BOOM!
The spears of the female disciple and Shen Yuan collided with each other, spreading thunder and fire in the surroundings.
From the looks of it, the female disciple was a fire attribute cultivator. Shen Yuan looked at her curiously since he felt the fire traveling from his spear towards his body.
He took a step back and slightly shook his spear with spatial Qi to get rid of the flames from spreading further. The female disciple looked at him with surprise.
She clearly didn’t expect him to dispel her flames so easily. But she soon threw away her distracting thoughts and sidestepped to let the young man follow up with another attack who swung his sword directly towards his neck.
Shen Yuan coldly looked at the man and utilized Heavenly Thunder Palm to hit the flat of the blade to deflect his attack before it could land.
A loud crack sounded as the sword vibrated violently, but Shen Yuan didn’t give the man a chance to regain his balance. In one fluid motion, he stepped forward, his body moving like a blur, and struck with his spear.
With a sharp, decisive slash, the spear connected with the male disciple’s side, nearly breaking his ribcage. He cried out in pain, but before he could retreat, Shen Yuan twisted his wrist, pulling the spear back and then slashing downward with the momentum, aiming for the man’s arm.
The man hurriedly stepped aside, barely saving his arm from being cut down, but he was still injured in the end. Clutching his wounded arm, he looked at Shen Yuan with fear, but he didn’t want to give up just yet.
He took a deep breath and swung his sword again, this time using a wide, horizontal arc aimed at Shen Yuan’s chest.
Shen Yuan smirked, his eyes glowing with a dangerous light as he channeled more Qi into his spear. He moved with a terrifying speed, dodging the strike and countering with a thunder-infused thrust that pierced the man’s shoulder.
The man stumbled, barely able to stand, his face pale as the lightning coursed through his meridians, freezing his Qi flow. He shook his head in disbelief, trying to muster the strength to continue, but his movements became sluggish.
Meanwhile, the female disciple didn’t waste a moment. She leapt into the air, her fiery spear aiming for Shen Yuan’s unguarded back. Her speed was astonishing, and her fiery Qi burned intensely around her, but Shen Yuan easily detected her approach.
With a flick of his wrist, he whipped his spear behind him in a wide arc, blocking her strike with his own. The impact sent shockwaves through the air, causing the surrounding trees to tremble, but Shen Yuan remained standing like a statue.
However, the female disciple had no intention of stopping there. She moved faster, shifting her position to attack from another angle, her spear now aimed for Shen Yuan’s side.
She was relentless, her movements fluid and aggressive, knowing her only chance to win was to break through his defenses with overwhelming speed.
Shen Yuan’s eyes flashed with annoyance. He sidestepped, evading the attack, and then used his thunder Qi to propel himself toward her with incredible force. He slashed at her midsection, the electric arc of his attack illuminating the surroundings.
She barely managed to raise her spear to block, but the sheer force of Shen Yuan’s attack knocked her back, her body faltering.
“You’re quite talented, enough to be ranked among the top even in my sect. But you are not strong enough,” Shen Yuan muttered coldly. His next attack came as a brutal, unstoppable force.
‘Heaven’s Wrath Spear Art: Second Form: Tyrant’s Judgment!’
With his spear crackling with thunder, he swung it downward, and the spear released a massive bolt of lightning that descended from the sky toward her. The female disciple could do nothing but watch in horror as her entire body was paralyzed from the electric shock.
The lightning made contact with her body, and before she could react, the blast obliterated her surroundings, leaving nothing but a charred corpse and smoke in the air.
Her body hit the ground with a soft thud, lifeless. Shen Yuan looked down at her charred remains, his expression unreadable, but his eyes cold.
“Shouldn’t have gone against me,” he muttered, shaking the ash off his spear.
The male disciple, witnessing his companion’s death, looked on in horror. His entire body trembled as he realized the full extent of Shen Yuan’s strength.
“No! I—I won’t die here!” he stammered, his face a mask of panic.
Before Shen Yuan could move, the man ripped out his token, his hand shaking violently as he crushed it with trembling fingers. A flash of light enveloped him, and his body disappeared in an instant, escaping the battlefield.
Shen Yuan turned his head slightly, watching the space where the man had been. He smirked, seeing the man running away using the token.
“I guess even the cowardly ones have their uses,” Shen Yuan muttered, watching the empty space for a moment before turning away.
He glanced at Xueyan, who quickly jumped back on his shoulder. She stared at the spot where the man had disappeared, her eyes narrowing in disappointment.
“No need to be disappointed. he will be useful later,” Shen Yuan said with a smile. He wiped the sweat from his brow, his body still excited from the fight.
Xueyan meowed softly, as if confused, and snuggled closer to him.
[What use does he even have for you?]
Yue Lan curiously asked.
“Quite a few. I will tell them to you later. For now, I should recover my Qi. I have fought multiple battles in quick succession without recovering my Qi.” He said before looking around and leaving for a secluded area.
[Hmm…you won’t take long to recover, though. You can just passively absorb Qi while walking.]
“Yes, but I want to stay in my peak condition here. I don’t know when I will have to fight a beast similar to that Life Beast from before. And what if multiple of them at the Peak of Beast Lord Realm ganged up on me? Even I will have to run then.” Soon, he reached a towering tree with softly glowing flowers on it and sat down beneath it.
[Well…I can only say you have heaven defying luck if you managed to get attacked by multiple of those beasts when they are so rare here. Not every beast is lucky enough to be connected with the forest.]
Shen Yuan calmed down his breathing and began revolving the Primordial Vessel Cultivation Art to absorb the ambient Qi from the surroundings.
Slowly, a vortex of Qi formed around the area where he was recovering. The flowers on the tree bloomed beautifully, absorbing the huge amount of Qi that he was gathering for himself.
This little amount of Qi didn’t affect him, so he didn’t bother about it and focused on absorbing as much Qi as he could.
The vegetation in his surroundings benefited the most from it, with a few mortal-tier herbs and mushrooms sprouting from the ground by basking in the high concentration Qi.
The vortex continued to grow bigger and bigger before funneling itself into Shen Yuan’s meridians, from where it traveled into all of his Dantians. The locked ones quickly filled as they didn’t have that much storage space for Qi to begin with.