Chapter 76: The Strange Pulsation!

Amidst the gentle presence of elements, Fen Tian’s spirit seemed to grow stronger by the moment, absorbing endlessly like a dried sponge, gradually filling itself to capacity, and its power soaring in an instant!
With fierce winds and swirling sand, it took little time for it to regain its strength at the early stage of the Imperial rank—this was Fen Tian’s peak condition. Yet, everything still continued!
Feeling all this, Rod’s eyes narrowed sharply, a hint of excitement appearing on his face. The impact of the surrounding elements showed no sign of fading, indicating that Fen Tian had succeeded this time.
His guess was correct—the energy of that core had reached a level only achievable by a divine-grade magical beast core, enough to propel Fen Tian forward. And Fen Tian lived up to expectations; despite the difficult process, it finally made it through.
Its energy quickly reached the pinnacle of the early Imperial rank, and the progression continued. Watching everything with wide eyes, Rod could feel his own heartbeat accelerating, his blood flowing faster, filled with excitement.
Boom… A low rumbling sound could be faintly heard from within Fen Tian’s body, followed by even more intense flow of combat energy. It suddenly reached the middle stage of the Imperial rank! And it kept going, endlessly. Rod’s expression shifted from excitement to shock.
After a long while, the energy gradually subsided, the elements softened, and slowly dissipated. Upon further observation, Fen Tian’s strength had skyrocketed to the peak of the middle Imperial rank. Just one more step, and it could reach the later stage of the Imperial rank.
Rod could never have imagined that a single beast core could achieve such results. The effect was terrifying—almost a miracle. If such a thing were to appear on the continent, it would surely cause a sensation and chaos. It was truly an existence that defied the natural order. After all, the value of a divine-grade magical beast core was at least millions of gold coins, and they were still in short supply. Moreover, not all crystals could be used by beast souls, and their effects might not even compare to this core.
Suddenly, Rod felt as though he had truly discovered a treasure—a huge one. If this continued, Fen Tian’s growth would be limitless!

Actually, in this regard, Rod was wrong. Absorbing a core from a beast soul was unprecedented. Not to mention that the cores of divine-level magical beasts are hard to find and extremely rare; even if they do exist, no one would be willing to use them in such a way. On the other hand, with such formidable strength, how could an ordinary beast soul withstand it? Only Fen Tian, infused with the soul of a divine dragon, could be so savage and powerful.

Moreover, not all cores can be absorbed—this core was from a mutated Fire Devouring Beast! This kind of magical beast, similar to the Fire Devouring Beast but with special abilities, had cores that were exceptionally unique and highly pure in power. This time, Rod merely achieved this by chance, thanks to sheer luck. Otherwise, if anything like this were possible, the continent wouldn’t remain so peaceful—wouldn’t people start mass-producing powerful beast souls?

Feeling his own progress, Fen Tian roared excitedly, causing the cave to shake. Rod smiled bitterly inwardly. If this continued, the cave would collapse sooner or later. Fen Tian’s evolution had completely disrupted Rod’s plans. He had originally intended to venture deeper today, but now he no longer had such intentions.

The core posed a huge temptation to him. Looking at Fen Tian, Rod decided to stay here for a while longer to see if he could collect more cores, which might help Fen Tian reach a sacred-level strength. That way, he would have more protection when exploring deeper areas.

After making up his mind, the cave once again became Rod’s dwelling place.

…

Accompanied by a scream, a massive body crashed to the ground. Seeing the Black Armored Snake lying there, Rod exhaled in relief. Another full thirty days had passed, and before he knew it, he had been in this eerie place for nearly three months.

Since discovering the effects of the core last time, he stayed here for another thirty days. During these days, Rod no longer confined himself to the 800-fold gravity zone but gradually expanded into the 1,000-fold gravity zone. Naturally, as his exploration area increased, the original 800-fold gravity zone also rose to 1,000 folds. Yet, accustomed to this place, Rod didn’t find it too strenuous.

During this time, he wasn’t idle either. Instead of hiding, he began actively searching for targets, with the mutated Fire Devouring Beast naturally becoming his main focus.

It’s a pity that after an entire month, only two monsters were found. The rest were either tigers, falcons, or the black-armored snake lying right in front of him now. With such high gravity, the black giant rats that could be seen before had disappeared entirely. New species had emerged. Through active searching over the month, eleven monsters were slain.

Apart from the mutated fire-devouring beasts, the rest were all dark-type monsters, so Rod only managed to obtain a pitiful two core essences he needed!

Having tasted success, Fen Tian eagerly took them in. As his strength increased, the effects of the core essences were no longer as potent as before; the two core essences only allowed Fen Tian to evolve from mid-king level to late king level. Even so, it thrilled Rod, making the trip worthwhile.

As for the remaining core essences, Rod put them all in his magic bag for future use—who knows if they might be useful someday.

Nearly three months in this eerie forest brought about a huge change in Rod’s demeanor, and his combat experience greatly improved. Previously, although there were many battles, his opponents were mostly around his own strength or slightly weaker. This time, he faced almost all stronger monsters, so his gains were incomparable.

Putting away another core essence and storing it in his magic bag, Rod said to Fen Tian, “Alright, Fen Tian. It seems we should leave this place. There might be even more unexpected things waiting for us ahead!” Having adapted to a thousand times gravity and tired of life in this area, Rod spoke calmly to Fen Tian.

Solitary cultivation is lonely and unbearable. Without Fen Tian’s company, Rod would have long given up in such a silent and dark environment. Even with Fen Tian by his side, Rod’s personality underwent slight changes—he became a bit colder and more irritable, with an extra layer of icyness in his nature.

As if understanding Rod’s words, Fen Tian hesitated not at all and closely followed Rod as they flew forward. Their goal was a gravity level of 1,200 times.

At a gravity level of 1,000 times, there were mid-saint level monsters; perhaps higher-level monsters would appear there. Although his strength was still at the early saint level, Rod could clearly feel that his cultivation here had improved him significantly.

The amount of combat energy increased slightly, just a tiny bit, but its power surged dramatically—this was related to the purity of the energy! Especially in terms of physical strength and endurance, there was an abnormally rapid increase during this period. Rod knew that as long as he left this strange place, his speed would reach a terrifying level. Vaguely, Rod felt that he was on the verge of reaching the intermediate stage. Perhaps 1,200 times gravity could be the turning point.

As for facing high-level sacred-grade magical beasts, he was well-prepared. With his greatly enhanced strength and the techniques formed through the fusion of his heart and mind, he should have a chance to fight.

…

Feeling the gravity continuously increasing, it took some time before Rod finally reached an area with 1,200 times gravity. Wiping the sweat from his forehead and exhaling heavily, he realized how difficult it was to endure under such heavy pressure!

He had no intention of staying long here and continued onward toward an area with 1,500 times gravity. That was his second planned resting place; this place was merely a temporary stop.

Suddenly, a slight tremor came from his armor, clearly transmitted to Rod’s consciousness. He even sensed a hint of excitement from the armor.

“Does it have feelings?” Puzzled by this strange sensation, Rod frowned and stopped in his tracks. Could armor have feelings? It would probably make people laugh if he mentioned it.

This peculiar armor had been a source of mystery since he obtained it, and repeated disappointments had made Rod lose hope in it. But once he entered this forest, the increasing gravity failed to cause any damage to it, its recovery speed remained abnormally fast, and there were occasional tremors—all of these reignited Rod’s hope.

This time, the sensation was especially clear and distinct, accompanied by emotions akin to human feelings, which shocked Rod greatly. It was very close—probably right around him. The distance wasn’t far, and Rod could sense a familiar presence. It was the first time he had felt a familiar aura in this place, which was quite unusual. At least Rod didn’t think he had ever been here before, so such familiarity seemed somewhat eerie.

Curiosity killed the cat, yet humans still had a strong sense of curiosity—this was certainly true of Rod at that moment.

Even though he knew there was danger and that this wasn’t his goal, he still slowly followed the armor’s guidance, staying in the area with 1,300 times gravity for now.

Whether it was a blessing or a curse, Rod didn’t care. He was eager to learn more, especially about armor—perhaps there might be some astonishing discoveries. With hope in his heart, he set out on a quest to find treasures and unravel the mystery.