Chương 152: War God — Chapter 152 - Physique… Truly Exceptional

Dragon Calamity Bone Tomb. Yan Zhaoxue gathered prime energy at her fingertips, guiding it along her arm through the acupoints, slowly opening the meridians within her body. As a New Martial Arts practitioner, she was quite familiar with the meridian-opening techniques of Old Martial Arts. Her grandfather had been forced to walk the Old Martial Arts path for many years due to damaged talent. Through constant exposure, she'd learned quite a bit. Opening meridians is crucial for Old Martial Arts practitioners.

Generally, one needs a certain level of physical strength before attempting it. Otherwise, the process brings immense pain and will most likely fail. She herself was at fourth-realm peak, with nearly 100, 000 life force points. Her physical body was already extremely powerful under the effect of her innate talent. So then. Opening meridians was easy for her. It was just that opening meridians offered little benefit to New Martial Arts practitioners, especially those with extremely strong talent.

With martial talent, one can continuously absorb heaven-and-earth prime energy and gather it into the talent power within the body. Constantly tempering the body around the clock. There's no need to open meridians to circulate heaven-and-earth prime energy. With the transcendent power of martial talent, one can circulate the prime energy of heaven and earth however one wishes. Combined with the five great genetic cultivation methods summarized by countless predecessors.

These top-tier New Martial Arts cultivation techniques have perfected the tempering of prime energy to the extreme. Opening meridians is merely redundant, offering no improvement. Unless one is cultivating some relatively special Secret Skills, then it would be of great use. But generally speaking, New Martial Arts practitioners only selectively open meridians based on the Secret Skills they cultivate. Otherwise, they usually wouldn't waste effort on opening meridians for nothing. After a full half day passed.

Until her prime energy was completely exhausted.

"Of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, aside from the Governing and Conception Vessels opened earlier by cultivating the Dragon Blood Living Meridian Art, most of the rest have been opened."

"Prime energy is depleted..."

"The prime energy replenishment supplies on me are used up too..." Yan Zhaoxue frowned slightly. When she fell, she'd been carrying some supplies. Part of them were lost during the fall. She still retained a portion. Moreover, since she'd only come to Dragon Head Cliff for enlightenment, the combat protective gear she wore was just a protective fourth-tier pendant. But without prime energy, she couldn't activate it either.

"I wonder how the senior is doing..." Yan Zhaoxue stood up and walked out from behind the boulder. What met her eyes was a scene like something out of hell. Countless mangled beast corpses and shredded flesh were strewn across the entire relic. Everywhere, severed heads, limbs, hearts, putrid flesh, and even bones of various dragon-form beasts were visible. Piled up layer upon layer. Forming mountain after mountain of flesh and corpses. The sight made Yan Zhaoxue's eyelids twitch violently.

Even though she'd been through quite a few relics, she'd truly never seen such a horrifying battlefield scene. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. The dragon-form corpse beasts that had originally filled the sky like black clouds had now more than half vanished. Making the entire relic seem somewhat empty. The air was thick with the mingled stench of decay and blood. This much, at least, Yan Zhaoxue was relatively accustomed to. No familiar figure in sight.

Yan Zhaoxue suddenly felt afraid.

"Senior!" She called out. No reply. The unease in her heart instantly spread to her face. Yan Zhaoxue broke into a run, shouting loudly again and again. She rushed past several flesh-corpse mountains in succession, yet still no response came, nor any figure in sight. So many corpse mountains made of beast remains. So many eliminated in a single day. And in a perilous relic environment like the Dragon Calamity Bone Tomb.

If it had been her, even if she could finish killing them all, she would have long been exhausted. With no one to help, then perhaps... Until she drew near that massive skeletal structure.

"Wuu!" Unable to hold it in, Yan Zhaoxue's eyes stung with tears, nearly...

"Shh!" Just then, from a pit beneath the skeletal structure, a familiar voice sounded.

"Keep it down!" Yan Zhaoxue froze. She hurried over and saw inside the pit a back view clad only in tattered oversized shorts, lying prone and carefully observing something.

"Senior, you're alright?" Yan Zhaoxue looked at that lean, powerful back. The back was covered in all manner of bloody, dripping wounds, making Yan Zhaoxue's heart tremble. Wang Xian said, "I'm fine."

"Those wounds on your body?"

"Superficial injuries." Yan Zhaoxue fell silent. Just superficial injuries? She looked closely and found that indeed, they all seemed to be superficial injuries. They looked bloody and gruesome, but the color of most of the blood wasn't human blood. It was the blood of those dragon-form corpse beasts, along with some corrosive fluid scabs that had formed, creating the dense mass of wounds. In reality, only a small portion were actual wounds, and those had already scabbed over.

Indeed, they were superficial injuries. Yet after killing so many beasts... just superficial injuries? She was utterly shocked... Hmm... It seemed his clothes were gone too. Probably corroded by the dragon-type corrosive fluids sprayed by quite a few dragon-form beasts. The combat protective gear the senior wore was only second-tier. It couldn't possibly withstand the attacks of those D-rank, even C-rank beasts. Being corroded was normal. She couldn't help but take a few more glances...

'As expected of the martial prodigy my grandfather spoke of... innately opened meridians, remarkable bone structure...'

'Also, the senior's physique... physique... is truly exceptional...' Catching sight of something, Yan Zhaoxue's cheeks flushed red. She hurriedly averted her gaze and changed the subject.

"Senior, what are you looking at?"

"Come here, let me show you a treasure!"

"A treasure?" Yan Zhaoxue's face grew even redder. Wang Xian waved Yan Zhaoxue over. Yan Zhaoxue squeezed into the pit and lay down beside Wang Xian. A faint squirming sound immediately reached her ears. Inside the pit, tiny silvery-white insect eggs seemed to be wriggling ceaselessly.

"These are..."

"Eggs of the Nine Nether Dark Insects." Wang Xian's eyes glinted faintly.

"These beasts generally appear in symbiosis with S-rank or higher corpse beasts. The moment they hatch, they can bite through space and leave the relic."

"They're living in symbiosis beneath part of the Cloud Demon Dragon's remains, absorbing some of the remains' power."

"Then when they're born, can we leave directly?" Yan Zhaoxue asked, puzzled.

"Still far too early..."

"Then why say they're a treasure..." Wang Xian turned his head to look at Yan Zhaoxue and smiled.

"Unborn Nine Nether Dark Insects, these eggs are the real treasure."

"Once born, Nine Nether Dark Insects possess the power to traverse space, making them not only difficult to capture but also extremely hard to deal with."

"The faint chirping they emit can disrupt the energy field of heaven and earth."

"Also, have you noticed that the concentration of baleful sha on Coiling Dragon Mountain has been rising?" Yan Zhaoxue nodded slightly.

"It has indeed, especially at Dragon Head Cliff, where the baleful sha suddenly surged... I don't know the reason." Wang Xian pointed at the Nine Nether Dark Insect eggs.

"Part of the reason is these insect beasts. The antennae of Nine Nether Dark Insects can absorb energy through space. If the spirit core of Coiling Dragon Mountain is stimulated and changes, then because of the Nine Nether Dark Insects, a large amount of baleful sha will abruptly overflow and gather at Dragon Head Cliff."

"So that's it!"

"And during their egg stage, this outer layer of insect molting will become their antennae after the Nine Nether Dark Insects are born." Wang Xian narrowed his eyes.

"Have you sensed that the baleful sha concentration inside this pit is different from outside?" Yan Zhaoxue closed her eyes and perceived for a moment. It did feel higher than outside.

"Because these white insect moltings are a special material capable of absorbing baleful sha," Wang Xian said slowly. Yan Zhaoxue made a sound of acknowledgment, still not fully grasping it. Suddenly, her eyes flew wide open.

"Senior... you mean..." Yan Zhaoxue trembled all over.

"Exactly!" Wang Xian's eyes blazed with light.

"After smelting this material, combining its baleful-sha-absorbing property with the 'prime energy crystal wall' I mentioned, it will allow the prime energy crystal wall to absorb the baleful sha within the human body and store it in the meridians."

"Then, through martial techniques, release the baleful sha outward." Or store it in the meridians, gradually transforming them into divine meridians, Wang Xian added silently. This was the 'final step' he'd spoken of to Yan Tingxiao back then. The material! Nine Nether Dark Insects were indeed hard to find and hard to deal with. But Dragon Nation had many relics. This was certainly not the only place.

"Grandfather can be saved..." Yan Zhaoxue murmured.

"Alright, let's get out of here first," Wang Xian said.

"For now, we won't handle these eggs. Once we've dealt with the Cloud Demon Dragon remains outside and can leave, I'll collect the moltings of these Nine Nether Dark Insects." Yan Zhaoxue forcefully suppressed the excitement in her heart and made a sound of agreement. The two were about to withdraw from the pit. But at that moment, because the pit was small and already had two people lying in it, for a moment it became somewhat congested. Both moved at the same time and inevitably bumped into each other.

Face to face. Yan Zhaoxue was so close she could see every fine hair on the senior's cheek with perfect clarity. The breath exhaled from one side flowed into the air only to be inhaled by the other. In an instant, Yan Zhaoxue's entire body went numb. Her originally somewhat androgynous, heroically beautiful face immediately flushed red. Especially at their sides, pressed together smoothly. ➤ Next: Yan Zhaoxue: Senior, Could You… Hold Me?