Hidden Cloud was enraged when it saw that its attack was completely ineffective against Su Chen.
As it roared and howled, the expanding fog suddenly withdrew into itself.
The condensed fog then poured into the contorted face, giving it a giant fog body. The new form that Hidden Cloud had assumed was roughly as large as one of Su Chen’s mountain giants.
In this form, Hidden Cloud was no longer able to selectively phase specific body parts in and out of an ethereal state.
This was because the fog giant’s body constantly ebbed and flowed, like the ocean tide.
Its face was still as fierce and contorted as ever, but now, its newly formed fog body was also emanating a sinister aura.
The Origin Energy around Hidden Cloud’s body was incredibly turbulent. For just a moment, Su Chen felt as if he had lost control of the Origin Energy in his own body.
“So you’ve finally decided to pull out the big guns, huh?” Su Chen muttered to himself.
The power of an enraged Desolate Beast was not to be underestimated, and Su Chen braced himself accordingly.
Energy ripples pulsed out from Hidden Cloud’s body. Even before it attacked, it was clear that this powerful Desolate Beast had a top-tier vitality and exceptional might. Then, silver flames sprung to life, cloaking its body in a veil of flames while a thin silver flame blade formed in its hand.
Then, it swung the silver blade. A wild wave of flames surged forth in a curved trajectory, tearing through the sky.
In response, Su Chen gently flicked the Lightless Blade in his right hand, imbuing his parry with a faint trace of white light — immortal energy.
This time, Su Chen was facing off against Hidden Cloud in a full-on frontal confrontation.
Su Chen wanted to see whether or not his immortal-energy-infused blade strike could successfully deflect a Desolate Beast’s attack.
No earth-shaking explosion of energy took place. Instead, brilliant light spilled everywhere when the two blades intersected, turning the sky into a kaleidoscope of bright colors. Immediately afterwards, the Lightless Blade bisected the arc of flames and even managed to go on to pierce Hidden Cloud as well.
At the same time, however, the now bisected silver flames continued to sweep towards Su Chen.
Both Hidden Cloud’s and Su Chen’s bodies split in two.
They had both managed to wound each other with their attacks.
Su Chen groaned as the lower half of his body separated from his upper half. Then, while his legs retreated backwards, his upper half reached out and firmly grabbed his lower half, sealing the two together. His immortal energy’s effects then activated at that moment, forcibly expelling the residual energy that Hidden Cloud’s strike had left behind and allowing his body to recover.
Hidden Cloud did the same. The Origin Energy in its body revolved fiercely, easily expelling the invading immortal energy. Even though immortal energy was incredibly powerful, it was swept away by the deluge of Origin Energy like a rootless tree.
Through this exchange, both Su Chen and Hidden Cloud had gotten a better grasp of their opponent’s abilities.
Even though immortal energy was more powerful than regular Origin Energy, Hidden Cloud’s Origin Energy reserves dwarfed Su Chen’s immortal energy. In this case, quantity triumphed over quality and then some.
Su Chen still needed to improve his immortal energy reserves!
And the most important difference between the two of them was still the gap in their cultivation realms!
Su Chen silently drew these conclusions from that one exchange.
He had no idea what would come after forming a Golden Pill, but he was beginning to gain some comprehension on what needed to come before it.
As the first individual on the Primordial Continent to tread the path of an Immortal, he had already formed his Golden Pill. But without any forerunners, the only path forward was to look backwards to first improve his fundamentals.
And Su Chen was already beginning to understand the intricacies of this new cultivation system.
While his body regenerated from his wounds, a subtle change occurred within his body.
This sensation was impossible to describe in words, but Su Chen could tell that one of the paths that had been obscured to him in the past was now slowly but surely revealing itself to him. A new foundation was being laid right before him.
“So is that how it is? My Golden Pill from before was a counterfeit because it was formed by an external power. Its regenerative and assimilative properties were inferior to a genuine one, but now...... something feels different,” Su Chen muttered to himself, deep in thought, as he licked his lips.
He could sense that his physical body was becoming more and more powerful.
He had felt something similar during his ascensions as an Origin Qi Scholar, but it was different this time.
Only his immortal energy had improved, and it was a completely separate system of power from his cultivation. And this power came not from converting divine power, but was rather an intrinsic improvement that came from within himself.
A power that belonged to him and himself alone.
“Still not enough,” Su Chen muttered to himself.
He could sense that, while the foundation was beginning to form, it was not yet complete. The power of the Golden Pill was still too weak for what he needed it to accomplish. He had only formed about nine-tenth of the lowest layer of the foundation.
Even though he was only missing one-tenth, this tenth was preventing him from reaching the stage of Great Success.
“So this level is Foundation Establishment? And there is also a level below Foundation Establishment....... But what could it be? Well, that’s not important right now. It should be something similar to Qi Drawing, but without a conversion process.”
As Su Chen spoke, he formed a few hand seals. Large plumes of white smoke burrowed out of his body.
Hidden Cloud had no idea what Su Chen was doing. It had just shaken off the effects of Su Chen’s immortal power, only to find Su Chen standing there muttering to himself mysteriously. Hidden Cloud let out a fierce shriek and slashed at Su Chen with its silver flame blade once more.
Only a Desolate Beast could have concentrated the Origin Energy in this blade to its current extent.
Even so, Su Chen glanced dismissively at the oncoming attack before shaking his head. “Don’t be in such a rush.”
His figure flickered and reappeared tens of thousands of feet away. White smoke continued to pour out from his body, but now, his face was also beginning to grow extremely red.
At this point, Su Chen was essentially reversing the natural order of progression and undergoing cultivation reversion to strengthen his foundation. This was not exactly a difficult process, but it wasn’t easy either, and it involved all sorts of profound secrets and complex procedures.
Hidden Cloud, of course, didn’t understand this. It chased after Su Chen, but it soon discovered to its surprise that Su Chen’s use of escape arts had suddenly become much more strategic.
Earlier, Su Chen would constantly have to take breaks in between his teleports. Now, however, there was no cooldown period between his teleports — he jumped around repeatedly and with relative ease. In fact, he was no longer even glancing at Hidden Cloud, and instead seemed to be single-mindedly leaping about like a playful monkey.
The enraged Hidden Cloud swung its flaming blade madly. Its now permanently tangible body was exceptionally powerful, and its first attack had only been dispelled by Su Chen’s generous use of immortal energy. In theory, his immortal energy reserves should have been quite low by this point. However, this was also precisely when Su Chen had chosen to start running, and even though Hidden Cloud could keep up, it couldn’t find the opportunity to attack, making for an immensely frustrating chase.
When Hidden Cloud saw that Su Chen was only planning on running away, it roared fiercely as the silver blade in its hands melted away into two silver balls of fire that then covered its hands. It began unleashing punch after fiery punch in Su Chen’s direction. The sky itself was virtually covered in silver flames.
Such an overbearing attack didn’t scare Su Chen, but it did surprise him.
Because from his point of view, Hidden Cloud’s actions were extremely foolish.
An individual’s power was not necessarily determined by their ferocity or brutishness. Impeccable and exquisite control over one’s energy was also a path to ultimate power. Even Desolate Beasts, who possessed oceans of Origin Energy, needed to be careful — their very existence went against the world, and every second of life was another step closer towards death.
Soon, however, Su Chen understood why Hidden Cloud was being so foolish.
It was due to the Consciousness-Revival Pills’ effects.
The Consciousness-Revival Pills had turned Hidden Cloud into a bloodthirsty, insane, and irrational creature that viewed every living organism surrounding it as an enemy. In fact, its bloodthirst was suppressing its rationality, which was why it had slaughtered its allied Demonic Beasts. At the very least, it was still capable of recognizing that Su Chen was its greatest threat, which was why it was relentlessly chasing him.
But as Su Chen continued to “provoke” it, the hatred and rage in its heart only grew stronger. When its emotions utterly overwhelmed its rationality, Hidden Cloud also began to lose control of its Origin Energy.
At this point, it would be more appropriate to say that Hidden Cloud was venting its anger rather than fighting.
The angrier it was, the wilder its actions would be.
“So that’s how it is,” Su Chen calmly muttered to himself, “If that’s the case, then why don’t we give you a little more fuel.”
A mysterious luster flickered across Su Chen’s eyes, which seemed to draw Hidden Cloud’s attention into his gaze.
Fata Morgana had been activated.
Even though Fata Morgana was Su Chen’s most powerful consciousness technique, under normal circumstances, it was incapable of affecting a Desolate Beast.
But now that Hidden Cloud was in a half-crazed state, Fata Morgana was able to push it ever so slightly further over the edge.
Hidden Cloud suddenly tilted its head back and let loose an enraged roar.
Then, it gave up on its pursuit of Su Chen and charged into the sky.
Fierce silver flames filled the sky as Hidden Cloud unleashed attack after attack at the sky. It was as if a meteor shower had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
This shower, however, seemed to be falling upwards into the sky rather than down towards the earth.
The silver “shooting stars” created a beautiful scene, forming a river of silver light that flowed through the sky. Even Sky City, which was hundreds of kilometers away, could see it.
Such a sight was definitely a once in a lifetime event.
“This is...... that Desolate Beast’s attack?” Gu Qingluo trembled when she saw this magnificent display.
She knew that Su Chen didn’t possess such a skill. It was simply too powerful, and her heart began to beat wildly in worry.
Thankfully, Su Chen’s clone was right beside her and it said with a faint smile, “Yes, but don’t worry. It poses no threat.”
It poses no threat.
Everyone else present almost fainted when they heard those words.
How could Su Chen say such a thing when such a brilliant scene was unfolding before their very eyes?
Even so, Su Chen was not putting on airs — in that moment, Hidden Cloud truly posed no threat to him.
Back near the canyon, Su Chen continued to calmly observe Hidden Cloud.
Hidden Cloud had gone completely berserk at this point, and this attack was the most powerful attack that it had unleashed yet. But without any intelligence to guide the attack to a target, it was a complete waste of energy, and not a single strike landed on its target.
It truly posed no threat in this state.
Even Su Chen hadn’t anticipated the sudden turn that this battle took. He had planned on stalling for as long as he could before finally using the blood clones to run away at the last moment.
But now, it seemed that he had successfully challenged a Desolate Beast on his own — and won at that.
Even though he had been extremely lucky in how this battle had developed, this was still nonetheless a mind bogglingly miraculous accomplishment.
The only question left was — how much remaining energy did this Beast have, and how long would it continue to mindlessly attack before it died?
With this question in mind, Su Chen stood to the side and waited. At the same time, he continued converting the energy in his body, finishing the last remaining tenth of his foundation.
All of the Origin Energy in the surroundings had been sucked up by Hidden Cloud during its mad attacks, and there was virtually none left in the air, but at this point, Su Chen no longer needed to absorb any Origin Energy from the environment.
There was no external energy to be found, but Su Chen had unearthed a new energy from his own lifeforce.
When the conversion process was finished, Su Chen felt extremely satisfied.
The heavens and the earth as a realm, and the human body as a realm.
In that moment, Su Chen suddenly had a premonition.
Only now had he truly become human.
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