CHAPTER 35: PIONEER OF THE NEW WORLD

Bai Ze said, "Do you know what that tree beside Lu Chen is?"

Kui Bull pointed at the tree in the scene. "Could it be the one born from chaos?"

Bai Ze replied, "Yes, that's the one. A colossal divine tree that sprouted at the dawn of heaven and earth."

"Lu Chen himself is not our true hope. That tree is."

After a brief pause, Bai Ze continued, "Do you remember the mark I once mentioned? I said it's both a shackle and a blessing. That's because our Bai Ze clan carries the mark of the present world."

The Golden Dragon looked at Bai Ze in shock. "What? Your clan carries the blessing of this world? Hah... I should have figured it out sooner."

Bai Ze sat up and looked at him. "The Golden Dragon Clan should have it as well. So you must understand what this blessing truly means."

The Golden Dragon gave a low chuckle. "The blessing of the present world? For us, it's more like a burden now."

The Golden Dragon manifested a fifth dragon claw while speaking. In his palm, an image of the towering divine tree appeared.

"Without that tree's support, the blessing had thinned out by the time it reached my generation. Without a stroke of great fortune, I will never be able to break through my current cultivation."

Kui Bull stepped forward, and a glowing mark of the Green Sovereign Divine Tree appeared at the center of his forehead. He asked, "What use is this mark? I can feel its influence, but I can't activate it."

Bai Ze replied, "That's because Lu Chen's small world hasn't fully formed yet. The Bai Ze Clan was among the first generation of beasts born from the blood of the Phoenix Ancestor, which is why we carry the mark of the present world. This mark is the key to entering into that small world, but it also means our lives and deaths will be entirely under Lu Chen's control."

Kui Bull asked, "Then what exactly is this blessing you keep talking about?"

The Golden Dragon explained, "The blessing means that once Lu Chen's small world is complete, we'll receive its protection. Even if the Dark Rebellion remains unresolved, we'll still be able to survive within his world. As pioneers of the new world, we'll also be granted unique abilities. Like my fifth claw, and Bai Ze's ability to perceive the past and future."

The Red Fox chimed in, "If that's the case, then we must help Lu Chen form his small world as quickly as possible."

Another beast chimed in, "Exactly, but helping a human grow quickly, especially in an age like this where bloodlines are so diluted, is no easy task."

Bai Ze let out a heavy sigh. "We need to find a way to help Lu Chen rapidly raise his cultivation. That's the only real obstacle."

At that moment, a young man stepped out from the crowd and said, "I can do that. My clan's innate divine ability allows us to gather the spirit qi of heaven and earth."

He revealed his true form, which was a Spirit-Gathering Shell Beast, born with the ability to accumulate spirit qi.

The twin shells on his back fluttered gently, and the spirit qi on the third floor of Beast King Manor began to converge between them.

Bai Ze nodded. "Good. Now that we have a solution for his cultivation, we still need him to face life-and-death trials. Until he truly experiences that, none of us is allowed to help him directly. This matter concerns the fate of our entire demonic beast race. No one outside this room must know."

Everyone responded in unison, "Understood."

Bai Ze continued, "Go now. Focus on cultivating. We must raise our strength to the peak of this world if we're to survive the coming Dark Rebellion."

Everyone in the hall had reached a clear consensus. One by one, they revealed their true forms, stepped down from their seats, and left, each to train their own key abilities.

***

On the fourth floor of the Beast King Manor, Lu Chen stood at the top of the stairway and gazed at the empty area in front of him with a look of confusion on his face.

The spirit qi was incredibly dense, yet the entire floor only had five rooms. They were spaced out along the edges of the hall and positioned in a star-like layout, encircling the staircase that led to the fifth floor. Each room bore a distinct elemental symbol, representing Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth.

Lu Chen summoned Wind Dragon and asked, "Wind Dragon, why are there no beasts here?"

Wind Dragon responded, "Hmm? You've already reached the fourth floor?

"There are no beasts here. Just go straight in. This is where I used to stay. These are the rooms I told you about, the ones that belonged to the former chieftains. Let's go to my room first. I need some pills to restore my strength. It's the first room on the left."

***

Lu Chen gripped the Hunyuan Greatsword and headed toward the wooden door.

Bang!

Just as he reached the doorway, a breeze swept past him, and the door swung open on its own.

He stepped inside the room and couldn't help but marvel at its vastness. "This room is huge!"

He had been inside the Heavenly Mandate Hall's tent, which was an enchanted artifact with spatial attributes, but it didn't even come close to this scale.[1] From the outside, the room looked no larger than a few meters. But once inside, the space expanded by thousands of times.

Wind Dragon's voice carried a hint of pride. "This is just a basic application of spatial techniques. It's nothing worth fussing over."

"Come. Let's head to the pill room. I'll need a large number of pills to recover my power."

Wind Dragon tugged Lu Chen along and led him deeper into the vast room.

A massive pill cauldron, over ten feet tall, stood in the center of the room. Flames still flickered inside. Surrounding it were eight medicine racks, arranged in a circular formation. Eight beams of spirit qi connected the racks to the cauldron, forming a Bagua formation that encircled the cauldron at its center.

Thousands of pills filled the racks. Among them were Body Tempering Pills, Heaven Restoration Pills, Bloodburst Pills, Tribulation Evading Pills, Spirit Transformation Pills, and countless others.

Looking at the dazzling display, Lu Chen couldn't help but grin from ear to ear. "Wind Dragon, these pills—"

Seeing Lu Chen's grin stretch to his ears, Wind Dragon quickly cut him off and said, "You can use all of those on the racks. But the ones inside the cauldron are reserved for breakthroughs. They're not for you right now."

Lu Chen's grin grew even wider at Wind Dragon's generosity. "Hahaha, I didn't mean that! But since you're offering, I won't be shy. I'll gladly accept them. These are worth a fortune! Once we find Grandpa, we can sell them off and probably buy a few more plots of land."

He stepped forward and began searching for the pills he needed.

Wind Dragon looked at him and let out a sigh. After spending some time together, he had learned a lot about Lu Chen's past. And yet, the more he understood, the more baffling he found Lu Chen.

The young man before him was only eighteen. Despite carrying immense sorrow and helplessness in his heart, he always forced himself to appear strong in front of others. Perhaps he wanted to preserve the image of himself his grandfather last saw. He probably hoped that when they reunited, everything could go back to how it once was.

Lu Chen stared at the shelves of pills, his eyes slowly welling with tears. "Wind Dragon... do you think I'll be able to find Grandpa? It's been so many days, and I still haven't got a single clue about where he is. Grandpa used to say, if I still couldn't cultivate by the time I turned eighteen, he'd use all the money he saved up over a lifetime to buy a few plots of land and farm with me. Now, I can already cultivate and afford the land, but grandpa..."

Watching Lu Chen's tears fall, Wind Dragon sighed again. He gently tapped Lu Chen's shoulder with the Hunyuan Greatsword and reassured him, "Little Lu, you have a boundless future ahead. You will find your grandfather. And when you do, you'll go farm together just like he wanted. Right now, your top priority is to improve your cultivation and prepare to rescue him."

Lu Chen lifted his head and placed both hands on the sword, gently running his fingers across his surface. He understood what Wind Dragon meant. "It's good to have you with me, Wind Dragon. I have to grow stronger and do so quickly. I believe Grandpa is still waiting for me."

He wiped his tears away and tightened his grip on the sword, then swung it in a fluid arc, sending a flourish of light into the air.

"I, Lu Chen of Greenheaven Village, will become a powerful cultivator. I will bring grandpa back. That's my vow, and even heaven itself can't stop me!"

With a slash, Lu Chen shattered the table and chairs in front of him into pieces.

A while later, he finally calmed down. Seeing that, Wind Dragon urged him to start gathering the pills to restore his spirit qi.

"Little Lu, let's begin. Start with the Heaven Restoration Pill, the Wind Spirit Pill, and the Willowwood Pellet."

Lu Chen followed his instructions, locating the pills Wind Dragon had indicated one by one.

"Now absorb the medicinal energy and channel it all into the Hunyuan Greatsword."

Lu Chen sat cross-legged on the floor and swallowed all the pills in one go.

The medicinal power quickly began to spread through his body.

Wind Dragon panicked at Lu Chen's recklessness and cried out from within the sword, "You fool! You took way too many at once! Start guiding it with your spirit qi now! Pills are meant to be taken one at a time! What were you thinking, shoving them all down in one bite? That's not just wasteful! One mistake, and you could've burst apart!"

Thick white mist began to seep from Lu Chen's pores. "Ah! What do I do now?"

It was Lu Chen's first time seeing so many pills. He had thought it would be just like taking regular medicine, that he could swallow everything at once and be done with it.

"These pills are fairly mild, and your meridians are dozens of times wider than a normal person's. For now, you should be safe. But you must guide the medicinal force with your spirit qi quickly! Funnel all the blocked medicinal force into the Hunyuan Greatsword. I can take it from there."

Lu Chen listened closely to Wind Dragon's instructions. Spirit qi surged from his Heavenly Pool, slowly guiding the medicinal power through his meridians and into the sword.

"Wind Dragon, hurry! I can feel the medicinal power building up faster and faster!"

The surging spirit qi blew Lu Chen's hair upward. A wave of dense white mist burst from his Baihui acupoint at the crown of his head. The medicinal power seeped into his muscles and skin. In an instant, his entire body swelled into a giant puffed-up figure.

Wind Dragon said urgently through the greatsword, "Almost there! Keep speeding up the transfer!"

Vast amounts of medicinal energy flowed into the Hunyuan Greatsword, slowly giving substance and strength to Wind Dragon's internal form.

A mighty dragon's roar erupted from within the blade. "Rooaaar!"

Wind Dragon's voice rang out, a hint of urgency in his tone, "Little Lu, faster! I think we're about to hit the critical point!"

By this point, Lu Chen's entire body had swelled like a balloon, with thick medicinal mist gushing from every pore, limb, and opening.

"I'm ready! I'm sending it all in!"

Lu Chen channeled every drop of medicinal energy, every thread of spirit qi, and even his own blood into the Hunyuan Greatsword.

Boom!

"Roarrr!"

Following a dragon's cry, Wind Dragon burst free from the greatsword.

1. We removed a passage where the author said Lu Chen had never seen a spatial treasure on this scale, considering he's within an entire minor world that is contained in the Twin-Fish Medallion. ☜