<h4>Chapter 573 - Eighteen Divine Dragons</h4>


    They had tried three times so far, but neither of them had managed to make it to the end. They wanted to give up but felt slightly consoled when they saw that Huangfu Fengchen and Long Yue hadn’t attempted to cross the sr fire again.


    No oneughed at anyone since no one had obtained the Red Emperor Seal. They would’ve felt frustrated if either Long Yue or Huangfu Fengchen got their hands on it.


    But little did they know that they were the real losers here.


    Still, they understood that Long Chen had to reach the Earthly Martial Realm in order to leave this ce. While the Demon Emperor and the Martial Emperor were recovering their Qi, they also mocked Long Chen at the same time.


    The Demon Emperor thought he knew all about Long Chen and mocked him ruthlessly. “What are you cultivating for? If it wasn’t for the Emperor me Pearl, you would be the weakest of the weak. You only reached the Ninth Passage Stage because of it. With your potential, you will probably take ten years to reach the Earthly Martial Realm.”


    Yang Ningfeng said, “Ten years? This ce will copse by then. No one can survive here for ten years. I doubt that any of us could reach the Fourth Earthly Martial Stage within ten years without any lucky encounters. I think we have to give up on it.”


    “Brother Yang, do you want to give up?”


    “I thought you were thinking the same, Brother Jiang.”


    They knew that no one here could obtain it. The Demon Emperor had to go back to the Ancient Demon Domain as thousands of people were waiting for his leadership. The ce would crumble within years if he didn’t go back. The Demon Emperor was worried that years of hard work would be undone.


    The Martial Emperor was in the same spot. He was one of the three Martial Emperors. If he spent several years here, his position would be forfeit by the time he left.


    “I will try onest time. If I fail again, I will leave,” Jiang Wuxie dered.


    They made onest attempt, and they failed again. They could not reach where the Red Emperor Seal was without killing themselves. To them, it was impossible to obtain it alive.


    “Long Yue, Huangfu Fengchen, you can stay here and wait for him to be an Earthly Martial Realm cultivator. Make sure toe out in a few years. I won’t be apanying you anymore.” The Demon Emperor chuckled.


    “I don’t think we can do anything if Huangfu Fengchen decides not to take care of his family’s safety.” Yang Ningfengughed too.


    If Huangfu Fengchen did not exit soon, then something would really happen to his family. Unfortunately, even though the Huangfu family and the Ancient Demon Domain were in an alliance with the Martial Alliance on surface, the truth was far from that.


    Without Huangfu Fengchen, the entire Huangfu family would be absorbed into the Martial Alliance, just like Yang Ningfeng’s Wind God Sect was.


    Jiang Wuxie and Yang Ningfeng looked at each other before leaving the ce using the Mini Teleporters.


    Long Yue and Huangfu Fengchen didn’t even react to their threats. The Demon Emperor and the Martial Emperor had been so busy trying to obtain the Red Emperor Seal that neither of them had noticed Long Chen’s improvements. If they had, they wouldn’t have said that Long Chen would only advance in ten years.


    In fact, Long Chen would only need three days.


    Once the Demon Emperor and the Martial Emperor had left, Long Chen focused on his cultivation. With Long Yue and Huangfu Fengchen showing him their respective worlds, he improved at a rapid pace. He took in the best of both worlds to form his own.


    Long Chen lost himself in his cultivation and felt himself getting connected to the earth. He improved every time he practiced. Three days passed, and the rate of Long Chen’s improvement surpassed both Long Yue and Huangfu Fengchen’s expectations.


    It was currently the fifth day.


    “The pulse of the earth ...”


    Even though he was standing on the heart of the earth, Long Chen could not feel its pulse. This was one of the most important steps in the process to enter the Earthly Martial Realm. Only when he could use his fist to channel the power of the earth in order to obtain more strength would he seed in finally forming the Martial Soul in his sea of consciousness.


    But the final step was the most difficult.


    <i>How can I feel the pulse of the earth? </i>Long Chen was lost in thought.


    <i>No, I shouldn’t be hasty when I’m this close to seeding. If I immerse myself in cultivation, I should eventually seed. </i>He soon found the way to break through the bottleneck.


    He had both form and essence. He was essentially at the level of Long Yue and Huangfu Fengchen right now in terms of the Earthly Martial Realm Fist. He had Long Yue’s might and speed as well as Huangfu Fengchen’s gracefulness.


    <i>Most people live on the earth throughout their entire lives. The earth is the foundation for us. Doesn’t that mean I’m already connected to it?</i>


    The pulse of the earth had to be learned through experience.


    The slow drum of the earth started to resonate inside of Long Chen.


    <i>This is how it feels ...</i>


    Long Chen punched.


    Through his hard work, he slowly got closer and closer to perfecting the timing. The pulse of the earth no longer restricted how he punched. Long Chen felt like his legs were rooted to the ground as he absorbed the strength of the earth to grow.


    After some time, one of Long Chen’s punches resulted in arge <i>bang</i>. His cultivation waspleted.


    The yellow Earthly Qi surged upwards from his legs and covered his body. He was now encased in arge, yellow cocoon formed by an unlimited amount of Earthly Qi.


    Long Yue and Huangfu Fengchen bothughed.


    They knew that Long Chen was just one step away from making a breakthrough.


    “He said he would finish it in ten days, but he did it in five. This guy ...” Long Yue smiled in satisfaction.


    “Oh ho, the rumored icy princess is smiling. You have such a beautiful smile too. It’s a waste that you are usually frowning.” Huangfu Fengchen teased her.


    Long Yue’s smile froze and she frowned again. She red at Huangfu Fengchen before looking at Long Chen.


    Huangfu Fengchen chuckled and stared at Long Chen too.


    The two of them were pr opposites. Long Yue rarely smiled, while Huangfu Fengchen smiled all the time.


    Long Chen was now at the final and most critical stage.


    <i>I havepleted the cultivation of the Earthly Martial Realm. The only thing left to do is to let the Earthly Qi enter my body. It will transform my starry rivers into martial veins, my nine meridian points into Martial Meridians, and then turn my Qi into essence. Only then will my Martial Soul be born.</i>


    Thanks to their guidance, Long Chen had a good idea of what was going to happen next.


    An unlimited amount of Earthly Qi surged into his body, and the cocoon became a maelstrom. It absorbed all of the Earthly Qi and channeled it into Long Chen’s body.


    Long Chen was drowned in the sea of Earthly Qi.


    <i>It’s starting ...</i>


    The Earthly Qi entered his body and soon came into contact with his Dragon Soul Qi. He quickly transformed at the same time.


    The two energies shed but merged harmoniously. The blood-red Qi merged with the Earthly Qi, transforming it from yellow to red. It became the basis of Long Chen’s strength.


    The gaseous Dragon Soul Qi slowly changed into a liquid as it flowed through Long Chen’s eighteen heavenly rivers and nine meridian points.


    The overwhelming power soon surpassed what his heavenly rivers and meridian points could handle.


    Long Chen started to feel it going out of control.


    His Dragon Soul Qi continued to flow through his body. Thanks to an invisible force, his starry rivers quickly transformed into thick Martial Veins. The egg-sized meridian points soon expanded to the size of a fist, bing stronger and sturdier than before.


    But this change could not be seen from the outside.


    Nine Martial Meridians and eighteen Martial Veins. Due to the constant flow of the Dragon Soul Qi, both of them becamerger and sturdier than ever before. But as they continued to grow, an unexpected change started to take ce.


    Long Chen’s Martial Veins were covered in faint dragon scales. They even had the faint markings of a dragon’s head, tail, and whiskers. Each of his Martial Veins was like a red dragon coiling around his body,


    His Martial Veins became eighteen Divine Dragons that coiled around his body.


    All of this was due to the influence of the Dragon Soul Qi.


    Long Chen was stunned because he had never expected something like this to happen. He had a strange feeling that his Martial Veins were stronger than those of other people, and this would bring him even more benefits than he had thought.


    His Martial Veins would sustain him throughout the entire three realms of the Martial Realms. The Three Martial Realms were divided into twenty-seven stages, and advancing through each stage would be significantly harder than advancing during the Four Basic Realms.


    It would also take him a lot of time.


    If Long Chen could not advance past the Divine Martial Realm, the eighteen Divine Dragons would live inside his body forever.


    But so far, this was the only unexpected change that had urred.


    The final step was forming the Martial Soul.