The Birth Of The Unrivaled Ruler

8.

Suddenly, a piercing pain stabbed through his entire skeletal structure, causing his blood to violently boil.

"Pfft!"

Swoosh!

Yao Chen came to a swift realization—he had to immediately sever all the roots that were currently trying to siphon away his life energy essence. Forcing his pure, raw energy to erupt, he began to tear the roots away one by one.

Yet, for every single root he ripped out, his body secreted more of his Ancient God Blood, causing it to deplete further.

"If this continues... I only fear losing the remaining Ancient God Blood within my body. I will not just sit here and take this..."

A brilliant golden beam shot from Yao Chen's eyes. Just a second after burning a small fraction of his Ancient God Blood essence, his body felt completely flooded with rich Qi energy.

"SHATTER!"

BOOM! CRACK! CRACK!

Every single root binding his body shattered into pieces. Yao Chen immediately surged toward the surface of the lake, his gaze locking onto a specific direction.

"The Soul-Nourishing Lotus... A resource this rare naturally demands a hefty price to obtain. But..." His attention was suddenly diverted to dozens of cultivators who were glaring at him with pure animosity.

"Who is that youth? He rose from the depths of the lake..."

"Did he successfully bypass the trial to obtain the Soul-Nourishing Lotus?"

"Who cares who he is! That doesn't matter at all. Either way, the price of a Soul-Nourishing Lotus is absolutely astronomical... Quick, let's snatch it from his hands!"

One of the youths bellowed, causing Yao Chen's expression to instantly turn ice-cold.

"You want to steal the resource meant to resurrect Yin'er and restore a fraction of my Divine Soul? Hmph! In your dreams!"

Wooooosh!

The remaining waves of Grand Dao-level Qi energy rippled outward, heavily suppressing every movement of the young cultivators.

Instantly, their bodies felt as though an entire mountain had been dropped on top of them! They were frozen in place, unable to move, and could barely even speak!

"H-he..."

"J-just what is his true identity?"

Yao Chen swiftly stored the Soul-Nourishing Lotus inside his spatial ring. He cast a fleeting glance at the paralyzed cultivators, then blurred toward a different direction to tend to the wounds ravaging his body.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

"He's fleeing?! After him!"

Hearing their shouts, Yao Chen's face grew expressionless. A surge of killing intent welled up in his heart. However, he had no other choice right now but to prioritize healing his physical injuries.

After spending some time maneuvering past various skirmishes over god-knows-what resources, Yao Chen formulated a plan and locked his gaze onto a specific location.

A fairly potent demonic beast aura was radiating from inside a cave he had spotted.

"The safest place is often the most dangerous... Unquestionably, I need immediate recovery."

Moving like a streak of light, Yao Chen slipped past the ongoing battle between the cultivators and several giant black scorpions right in front of him.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

"Who dares to snatch an opportunity at a time like this?!" barked one of the youths, catching a glimpse of Yao Chen's blurred shadow entering the scorpions' den.

Inside the cave...

Yao Chen narrowed his eyes.

"These scorpion eggs contain an incredibly pure Yin energy... This will be highly beneficial for my cultivation." Taking a deep breath, Yao Chen quietly began to set up a killing formation at the cave's entrance.

Once everything was securely in place, he retrieved the Soul-Nourishing Lotus. The lotus possessed three petals. Yao Chen plucked one petal and swallowed it.

Wooooosh! Swoosh!

"Arghhh!" The sensation of remodeling a near-shattered Divine Soul erupted inside his body. Maintaining absolute focus, Yao Chen concentrated entirely on restoring his Divine Soul until ten minutes had passed. When his eyes finally snapped open, his pupils gleamed with a brilliant golden light.

"True to its name, this lotus is exceptionally potent for restoring a Divine Soul. However, a Divine Soul is fundamentally different from a ordinary soul spirit. A Divine Soul is only formed after one successfully ascends to the Divine Stage, whereas a soul spirit is something all cultivators possess from birth... Therefore, I have only managed to retain 0.01 out of one hundred percent of my original Divine Soul..." Yao Chen shook his head, shifting his gaze toward the thousands of scattered scorpion eggs.

Swoosh!

With a wave of his hand, hundreds of Grand Dao-tier beast soul pearls flew out of his spatial ring.

"Absorb..."

Swoosh!

Manifesting a spatial energy absorption formation, the newly created array instantly pulverized all the giant scorpion eggs, as well as the hundreds of soul pearls lying around, in a single blast of radiant light!

Wooooosh!

A protective barrier immediately materialized, sealing off and containing all the stray energy that threatened to be swept away by the wind inside the cave!

In the very next second, Yao Chen's body acted like a ravenous energy vortex. Countless invisible apertures began to absorb the overflowing energy swirling around his body at a logically impossible rate.

Swoosh! BOOM!

A terrifying fluctuation of energy erupted, causing the cave walls to tremble violently. This was immediately followed by the grand unraveling of a Four-Star Grand Dao cultivation aura.

Outside the cave...

"A Grand Dao aura..."

The young cultivators who were locked in combat with the giant scorpions chose to retreat immediately. They were fully aware that a Grand Dao cultivation level was an insurmountable peak for them!

"D-damn it... It looks like a powerful senior has beaten us to the punch..."

Left with no other alternative, they all backed away. Meanwhile, the two mating giant scorpions locked eyes.

With three eyes, two massive pincers, and a long stinger, the pair began to shift, appearing to communicate about the intruder who had dared to trespass into their den.

Grrrr!

Instinctively rushing back into their nest, the two scorpions braced themselves. They raised their heavy pincers to block a barrage of sword energy that suddenly shot out from the mouth of the cave.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

"Grrrrr!"

Inside the cave, Yao Chen realized that the parent scorpions had entered the nest. Yet, he calmly remained seated in his cultivation posture, casually waving his hand.

Wooooosh!

Instantly, the formation eye strengthened significantly. This prompted Yao Chen to release an even greater number of soul pearls than before.

Unleashing the spatial energy absorption formation once more, every single remaining scorpion egg inside the cave detonated! Everything transformed into a highly concentrated mist of energy, swirling rapidly around the defensive barrier that had manifested on its own.

"ABSORB!"

lBOOM!

Unwilling to let a single speck of the drifting energy go to waste, Yao Chen pushed his cultivation technique to its absolute limit. However, after thirty minutes of funneling all that energy into his body, his face twisted in disappointment.

"Despite such an immense amount of soul pearls and the rich Yin energy from these scorpion eggs... it failed to raise my cultivation level at all. This..."

Crack! BOOM!

Suddenly, the formation eye at the cave entrance shattered, coinciding with Yao Chen halting his technique.

"As it happens, I can vent my frustrations on the two of you..."

Swoosh!

Yao Chen blurred forward with blinding speed, striking both scorpions simultaneously.

BOOM! BOOM!

The two scorpions were blasted out of the cave, hurtling through the air until they crashed heavily into the trees behind them.

"Demonic beasts that have already reached the One-Star Grand Dao stage... yet their carapaces can withstand a Four-Star, perhaps even a Five-Star Grand Dao strike. I am quite intrigued by you two... If you submit to me, I will spare your lives."

Infuriated by the slaughter of their offspring, whose energy Yao Chen had entirely drained, the two scorpions lunged forward in unison, unleashing a coordinated stinger strike from their tails. Yet, Yao Chen did not budge a single inch from where he stood.

Until...

Swoosh!

Yao Chen moved like lightning. He pressed his hand against the forehead of the leading scorpion, extending his Divine Soul consciousness to trace the information he sought.

A few seconds later...

"Refusing to submit... equates to... death."

BOOM!

The eyes of the cultivators who had followed Yao Chen earlier widened in sheer horror. They knew exactly how indestructible the bodies of those two scorpions were, yet both had just been blown into a cloud of mist.

"H-he is not someone we can contend with... But the Sect Master desperately needs that Soul-Nourishing Lotus. Quickly, report this incident immediately!"