Strongest War Emperor

The young man approaching with a single saber on his back was, of course, Shen Lang.

Shen Lang gave the group an indifferent glance, then started walking toward the mountain pass without a word.

"Hey, asshole! I’m talking to you, are you deaf?!" The young man flew into a rage when he realized Shen Lang was ignoring him.

"Pardon me, were you speaking to me?"

As he walked up to the group, Shen Lang asked calmly.

"That’s right..."

The young man had just gotten two words out when he realized something wasn’t right. His face flushed red as he cursed, "Damn it, are you trying to get smart with me? You tired of living?"

"Alright, Xia Yu, that’s enough!" A steady-looking middle-aged man stood up from the group. He eyed Shen Lang with a hint of caution and said, "Young brother, may I ask which faction you belong to? Are you planning to enter the Tala Prairie?"

Before Shen Lang could answer, another young man next to him chimed in sarcastically, "Sigh, there’s no shortage of idiots these days. Daring to charge into the Tala Prairie all by yourself... You must have a death wish."

"Kid, you don’t seem like a bad sort, so let me give you some advice: just go back. The Tala Prairie is nothing like the White Bone Wilderness. I suggest you go home, find a few more guards, and then think about coming back here."

Just then, a woman in the group also stood up. She quieted the others and said, "Young brother, the Tala Prairie might be beautiful, but it’s full of hidden dangers. It’s no place to train by yourself. Take my advice and go back."

On his journey here, Shen Lang had restrained his aura for the sake of his Cultivation. He’d even sealed most of the pores on his body, a tactic to lure Demon Beasts into attacking him directly. As a result, none of these people could sense his power, and they all mistook him for a Martial Artist at the Martial Power Realm.

For a Martial Power Realm Martial Artist to even make it this far was a miracle. Entering the Tala Prairie would be no different from suicide!

"You’re all entering the Tala Prairie as well?"

Shen Lang asked calmly, his gaze sweeping over the group. It paused for a moment on one woman in particular.

She was the youngest of the group, appearing to be eighteen or nineteen years old, but the aura she exuded was the strongest of them all.

She wore a set of dazzling Silver Armor, and her jet-black hair was draped casually over her shoulders. Her delicate features were flawless. Her lips were like cherries, naturally crimson. Yet her eyes seemed to hold a faint trace of melancholy, as if she bore a sorrow a thousand years old.

"The Tala Prairie is filled with Third and Fourth Level Demon Beasts, and there might even be Fifth Level ones. It’s very dangerous." The woman with the sorrowful gaze merely glanced at Shen Lang and spoke softly before lowering her head again. She began to gently wipe the longsword in her hands, her movements focused, slow, and delicate.

"TSK!"

The young man named Xia Yu sneered. "No shit! We’re camped at the entrance. What else would we be doing besides entering the Tala Prairie? Kid, did someone trick you? Did you hear the scenery was nice and come skipping over? Let me tell you, you’re lucky you ran into us. If it had been anyone else, you’d already be dead and your Storage Pouch would be gone! But we of the Twin Dragon Sect don’t bother with such things... Now, scram!"

"Go back?"

Shen Lang chuckled softly, shook his head, and walked into the mountain pass.

Beyond the Tala Prairie lay the Dark Forest. The Dark Forest was a place of extreme darkness, shrouded in a ghostly mist where the sun was never seen. It was filled with all manner of evil creatures, making it countless times more treacherous than the prairie.

Even the Dark Forest didn’t give Shen Lang much pause, so how could the mere Tala Prairie possibly halt his advance?

Seeing him ignore their kindness and walk straight past, the group could only shake their heads, a mix of bitter smiles and curses on their lips.

"Sigh, a newborn calf fears no tiger," one of the women sighed. "He just won’t listen. I wonder which Noble Family he belongs to, acting so arrogant. I wonder what his family will think when they find out not even his bones are left."

Xia Yu shrugged. "If someone wants to die, you can’t stop them. The Second Miss was so polite to him, and he still wouldn’t listen. I bet the kid won’t last two hours... Daring to come to the Tala Prairie with that level of Cultivation. He’s simply courting death!"

Just as the group from the Twin Dragon Sect sat back down to continue their preparations, a figure slowly materialized from nothing in a crevice of the rock wall where Shen Lang had emerged. It was Shui Qingwu. She gazed toward the distant mountain pass and smiled radiantly.

...

After passing through the mountain pass and entering the Tala Prairie, Shen Lang couldn’t help but take a deep breath, a smile spreading across his face.

’The scenery in the Tala Prairie is as beautiful as I remember,’ he thought. ’And the Spiritual Qi is so much richer than outside...’

He had trained deep within the Tala Prairie by himself back when his Cultivation was still pitifully weak. Now, with his Cultivation having skyrocketed to the point where he could slay even a Fifth Level Demon Beast with the help of his Tai Chi Diagram, what in this entire prairie could possibly threaten him?

That was why Shen Lang had come straight from the White Bone Wilderness to the Tala Prairie, slaying countless Demon Beasts along the way as he simultaneously traveled and honed his Martial Techniques.

Yet throughout his journey, he had almost never drawn his saber. He killed every Demon Beast with his bare fists, his style ferocious and domineering to the extreme.

He didn’t stop until nightfall, finally making a bonfire at the sheltered base of a small hill.

After a full day of battle, Shen Lang’s Spiritual Power had become purer and more vigorous. Even his mental state was at its peak. Far from being tired, he felt utterly revitalized!

’All Demon Beasts at the Third Level and above have Demon Crystals. I’ve had a pretty good haul on this trip.’

With a flip of his wrist, Shen Lang took out a Thunder Elephant’s Demon Crystal and held it in his palm, examining it.

Thunder Elephants were not numerous on the Tala Plain. These Demon Beasts were not only massive, but also possessed astonishing Thunder Power, which ordinary Martial Artists dared not provoke.

However, the Demon Crystals from Thunder Attribute Demon Beasts were far more suitable for Shen Lang than any other kind. He spent the entire journey wishing every Demon Beast on the Tala Plain was a Thunder Elephant, just to make it easier for him to collect Thunder Element Demon Crystals.

The Demon Crystal of a Fourth Level Thunder Elephant was diamond-shaped and about the size of a duck egg. It was a translucent, eerie green, with threads of electric current arcing across its surface, making it particularly striking in the dark.

With a thought from Shen Lang, the Tai Chi Diagram within him began to spin. A powerful suction force erupted from his palm, instantly enveloping the Thunder Elephant Demon Crystal.

WHOOSH...

It sounded like a gale blowing. The tyrannical, current-filled energy within the Demon Crystal seemed to be drawn into a vortex, flowing ceaselessly through Shen Lang’s palm and into his body.

A faint tingling, numbing sensation spread from his palm. The corners of Shen Lang’s mouth curled up slightly, and he immediately accelerated the Tai Chi Diagram, increasing the suction force.

The violent energy immediately surged through the meridians in his arm and into his body. It flowed downward like a stream into the sea, converging into the Thunder Power vortex at the edge of his Pill Sea.

The Thunder Power stored within a Demon Crystal was much easier to absorb than the Nine Heavens Thunder Power, and the risk was significantly lower.

Given the current capacity of the Thunder Power vortex in his body, the Power of Thunder and Lightning from a mere Fourth Level Demon Beast’s Demon Crystal was barely a drop in the bucket.

As time passed, Shen Lang completely absorbed the twenty-some Thunder Elephant Demon Crystals he had. He found that while the usable energy in his Thunder Power vortex had increased severalfold, the vortex itself had only grown a minuscule amount. He couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

’Cultivation really is impossible without abundant resources,’ he lamented. ’It seems I’m still a long way from being able to form a second Thunder Power vortex!’

With a mere thought, Shen Lang circulated the Thunder Power from the vortex throughout his entire body. The violent, surging True Thunder Power flowed endlessly, refining his skin, muscles, and sinews. His bones, in particular, began to hum under the scouring and tempering of the Thunder Power, like the faint tremor of steel!

A strange, tingling sensation spread through him. As he controlled the Power of Thunder and Lightning, he felt his body surge with power, an indescribably exhilarating feeling.

After the Power of Thunder and Lightning had completed twenty-four Circulations, Shen Lang returned it all to the Thunder Power vortex.

’If the Celestial Vein Sacred Body doesn’t awaken its bloodline, cultivating the physical body is truly several times harder than it is for ordinary people,’ he sighed inwardly after assessing his body’s strength. ’Using Thunder Power Body Forging like this still yields unsatisfactory results. The progress is just too slow. If it weren’t for the Black and White Qi constantly cleansing my meridians, and that green energy performing Purification of Essence and Marrow, I probably wouldn’t even have reached this stage... This isn’t a long-term solution. If my physical body isn’t strong enough, I won’t be able to practice many powerful Cultivation Techniques, even if I can grasp the Rules...’

A flash of Spirit Light came from his wrist, and Shen Lang took out a pile of Low Grade Spirit Stones, then began absorbing the Spiritual Qi from them.

In the path of Martial Arts, four things are indispensable: wealth, companionship, methods, and location.

Wealth refers to resources: Elixir Pills, Spirit Stones, and Demon Crystals. The disciples of powerful Noble Families or Sects are fed the meat of powerful Demon Beasts from a young age to nourish their bloodlines. They have countless Elixir Pills for the Purification of Essence and Marrow to raise their Cultivation, and they are supplemented by vast quantities of Spirit Stones and Demon Crystals. Even with the same aptitude, the difference in Cultivation speed between a disciple from a major family and one from a minor family can be astronomical.

Companionship refers to fellow cultivators and partners on the path. As the old saying goes: ’To study alone without friends is to be ignorant and unenlightened.’

Method refers to the various Cultivation Technique Manuals used to cultivate Martial Arts.

Location is the place of Cultivation. The lands occupied by large Sects with their Spirit Meridians are worlds apart from the mountain gates of smaller Sects.

There was a very good reason why wealth was ranked first.

If Shen Lang hadn’t sold that Giant Potion Formula, his terrifying rate of absorption would have bankrupted him in less than two days.

But even with several hundred thousand Low Grade Spirit Stones, which was enough to fill his Pill Sea, it was not nearly enough to fill the space within his Tai Chi Diagram.

’It’s too little,’ he thought. ’The Spiritual Qi in Low Grade Spirit Stones is nothing compared to the Demon Crystals of Fourth and Fifth Level Demon Beasts...’

An ordinary Martial Artist below the Spirit Level could typically only absorb a few Low Grade Spirit Stones in a day. As for Demon Crystals, which were mixed with impure Demon Power, it would take them several days to absorb and refine just a single one.

Yet Shen Lang had absorbed more than twenty Thunder Elephant Demon Crystals and a large batch of Spirit Stones in a short period, and he still felt he could take more!

The power of the Tai Chi Diagram was simply heaven-defying!

After absorbing another dozen Low Grade Spirit Stones, Shen Lang felt his Spiritual Power surging. It was so abundant it felt like it would burst, and his Pill Sea had clearly reached a bottleneck.

A casual palm strike from him was now significantly more powerful than it had been during the day.

His Cultivation at the Qi Martial Realm Ninth Heaven was already showing faint signs of a breakthrough to the Spirit Martial Realm.

’My Cultivation is advancing too quickly, making my foundation unstable. With my current method, my Power’s progress is outpacing my physical body’s development. My Divine Thought isn’t strong enough either, which is limiting my progress in many Cultivation Techniques. It’s just like the first form of the Nine Revolutions of Life and Death Mysterious Technique, ’Netherworld Demon Tribulation’—I can execute it, but I can’t control it... I’ll stay at the Qi Martial Realm Ninth Heaven for now. It won’t be too late to advance after the Spiritual Power in my Pill Sea reaches its absolute limit and my meridians have strengthened to the next level.’

’I should still spend most of my time comprehending the Rules and understanding the Great Dao... The War Emperor’s memories alone will probably take me more than a hundred years to fully grasp.’

Just then, a glimmer of light appeared on the horizon. Without him realizing it, dawn had arrived.

Shen Lang wolfed down the roasted meat on the spit and rose to his feet.

He gazed ahead. The morning sun had yet to rise, but he could see a chaotic play of light and shadow on the horizon, piercing through the clouds.

"AAAAAH!"

A blood-curdling scream suddenly shattered the silence.

The faint sounds of a struggle followed, and then a desolate, savage wolf howl overwhelmed everything else...

"Netherworld Wolf Pack..." Shen Lang’s expression shifted, and he immediately sped off toward the northwest.