Chapter 75

An hour later, the young martial artists from the nine counties west of the ridge all entered a mountain range filled with danger. Although it was just the outer area of the Devil's Ridge, the roars of savage beasts could still be heard at any moment.

The 1,537 young martial artists were like a handful of sand thrown into the sea, disappearing in a moment.

"You are at the Lesser Extreme of the Profound Realm. You need to kill forty second-tier lower savage beasts to pass the first round of the exam. Aren't you worried at all?" Zhang Ruochen, with his hands behind his back, stepped on the fallen leaves and glanced at Zi Qian, who was walking ahead.

Zi Qian, tall and slender, held an ancient sword in her hands, her eyes fixed on the towering ancient trees around her. "Killing forty savage beasts, how exhausting would that be? Isn't it faster to hunt the young martial artists from the Four Directions Kingdom and take their beast eyes?"

Zhang Ruochen stared deeply at Zi Qian and said, "You should know that this mountain range is vast. All the martial artists are scattered in all directions. It's not easy to find the martial artists from the Four Directions Kingdom."

Zi Qian replied, "I have my own methods!"

Suddenly, Zi Qian's ears twitched slightly.

With a swift movement, she transformed into a purple blur, flying forward over a distance of more than thirty yards.

"Whoosh—"

Her arm trembled, and a sword light flashed in her hand, suddenly stabbing into the ground.

A savage beast's cry came from underground.

A fountain of blood gushed up from the ground.

Just as the blood was about to touch her arm, she turned her fingers, moved her steps, and with a fluid motion, she sheathed her sword.

The entire process happened in a split second.

Drawing the sword, stabbing, and sheathing it, all done in one smooth motion, without any unnecessary movements.

Zhang Ruochen's eyes narrowed as he stared at Zi Qian, secretly thinking that she had cultivated her sword intent to the intermediate stage of the sword following the heart, and seemed to be not far from the advanced stage!

"Boom!"

Zhang Ruochen stomped his foot, channeling true qi through his soles into the ground. With a loud explosion, the earth cracked, and the corpse of a face-sized iron-armored man-eating rat was shaken out of the ground.

The iron-armored man-eating rat, a second-tier lower savage beast, was covered in scales, with teeth three inches long and as sharp as blades. Due to its enormous appetite, it could eat a live person in one go, hence the name man-eating rat.

If a typical early-stage Profound Realm martial artist encountered an iron-armored man-eating rat, they would likely be ambushed from underground and have their legs bitten off before they could react.

If a martial artist's legs were both bitten off, they would be doomed, with no chance of escape.

Zi Qian's sword had precisely pierced the iron-armored man-eating rat's neck artery.

"Miss Zi, your hearing is truly remarkable. An iron-armored man-eating rat thirty yards underground couldn't escape your ears." Zhang Ruochen felt genuinely amazed and secretly warned himself that Zi Qian's background was not ordinary; she was definitely not a wandering martial artist.

Without strict training, a martial artist at the Lesser Extreme of the Profound Realm would not have such acute hearing.

"Everyone has their secrets, nothing to be surprised about. Prince Ninth, you can even catch a venomous bee's stinger, surely you have your own secrets too?" Zi Qian probed subtly.

Zhang Ruochen naturally wouldn't reveal the secret of his spatial domain, just giving a faint smile and a slight nod.

"Whoosh!"

Zi Qian held her battle sword, swung her arm, and dug out the two eyeballs of the iron-armored man-eating rat. She used a half-foot-long box to store the eyeballs.

A martial artist at the Lesser Extreme of the Profound Realm needed to kill forty second-tier lower savage beasts to pass the exam.

It was impossible to carry forty savage beast corpses, so they could only dig out the eyes of the iron-armored man-eating rats to prove they had killed the beasts.

Zi Qian also dug out a small piece of spirit flesh from the iron-armored man-eating rat's body.

The piece of spirit flesh weighed about one liang, was completely white, and crystal clear, with no trace of blood, but emitted a faint fragrance.

She held the spirit flesh and looked at Zhang Ruochen, saying, "My cultivation has already reached the Lesser Extreme of the Profound Realm. Eating a little more spirit flesh won't help me much. Give it to you!"

After saying that, she threw the spirit flesh to Zhang Ruochen.

Zhang Ruochen didn't hesitate, caught the spirit flesh, and swallowed it directly.

After swallowing the spirit flesh, it was quickly and completely digested.

Zhang Ruochen felt his spirit become very full, his body filled with strength, his meridians fully relaxed, and even the flow of true qi in his body sped up.

Zi Qian walked ahead, saying as she walked, "A martial artist who has just entered the early stage of the Profound Realm can break through to the middle stage by consuming about three pounds of spirit flesh."

"You were the top of the Yellow List in the Yellow Extreme Realm, so your martial body must far surpass those of the same realm. To break through, you will need more resources. You probably need to eat five pounds of spirit flesh to break through to the middle stage of the Profound Realm."

Zi Qian thought Zhang Ruochen had just cultivated to the early stage of the Profound Realm, but she didn't know that he had already reached the peak of the early stage.

Zhang Ruochen estimated that even at his current realm, he would need to eat at least ten pounds of spirit flesh to possibly break through to the middle stage of the Profound Realm.

His martial body was even stronger than Zi Qian imagined.

Suddenly, Zi Qian stopped, crouched slightly, and extended two slender fingers to pick up a broken leaf, bringing it to her nose for a slight sniff. A smile appeared on her face as she said, "It's the aura of a martial artist from the Four Directions Kingdom. He passed here about fifteen minutes ago. This leaf was crushed by him."

Zhang Ruochen asked, "Have you learned tracking techniques?"

"A little," Zi Qian replied.

Zhang Ruochen asked again, "How do you know it's the aura of a martial artist from the Four Directions Kingdom?"

Zi Qian said, "Last night, when you were training in the martial field, I infiltrated the group of martial artists from the Four Directions Kingdom and recorded the auras of all 667 of them."

"667 auras, and you can distinguish them all? Even a martial artist at the Heaven Extreme Realm wouldn't have such ability," Zhang Ruochen said.

Zi Qian said, "Don't you believe me?"

Zhang Ruochen said, "Unless you are a descendant of a Sage, with the blood of a Sage in your veins, and have undergone strict training, it would be impossible to have such powerful hearing and sense of smell."

Zi Qian said, "You're right. One of my ancestors was once a Sage. Unfortunately, after his death, the family quickly declined, and now, only I remain."

Zi Qian said this half-truth, half-lie.

"I see," Zhang Ruochen nodded slightly.

If Zi Qian was indeed a descendant of a Sage, it would be possible for her to cultivate a special constitution and possess some extraordinary powers, which wouldn't be surprising.

Zi Qian and Zhang Ruochen increased their speed to catch up with the martial artist from the Four Directions Kingdom.

Zi Qian, at the Lesser Extreme of the Profound Realm, naturally moved very fast, reaching thirty-six meters per second.

What she didn't expect was that Zhang Ruochen's speed was not much slower, reaching about thirty-four meters per second, closely following her.

"Amazing, just at the early stage of the Profound Realm, and his speed is so fast. If he reaches the Lesser Extreme, his speed will definitely be faster than mine," Zi Qian thought to herself.

The typical speed of a martial artist at the Lesser Extreme of the Profound Realm was about thirty-six meters per second. However, Zi Qian was much faster than the average, but she held back in front of Zhang Ruochen and didn't use her full speed.

Soon, they caught up with the young martial artist.

The young martial artist was fighting a second-tier lower savage beast.

Zhang Ruochen stopped and looked into the distance, "Indeed, it's a martial artist from the Four Directions Kingdom. His cultivation has already reached the late stage of the Profound Realm, definitely a strong opponent."

Zhang Ruochen had some impression of the young martial artist, who was one of the young experts from the Four Directions Kingdom.

Zi Qian's senses were indeed very powerful, far surpassing those of ordinary people.

Zhang Ruochen could only use the power of his martial soul to activate his spatial domain to match her.

The battle ended quickly. The young martial artist from the Four Directions Kingdom slashed the neck of the second-tier lower savage beast, the Silver Dragon Lion, and dug out its two eyeballs.

The young martial artist from the Four Directions Kingdom, holding the two eyeballs, looked pleased and muttered to himself, "Another two eyes collected. With this Silver Dragon Lion, I have already killed three second-tier lower savage beasts."

Suddenly, he seemed to sense something, quickly put away the two beast eyeballs, and raised his third-grade True Martial Treasure-level battle knife, saying in a deep voice, "Who's there? Come out now!"

Zhang Ruochen stepped out.

The young martial artist from the Four Directions Kingdom, seeing Zhang Ruochen, showed a look of wild joy and laughed, "The Ninth Prince of Yunwu Kingdom? Ha! This is too good, I never thought my luck would be so good."

Zhang Ruochen said, "Do you have to be so happy to see me?"

The young martial artist from the Four Directions Kingdom laughed even louder, "Prince Ninth, you don't know yet! Prince Huo Xing has set a price. As long as you kill you and bring your head to him, you can exchange it for a fifth-grade True Martial Treasure. Now you know how valuable your head is, right? Now you know why I'm so excited, right?"

Zhang Ruochen frowned slightly, "Are you so confident that you can kill me?"

The young martial artist from the Four Directions Kingdom laughed even louder, "You can defeat Shen Mengxi in one move, but I can kill Shen Mengxi in one move. You should know, I am a late-stage Profound Realm martial artist."

Zhang Ruochen said, "If that's the case, let's fight!"

"You're not running? Since you're so confident, I'll show you the difference between the early stage and the late stage of the Profound Realm."

The young martial artist from the Four Directions Kingdom infused true qi into his battle knife, immediately activating the five inscriptions on the knife. A layer of crimson fire spread over the blade.

He swung his knife, and a wave of heat surged from the blade, lifting the fallen leaves on the ground.

"Whoosh!"

The leaves spontaneously caught fire, like a rain of fire floating in the air.

The burning leaves gathered together, forming a fire dragon that surged toward Zhang Ruochen.

Zhang Ruochen had one hand behind his back, and in his other hand, he condensed a thick true qi, then struck out with a palm, releasing an invisible wave of air.

"Elephant Returns to the Field!"

The third palm of the Dragon Elephant Bodhi Palm.

Under the influence of the palm force, the fallen leaves on the ground also flew up, swirling in the air. Hundreds of thousands of leaves gathered into the shape of a five-meter-tall savage elephant, surging toward the opposite side.