<h4>Chapter 719: Clearing the Path</h4>


    Xiao Chen understood something from what Ao Jiao said. He looked at the churningva and mentallymunicated to her, That means if I use just Vital Qi, it would be much more effective.


    Ao Jiao nodded and said, Yes, that is the case. However, you have to be careful. If you fall into theva, no matter how strong you are, you will not be able to reverse the situation. Furthermore, you have to be careful not to get burned by the Dragon mes.


    The loose cultivators behind him exchanged nces; then they sized up Xiao Chen with their eyes, looking at him with ill intentions. Clearly, they still had not given up on using Xiao Chen as a stepping stone.


    “Xiu!”


    Just as these loose cultivators hesitated over whether they should attack together and take down Xiao Chen, a whistle rang out. Xiao Chen charged ahead, riding an Azure Dragon image above theva.


    The loose cultivators eximed in surprise with strange expressions on their faces, “This fellow is too gutsy!”


    The Fire me Snakes swimming in theva five hundred meters in front sensed the aura of a living person and quickly shot out of theva, sshing copious amounts of molten rock.


    “Pu! Pu! Pu!”


    Several Fire me Snakesunched themselves at Xiao Chen in short order. Their hollow eyes glowed with fire in them. Then, they spewed out redva.


    Theva was scorching hot, burning the air until it crackled. A heatwave sted out.


    Standing on the Azure Dragon image, Xiao Chen calmly took out two shields. He held one in each hand and covered himself tightly.


    These shields were peak Medial Grade Secret Treasures. They were pretty effective, sessfully resisting theva. They just became incredibly hot. As Xiao Chen hid behind the shields, his hands hurt.


    After a while, the impacts against the shields ceased.


    Xiao Chen flung both his hands wide and circted his Vital Qi as he tossed out the two shields.


    “Bang!”


    The two shields carried considerable force as they spun in the air. Then, each of therge shields knocked down a Fire me Snake.


    The other Fire me Snakes coiled their bodies, then sprang their tails out at Xiao Chen, trying to pull him into theva.


    Xiao Chen’s face sank as he clenched his fist. Vital Qi surged throughout his body, gushing endlessly. His Qi and blood flourished to their peak.


    He circted his Vital Qi and executed the third move of the Dragon w Fist, Breaking Armor, to wee an iing Fire me Snake.


    A cone of Vital Qi formed over his fist, and Xiao Chen quickly sent out ten punches at the ten snake tails whipping towards him.


    “Bang! Bang! Bang!”


    Xiao Chen’s fist wind gave off thunderous sounds that propagated in all directions. The loud rumbles set the entire space atremble. Rocks dropped continuously from the ceiling of the cave. When these rocks hit theva, they instantly exploded into volcanic ash.


    A Fire me Snake’s body consisted of round Fire me Rocks in a chain. Each of Xiao Chen’s punchesnded on a Fire me Rock in each snake.


    An enormous force burst forth, and Xiao Chen shattered the resilient Fire me Rocks, which could withstand hotva.


    Ten Fire me Snakes spun around in the air and turned into discrete Fire me Rocks that fell into theva.


    Two more Fire me Snakes remained. Xiao Chen withdrew his fist and stood straight on the Azure Dragon image. Then, he stomped twice, directly kicking the heads of thest two Fire me Snakes.


    Using the rebound, Xiao Chen collected the two spinning shields in the air. Then, he shot forward like an arrow, heading forward.


    “What horrifying force! Fortunately, we did not attack him. Otherwise, we all would have ended up falling here.”


    “I wonder where this ferocious person came from. With such a horrifying physical body and a cultivation at peak Medial Grade Martial Monarch, even ate-stage Superior Grade Martial Monarch would not be able to subdue him easily.”


    “I think this white-robed cultivator is far from just that. Most likely, no one under half-Sage can deal with him.”


    The group of loose cultivators exchanged fearful nces after seeing this scene. Unexpectedly, these Fire me Snakes, which gave even half-Sages a headache, died so quickly at Xiao Chen’s hands.


    By relying on two shields and his one thousand tons of physical strength, Xiao Chen swept the way clear, shattering the Fire me Snakes that leaped up. Nothing could get in his way.


    Soon, Xiao Chen’s figure disappeared into the darkness. All he had to do now was dodge the attack of the Dragon mes; then he would clear this stage.


    The rocks above Xiao Chen’s head absorbed light—all the light from theva—leaving the ce shrouded in darkness. He had difficulty making out the churningva below.


    The defensive Medial Grade Secret Treasures were ineffective against the Dragon mes, so Xiao Chen put them away and rode the Azure Dragon image, flying forward carefully.


    Even if the Dragon mes, the mes of a True Dragon, were a hundred times diluted in theva, Xiao Chen’s Rank 1 Sage Body would be no different from an ordinary body against them. The moment he touched them, he would die.


    Xiao Chen could not see anything in the darkness; he could not anticipate the danger, prompting him to worry constantly. He focused himself and did not panic, quickly flying forward.


    A golden light appeared, shing by. The light was so piercing that Xiao Chen could not help but squint, leaving only a tiny slit.


    However, he did not move his body rashly because this Dragon me did not spew out from below him.


    “Boom! Boom! Boom!”


    The more Xiao Chen advanced, the more frequently the Dragon mes leaped out. Furthermore, the Dragon mes did not re with any set pattern. When the golden light flickered, it made one worry.


    If at this time, he moved recklessly and tried to dodge, there was a good chance he would run into the Dragon mes, instead.


    Xiao Chen focused and maintained his calm. On his path of cultivation, he had already surpassed most of his generation in mentality. He did not fluster.


    Suddenly, with a quick thought, Xiao Chen pushed off the Azure Dragon image. Then his body spun around and headed forward.


    “Pu ci!”


    A golden Dragon me instantly pierced the Azure Dragon image’s dragon head, right where Xiao Chen was earlier. In that instant, the Azure Dragon image made of Quintessence burned to nothing.


    “Xiu!” Xiao Chen stood in the air as another Dragon me shot up from below, brushing close by his nose and shoulder.


    He could distinctly feel the surging temperature at that moment.


    If he had used a little more force when he jumped earlier, he would have run into the Dragon me and burned to ashes.


    “That was close!”


    After this brush with death, Xiao Chen calmed himself down, resolving to be more careful. After an hour, he finally cleared the dark area andnded on the other side.


    When Xiao Chen looked back at that dark area, he felt some fear. In order to travel through that ce, one could notck strength, mentality, or luck.


    No wonder it could hold back the seven giants, proud sons of heaven, for so long.


    After crossing this area, Xiao Chen looked ahead. His vision now cleared up, and he could see well. A dense Immortal Spirit Energy surged over—Immortal Qi, which was purer than Spiritual Energy.


    At the limits of Xiao Chen’s vision, he could see the figures of several cultivators moving around. They were searching for the Spirit Herbs and precious ores found in a True Dragon Cave.


    Xiao Chen walked a kilometer forward and saw the corpses of a few cultivators. A bare scarlet tree stood beside these corpses; all the fruits of the tree were gone.


    Only this seemingly withered tree trunk, which did not have any obvious lifeforce, remained.


    Hey, this seems like the Spirit Tree that produces the Blood me Fruit. It is not dead yet. Xiao Chen, put it in. Your Immortal Spirit Ring can bring it back to health, Ao Jiao, who was caring for the Lunar Cassia Tree, said from within the world in the ring.


    Xiao Chen smiled and said, “It’s another tree that will take several hundred years to mature, right?”


    Even though he said that, he still did as Ao Jiao ordered. There was no danger here, and it would not take much time to dig out the Blood me Tree. So he had nothing much toin about.


    Ao Jiao said happily, Later, see if you can find the main trunk of a few other Spirit Trees. Not everyone has a peak grade Immortal Spirit Ring. If you are lucky, the Spirit Trees collected here might be a simple medicinal herb garden.


    Thunderstruck, Xiao Chen thought to himself, By the time that herb garden bes useful, a few hundred years would have passed already.


    The True Dragon Cave was indeed and of treasure. As Xiao Chen continued onwards, he ran into a few more Spirit Trees that were not avable outside.


    However, other cultivators had already picked all the fruits of these trees, leaving only bare branches. Since the tree held no interest to anyone else, Xiao Chen kept them all, cing them in the Immortal Spirit Ring.


    As time went by, the number of cultivators he saw increased. He slowly caught up to the main group.


    At this moment, Xiao Chen squinted slightly. Far in front, he discovered a familiar person—Ximen Bao of the Tianwu Domain’s Ximen n.


    Ximen Bao’s attire had not changed. However, he had subdued his arrogant attitude because the people around him were all strong.


    Aside from Ximen Bao, Xiao Chen also saw the top genius of the battle realms, Niu Deng, and a peakte-stage Superior Grade Martial Monarch loose cultivator.


    The three stood in a triangle, five hundred meters apart from one another. A plump and tender, fresh red fruit hung in the middle of the three. This fruit with its overwhelming Spiritual Energy looked very alluring.


    Several cultivators outside of the three’s encirclement also stared at that fresh red fruit, revealing greedy gazes.


    However, as three strong experts already eyed this fruit, the others could only watch. No one dared to try and snatch it away.


    “The Dragon Mark Fruit contains Dragon Might. It can increase a cultivator’s physical strength by one hundred and fifty tons of force. In this True Dragon Cave, it definitely ranks within the top twenty treasures.”


    “So what if it is valuable? Ximen Bao, Niu Deng, and Dan Tianyu, a loose cultivator ranked seventieth on the Evil Cultivator Ranking, already have their sights on it. We do not stand a chance at all.”


    The surrounding cultivators stared at the Dragon Mark Fruit and discussed in whispers. They all felt it was a pity.


    “I wonder, who of the three of them will be able to snatch the Dragon Mark Fruit? I feel that Ximen Bao has the highest chance. Hees from a n with a Martial Emperor and has a high cultivation. His strength is only weaker than the seven giants.”


    “It’s hard to say. Niu Deng is the top genius of the battle realms and lives up to that reputation. Before he came here, he pulled a draw with Feng Xingsheng.”


    “Dan Tianyu is the oldest here. His cultivation is very deep, and he cultivates a baleful aura as well. He would not be weaker than these two. It is really hard to say who will win.”


    Everyone was very interested in who would obtain the Dragon Mark Fruit in the end. They anticipated that it would not take much longer.


    These three people would erupt in an intense battle for this Dragon Mark Fruit, fighting to the end.


    Ximen Bao gazed at Niu Deng, then at Dan Tianyu. Finally, he said, “I advise you two to not fight me over this. If you offend me and cause my great-grandfather toe out, neither of you will have a good ending.”


    The stout Niu Deng smiled coldly when he heard this. “Ximen Bao, who are you trying to scare? Not to mention whether your great-grandfather would take action over this small matter, even if he did, do you think the seniors of our battle realms in the Martial God Pce would do nothing?”