Ten days later, Xiao Chen had used up all the Secret Treasures containing dragon souls, including that peak-quality King Grade Secret Treasure.
More than forty million Black Astral Coins were all gone.
Xiao Chen opened his eyes and spat out a long breath of turbid Qi. The moment he stood up, all the bones in his body gave off a crackling sound.
His acupoints opened up, and strands of Dragon Qi flowed out uncontrollably, spreading throughout the whole room and forming a hazy dragon cloud.
Xiao Chen’s entire body felt very comfortable; he sensed that his physique had improved to another level with his strength increasing to twenty Dragon Force.
With a thought, he circulated his energy, and his Vital Qi surged in his body, giving off dragon roars.
This was Xiao Chen’s first time materializing the Azure Dragon Battle Armor since reaching the Azure Dragon Body Nourishing Art’s third layer. Now, the Azure Dragon Battle Armor no longer just covered his body.
Instead, the Azure Dragon Body Nourishing Art truly fused with his skin and flesh, forming an incredibly tight connection. It felt like a part of his skin with no discomfort whatsoever.
The Azure Dragon Battle Armor wrapped even more tightly around him. Its surfaces gleamed like flowing water. A formless, tyrannical air of a king appeared together with the Azure Dragon Battle Armor, making Xiao Chen look like a human-shaped dragon.
If Xiao Chen continued cultivating the Azure Dragon Body Nourishing Art, when he materialized the Azure Dragon Battle Armor, it would transform his physical body, turning him into something half-dragon and half-human.
“Ka ca!”
With a thought, Xiao Chen stretched, and sharp sounds came from the joints around his arms and feet. When he clenched his fist, he could feel an overwhelming rush of power like that of a surging river.
Fortunately, this was a superior room of the establishment. It was large enough and had pretty good sound isolation. Hence, Xiao Chen did not worry too much about familiarizing himself with the new Azure Dragon War Body here.
“Right now, an ordinary Consummation quasi-Emperor is no longer a threat to me. I wonder, how far am I from being able to fight a half-step Martial Emperor?” Xiao Chen muttered, revealing a fiery light in his eyes.
Then, he turned the Azure Dragon Battle Armor back into Dragon Energy and withdrew it, recovering his usual attire of white robes.
Now that Xiao Chen stabilized his Azure Dragon Body Nourishing Art’s third layer at Small Perfection, his strength had increased. This filled him with a desire to fight, preferably a huge battle with a half-step Martial Emperor.
However, Xiao Chen was not an arrogant and conceited person who made trouble for nothing.
He would definitely not take the initiative to mock a half-step Martial Emperor. He also would not feel that he was unrivaled and challenge a few Consummation quasi-Emperors at the same time.
His mental state allowed him good control over the surge of confidence that came with a marked improvement of strength.
All the major characters that met Xiao Chen, people like the Supreme Sky Emperor and the Flame Rock Sovereign, had been very shocked at Xiao Chen’s mental state.
For Xiao Chen to have such a mental state at such a young age was truly impressive.
There was a saying, “the stronger one’s abilities, the stronger one’s desire.” Many outstanding talents in history could not pass the test of desire and ended up destroying their bright futures with their own hands.
Xiao Chen sorted out his emotions. He planned to have some wine before leaving this chaotic place.
He pushed open the door and headed into the corridor. Just when he turned a corner on the second floor, he saw another conflict on the verge of devolving into a fight.
This restaurant’s status in Treasure Dragon City was somewhat akin to the Conflagration Restaurant’s in Dark City. Because the secret passage leading to the black market was located here, it was normally filled with people.
At any given moment, there would be many people entering and leaving, which was how conflicts tend to occur.
Someone in the hall wanted to go out but ended up getting bumped by a youth rushing in at high speed. The youth in question possessed a fiery temper, so an argument quickly ensued.
“Where did this dog come from? How could you be so blind? You dare to block my—Dugu Ao’s—path! How reckless of you!”
How could the middle-aged man who got bumped endure this? He had not even lost his temper yet, but the culprit started scolding him. How could there be such a thing?
Hence, an intense battle began at this point.
Although the black market prohibited fighting, that was not the case for this restaurant. In fact, fighting was prevalent here.
Seeing that there was a commotion, people brought over their wine cups to watch at the railings of every floor.
Everyone remained as calm as still water, drinking wine and chatting, discussing the fight. This could be considered a marvel of the Dragon Grave Sea.
“It is this Dugu Ao again. He is still as arrogant as ever. That middle-aged man is in trouble.”
“He is probably new and never heard of Dugu Ao’s fame before.”
When Xiao Chen heard the discussion, he could not help feeling interested in this Dugu Ao. According to the comments, this Dugu Ao was already nearly fifty years old.
Even so, Dugu Ao looked extremely youthful. Clearly, he had reached Martial Sage at a young age. Before he reached one hundred years old, his appearance would not undergo any changes.
Of course, in the Kunlun Realm, fifty years old was indeed still young. Xiao Chen should not judge based on the standards of his previous life.
Xiao Chen asked a person at the side, “What is the background of this Dugu Ao?”
That person wore splendid clothes. He seemed to be in a pretty good mood as he took a sip of wine.
He excitedly replied, “That fellow comes from an incredible background. He is one of the ten young experts of the Human-Demon Sea. Just at the age of fifty, he already reached peak Consummation quasi-Emperor. He will no doubt advance to Martial Emperor in the future.
“It is truly enviable. To think that I was already considered a genius for spending only one hundred years as a Great Perfection quasi-Emperor before advancing to Consummation quasi-Emperor. However, compared to this fellow, I am really considered nothing.”
Now, Xiao Chen understood. However, he did not feel that Dugu Ao’s feat was something incredible.
Becoming a Consummation quasi-Emperor before the age of fifty demonstrated truly incredible talent. However, compared to Xiao Chen’s generation, Dugu Ao was still far from comparable.
Not to mention Xiao Chen, just Di Wuque and the others—although Xiao Chen did not know much much they improved in the Astral Battlefield—as long as they survived, they were probably already Great Perfection quasi-Emperors.
Furthermore, Di Wuque and the others were only thirty years old. With that group’s talent, they would definitely break through to Consummation quasi-Emperor within five years without any problems.
If these people found any fortuitous encounters, advancing to Consummation quasi-Emperor within two or three years was also possible.
In Xiao Chen’s case, even if he did not have the Blood Sword Sovereign’s Life and Death Art, he would be able to advance to Consummation quasi-Emperor within three years.
In this age of geniuses, the improvements of the outstanding talents possessing Luck could be described with the phrase “five hundred kilometers in one day.”
[TL Note: Five hundred kilometers in one day means progressing at a rapid speed. This expression came at a time when there were no cars or planes and traveling five hundred kilometers in one day was an impressive feat.]
“Why does it look like you are not convinced of it?” The cultivator in splendid clothes holding the wine cup raised his eyebrows in inquiry.
Xiao Chen simply smiled without saying a word. He only continued to watch the two fight.
After watching for a while, he guessed the result. Although that middle-aged man was also a Consummation quasi-Emperor and was pretty strong, his Movement Technique, strength, Martial Technique, and physical body were all far from comparable to Dugu Ao. His defeat was only a matter of time.
Now that Xiao Chen knew the result, he lost interest. He no longer paid attention to the battle, using this opportunity to find a good seat on the second floor. Then, he ordered some wine and food, minding his own business as he ate.
However, the result was out of Xiao Chen’s expectations. Just as the middle-aged cultivator was about to get defeated, a half-step Martial Emperor charged out.
The eye-catching bald head of this half-step Martial Emperor had a tattoo of a strange black snake. This tattoo draped down and covered half his face. The head of that snake happened to layer over his left eye, looking extremely sinister.
Once the bald man revealed his half-step Martial Emperor cultivation, it shocked everyone as he rescued that middle-aged cultivator.
“Big Brother!” The middle-aged man revealed joy when he saw the bald man.
“Turns out that he is a friend of the Bald-Headed Snake Wu Ke. No wonder he dares to fight with Dugu Ao.”
Clearly, this bald man was somewhat famous as well. Many people in the restaurant immediately recognized him.
“Young man, there is no need to be so brash. I will not hold you accountable for this matter this time.”
Wu Ke looked coldly at Dugu Ao before quickly bringing away the middle-aged cultivator from this place.
Although Dugu Ao did not fear this bald man, he knew he was not a match for him. If he wanted to clash head-on, he would end up suffering.
Looking at the direction the two left in, Dugu Ao cursed unhappily. After that, he headed for the second floor. He looked around and noticed the good spot where Xiao Chen was. Then, he immediately walked over.
“Scram. I want this spot.”
This was a place where strength ruled, where whoever was stronger was the voice of reason. Dugu Ao’s action was very normal in the eyes of others.
I am stronger than you, so I have the right to tell you to scram. If you have the strength of a half-step Martial Emperor, you can turn things around and get this Dugu Ao to scram as well.
When ordinary people met with such a situation, they would just suffer patiently and silently. This was not really a big deal in the Dragon Grave Sea.
“Interesting. This fellow was feeling unconvinced earlier. Now, due to a stroke of bad luck, Dugu Ao came to him. Even if this fellow was unconvinced earlier, he would have to be so now,” muttered that man in splendid clothes, who spoke to Xiao Chen earlier, with a smile as he held up his wine cup.
Xiao Chen turned a deaf ear to Dugu Ao. He calmly drank his wine and ate his food as if he never heard what Dugu Ao said.
“Seeking death!”
Dugu Ao was already feeling upset. Earlier, he got shown up by a half-step Martial Emperor. Now, an insignificant Great Perfection quasi-Emperor dared to oppose him. So, he immediately flared up.
He raised his hand and threw a punch at Xiao Chen.
Suddenly, Xiao Chen’s calm eyes gleamed. He gently flicked his right hand, and the two chopsticks he held flew out like sharp arrows. One flew towards Dugu Ao’s eye and the other towards Dugu Ao’s fist, both of them rotating quickly as they did so.
“Whoosh!”
The rotating chopsticks created a strong knife-like wind that blew aside Dugu Ao’s fringe.
This allowed Dugu Ao to see even clearer. He got the impression that the chopstick headed for his eye was an unparalleled treasure saber, boundlessly sharp with a horrifying saber intent.
Dugu Ao’s face sank. Unexpected, just by casually picking, he ran into an expert.
His mind raced. Within this short time, he could not think of any way to deal with this, short of retreating.
“Bang!”
The rotating chopstick struck Dugu Ao’s fist and immediately inflicted pain. He no longer hesitated. He quickly pulled back his fist, shielded his eye, and retreated with due haste.
Xiao Chen smiled faintly. His right hand moved as fast as lightning, at a dazzling speed, grabbing the chopstick flying towards the other party’s eye. As his hand returned, the second rotating chopstick happened to be on the rebound.
With the two chopsticks back in his grasp, Xiao Chen picked up some food and drank another mouthful of wine. He still had not looked at Dugu Ao.
With this simple exchange, Xiao Chen’s two simple and miraculous chopsticks easily forced back the raging Dugu Ao, shocking everyone.