Chapter 79: Deployment and Planning

Exhausted after escaping danger, Rod couldn’t care less about anything. He sat down on the ground, panting heavily. The pain from his wounds made his mouth twitch, and cold sweat poured down his face.
“Damn that dragon!” Rod was filled with hatred at the thought of the vile dragon. He had almost lost his life, and he was still terrified. Escaping from the dragon’s grasp was pure luck! Fortunately, in such a twisted forest, Rod was grateful that the trees here were sturdy enough to help him withstand the dragon’s attacks.
After resting for a long time, the pain from his wounds made him realize just how serious his injuries were. A cold energy kept swirling inside him, constantly threatening his body. He knew it was the energy from the dragon’s magic. Without hesitation, he acted—though he had never seen it before, he had heard of the horror of dark energy.
It was said that such energy was extremely strange and terrifying, capable of devouring a person’s bodily functions and energy. So, he quickly found a hidden place and began practicing immediately, aiming to restore his strength and heal his wounds while also trying to drive away that cold energy.
As the purest fire elements entered his body, his empty meridians began to fill up, and his combat energy gradually increased. His wounds also healed slowly under the nourishment of this energy. Things were developing as he had hoped.
After what felt like a long time—perhaps half a day or a day—his combat energy reached a saturated state. At this point, Rod focused on that faint cold energy inside him.
He could clearly sense that thread-like fragment of energy wandering aimlessly through his meridians. Once his combat energy grew stronger, the fire-based energy seemed to sense its presence and began to drive it away. Due to the significant energy disparity, that energy was forced to retreat and hide everywhere.
“Hmph, trying to hide?” With a cold snort, Rod felt relieved. Although pure fire energy wasn’t as effective as light energy, it could still be considered one of the enemies of dark energy. If it were water energy, things might not have turned out so well.
Grateful, Rod poured his mental energy into his body, directing his combat energy to chase after that energy. His body had now become a small battlefield.

The powerful and pure combat energy, under Rod’s control, instantly enveloped this cold, dark energy. It could be felt that this energy was also extremely pure and cold. After enclosing it, Rod began to refine it repeatedly, hoping to transform it! However, things did not go as planned—the refining results were far from satisfactory, with little progress despite much effort. The fierce counterattack from this energy also caused Rod great trouble; the devouring power of dark energy was fully manifested, and with each passing second, Rod felt his own energy decreasing, clearly being consumed by it. Suddenly, that energy broke free from Rod’s control and fled toward his dantian at terrifying speed, quickly entering it. This change shocked Rod, who realized he had been careless and hurriedly pursued it! “You refuse the path to heaven but insist on entering hell!” Rod smiled bitterly after a brief pause at this behavior of the energy—once inside his dantian, instead of hiding, it chose to fight back. How could the vast combat energy in his dantian possibly be matched or opposed by such a tiny amount of energy? Such an action was undoubtedly like a cornered beast fighting uselessly. The enormous combat energy instantly enveloped this tiny energy and began to merge and refine it! In just a short while, it completely shattered the energy’s resistance and incorporated it into his own body for use. What had been a difficult problem became incredibly simple here! About ten minutes later, Rod smiled slightly and breathed a sigh of relief. That tiny amount of energy had vanished after being thoroughly refined, becoming part of his own combat energy. Only then was everything truly resolved. Exhaling a puff of air, he opened his eyes and breathed in the fresh air, feeling instantly refreshed! He stood up and stretched deeply, producing a series of cracking sounds; the friction of his bones sounded particularly pleasant and soothing! Yet Rod did not notice that the moment he sent his mental energy out of his body, there was a slight tremor in his dantian. Within it, a faint, eerie yellowish-black combat energy appeared—so subtle and blurred that it was hard to detect without close inspection! After a brief disturbance, that trace of energy settled down, merged into the larger energy flow, and began to circulate as usual.

“Huh… Little guy, I really owe you one today!” Rod smiled faintly as he glanced at Fen Tian, who had been protecting him throughout his cultivation.
Lately, Fen Tian had been invaluable to his progress. Against magical beasts, its combat prowess was terrifying, and it had saved him from crisis several times. Without its constant interference, the forest would never have been able to stop the dragon, and he wouldn’t have been able to escape so easily.
“This isn’t over!” Rod murmured, narrowing his eyes at the dragon’s lair in the distance.
A grim smile flashed across his lips as he recalled the humiliating scene. It wasn’t in his nature to suffer a loss without seeking revenge. Besides, the cave behind the dragon held endless temptations for Rod! Not to mention what kind of treasures such a powerful dragon might have accumulated over thousands or even tens of thousands of years—just the feeling brought by his own set of armor was enough to make him take the risk of exploring it.
“Black Flame Armor? There must be something else over there. It seems this isn’t a complete set. If I could get all the pieces…” Rod murmured, staring at his armor. Black Flame Armor was the name of this set. From the dragon’s words, it seemed there were other components, and judging by its tone and behavior, this armor was definitely no ordinary thing—otherwise, the dragon wouldn’t have acted that way.
At the same time, Rod realized where he was—the Void Space. No wonder it felt so eerie! The black dragon’s words also filled Rod with dread. Back then, ten god-tier warriors had entered this place together. Nine of them made it in—five at the middle stage of godhood and four at the advanced stage. But from the dragon’s tone, it seemed those people were still trapped here, which amazed Rod even more. He wasn’t foolish enough to believe that vile black dragon could have killed them all. Such a group of warriors could dominate anywhere they went. There must be other powerful magical beasts in this forest, ones no less formidable than the dragon—and there were more than one!
After drawing these conclusions, Rod took a deep breath, realizing just how terrifying this place really was. He knew he needed to be more careful in his future actions.

“It seems I’ll have to spend some time here. Fen Tian, it’s up to you!” Rod took a deep breath and said to Fen Tian in a solemn tone. At that moment, he already had a general idea—right now, he was no match for the Black Dragon, and even with Fen Tian by his side, it would be pointless; it would only be suicide! But he couldn’t give up on the treasures inside the cave. As the saying goes, “For wealth, men die; for food, birds perish”—this is an eternal truth!

Of course, this didn’t mean he had to wait until he was strong enough to rival the Black Dragon before taking action. Rod wasn’t that stupid. It was unclear how long it would take to reach that point; by then, he might already be dead! What he needed to do was improve his own abilities while preparing plans and strategies. Plans were crucial—they played a vital role. Meanwhile, he placed his main hopes on Fen Tian. Fen Tian’s evolution had given Rod hope, and now his task was to find fire-type magical beasts to kill and use their internal organs to help Fen Tian level up!

Fen Tian’s strength was key to success or failure! With this in mind, Rod decided to stay here and prepare for some time.

After making up his mind, he naturally looked for a safe place to rest. Just like before, he dug a cave underground as a base, then immediately started hunting magical beasts with Fen Tian.

Over the next few dozen days, roars, howls, screams, and clashes could be heard from the forest from time to time. Under 1,500 times gravity, Rod launched a relentless campaign of slaughter. No matter how strong or weak the magical beasts were, he fought with all his might, and together with Fen Tian, they became notorious for their brutality, scaring the nearby magical beasts to death.

In just one month, he killed a total of 15 magical beasts across an area of a thousand square kilometers. By then, the gravity in Rod’s surroundings had reached a terrifying 2,000 times. Most of the magical beasts he fought were already at the advanced stage of the Saint level, with only a few at the intermediate stage. The intermediate-level beasts no longer posed any threat to Rod, who was now familiar with the environment. As for the advanced-level beasts, although they posed a tough challenge and often left Rod injured, he could still manage to kill them with Fen Tian’s help.

His impressive record of 15 beasts killed in a month earned him seven Dark-type Magic Essence Cores, one Thunder-type Magic Essence Core, two Water-type Essence Cores, one Wind-type Essence Core, and four Fire-type Essence Cores!

Fentian’s digestion also seemed to have certain limitations, including time constraints; thus, in a month, it could only absorb two essence cores. Yet these two cores were enough to elevate it to the later stage of the imperial level, which satisfied Rod greatly!
“Tomorrow, just tomorrow!” Rod murmured to himself. By tomorrow, Fentian would be able to absorb the third essence core and should be able to reach the quasi-saint level. If this continued, Rod estimated that it would take at most half a year for Fentian to reach the later stage of the saint level—by then would be the perfect time to take action!
“It seems I need to make proper plans!” Rod murmured as he put away the lightning-type essence core he had just obtained. Then, he quickly led Fentian away from that place, rushing toward their hidden location.