Chapter 896 – Fourth Heavenly Martial Stage

The True Martial Overlord Soul was the most mysterious of the Five Emperors’ treasures. The Five Emperors had unintentionally gotten this item when they were in the True Martial Territory during ancient times. The six demons had learned about this, and they had waited in the Ancient Graveyard for many years because they wanted it!

It was rumored that the True Martial Overlord Soul was related to the most powerful person in the True Martial Palace—the True Martial Overlord. He was also one of the three main leaders of the Three Royal Territories.

Long Chen only understood how terrifying the Royal Territories were when he arrived. He was already facing difficulties with the Underworld Estate in the Eastern Royal District, and it would be much worse when he faced the core power of the whole Royal Territory, the True Martial Palace!

The True Martial Overlord had lived for more than ten thousand years, and he was the ultimate master who ruled over the territory and was famous across the whole world. He was someone who could control the lives and deaths of billions with just a wave of his hand.

In the past, he did not believe that the True Martial Overlord Soul was related to the True Martial Overlord, but he did now. After the True Martial Overlord Soul had merged into his forehead, his Martial Soul could sense everything it saw. He could now replicate his opponent’s understanding of the Martial Path during a duel!

In this manner, Long Chen could progress extremely quickly in his cultivation. If he cultivated at normal speed, he would need almost a year to reach the Fourth Heavenly Martial Stage. Now, he could quickly learn the method to achieve a breakthrough and kill Zhao Kongming during the same duel!

With the True Martial Overlord Soul, I will probably progress through the Heavenly Martial Realm and even Divine Martial Realm much more quickly than the best prodigies of the Royal Territories! My five senior brothers have truly given me massive assistance in this aspect.

The average person couldn’t even use the True Martial Overlord Soul. Long Chen could use it only because of the Dragon Jade Pendant’s control over the True Martial Overlord Soul. Without it, there was no way he could activate such an impressive item when he was merely at the Third Heavenly Martial Stage.

The True Martial Overlord Soul was extraordinary, but it was not ridiculously unbelievable.

Long Chen had absorbed one-hundredth of the Inherited Blood Essence, so his speed of cultivation was comparable to that of the best prodigies of the Eastern Royal District. It was like he was riding a rocket. In just a few years, he was able to catch up to many people in terms of cultivation level, so pursuing Ling Xi was no longer a dream.

When he arrived in the Royal Territories and met all those experts, he felt a little dejected about meeting Ling Xi. The Royal Territories were too large and there were too many experts around. Meanwhile, he was just a tiny person. Rising through the ranks to become the ultimate master and get Ling Xi felt like a very difficult task.

Even though he was a Dragon Warrior, it could’ve taken him decades, or even a century!

How could one become the ultimate master without spending hundreds or even thousands of years in the Royal Territories? Long Chen’s cultivation speed was not slow, but he was still not satisfied.

Therefore, the True Martial Overlord Soul offered him great help.

This tiny treasure had determined the future path that Long Chen would take—it would not be a path of cultivation, but a path of battles!

Cultivating the Heavenly Martial Fist Manual could no longer help him progress in cultivation. He only needed to fight other people, and through countless battles, he could replicate the fruits of other people’s labor, thus improving his own cultivation quickly!

I can’t believe that from today onwards, I’m going to be a fighting machine.

Long Chen smiled bitterly.

Since I need to fight, let’s fight! I, Long Chen, am not afraid of anyone. You’ll find me in any place where there is a fight!

The passion within him was ignited by the arrival of the True Martial Overlord Soul. He felt like his blood was boiling.

Through the eyeball-like True Martial Overlord Soul, he saw a completely different world. It caused him to look past everything to focus on only one thing: the Martial Path!

Long Chen did not know what was waiting beyond the Three Martial Realms, but he knew that the Three Martial Realms relied on comprehension for a cultivator to advance to the next level!

At the very least, he would not need to worry about progressing through the Heavenly and Divine Martial Realms now.

As long as he could hold on through countless battles, he would become stronger as he encountered stronger opponents!

𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Zhao Kongming was shocked to see how passionate Long Chen was. After that bizarre phenomenon, Long Chen seemed to have become a different person.

“What was that thing that melted between your brows?” asked Zhao Kongming while launching a crazed attack.

They had exhausted almost all of their essence, so they fought mostly with punches and kicks. Both of them had tough bodies, so the fight was intense.

“Just wait and you shall see,” Long Chen said mildly with a small smile. The coldness in his eyes contrasted with the calm smile, confusing Zhao Kongming even further.

“What changed?”

Zhao Kongming had the idea to retreat, but when he thought about the Emperor Vanquishers, he did not want to give up.

“Die!” He shot the Nine Hells Finger at Long Chen.

Zhao Kongming was a Seventh Heavenly Martial Stage cultivator who had mastered the Fourth Heavenly Martial Stage over ten years ago. To Long Chen, he was a huge source of knowledge, and he absorbed it like a starving man. He improved quickly as the fight pushed him to his limit.

After a while, Long Chen smiled.

This was his first time using the True Martial Overlord Soul after the transformation it brought him, but he was already able to reap a huge benefit. He had successfully comprehended the Fourth Heavenly Martial Stage from Zhao Kongming.

The analysis done by the True Martial Overlord Soul was sent to the Martial Soul.

Within his sea of consciousness, his Martial Soul underwent a major change once more. The pure-white Martial Soul turned redder as his cultivation advanced, and now that he was advancing from the Third to the Fourth Heavenly Martial Stage, it became redder once more.

This meant that Long Chen’s Martial Soul had progressed by one level.

“Goodbye, old man.” Long Chen laughed and quickly retreated. Many Emperor Crystals appeared in his hand. As he fled, he absorbed their energy. When he replenished his spent essence, his cultivation level would surge once more to reach the Fourth Heavenly Martial Stage.

“Think you can run?” Zhao Kongming thought that Long Chen had become afraid and quickly gave chase. When he saw that Long Chen was absorbing Emperor Crystals, he was worried that Long Chen was replenishing his essence and also took out his own.

Both of them ran and replenished their strength at the same time. They ran for a while with Long Chen in the lead, running in circles in the forest. Half a day later, Long Chen had spent a huge quantity of Emperor Crystals to completely elevate his essence to the Fourth Heavenly Martial Stage. Due to the superior amount of essence, he needed vast quantities of Emperor Crystals to progress. Other people needed about a hundred to get to the Fourth Heavenly Martial Stage, but he used more than a thousand. That was equivalent to the price of a Heavenly Fortune Pill.

By the time his strength had mostly recovered, Zhao Kongming had nearly recovered as well. Naturally, Zhao Kongming’s confidence also reached its peak.

“Stop!”

Zhao Kongming accelerated to his maximum speed and instantly caught up to Long Chen. He used his Seventh Heavenly Martial Stage domain to suppress him, so that Long Chen could not move at all.

“We’ve been running for a long time. That’s enough. Die, brat.” After chasing Long Chen for such a long time, Zhao Kongming had run out of patience.

Once his strength recovered, he immediately expanded his domain and trapped Long Chen. At the same time, he unleashed the Killing God Sutra once more. The Divine-tier technique erupted with an aggressive aura filled with killing intent that surrounded Long Chen.

As far as Zhao Kongming could tell, Long Chen was absolutely trapped. However, he did not see the smile on Long Chen’s face because Long Chen was facing the other way.

Long Chen was now at the Fourth Heavenly Martial Stage, and it was supplemented by various boosts. Now he could even fight an Eighth Heavenly Martial Stage cultivator!

The Emperor’s Manual gathered in his palm once more, but it was more powerful than his previous usage. The space around his hand even started to tremble.

“Roar!”

When the Killing God Sutra neared Long Chen, he roared furiously. He turned around quickly, then shot a golden fist seal at Zhao Kongming!

“What?!” Zhao Kongming sensed a suffocating aura falling on him. At that moment, it was as if Long Chen was a ruler who looked down on all beings. Even Zhao Kongming himself felt like a lowly creature before him. Although he was attacking with all his might, he was laughably weak.

“Emperor’s Manual, Emperor’s Arrival!”

When he threw the punch, it was as if he was a ruler. A ruler who was worshiped by countless beings. The Killing God Sutra was completely destroyed, and the rippling force landed on Zhao Kongming’s body. The powerful punch shattered Zhao Kongming’s heart!

Zhao Kongming was instantly killed by the force.

His eyes went wide, but they quickly lost their light.

Even in his last moments, he did not know why Long Chen had suddenly gotten stronger. If he was really that strong, why hadn’t Long Chen killed him at the beginning?

He did not understand why, even in death.

Thud!

Zhao Kongming’s body collapsed. Long Chen removed Zhao Kongming’s storage ring and put it away.

“It’s too bad I destroyed the Underworld Armor. If not, I could have used it,” said Long Chen, looking at the broken armor on his foe’s body.

He only had about two or three thousand Emperor Crystals left from the initial six thousand. In this land without demonic beasts, he consumed Emperor Crystals very quickly. However, he managed to obtain about twenty thousand from Zhao Kongming. This was enough for him and Little Cat to use for a long time.