Chapter 924 – Underworld Qi

Subsequently, they became utterly depressed and lacked even the courage to cultivate. Otherwise, with their potential, many of them would have achieved a breakthrough to the Eighth Heavenly Martial Stage by now.

In reality, none of them had managed to progress because they had long given up.

In contrast, Long Chen’s eyes were filled with determination and refusal to submit.

This unending determination and resilience had forged the Long Chen of today. This was also how he was different compared to the rest.

The word “surrender” did not exist in his dictionary.

After the Butcher collapsed, he did not become fully unconscious. Under extreme shock, he quickly swallowed a large number of Revitalization Pills to heal his injuries. Despite that, his severe injuries could not heal that quickly.

Long Chen walked over to him calmly, but the smile on his face terrified the Butcher so much that he almost wet his pants. He scrambled backwards in terror, glaring at Long Chen, and threatened, “Long Chen, you cannot kill me! If you kill someone outside the Underworld Battlefield, you will be sentenced to death!”

“Who said I was going to kill you?” Long Chen laughed, and the Three Thousand Star Clusters appeared in his hand.

This was as Butcher expected. Long Chen had only just joined the army and did not have a strong background or great wealth. How would he dare kill anyone?

“Get away from me! You injured me! I’m going to tell the Thousand Sergeant, so that he’ll punish you. Get away from me!” Butcher threatened with a stern expression.

“Is that so? I heard that if I challenge and defeat a Sergeant, I’ll automatically become one myself. The Sergeant is now me, right?” Long Chen looked at the other people.

Butcher gave them a threatening glare.

The other soldiers had an instinctive terror towards him, so they did not dare speak.

“He is no match for me. From today onwards, I am the leader here. Why are you guys still worried?” Long Chen asked disappointedly.

One of the soldiers struggled to step forward. He said, “Long ... Long Chen, you’re right. You are now qualified to become a Sergeant. All you need to do is report it so that the Hundred Sergeant updates the records. Then you’ll be a fully registered Sergeant.”

Long Chen smiled. That was exactly what he wanted to hear. He pointed the spear at Butcher and looked at him with amusement. “You’ve harmed many people before this. Now that I am the Sergeant, how should I punish you?”

Butcher almost wet himself from the threat and quickly scrambled backwards. He looked at Long Chen pitifully and said in a panic, “Alright, you’re the sergeant! I’ll follow your orders from now on! Let me go, I beg you! I will change my ways!”

“Is that so? That’s great news. However, I need to first remove the root of your evil deeds.” After Long Chen finished, his glare turned cold. A ray of starlight shot out from the Three Thousand Star Clusters, then pierced into the crotch of the man on the ground. Butcher’s precious parts broke apart.

Butcher screamed in agony, his legs twitching and eyes bulging as he glared at Long Chen.

“Don’t glare at me. I never joke about these things. If I ever catch you being disobedient, it’ll be your hands and legs next.” He swung the spear and knocked Butcher out.

Everyone stared at Long Chen woodenly, not daring to speak.

Then they cheered. Butcher did not have his private parts anymore. From today onwards, they would lead happy lives.

“Don’t discard the dreams you once had just because you had to deal with brutal reality. If you live in perpetual rock bottom, I think it’s better you all die.”

These were the words Long Chen left them with.

It was up to them to comprehend what he said.

Then Long Chen said, “Carry the bastard away. Just don’t let him die. I’ll give you all a task, which is to forbid him from leaving this place for the next few days. He is severely injured, so he is no match for you. If you can’t even do this minor thing well, you guys will lose my respect.”

The few of them looked at each other. Their dead eyes gradually regained their light.

“We can do it!” they said one after another.

Long Chen was proud of them. He called for the first person to argue with Butcher to step forward and said, “Come with me inside for a while. I want to ask you a few things. As for the others, deal with Butcher.”

No one disobeyed his orders.

The others nodded and watched him enter his room. Their eyes were filled with admiration.

Long Chen had not only helped them beat Butcher up; it was not that simple. More importantly, he had helped pull them out of depression to become human again.

“What is your name?” Long Chen asked the other youth. He looked closest to Long Chen in age.

“I’m Jiang Chong,” said the youth, gazing at Long Chen admiringly.

“Have a seat.”

After they were seated on the luxurious wooden chairs, Long Chen directly entered the main topic and asked, “I want to go to the Underworld Battlefield. Tell me everything you know about it.”

“The Underworld Battlefield?” Jiang Chong’s eyes widened. He looked at Long Chen and said with surprise, “Brother Chen, you want to go to the Underworld Battlefield? That’s quite a scary place. Most of the Seventh Heavenly Martial Stage people do not return from that place. Many Sergeants, even Hundred and Thousand-Sergeants, often die there.”

“You only need to tell me how to get there,” said Long Chen.

“Uh ... Based on what I know, as long as you’re an Underworld Soldier, you are allowed to enter the Underworld Battlefield even if you’re a soldier or a Sergeant. Usually, we have cultivation assignments or are sent out to complete missions. When we are unable to complete these tasks, we are punished. However, there is an exception. If you are in the Underworld Battlefield, you can skip all these tasks!”

“The leader is encouraging Underworld Soldiers to enter the Underworld Battlefield.” Long Chen immediately grasped the key intention.

Once one entered the Underworld Battlefield, they would not need to complete any missions outside and wouldn't have to worry about anything else. That was exactly what Long Chen wanted. He did not want to execute all those tasks or pair up with other people to train.

“The Underworld Battlefield is a strange miniverse. I heard that it's like a mirror of the Underworld Estate. The terrain and the Underworld Estate in the miniverse are all identical to the world here. However, the Underworld Battlefield is a desolate world filled with Underworld Beasts and natural disasters. It’s a place where normal people cannot survive. These harsh conditions make for a good place to train and strengthen yourself.

“There’s something called Underworld Qi in the Underworld Battlefield, and it is mixed with the Royal Qi there. Long-term exposure to Underworld Qi leads to corrosion of the body, and even the strongest people end up collapsing eventually.”

“What do you mean? So people can’t stay there for too long?” asked Long Chen.

The Underworld Qi would make it very inconvenient.

“No. I’m saying that this is the limitation of being in the Underworld Battlefield. Humans are very intelligent. After discovering the Underworld Battlefield, someone invented a way to mix Underworld Qi into their body by cultivating it in their own essence. Not only does doing that increase your combat abilities, it also makes you immune to the negative effects of Underworld Qi. It can even quicken the speed at which your essence strengthens. This means that you’ll first need to cultivate Underworld Qi before you enter, Brother Chen. This is the first step for every person who intends to enter the Underworld Battlefield.”

“How do you cultivate Underworld Qi? Where do I go to do it?” Long Chen asked.

“At the center of the Underworld Training Camp, there is a large place called the Underworld Plaza. In the middle, there is a hundred-meter-tall rock called the Underworld Rock. Instructions to cultivate the Underworld Qi are carved on it. Every day, many people go there to cultivate Underworld Qi. However, Brother Chen, you need to be mentally prepared,” said Jiang Chong.

“Why?” Long Chen asked.

“It is not easy to cultivate the Underworld Qi. Fifty percent of people can’t do it even after a lifetime of trying. For other people, it takes a very long time to succeed. It is just too difficult. Take Butcher for example. He has cultivated for ten years but still has not succeeded. If we are just referring to Underworld City, the fastest person to cultivate Underworld Qi took two months. I hear that General Su Mo himself took three months. For people like us who aren’t prodigies, taking a few years is already an excellent achievement.”

“A few years?” Long Chen was speechless.

I think I’m stronger than other people in terms of intelligence and comprehension abilities. Therefore, I don’t think it will take me a year. Even if it’s difficult, I still need to try before reaching a conclusion.

Long Chen had made his decision. He was not scared by Jiang Chong’s warning.

“Brother Chen, are you still going to try your hardest to enter the Underworld Battlefield? I don’t think you should do it. Cultivating outside is just as fast and you don’t need to spend time cultivating Underworld Qi. It is very dangerous place, and very few people who enter return alive,” said Jiang Chong worriedly.

“But those who return become dragons among men, right?” Long Chen said with a smile.

Then he stood up.

“Brother Chen, what are you doing?” Jiang Chong asked nervously.

“Going to the Underworld Plaza so that I can find the Underworld Rock, of course. Lead the way.”

“So soon? You’re actually going?” Jiang Chong was stunned.

He could not accept the speed at which Long Chen did things.

“Let’s go.” Long Chen did not stay any longer and walked out the door.

Jiang Chong quickly ran after him and said tiredly, “Brother Chen, there’s no need to rush.”

Long Chen did not answer him and pulled him in front. “Lead the way. We must not waste time.”

“But there are so many people there.”

“Go!”

“Alright ...”

After weaving through the Underworld Training Camp for a long time, Long Chen finally reached the aforementioned Underworld Plaza and saw the gigantic Underworld Rock.