Chapter 1210, Bursting Free from the Lake

Translator: Silavin

  

A full day had passed since Qin Yichen was swallowed into the belly of the Azure Sky Demonic Flood Dragon.

 

Upon the summit of Vibrant Vermilion Peak, the gathered experts had long since dispersed. No one could say whether the Azure Sky Demonic Flood Dragon, now that it had reclaimed its Beast Core and Sacred Energy Fruit, might surface once more and bring slaughter upon all of them.

 

The only ones who remained by the lakeside now were a sparse handful of figures, each of them subordinates under the command of Zhao Xueqi and Zhang Heng.

 

“That brat was blasted with heavy injuries and then swallowed whole by the Azure Sky Demonic Flood Dragon. By now he’s probably been digested down to nothing.”

 

“The Sacred Energy Fruit was seized by the Azure Sky Demonic Flood Dragon, how could it possibly reappear?”

 

“*Haa…* Heaven only knows how long we’ll be stuck waiting in this wretched place.”

 

Several of the subordinates grumbled and muttered amongst themselves as they kept their tedious watch.

 

Though they wished to be elsewhere, not one of them dared venture down to probe the situation. Each of them kept a careful distance from the lake, for no one could predict whether the Azure Sky Demonic Flood Dragon might burst out at any moment. To hover too close was to risk perishing without ever understanding why.

 

“Let’s wait a while longer. Brother Heng is still waiting at the mountainside and wouldn’t abandon us to head down first.”

 

“What a damn pain. We did all that work and there’s nothing to show for it. Let’s just hope that Demonic Beast rests quietly in the lake for a good while longer and doesn’t come charging out.”

 

The few of them whispered amongst themselves for a moment, and then the summit of the mountain returned to stillness, broken only by the howling fury of wind and snow.

 

…

 

Deep within the lake, the darkness stretched without end, and a lone figure hovered silently within the frigid water.

 

That figure was none other than Qin Yichen in the midst of cultivating. A terrifying devouring force surged ceaselessly from his body, and the surrounding lake water formed an enormous vortex, as wave after wave of pure Yuan Energy came flooding into his frame in a torrent.

 

Beneath this relentless infusion of Yuan Energy, Qin Yichen’s figure trembled faintly, and with the Supreme Tyrant Body cycling at full tilt, all this convergent energy was ceaselessly refined and absorbed.

 

As the immense Yuan Energy poured in with reckless abandonment, a full three days passed before his aura at last began to climb, slowly but unmistakably. The pace was unhurried, yet the rise could be felt with perfect clarity.

 

Gradually, the devouring force from within Qin Yichen began to wane, and the lake water around him began to settle back into calm.

 

By now, the Azure Sky Demonic Flood Dragon was growing rather impatient. Without its Beast Core, it could already feel its cultivation beginning to recede bit by bit.

 

If this continued, even if it recovered its Beast Core after a little while longer, it might still drop a cultivation realm, and any hope of glimpsing that higher realm would grow even dimmer.

 

In the darkness of the lake, the Azure Sky Demonic Flood Dragon’s eyes were fixed unblinkingly on Qin Yichen. Finally, it let out a long, slow breath and closed its eyes.

 

Whether Qin Yichen’s breakthrough succeeded or not, it could not quite determine from his current state, but from him came an impression of great danger that kept it from daring to make any rash moves.

 

Time flowed quietly on in the silence. How long had passed, it was impossible to say, when the figure hovering so still in the water gave a sudden, slight shudder.

 

By now his aura had become exceptionally formidable. The sheer abundance of Yuan Energy within him was fully on par with that of a Peak Stage Martial Ancestor.

 

Yet this degree of power was not what Qin Yichen sought. He wanted to truly take that final step forward, to break through to the Peak Stage of Martial Ancestor in every sense.

 

“Just one more step!” In the next moment, with a low roar rising within him, Qin Yichen’s Yuan Energy erupted into a sudden boil, and over a dozen Beast Cores floated up from within him, hovering in a ring about his body.

 

*Whoosh!*

 

Those Beast Cores dissolved into pure Yuan Energy almost instantaneously and came pouring in a torrent into that lean frame.

 

Under this terrifying influx of Yuan Energy, Qin Yichen’s body began to tremble ceaselessly, and a strange, pulsing force spread outward from within him. Beneath that force, the very flesh and blood of his body stirred and crawled as though alive.

 

When the last of the floating Beast Cores crumbled to dust and the final thread of energy streamed inward, Qin Yichen’s tightly shut eyes snapped open at once.

 

A piercing brilliance blazed from between his eyes, as though it could cleave straight through the surrounding darkness. In that instant, Qin Yichen felt it within his body, a subtle yet profound metamorphosis taking shape, the sensation of having become something altogether more powerful.

 

At the same moment, an extraordinarily mighty aura came surging forth, impossible to conceal.

 

Peak Stage Martial Ancestor Realm.

 

“You’ve broken through?!” Sensing his formidable aura, the Azure Sky Demonic Flood Dragon’s enormous body swept down in an instant, its urgent voice ringing out within Qin Yichen’s mind.

 

“More or less.”

 

Qin Yichen closed his fist, feeling the strength that flowed through him, several degrees more potent than before, and smiled faintly.

 

“When you were at the Late Stage Martial Ancestor Realm, you could already barely hold those two worms off. After this breakthrough, going up against them directly shouldn’t pose any real difficulty to you.”

 

The Azure Sky Demonic Flood Dragon remarked with something approaching admiration.

 

Though it had already entered the Half-Saint Realm, its own path of cultivation had been arduous beyond measure. Every single breakthrough had demanded years upon years of painstaking accumulation. Where in any of that was there anything so effortless as what Qin Yichen had just accomplished?

 

The corner of Qin Yichen’s mouth curved into a faint smile. He gave a single nod. It was time to head out.

 

Even knowing that Zhao Xueqi and the others were very likely waiting outside, he was not in the least bit afraid.

 

With the strength of a Peak Stage Martial Ancestor, even without invoking the Myriad Dao Divine Armour, he now possessed the means to stand against the two of them.

 

“Time to settle accounts.”

 

Qin Yichen smiled lightly, swept his arm through the water, and a Beast Core radiating a powerful aura shot from his hand and was swallowed in a single gulp by the Azure Sky Demonic Flood Dragon, which had been waiting for this very moment with barely restrained eagerness.

 

*Whoosh!*

 

At once, Qin Yichen’s toes pressed lightly against the water, and his figure shot upward like a bolt, the frozen lake water parting around him without offering the slightest resistance. He streaked toward the surface above like a beam of flowing light.

 

…

 

Upon the summit of Vibrant Vermilion Peak, the icy wind shrieked and wailed, dragging curtains of snowflakes across the sky in a relentless howl.

 

Within that bitter wind, a handful of figures, their expressions a picture of misery, huddled and hid amongst the ice and snow as best they could.

 

*Whoosh!*

 

Without any warning, into the wind-swept world that had known nothing but silence, a sharp sound of something cutting through the air rang out, and in the next breath a figure burst from the surface of the lake.

 

The figure was tremendously swift. In no more than a few breaths’ time it had vanished into the boundless swirl of wind and snow like a phantom dissolving into mist.

 

“Oi, did you see that? That figure just now?!”

 

“It’s not my eyes tricking me, that’s him, absolutely him!”

 

“Heavens, how is he still alive!?”

 

“Get word to Blood Hand at once!”

 

Almost at the very instant Qin Yichen emerged, several figures concealed beneath the wind and snow cried out in alarm. One after another, urgent messages went flying outward in every direction.