Chapter 147: A Tiger Trapped on the Plains (First Update!)

Shi Yan sat in a corner of the small boat, keeping his eyes closed all day to rest and quietly recover his vital essence.

To seal the Xuanbing Cold Flame, the Blood Vein Ring had devoured all of his power, leaving Shi Yan as powerless as a mortal who had never cultivated martial arts.

Fortunately, the foundation of all his cultivation remained intact, and his martial spirits were completely unharmed. After silently cultivating on the boat for a few days, Shi Yan re-condensed a wisp of vital essence, quietly gathering the heaven and earth origin qi to gradually strengthen that wisp.

In just a few short days, the cluster of vital essence in his lower abdomen's qi sea had already taken on a considerable scale.

Circulating his power in silence, Shi Yan gradually set his mind at ease, knowing that given another ten days to half a month, his vital essence would be fully restored to its original state.

His bones and muscles had been tempered day and night by the lingering chill. Within the Blood Vein Ring, wisps of cold air were constantly overflowing.

Those chilling currents pervaded his entire body, and the greater part of them actually permeated his bones, bone marrow, blood, and meridians, making his physical body capable of enduring the invasion of the cold without being affected by it.

The place where the cold gathered the most was unexpectedly his own blood.

Ever since that time during his cultivation of the second-level berserk state when he had inadvertently integrated the cold into his blood, the attributes of his blood seemed to have undergone a subtle change. As his blood surged, faint wisps of chill overflowed, and his blood seemed to harbor no small amount of cold power.

Over the past three years, in the bitter battle against the Xuanbing Cold Flame, his body had gradually adapted to the onslaught of the cold, and the cold power hidden within his blood had also grown considerably over those three years.

During these three years, he had not dared to relax for even a single moment. His mental energy had been in a state of extreme tension, and the battle of souls with the Xuanbing Cold Flame had naturally propelled him into the second realm of the Hundred Tribulations, while also elevating his mastery of mental energy and soul power to a new height.

Hiding in the corner of the small boat with a cold and indifferent expression, Shi Yan spent most of his time bitterly cultivating his vital essence, while also sparing time to comprehend the changes in his state of mind, repeatedly sorting through the experiences of the three-year soul battle.

This period of dormancy would be of immense benefit to his future progress. He was well aware of this, which was why he felt no grievance about humbling himself in such a small boat. Instead, he took pleasure in the peace and quiet, bitterly cultivating day after day.

At times, Shi Yan would sink his mental energy into the Blood Vein Ring to observe the Xuanbing Cold Flame within. He discovered that under the entanglement of that strange vortex, although the Xuanbing Cold Flame constantly attempted to break free from the Blood Vein Ring, it ultimately found it difficult to truly escape.

Gradually, Shi Yan set his mind at ease, knowing that the Blood Vein Ring was indeed mysterious enough to suppress the Xuanbing Cold Flame, one of the Heavenly Flames.

The Xuanbing Cold Flame was one of the Heavenly Flames—a glacial fire that existed when the heaven and earth were first formed, possessing an ancient and evil consciousness and a unique life form.

If he could erase the dominant consciousness of the Xuanbing Cold Flame and integrate it into his sea of consciousness, it would completely transform his sea of consciousness, causing a mutation that would make him an invincible powerhouse of the same tier.

Shi Yan did harbor this wild ambition, but unfortunately, only martial artists in the Nirvana realm could truly form a sea of consciousness. The sea of consciousness had boundless marvelous uses and could unleash all kinds of divine abilities through it. Without a sea of consciousness, trying to fuse with the Xuanbing Cold Flame was as difficult as ascending to heaven; instead, he would likely be possessed by the Xuanbing Cold Flame.

To fuse with the Xuanbing Cold Flame, aside from forming a sea of consciousness, he also had to gather nine supreme-yang and supreme-fiery rare treasures. Only by using nine supreme-yang and supreme-fiery rare treasures to torture the evil consciousness of the Xuanbing Cold Flame until it was on its last breath could he seize the opportunity to fuse with it.

Both the sea of consciousness and the rare treasures were indispensable. Without achieving these two steps, Shi Yan dared not act rashly.

The three-year soul battle had given him a profound understanding of the terrifying nature of the Xuanbing Cold Flame. If not for the abundance of negative emotions within his acupoints, and if not for the magical assistance of the Blood Vein Ring, he feared he wouldn't have been able to resist even for three days before being successfully possessed by the Xuanbing Cold Flame.

The sun set, and the bright moon and stars slowly hung in the night sky.

The stars twinkled, and wisps of starlight, invisible to the naked eye, quietly poured down from the nine heavens, being absorbed bit by bit by the pores all over Shi Yan's body, and subsequently gathering at the star martial spirit located in his heart.

After the star martial spirit absorbed a portion of the starlight, specks of starlight began to flicker in his heart once more, and Shi Yan felt the presence of scattered starlight power once again.

Looking up and gazing at the stars filling the sky, Shi Yan wore a cold expression, the corners of his mouth curling into a fierce arc.

Chen Feng, Zuo Yanqing, Dongfang Xi, Gu Jiange...

Passing these four names through his mind one by one, Shi Yan's gaze grew increasingly icy, and faint chills seemed to radiate from his body.

At the very last moment on Menluo Island, these four had attacked together, joining forces to send him to his death. As he fell into the cavern, watching the numerous attacks arrive one after another—if not for the Xuanbing Cold Flame thrusting out blocks of ice within the cave—he surely would have been beaten by the four of them into complete destruction of body and soul, leaving not even a speck of residue behind.

Especially Dongfang Xi and Gu Jiange, who had actually dared to harbor lewd and blasphemous thoughts toward Xia Xinyan. This filled Shi Yan with a bone-deep hatred.

"Thump, thump, thump!"

Tossing her chestnut-colored hair and gently slapping her voluptuous hips, Linda suddenly popped up from the bottom of the boat.

Under the night sky, Linda's beautiful eyes shone brightly as she gazed into the distance from the deck, saying indifferently: "Everyone be careful. We are about to leave the Tiansuo Archipelago. It is said that fierce beasts haunt this vicinity, so keep your spirits up..."

On the deck, a dozen or so martial artists were yawning, all looking lacking in spirit.

Although Kamon had frequently caused trouble for Shi Yan over the past two days, with Linda protecting him, Kamon had never truly found an opportunity to make a move. Hearing Linda say that fierce beasts haunted the vicinity, Kamon abruptly stood up and shouted: "Everyone pay attention! Since Linda says there are fierce beasts nearby, there definitely are. Linda has sailed this route several times. Stop sleeping, get up, get up!"

Shouting, Kamon walked back and forth across the deck, kicking awake the sleep-ridden martial artists one by one.

As he clamored, Kamon gradually approached Shi Yan's spot. Glancing sideways at Shi Yan, he shouted coldly: "You get up too!"

As he spoke, Kamon delivered a kick.

When he kicked the others, he had measured his strength well, and the force of his foot was not heavy. However, the kick he directed at Shi Yan now was as heavy as ten thousand jun. Although the speed was slow, it was exceptionally weighty.

Shi Yan narrowed his eyes slightly, instantly perceiving that Kamon's kick carried a good amount of vital essence. If an ordinary person were truly struck by this kick, they would undoubtedly suffer severe injuries.

Shi Yan sneered inwardly. Before Kamon's kick could land, he abruptly stood up and quickly walked toward Linda.

"Bang!"

Kamon's kick landed instead on the large chest against which Shi Yan had been resting.

Under his kick, that massive chest was actually shoved half a meter backward.

Shi Yan's face darkened as he stood to the side, watching Kamon without a word.

The surrounding martial artists secretly clicked their tongues in astonishment, feeling somewhat surprised, yet not daring to say much.

It was obvious that Kamon had infused vital essence into that kick; otherwise, the chest would not have been pushed half a meter back.

These martial artists all knew that the chest was filled with heavy profound steel rocks, each piece of which was much heavier than ordinary stone. For Kamon to kick a large chest like that—if that kick had landed on Shi Yan's body, his bones likely would have been shattered to pieces.

"Kamon, what do you think you're doing?" Linda also noticed the abnormality over here. Her pretty face shifted, and she crossed her brows and shouted angrily, "Are you trying to kill someone? How has Shi Yan offended you? Did you have to hit him so heavily?"

"No, I didn't," Kamon shrugged, saying casually, "Shi Yan is also a martial artist. Although he's unranked, he should be able to withstand this kick of mine. I was just testing him to see what realm he's actually in. My kick wouldn't take his life. Anyway, it's still a long way to Yunxia Island, and if he really is injured, he can just peacefully recuperate. This guy's background is unknown, and being unable to move is the best state for him. Otherwise, who knows if he might do something detrimental to us? Don't you all agree?"

Kamon looked toward the surrounding martial artists and shouted, "His background is unknown, and we are in the middle of a mission. Leaving a guy like this on the boat—is it better for him to be injured and unable to move, or should he be bouncing around and full of life?"

Under his gaze, the expressions of the surrounding martial artists varied. Those on good terms with Kamon nodded slightly, while those who believed in Linda refrained from expressing any opinions, merely looking at Linda.

"How is his background unknown?" Linda sneered. "Didn't he say he was a fisherman from a nearby island?"

"If he's really just some dregs from a nearby island, why didn't you just casually drop him off at any nearby island? There are passing ships around those islands too; he could completely take advantage of another ship to go back. Why must he freeload on our boat?" Kamon sneered. He was not a brainless person either. Through this period of observation, he had long seen that Linda seemed to harbor other intentions when dealing with Shi Yan.

He had no idea that Linda wanted to unearth Shi Yan's secrets bit by bit, simply assuming that she had taken a fancy to Shi Yan. Driven by jealousy, she had staged this farce.

"He wants to go to Yunxia Island to broaden his horizons—is that not allowed?" Linda's pretty face turned unsightly. Tossing her hair, she cast a sideways glance at the martial artists on the boat and said, "Have you all failed to understand the current situation? Do you know who is in charge of this mission? Do you know whose ship this belongs to? If you don't want to work, once the mission is over, you can all leave my ship!"

"Elder Sister Linda, calm down. Whatever you say goes, and we will all listen to you."

"That's right, Elder Sister Linda, we didn't refute you at all."

"Elder Sister Linda, I've followed you for so many years. Wherever you go, I go. Please don't chase me away..."

Many martial artists leaning toward Linda hurriedly offered obsequious expressions of loyalty. Even the few who had originally felt it was inappropriate saw Linda fly into a rage and immediately put on bitter expressions, cupping their fists and begging for forgiveness repeatedly.

Among the outer disciples of the Three Gods Sect, Linda held considerable prestige. Her family was also one of the extremely powerful factions among the various forces affiliated with the Three Gods Sect.

Coupled with Linda's own outstanding aptitude, making it very likely that she would become a core disciple of the Three Gods Sect, in the eyes of these people, Linda carried far more weight than Kamon.

Although Linda was usually very gentle, once angered, no one dared to go against her.

Even Kamon, seeing Linda enraged, smiled bitterly and said, "Is it worth making such a huge fuss over some unknown brat?"

"Behave yourself!" Linda glared at him and snapped, "Keep your spirits up and watch out for fierce beasts!"

"Plop! Plop! Plop!"

Right at that moment, on the water ahead, splashes erupted everywhere as streaks of dark shadows rapidly advanced beneath the sea, charging toward the small boat from all directions.

"There really are fierce beasts!" Linda's pretty face changed, and she couldn't help crying out in alarm, "Everyone be careful! This is my first time running into fierce beasts here too..."

Shi Yan furrowed his brows and gazed out at the sea, looking indifferent and entirely unconcerned.

(To be continued. To find out what happens next, please log in to... more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading! The Qihang Update Team provides the text, please support the original version!)