Chapter 425: Dragon King (1/2)
Though the Sword Atlas was heaven-defying, Lu Yun was still in the life core realm at the end of the day. Meeting the attacks of more than a thousand spirit realm cultivators—and geniuses at that—head-on had left him with severe injuries.
After killing the weaker cultivators, he’d ascended to origin core realm. With the combat art successfully mastered, the ascension didn’t matter much anymore.
Three days passed before Lu Yun fully recovered from his exertions. Yuan Tong, the silverback gorilla, looked at him with puppy dog eyes when he ended his seclusion.
“What’s its deal?” Lu Yun threw the gorilla a confused look. Why does it look at me like I’ve wronged it?
“It’s worried that you might abandon it,” sighed the little nun. “It betrayed its tribe three days ago in order to protect you.”
“Betrayed its tribe?” Lu Yun’s eyes shot wide with surprise. “Your body is still in the outside world!”
Lu Yun had found the gorilla’s tracks when he was looking for Qing Han, but he hadn’t sought the spirit creature out. They’d left their physical bodies outside, and there’d be consequences from their time in here to deal with once they returned.
“My physical body is with the Wolfking, rather than my tribe,” Yuan Tong pouted. “Don’t abandon me!”
The pitiful look it cast raised goosebumps all over Lu Yun’s body. “Fine, fine, you’re with me.”
“Thank you, master!” Joy swept away its earlier despondence.
Back in Destiny City, all monster spirits of the silver bloodline shot hostile looks at the silverback gorillas, who in turn were scowling deeply.
“Wolfking!” a silverback gorilla called out to the old wolfking.
“The silver bloodline doesn’t have many descendents,” boomed the old wolf.
“Then please return our traitor to us!” forced out a glowering silverback elder through clenched teeth.
Yuan Tong had publicly betrayed them, seeking out humiliation as bad as being slapped in the face!
The silverback gorillas had joined the banner of the Levitating Island Sacred Land, and their new leader was so hostile to the human race that it even forbade monster spirits from taking human form. However, Yuan Tong had willingly sided with a human cultivator for all to see. Unlike the young wolfking, it hadn’t even been enslaved! That was beyond unacceptable for the silverback gorillas.
“We’ll wait for when they return from the Sovereign Ranking.” The old wolfking maintained an impassive expression, but its green eyes kept shifting in the direction of Jadeite Manor. If they could kill that Qing Yu, then their young wolfking would have a chance to regain her freedom as well!
……
It’d been twenty days since the start of the second round, and this segment would be over in another ten days. During the last stretch of the competition, the cultivators grew even fiercer in eliminating their competition.
Those who had survived to this point were mostly divided into various factions. The ten most powerful of the factions were the ones led by the ten lords.
As time went by, many recovered to their peak cultivation and found it extremely difficult to improve further. Thus, vying for heritages and opportunities became mainstream strategy.
……
Another three days passed.
Lu Yun and the little nun maintained their original cultivation—origin core and nascent spirit realm, respectively. They were in no rush to break through.
Meanwhile, the silverback gorilla had made a dramatic leap in cultivation, exceeding even its original level and reaching the refined spirit realm. Its potential was immense, as it was able to go tit-for-tat against transformed spirit cultivators while it was still in the nascent spirit realm.
Most cultivators were working toward restoring their cultivation and recovering their full strength, but very few had been able to further ascend like Yuan Tong had.