Chapter 663: Third Earthly Martial Realm
The Martial Overlord was dead, and Zhao Danchen had replaced him. More importantly, Lady Xuan had joined the battle. Even though Long Shan was willing to help Long Chen, it would be difficult to obtain the Ancient Token. However, Long Chen had no choice but to fight for it, because the Ancient Token was worth more than his life.
The Ancient Token was his only ticket to meet Ling Xi again.
If he didn’t get it this time, he would have to wait ten years or more. Ling Xi couldn’t wait for him that long.
How was her life at the Swordsoul Palace?
How strong was the Swordsoul Palace?
All of this remained a mystery to Long Chen.
He could only fight to the death for her!
He had to continue cultivating! Cultivating at the Martial Realms was not as simple as the Basic Realms, where all he needed to do was devour the blood essence of his enemies. Long Chen had increased his strength with utmost ease in the past, and now he finally realized how difficult it was to progress through the Martial Realms. He now understood how others stagnated for years or for their entire lives now that even he felt like his progress was slow.
His heavenly meridian point was located within his sea of consciousness, granting him better insight than anyone.He finally broke through the final barrier and entered the Third Earthly Martial Realm after he incorporated the insight he had obtained from observing the fights of others and from Long Yue’s guidance. His own battle against Lady Xuan had also contributed a lot.
Xiaolang slowed down after he sensed a slight change in Long Chen. Just then, Long Chen dropped to the ground with his eyes closed and started practicing the third stage of the Earthly Martial Fist.
Long Chen felt himself connected to the ground, and his veins became the veins of the earth. The veins beat in sync as if they were one and the same. His every movement was in sync with the earth.
“Ha!”
Long Chen was covered in yellow sand. The yellow sand somehow had a life of its own as it danced around Long Chen rhythmically.
The yellow sand soon became a tornado that engulfed Long Chen, and earthly Qi surged into him. There wasn’t much earthly Qi in the area, but thanks to Long Chen’s breakthrough, all the earthly Qi within the radius of a single Li converged on him and entered his body. He absorbed it all and transformed it into his Dragon Soul Essence.
Due to the earthly Qi, the ground around the area started to shine and glimmer. The very earth itself transformed into crystals!
Xiaolang was shocked when he saw that.
In the middle of Long Chen’s sea of consciousness, the Dragon Jade Pendant was floating just below his Martial Soul, controlling the Inherited Blood Essence of the Ancient Bloodsoul Dragon beneath it. Long Chen’s Martial Soul became clearer after his understanding of his own martial arts deepened. He was now at the Third Earthly Martial Realm.
A dragon-shaped Martial Soul has never been seen or heard of in the Dragon Continent. Even though there were other Dragon Warriors out there, none of them had a dragon-shaped Martial Soul. Long Chen’s Inherited Blood Essence of an Ancestor Dragon was unique and powerful!
The Ancestor Dragons were beings far above the other dragons. As legendary beings, dragons left behind their Inherited Blood Essence, which survived long after they had been exterminated. For example, Long Yue’s ancestor had obtained the inherited blood essence of the lowest class of dragons, the Red Dragons.
There was also Wang Chen, the person destined to be Long Chen’s strongest enemy in the future. He had never seen him before, but he was already feeling the pressure.
Dragon Warriors were rare even in the Three Emperor Territory. Long Chen was confident that even Wang Chen did not have the Inherited Blood Essence of an Ancestor Dragon!
Only Long Chen was destined to get one.
After Long Chen’s Martial Soul became more solid, he could use it to control even more essence and turn it into his strength. The earthly Qi entered his body and made its way into his Martial Veins, where it met his Dragon Soul Essence. Thanks to his unique constitution, a hundred portions of earthly Qi would only be transformed into a single portion of Dragon Soul Essence. Endless amounts of earthly Qi entered his body to increase his essence until he had ten times more than before!
Long Chen finally had as much essence as a Third Earthly Martial Stage cultivator.
He could now fight against those at the Fourth Earth Martial Stage!
Long Chen had never expected to break through like this after he decided to go to the Immortal Sea. He initially held the belief that he would die there, but his breakthrough would allow him to challenge the Heavenly Phoenix!
The sandstorm stopped surrounding him.
Long Chen opened his eyes, and two blood-red lights shot out of them.
Long Chen was filled with strength. Even Xiaolang, who was at the same cultivation level as him, felt wary. Long Chen’s source of strength was not only his essence, but also an invisible form of oppression coming from his Martial Soul.
The Martial Soul was the foundation of the Earthly Martial Realm!
Only by increasing the strength of one’s Martial Soul could one increase their strength!
“Big Brother, did you succeed?” Xiaolang was in awe.
He also thought that they were going to fight a losing battle, but now they had a fighting chance.
Long Chen was now strong enough to fight against Zhao Danchen’s Ancient Demon Corpse and Lady Xuan!
His strength has finally reached the peak of the Divine Martial Empire. Even Long Shan would lose to Long Chen if he couldn’t recover his Fifth Earthly Martial Stage strength.
Long Chen smiled and nodded.
His plan to go to the Immortal Sea didn’t seem crazy anymore.
“Xiaolang, let’s go. We will fight together!” Long Chen didn’t have to transform to match Xiaolang’s speed this time.
Xiaolang nodded excitedly.
“Our destination: the Immortal Sea!”
The two of them felt more relaxed after Long Chen became stronger.
But they were still wary of the Heavenly Phoenix. It was by no means easy to kill, considering how long it had reigned supreme at the Immortal Sea.
Even Zhao Wuji would not have gone to the Sky Isle without a good reason. Anyone traversing that area would be locked in a bitter battle if they were discovered by the Heavenly Phoenix.
After four days and four nights, the two of them finally reached their destination.
There was nothing there except for an entire plain of grass.
There was grass everywhere. The grass grew to their knees and obstructed Long Chen’s vision.
But the grass was dull and sickly-looking.
It was all because of the sky. Long Chen raised his head and saw nothing but a massive sea of clouds. Except for the clouds and white mist, there was nothing else in the field.
Sounds of bird cries came from within the clouds.
The only ones capable of living in the clouds were bird-type demonic beasts.
“Xiaolang, you can enter the Primordial Realm while I infiltrate the place. Once I find the Heavenly Phoenix, you can come out and help me defeat it!”
Xiaolang didn’t have much combat strength in his human form, but his beast form was too conspicuous to be sneaking around. He nodded and followed Long Chen’s plan.
He had faith that Long Chen could do it!
After Xiaolang entered the Primordial Realm, Long Chen took a deep breath and flew into the sky. He plunged headfirst into the clouds and mist.
Visibility was poor in the mist, and everything turned white around him. Long Chen felt like he was swimming in the ocean, though the resistance here was weaker than underwater.
There was nothing but white clouds and mist in sight.
Long Chen’s control of his breath and essence was exceptional at this point. He carefully controlled his breath and reduced his presence to be as weak as possible to prevent the beasts from finding him. He also used Sight to navigate around the area and avoid any beasts he saw. While there were plenty of bird-type demonic beasts around, none of them spotted him.
Long Chen wasn’t afraid of them, but it would be a headache to fight against them before he reached the Sky Isle.
The Heavenly Phoenix excelled in aerial battles, while Long Chen didn’t. Both his and Xiaolang’s strength would be reduced if they fought in the air. They could only use their full strength on the ground.
Since they could not attract the Heavenly Phoenix down to the ground, Long Chen had no choice but to go to the Sky Isle himself. Thankfully, there were some floating rocks up there that would make it easier for him to fight. Also, the Sky Isle was the home of the Heavenly Phoenix, meaning that was where it would go if it was injured. Therefore, it had nowhere else to run.
Before heading to the Immortal Sea, Long Chen had contacted the people from Red Souls in a nearby town to ask about the location of the Sky Isle. The Immortal Sea was the most mysterious place in the Divine Martial Empire, but thankfully, the Red Souls had information about it. They gave Long Chen a map and showed him the direction of the Sky Isle.
The scent of demonic beasts became thicker in front of him.
There were thousands of them!