Overlord of the Wilderness

「Seventeen days later, inside the Wind Chamber.」

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH— Stones hurtled toward Zhaang Ye at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye.

Zhaang Ye stood in the middle of the Wind Chamber, slashing out with wide, sweeping motions of his Heavy Saber. With each slash, jet-black streams of Sword Qi surged forth, accompanied by bursts of Dark Force. When the stones, which were a blur to the naked eye, encountered the Dark Force from his saber, their speed dropped drastically. Then, they were pulverized by the streams of Sword Qi.

His Saber Technique had now approached the Minor Achievement Realm. Although he hadn’t managed to reach Minor Achievement, his skill with the saber had improved tremendously compared to a month ago. Zhaang Ye could now handle the stones in the Wind Chamber with ease.

After shattering the last stone, Zhaang Ye put away his Heavy Saber with a hint of regret. ’If I had another twenty or thirty days, I could definitely cultivate the Mountain-Breaking Slash to Minor Achievement.’ Unfortunately, the competition for the Gathering Flower Fruits was tomorrow, and Zhaang Ye had to hurry to the City Lord’s Mansion as instructed by the Middle-aged Man in Purple Clothes.

The next day, Zhaang Ye and Zhaang Yijian headed to the City Lord’s Mansion together. Zhaang Ye sized Zhaang Yijian up and noticed that his aura had become even more condensed. Clearly, his cultivation had progressed over the past month.

Zhaang Yijian also sensed the change in Zhaang Ye’s aura. He glanced at Zhaang Ye and said in surprise, ”I can’t believe your cultivation has progressed again. In just one short month, you’ve broken through to the Late Stage of the Martial Arts Fourth Layer.”

After a moment of mutual surprise, the two looked at each other, smiled, and quickened their pace.

The Cyan Mulberry Tree of Cyan Mulberry City grew within the City Lord’s Mansion. When Zhaang Ye entered, he saw Martial Artists carrying weapons everywhere inside.

The Cyan Mulberry Tree bore fruit once every three years. Top-grade Gathering Flower Fruits could be refined into High Grade Qi Gathering Pills, increasing one’s chances of reaching the Martial Arts Ninth Layer. Meanwhile, Top Grade Gathering Flower Fruits could be refined into top-grade Qi Gathering Pills, increasing one’s chances of breaking through to the True Dao.

Even Middle Grade and Low Grade fruits were immensely beneficial for Martial Artists below the Martial Arts Sixth Layer. Consuming them could greatly purge impurities from the body, allowing one to cultivate faster in the future. If a Martial Artist was on the verge of a breakthrough, eating one of these fruits could very well trigger a breakthrough to the next layer.

For a Martial Artist, even the slightest chance of a breakthrough was enough to make them risk their life. ’The effects of the Gathering Flower Fruit are incredibly beneficial for cultivation,’ Zhaang Ye mused. ’No wonder so many people come to this competition, even knowing they’re facing almost certain death.’

Zhaang Ye and Zhaang Yijian both announced their identities. Soon after, Zhaang Yijian was led to another area, while Zhaang Ye was told he could proceed directly into the Inner Mansion.

Zhaang Ye walked straight ahead and entered the Inner Mansion, where he saw eight youths sitting cross-legged with their eyes closed on a patch of grass. They were all around seventeen or eighteen years old, and each of them exuded a powerful aura. Zhaang Ye estimated that the weakest among them had a cultivation at the Early Stage of the Martial Arts Fifth Layer.

Seeing Zhaang Ye walk in, the eight youths were all slightly startled, a hint of surprise appearing in their eyes.

Zhaang Ye glanced at the eight of them. ’They must be the geniuses selected from the other cities,’ he thought. ’And they’re worthy of the title. Despite being only seventeen or eighteen, their cultivation has already reached the Martial Arts Fifth Layer.’

Nodding at them, Zhaang Ye also found a spot and sat down cross-legged.

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, a figure in purple suddenly appeared on the grass. This sudden arrival was none other than the immeasurably powerful Middle-aged Man in Purple Clothes.

”Very good, very good.” The Middle-aged Man in Purple Clothes swept his gaze over the youths and said slowly, ”Today, there will be a brutal slaughter here. Your task is to watch. Watch how others slaughter one another.”

As he spoke, the Middle-aged Man in Purple Clothes flicked his sleeve, and a hundred feet away, a stone door rumbled open.

The Middle-aged Man in Purple Clothes was heard saying, ”Enter the stone door. I have made my arrangements.”

Zhaang Ye and the eight youths walked through the stone door and found themselves in a space paved with crystal. Every piece of Crystal Stone was perfectly smooth and could be used as a mirror. Standing there, surrounded by their own reflections, was a strange sensation.

Zhaang Ye scanned his surroundings and found nothing inside, save for two ancient words carved on the floor: ”Heart Refining Chamber.”

’Heart Refining Chamber? What does that mean?’ Just as Zhaang Ye and the other youths were wondering, the Middle-aged Man in Purple Clothes strode inside. He made a grasping motion in the air with one hand, and the youths felt an indescribable, immense force suddenly fill the space. Their bodies felt as if they had been instantly frozen inside blocks of iron, making it impossible to even twitch.

Zhaang Ye was also immobilized by the strange, immense force. He secretly tried to move his limbs but found it completely impossible. Even the True Qi inside his body seemed to be sealed.

’The technique the Middle-aged Man in Purple Clothes just used must be a way to control a person’s qi and blood. With it, he can control their circulation and render them immobile...’ Zhaang Ye’s mind raced. He tried circulating his Dragon Elephant Skill and found that, surprisingly, it wasn’t sealed. He sensed that if he were to unleash the Dragon Elephant Skill with his full power, he might be able to break free from this strange imprisonment.

With everyone suddenly immobilized, the Heart Refining Chamber fell completely silent.

As Zhaang Ye was secretly trying to guess the Middle-aged Man in Purple Clothes’s motive for immobilizing them, he suddenly realized his five senses had become incredibly sharp. His eyes could easily see the motes of dust floating in the air, his ears could clearly hear the sound of his own blood flowing, and his skin had become so sensitive that he could feel a single speck of dust landing on it.

’Hm? What’s going on?’ Even though Zhaang Ye was normally calm, he couldn’t help but be slightly startled by this unprecedented experience.

As Zhaang Ye noticed this strange phenomenon, the other youths discovered it as well, their eyes filling with shock and confusion.

While the youths were still confused, the Middle-aged Man in Purple Clothes slowly said, ”Starting today, over a thousand Martial Artists will compete for the Gathering Flower Fruits in Cyan Mulberry City. Right next to this stone chamber, dozens of bloody battles will unfold over the next three days. You will all stay here and watch carefully.”

After speaking, he flicked his sleeve, and a section of the crystal wall in front of them immediately descended. The moment it did, they heard a great roar filled with boundless hostility: ”KILL!”

Along with that great roar, the sounds of agonized screams, weapons whistling through the air, and the clash of Qi Forces erupted at once.

Once the crystal wall had fully descended, the youths looked closely and saw a wide, open field next door. A long branch extended over this field, and on its tip grew a fist-sized fruit. The fruit was so verdant it seemed to drip with life, and faint clouds appeared to swirl around it. A single glance was enough to reveal its extraordinary nature.

On that open field, dozens of large men were fighting to the death with weapons in hand. They showed no mercy, each attack vicious to the extreme and aimed to kill. As the youths watched, in the span of a few blinks, one of the men was slashed. Before he could retreat, his body was hacked in two. Blood gushed and his entrails spilled out. The look in the man’s eyes right before he died made the watching youths turn pale.

”KILL, KILL, KILL!”

Someone roared, his greatsaber flashing. Within a few slashes, he decapitated another man. The severed head spun through the air, the ferocious and unwilling expression on its face so palpable it was hard to breathe.

The desperate fighting and endless slaughter continued. In the blink of an eye, the ground was soaked with blood. As far as the eye could see, there were only mangled limbs and steaming entrails...

The youths’ sight and hearing were incredibly sharp. They could clearly see the vacant eyes of the dead and the ghastly white bone exposed in their wounds. They could hear the terrifying sound of weapons hacking into flesh and the gurgle of blood spurting from arteries. Their keen sense of smell could even pick up the scent of blood and viscera...

Although they too had killed enemies, it was usually with a single, clean strike. They had never imagined that combat could be this brutal! They had never imagined that the look in a dying person’s eyes could be so terrifying!

The brutal battle raged on. As they witnessed the unending carnage, the eyes of a few youths with weaker mental fortitude slowly began to fill with fear.

They wanted to take a deep breath, but their bodies were immobilized. They wanted to speak a few words to calm their nerves, but they couldn’t make a sound. They couldn’t see one another; all they could see was one brutal battle after another. They couldn’t even close their eyes!

More and more of the youths’ faces began to change. They turned deathly pale, completely drained of color.

Zhaang Ye’s expression also grew grim. ’This Heart Refining Chamber is just too bizarre,’ he thought. ’My senses have been made incredibly sharp. Watching such an extremely brutal battle under these conditions is a form of mental torture.’

Fortunately, Zhaang Ye’s willpower was far superior to that of an ordinary person. He had endured the agony of the medicinal bath a month ago, so while his current situation was uncomfortable, it didn’t truly affect him.

「Half a day passed.」

The Middle-aged Man in Purple Clothes looked at the youths. Most of them were deathly pale, and some of their eyes held a faint trace of fear. However, for the most part, they were managing to maintain their composure. No one’s gaze had gone vacant, and no one had lost their sanity.

The Middle-aged Man in Purple Clothes nodded slightly. His purpose in having these youths enter the Heart Refining Chamber to watch the brutal slaughter next door was to temper their minds and willpower. ’So far, their performance is satisfactory,’ he thought.

When his gaze fell upon the last youth, Zhaang Ye, the Middle-aged Man in Purple Clothes let out a soft sound of surprise. He realized Zhaang Ye’s reaction was completely different from the others. His eyes actually held a look of calm... (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote with Recommendation Tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)