Chapter 16: Anomalies

Time passed.

On the outskirts of Perching Cloud Mountain, dark clouds gathered along the horizon, as though brewing a torrential downpour.

During the rainy season, it was like this almost every day.

Of course, the martial artists who dared to come and hunt demon beasts were at least at the fourth realm of martial cultivation. A little rain would not greatly affect their combat strength.

However, the rain would wash away the traces left by the demon beasts and interfere with the transmission of signals.

It had some effect, at least.

Yet after so many days, the demon beasts had still made no counterattack, and the martial artists stationed at many strongholds had gradually let down their guard.

Deep in the mountains, the howls of demon beasts rang out without cease. Countless battles were being fought within.

Wan Qing wielded his sword alone, grinding away at a fifth-realm demon beast for some time before finally cutting it down.

“Whew!”

Slaying a fifth-realm demon beast while possessing only fourth-realm strength had not exhausted Wan Qing in the slightest. He had done so rather easily. Yet there was little joy on his face.

“I heard that over the past few days, someone personally witnessed Chen Fan effortlessly kill a sixth-realm demon beast. This isn’t the Myriad Manifestations Void Realm, where one can charge recklessly without regard for the consequences. His strength truly is formidable.”

Among human martial artists, there were naturally prodigies. Among demon beasts, there were likewise creatures of exceptional power.

Beside him, in addition to Wan Tianbao, who was usually at his side, stood another young man who was constantly fiddling with the jade flute in his hand. He smiled and said, “For Chen Fan to rank among the top three hundred and kill an ordinary sixth-realm demon beast is only to be expected.”

This man had the calmest and most relaxed bearing of them all. He seemed not to take hunting demon beasts seriously in the slightest, and even when judging Chen Fan, he did so from a position of condescension.

Wan Qing drew a deep breath and looked toward the depths of the mountain forest. “He is at the fifth realm of martial cultivation and even obtained an opportunity to comprehend the Dao. It would be strange if his strength had not improved tremendously... Let’s continue deeper in.”

Wan Tianbao gave a bitter smile. “Brother Qing, we can’t rush in recklessly. The demon beasts are all hiding in the mountains. If we go any farther, we’ll lose contact with the others...”

Wan Qing waved a hand dismissively. “With Brother Yun Tian here, what are you afraid of?”

Wan Yuntian raised his head and smiled faintly.

“Don’t worry. Among the people at this stronghold, my strength ranks within the top ten. Killing an ordinary sixth-realm demon beast is as easy as slaughtering a chicken. As for seventh-realm beasts, how many could there be in this entire mountain range? They are all hidden deep within the mountains. What are the odds that we would happen to encounter one?”

The young man wore the insignia of a disciple of Bright Moon Pavilion, and his expression was full of confidence.

At that moment, from every direction of the mountain range and through every entrance, martial academy disciples and military experts from different strongholds were advancing and slaughtering demon beasts.

There might have been many demon beasts, but how could their numbers compare with those of the experts who had come to exterminate them?

Every stronghold had martial artists at the Grandmaster realm guarding it. Naturally, seventh-realm demon beasts did not dare to show themselves recklessly.

But among humans there were both ordinary people and prodigies, and the same was true of demon beasts. Some sixth-realm demon beasts were extraordinarily powerful, standing only a step away from the seventh realm.

...

At the edge of the mountain forest, a young man stood facing several dozen savage and terrifying demon beasts.

Whoosh!

“Jade Rainbow Pierces the Sun!”

Streaks of sword light shot from his body. More than a dozen sword qi blades slashed forth, blotting out the sky and covering the earth.

The surrounding demon beasts shrieked and howled. One after another, they collapsed into corpses strewn across the ground.

Chen Fan sheathed his sword and shook his head slightly.

This was a new sword technique he had developed after cultivating the Three-Foot Sword to the stage of microscopic mastery, designed specifically for attacking groups.

It corresponded to the Three-Foot Sword’s single-target secret art, “Sword Qi Devours Heaven.”

Yet it was still far from complete. Although its effects appeared impressive, they were nowhere near Chen Fan’s standards.

It was not because the overcast sky prevented him from seeing the sun and hindered his technique from breaking through. The problem was simply that Chen Fan’s skill was not yet sufficient.

These demon beasts were limited in strength. The strongest among the dozen or so had been no more than at the fifth realm, so they had died the moment his attack touched them.

Over the past few days, the sword in Chen Fan’s hand had been stained with the blood of more than a hundred demon beasts. Yet his Three-Foot Sword was still a thread away from reaching unity.

“The combined gains from killing all these demon beasts are still inferior to the progress I made from that single demon fox.”

Chen Fan shook his head. Then he suddenly turned around and saw a flash of blue smoke rising along the western horizon.

That place was already deep within the mountain forest...

“Another martial academy disciple is calling for help? Weren’t they told not to venture too deeply into the forest? Those idiots are far too careless.”

He frowned. After a moment’s hesitation, he still stepped forward, transforming into a streak of lightning as he sped toward the direction from which the signal flare had been launched.

After traveling for the time it took to drink a cup of tea, he encountered more and more demon beasts the deeper he went.

The mountains were far more dangerous than the plains. The terrain was more complicated, and more demon beasts lurked in concealment.

“Something’s wrong. Why are there so many more demon beasts on the outskirts of Perching Cloud Mountain?”

Without stopping for even an instant, he used his movement technique to bypass the demon beasts and continued toward the direction of the signal flare.

Before he could arrive, another blue signal flare rose in the same direction.

Chen Fan frowned and rushed over. From far away, he heard the brutal sounds of battle, while the air carried a heavy stench of blood.

Lightning flashed. In the blink of an eye, Chen Fan’s figure pierced through layer upon layer of vegetation and arrived at the site of the fighting.

Seven or eight bodies lay silently upon the ground. Their flesh was mangled, and the stark white of their bones showed through in many places.

In the distance, two disciples were battling a bear demon nearly two rods tall.

Chen Fan’s gaze swept over the mutilated bodies before him, and his expression changed abruptly. On one of them, he saw the identification token belonging to a disciple of Bright Moon Pavilion.

“Chen Fan!”

One of the young men fighting the bear demon in the distance saw Chen Fan. His expression became complicated, and he called out his name.

The two men were none other than Wan Qing and Wan Tianbao.

Both of them were in an extremely sorry state, and it seemed they were about to be crushed to death by the bear demon.

Chen Fan frowned and glanced at them. Instead of immediately rushing over to save them, he tightened his grip on his sword and scanned the surrounding area.

Most disciples of Bright Moon Pavilion were prodigies at the sixth realm or above. Although not every one of them could kill a sixth-realm demon beast, they should have had no trouble facing one head-on.

Chen Fan had traveled at astonishing speed and had arrived in less than the time it took to burn a stick of incense. Even a sixth-realm demon beast at its peak would not have found it easy to kill the weakest disciple of Bright Moon Pavilion.

The only demon beast nearby was the bear demon. Standing upright, it was no more than two rods tall. Although formidable among sixth-realm demon beasts, it absolutely could not have killed a disciple of Bright Moon Pavilion so quickly.

At that moment, Wan Tianbao, who was confronting the bear demon, suddenly saw his eyes change. He spat out blood and turned his head.

“Chen Fan, save us!”

Chen Fan continued to frown.

So many people had died on the ground, including a disciple of Bright Moon Pavilion. Yet these two men, whose strength was merely average, had survived until now...

Arcs of electricity flickered around him and slowly spread outward.

Then a sharp crack rang out in the air beside him.

Chen Fan’s expression changed. He abruptly turned around.

Whoosh!

Lightning flashed around his body as he swung his sword.

Black sword qi tore through the air and spread into the void.

A cracking sound rang out. A large quantity of purplish-red liquid suddenly appeared from nowhere, and a massive lizard-like demon beast abruptly emerged from thin air. The tip of its tongue had already been sliced away by Chen Fan’s sword qi.

“A demon beast with the ability to become invisible!”

The lizard demon was only one rod tall, but its body stretched three or four rods in length. Its entire frame was even larger than the sixth-realm black bear Chen Fan had killed in Flying Spirit County. Its vital energy and blood surged powerfully.

It was a peak sixth-realm demon beast.

A peak sixth-realm demon beast that also possessed special abilities of invisibility and aura concealment. No wonder it had been able to kill the disciples of Bright Moon Pavilion so quickly.

Such demon beasts were almost on the verge of transforming into the seventh realm. They already possessed extraordinary abilities and were more than ten times stronger than ordinary sixth-realm demon beasts.

“This is only the outskirts of Perching Cloud Mountain. How could a demon beast of this level be roaming here?”

After slashing the demon beast out of the void, Chen Fan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

His Origin Core erupted abruptly. His body shot forward like a bolt of lightning loosed from a bowstring, while arcs of electricity flickered across the black sword in his hand.

He brought the sword down in a single stroke.

“Sword Qi Devours Heaven!”