Chapter 298: Chapter 180: The Might of the King’s Body

"Heroic Body: Melting Furnace? Spatial Blade Intent!?"

Shock flooded Nangong Yaoguang’s face.

He was stunned that Gu Zheng had broken through so quickly, advancing to the second stage of the Heroic Body Realm.

He was also astonished that Gu Zheng had mastered an Ultimate Skill to perfection.

He was familiar with the Zhong Family’s Golden Thousand Blades.

Its cultivation difficulty was two levels higher than the Ultimate Skills of his Nangong Family.

And Gu Zheng had actually perfected it!?

...

...

Sea Realm.

"SWISH SWISH SWISH~!"

A cold light flashed as blades danced through the air.

SHINK SHINK SHINK~

Amidst the strange sounds, lines of blood sprayed through the air.

THUD! THUD!

One after another, the savage Skeleton Lizard Demon Fiends fell, their heads shattered, and slammed heavily onto the ground.

Spirit Capturing!

[Demon Points +16]

[Demon Points +18]

...

The rank of the Skeleton Lizard Demon Fiends was between Tier One and Tier Two.

The rewards for killing them weren’t just Demon Points.

There was also a Bone Pearl inside each Skeleton Lizard Demon Fiend.

These Bone Pearls had detoxifying and purifying properties.

Because of this, when Li Cunyi arrived in the Sea Realm and discovered these Skeleton Lizard Demon Fiends, he had started killing them.

Then, he would extract the Bone Pearls.

Although these Bone Pearls weren’t very useful to Gu Zheng, they were, at the very least, an excuse.

An excuse to slaughter the Skeleton Lizard Demon Fiends.

Extracting the Bone Pearls was just a side benefit.

Gu Zheng didn’t hide too much from Li Cunyi. He suppressed his realm to the Heroic Body: Melting Furnace stage and controlled three hundred and sixty blades to swiftly slaughter the Skeleton Lizard Demon Fiends.

He slaughtered his way from the east side of the island to the west.

Then from the west to the south, and finally, to the north.

After wiping out every last Skeleton Lizard Demon Fiend on the island, Gu Zheng had earned over 13,000 Demon Points!

He also had a huge haul of Bone Pearls.

Gu Zheng extracted them one by one and stored them in his Storage Pouch.

"Ping’an, you’ve gotten stronger again," Li Cunyi said with a sigh as he finished cleaning up and walked over. "I had to rely on an ancestral treasure and consume over a hundred Treasure Pills just to break through to the Heroic Body Realm. But you’ve already reached the second stage all on your own."

"I was just a little lucky, that’s all," Gu Zheng said with a smile.

He didn’t press Li Cunyi about what kind of treasure he had used.

To allow an ordinary person to advance to the Heroic Body Realm in such a short time...

The power of such a treasure was simply heaven-defying.

"Luck is a part of strength."

Li Cunyi sighed, then shook his head with a light chuckle. "But let’s not talk about that. Ping’an, what’s your plan now?"

"Let’s leave the Sea Realm first."

Gu Zheng glanced around. "This Sea Realm may be vast, but treasures, ruins, and the like are few and far between, and very hard to find."

Even if there were ruins, they would most likely be on the seabed.

How were they supposed to find ruins at the bottom of the sea?

To even have a chance, they’d have to go into the water first!

It was true that Gu Zheng had the Demon Technique, Underwater Walking, but who knew how deep the seabed was?

And what threats lurked in the deep-sea trenches?

He had no idea!

"True."

Li Cunyi nodded. "But if we want to leave, we first need to find..."

SWOOSH!

As Gu Zheng was walking, his vision suddenly changed.

The scenery underwent a massive transformation.

The island was gone, the Skeleton Lizard Demon Fiend corpses on the ground had vanished, and Li Cunyi had disappeared as well.

In its place was a vast desert.

Yellow sand stretched everywhere, with dunes and mounds rolling one after another into the horizon, seemingly without end.

’The region shifted again!’

’It seems that mass slaughter really does trigger the region-shifting mechanism.’

WHOOSH~

Gu Zheng leaped into the air, flying high to survey his surroundings.

Vast yellow sands swirled into the sky.

Within his field of vision, sand mounds appeared and disappeared, then reappeared again.

’There are living things under the sand!’

’Whether they’re Demon Fiends or Ancient Demons remains to be seen.’

In this kind of desert region, if there were any ruins, they would also be buried beneath the yellow sand.

However, compared to being on the seabed, ruins under the sand wouldn’t be buried as deep.

Gu Zheng immediately flew out, sensing for any auras.

"BOOM!"

"BOOM~!!"

After flying forward a thousand meters, a series of violent explosions suddenly erupted from his left.

The rumbling echoes reverberated through the air.

Gu Zheng paused, stopping in mid-air to look toward the source of the sound on his left.

He activated his Eyes of Golden Flame, and his vision zoomed in.

Soon, he saw five figures clashing fiercely in mid-air. They appeared as five balls of light, four of which seemed to be a group ganging up on the fifth.

In other words, it was a four-on-one battle!

’Xiao Xing of the Xiao Family?’

Gu Zheng narrowed his eyes, recognizing four of the combatants.

Yong Xingdian, Zhong Zhenghong, Fu Jinlong... and Xiao Xing!

There was one person he didn’t recognize, someone he only knew had entered the Nine Heavens Shadow Realm with Fu Jinlong’s group.

Right now, that group of four was ganging up on Xiao Xing.

As expected of "Boss Xiao." Despite his previous failure to break through to the King’s Body Realm, he was still incredibly powerful.

He wasn’t at a disadvantage at all, even while fighting four-on-one.

The funny thing was, Yong Xingdian and Zhong Zhenghong were mortal enemies.

’And now they’re working together!?’

"BOOM~" "BOOM!"

The massive explosions filled the air, pulverizing the yellow sand as shockwaves blasted everything away.

"Fu Jinlong, Yong Xingdian! With your meager abilities, you don’t deserve the Void Divine Stone! You’re not worthy of snatching my things!"

Xiao Xing’s resonant voice echoed through the air.

"Pah~"

Yong Xingdian’s voice followed. "Your things? I was clearly the one who discovered the Void Divine Stone in the ruins first! You greedy bastards attacked and tried to steal it, and now you’re claiming it’s yours?"

"What a joke! Treasures don’t belong to whoever sees them first. They belong to whoever gets their hands on them first!"

Zhong Zhenghong shouted coldly, "I was the one who got the Void Divine Stone first! You ambushed me from behind, causing it to fall to the ground and land in the Spirit Pool. You’re the greedy, shameless ones!"

"Enough with the nonsense," Fu Jinlong said in a low voice. "Everyone has a claim to the Void Divine Stone, but Boss Xiao says it’s all his. How is that any different from being a robber?"

"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM~"

A series of violent blasts sent shockwaves sweeping across the sky, scattering countless grains of yellow sand and turning them to dust.

"Hmph. What robber? ’Whoever sees it first,’ ’whoever gets it first’..."

Xiao Xing’s gruff voice boomed. "The Void Divine Stone is clearly mine! If you don’t accept that, I’ll beat you until you do!"

BZZZT BZZZT BZZZT~

The void trembled as an invisible pressure radiated out, layer after layer, wave after wave.

Vast and unending, it swept out in all directions with Xiao Xing at its center.

WHOOSH~!

The wind howled.

As Gu Zheng listened to their conversation, he felt a fleeting pressure surpassing the peak of the Heroic Body Realm...

No, it was a pressure even greater than the peak of the Heroic Body Realm. His heart skipped a beat.

’Is this... the might of the King’s Body Realm?’

’Has Xiao Xing already broken through to the King’s Body Realm?’

’Or is it that, despite his failure to break through, he still possesses some of a King’s Body’s abilities?’

’And the might of a King’s Body is one of them!?’

Gu Zheng was astonished.

This pressure had no effect on him.

Thanks to the Equipment Effect of Fearless Hero, he didn’t even fear the might of a King’s Body.

"Hmph~"

In the distance, Yong Xingdian let out a cold snort. He was completely unaffected, still flying through the air to attack Xiao Xing.

"Boss Xiao, you can save your ’Half-King’ pressure," Yong Xingdian scoffed. "Without a Domain, you can’t beat the four of us!"

"That’s right. The pressure of a Half-King might work on others, but it’s useless against us," Fu Jinlong added in agreement.

"Xiao Xing! If you want to take the Void Divine Stone, you’ll have to get through me first!" Zhong Zhenghong’s shout echoed between the sky and the ground.

...

’Half-King?’

Gu Zheng listened to their conversation on the wind, lost in thought.

He had already gathered some general information about the King’s Body Realm.

Like the Heroic Body Realm, it was also divided into three stages.

The first stage was called "Domain."

One had to refine a Divine Seed and open their Sea of Consciousness!

A Domain was born within the Sea of Consciousness.

Within one’s Domain, they were invincible—theoretically... unbeatable!

That was why this realm was called the King’s Body.

Within their Domain, they could be called a king!

Xiao Xing’s situation was likely that he had succeeded in refining the Divine Seed but had either failed to open his Sea of Consciousness or had opened it but failed to create a Domain.

Therefore, he was not a true King’s Body Realm expert, merely a Half-King!

’So, that Void Divine Stone can help in the creation of a Domain?’