How could a mere human martial artist possibly summon a heavenly tribulation? It was completely out of the question; even having experienced it firsthand, he would never have believed it if not for the reality before him.
The Tribulation Burial Pen was a top-tier treasure, and also the first supreme treasure given to him by the tower spirit. Once his cultivation reached a certain height, wielding the Tribulation Burial Pen with heaven and earth as his canvas to summon a heavenly tribulation would allow him to cover an area that could easily encompass the entire Eastern Wasteland.
As the heavenly tribulation imprisoned the surrounding space, Su Chen immediately felt waves of weakness wash over him, particularly within his soul.
Without the slightest hesitation, Su Chen immediately took out a Blood-Coil Ganoderma from his spatial ring and swallowed it whole.
Strike while the iron is hot, and take a life when it's vulnerable.
Naturally, Su Chen was not going to let this opportunity slip away. After all, the Tribulation Burial Pen could not maintain its effect for very long, and he absolutely could not let the Double-Headed Vajra Wolf escape. Condensing the Divine-Demon Death Seal, the overbearing death seal struck out fiercely straight toward the locked-on ferocious beast.
It was completely dumbfounded.
The Double-Headed Vajra Wolf never imagined that a dignified Level 7 Solid Core Realm ferocious beast would be suppressed by a mere Foundation Establishment Realm human martial artist. It was nothing short of ultimate humiliation.
It was unacceptable.
The Double-Headed Vajra Wolf knew very well that the current situation was extremely unfavorable to it; its life and death were already sealed. It was utterly impossible for it to kill a human now, and it might even have its beast core harvested by the opponent.
Without a single second thought, the Double-Headed Vajra Wolf directly chose to detonate its primordial spirit.
Boom!
As the primordial spirit of the Double-Headed Vajra Wolf burst apart, the overbearing and vast soul shockwave slammed fiercely into Su Chen.
Utterly dumbfounded, Su Chen had never expected that the Double-Headed Vajra Wolf would choose to detonate its soul. Soul self-detonation was something neither martial artists nor ferocious beasts would ever choose to do.
The instant the shockwave from the soul self-detonation of a Level 7 Solid Core Realm ferocious beast reached him, Su Chen spat a mouthful of blood, his entire body stained crimson as he was sent flying backward violently.
He crashed heavily onto the ground, enduring the pain wracking his body while vomiting blood repeatedly.
To have survived without perishing could already be considered a miracle among misfortunes.
Looking around left and right, Su Chen immediately got up and slowly made his way out. Instead of leaving the deep valley right away, he found a secluded spot to heal his injuries first.
Sitting cross-legged, he immediately swallowed another Blood-Coil Ganoderma, and began circulating the Primordial Divine-Demon Art and the Ancestral Phoenix Nirvana Art within his body.
The Ancestral Phoenix Nirvana Art was a top-tier martial art taught to him by Luo Tianfei. As he practiced the Ancestral Phoenix Nirvana Art, Su Chen gradually discovered that it formed a nirvana cycle within his body, which was immensely beneficial for healing injuries.
Streams of energy formed an endless cycle within him.
A day and a night passed.
Only then did Su Chen slowly open his eyes, lingering fear evident in his gaze. If not for the heavenly tribulation imprisonment drawn by the Tribulation Burial Pen just now, he was certain he would have already perished.
The more he thought about it, the more lingering fear he felt.
Originally, he had planned to use the Tribulation Burial Pen and the Divine-Demon Death Seal to kill the Double-Headed Vajra Wolf, harvest its beast core, and devour its soul.
And the result?
He had almost been trapped by the Double-Headed Vajra Wolf.
His injuries were now ninety percent recovered and no longer posed a major problem. Calculating the time, there were less than five days remaining until the end of the Dragon-Contention Tournament.
He had to scramble for points as quickly as possible to climb to the top ranks of the Dragon-Contention Rankings.
It went without saying that he understood the rules of the Dragon-Contention Rankings. The higher one's position on the rankings, the greater the rewards believed to be—the most direct reward being points. In the Eastern Wasteland Academy, points were currency and could be exchanged for anything one desired.
Looking around, the massive deep valley remained completely silent, as if time had frozen still.
There were bound to be other spiritual herbs in this deep valley, and to simply give up now would leave him deeply unreconciled. Yet Su Chen also understood that if he continued to linger here, he would undoubtedly encounter danger. Facing something like the soul self-detonation of the Double-Headed Vajra Wolf again, the probability of him dying was simply too high.
He was terrified of death; Su Chen considered himself deeply afraid of death, extremely afraid of death.
Taking a deep breath, Su Chen ultimately decided to stay here for a little longer to see if he could find any other spiritual herbs.
However, before searching for herbs, Su Chen decided to try refining some medicinal pills first. He had already acquired the Three Thousand Pill Dao and comprehended it for so long; if he never put it into practice, goodness knows when he would actually be able to successfully refine a pill.
A palm-sized Universe Cauldron appeared in his hand, instantly expanding until it was over two tall men in height. He took out the Blood-Coil Ganoderma and tossed it directly into the cauldron.
With a sweep of his hands, he formed hand seals, condensing a flame no thicker than a finger.
An hour later.
The pill refinement failed. Su Chen felt neither surprise nor a sense of loss, for failure was the mother of success.
Relying solely on the flames derived from comprehending the Three Thousand Pill Dao was definitely far from enough. If he could acquire a specialized technique dedicated to generating flames, that would be for the best.
As for Heavenly Flames, acquiring them required sheer luck. Although there were tens of thousands of Heavenly Flames in the world, for a martial artist to obtain even one was no easy task, depending entirely on chance. If your luck was poor, you might not even be able to obtain a Heavenly Flame even if it were placed right in front of you.
Most importantly, the terrifying might of Heavenly Flames meant that even if you encountered one, you might not be able to tame it. Wanting to truly master a Heavenly Flame was simply too difficult.
For a alchemist, a Heavenly Flame was of vital importance. It could be said that alchemists of the same rank who possessed a Heavenly Flame versus ordinary flames belonged to entirely different leagues, and the grade of the pills they refined would differ vastly.
Countless alchemists spent their entire lives pursuing and searching for Heavenly Flames, making the mastery of one their ultimate goal.
Putting the Universe Cauldron away, Su Chen said helplessly, "I'll find a chance to buy a larger spatial ring."
Failure at pill refinement once meant nothing.
Once the Dragon-Contention Tournament concluded, he would check the Eastern Wasteland Academy to see if they had any flame-cultivation techniques he could exchange for.
He did not leave the deep valley.
Su Chen wanted to continue trying his luck to see if he could find other top-tier spiritual herbs.
Venturing deeper, the innermost depths of the valley were shrouded in a thin layer of red mist, looking exceedingly bizarre.
"Could it be that because of the commotion here, the entire deep valley is devoid of any sound?"
Su Chen was merely guessing.
At that moment, the purple fox darted out from Su Chen's arms and nodded toward the red mist ahead.
"You want to go in?"
The purple fox's injuries had stabilized, but wanting to fully recover would likely take at least several months, or even years.
He could vaguely guess that the purple fox's rank must be quite high; otherwise, back in Heavenly Bone City, the white fox would not have directly knelt to it.
"Off you go, then."
The purple fox shook its head and let out a squeak.
"You want me to go with you?"
Seeing the purple fox nod, Su Chen felt utterly helpless. With no other choice—since the purple fox had already spoken up—he could hardly refuse it.
cradling the purple fox, Su Chen walked directly into the red mist ahead.
Shrouded by the red mist, Su Chen walked right in without the slightest obstruction. He immediately felt the energy of the red mist continuously invade his mind, savagely eroding his soul.
Alarmed, Su Chen instantly circulated the Chaos Swallowing Art, and streams of devouring energy formed a protective vortex around his body to fend off the erosion of the red mist.
Continuing forward:
"A beast corpse."
Gazing at the massive corpse before him, Su Chen's eyes narrowed. A single corpse capable of deterring the deep valley into such profound silence meant this ferocious beast must have been exceptionally powerful during its lifetime.
The purple fox instantly darted out, arriving directly on top of the corpse, and began to devour it.
With a helpless shrug, Su Chen did not stop it. He believed the purple fox was certainly capable of handling the energy from devouring the corpse, so there was no need for him to intervene.
Su Chen also sat down cross-legged. He could sense that although the red mist here would erode the soul, it might not necessarily be a bad thing for him.
He possessed the Chaos Swallowing Art, which could devour the red mist's energy and transform it into his own cultivation strength.
Having already successfully broken through to the Peak Foundation Establishment Realm, he was only a single step away from the Void Pill Realm. He hoped to leverage the energy here to break through to the Void Pill Realm in one go.
Sitting cross-legged, the Chaos Swallowing Art circulating within him began to erupt with wave after wave of devouring suction.
It enshrouded his entire body.
Swallow!
He frantically devoured the surrounding red mist.
The purple fox, currently devouring the corpse's energy, saw that Su Chen was cultivating, and its pretty eyes rolled around as if pondering something.
In the end, the purple fox chose to assist Su Chen.
It channeled a portion of the energy it had devoured from the corpse, sending it surging toward Su Chen.
"Many thanks."
Sensing the purple fox's intent, Su Chen nodded at it to express his gratitude.
Advancing from the Foundation Establishment Realm to the Void Pill Realm required condensing a pill within one's dantian. The energy Su Chen devoured converged into his dantian, constantly shattering, reforming, shattering, and reforming in an endless cycle.
After countless repetitions, Su Chen let out a long whistle toward the heavens, and the energy within his dantian smoothly condensed into the shape of a pill, though it still looked thoroughly illusory.
Void Pill Realm!
Su Chen was pleasantly surprised as well. He had never expected that merely entering the Eastern Wasteland Academy to participate in the Dragon-Contention Tournament would allow him to break through to the Void Pill Realm.He now had absolute confidence that he could sweep through anyone in the Void Pill Realm. Even when facing martial artists or spirit beasts in the lower levels of the Solid Core Realm, he possessed the strength to put up a fight.
With the aid of the Purple Fox, Su Chen had finally stabilized at the Level 2 Void Pill Realm, a result he was quite satisfied with. After all, the path of martial cultivation was an act of defying the heavens; seeking to improve one's martial prowess was a journey fraught with hardship, where even advancing a single stage was an immensely difficult feat.
His cultivation speed was already incredibly fast. As long as he maintained this pace, Su Chen was fully confident that within one to two years, he would possess the strength to defeat Su Hao.
Just as Su Chen successfully broke through to the Void Pill Realm, the Purple Fox finished its devouring as well.
It was very satisfied.
When the Purple Fox returned to his embrace, Su Chen could clearly sense that it felt slightly different. Its injuries had healed significantly, and its fur had grown even more beautiful.
Gently stroking the Purple Fox's fur, he happened to pat its rump and said with a smile, "That feels nice."
"Squeak! Squeak!"
The Purple Fox expressed its protest. If it weren't for the fact that its injuries were still quite severe, it would surely have attacked him.
"Hahaha!"
Su Chen laughed out loud, finding the Purple Fox truly adorable. He stopped teasing it, tucked it into his robes, and turned to leave.
Outside the Great Peak.Xing Yingxue waited anxiously, completely unable to focus on cultivation. After all, she had no idea what was happening inside, and she dared not rush in blindly because she did not want to become a burden to Junior Su.
Growing more and more worried, Xing Yingxue understood that she had fallen for Junior Su at first sight. Yet she dared not speak of it, nor could she, fearing that a rejection by Junior Su would mean they could no longer even remain friends.
Right at that moment.
Seeing a figure sprinting toward her, Xing Yingxue's face instantly lit up with joy.
As soon as Su Chen reached her, Xing Yingxue asked eagerly, "Junior Su, are you alright?"
Shaking his head, Su Chen smiled and said, "I'm fine."
Su Chen gave it no further thought, nor could he tell that Xing Yingxue had feelings for him.
"Junior Su, a while ago, I saw Senior Xiao Ming and Senior Shi Chen from Intermediate Class 1 come out from inside with severe injuries. Did you run into them?"
This was the reason for Xing Yingxue's anxiety. After all, Xiao Ming and Shi Chen were from Intermediate Class 1 and held high positions on the Hidden Dragon Ranking; even within the Eastwast Academy, they were extremely well-known figures.Even those two were injured inside the valley, and she was deeply worried about Su Chen's safety.
Little did Xing Yingxue know that those two had actually been heavily injured by Su Chen himself.
"Let's go."
He was unwilling to dwell further on those two. To him, anyone he encountered was simply a stumbling block in his path. Apart from avoiding the Su Clan, his most important purpose in coming to the Eastern Wasteland Academy this time was to cultivate, hoping to catch up to Su Hao in the shortest time possible.
Su Hao's innate talent was already peerless within the Su Clan. Back then, he had even ripped out Su Chen's Emperor Bone and fused it into his own body. Su Hao's talent was undoubtedly top-tier across the entire Eastern Wasteland.
Su Hao had already reached the Peak Solid Core Realm and could potentially break through to the Golden Core Realm at any moment. As Su Hao continued to progress, his cultivation speed might not fall much behind his own.
Precisely because of this, he had to work even harder without a single moment of distraction, pouring his all into it.
Chapter 30: Number One on the Hidden Dragon Rankings, Stirring the Academy
As his cultivation successfully broke through to the Level 2 Void Pill Realm,
Su Chen was already capable of absolute invincibility among peers of the same realm, and could easily slaughter even those at the Peak Void Pill Realm.
"Senior Sister Xing, since you have successfully awakened your mutated Blood Wheel, let us part ways here."
Part ways?
Xing Yingxue let out a deep sigh in her heart. She had long guessed this would happen, but she just hadn't expected it to come so soon.
She had no way to refuse.
She was, after all, a young woman; could she really bring herself to say "I like you, I want to follow you"? She could not do it, and her pride told her she must not.
Girls who were too proactive would only look cheap in the end.
"Junior Brother Su, you must be careful. See you at the academy."
Xing Yingxue had already decided to stop competing for the Hidden Dragon Rankings and no longer wished to undergo trials; she prepared to return straight to the academy. Having awakened the mutated Blood Wheel, the Veiling Cloud Sparrow, along with her enhanced talent, she believed her cultivation speed would increase dramatically.
"Take care as well."
Without lingering any further, Su Chen turned and strode swiftly away.
Watching the figure gradually fade from sight, Xing Yingxue let out a profound sigh.
After leaving, Su Chen began steadily locking onto one student after another. The entire Eastern Wasteland Forest was divided into eastern and western sectors.This was the territory of the Hidden Dragon Tournament. Under normal circumstances, students from the advanced classes and ace classes would not casually set foot here.
With Su Chen's current strength, he could absolutely sweep through all students from any basic classes and intermediate classes.
He swept through continuously, frantically snatching points.
By the time the Hidden Dragon Tournament ended on the tenth day, Su Chen discovered that the identity jade token in his hand displayed a number: three thousand three hundred and thirty-three points.
Su Chen's frantic actions drew fear from the entire basic classes and even all students in the intermediate classes, earning him a nickname: the Madman.
Madman Su Chen.
Looking at the identity jade token in his hand, Su Chen had no idea what rank he currently held on the Hidden Dragon Rankings, but he could be certain that he had definitely made it onto the list.
One had to know:
The total number of students across all basic classes and intermediate classes in Donghuang Academy exceeded ten thousand, yet roughly seventy percent of them had entered the forest to participate in the Hidden Dragon Tournament.
Being able to seize three thousand three hundred and thirty-three points meant he had snatched nearly half of the total points available.
With the Hidden Dragon Tournament concluded, all students were required to leave the forest and return to the academy.
Inside Donghuang Academy.
In the massive plaza stood two stone steles, one on the left and one on the right. Entirely pitch-black, the steles were densely covered from top to bottom with names, classes, and awakened Blood Wheels.
These two stone steles were precisely the two most important rankings in Donghuang Academy: the Hidden Dragon Rankings and the Hundred Battles Rankings.
The Hidden Dragon Rankings were contested by students from the basic classes and intermediate classes.
The Hundred Battles Rankings were contested by students from the advanced classes and ace classes.
As for the royal class, anyone who managed to enter it enjoyed the same treatment as teachers, and might even receive the academy's full cultivation resources, having no need to compete for any rankings.
Every year, both rankings were re-ranked. After the Hidden Dragon Tournament and the Hundred Battles Tournament concluded their re-rankings, students wishing to vie for a position could directly challenge those already on the lists.
Right now.
Countless students stood before the Hidden Dragon Rankings, pointing at the stone stele and discussing animatedly.
For at the very top position of the Hidden Dragon Rankings, written in red characters, were the two words: Su Chen, Sword Blood Wheel.
The name and the Blood Wheel itself were secondary; what truly shocked everyone was that behind the Sword Blood Wheel were written six characters: Basic Class 22.
After all, many people had not headed into the Donghuang Forest to participate in the so-called Hidden Dragon Tournament.
Under normal circumstances, the competition for the Hidden Dragon Rankings was strictly the domain of intermediate class students, having nothing whatsoever to do with students from the basic classes.
For a Foundation Establishment Realm student to snatch points from Void Pill Realm students was three words: impossible!
Meanwhile, for Void Pill Realm students to snatch points from Foundation Establishment Realm students was as easy as turning over one's hand. Because of this, very few students from the basic classes ever managed to make it onto the Hidden Dragon Rankings each year, and even if some did, they were exceedingly rare.
In this current cohort of basic classes, the only one who had managed to stand out was a person named Tang Hao, who ranked as the number one student of the basic classes and had barely managed to secure the hundredth position on the Hidden Dragon Rankings, sitting at the very bottom.
From this, one could imagine just how difficult it was for basic class students to make it onto the Hidden Dragon Rankings.
Yet now, the number one position on the Hidden Dragon Rankings unexpectedly bore the name of Su Chen from the basic classes—and what's more, from the class the academy hailed as the worst basic class.
As everyone knew, the worst basic class had a total of nine members, each of whom possessed abysmal talent, and whose awakened Blood Wheels were nothing short of trash Blood Wheels.
"Who on earth is this Su Chen? I'm fairly familiar with the nine members of the worst basic class, and it seems there isn't anyone named Su Chen among them."
"Maybe someone who just entered the academy."
"Yeah, that's possible. If this person were in the Void Pill Realm, he'd be directly assigned to an intermediate class; how could he possibly enter a basic class? That means this person is only in the Foundation Establishment Realm. He is truly formidable—competing for the Hidden Dragon Rankings at the Foundation Establishment Realm and even ranking first can only be described as ridiculously awesome."
"That's easy enough to figure out. Just ask someone from the basic classes."
"Shi Xiaoman, Fang Qing, and Ye Xuanyan are over there. Let's go ask them."
The worst basic class had a total of nine students, five males and four females. Among the four females were Shi Xiaoman, Fang Qing, Ye Xuanyan, and Xing Yingxue.
The three young women had not participated in the Hidden Dragon Tournament; they were still worrying about Xing Yingxue, seeing as Xing Yingxue was the only one among the nine members of the worst basic class who had headed to the Donghuang Forest to participate in the Hidden Dragon Tournament.
Looking at the Hidden Dragon Rankings before them, the three young women were utterly astonished to see that the name ranked in first place actually came from the worst basic class.