"How is this possible?", elder Huo and elder Zhou exclaimed in same time after their attacks collided with the claws of the shadow panther.
The shadow pather was completely unscathed even after taking the attacks of two of them. A fourth tier magical beast stopping their full power attack! Elder Huo and elder Zhou looked at the shadow panther with shock in their eyes.
Zhan Chen looked at the shadow panther with interest in his eyes. An astonished expression appeared in his face after observing the shadow panther for a few moments.
It was because faint golden stripes had started to appear on it's pitch black body. It's eyes had turned golden and there was a golden luster on it's sharp claws.
"Interesting", Zhan Chen murmured to himself.
Elder Huo and Elder Zhou became taciturn after seeing the furious beast infront of them.
"Brother Huo, how should we deal with this beast?", elder Zhou looked towards elder Huo.
"We need to change our plan a bit. I will go bring that girl while you keep this beast busy", elder Huo spoke.
Elder Zhou nodded his head as the plan seemed plausible to him. Elder Huo took a look at the bald headed cultivator and his companion and turned to move towards the location of Li Yan, Li Shu and Kai Min.
"A good planning but you have to ask me before leaving", Zhan Chen spoke as he used Cloud chasing steps and went towards elder Huo.
"Brat, you are courting death", elder Huo became enraged after being interrupted. He stopped in his path and launched a palm strike towards Zhan Chen.
Zhan Chen easily avoided the palm attack of elder Huo as he closed the gap between them. He channeled essence energy into his palm and swung his fingers towards elder Huo.
Five thin energy blades came out of his finger and bombarded the body of elder Huo. Elder Huo tried to defend hurriedly but he could only defend against two energy blades. Other three energy blades went past his defence and three deep cuts appeared on his body.
Elder Zhou wanted to intervene but the shadow panther lunged towards him after seeing his attacking stance. A fierce battle ensured between two pairs as the bald cultivator and his companion turned into spectators for a few moments. Zhan Chen was keeping an eye on the shadow panther as he wouldn't allow it to be harmed while fighting for him.
The bald cultivator and his companion wanted to join the fight but three other fourth tier magical beasts appeared infront of them. It was Zhan Chen who directed the three beasts to join the fight after seeing Li Yan, Li Shu and Kai Min in the distance.
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"Young master, you are amazing", Li Shu chirped after Zhan Chen returned to their side.
"No, the the most amazing is her", Zhan Chen pointed towards the shadow panther. It had already fallen asleep after flighting elder Zhou.
"She is indeed amazing because her last attack managed to fatally wound the fifth stage cultivator", Li Yan spoke.
"But the one who I find inconceivable is you", Li Yan added further.
"Young master is always amazing", Li Shu beamed from the side because no matter how surprising the deed was, it was possible if it involved her young master. Li Shu had such blind beleive and love for Zhan Chen.
Zhan Chen didn't allow their group to stay in the earlier decided place because he didn't want to fight with the power behind elder Zhou and elder Huo at this moment. A peak sixth stage cultivator was involved in this matter. So, Zhan Chen didn't want to take the risk.
Their travel resumed after the shadow panther woke up in the evening. They traveled while being alert as a dense forest appeared infront of them.
"Young master Chen, are you sure that we should venture into this forest now?", Li Yan asked. Her hesitation stemmed from the fact that the forest ahead was one of the biggest forest of the earth province.
"We have already travelled through the Shredded mountain range. So, what is merely a Redwood forest for us?", Zhan Chen looked towards Li Yan.
Li Yan didn't speak further as she was assured by the confident look on Zhan Chen's face. Zhan Chen gave the order and the four magical beasts entered the Redwood forest infront of them.
The group of Li Yan, Li Shu and Kai Min didn't know that Zhan Chen's prompt action managed to avoid a major crisis for them. Because sixth stage cultivators started to appear after they didn't hear from elder Huo and elder Zhou even after it was mid night.
The journey in the Redwood forest was smoother than what Li Yan had imagined. The shadow panther was with them. So, none of the fourth tier beasts or fifth tier beasts came to bother them.
There was only a handful of entire sixth tier magical beasts in the entire Redwood forest and with Zhan Chen's soul consciousness it was impossible for them to meet a sixth tier magical beast.
It was already late morning when they were out of the Redwood forest. "We are finally out", Li Shu spoke happily.
There was a stream of clear water coming out from the Redwood forest. The back forest and the green plain was giving a serene feeling to the environment.
The group of Zhan Chen stopped their to rest as they came down from their rides. The first one to jump in the stream was not Li Shu, Li Yan or Kai Min. It was the shadow panther who immediately went to wash itself after
seeing the clear stream.
Li Shu, Li Yan and Kai Min joined it and the environment was full of laughter as they took a bath and played with the shadow panther.
Zhan Chen sat crosslegged and closed his eyes to enter into a meditative state. It had been days since he cultivated peacefully. So, he choose this moment to cultivate.
He operated the Sacred Yinyang sutra and strands of yang energy came out from the morning sun. The yang energy coming from the sun was miniscue but sometimes such kind of cultivation where one immerse oneself in nature was a necessity for a cultivator.
The cultivation level of this world divided into seven stages and Zhan Chen was already at the fourth stage of cultivation, the Core condensation realm. Moving further up, the cultivation realm that came after Core condensation realm was Martial ascension realm.
Core condensation realm involved compressing true essence energy and producing a core but the Martial ascension realm was exactly opposite. One need to shatter his core and form an spiritual sea to enter the Martial ascension realm.
The step of producing an spiritual sea depended upon the quality of the core as well as the quality of the soul. The purer the soul and the core, the easier it was to enter the Martial ascension realm.
Zhan Chen was aware of these facts. He had no issue regarding strengthening of his soul. So, his focus was to purify his energy core as much as possible.
The Celestial yin yang sutra provided his body with the purest of the essence energy. So, he didn't have to think about the purity of his essence energy. What he needed to focus was the proper polishing and compression of his core.
The more compressed the core was, the more energy it required to reach another stage in cultivation realm. Other cultivator would have hesitated as it would take them much longer time to move another stage in Core condensation realm.
But, it was not a problem for Zhan Chen. He just need to find suitable dual cultivation partners and there would be no problem in crossing over the stages of Core condensation realm even with his extreme compression of his core.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l