Chapter 9

Zi Chen stood quietly outside the valley where the Snow Ginseng used to grow.

He adjusted his mood. He was going to kill a bear today.

He was going to kill a Level 0 vicious beast.

Taking a deep breath, Zi Chen entered the valley. However, he was surprised to find that there was only one Ice Bear instead of the two from before.

"Roar!"

The sleeping Ice Bear let out another roar. As a Level 0 vicious beast, it naturally had keen senses. No matter how careful Zi Chen was, he was still detected by the Ice Bear when he approached the valley.

The Ice Bear was over three meters tall and its fur was like steel needles. Its black eyes emitted a cold aura.

When it saw Zi Chen, a human, the Ice Bear charged towards Zi Chen. Its fan-like paws swept towards Zi Chen's face.

The Ice Bear hated humans, so it was definitely going all out in this attack.

"Good timing."

Zi Chen's eyes lit up as his aura rose. He was like a dormant tiger that could attack at any time.

"Roar!"

With a roar, the three forms of the Ferocious Tiger Fist were executed. In an instant, Zi Chen seemed to have turned into a tiger as he pounced towards the Ice Bear.

A tiger and a bear collided head-on.

"Bang!"

A dull sound of collision rang out in the valley. When Zi Chen's fist collided with the Ice Bear's paw, his body trembled as he involuntarily took a few steps back. The blood in his body churned.

Zi Chen, who was only at Level 8 True Energy, was actually able to fight a Ice Bear that was famous for its strength to a draw. This was simply unbelievable.

When Zi Chen retreated a few steps, the Ice Bear's body swayed as it involuntarily took two steps back. There was a trace of surprise in its cold eyes, but it soon became even more furious.

The Ice Bear roared as it charged towards Zi Chen once again. A gale swept up, scattering the snow on the ground.

"Roar!"

The tiger's roar rang out once again as the aura of a king of the forest instantly filled the entire valley.

A tiger and a bear, these two overlords began to clash.

Muffled thumps resounded throughout the entire valley.

"Alright, again!"

Zi Chen was once again forced back. There was blood at the corner of his mouth, but his eyes were terrifyingly bright. After several consecutive attacks, his Zhen Qi had been exhausted. Up until now, he had been relying on his strong physique to remain undefeated.

To be able to compete with a Level 0 Direbeast in terms of physique, Zi Chen's body was simply terrifying.

Zi Chen punched out once again, creating a gust of wind.

The bear paw fell, creating a huge pressure.

"Flowing Cloud Steps."

Zi Chen shifted his feet and dodged the Ice Bear's attack. His Ferocious Tiger Fist landed on the Ice Bear's body.

"Bang!"

For the first time, the ice bear's huge body was knocked down by Zi Chen.

With a roar, the Ice Bear stood up again. The two sides clashed head on, and the battle was extremely intense.

During this period, both sides had victories and defeats.

Two hours later

With a roar, the two sides collided once again. Immediately after, Zi Chen's body flew a dozen meters before falling into the snow.

After a full two hours of fighting, Zi Chen was completely exhausted. After the fierce battle with the Ice Bear, Zi Chen felt that his physique was stronger than a Level 9 Direbeast, but weaker than a Level 0 Direbeast. It was somewhere between Level 9 and Level 0.

Seeing Zi Chen fly and spit out blood, the Ice Bear's cold eyes finally moved. It roared at the sky, as if expressing its joy, and then quickly walked towards Zi Chen.

The human was already exhausted and had no more strength to fight. Of course, the Ice Bear could see that it was time to reap the rewards.

Zi Chen was indeed exhausted and had no more strength to fight. He didn't even have the strength to run away. He had reached the limit of his energy consumption, just like when his life was in danger.

However, Zi Chen's tired eyes didn't show much fear when he saw that the Ice Bear hadn't come. Instead, there was some hope.

"Weng!"

At this moment, Zi Chen's heart suddenly trembled. A pure silver energy emerged from within. This energy instantly surged towards Zi Chen's body, like a dry desert suddenly being irrigated by rain.

Every part of Zi Chen's body, including his blood and bones, was absorbing this energy. The energy that Zi Chen had just expended was instantly restored, as if he had eaten a miracle elixir.

"This is the fastest way to improve the Sky Thunder Reshaping Art."

Zi Chen's eyes lit up. Under the nourishment of this energy, Zi Chen could feel his body's strength increasing.

When his body was exhausted to a limit, he would then absorb the silver energy. This allowed Zi Chen's strength to increase rapidly. This speed of increase was far faster than when Zi Chen was meditating.

His tired expression was swept away. Zi Chen's eyes lit up. He jumped up from the ground and shouted, "Again!"

Looking at the Ice Bear in front of him, Zi Chen felt as if he had seen a rare opponent, a sparring partner. His eyes shone with a green light.

"Roar!"

The tiger's roar shook the forest. Zi Chen was like a ferocious tiger as he rushed towards the Ice Bear again.

As a Level 0 Dire Beast, the Ice Bear had some intelligence. However, it couldn't understand why a clearly exhausted human would suddenly become energetic again and release an even stronger aura.

However, the Ice Bear was a beast after all. It had its own cruelty. It couldn't figure it out, so it didn't want to think about it.

A tiger and a bear fought fiercely again.

This time, another two hours passed. Zi Chen gradually gained the upper hand. Although more and more blood flowed from the corner of his mouth, his eyes were very bright.

"Weng!"

After exhausting his energy again, Zi Chen's heart beat again. This time, pure energy entered his body. Zi Chen felt that his body was undergoing a transformation. This was a transformation of progress and also a transformation of a breakthrough.

"My body is comparable to a Level 0 Dire Beast's." Zi Chen's eyes shone brightly.

After four hours of battle, the Ice Bear had exhausted a lot of energy and had reached its limit. However, when it saw the exhausted human suddenly become energetic again, it was frightened and wanted to retreat.

However, at this time, Zi Chen's body released an aura comparable to that of a Level 0 Dire Beast. It was as if he had turned into a Level 0 Tiger. It was abnormally terrifying. The aura of a King made the Ice Bear's heart tremble.

This was the aura of a King from the Tiger Fist.

"Roar!"

With another tiger's roar, Zi Chen consecutively struck out three moves. Like flowing water, they hit the Ice Bear's body.

"Peng!"

There was a dull sound, accompanied by the sound of bones breaking. The three-meter tall Ice Bear's body was actually sent flying by Zi Chen's punch.

With three levels of True Energy and the body of a Level 0 Dire Beast, Zi Chen's punch combined with his strength was simply terrifying.

The Ice Bear's blood-curdling screeches rang out in the valley. The Ice Bear, which had already exhausted a lot of energy, was now even more powerless in the face of Zi Chen's storm-like attacks.

"Peng! Peng! Peng!"

After a few consecutive attacks, the Ice Bear finally lay on the ground, motionless. No one knew whether it had died from exhaustion or had been beaten to death by Zi Chen.

Now that the Ice Bear was dead, Zi Chen sat on the ground, panting heavily.

He had actually killed a Level 0 Dire Beast that day. In the past, Zi Chen would never have dared to think about this.

Zi Chen took out Lin Ying's long knife from afar. True Energy surged as Zi Chen cut off the bear's paw.

A large bear was enough for him to eat for a long time.

It was not easy to start a fire in this world of ice and snow, but as long as one had the heart, it was not that difficult.

Smoke rose in spirals. Zi Chen began to roast the bear's paw and eat the bear meat in this world of ice and snow.

Now that the Ice Bear was dead, this valley became Zi Chen's territory.

After eating and resting for a while, Zi Chen took out his long knife and threw away the Ice Bear's body. He took out a black bear's gallbladder.

Bear's gallbladder was a great supplement, and it was also an essential ingredient for refining some special elixirs. It was also very useful for cultivators. Although it was a waste to swallow it directly, Zi Chen had no other choice.

He cut open the bear's gallbladder. Inside, there were small sparkling round lumps that occasionally glowed with a faint golden light.

"This is actually a faint golden color. It's really good stuff."

Seeing the faint golden lumps in the bear's gallbladder, Zi Chen was a little surprised. Among bear gallbladders, gold was the best, followed by bronze, black, and dark green.

The faint golden color was better than the bronze color.

Zi Chen's luck was pretty good.

Without hesitation, he directly swallowed the lumps.

A strong bitter taste spread from his mouth. After the lumps entered his stomach, a faint fragrance filled the air.

The Heavenly Thunder Body Reshaping Incantation was activated again. Zi Chen began to refine the faint golden bear's gallbladder.

A warm, faint golden light appeared in Zi Chen's body. It flowed along his meridians and began to circulate.

After half a circulatory cycle, the energy was completely absorbed by his heart. After escaping death, Zi Chen found that his heart was like a high-speed filter. As long as the energy of heaven and earth reached it, it would be absorbed, and a purer silver energy would appear.

Although Zi Chen didn't understand why, he knew that it was caused by the fortuitous encounter that day. Perhaps there was something in his heart. However, his strength was only at the true qi realm, and he didn't have any perception. Perhaps when he reached the xiantian realm, he would be able to discover the secret of his heart.

A moment later, while his heart was trembling, the energy of the bear's gallbladder was completely refined. It was fed back to his limbs and bones, and some of it passed through his meridians and reached Abdomen.

The Heavenly Thunder Body Reshaping Incantation focused on tempering the body. Therefore, every time the energy entered the body's bones, it would always exceed the energy entering Abdomen.

If the energy of the bear's gallbladder was completely refined and entered Abdomen, Zi Chen would definitely be able to recover to the fourth stage of the true qi realm. He might even be able to reach the peak of the fourth stage. However, more than half of the energy was absorbed by his body. After the energy was completely absorbed, Zi Chen was only at the peak of the third stage of the true qi realm.

"The peak of the third stage of the true qi realm. It's only been a dozen days."

However, Zi Chen was very satisfied with this. In addition to his strong physique, Zi Chen had gone from being a crippled Abdomen cultivator to the third stage of the true qi realm in just a dozen days. This speed of growth was simply terrifying.

"There's still one more ice bear. I must find it. Although I won't kill it, it can be used as a training partner to strengthen my physique."