Talisman Emperor - Chapter 698

"What a bow!" After he annihilated that Violet Crystal Rank expert, Meng Wei's fierce eyes gazed at the pitch black and rugged bow in his hands, and he couldn't help but praise.

This was a formidable Shaman Treasure. It was completely pitch black and dark, and it emitted a mysterious and desolate aura. The body of the bow and its string were refined from the bone and tendon of a Fiendgod, causing it to be extremely rare and priceless.

Meng Wei was a deserving expert of the Dao of Archery, and he'd always had the reputation of 'Godly Archer' in the Ninth Hell tribe. Within his memory, he'd only heard that their tribe had once possessed such a divine weapon during the Primordial Era.

Unfortunately, along with the passage of time, these rare and precious treasures had been obliterated from the world since a long time ago.

This bow before his eyes was called Staruin, and it was lent to him by Chen Xi, and he'd relied on the terrifying might of this bow to easily annihilate those 10 Gold Rank Xeno-race experts and even blast that Violet Crystal Rank expert apart with a single strike in the end.

As the tip of his finger lightly rubbed the cold and hard body of the bow, Meng Wei looked at the Staruin Bow for another short moment before resolutely passing it over to Chen Xi. "It's all thanks to Brother Chen Xi providing me with such a divine weapon that we were able to annihilate the enemy so easily."

Chen Xi didn't receive it from him and said with a smile, "Since Big Brother Meng Wei liked it, then just keep it. In any case, it's a waste of god's given gifts in my hands, and it's only capable of bringing forth it's true worth in the hands of an expert in the Dao of Archery like Big Brother Meng Wei."

He'd discerned a long time ago that Meng Wei was an absolute expert in the Dao of Archery, and when Meng Wei's cultivation was combined with this Staruin Bow, he would be able to erupt with a shocking combat strength.

According to Chen Xi's inference, even Yan Shisan might not be able to defeat Meng Wei in battle.

This was still because Meng Wei hadn't grasped any Grand Dao profundities, and if he entered the outside world and comprehended Dao Insights, and only the heavens knew to exactly what extent his strength would improve to.

Meng Wei was stunned. This man that was strong and robust like a stone and had a composed and resolute character wouldn't experience the slightest change in feelings when he killed, yet he was slightly at a loss for what to do when faced with Chen Xi's gift.

It couldn't be helped, he was too infatuated with the Dao of Archery, and he was deeply in love with it. Since he started cultivating until now, he'd spent all his energy on it, so when he was faced with a precious treasure like the Staruin Bow, he was simply like a child that had seen the toy it loved the most. How could he not be excited?

Even the nearby Mo Ya was stunned as she never imagined Chen Xi would just give away such a precious treasure on a whim, and based on Chen Xi's expression, Chen Xi didn't seem like he was joking. The caused her to be greatly shocked in her heart.

"This won't do. Such a treasure is too precious, I can't accept it." Meng Wei struggled in his heart for a very long time before gritting his teeth and refusing.

"Take it!" Chen Xi spoke with a tone that was beyond dispute, and he pushed the Staruin Bow into Meng Wei's hands and said with a smile, "A treasure sword is given to a hero, just like powder is given to a beauty. Only Big Brother Meng Wei is worthy of this bow!" As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Xi turned and left.

"Now you owe this fellow too much." Mo Ya couldn't help but sigh with emotion as she looked at Chen Xi's back.

"Even our tribe owes him too much. I'll return it too him, even if I have to work for him for my entire life." Meng Wei put the Staruin Bow away carefully, and he'd already recovered its calm and steady expression. Only his pair of fierce eyes were bright and dazzling, and they revealed a strand of extreme resolution.

"If it was me, I would probably be unable to refuse such kindness as well," said Mo Ya with a smile. She knew extremely clearly as well that Chen Xi had gradually integrated himself into the Ninth Hell tribe, and perhaps only by following his footsteps would the clansmen of the Ninth Hell tribe be able to gain a foothold in the outside world before growing and strengthening themselves.  

    …

After they annihilated the team formed from Wing World experts, Chen Xi's group of three returned hastily to the campsite, and then they didn't stop at all before moving once more.

The appearance of Xeno-race experts caused Chen Xi to feel a strand of pressure that struck right at him. Perhaps they were able to annihilate one of the groups with a sneak attack, but they might not have such luck the next time.

So leaving this place swiftly was the pressing matter at the moment.

For the sake of hurrying on their journey, Chen Xi had even shortened the time for resting and organizing themselves everyday to four hours. In other words, during this extremely short period of time, besides having to eat, the members of the tribe had to recover sufficient strength, whereas those youths and young children had to give consideration to cultivating as well.

Fortunately, this sort of pressed rhythm didn't crush those youths and young children. On the contrary, all of this allowed them to understand how valuable time was, and they cultivated even more painstakingly than before.

On the other hand, Chen Xi didn't remain idle, and he relied on the divine wine within the jade pot to recover his body refinement cultivation while deducing and pondering about how to construct the Blackhole World that satisfied him the most with talisman markings.

He knew very clearly that this wasn't something that could be completed overnight. After all, once one's Dao Foundation was crippled, repairing it was more difficult than ascending the heavens. Fortunately, he'd already found the path and wasn't anxious.

Food had to be eaten one mouthful at a time, just like one's path had to be tread one step at a time. He only had to prepare everything sufficiently, and it would be enough.

At the same time, he had to take on the tasks of cooking food, guiding the youths and young children in cultivation and comprehending Dao Insight, and so on and so forth. He was extremely busy, and he wished for nothing more than to split every minute into two so that he would have double the time he had now.

Even while they were on the way forward, his voice could be heard guiding those young children and youths. 

    …

On the ninth day of their march, they encountered the campsite of a batch of Xeno-race experts that they couldn't avoid.

After a bloody battle, the enemies were completely annihilated, yet another three guards of the tribe had perished for the sake of protecting the safety of the youths and young children, so only a mere seven guards remained when Mo Ya and Meng Wei were included.

This horrifying battle caused the atmosphere in the group to become even more silent, while the hearts of every single person had a ball of flames burning within it, and it caused them to cultivate even more painstakingly.

Because Chen Xi provided an unending flow of spirit medicine and food every single day, the advancement of these youths and young children was extremely swift, and practically all of them had already advanced to the Golden Hall Realm. Amongst them, Blackie, Scarface, Rock, and the others had even advanced to the Golden Core Realm in one go, and they obtained generous praise from the others.

Chen Xi kept his promise and gave them another reward: the Divine Abilities Deity Transformation and Heavenly Transformation!

On the other hand, Rock, Xiao Yan, and the others that cultivated in qi refinement obtained a perfect Dao Grade martial technique passed down by Chen Xi, and he gave them each an earth-rank magic treasure.

Such rewards caused the eyes of the other youths in the tribe to go red with envy, and they cultivated even more painstakingly and practically desperately, causing Meng Wei and Mo Ya to feel extremely joyful.

This could be considered to be the one and only thing that caused them to be happy during this arduous march. 

    …

14th day of the march.

They encountered an attack once more. Unlike the last time, this attack was formed from three Xeno-race teams, and they totaled almost 1,000 people. Moreover, there were three Violet Crystal Rank experts amongst them.

This battle seemed to be exceptionally horrifying and tragic because of this.

During this battle, the youths of the Violet Lightning Camp and Azurefrost Camp had joined in as well. It was originally an order Chen Xi gave because he had no other choice, but he never imagined that these youths actually erupted with shocking combat strength.

Every 20 people formed a team while three teams formed a camp, and they cooperated tacitly with each other and actually caused the Silver Rank and Bronze Rank experts in the enemy forces to be heavily injured!

But reality was brutal. Up until the point the battle ended, six youths and three young children amongst them had left them forever.

The most grievous even to the Ninth Hell tribe was the old man that was thin like firewood, the Lord Priest they respected like a god had exhausted the last bit of his strength to bring a Violet Crystal Rank Xeno-race expert down along with him during the battle for the sake of protecting those youths, and he'd passed away along with this.

Before he died, the old priest didn't leave behind any last words, and he just grasped Chen Xi's hand falteringly.

Chen Xi understood the meaning of the old priest, and he kowtowed solemnly when facing the old man's corpse. Without this old man, then he, Chen Xi, wouldn't exist today. So, he would help the old man take proper care of these clansmen of the old man's.

After this battle, only 72 youths and 10 young children remained within the tribe, whereas the guards and old priest had perished.

This was an extremely heavy tribulation. After they experienced the baptism of fire and blood, the youths seemed to have matured overnight, and they became steady and sensible.

   …

26th day of the march.

Chen Xi's body refinement cultivation had recovered, and he was only a step away from the Nether Transformation Realm. 

    …

31st day of the march.

A Xeno-race team was annihilated, and they obtained information that carried a mix of hope and worry. There was a passageway that led towards the outside world 45,000km ahead!

But the thing that caused their hearts to feel heavy was that there were six Xeno-race teams standing guard before the passageway, and not only were there six Violet Crystal Rank Xeno-race experts there, there was supposedly a General Rank Xeno-race expert holding down the fort!

A General Rank Xeno-race expert was comparable to an Earthly Immortal Realm expert.

Chen Xi who'd once suffered the assault of an Earthly Immortal Realm expert deeply understood how terrifying such an existence was, and he decided right away that they wouldn't continue moving forward and would set up camp in a gorge.

For the sake of avoiding the detection of their enemies, Chen Xi even used almost seven days of time to set up a grand formation in the surroundings of the gorge — The Azuresun Netherflame Formation!

This formation was formed from 108 types of Minor Azuresun Slaughter Formations, and the core of the formation was the Quasi Immortal Artifact — Flaming Peacock Fan. Even a Violet Crystal Rank Xeno-race expert would perish upon entering it. 

But this grand formation consumed 99% of all the materials in Chen Xi's possession, and besides some spirit medicines, magic treasures, and miscellaneous items like jade slips, he could be said to be squeaky clean.

Since a grand formation was set up, it naturally required energy to be activated. Even though the Ninth Hell's spirit energy had dried up, it wasn't a problem for Chen Xi, and after making great efforts for some time, he was finally able to successfully move the Immortal Energy emitted by the Dark Parasol sapling within his Dantian.

With the Immortal Energy as the source of the grand formation's energy, it was naturally much more formidable than when being powered by spirit energy.

The price Chen Xi paid for this was that he could only stay within the core of the grand formation while drawing out the Immortal Energy at all times, and he was unable to move another step.

But he was extremely satisfied with this. With the cover of this grand formation, it was extremely difficult to notice them from the outside unless an expert at the level of the Earthly Immortal Realm personally searched this area. But the probability of that was extremely tiny.

After all, this was an inconspicuous gorge in the Ninth Hell, and no one would turn their gaze over here. Even if they did look over here, there would absolutely be no one that would expect that a grand formation would be here.

The reason Chen Xi had done all of this was to provide everyone in the Ninth Hell tribe a safe place during this extremely tense situation and fiercely improve their own strength.

On the other hand, he himself wanted to start reconstructing his Blackhole World as well!