AGM 0065 – Astral Demonic Beast

Rain looked on. As the members of the Knight’s Association departed, she stated, “Qin Wentian, although the academy values you, you have to know that your level of strength is still insufficient. It would be best if you tried not to further antagonise the members of the Knight’s Association in the future. Due to the friction between you and them, there’s no way the academy wouldn’t be bothered to interfere with them and protect you should a clash occur.”

“Understood.” Qin Wentian nodded his head. While he looked at her departing back, the corners of his lips curled up into a smile that was filled with a cold sharpness.

Indeed, his present level of strength was insufficient, but unless they were capable of suppressing him forever, he would surely trample them to death one day, as he did to Murong Feng.

In any case, he had nothing to lose. He had no fear no matter what insidious plans the Knight’s Association was plotting against him.

Now, he only needed to be concerned with one thing—to get stronger.

Only truly strong cultivators would not have to suffer looks of arrogance and pride from others.

Only truly strong cultivators would not need to wag their tails to a stronger power.

“Senior Sister Rain.” At this moment, Fatty appeared beside Rain, his eyes sparkling with hints of laughter.

“Yes?” Rain smiled.

“Previously, I gained great enlightenment after I attended Senior Sister Rain’s lecture. I’m a weak and innocent boy, so in the future, if I have any questions regarding cultivation, could I seek out Senior Sister for help?” Fan Le said with a straight face while Qin Wentian, who was beside him, stared with amazement. The guts of this Fatty......

“Sure, why not? Just look for me if you have any questions.” Rain gently laughed. She viewed both of them as her brothers. How could she even begin to guess at the shameless thoughts prevalent in Fatty’s mind.

“Many thanks, Senior Sister!” Flowers blossomed in Fatty’s heart. His smile was so bright that it was comparable to the radiance of the sun.

“Protect yourselves well, you two. I shall take my leave first.” Rain smiled and departed. Qin Wentian, looking at the way Fatty stared at the departing back view of Rain, suddenly felt an urge to knock Fatty on his head. “Damn Fatty. Haven’t you stared enough?”

“Nope.” Fatty grinned, as a shameless expression was displayed on his face. Winking at Qin Wentian, he replied, “Senior Rain is like a mature goddess, warm, kind and gentle... exactly my type!”

“She regards you merely as a little brother.” Qin Wentian burst his bubble as he exclaimed with contempt before starting leaving the area.

“What nonsense. Anyways, what do you know of love?” Fan Le rolled his eyes. A shameless smile appeared once again on his face as he thought of Rain’s answer to him. Humming a little tune, Fatty began walking after Qin Wentian.

After returning back to their dorms, Qin Wentian began cultivating the 9 Heavenly Garuda Technique. Just merely from this Arterial Circulation-level manual, Qin Wentian discovered that this innate technique was even more fearful when compared to his Thousand Hand Imprint. Cultivating this technique merely at the Arterial Circulation Level was already a terrifyingly difficult task. The Yuanfu-Level manual stored on the 6th level of the pavilion would most assuredly be a top-tier earth-grade technique; the difficulty in cultivating that manual was something he didn’t even dare to imagine.

Naturally, before he obtained the Yuanfu-Level manual, he did not have to worry about it. He only needed to focus all of his attention in cultivating the Arterial Circulation-level manual first.

The mastery of the 9 Heavenly Garuda Technique (Arterial Circulation-level) could be classified into four levels: Initial, Skillful, Perfect, and Godly.

To attain the Initial Level of mastery was easy. There was no other external criterias. One merely had to focus on practicing the techniques listed in the secret manual, and they would easily be able to achieve the Initial Level.

For the Skillful Level of mastery, other than needing to spend time comprehending the insights, one also had to devour the demonic spirits of flying demonic beasts in order to gain their demonic essences and fully master the techniques contained within.

For the Perfect and Godly Levels, the cultivator would need to ingest an astronomical amount of flying-type demonic beasts. Especially for the Godly level; once the cultivator stepped into this level, the mark of a Garuda would have been successfully formed. With merely a single leap, the cultivator would be able to traverse over 30m, akin to the Garuda spreading its wing. And upon stepping into the Yuanfu Realm, one would be able to fly with much greater speed compared to those cultivator at the same level of power.

During the following days, Qin Wentian immersed himself in practicing the Garuda Technique. The difficulty of this technique was many times tougher when compared to the Dragon Subduing Fists.

Other than that, he did not neglect his cultivation. To him, breaking through was a matter of utmost importance.

Naturally, Qin Wentian also attended the lectures conducted by elders and guest Elders as during this period of time.

Unknowingly, as time passed, the leaves on the trees of the Dreamsky Forest were no longer as lush and green as before. The fiery ball of fire in the sky emitted fiery waves of sunlight as spring passed, ushering in the new season of summer.

The new students gradually got used to life in the academy. Many of them, filled with hopes and dreams, had broken up into smaller groups and began exploring and tempering themselves within the Dark Forest. After their experiences in the Dreamsky Forest, they gradually got used to death. Death was no longer an occurrence that they feared so much. To be strong, one naturally had to risk their lives.

But still, as they witnessed their teammates dying one by one in the Dark Forest or facing death themselves, the wills in their hearts were no longer as resolute. This was true death, not some parlour tricks as compared to the dying experiences simulated from the Dreamsky Forest.

Although they were students of the Emperor Star Academy, in this hunt or be hunted environment, coming face to face with death was nothing surprising.

But it was precisely this sort of experiences that could enable them to temper their hearts.

In front of their dorms, Qin Wentian was resting his back on an ancient tree as he cast his gaze far off into the horizons.

It had been four months since he entered the Emperor Star Academy, but there was still no news regarding getting Qin Wu and Qin Chuan. Although Qin Wentian didn’t say anything, he was tremendously worried in his heart.

He even forced himself not to seek out the news regarding the whereabouts of his 2nd uncle Qin He and the army Qin He was leading. Qin Wentian was worried that he wouldn’t be able to control himself should anything untoward happen to Qin He.

He had lived in the Qin Residence for over 10 years. To him, that place was his home. Ever since the Ye Clan stepped into Sky Harmony City, everything had been extremely chaotic. The Qin Residence was set on fire, Qin Wu and Qin Chuan were imprisoned in some unknown location, Qin He and Qin Ye became embroiled in bloody battles, and Qin Yao, Qin Zhi and the rest of the younger generations were forced to seek refuge in a nearby country, not daring to return home.

Only him, because of his outstanding talent, was awarded a place in the Emperor Star Academy. But despite of this, the academy was still a place fraught with many dangers to him.

“Ye Clan.” Qin Wentian inclined his head, allowing the rays of sunlight to fall upon his face through the gaps of foliage provided by the ancient tree. His eyes radiated extreme coldness, as sharp as swords and sabres.

Just as the Ye Clan and Orchon would not spare him, he would also not spare the Ye Clan and Orchon. Of this, he was absolutely certain.

“I wonder how is sister Qin Yao and the others are faring in Snow Cloud Country. I hope they became stronger.” Qin Wentian closed his eyes. It was as if he could see the gentle and beautiful features of his sister, Qin Yao, standing in front of him.

“Qin Wentian.” At this moment, a voice echoed out, disrupting Qin Wentian’s thoughts. Shifting his gaze over, he saw a youth the same age as him approaching from a distance. This youth was none other than one of the new students who lived near him and Fan Le.

“Zero, what’s up?” Qin Wentian smiled.

“Recently, there have been many students who ventured into the Dark Forest to temper themselves. The two of you are currently the strongest among the new students. Haven’t you ever had thoughts about going to the Dark Forest for practice?” Zero walked closer as he inquired. Although Qin Wentian had monstrous talent, he was extremely easy to get along with. The majority of the new students had relatively good relations with Qin Wentian.

“Enter the Dark Forest?” With traces of a smile appeared on Qin Wentian’s face, he stood up and stretched his body. “I’m ready, let’s go.”

He had already attained the Initial Level of mastery regarding the 9 Heavenly Garuda Technique. To step into the Skillful Level of mastery, he would need to hunt flying-type demonic beasts.

“I wished to temper myself over there as well. Do you mind if we formed a group?” Zero felt joy in his heart upon hearing that Qin Wentian intended to enter the Dark Forest. Although his cultivation level had broken through to the 2nd level of Arterial Circulation, he was only at its initial stages. Compared to Qin Wentian, he was still some distance away. Naturally, it would be much safer for him if he grouped himself with Qin Wentian.

“Fine, prepare yourself. Once I’m ready I will call for you.” Qin Wentian remarked.

Once night descended, Qin Wentian and Fan Le woke Zero up. The three of them and a snowy puppy left the academy grounds and made their way towards the Dark Forest. The late timing made Zero somewhat disgruntled, but he also understood the need for secrecy in case members of the Knight’s Association were spying on Qin Wentian..

When the party arrived at the outskirts of the Dark Forest, it was already close to dawn of the second morning. The forest’s perimeter was full of human activity. The Dark Forest was a favorite cultivation spot for members of the aristocratic clans and students of the various academies. Naturally, it was also the Heaven and Hell for the risk-takers.

“There are only low level demonic beasts in the outskirts. Let’s head in deeper.” Qin Wentian remarked. Demonic beasts below the 4th level were useless for his cultivation of the Garuda Technique. It was extremely tough to hunt demonic beasts of the 4th level and above, not to mention, flying-type demonic beasts. From this, one could see the difficulty in cultivating the 9 Heavenly Garuda Technique.

Three men and one beast started sprinting towards the depths of the Dark Forest, drawing to them attention and excitement from other students.

“Halt.” Abruptly, Fan Le shouted. The three of them stopped their steps as they halted. Because of the Astral Soul he condensed, Fatty’s senses were the sharpest.

“Our luck is pretty good. There’s a flying-type 4th level demonic beast nearby. However, our luck is pretty bad too. That 4th level demonic beast is actually a Purple Thunder Condor, an Astral Demonic Beast. Not only that, it has already noticed our presence.” Fatty smiled bitterly as the expression on Zero’s face stiffened.

Astral Demonic Beasts were akin to Stellar Martial Cultivators. In fact, they were comparable to the purest type of Stellar Martial Cultivators like Qin Wentian. Even without condensing an Astral Soul, they could easily absorb the Astral Qi from the Constellations to aid in their growth and maturation.

This was the talent granted to Astral Beasts. All Astral Beasts would be able to mature and evolve. And along with their evolution, their affinity with the constellations would grow increasingly stronger, allowing them to absorb Astral Qi from higher Heavenly Layers.

For example, the Purple Thunder Condor would bathe itself in starry radiance during its growth stage to absorb the faint Astral Qi within. In this manner, it continued to grow and mature to the point where it would be able to sense lightning-types constellations from the 1st Heavenly Layer. And after they matured to a certain stage, their affinity would be strengthened to a point where they would be able to sense and absorb the Astral Qi emitted from lightning-types constellations from the 2nd and 3rd Heavenly Layer

This was the terrifying aspect that all Astral Beasts possessed. The more powerful an Astral Beast was, the stronger its affinity would be.

Hence, now that the first challenge they met was actually a 4th level Astral Demonic Beast, the Purple Thunder Condor, how could Zero not be depressed?