Chapter 159: A Breakthrough in Strength
Afterward, Jian Chen found a river based on his memories, and washed away all the filth on his body. He then took out and then put on a new set of clothes from his Space Belt.
He had been wearing crude clothes put together from animal skins for quite a long time, so when he put on soft, cloth clothing, a comfortable feeling instantly spread throughout his body. Jian Chen seemed to revel in the warm feeling the cloth gave off as he smoothed it over his body. In that instant, his mental state that had been so tightly wound the past few days finally relaxed.
After that, Jian Chen killed a magical beast in the forest and tore off a large and fatty hind leg. He then found a dry spot on the ground to build a fire and began to slowly roast the meat.
After filling his empty stomach, Jian Chen began to count the profits from the past few days. When Jian Chen took out all of the monster cores in his Space Belt and placed them on the ground, they formed a pile that was around 1 meter high. Such a large amount of monster cores gathered together began to glow, as the hidden surges of power within each of them began to resonate with each other. Seeing this, Jian Chen’s heart began to race.
Roughly calculating, Jian Chen concluded that this pile had at least 2000 monster cores. As for the exact number, it would be impossible to guess an accurate value without carefully flipping through them. After all, the power of a monster core was not related to any other factors.
Looking at the plentiful monster cores, Jian Chen couldn’t help but smile in excitement. The rewards from the past few days were really abundant, to the point where it was hard to believe. Such a large amount of monster cores was enough for Jian Chen to cultivate for quite a while.
With an excited mood, Jian Chen took out the three Space Belts and threw them to the side. These few Space Belts had all been specifically taken from those mercenaries in preparation for this future occasion. Soon after, Jian Chen began to separate the monster cores from each other.
After 4 hours, Jian Chen had finally organized the large mass of various monsters cores. There were now 3 piles in front of him; one each for Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3.
“There are a total of around 700 Class 1 Monster Cores, 900 Class 2 Monster Cores, and 600 Class 3 Monster Cores. I hadn’t imagined that I’d gain about 2300 monster cores these past few days. Haha, this is really much better than I anticipated. It seems I must really thank the Tianxiong clan. I must thank them for the great opportunity they gave me.” Jian Chen laughed to himself when he saw all of the monster cores.
Jian Chen then placed each group of monster cores into a different Space Belt. He then returned to the cave that he had been living in for a while. After covering up the entrance, he resumed cultivating.
The cave was so dark that he couldn’t even see his own hand. Jian Chen sat there cross-legged, like an unmoving sculpture. If it weren’t for the faint sound of him breathing, people might’ve really mistaken him for a living statue.
As Jian Chen continued to absorb the energy from within the monster cores, the Saint Force within him was constantly growing stronger.
After becoming a Saint Master, the demand required for cultivation not only increased, but Jian Chen’s absorption speed had also doubled. Before becoming a Great Saint, he needed to consume three Class 3 Monster Cores in a single night, which meant that he consumed almost 10 Class 3 Monster Cores for a day of cultivating without stopping. Now that his absorption speed was faster, the amount of monster cores that Jian Chen would need to absorb in a night was 6-7. Based on this, he’d end up consuming around 20 Class 3 Monster Cores in a day.
Although the amount of Class 3 Monster Cores he had to consume was a frightening number, Jian Chen wasn’t concerned at all about a lack of monster cores. Not only did he have hundreds of Class 3 Monster Cores in his Space Belt, he was also in the Magical Beast Mountain Range. He could enter the deeper regions and kill Class 4 Magical Beasts any time he wanted to. Class 4 Monster Cores contained enormous amounts of energy, and far surpassed that of Class 3 Monster Cores.
In the outside world, Jian Chen’s name, as well as everything he had done in the Magical Beast Mountain Range, was currently being spread everywhere. As this was happening, Jian Chen was sitting cross-legged within the dark cave, diligently raising his strength.
Time quickly passed. In the blink of an eye, a year had already passed. Within this year, the commotion that Jian Chen had caused in the outside world had gradually settled. Wake City had long since recovered to its original ways. There wasn’t that big of a difference between now and a year ago. The only difference was that the Wake City’s Tianxiong clan had died out.
Deep within the Magical Beast Mountain Range, there were no signs of people. Class 4 Magical Beasts roamed about the area as they pleased, and it wasn’t an area that anyone could just walk around. In this area, one could go for half a month without seeing any trace of a human; this was an extremely common occurrence. This moment, a green-black mist was slowly rising nearby. The scent of roasted meat was blown through the air by the breeze, gradually diffusing it in all directions.
The figure of a cotton wearing youth could be seen sitting cross-legged with a bonfire right in front of him that burned brightly as a piece of magical beast meat was cooked over the flames.
This youth looked no older than 20 years old with his long hair tied together into a ponytail with a piece of grass. This youth was exceedingly handsome with flawless facial features along with a delicate yet roguelike look. On his calm face was a face full of charm that could practically kill any woman in the world.
This youth, was Jian Chen.
In this one year, Jian Chen hadn’t left the Magical Beast Mountain Range at all. After one year of using the monster cores from the mercenaries, there were practically no more Class 3 Monster Cores left. Only the Class 1 and 2 Monster Cores remained. In that one year, all of the Class 3 Monster cores were completely exhausted, and so Jian Chen could only use the Class 4 Monster Cores. Soon enough, even the Class 4 Monster Cores were used up, causing Jian Chen to go to the depths of the mountain range to hunt and kill Class 4 Magical Beasts before continuing to cultivate.
Time and time again, Jian Chen had continued to cultivate using the monster cores for one whole year. Jian Chen had long since left the Primary Saint Master level and reached the Peak Saint Master level. His strength had reached a point where even killing a Class 4 Magical Beast was of no problem at all.
“One year has past, how quickly time goes by. It seems that I should head out and stroll around now and stabilize my strength. Ai, after using the monster cores to cultivate, only a tiny residual of chaotic nature from the monster cores energy was left.” Jian Chen muttered to himself in front of the campfire.
After eating his fill, Jian Chen extinguished the fire before heading out from the depths of the Magical Beast Mountain Range. He had already planned on leaving the mountain range long ago, so he had prepared a few Class 4 Monster Cores to cultivate with later.
The Class 4 Magical Beasts rarely roamed around the heart of the Magical Beast Mountain Range, so it was generally more peaceful than the outside layers since Class 4 Magical Beasts were also not as common as Class 1 or 2 Magical Beasts. In this case, coming across a Class 4 Magical Beast was not an easy task, and finding a Class 3 Magical Beast would be even easier.
“Hou!”
Just as Jian Chen walked out of the forest carefully, suddenly, a large sound exploded out from behind him. Staring in the direction in which his ear was vibrating, Jian Chen noticed that the ground he was standing on was beginning to tremble slightly as well.