Chapter 962: The Strongest Astral Monarch, Winds of Change (1)

Astral beasts, while not particularly intelligent, were innately powerful. Their immense hostility toward outsiders stemmed not only from the enmity accumulated by the species over time but also from the subtle influence of the Dao Realm itself. As a result, their decisions were straightforward and brutally instinctive.

This outsider is a mid-stage sempiternal lifeform, called an Astral Monarch among the invaders. Even if this outsider is formidable, his strength reaches the threshold of late-stage sempiternal life at most.

This astral beast was full of confidence as it surged forward through the water.

Born from the Aquaflame Chasm, it was perfectly suited for this environment.

However, when it saw another figure appear beside Wu Yuan, followed by a sky-blanketing array of blade rays, the astral beast was completely dumbfounded. It sensed the taste of death.

Retreat!

This instinctive thought flashed through the astral beast's mind as it attempted to backpedal violently.

But it was too late. Firstly, the two sides were already on a collision course—how could one instantly reverse direction at such high speeds? Secondly, while it moved extremely quickly through the water, Wu Yuan was no slower when employing the Law of Space.

In an instant, they clashed.

Whoosh!

Blade rays sliced across hundreds of millions of li of space. One blade ray in particular shone dazzlingly bright, with countless lifeforms appearing to chant within it, containing a soul-stirring beauty.

This strike embodied the profundities of the Creation Dao. Additionally, the cryptic patterns on the saber were activated. Its power was terrifying.

Clang!

The frigid blade ray instantly struck the beast's claws. The Sovereign-level astral beast's defense was nothing more than a joke—it was immediately overwhelmed, falling back. The blade rays then cascaded onto the astral beast's abdomen.

Slash!

The Sovereign-level astral beast, with claws comparable to a mid-grade Dao Instrument and a body as tough as a low-grade Dao Instrument, was instantly split open by this strike. Blood sprayed forth.

Slash!

Wu Yuan wasn't only wielding the Black Rock Saber—over a dozen high-grade and mid-grade Dao Instrument sabers also fully unleashed their power.

Boom!

This Sovereign-level astral beast flew backward like a meteor, its vital aura rapidly diminishing.

In one clash, my vitality has decreased by thirty percent?

The Sovereign-level astral beast was shocked.

Then, fear welled up. Losing thirty percent in one exchange meant it would perish after just four clashes, right?

No! It wouldn't even take three.

In the first clash, the blade rays' power was mostly spent on breaching its body's defenses. At the moment, it couldn't instantly recover from such heavy damage. Another clash, or at most two more exchanges, and it would surely die.

Flee, flee quickly.

Leveraging the force of the blades, the Sovereign-level astral beast flew further backward, crashing into the river. It then suddenly plunged into the water, trying to escape Wu Yuan's pursuit. Its heart was completely chilled with fear.

Too strong—seemingly even more powerful than the leader, though the leader never went all out when sparring.

"Perish!" An indifferent voice suddenly resounded in the depths of its spirit.

Hm?

A flash of terror appeared in the astral beast's eyes.

At some point, Wu Yuan had already circled to its side, and a sky full of blade rays swept toward it.

Silently, the rapidly fleeing astral beast's body was completely annihilated by the blade rays. From the chaos, a fire-red crystal core shot to the side.

Still trying to escape?

Wu Yuan reached out, and his palm suddenly expanded, grabbing the fire-red crystal core. His hand then rapidly shrank back to its normal size.

In his palm was the shrunken fire-red crystal core, though streaks of blue light now flowed within it. It looked rather beautiful.

An Aquaflame beast core?

Wu Yuan toyed with the core in his hand, his thoughts stirring as he annihilated the last trace of Yuan Soul within.

This beast core was the source of the Aquaflame astral beast's power, as well as the dwelling place of its Yuan Soul. If allowed to escape, it could eventually cultivate a new body given enough time. By destroying the final trace of its Yuan Soul imprint, Wu Yuan had killed it in the truest sense.

Sovereign-level—this beast core should be comparable in value to a high-grade Dao Instrument.

Wu Yuan waved his hand to store it away.

It sounded simple, killing it in just two or three exchanges. But for other Sovereigns, hunting a Sovereign-level astral beast was far more difficult. If one allowed it to escape by mistake, it would draw a large group over, resulting in a risk of death.

No other treasures here. Nothing good will come out of staying here. Let's go.

Wu Yuan's form blurred as he swiftly flew into the distance.

Breaking through to become a Matter Sovereign, coupled with reaching the fourth-level Creation Dao Field stage, allowed Wu Yuan to control the Black Rock Saber. At least, other Sovereigns couldn't detect it was a Xiantian artifact saber by perceiving it alone.

Slaying an astral beast with second-stage Sovereign combat power in two exchanges.

Wu Yuan's heart surged with waves of excitement.

So what if it was a Sovereign powerhouse? He could destroy it with a wave of his hand!

It's a pity that physical power is part of the path of matter and can't be merged with Law fluctuations. Otherwise, battles would be even easier.

Wu Yuan sighed.

With the current power of Wu Yuan's body refiner self, even without the use of Xiantian artifacts, he could harness either the path of Laws or matter to achieve early-stage Sovereign strength. If he unleashed both simultaneously, his might could rival that of a fifth-stage Sovereign. However, this still paled in comparison to his qi refiner self.

This discrepancy was largely due to Wu Yuan's vital ether being somewhat weaker than his physical constitution and Dao comprehension, limiting his ability to fully unleash the power of those ultimate techniques.

If I hadn't wielded the Black Rock Saber when battling that astral beast earlier, it would have required at least several hundred strikes to kill it with both my true self and ether body working together.

He pondered.

The Black Rock Saber is indeed a Xiantian artifact. It’s ridiculously strong, and can enhance my attack power by several times.

Even without tapping into his physical strength, wielding the Xiantian artifact alone propelled Wu Yuan's body refiner self’s strength to the fourth-stage Sovereign level. When he unleashed his full strength, the combined effect was exponential, not a mere addition of forces, but something far greater, pushing his power towards seventh-stage Sovereign combat power.

In effect, it was the equivalent of a late-stage Sovereign powerhouse and a mid-stage Sovereign powerhouse joining forces. Together, they swiftly dispatched the astral beast.

If it were a true body refiner Sovereign outfitted with powerful Dao Instrument battle armor, it might require dozens of moves to finish the job.

Wu Yuan acknowledged.

The challenge of defeating a Sovereign-level astral beast was quite different from confronting a true Sovereign, who typically had more sophisticated techniques and robust defenses.

Yet, in a genuine life-or-death scenario, with my true self and ether body united, I’m confident I can face an ordinary late-stage Sovereign powerhouse without fear.

Wu Yuan mused. He still possessed a major, untapped ace up his sleeve, but it was unnecessary to unleash it on an early-stage Sovereign astral beast.

Fifty thousand years of bitter cultivation has indeed greatly increased my strength.

Wu Yuan was extremely satisfied.

Cultivating both Laws and matter, two paths to eternity, was truly a broad road. When unleashing both, the potential was limitless.

The deeper his comprehension of the Creation Dao and Primal Force Diagrams, the faster Wu Yuan grasped the Law of Life. He hadn't specifically focused on comprehending it in these tens of thousands of years, yet had unknowingly reached the limit of the ninth-level Dao Field stage of the Law of Life.

This final bottleneck still slightly hindered Wu Yuan, but it was normal. Even the most monstrous prodigy would encounter a bottleneck when trying to fully comprehend a Greater Law.

It was similar to those famous Supreme Astral Monarchs who comprehended a Great Dao to an extremely high level, then got stuck, unable to fully comprehend a Greater Law.

But whether it takes a few hundred years or ten thousand, if I put in more effort, I'll definitely break through.

Wu Yuan had a vague feeling.

He was ultimately different from those Supreme Astral Monarchs. No one ever heard of a Saintcrest Prodigy with a Great Dao Body getting stuck at the Astral Monarch level. And the insights he had accumulated over these tens of thousands of years were profound.

Once I become a Sovereign on the path of Laws, my body refiner self's combat power from when employing both paths may even surpass my qi refiner self wielding the Samsara Sword.

Wu Yuan was full of anticipation.

Moreover, I should be able to perfectly control the Xiantian artifact bestowed by Eldritch Progenitor Hou Tu by then.

As a gift from Eldritch Progenitor Hou Tu, the Azure Origin Armor’s power indeed far surpassed the Black Rock Saber—this was something Wu Yuan could determine after his breakthrough. He could now exert preliminarily control over the Black Rock Saber, but could only barely employ the Azure Origin Armor, completely unable to conceal its aura.

I need to leave the Aquaflame Chasm as soon as possible. After passing through, I'll be close to the Well of Life.

Wu Yuan thought to himself.

According to the Eldritch Court's intelligence, many more Immortal Court Sovereigns have entered the Creation Dao Realm in the past tens of thousands of years. They may be looking for me—I hope we don't run into each other.

Wu Yuan didn't want any trouble. But if they did meet, he wasn't afraid either. There were many Sovereigns with seventh-stage Sovereign combat power, but when it came to those even stronger, the numbers dropped sharply—they were quite rare.

Boom!

Wu Yuan vanished into the depths of the river.

The dense Dao fluctuations emanating from this area gradually dissipated. Just looking at the surface, one couldn't tell a great battle had just taken place.

Several hours passed.

Boom!

Several terrifying waves erupted, followed by one massive Aquaflame astral beast after another surfacing from the water. Over thirty Aquaflame astral beasts appeared, most of them stronger than the one that had just died.

"Who was it? Who killed Kun!!!" The largest astral beast roared, its angry bellows echoing across the river's surface. It was none other than their leader.

"It was a cultivator. There are still traces of Dao fluctuations here."

"The aura is similar to that Astral Monarch we clashed with previously. Could he have survived and left Void Island?" Two astral beasts in the group immediately spoke up. They were the two astral beasts that had once battled Wu Yuan.

"Him? That puny cultivator Astral Monarch?" The astral beast leader's eyes flashed with endless killing intent. "Go, find him.

“You must find him and kill him," growled the astral beast leader, its body trembling with rage.

It was indeed furious. As the strongest and most ancient of the entire Aquaflame astral beast species, it was one of the first Aquaflame astral beasts to come into existence.

Over the long ages, the Aquaflame astral beasts that were once its peers had died one by one, all slain by passing cultivators.

It had watched countless astral beasts grow, nurturing them like juniors or even children, guiding them to maturity and helping them ascend to the Sovereign level. Yet many among them had perished over the long years.

Endless hatred filled its heart.

"Kill the outsider!"

"Outsiders are mostly slower than us in our territory."

"Go!" Dozens of Sovereign-level Aquaflame astral beasts roared in anger, transforming into streams of light as they plunged into the river.

They lived in the Aquaflame Chasm, and upon reaching the Sovereign level, they could sense when another member of their species was born or died.

It was for this reason that they had quickly gathered after sensing Kun's demise. Every single astral beast was important to the species.

However, the efforts of these Aquaflame astral beasts were destined to be in vain, as his flight speed far exceeded that of most of theirs.

...

A month later, Wu Yuan finally left the Aquaflame Chasm and continued towards the Well of Life.

Time flowed on.

Journeying through the Dao Realm was rather monotonous, often involving months or even years of non-stop flight.

In the blink of an eye, over a hundred years had passed.

In the core region of the Dao Realm, Wu Yuan encountered powerhouses with increasing frequency. Despite his caution, he could not avoid other powerhouses who sought to test his prowess.

Six battles. Four times he encountered Astral Monarchs attempting to ambush him. Wu Yuan casually obliterated them with a flip of his palm. The last two times, he encountered Sovereigns. After a fierce battle, Wu Yuan defeated them but failed to slay them outright.

One with third-stage Sovereign combat power, another with fourth-stage Sovereign combat power, and both used secret treasures to escape. To kill them would likely require unleashing my full strength.

Wu Yuan mused to himself.

Wu Yuan couldn't be bothered to do so. Apart from exposing the true extent of his abilities, it didn’t serve much purpose. Those he encountered were all Sovereign ether bodies, carrying only mid-grade Dao Instruments. Even if he slew them, the gains would be minimal.

For Wu Yuan, honing himself through combat with Sovereign-level powerhouses was the greatest benefit.

However, news of these six confrontations, especially the last two battles with Sovereigns, spread rapidly through the two Saintdoms.