Xue Wei was not the only one to be brutal and domineering to his enemies. Wang Xiaoyun was like a graceful breeze that swept through the mob of Primordial Beasts, causing fountains of blood to bloom everywhere she passed and leaving many of them severely wounded.
Hei Gou also threw himself into the fray. He felt no remorse battling Primordial Beasts. In fact, he felt great joy being able to fight other beasts, if only to test his strength.
Their objective was not simply to stall for time – it was best to end the trail cleanly to avoid attracting further variables.
But they were outnumbered ten to three. Even though they had overwhelming strength and held the upper hand, it was impossible to completely curb the chances of someone escaping.
So far, four experts had lost their lives, and six had received injuries of various degrees.
"Retreat and regroup later!" one of the unscathed beasts suddenly yelled out. "Spread out and flee in whatever direction you wish. We will gather at the same place as we entered the formation!"
After saying that, he turned around and made a beeline for the forest depths.
He was quick to realize that they had lost the high ground, and that victory came at a price he was not willing to pay.
"Stop them!" Xue Wei growled and accelerated. Afterimages appeared behind him as he rushed towards a target.
Arcane Fist!
A thousand palm imprints appeared in the sky, and each was a true blow. The wildly fleeing target suddenly felt an acute sense of danger. Before he could turn around, however, the thousand fist imprints blasted him away
The force of the impact ripped apart his insides, destroying every organ. It was a swift kill.
Xue Wei did not even check to see if he was dead. He picked a new target and rushed at him, this time even faster than last, like a wild beast.
Inner Might – Sword!
Windwolf Sword Slash!
The Windwolf Sword Slash tore its way towards the back of the person he was chasing.
Just as the attack was about to hit, the Primordial Beast barely rolled to the side and narrowly evaded the beam of sword energy, which swept through a tree and bisected it. A loud crash rumbled through the area as the two halves of the tree fell to the ground
"Not bad," Xue Wei snickered, his eyes glistening with battle lust. He was tunnel-visioning onto the individual in front of him, so Xue Wei inadvertently forgot about the rest for a second, lost in his animalistic mental state.
The killing intent within Xue Wei had fully been ignited. His eyes were red and bloodshot. His lips curled into a sinister smile that displayed a row of white teeth, and his arms and legs slowly morphed into draconic limbs completely naturally.
"Why are you doing this?!" Xue Wei’s next prey screamed out as he ran, but Xue Wei did not answer. He stomped hard on the ground and propelled himself forth like a projectile.
"You are one of us, you should not try to kill us!" the terrified beast in human form yelled out again as it ran away. But Xue Wei did not even register what he was saying.
Something inside him was growing rapidly., Had he been in a calm, rational state of mind, he would have seen how the small core in his midsection had begun to rotate around itself at unbelievably fast speeds.
His Qi had always been azure, but now the color was growing even denser. The Qi started to take the shape of small dragons that roared within his body.
From deep within, Xue Wei felt as if a beast was being unleashed. The killing intent and the bloodlust was growing stronger and stronger, until suddenly it peaked, and it felt like something opened up within him.
A loud roar pushed its way through his windpipe and escaped out from his lips. This was no ordinary roar, but a loud dragon roar that spread over the entire space covered by the formation.
The dragon roar was so imposing that no one could avoid trembling when they heard it. It mired their hearts in worry and fear.
This roar alone was enough to instill fear in every Primordial Beast in the area; it was also enough to cause Wang Xiaoyun to freeze in her tracks. Her brows furrowed and she looked in the direction from where the roar came from, but she shook her head and continued chasing down the Primordial Beast she was hunting after a bit of hesitation.
Xue Wei felt an unexplainable release after the roar. The bloodlust and killing intent no longer seemed to make him lose his mind, rather it felt like a living, breathing part of himself.
His temperament was no longer as it had been before, but he did not understand it. An incredible calm came over him.
When he examined himself, he found that his body had changed as well. Now, in his transformed state, he had wings and a tail to go with his arms and legs. His entire body seemed to have changed into a draconic shape while retaining human proportions.
He was not a real dragon just yet, more like a human with dragon scales all over, but he had a feeling that if he wished to become a real dragon, it was but a step away.
"Did I have a breakthrough in the Azure Dragon Scripture?" Xue Wei muttered to himself as he looked at his clenched hand in front of him.
"This is strange," he muttered. Then he lifted his head and saw that the beast he had been hunting was lying unconscious a short distance away.
The roar had been too close; a trail of blood from its ears, eyes, nose, and mouth could be seen. Looking at it, Xue Wei no longer felt the same urge to kill as he had previously. At the same time, he did not feel anything about the creature at all; it was as if killing it was something that could be done with no effort.
There was a newfound pride in Xue Wei's eyes as he looked at the beast in front of him. "A mere Primordial Beast dares to flee from me?" he muttered, but his eyes widened shortly afterwards. What was this feeling?
He sighed. Xue Wei could not get the pride and arrogance out of his mind. He felt a sense of superiority down to the bone when he looked at the Primordial Beast on the floor. It made him shake his head.
He had just overcome the uncontrollable killing intent and made it his own, but now it was superiority and pride? What was wrong with him? Why could he never be in full control of his body and mind?
After pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, Xue Wei stepped towards the unconscious Primordial Beast. He reached a hand out towards it and pinched its neck to lift it up, but something unexpected happened. The result shook him to the core. Its neck broke. His eyes went wide for the second time.
The Primordial Beast would never again wake up. Xue Wei sighed and reverted to his human shape. He withdrew the scales covering his body, only to see that his clothes had been completely shredded.
He was slightly annoyed when he saw this, as they had not been cheap, but at least he had bought a few pairs. He changed into a new set before he set out to meet up with Wang Xiaoyun and Hei Gou again.
The entire way over, Xue Wei stared blankly as he tried to make heads or tails of his new change. When he examined his Qi, he discovered the thousands of small, azure snake-like entities coursing through his meridians. When he looked at his core, it was many times shinier than it had been before, but a small crack could be seen on the surface, which greatly confused Xue Wei.
This was his dantian. What would happen if it cracked? If it cracked, would he not end up in a miserable state where he could not cultivate?
He started panicking slightly, but the crack became larger and larger, until finally the core broke into two.
Xue Wei held his breath, and was fearful. Was his cultivation base going to be wasted just like that? He was worried. However, instead of feeling that his cultivation base dissipated, he felt how the thousand of dragons within his meridians turned their heads upwards and roared as if greeting their sovereign.
From inside of the core, a dragon appeared. This was a beautiful infant Azure Dragon.
As soon as it hatched from the core, it blinked its beautiful golden dragon eyes before it curled around the shattered core and began eating it.
Its teeth were very strong, and it managed to gnaw through the edges easily and began eating the core.
Xue Wei felt that energy ripples continued to be pushed out from the dragon, energy ripples containing Qi. Somehow, the heaven and earth essence was now being refined into Qi much faster than before.
He opened his hand and thought about the Azure Dragon Spirit. Suddenly, it was there, laying on his hand. It was currently only a palm-sized spirit, but it lay there and nibbled away at the core that it held with its front legs. Xue Wei’s expression was a little blank, in a confused way.
"What a strange little fellow," Xue Wei muttered as he looked at the spirit. He seemed to be able to understand its mood, but he had no way to directly communicate with it.
He gently lifted a hand and rubbed the dragon’s head, which then started purring like a little cat. However, though he could feel how it relaxed a lot, it still ate away at the core with the same intense appetite.
"Let us put you back," Xue Wei grinned. It only took a thought to put the dragon back into his dantian.
"So this is a mutation because of the Azure Dragon Scripture?" Xue Wei was confused. So many things had happened to him today that he could not entirely comprehend it, but he understood that he had no other choice than to accept the changes that were happening in his body. At the same time, he could not help but feel anticipation.
The Azure Dragon Scripture was something left behind from an ancient clan, so it was definitely not a simple thing. The changes it made to his body was making him eager to learn more.
Xue Wei was still in deep thought when he caught sight of Hei Gou and Wang Xiaoyun. "What was that roar? Did you do it??" Wang Xiaoyun was the first to speak, looking at him with skeptical eyes that held a touch of dread inside.
"I reached a new level in my Azure Dragon Scripture," Xue Wei nodded his head. "The breakthrough was so intense it made me roar"
"That was frightening!" Hei Gou said with a snicker on his lips. He was clearly approving of Xue Wei’s achievement. The strength he sensed from that roar alone had made him feel abject fear, so he could not help but feel grateful that they were on the same side.
"Did you catch them all?" Xue Wei could sense that there was something wrong with Wang Xiaoyun, but he had a feeling that it was best to change the subject.
"All dead," Hei Gou answered with a smile and a nod. Wang Xiaoyun said nothing but she nodded her head. Xue Wei was satisfied.
"Let us return to Tianyi, then."