Nine Astra Skies

Oh no! Ye Chen quickly made the gold-armored soldier dodge, but it was too late. The Purple-fire Astra Lion’s paw had slammed into the gold-armored soldier’s abdomen.

“Bang!” There was an explosion on the gold-armored soldier’s body, who revealed anguish and dissipated instantly.

A single blow from the Purple-fire Astra Lion contained fearsome Psyche force. With the strength of its Psyche, it was able to destroy Ye Chen’s Astral Body!

With a “splutter”, Ye Chen grabbed his chest and spat out a mouthful of blood. His eyes turned vacant.

The Purple-fire Astra Lion’s Psyche was too formidable. Ye Chen was no match for it at all!

Little Tanuki’s eyes shone with tears and it quickly took out a Soul-consolidating Pill from Ye Chen’s Heaven-Earth Pouch.

“Little Tanuki… I’m fine!” Ye Chen forced a smile through his agony. At the moment, his Astral Body was disintegrated into complete shambles. This injury was even more serious than when he had suffered the blow from the divine light. Ye Chen’s body felt like it was on fire. When he saw that Little Tanuki was handing him the Soul-consolidating Pill, he took it and swallowed it.

“Little tyke, have a taste of my power. In less than a day, the purple flames would incinerate your Psyche completely. Without your Psyche, you’ll become a living corpse!” The Purple-fire Astra Lion’s smug voice rang out.

Ye Chen’s Astral Body had suffered a hit from the Purple-fire Astra Lion and felt as if it was on fire, burning bit by bit. After consuming the Soul-consolidating Pill, his dispersed Astral Body was somewhat more consolidated but he still could not stop the might of the purple blaze!

Was Ye Chen really going to become a living corpse?

‘No, I won’t accept this!’

‘I want to turn the Ye Clan into the strongest family. I still have to go to the Central Empire and get Little Rou back. I still want to see what Little Tanuki looks like after transforming. I want to see this world!’ It felt like a million ants were gnawing at Ye Chen’s heart. That scorching agony had caused Ye Chen’s consciousness to slowly become fuzzy.

When Little Tanuki saw Ye Chen’s anguish, it could not stop its tears from falling. It furiously blamed itself. Earlier, it should not have allowed Ye Chen to use his Astral Body so brashly to fight against the Purple-fire Astra Lion!

Ye Chen was bellowing stubbornly in his heart. He still had too many yearnings!

The Flying Dagger in Ye Chen’s mind started to tremble with a buzzing sound as if it had sensed the intense emotions in Ye Chen’s heart. Celestial Chi rapidly flowed out and these traces of Celestial Chi seemed to contain the power of the Astral Body. Gradually, they rose into the air and fused into Ye Chen’s Astral Body.

What was going on? The Purple-fire Astra Lion paused and glared steadily at Ye Chen. It could sense that Ye Chen’s Astral Body was devouring the strength of the purple flames it had left on Ye Chen’s body. The trauma that Ye Chen’s Astral Body had sustained was also healing bit by bit.

Could it be that the Flying Dagger’s Celestial Chi contained the power of the Astral Body? Ye Chen’s mind spun. Back then, he had absorbed the Celestial Chi in the Flying Dagger before he was able to cultivate the Astral Body. Little Tanuki had also absorbed the Celestial Chi emanating from his body before its Psyche slowly turned into an Astral Body!

No one knew where the mysterious Flying Dagger came from. Time after time, it had astounded Ye Chen.

Recover, Astral Body!

Ye Chen roared furiously and frantically activated the Flying Dagger. The Celestial Chi in his body exploded. The Nine Astra Chi Circles seemed to respond to Ye Chen’s summon and frenziedly formed into a gigantic vortex. Celestial Chi surged forward like a river and the power of the Astral Body rose from this Celestial Chi and merged into Ye Chen’s Astral Body.

Behind Ye Chen, in mid-air, the gold-armored soldier’s disordered state was slowly put together. By the end, its initial appearance was reconstructed!

When Little Tanuki sensed that Ye Chen was recovering, it was full of joy as it stared at Ye Chen. Although it still had the form of a tanuki, its intelligence and emotions had approached those of a human’s long ago. Having traveled all this way with Ye Chen and gone through so much, it had formed a deep bond with Ye Chen. It did not know whether this was love. It only knew that when Ye Chen was in pain, it felt the pain too. When Ye Chen was happy, it was happy too.

Ye Chen looked up and his eyes suddenly blazed with a glorious light. His Astral Body had completely devoured the purple flames. In a short time, he had resumed his former strength. Moreover, there was even a tiny improvement. Although this was just a bit of progress, Ye Chen was overjoyed. After all, to further advance the cultivation of his Astral Body was an extremely difficult process.

“The purple fire has been consumed. That’s impossible!” The Purple-fire Astra Lion snarled in rage.

Ye Chen lifted his head and glanced at the Purple-fire Astra Lion with a cold snort. “It looks like your purple flames are useless against me. Let’s fight again!”

When Little Tanuki noticed Ye Chen’s determined look, knowing him so well, it already understood that Ye Chen wanted to use the Purple-fire Astra Lion to train his Astral Body. However, to shatter his Astral Body and then reconsolidate it was an excruciating process. Was Ye Chen going to do this?

Ye Chen’s stubbornness and determination had caused a ripple in Little Tanuki’s heart as well. It wanted to be stronger too and not just be protected by Ye Chen all the time. It wanted to protect Ye Chen too!

“We’ll continue the fight!” Ye Chen wiped away the blood from his mouth. The gold-armored soldier behind him soared into the air, brandished its saber, and lunged toward the Purple-fire Astra Lion.

“This time, I’ll surely kill you!” The Purple-fire Astra Lion felt provoked and roared ferociously. Its right paw, burning with fiery flames, rose and swung toward the gold-armored soldier.

With a tremendous “boom”, the gold-armored soldier was smashed to smithereens by the gold-armored soldier once again.

Each impact on Ye Chen’s Astral Body was like a heartrending pain. Although his eyes lost their light somewhat, they were still incomparably steely. To Ye Chen, this almost unbearable agony was a type of training that would fortify his resolve. The Nine Astra Chi Circles in his body revolved incessantly. The dispersed Astral Body had slowly gathered itself once again, swallowing the purple flames that remained. The gold-armored soldier was reconsolidated and slightly stronger than before.

“Again!” Ye Chen looked up and smiled icily. He spurred the gold-armored soldier to rush toward the Purple-fire Astra Lion.

“No, this is impossible!” The Purple-fire Astra Lion distinctly sensed that Ye Chen’s Astral Body was slightly stronger. A shattered Astral Body that could still be assembled again – how could this possibly happen? Nevertheless, everything it had seen left it no choice but to believe. As it watched the gold-armored soldier running over, it could only retaliate. Standing there and taking the blow would only injure its Psyche!

With a “boom”, the gold-armored soldier had shattered once again.

When the Purple-fire Astra Lion looked at this matchless persistent youth before its eyes, it could not help but feel apprehensive. It knew very well that having one’s Astral Body shattered would cause severe agony. In such a short time, this youth had withstood this anguish three times, like an obstinate wolf. As the Purple-fire Astra Lion stared at Ye Chen, it became alarmed.

“I just don’t believe that you can keep enduring this sort of pain!” The Purple-fire Astra Lion glared incredulously at the gold-armored soldier that was rushing toward it again and swung its paw.

Boom!

Ye Chen’s Astral Body was broken down again and again for more than ten times in a row. The pain of his Astral Body’s collapses tore through his soul, but Ye Chen clenched his jaw and held on because he could detect the changes in his Astral Body. Each time his Astral Body was smashed, it would become a little stronger! Besides an improvement in strength, his Astral Body’s fortitude had also significantly increased.

Although Ye Chen’s Astral Body had progressed quickly before this, it had not gone through actual combat after all. When facing an enemy, it would easily be hurt by the impact. Currently, his Astral Body was shattered and reconsolidated again and again. Ordinary impacts were nothing much to Ye Chen now.

Through the repeated, heartrending pain, Ye Chen was constantly improving his Astral Body’s fortitude. The gold-armored soldier’s strength was only a hair’s breadth away from a true mid-Heavenly Venerable Rank fighter.

The Purple-fire Astra Lion’s glance toward Ye Chen now contained a trace of fear because it had sensed Ye Chen’s frightening rate of improvement. Each time the gold-armored soldier came running at it, the Purple-fire Astra Lion had no choice but to fight back. Otherwise, if the gold-armored soldier landed a blow with its saber, it would be injured.

After dozens of consecutive rounds, Ye Chen finally felt that he was completely drained and exited the Heavenly Astra Seal with Little Tanuki.

In the future, Ye Chen could use this method to advance the strength of his Astral Body, until he could tame the Purple-fire Astra Lion and make it his protective divine beast!

As he looked down at the mysterious seal on his left hand, Ye Chen gave an exhausted smile. He looked at Little Tanuki and stretched lazily. “Little Tanuki, I’m so tired. I’m going to take a nap.” Using his Astral Body in continuous battle had taken up all his energy. If it were not for the support from the Flying Dagger’s Celestial Chi, he would have dropped on the floor long ago.

As soon as he lay on the bed, Ye Chen fell into a deep sleep.

As Little Tanuki watched Ye Chen sleeping soundly, it stared motionlessly with eyes filled with tenderness. It sprang into Ye Chen’s embrace and nuzzled Ye Chen’s face with its small head, then lay down comfortably. At this moment, it suddenly shuddered and its fur turned a strange shade of pink. This was because it had just felt Ye Chen’s right hand drifting to its butt and then kneading it. It looked up sharply and glared at Ye Chen in infuriation. However, it saw that Ye Chen was sound asleep. Little Tanuki could only let it go. Resting its head against Ye Chen’s chest, it fell asleep as well.

Ye Chen was too exhausted. His Astral Body had been broken down again and again. Agony like this was not something most people could endure. It was just like when his meridian channels were damaged. Even though his willpower was resilient, he could not stand it. At that time, each time his meridian channels were ruptured, he felt like dying from the pain, but this enhanced his resolve as well. Each time he bore the humiliation, it honed his attitude too. Otherwise, Ye Chen would be incapable of appreciating the Absolute Martial Truth or breaking through so many levels in such a short time. Now, to him, his Astral Body being shattered again and again was also a type of training.

When Ye Chen looked at it this way, he should thank his enemies for making him stronger!

One the second day after sleeping for a full day, Ye Chen energy had recovered. He headed over to learn alchemy from Master Apothecary Xuanyi as usual. At night, he entered the Heavenly Astra Seal and battled the Purple-fire Astra Lion, training his Astral Body.

This period was rather fulfilling to Ye Chen because he could sense his own progress.

After a few days, Ye Chen received his father’s letter. They had gotten the antidote formulated by Master Apothecary Xuanyi. The poison in Ye Zhanlong, Ye Meng, and the rest had been neutralized. Some of the clan members of the Ye Clan had consumed Ye Chen’s Purple-gold Divine Pills and their cultivation base had improved greatly. Even Ye Meng and the rest of the young members had begun to break through to the Ninth Level.

Ye Chen’s father’s letter also mentioned that lately, the Ye Clan had suddenly lost contact with Ye Xuan who was in the Emerald Cloud Sect. Ye Zhanxiong had gone to investigate but returned after being blocked by those from the Emerald Cloud Sect. The Ye Clan was thus worried about Ye Xuan’s situation.

Had something gone wrong at the Emerald Cloud Sect? Ye Chen sat on his bed as he read the letter. When he learned of this, he stood up quickly. That old b*stard Nie Qingyun – if he had done anything to Little Xuan, Ye Chen would tear the Emerald Cloud Sect apart!