Chapter 1293: Domain

Jian Chen had the artifact spirit find a place to hide before entering the artifact space with Tie Ta to heal. If he only relied on the recovery of the Chaotic Body, he would take a long time to return to his peak condition, so he needed the artifact spirit’s help to recover as soon as possible.

Tie Ta was injured as well, and after using Form-shatterer, he had basically drained away half of his energy. He needed some time to recover as well.

In less than four hours, Jian Chen made a full recovery with the artifact spirit’s abilities as a Class 8 Radiant Saint Master. He returned to his peak condition while Tie Ta recovered as well. However, as he had over-extended himself, he held a Class 8 Xuanhuang beast crystal to recover his lost energy.

Jian Chen did not disturb Tie Ta and silently left the artifact space by himself. The Class 10 Xuanhuang beast that the two of them had slain was still there with its blood across the ground.

Jian Chen removed the Class 10 energy crystal from the Xuanhuang beast after a tremendous amount of effort. He found the crystal to be the size of a chicken egg, and the energy hidden within was so vast that it cause even him to make a different expression. It was incomparable to Class 9 Monster Cores.

What Jian Chen did not know was that the energy within the energy crystal had far exceeded what a Class 10 Monster Core possessed. However, since this was the first time he had ever seen a Class 10 Monster Core, he didn’t notice the difference due to the lack of something to compare to.

Jian Chen put the energy crystal away. He obviously did not miss the corpse either. He put it in the artifact space and ordered the artifact spirit to store it away. He had already made up his mind. He would give the energy crystal to Tie Ta and take the corpse of the Xuanhuang beast for himself.

Jian Chen then arrived beside the Mortal Energy Fruit Tree and removed three hundred sixty crude, wooden boxes. He collected all three hundred sixty fruits before taking away all the Amethyst Spiritual Bamboo as well.

The sap of the bamboo was a wondrous resource for healing the soul. At the same time, it could refine and strengthen the soul as well, so it was worth far more than the Mortal Energy Fruit. The only pity was that there was not a lot of bamboo, only around a hundred stalks. A single drop of sap could only be extracted from each stalk while healing wounds of the soul would require at least a couple drops if not more. Although Jian Chen had obtained around a hundred drops of sap, that amount would not be enough to sustain many usages.

Jian Chen discovered some other heavenly resources nearby that were of lower grades, but they were all of the Immortal Tier.

Jian Chen continued on. He followed the tracks of the Class 10 Xuanhuang beast that they had just killed and discovered another Xuanhuang beast corpse several dozen kilometers away. It was littered with vicious wounds and covered in dried blood. Its skin had been burned to a visible blackness by lightning and the air was filled with a burnt smell.

Jian Chen immediately rejoiced, because the Xuanhuang beast was also Class 10, and its energy crystal still seemed to be present.

Jian Chen observed the surroundings before quickly striding over to the corpse after confirming that there were no dangers. Again, he used a tremendous amount of effort to remove the energy crystal that was slightly smaller than a chicken egg.

Jian Chen smiled happily as he stared at the bloodied energy crystal in his hands. Although the energy within was not as plentiful as the previous crystal, it was still a Class 10 energy crystal after all. The energy inside was vast enough to shock Jian Chen.

More importantly, he had basically come across this Class 10 energy crystal out of pure luck.

Jian Chen happily put the energy crystal and corpse away. He glanced around his surroundings but found no heavenly resources.

“This must not be the territory of this Class 10 Xuanhuang beast. I wonder where it came from since it attempted to take over the territory with the Mortal Energy Fruit and Amethyst Spiritual Bamboo. Too bad it was weaker and was slain by an even more powerful Xuanhuang beast in the end,” Jian Chen thought. He looked around and quickly found another set of tracks.

“This should be the tracks of this dead Xuanhuang beast. I should be able to return to its territory if I follow these tracks. I wonder if there’s any treasures there,” Jian Chen thought. After hesitating for a moment, he immediately hurried along the tracks.

Jian Chen moved through the forest carefully with his presence hidden. He had traveled over a thousand kilometers, and after dealing with several Class 9 Xuanhuang beasts along the way, he finally arrived in the original territory of the Xuanhuang beast.

Jian Chen, however, stopped very far away and did not get any closer before retreating carefully. He could already sense a very powerful presence in the distance. The territory had already been taken over by another Class 10 Xuanhuang beast.

Although he didn’t know the Xuanhuang beast’s exact strength, Jian Chen had no interest in provoking it even if it was the weakest among the tenth class. He had almost lost his life to a heavily-injured Class 10 Xuanhuang beast earlier, so even if it was not as powerful as the elephant from before, he and Tie Ta were not strong enough to deal with it if it was in peak condition.

At the same time, it was very possible that the current Xuanhuang beast had come first and had driven away the original owner, which lead to the battle between the original owner and the elephant.

Over the next few days, Jian Chen and Tie Ta wandered through the forest and found many heavenly resources. Not only were there various fruits of all five attributes, they even came across a few Comprehension Tea Trees and Violet Cloud Peach Trees, allowing them to benefit even more. Jian Chen had even come across quite a few materials for forging weapons. He did not recognize any of them, so they were all found by the sword spirits. Although they were not needed for forging the Azulet swords, they were important materials for other immortal artifacts.

However, the highest grade he found for the peaches and trees was the fifth grade. It was not that he did not come across any higher grades. The higher grades just happened to be guarded by powerful Class 10 Xuanhuang beasts, which limited Jian Chen to only looking from afar.

Jian Chen had already stayed for two whole months within the Xuanhuang Microcosm. He only had a month left before he needed to leave. He would calculate the time every day just to ensure that he would not miss the deadline.

“I can only stay here for another half a month. I’ll need to begin my journey back after that. Half a month should be enough for me to head back,” Jian Chen calculated before carefully continuing on.

Not only were there Class 9 Xuanhuang beasts in the forest of unknown size, there were quite a few Class 10 Xuanhuang beasts as well, so Jian Chen always had to remain vigilant. He would slay Class 9 Xuanhuang beasts when he came across them and avoid Class 10 Xuanhuang beasts from far away if he saw them.

Although he was unable to detect any Class 10 Xuanhuang beasts who hid their presences with his strength, he had the assistance of the sword spirits, so he was not worried about Class 10 Xuanhuang beasts suddenly appearing before him.

Jian Chen and Tie Ta continued on for over ten thousand kilometers before being stopped by a barrier completely condensed from Xuanhuang Qi. The barrier reached into the sky and deep underground, as if it was a natural wall which separated the place into two different lands.

Xuanhuang Qi revolved within the barrier, which seemed like mist. It was dense at times and thin at others. It was still possible to see things inside, but they were all blurry and hazy, as if they were obscured by mist.

Jian Chen’s eyes immediately lit up with a single glance. He could not help but have his heart thump heavily. A hazy Violet Cloud Peach had appeared before him, and with his understanding of the fruit, he could tell that it was of a much higher grade than anything he had obtained before.

“Zi Ying, Qing Suo, that’s a high grade Violet Cloud Peach,” Jian Chen’s breathing became rather ragged. He could recognize heavenly resources of the sixth grade now but nothing beyond that. Since he was unable to distinguish the grade of the immortal peach within the barrier, it could only mean that it had exceeded the sixth grade.

The sword spirits appeared above Jian Chen. They also saw the barrier that was blocking their path, and they became both surprised and joyful. They then looked at the Violet Cloud Peach Tree within the barrier. Their eyes lit up but dulled soon after. They said, “Master, that’s a ninth grade Violet Cloud Peach. A single one of them can increase your cultivation by four thousand five hundred years. Just one of them is enough for a mortal to become an immortal, but we can’t obtain it,” said Zi Ying regretfully.

Jian Chen immediately ravished with joy when he heard that it was of the ninth grade, but he became stunned by what Zi Ying had said at the end, “We can’t get it? Why not?”

“Master, you can see the barrier before you condensed from Xuanhuang Qi. This barrier is known as the domain. Most Xuanhuang Microcosms that have appeared in the past do not possess a domain, and there are extremely few that do, but without any exceptions, all Xuanhuang Microcosms with domains are of the highest grade. In our Immortals’ World, there’s another description of the Xuanhuang Microcosms. The region outside the domain is the realm of mortals while inside is the realm of immortals, because the interior is a high-level space on the same level as the Immortals’ World. The Xuanhuang beasts inside are so powerful that almost all of them are immortals, incomparable to the ones outside. Some Xuanhuang beast kings have even reached Immortal Monarch or Immortal Emperor,” Zi Ying sternly explained.

Jian Chen gasped with that and felt shocked inside. He could not even deal with Class 10 Xuanhuang beasts, let alone Immortal Monarch or Emperor Xuanhuang beast kings. Probably just a breath from these beast kings would be enough to reduce him to nothingness.