Chapter 817 - Path of the Beast Warrior

The nine clans were gathered. Xiaolang was currently standing behind Wu Guangyu. Since it wasn’t the time to start fighting against the Divine clan yet, Long Chen told Xiaolang to stay put for now. They planned to escape after the tournament ended. Long Chen was certain that Bai Lan would protect him and Xiaolang so Wu Lian wouldn’t be able to hurt them.

Long Chen and Xiaolang exchanged gazes without saying anything. Long Chen then focused on Jin Ling.

Jin Ling was standing with the patriarch of the Gold clan. His body was covered in a veil of dazzling gold that gave off a sharp aura capable of cutting people who got too close to him.

Today was the fight between Long Chen and Jin Ling, so the Wind clan and the Divine clan were set aside for now. The Five Element Alliance was giving the Demon clan taunting looks. The Gold clan’s patriarch was eyeing Long Chen and trying to estimate how strong Long Chen was. Only when everyone from the Demon clan arrived did the Golden clan’s patriarch clear his throat. “Little Bai, I can’t believe your eyes are still so sharp. We are impressed that you would be able to retain a genius with just a single daughter of yours.”

He had spoken in a demeaning tone to taunt Bai Lan. He was inferring how the Demon clan didn’t have a single genius and so they had to bewitch Long Chen with lust.

Bai Lan ignored the taunt and retorted, “You can also marry your daughter to Long Chen, but I don’t think it would work since your daughter is most likely five hundred years old by now. I doubt that Long Chen would accept her hand in marriage.”

He laughed along with everyone in the Demon clan and the Thunder clan. Bai Lan was old, and had his daughters when he was very old. He had immersed himself in his cultivation during his younger days.

The Gold clan patriarch, however, wasn’t angry. Instead, he chuckled. “Of course I can’t do that. Unfortunately, my daughter doesn’t have what it takes to attract him. We from the Five Element Alliance do not condone such methods. We nurture our own talents rather than bewitching them. Of course, we could do so if we wanted to since we have a lot of beauties, but unfortunately, they are reserved for only the youths of the Five Element Alliance.”

Bai Lan smiled and didn’t argue back. He looked around before shouting, “Where is the Long-bearded Guest? Is he here?”

A figure approached swiftly from afar after Bai Lan shouted.

“I’m here!” The Long-bearded Guest left a trail of dust as he ran. He quickly made his way to the center of the crowd. “I’m sorry for arriving late. I almost died when I had sex yesterday.”

Wu Lian interrupted him. “Can you stop talking nonsense?” Even though her face was covered with a veil, her body made it obvious that she was very attractive. She exuded a mature woman’s aura while a hint of bewitchment hid behind her icy glare. Her skin was white like jade too. She didn’t look like a woman late in her hundreds.

She was similar to Bai Lan in that she only had a son very late in her life.

The patriarchs of the Five Element Alliance, however, had their children early in their lives. Most of the stronger youths representing them right now were their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Cultivation had always been hard, but the reward was massive. Once someone reached the Heavenly Martial Realm, their lifespan would increase to five hundred years. Those who could increase their cultivation level further would be able to live even longer. The experts of the past were all terrifying individuals. Compared to people at the level of the Five Emperors, the experts that Long Chen had seen so far were weaklings.

The Long-bearded Guest shut his mouth when Wu Lian scolded him. He looked at her with an innocent expression, and she returned an icy glare. “Since everyone is here right now, and it’s already noon, I would like everyone to step back a bit. For the first fight, I would like to invite Long Chen and Jin Ling to remain here.”

The tournament was starting, so everyone made room. Suxue reminded Long Chen to be careful before she retreated too. Everyone gave Long Chen and Jin Ling a very large space in the middle to fight freely.

The only one standing beside Long Chen and Jin Ling was the Long-bearded Guest. As the witness, he had more responsibility than everyone else. If either party gave up, he had to protect the loser. Everyone on his level would know if he did his job well even though they were far away.

Even so, there were incidents in the past where people died despite the witness being there to protect them. That was why it was important to surrender early if the participants realized that they were outmatched or they would really die.

“Let me be clear here. Surrender early if either one of you thinks that you will lose. Don’t hold on until the last moment. Please do not blame me if I can’t save you or you get maimed because you waited too long to surrender. You shouldn’t blame your opponent either! These are the rules set by the nine great clans; I didn’t just come up with them on the spot.”

After warning them, the Long-bearded Guest stepped away and gave them ample space to fight. The arena was roughly thirty meters in diameter. It was a distance he could travel instantly to save the contestants, but it wasn’t so small that he would interfere with their fight.

Everything was ready.

Long Chen had always been the type to take the initiative. He transformed right after the Long-bearded Guest gave them space.

Blood-red scales covered his body, making him look dashing.

Jin Ling was blunt when he saw Long Chen’s transformation.

“The path of the Beast Warrior leads to nothing but a dead end. Only Martial Warriors and Armament Warriors can flourish. That is why there is a True Martial Territory and a Swordsoul Territory but no Beastsoul Territory. But the final territory, the Desolate Royal Territory, is indeed dominated by demonic beasts. A Beast Warrior like you is bound to hit a wall on the path of cultivation. You can only grow if you give up on becoming a Beast Warrior.”

Long Chen had been curious as to why there were so few Beast Warriors at this stage. Jin Ling's explanation answered his question. Beast Warriors did not have room to grow and were very rare in higher realms. It was exceedingly rare to find a Beast Warrior in the Three Emperor Territories. For starters, Beast Warriors had to refine beast souls. Using an external strength like that wasn’t considered one’s own strength. Secondly, one of the Three Emperor Territories, the Desolate Royal Territory, was ruled by sentient demonic beasts. They would never allow one of their own to be refined by a human.

Even the people from the True Martial Territory and the Swordsoul Territory wouldn’t dare to refine a high-level beast’s soul. The demonic beasts of the Desolate Royal Territory outnumbered the people in the True Martial Territory and the Swordsoul Territory combined.

Still, numbers weren’t a good indicator of strength since both the True Martial Territory and the Swordsoul Territory had roughly an equal number of high-level experts compared to the Desolate Royal Territory.

To everyone, Long Chen was a Beast Warrior.

No one had any idea that he was a Dragon Warrior, and one who had the Inherited Blood Essence of the Ancient Bloodsoul Dragon, an existence that stood at the apex of all dragons.

Jin Ling’s words gave Long Chen a better understanding of the Three Emperor Territory. Long Chen was unfazed by the talk of Beast Warriors. He wasn’t one to begin with.

Long Chen smiled plainly and ignored Jin Ling’s words. “Let’s fight. There are three more fights after us, and everyone is waiting.”

Even Jin Ling, who was renowned for being cold outside of cultivating, was slightly taken aback by how relaxed Long Chen was. He was different from Wu Guangyu. Wu Guangyu was arrogant, domineering, and greedy. Jin Ling, on the other hand, was bloodthirsty and lived for battle. In terms of personality, Jin Ling was worse.

Jin Ling remained silent for only a moment before he charged towards Long Chen.

“Die!” Jin Ling didn’t use any techniques but instead circulated his essence and infused it into his body. His body was powered by the third stage of the Golden Combat Body. This was the ultimate form of the Golden Combat Body. His skin turned copper and became extremely hard, and a golden rune flowed through his body.

“The third stage of the Golden Combat Body is as strong as the Seven Star Body!”

“Then let’s test it.” Long Chen’s Seven Star Body was forged from the celestial Qi. It was naturally stronger since it was even more painful to cultivate it!

But Jin Ling was indeed strong. Long Chen could make out the faint traces of the Metal Devouring Wind on Jin Ling’s fist!

“Do you understand now? I had to cultivate it in the middle of the Metal Devouring Wind to reach the third stage of the Golden Combat Body! I suffered incredible pain to become as strong as I am today. My master told me that almost no one in the Ten Thousand Nations Territory can match my physical strength.”

Long Chen finally realized that Jin Ling was someone who would suffer incredible pain just to become stronger. He was a crazy bastard just like Long Chen! The Metal Devouring Wind was indeed roughly as strong as the celestial Qi, and Jin Ling’s fist hid an incredibly destructive power.

But the Seven Star Body had a systematic way to be cultivated. The blue core in his heart and the perfection of the technique meant that the Seven Star Body was one stage stronger than Jin Ling’s Golden Combat Body!

Long Chen steadied himself and threw a punch. The celestial Qi turned into a purple dragon that wrapped around his fist before colliding with Jin Ling’s fist! A massive explosion occurred from the impact.

Bam!

Jin Ling’s punch sent the Metal Devouring Wind into Long Chen’s body. Long Chen grit his teeth and used his essence to dissolve the Metal Devouring Wind before he managed to keep himself steady.

Jin Ling, on the other hand, was in a worse state ...