta!”
The eagles’ wingspans were over a meter long. They created small tornados on the ground as they flapped their wings. They flew into the stone forest like arrows leaving a bow.
With Xiao Chen’s current cultivation, the aid of the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation’s sixth layer, and his familiarity with the Life Bestowal Spell, he could easily create eight eagles.
When the eagles neared the Secret Treasure, three beams of red light flashed and blasted the leading three eagles into dust.
After all, these eagles were created from ordinary stone; they did not have a high combat prowess.
At the same time, a Blood Demon wearing long, red robes appeared on top of a stone pillar. His complexion was pale, and his gaze was sinister.
“Pa! Pa! Pa!”
The red-robed Blood Demon swung his arms and sent out a few more red energy beams, attempting to shatter the remaining five eagles.
This was a middle-rank Blood Demon. His strength was the equivalent of a Superior Grade Martial King with a comprehended state. He would be quite difficult to deal with but still within the range of Xiao Chen’s capabilities.
I have to keep testing the situation and make sure he is alone.
Xiao Chen waved his hand and pulled over ten-odd stones. Both of his hands moved gracefully, and stone shavings fell.
Xiao Chen pushed his focus and movements to their limits. Within three breaths, the stone eagles were complete.
“Whoos.h.!.+”
The ten-odd large eagles rose into the air and darted for the stone pillar. They spread their wings and moved together, blotting out the sky.