Chương 145: War God — Chapter 145 - Dragon-Tiger Ridge, Mountain-Treading Nightmare Tiger

Looking at the devastation ahead, everyone fell silent. Chi Jiuyou seemed stunned for a long while too. He gazed at the corpses scattered in the distance. Iron-Scale Wolves were by no means easy beasts to deal with. Especially the material on their bodies: iron-scale wolf plates. Only three to four of these scale plates grew on each Iron-Scale Wolf's abdomen.

The material was not only extremely tough, but also had a certain reflectivity to energy, making it valuable for crafting third and fourth-tier protective gear. High-value material. But if you wanted to harvest it perfectly during combat, you had to fight with extreme care. Otherwise, the slightest damage would tank your yield. Which made fighting them exponentially harder. And now? Those Iron-Scale Wolf packs weren't just dead. The materials on their bodies had been sliced cleanly and neatly by explosive blade qi.

This was practically the dissection state Smelting Masters dreamed of. All you had to do was collect the materials.

"Junior, you really are..." Chi Jiuyou laughed.

"Not only did you kill the beasts, you even broke down the materials so tidily. This exam is still far too easy for you."

"You've not only completed the single-blade specialization final exam, you've also knocked out your Smelting Master minor exam at the same time."

"Impressive!" The first-year Smelting Master final was basically all about collecting various materials. Second-year students would start being required to actually smelt them. With Wang Xian's current smelting level, forget first-year exams. Even second and third-year exams he could casually ace.

"You may move freely now." Chi Jiuyou continued, "However, stay cautious. This Coiling Dragon Mountain, the deeper you go, the more chaotic it becomes. You absolutely must remember the points I told you all!"

"Also, remember to come to the designated location the day after tomorrow. I'll take you up to Dragon Head Cliff." Wang Xian nodded, then waved to his somewhat stupefied classmates and walked off in another direction. His figure gradually disappeared.

"Damn!" Dao Sanxiao's face flushed red.

"He's already at the Third Realm? Breaking from Second to Third, besides life force, we New Martial Arts practitioners also need to master gene cultivation methods and unlock the first Gene Lock... Old Martial Arts is supposed to be even harder, isn't it?" Traditionally speaking, cultivating Old Martial Arts to the Third Realm was indeed harder. Even with guidance, it often took a very long time.

"He was already at Second Realm peak. After a whole semester... breaking through to Third Realm is pretty normal." Some students felt it was perfectly reasonable.

"It's just, isn't this Tiger Malevolence Blade Art a bit too strong... I went to Ten Thousand Martial Arts Island to learn about advanced martial arts. Even if it can easily one-shot beasts of the same level, to instantly kill over a hundred..."

"And to kill so cleanly and efficiently. It's truly terrifying!"

"Our school doesn't seem to have the Tiger Malevolence Blade Art, right? Only the military has it. The current Tiger Malevolence Blade Art versions are all neutered. The one Wang Xian learned is the most primitive form, the most powerful, but it seems to take the greatest toll on the body!"

"Then I can understand it. The price for such powerful might is actually bodily damage..."

"Absorbing malevolent sha to cultivate blade arts. The price is indeed great. The Old Martial Arts path is hard to walk. I hope Wang Xian can forge a great path forward!" The students discussed in shock. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Only Chi Jiuyou looked in the direction Wang Xian had gone, smiled faintly, and said nothing.

"Senior Chi, should we finish collecting the materials now and continue advancing?" a student asked. Chi Jiuyou nodded slightly.

"Alright. There should still be Iron-Scale Wolves nearby, but this batch was quite strange. Better to stay cautious." — Wang Xian opened the Coiling Dragon Mountain map, draped in his Cicada Garment, and sprinted rapidly toward another area: Dragon-Tiger Ridge. His mind raced with calculations. That group of Iron-Scale Wolves appearing was no small matter. Normally they should all be upper E-rank, with 700 to 800 life force. But that batch basically all had over 1, 000 life force.

Different from the last blood mist method. Chi Jiuyou, what method did you use this time? Beast life force suddenly spiking. In Wang Xian's view, there were multiple possibilities. But... Wang Xian glanced at the wrist device on his arm.

"The malevolent sha concentration seems to be rising slowly, but..." Wang Xian sensed with his divine meridian.

"The malevolent sha concentration across the entire mountain should be rising rapidly. The wrist device's perception shouldn't be this poor... unless there's a special beast emitting ultra-low-frequency mental interference, disrupting the elemental force frequency inside the wrist device... or some other method that has altered the entire elemental force magnetic field of Coiling Dragon Mountain, making these technological devices less effective here."

"The ones taking exams here aren't just our few dozen first-year students."

"The rest of the second and third-years number at least over 1, 000."

"If there are students from other universities, then the number is even greater."

"And that's not even counting the other martial artists in the mountain..."

"Wait, there's another possibility..." Wang Xian suddenly stopped, his eyes narrowing.

"Man-made? Hmm... unlikely. More likely a beast." Disrupting the magnetic field of an entire unmanaged zone. To achieve this, it would have to be an extremely formidable spirit-intent martial artist, especially skilled in the mental domain. Tian Du University had very few spirit-intent martial artists, and no accompanying teachers. There were a few students, but their realms were only Second or Third. Even if they could detect some fine details, they likely couldn't think this far.

But the Tenth Unit's elites did have spirit-intent martial artists stationed, monitoring the wrist devices at all times. If it were man-made, the Tenth Unit's elites should also have noticed. Unless it's a beast.

"The most powerful beast in this area should be Dragon-Tiger Ridge's Mountain-Treading Nightmare Tiger."

"Let me see what's going on here. What has Chi Jiuyou prepared in advance at this place?"

"While I'm at it, the Tiger Malevolence Blade Art should also break through to return-to-simplicity." Dragon-Tiger Ridge. One of Coiling Dragon Mountain's three major regions. The beast presiding over this place, the Mountain-Treading Nightmare Tiger, according to the school's intelligence, was a C-rank peak existence. C-rank matched up against Fourth Realm martial artists. C-rank peak meant nearly 100, 000 life force. Compared to the previous D-rank peak Crocodile Turtle, it was a difference of heaven and earth.

If it were just a beginning C-rank Mountain-Treading Nightmare Tiger, with only a gap of 7, 000 to 8, 000 life force, he could handle it casually. C-rank peak, nearly 100, 000 life force... he only had 1, 000. Nearly a hundredfold difference. Far too great. Wang Xian didn't think he could kill this C-rank peak Mountain-Treading Nightmare Tiger. The numerical gap was too large. But to fight it a bit, make use of it, gain insight into the Tiger Malevolence Blade Art, and then slip away? For him, that was easy.

Before long, Wang Xian arrived at Dragon-Tiger Ridge. This was the mountainside of Coiling Dragon Mountain. The moment he entered this area, Wang Xian's steps halted. He looked around. In the dense forest, not a single beast could be seen. Blazing sunlight poured down, casting layer upon layer of tree shadows, dense and numerous. At the same time, Wang Xian sensed the malevolent sha concentration here. Seems like someone fought here? There's still a scent of blood in the air?

Wang Xian's steps slowed slightly as he headed deeper into Dragon-Tiger Ridge. Following a terrifying malevolent sha aura emanating from the dense forest, he soon spotted it in a low valley filled with skeletal remains: a giant mountain tiger with blue-purple flames burning on all four limbs.

Unlike the previous Crimson Blood Mountain Lord, this C-rank Mountain-Treading Nightmare Tiger had an extremely ferocious visage, its two cheek tusks sharp as blades, its tiger pupils dancing with an extreme blood-crimson color. In size, it was only three or four parts smaller than the Crimson Blood Mountain Lord. But its aura was much, much weaker. And...

Wang Xian stared at several bloody gashes on the Mountain-Treading Nightmare Tiger's back, and the two martial artist corpses in the skeletal remains, their faces completely unrecognizable.

"It's injured?" And not lightly.

"Life force fluctuation... around 15, 000?" Interesting. Truly interesting. Wang Xian laughed inwardly. Not out of relief that this Mountain-Treading Nightmare Tiger was injured, but rather, he applauded Chi Jiuyou's design.

"In that case, let's go..." Wang Xian drew the Singing Swan Blade, his eyes narrowing slightly, and charged directly toward the Mountain-Treading Nightmare Tiger in the valley. At roughly 100 paces away, the Nightmare Tiger instantly looked toward Wang Xian's position. Because of the Cicada Garment, it hadn't sensed Wang Xian's aura. But through the surrounding air currents and a surge of killing intent, it detected danger approaching. The Nightmare Tiger roared violently, its tiger palm cracking the earth.

Countless skeletal remains instantly floated up from the ground. Innumerable crystals immediately formed an extremely hard layer of armor around its body. ➤ Next: Asura Blade Intent, Tiger Malevolence Blade Art at the Return to Simplicity R...