Chapter 147: Identity Revealed
At that moment, a wave of intense energy pulsed out from Jian Chen’s body. At this hour, his cultivation speed had gone up by another noticeable amount, yet the energy from within the Monster Cores was pouring out like stampeding horses. It was already too much for Jian Chen to handle, and so the energy floated in the air around him, looking like a dense white cloud of fog. In the cavern, this fog was extremely noticeable as it floated about him. In fact, Jian Chen’s body had begun to light up with the fog surrounding him, making his body stand out in the dark cavern.
At the same time, all of his pores expanded to a larger size almost as if they were the mouths of thirsty children. The white mist like fog around Jian Chen then began to be swallowed into his body to be used as an energy source, consumed for Jian Chen’s cultivation.
As the pores on Jian Chen’s body began to swallow the energy around him, he began to also feel a slightly painful sensation within his body. It was almost as if he had multiple insects crawling around his body and taking bites. With such an annoying and irritating sensation like this, any person would feel it deep within their hearts.
As Jian Chen sat on the ground of the cavern with a peaceful look, he looked like a monk deep in meditation. Despite his peaceful demeanor, he could still feel the pain within his body. However, if one were to look at him, they would not be able to tell he was experiencing any pain. Meanwhile, within his body the energy that was absorbed through his pores was gathering within his dantian where it was then absorbed by the sword within it.
As the Saint Weapon absorbed the energy, it began to slowly change in a way that the shape of the sword grew more distinguished. All of the energy it had accumulated had added itself to its strength, and with each second the energy was absorbed, the Saint Weapon grew in length and size.
Right now, Jian Chen was already at the threshold of breaking through into a Saint Master.
This show continued on for 4 more hours until the monster core in Jian Chen’s hand started to flicker. Immediately, Jian Chen took out a few Class 3 Monster Cores and began to cultivate again.
Time slowly but silently went by, and not too long after, half of the day had been spent. Within the darkness of the cavern, the hazy figure of Jian Chen could be seen cultivating while the white, fog-like energy grew even more condensed, to the point where it was lighting up like moonlight.
At that moment, an intense amount of energy flew out from Jian Chen and reverberated all over the cavern. The energy grew more and more intense as it eventually evolved into a squall that roared throughout the cavern. The dust kicked up everywhere and was scattered by the squall of energy.
All of the dust surrounding Jian Chen had been blown in every direction as the white fog swirled around frantically, before finally entering Jian Chen’s body. In the blink of an eye, Jian Chen had completely absorbed it all at a pace that was far faster than his original speed. With his current strength, he had finally made the breakthrough from a Great Saint to a Saint Master.
Just as Jian Chen had made his breakthrough into the next level, the two glows within his dantian had suddenly stopped stealing the energy from Jian Chen.
Jian Chen slowly opened his eyes from his sitting position when all of a sudden a weak, mysterious glow came out from his eyes. Although it was weak, in the darkness of the cavern, it was very noticeable.
Feeling that the Saint Force within his body was incomparably stronger than it was before, Jian Chen let loose an excited smile. Immediately, he brought out his Light Wind Sword to his hand which emitted a weak glow of light from its blade that dispersed the nearby darkness.
An amazing glow gleamed within Jian Chen’s eyes as in the next moment, a large amount of silver light was released from the blade as a strong amount of Sword Qi appeared. Lunging forward, the Light Wind Sword was thrust through the air as a small amount of Sword Qi separated itself from the sword and shot toward the cavern walls with amazing speed.
Within the dark cavern, that silver glow of Sword Qi shot out like lightning towards the cavern wall without a sound. The moment it struck against the wall, the Sword Qi disappeared, but not before leaving behind a hole from its impact.
Jian Chen’s body wavered slightly as he flew toward the wall like a demon possessed and struck out with his sword.
“Pch!”
Following the loud sound, the cliff that was stabbed by the Light Wind Sword seemed almost as weak as tofu. The entire blade of the Light Wind Sword had completely inserted itself into the wall and only the handle could be seen.
The moment the Light Wind Sword had stabbed into the wall, Jian Chen hadn’t felt the slightest amount of obstructions from the momentum, making him feel as if the wall was a piece of beancurd instead of a stone wall. Although Jian Chen could easily stab into a stone wall in the past, it was not as easy as it was now.
Slowly pulling out his sword, Jian Chen’s heart was filled with confidence. If he were to go against Tianxiong Lie, although he might not win against him, he would at least be able to put up a good fight.
Now that his strength was at the Saint Master level, Jian Chen was no longer worried if he were to come across a group of mercenaries. Even if there was a Great Saint Master within their ranks, he would at least be able to run away if need be.
Recollecting his Light Wind Sword, Jian Chen dusted himself off from all the dust and ignited the fire once more, basking in the glow of the fire instead of the darkness for once.
When Jian Chen exited from the cavern, 5 days had already passed. The intense sun was floating high in the sky, indicating that it was noon.
Jian Chen calmly looked around himself before setting off in a random direction.
“I hope that mercenary from the Black Leopard Mercenaries did not let me down.” Walking into the tall grass infested forest, Jian Chen muttered to himself. Now that he was a Saint Master, his fighting strength was much higher, and within Wake City, there would definitely be very few people that could contend with him.
Jian Chen began to idly stroll through the Magical Beast Mountain Range. In this part of the mountain range, Class 2 and 3 Magical Beasts often strolled through the area. In the past, Jian Chen had to be careful as he walked through this area, but now, as long as he didn’t come across another monster on the same level as the Golden Striped Silver Snake, even if it was a Class 3 Magical Beast, he wouldn’t have to worry.
Just then, Jian Chen’s ears trembled as he heard the soft sound of chatter from the direction in front of him. Jian Chen’s line of sight was obstructed due to the extremely dense vegetation and couldn’t see who was talking beyond the trees.
“Harry, we’ve been searching this area for days and circled around the Magical Beast Mountain Range many times already. And yet we’ve still haven’t come across anyone that looks like Jian Chen. Do you think Jian Chen is still here? What if he already escaped without a trace?”
“Fiji, you can stop your complaining. The Magical Beast Mountain Range is huge with wild grass everywhere. Searching for a single person in this place is difficult, surely you understand that. Besides, the reports say that Jian Chen is heavily injured. Even if he wanted to run, he wouldn’t be able to go far. I’m not even sure if he’s currently hiding somewhere trying to heal
“That’s right, I’m sure that Jian Chen’s hiding somewhere with heavy wounds not daring to come out.”
“But it’s still so troublesome. Many people have already entered the mountain range, and if Jian Chen wasn’t in a secret hiding spot, he would have long since been discovered by a group of people or even eaten by a magical beast.”
“There’s some truth to that, but we better slowly look for now. Even if we don’t find him, we’ll be able to kill a few magical beasts and take their monster cores to cultivate with.”
As soon as that last line was spoken, the group pushed past some tall grass and walked out onto the road where they could see Jian Chen clearly in front of them.
They could see Jian Chen wearing animal leather and his face hidden by the accumulated filth of his time on the mountain range.
The moment they saw Jian Chen, the mercenaries looked blankly at him. At the same time, Jian Chen took in the group in front of him; there was a total of 7 or 8 people in front of him with their ages looking to be around 30 years old. Their faces had traces of sweat and filth and their clothes were in a tattered condition, showing that they had been staying in the Magical Beast Mountain Range for a few days at the very least.
One of the mercenaries walked forward to speak to Jian Chen, “Fellow friend, judging from your appearance, I presume you’ve been at the Magical Beast Mountain Range for quite some time now.”
Jian Chen’s face revealed a smile as he replied, “That’s right, I’ve been here on this mountain range for quite a few days.”
“Then I’m not sure if this friend has heard about the most recent news from Wake City.” The man asked Jian Chen as he looked at him.
Hearing this, Jian Chen had a thoughtful look to him, “This one is not sure if you are talking about the one named Jian Chen.”
“Correct, it is indeed about him. It would appear that this friend has indeed come into this Magical Beast Mountain Range looking for Jian Chen. Judging by your appearances, I presume you’ve been in the mountain range for longer than we have. But perhaps, do you know any news about Jian Chen?” The mercenary said.
“News about Jian Chen…” Jian Chen’s smile grew strange as he nodded. “You’ve asked the right person. Indeed, I know the whereabouts of Jian Chen.”
“What! You know where Jian Chen is?!”
Hearing this, the entire group of mercenaries were startled. Due to the words from this mercenary, everyone adopted a joyous expression on their faces. This was what they had wanted to hear, but they hadn’t expected to hear it from this animal hide-wearing mercenary. They didn’t think that this question they had thrown out casually would be answered in such a way.
“Fellow friend, where might Jian Chen be this one asks.” A mercenary asked impatiently. To him, Jian Chen was like a mountain of gold, and so he didn’t bother to think if he had the strength to fight him.
Jian Chen was still smiling as he slowly said, “Not even far away, but right in front of your eyes!” Jian Chen looked at them with a curious stare.
“Seeing so many mercenaries trying to find me, it would seem that the ten thousand purple coin bounty from the Tianxiong clan has enticed many people.” Jian Chen thought to himself.
“Not far away, but right in front of our eyes!” Hearing Jian Chen, the mercenaries all repeated what he said under their breaths in thought. Very quickly the mercenaries came to a realization as they snapped their heads at him and stared in disbelief, “What?! You’re Jian Chen?!”