Boundless mountains stretched far into the horizon and high into the sky. Rivers cut through them, winding through the land. The occasional roar of a Magical Beast sent birds flying in flocks.

A man and a woman were standing at the peak of a tall mountain. They were Long Chen and Meng Qi.

Long Chen looked at the map in his hands in accordance with the terrain below. “Once we’re past the river ahead of us, there should be many Magical Beasts around. The Elder Hall Master said that there was some special ore underground that creates a magnetic field here, and it is very helpful to a Magical Beast’s cultivation. This place is like a natural Spirit Gathering Formation for Magical Beasts. So despite there being countless battles between them, they still stay here. And more surrounding Magical Beasts are constantly drawn over, wanting to occupy some territory here.”

“That’s similar to us. Didn’t we also charge our way into the Central Plains in hopes of establishing a foothold?” laughed Meng Qi.

“Your comparison really is accurate. In truth, when it comes to the weak being prey to the strong, the human cultivator world is much crueler than the Magical Beast world. Although the battles between Magical Beasts are bloody and berserk, the danger can be seen on the surface, and there’s still a chance to hide. But human cultivators scheme, killing people silently. Many people don’t even realize how they died even as it happens. So the struggle of Magical Beasts is always open, and Magical Beasts that form packs never betray each other. As for humans? Hehe, betrayal is a common occurrence.” Long Chen couldn’t help but sigh emotionally. “Come on, let’s go.”

Long Chen pulled Meng Qi’s hand as they slowly flew ahead. As they crossed over the wide river, Meng Qi couldn’t help but reminisce. “Last time in the Spirit World, you led me into the stomach of a fish to escape a calamity. I wonder if this time we’ll be even more miserable.”

Thinking of their time in the Spirit World, both of their hearts warmed. Sometimes, memories were the most precious wealth.

“Last time was just an accident. It definitely won’t happen again.” Long Chen patted his chest confidently.

BOOM!

Just as he had spoken, waves exploded out of the river below. A large mouth shot toward the two of them.

It was a three-thousand-meter fish. It had a thin body like a ribbonfish, and its mouth was filled with sharp teeth. From its aura, it should be a mid eighth rank Magical Beast.

Long Chen pointed a finger and a lightning arrow pierced its head. It instantly died.

“How about I treat you to some roast fish?” Long Chen smiled.

Meng Qi hastily shook her head. “No, this Ghost Toothed Eel eats rotting Magical Beasts. It only eats rotten flesh, so its own flesh is disgusting too.”

“Ah, is that so? Gross.” Long Chen directly tossed it into the primal chaos space, allowing the black soil to devour it.

The primal chaos space had expanded after he had advanced to Foundation Forging. He had filled it with the seeds of Iron Spruce Oaks, but right now, they had only grown to around thirty meters.

The old Iron Spruce Oaks hadn’t even reached their peak yet, but he had planted so many more. Their growth was exceedingly slow now, but he was helpless to do anything about it.

To make them grow faster would require mountains of Magical Beast corpses, and high ranking ones at that. Magical Beast corpses below the seventh rank were essentially ineffective.

“How curious. Why would this idiot fish want to eat us? To its huge body, we aren’t even two sesame seeds,” wondered Long Chen.

“That’s not it. Magical Beasts are all territorial. As long as they feel like they are threatened, they will think that the invaders came to take their territory, so they’ll naturally attack. It wasn’t because of hunger,” explained Meng Qi.

A loud roar echoed as Long Chen and Meng Qi reached the other side of the river. From the darkness of the forest, a huge flaming wolf pounced on them.

“Scram!”

Long Chen kicked the eighth rank wolf away. Its huge body tumbled through the forest. Terrified of Long Chen, it knelt in the distance, baring its teeth toward Long Chen, warning him.

“Is it because of Little Snow?” asked Meng Qi quietly.

“Yes. I just can’t be emotionless toward wolf-type Magical Beasts,” sighed Long Chen.

Meng Qi held his hand. She worriedly asked, “Can Little Snow really be revived?”

Both Meng Qi and Long Chen had deep feelings toward Little Snow. To them, Little Snow was no different than family.

Meng Qi had personally witnessed Little Snow being struck by the Yama King Blood Curse. That Yama King Blood Curse was an extremely vile art. Anyone struck would definitely die.

“Don’t worry, Little Snow will definitely be revived. The soul will be the same, but the body will be different,” said Long Chen.

“Then why don’t we find a ninth rank wolf Magical Beast? We can erase its soul and allow Little Snow to revive,” said Meng Qi.

Long Chen shook his head. “No, ninth rank would be too low. Even tenth rank is too low. Little Snow only has one chance to be reborn. If it was just a ninth rank Magical Beast, the same old play would repeat again. If he can’t keep up with me, he still wouldn’t be happy after being revived. He has his own pride and would rather die alongside me. So the body I find for Little snow must be powerful, and it must be able to grow to the peak of the martial path with me.”

Suffering that pain once was enough. So Long Chen couldn’t revive Little Snow right now. He had to find a stronger body.

“Then should we subdue the flame wolf?” probed Meng Qi.

“What? To make up for the void in my heart?” laughed Long Chen. “Little Snow is always by my side, so there’s no need for that. Furthermore, this flame wolf is too weak.”

Meng Qi smiled. The two of them continued. They found that as they went deeper, the Magical Beasts grew fiercer, and the two of them were attacked multiple times.

However, they were all eighth rank Magical Beasts. They were all killed by Long Chen and tossed into the primal chaos space as nutrients.

“They’re so packed together that there’s no buffer room between them at all.” Long Chen found that as soon as they left one Magical Beast’s territory, they received an attack from another Magical Beast.

Each of the eighth rank Magical Beasts only had a territory of a hundred miles. That was a far cry from the hundreds or thousands of miles of territory that they normally had.

As the two of them crossed a mountain, a rumbling rang out. A huge black scorpion charged at the two of them.

“Finally, a ninth rank Magical Beast.” Long Chen was delighted, and he was already charging out. The black scorpion slammed one of its pincers at him.

BOOM!

Long Chen received its attack with his fist. Long Chen felt his arm tremble and he shot back, while the black scorpion was smashed into the ground.

“Within the same realm, armored Magical Beasts have the greatest power. This power is enough.” Long Chen shook his slightly numb hand and smiled.

The huge scorpion once more charged at Long Chen. This time, both its pincers were at the front, and it was like a chariot trying to smash him to death.

“Then let’s see just whose power is greater.”

Long Chen took a deep breath, and the 108,000 original runes in his body quivered slightly. Energy surged out of them like a flood, filling Long Chen with power. He punched out with both fists.

The ground exploded, dirt flying out in every direction. In terms of power, Long Chen and the huge scorpion were equally matched.

“Damn, ninth rank Magical Beasts are far stronger than the ninth rank devil beasts from the Infernal Devil Abyss.” Long Chen couldn’t help being stunned as he felt some faint pain in his arms.

Suddenly, an attack shot down at him from the sky. Long Chen immediately pushed away with his arms and shot back.

The scorpion’s tail pierced the ground where he had just been.

“Meng Qi, this Magical Beast is pretty strong. Do you want it?” shouted Long Chen as he flew back.

“But, it’s so dark and ugly…” Meng Qi was a bit hesitant.

Long Chen thought about it and agreed. Meng Qi was like a fairy. Riding such a black and ugly scorpion wasn’t very suitable.

“Alright then. Heaven Trapping Flame Prison!” Flame runes condensed into a prison around the black scorpion.

Now, Long Chen had new magical arts, and the cast time for them was very short, practically instantaneous. A dumb Magical Beast wouldn’t be able to dodge them.

The black scorpion struggled, but the flame prison didn’t show any signs of breaking.

Long Chen raised his right hand. His forefinger and middle finger pointed toward the huge scorpion, aiming at its head.

Flames condensed between his two fingers, and then a blinding light erupted.

“Blazing Death Spear.”

A ray of light pierced through the huge scorpion’s head. It reached its head practically the instant it left his fingers.

The light directly went through its armor and out the other side of it. A three-meter hole appeared in its head.

Despite that, it continued to struggle for a few minutes before completely dying. That was one of the terrifying aspects of armored Magical Beasts.

“The fish wasn’t edible, but this scorpion is a delicacy. Hehe, I’ll cook you some roast scorpion,” laughed Long Chen.