Apex War God

Zhang Xiong had saved Wan Tianlong and Wan Lanxin from the bloody pit, stunning all the guard captains and squad leaders.

Many had watched the bloody hand capture their warden with their own eyes, so they had assumed his death was assured. That bloody aura was too horrific for any but a King expert to resist, and since Wan Tianlong had not reached the King Realm, assuming he could not have survived was common sense.

Assuming his position as the mountain prison’s new warden was secure, Lie Feng had already begun to take control. Thus, Wan Tianlong’s survival was extremely upsetting.

However, Lie Feng lacked the resolve to kill the old warden in full view. He could not afford the consequences of such a belligerent crime.

When he had learned that Wan Lanxin’s so-called “younger god-brother” was responsible, he ordered an immediate investigation into the young man. It puzzled him how such an outstanding cultivator had appeared out of nowhere.

Suddenly, the bloody pit was rocked by massive explosions, and the ground beneath their feet began to sink. Frightened, the guards retreated. Those who did not get away in time fell, screaming, into the pit.

“The bloody pit is expanding again. It’s releasing so much bloody aura!”

“Everyone, retreat! Don’t fall into the pit!”

“My lord, what should we do? If this continues, the quakes will reduce cellblock 8 to rubble.”

“This evil is beyond us! We must call for reinforcements from the imperial court!”

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Yang Wu was oblivious to everything happening on the surface. The ordeal of playing the skin-clad skeleton’s puppet had left him so devastated that his body felt as if it was a hair’s breadth from shattering into pieces.

He had broken forty-nine of the eighty-one nodes, and the collective bursts of energy had shattered nearly every bone in his arms. He was badly mutilated, his internal organs were displaced and bleeding profusely. Blood gushed from every orifice in his face. It was a terrible sight as he lay there, approaching his last breath.

Yang Wu could no longer hold the saber, but with enough of the nodes broken to free him, the skeleton stopped controlling the young man’s body.

The skin-clad skeleton’s aura was powerfully evil, pulling everything toward him. His bloody aura instantly obliterated the guards who had fallen into the pit, bolstering the skeletal creature with their vitality. Gaining some strength, he laughed wildly and shouted, “Today is the day this King regains his freedom!”

Struggling with his restored strength, the skin-clad skeleton snapped the bloody ritual array’s chains, one by one.

Bang! Bang!

As the chains broke, the bloody altar began to crumble.

The nodes’ energy had left Yang Wu on death’s door, and as the altar crumbled, he fell with it. Having forgotten about the three promised conditions, the skin-clad skeleton paid the young man no mind.

However, the ritual array had not broken completely, and the skeleton had yet to regain his full strength. He had snapped seventy-two bloody chains, yet no matter how he struggled, he could not free himself of the nine that remained.

“Break, damn it!” The skin-clad skeleton exhausted all of his strength, causing an earthquake that cracked the ground in all directions. Rocks shattered as they fell, and still, the nine bloody chains held fast.

These nine chains were the core of the skeleton’s binding, restraining him so tightly that the bones of his emaciated body were exposed.

The creature roared in protest, “Once I escape, I will hunt down and slay that Evil Boy King, even if I must scour the ends of the earth!”

The ground around the bloody altar cracked in the quake. Yang Wu fell through into a new area, one which lacked the bloody aura. Here, a rather peculiar treasure grew.

This strange treasure was a pure-white lotus with a pleasant fragrance, yet upon closer inspection, its petals were oddly shaped. The flower had a total of one hundred eight petals, each decorated with clear dewdrops. The most peculiar thing about the flower, however, was the essence, shaped like a baby’s face, nestled in the flower’s pistil.

The baby-faced essence energy looked as if it was smiling in one moment, crying in the next, and then annoyed. The face constantly shifted between expressions.

With his scant remaining consciousness, Yang Wu caught a glimpse of the baby's face and breathlessly exclaimed, “The Nascent Profound Essence!”

The Nascent Profound Essence was precisely the first type of Profound Essence that he needed to advance his Supreme Nine Profound Art to cultivate to a higher realm.

When he had obtained the Supreme Nine Profound Art, the appearance of the nine Profound Essences he needed had flashed in his mind, enabling him to recognize them on sight.

Now, he finally understood the pull he had felt after entering the bloody pit. As it turned out, a Nascent Profound Essence had been born here.

Like a newborn baby emerging from the womb, the Nascent Profound Essence was extremely yin in nature and compatible with the human body.

[TL Note: Yin and yang are aspects of a duality that the Chinese believe in. They interact with each other in various ways like opposing, complementing, and many more. According to the Chinese beliefs, everything contains the yin and yang aspects, just how much gets manifested. An extremely yin nature is one where there is an absence of yang, something quite unusual. Here is a Wikipedia entry on yin and yang: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang.]

How extraordinary it was that this wonderful treasure before him possessed Nascent Profound Essence!

Fixing his eyes on the treasure, he noticed a clutter of young, white bones beneath the flower. Most of the skeletons were incomplete and decomposed, but he guessed that hundreds—no, thousands—of babies had died here.

The presence of these bones sobered Yang Wu, and he was overcome with a rush of rage. All he could think was: How heartbreaking!

Each and every skeleton below the lotus flower had belonged to a baby. Who had they provoked at birth that they had been left here to die? If this was not heart-wrenching, Yang Wu did not know what was.

The Supreme Nine Profound Art frantically circulated, the energy pulling on the peculiar treasure’s Nascent Profound Essence.

The pull was instinctive. Still incomplete, the Supreme Nine Profound Art required nine different Profound Essences, and although this Nascent Profound Essence was only one of them, its power was indispensable.

The treasure became aware of the devouring force and began to sway, attempting to regain control of the Profound Essence in its core. It had taken so many years to condense this energy, and it would not give it up so easily.

Unfortunately, the treasure was merely a plant, and the Supreme Nine Profound Art’s demand overcame its efforts.

Yang Wu’s body absorbed the Nascent Profound Essence, and it engulfed him. Wisps of pure Profound Essence seeped into his pores.

The Supreme Nine Profound Art immediately began to merge with the Nascent Profound Essence, and Yang Wu’s body underwent new transformations.

Condensed from the life force of countless babies, the Nascent Profound Essence supplemented all of Yang Wu’s natural defects, perfecting his form. Layer by layer, his skin peeled away, revealing new flawless, tender skin. The energy within his internal organs soared, restoring and bolstering them with unimaginable vigor. His bones hardened, growing denser. His twelve major meridians, his recently opened minor meridian, and his acupoints enlarged and strengthened, allowing for a more powerful flow of energy.

If his major meridians had previously been brooks, they were now surging rivers. If his acupoints had been fireflies’ light, they now twinkled like starlight. He had undergone a true metamorphosis.

Following suit, the peach-pit dantian in his core expanded, releasing wisps of energy from its thousands of pores.

Yang Wu was euphoric. His injuries healed quickly, and he grew stronger by the second. More acupoints burst open for a total of forty-seven. In unison, the energy within his acupoints and meridians rang as it whirled. In one fell swoop, he had become a Medial Grade Warrior.

Yang Wu had crossed two major milestones during his trip into the bloody pit. Such an improvement would have taken him years of cultivation.

He did not know how much time had passed before his senses returned, but when he awoke, his Mental Energy felt as if it, too, had reached a new level. His awareness had reached an exceptional clarity as if he could sense everything within two kilometers without laying eyes on it.

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His Mental Energy felt powerful, increasing his perception range. Nothing could hide from him.

The Profound Energy of the dantian and the Mental Energy complemented each other. The only true way to advance was by strengthening both. Building only one’s strength would yield inferior results.

Yang Wu could now sense the skin-clad skeleton struggling at the bloody altar. Relieved that nine bloody chains still bound the being, he triumphantly thought to himself, I was naive to believe this guy. He’s clearly up to no good.

For the moment, the young man ignored the skeleton, gazing upon the lotus-like treasure. Its glow had dimmed after losing the Nascent Profound Essence, and all one hundred eight petals began to wither.

Just as Yang Wu had thought it a shame, he discovered a hundred eight seeds within the flower’s pistil. As if they contained an abundance of power, the seeds radiated a crystalline light. Without thinking, he collected the seeds and kept them close.

“Anything that can grow with the Nascent Profound Essence must be exceptional,” Yang Wu muttered to himself.

Finally, he caught sight of the ground underneath the treasure. Trickles from the earthly spirit spring flowed down, the spirit water even purer than that on the surface. He realized this must be the true earthly spirit spring, and the spirit water outside must have been diluted.

“This spirit spring is too precious to ignore. I have to collect some of the spirit water.” Searching his surroundings, Yang Wu spotted an abandoned jade bottle not far from him. He ran over and picked it up, finding it undamaged. Taking it back, he collected some of the earthly spirit spring’s essence.

Now, he had to plan his escape.

Emerging from this lower level would no longer be an issue. The true challenge would be escaping the skin-clad skeleton’s treacherous grasp.

Considering his options, he discovered the energy from a ritual array flashing up from under the baby skeletons’. This was the ritual array responsible for the nine remaining chains above. He assumed this was the source of the skin-clad skeleton’s remaining shackles.

Yang Wu dug up the area, finding a huge profound spirit stone, near to cracking, that connected the ritual array’s many lines. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that this was the array’s true central node.

Thinking, the young man became resolute. The bloody ritual array is about to break. It cannot hold that old geezer any longer. I’ll have to make another bet on him.

So he yelled, “Senior, I’ve discovered the ritual array’s central node! I can save you!”

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