Chapter 319: Chapter 294 Immortal Envoy Arrives_1
"Indeed, there are some, but they are scarce in number. They are absolutely terrifying beings, for whom even the King’s True Body might not be sufficient."
"There’s another special kind, those who have innately powerful souls. For such people, in order to break through to the Primordial Spirit Realm, they need an even stronger True Body. The True Body acts as a vessel to contain the soul, and if the soul is too powerful, an ordinary True Body is simply not enough. If the True Body isn’t strong enough, it cannot bear the burden of a powerful soul, let alone find the Soul Acupoint and unite soul with spirit to enter the realm of the Primordial Spirit."
Shen Yinuo explained.
Lu Yan nodded.
The two found a quiet place nearby where Lu Yan took out the Divine Intent Diagram of the True Dragon Nine Strikes.
The method for cultivating the True Dragon Nine Strikes was already etched in his mind.
"Yinuo, let’s contemplate this together," Lu Yan said.
However, Shen Yinuo shook her head and replied, "A greed for much results in chewing on the excess. Divine-level martial arts require focus, not quantity. There are many potentials in my Great Sun Melting Furnace waiting to be explored. I should concentrate on it rather than diverting my energy to cultivating the True Dragon Nine Strikes."
"That works," Lu Yan nodded.
After all, others do not have the Dao Book, which can easily enhance martial arts levels.
For most people, when it comes to martial arts cultivation, quality is valued over quantity.
Even someone as insightful as Wang Tianyu, when cultivating martial arts, focuses on one at a time. Attempting to concurrently cultivate multiple techniques could prove to be unsustainable.
Needless to say, the difficulty of cultivating Divine-level martial arts far surpasses that of the Top Martial Arts.
As Lu Yan focused his gazing on the Divine Intent Diagram, an image of a true Dragon soaring through the skies appeared to rise from the page, its claws cleaving through the air and launching a devastating attack.
In Lu Yan’s mind, the attacking method of the Fire Jiaolong he encountered before surfaced, comparing it with the images on the Divine Intent Diagram.
Half a day later, Lu Yan put away the Divine Intent Diagram while furrowing his eyebrows.
His cultivation didn’t go quite far during the half-day period.
"What? No progress?" Seeing Lu Yan’s frown, Shen Yinuo could tell his cultivation hadn’t yielded much.
Lu Yan nodded and said, "When fighting with the Fire Jiaolong, simply dodging isn’t enough. I need to engage in a close-quarters fight and experience the Fire Jiaolong’s attacking methods firsthand. Only then can I gain something from observing its form and understanding its essence."
"Yinuo, from now on, you just need to help me with my defenses, you don’t need to make a move. Don’t worry, although I’m no match for that Fire Jiaolong, it’s also unlikely to kill me."
This was something in which Lu Yan was confident.
With the protection of the eight supreme physical martial arts, his defensive power has reached a non-human level, far surpassing that of the Fire Jiaolong in terms of defense.
After some contemplation, Yinuo agreed with a nod.
After resting for a night, Lu Yan fetched another boulder the next day and threw it into the volcano.
However, no matter how many times he tossed a boulder, the Fire Jiaolong didn’t reveal itself.
"Hey, critter, get out here, I feel like having roasted Jiaolong meat today."
"You little creep, don’t tell me you’re a cowardly mouse. For a Jiaolong, you really are a disgrace to your kind."
Lu Yan no longer tried to conceal his provocation. He began openly taunting the Fire Jiaolong.
Unsurprisingly, his strategy worked.
Roaring, the Fire Jiaolong emerged and threw itself towards Lu Yan. Reeling backwards swiftly, Lu Yan descended onto the mountain terrain, only for the Fire Jiaolong to follow him, spewing out a pillar of fire.
This time, instead of dodging, Lu Yan swung his war knife intensively, splitting the fire pillar, then charged towards the Fire Jialong, striking at its neck.
The Fire Jiaolong let out a resonating howl, twisted its body to avoid the blow to its neck, and launched a God Dragon Tail Swing at Lu Yan.
Lu Yan raised his knife to block the attack, and was blasted back hundreds of meters, shredding two large trees in the process. However, with a quick push of his feet, he charged back into battle.
The Jiaolong, on seeing that Lu Yan was no longer avoiding its attacks, surged with enjoyment. It emitted a scorching red light all over its body and pounced on Lu Yan.
The man and the dragon commenced a fierce battle.
Lu Yan was of course no match for the Jiaolong, being sent flying every few strikes he took.
The surrounding trees and boulders exploded continuously, as if crushed by a mighty beast.
However, thanks to his formidable defenses, Lu Yan managed to withstand the strikes.
The clash between the two lasted for half an hour, after which the Fire Jiaolong seemed tired and flew back into the volcano.
Overcome by exhaustion, Lu Yan fell to the ground, feeling as if his body was falling apart.
Piercing pain resonated throughout his body.
Even he, with his powerful defenses, felt overwhelmed after the grueling half-hour showdown.
Returning to the quiet place, he consumed a few martial pills and gradually recovered.
Afterward, he immediately took out the Divine Intent Diagram of the True Dragon Nine Strikes and began perusing it.
This time, he made significant progress indeed.
Fighting the Jiaolong in close combat, facing the risk of death, turned out to be very beneficial for understanding martial arts.
One day and night later, Lu Yan’s comprehension of the True Dragon Nine Strikes advanced significantly.
Once completely recovered, Lu Yan went to provoke the Fire Jiaolong again.
This time, it took more than ten insults, each different from the last, to bring the Fire Jiaolong out.
A direct showdown ensued once more, unfolding in the same manner as before, lasting the same half an hour until the tired Jiaolong retreated.
After the Jiaolong left, there was a ball of fresh blood in Lu Yan’s palm. This was the blood of the Jiaolong he had obtained while clashing with it.
Lu Yan did not forget that Jiaolong’s blood was needed for the later stage of cultivating the True Dragon Nine Strikes.
...
The large city where the mountain people gathered.
Inside a stone hall, a young woman was kneeling on the ground, her face pale.
This woman happened to be one of the two women who stood beside the statue that day. One of them was shot and killed by Lu Yan, but this woman had survived.
Kneeling with her were eight elderly mountain folk, their bodies full of Will Power Patterns.
At the head of the stone hall, there were only two people.
One was a young woman who, while also young, was incredibly beautiful. Compared to the kneeling girl, she looked like a mere maid.
However, her eyes were sharp and cold, like a sharp sword.
Beside her was a middle-aged woman who looked like she was in her forties, but still retained her charm.
"The Golden Body that the Immortal Lord painstakingly created to collect will power has been destroyed in your hands, what crime should this be considered?"
The beautiful young woman spoke with indifference.
"Immortal Envoy, please spare us. The attackers were too strong, even though we fought with our lives, we couldn’t stop them."
The kneeling woman pleaded, her face filled with terror.
"Fight with your lives? I think you were just scared for your lives. You retreated at a critical moment and this is what led to the destruction of the Immortal Lord’s Golden Body. You deserve to die a thousand times."
The middle-aged woman spoke coldly.
Before her words fell, her palm had already caught the girl’s skull. With a powerful squeeze, the girl’s skull shattered like a watermelon under her horrified gaze.
The eight elder mountain people shivered, none daring to utter a word.
"You eight, tell me, do you know the identities of the people who attacked?"
The beautiful woman looked emotionlessly at the eight elders.
"One of them is a master of poison, judging from his techniques, he should be from Wandu Cave."
"As for the other two, their methods are unfamiliar. They should be martial cultivators from outside Nanjiang, but we don’t know much about the martial arts from outside of Nanjiang to identify them."
An elder replied.
"Oh, people from outside of Nanjiang, what characteristics do their martial arts have?"
The beautiful woman asked.
"One of them uses a large melting furnace, his fists are like the sun... the other one excels in archery. His arrows explode like thunder, either eight or nine times..."
The elder replied.
"A large melting furnace, arrows that explode like thunder?"
The beautiful woman and the middle-aged woman looked at each other with furrowed brows.
Unfortunately, they had just come out after hard cultivation, and had never left Nanjiang. Their understanding of the world of martial arts was minimal, and they couldn’t figure out the origins of such martial arts techniques.
"Whoever destroyed the Immortal Lord’s Golden Body deserves to die. No matter what, we must find those people and let them taste all the pain in the world. Since we don’t know the other two, let’s find the man from Wandu Cave first. He might have a connection with the others. From him, we can force out the whereabouts of the other two."
The middle-aged woman ordered.
"Yes!"
The elder obeyed.
...
Lu Yan’s cultivation continued. However, each time he wanted to force the Fire Jiaolong out, it was not easy. Every time, he had to exhaust his tongue and spew all sorts of ugly words to anger the Fire Jiaolong enough to come out.
This went on for over a month.
Moreover, with the increased number of times, the Fire Jiaolong became increasingly immune to these insults. The last time, it took Lu Yan half an hour of continuous cursing, dry-mouthed and exhausted, before he barely managed to get the Fire Jiaolong out.
In this battle, Lu Yan fought with his blood, even without using a knife, purely grappling with the Fire Jiaolong. He was injured all over. Even the Fire Jiaolong showed a color of fear and probably cursed in its heart that Lu Yan was mad. Then it gave a roar and turned to flee.
"Yinuo."
Lu Yan roared.
Yinuo, prepared for a long time, drove the Great Sun Melting Furnace to strike down.
This battle was the last.
That’s because after a month of fighting, Lu Yan felt that he had more or less grasped what he needed to learn. To completely master the first level of True Dragon Nine Strikes, the blood of a Jiaolong was needed.
Lu Yan raised his War Knife, sprinted up, and slashed towards the Fire Jiaolong’s neck.
The Fire Jiaolong roared violently, waving its claws and tail, attacking Lu Yan and Shen Yinuo.
However, after sparring with the Fire Jiaolong for over a month and Shen Yinuo observing it for a month, they were already very familiar with its attack patterns and were able to dodge its attack with ease.
The Great Sun Melting Furnace continued to smash towards the Fire Jiaolong’s skull, while the Fire Jiaolong spat a pillar of fire at it.
Thud!
While the Fire Jiaolong was distracted, Lu Yan cut into its neck with his knife. Its scales were cut open, revealing the flesh and spilling fresh blood.
Lu Yan activated his True Vigor and inhaled, sucking in a large clump of Jiaolong blood.
"Yinuo, that’s enough, retreat."
Lu Yan quickly retreated with Shen Yinuo.
The Fire Jiaolong let out an angry roar, wishing it could tear Lu Yan to pieces. But after a moment’s thought, it revealed a bit of fear and did not dare to attack. It twisted its body and plunged into the volcanic crater, disappearing from view.
This time, it made up its mind, no matter how much Lu Yan summoned or cursed it, it wouldn’t come out again.
Not far from the volcano, in a mountain cave.
"Lu Yan, concentrate on your cultivation. I’ll protect you."
Shen Yinuo said.
Lu Yan nodded, took off his clothes, took out the Jiaolong’s blood, smeared it all over his body, and started to cultivate according to the methods of True Dragon Nine Strikes.
Whoosh!
Lu Yan’s claws were like dragon claws, constantly stretching out, while imagining his body as that of a true dragon. His waist was like a dragon’s, his legs exerted force, his body twisted slightly, and he shot out explosively. He clawed at the air, the wind whistling, vaguely making a dragon roar. A large rock a hundred meters away was grabbed by his invisible claw force and turned into dust.
The Jiaolong’s blood on Lu Yan’s body also began to squirm as he cultivated, finally turning into small blood-colored dragons and drilling into his skin.
