Zi Chen stood quietly at the mountain valley where the snow ginseng had previously grown.

Adjusting his mood, he was determined to kill the ice bear today.

It was a fierce, rank five beast.

Taking a deep breath, Zi Chen entered the mountain valley and was surprised to find only one ice bear, rather than the two that had previously been encountered.

“Roar!”

The ice bear which had just fallen asleep issued a roar once again. As a rank five beast, it naturally had a keen perception. Zi Chen had been very careful, but was nonetheless discovered by the ice bear after approaching the mountain.

The ice bear’s figure was over three meters tall and it’s hair was similar to steel needles. It stood upright and its jet black pupils exuded an icy cold feeling.

The ice bear rushed, roaring at Zi Chen after spotting him. Its paw was spread like palm-leaf fans as it swept towards Zi Chen’s face, carrying a surge of vigorous wind.

The ice bear hated humans very much, and thus its current attack was executed with full power.

“Close.”

Zi Chen’s eyes shone as his majestic aura instantaneously surged forward, like a fierce tiger ready to attack any time.

“Roar!”

Zi Chen released a roar as he sent out the third move of Fierce Tiger Fist. At that moment, it was as if Zi Chen changed into a fierce tiger, pouncing onto the ice bear.

A frontal collision occurred between the two forces – a tiger and a bear.

“Bang”

The dull collision sound resounded throughout the mountain valley as Zi Chen’s fist connected with the ice bear’s palm. The ice bear’s body quivered suddenly and involuntarily retreated several steps backwards – blood churning throughout its body.

The third zhen qi layer came with a strong body, allowing Zi Chen to unexpectedly be on par with the ice bear, which was known for its great strength. This was simply inconceivable.

Zi Chen retreated several steps, while the ice bear’s body shook abruptly. It also involuntarily drew back two steps with a cold and feral look in its eye. Traces of surprise flashed across the the eyes of the ice bear, but was quickly replaced with much more anger than before.

The ice bear roared, rus.h.i.+ng towards Zi Chen once more. The strong winds bl.u.s.tered, causing grains of snow on the ground to spurt upwards,

“Roar!”

The roaring sound of the fierce tiger appeared again, instantaneously filling the entire mountain valley with the majestic aura of the king of the mountains.

These two giant overlords – a tiger and a bear – began to collide.

The dull and loud explosion unceasingly resounded throughout the entire mountain valley.

“Good, again!”

Zi Chen was being forced to draw back again. There was blood flowing from the corner of his mouth, but his pair of eyes were actually s.h.i.+ning brightly. Having made several attacks in a row, his zhen qi was depleted. Up until now, he had been relying on his formidable physique, thus remaining unbeaten.

Being able to fight against the strength of a rank five beast, Zi Chen’s physique was simply frightening.

Zi Chen struck again, his attack sweeping with wind and transforming into a tiger.

The bear’s paws fell, creating a huge pressure.

“Flowing Cloud Step.”

Zi Chen kicked his foot, his figure suddenly flas.h.i.+ng and unexpectedly dodging the ice bear’s attack. The next moment, the Fierce Tiger Fist hit the ice bear’s body.

“Bang”

The ice bear’s huge body had been knocked down by Zi Chen for the very first time…

With a loud roar, the ice bear got up again. Both sides were facing each other head on as the battle became more intense.

At this moment, both sides had an equal chance of winning the fight..

An hour later…

A tiger roars – both sides collided again and Zi Chen’s body ended up flying backwards for quite some distance. He had flown for more than ten meters before falling down in a snowy area.

The fight lasted no less than one hour. Zi Chen had used up all of his strength after a fierce battle with the ice bear. Zi Chen felt that his physique was even stronger than a rank four beast’s, but still weaker than a rank five beast’s by a bit. His strength fell between rank four and rank five.

Seeing that Zi Chen was knocked flying and vomited fresh blood, the ice bear’s ice-cold eyes finally showed some fluctuations. It roared towards the sky, seeming to be expressing its own joy, then turned and rushed toward Zi Chen rapidly.

The human’s strength had been exhausted. Zi Chen did not have the strength to fight again. The ice bear was of course aware of that, and could see that it was time to reap the harvest.

Zi Chen had indeed used up all of his his strength and did not have the energy to battle again. In fact, he didn’t even have the strength to escape. He had reached his limit of energy consumption, just like that day when he was about to die.

However, through Zi Chen’s exhausted eye, he noticed that the ice bear didn’t come. What filled him right now wasn’t fear, but hope.

“Buzz!”

At this moment, Zi Chen’s heart suddenly trembled, a surge of pure silver energy emerging from it. This energy instantly rushed through Zi Chen’s body, like a dry desert suddenly soaked in rainwater.

Various places of Zi Chen’s body – his blood and bones – were absorbing this energy to its fullest. The strength that Zi Chen used up just now was restored instantaneously, as if he had eaten some divine medicine.

“This is the fastest way for the Heavenly Thunder Body Tempering Technique to advance.” Zi Chen’s eye shone. Under the nourishment of this energy, Zi Chen could feel the growth of his body’s  strength.

When Zi Chen’s body becomes exhausted and reaches its limit, absorbing the silver energy would cause his strength to grow rapidly. This growth speed even surpa.s.sed the speed at which Zi Chen was cultivating while sitting crossed-legged before.

Zi Chen’s exhausted countenance was swept away and instead, his eyes shone. Jumping out from the ground, he shouted loudly, “Come again.”

To Zi Chen, staring at the ice bear ahead was like seeing a worthy opponent. There was a strange gleam within his eyes, as if he was looking at a sparring partner.

“Roar!”

The tiger’s roar shook the mountain. Zi Chen was like a fierce tiger, once again rus.h.i.+ng towards the ice bear.

As a rank five beast, The ice bear has already attained some level of wisdom. However,  it didn’t understand why this human, who had clearly exhausted his strength previously, was now filled with energy once more, and even suddenly erupting with a stronger, more majestic aura.

But the ice bear is, after all, just a beast. Given its cruel nature, if it couldn’t think and figure out this mystery, then it would just directly attack.

The tiger and the bear initiated battle once more.

This time, another hour had pa.s.sed and Zi Chen was gradually gaining the upper hand. Although blood overflowed from the corners of his mouth more and more, his eyes remained bright.

“Buzz!”

After his strength had all been used up once more, Zi Chen’s vibrated again. This time, when the pure silver energy entered his body, Zi Chen felt his body undergo a transformation. This was both a progressive transformation and a breakthrough.

“It’s now comparable with the physique of a rank five beast.” Zi Chen’s eyes shone with an incomparably bright light.

After two hours of fighting, the ice bear’s energy consumption was also very large. It had reached it’s limit, but after seeing the exhausted human filled with power once more, the ice bear became panic stricken. Its heart manifested with the intent to retreat.

However, at this time, Zi Chen’s body actually erupted with an aura comparable to a rank five beast. It was as if his whole person had turned into a rank five fierce tiger. The aura of a king, which was exceptionally frightening, made the ice bear’s heart tremble.

This was the aura of the king that was being stimulated by the Fierce Tiger Fist.

“Roar!”

The tiger roar resounded again as Zi Chen sent out three moves simultaneously. The attack was just like pa.s.sing clouds and flowing water, hitting the ice bear on its body.

“Bang!”

Within the middle of the dull thump, there was also the sound of breaking bones as the ice bear’s three meter body was unexpectedly sent flying with just one blow from Zi Chen.

Zi Chen had the aid of the third zhen qi layer, as well as a physique comparable to that of a rank five beast’s. A punch from the combination of qi and physical strength became extremely terrifying.

The ice bear’s pitiful yell resounded within the valley. Having already been exhausted, the ice bear had to face a series of attacks from Zi Chen, making it unable to avoid at all.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

After several successive attacks, The ice bear finally fell to the ground, remaining motionless. It was difficult to tell whether it had died from exhaustion or was killed by Zi Chen.

After the ice bear was slain, Zi Chen sat on the ground panting heavily.

Today, he had unexpectedly killed a rank five beast. For Zi Chen, this was a matter that was simply unimaginable in the past.

Wielding Lin Ying’s long saber from a distance, zhen qi surged as Zi Chen cut off the bear’s paws in a single strike.

The enormous bear was enough for him to eat for a long time.

Wanting to ignite a fire in the middle ice and snow was not an easy task, but as long as one set one’s mind on something, it will not seem very difficult.

The smoke swirled upwards in the middle of the ice and snow as Zi Chen started to roast the bear’s paws and eat the meat.

With the ice bear’s death, this valley became Zi Chen’s turf.

After eating something and resting for a while, Zi Chen proceeded to take out the long saber. He cut open the Ice Bear’s body and took out the bear’s black gall.

The bear’s gall was a great tonic and also contained a necessary material to concoct some special medicines. It was very useful for cultivators too, although it was quite wasteful to directly swallow it. However, Zi Chen did not have any other means.

After cutting the bear’s gall, a crystal clear, glistening blob could be seen at its core, occasionally emanating a pale golden ray.

“It surprisingly turned out to be a pale golden color. That really is a good thing.”

Seeing this small and pale golden blob at the center of the bear’s gall, Zi Chen was a bit surprised. Out of all the types of galls, gold was the best color, followed by copper, black, and dark green being the worst. Pale gold was even better than the normal copper color, but still below a pure gold color.

Zi Chen’s luck was good.

Without hesitating, he directly swallowed the small blob.

A strong bitter taste permeated Zi Chen’s mouth. Soon, the small blob slid down into his stomach, accompanied with a faint, delicate fragrance that pervaded the air.

The Heavenly Thunder Body Tempering Technique revolved once more. Zi Chen began to refine the pale gold gall.

A stream of soft pale golden light emanated from Zi Chen’s body and flowed through his meridians, completing a whole revolution.

Half a cycle later, all of the energy was completely absorbed by the heart. After surviving a great disaster, Zi Chen discovered that his own heart acted similarly to a high speed filter. As long as it reached his heart, all of heaven and earth’s energy will be absorbed, after which an even purer, silver energy will appear.

Although Zi Chen did not understand why this was happening, he knew that the cause of all of this was naturally the fortuitous encounter he had that fateful day. There may be something in his heart, but his strength was only at the Zhen Qi layer. He did not have the power of perception yet. Perhaps when he arrives at the Xian Tian realm, he could discover the secret of his heart.

Shortly after, his heart began to throb, completely refining all the energy of the bear’s gall and spreading it to all parts of his body. Some of this energy pa.s.sed through the meridians and reached the dantian.

The Heavenly Thunder Body Tempering is a technique that’s mainly focused on refining the body. Thus, the energy that entered the body’s limbs and bones each time always surpa.s.ses the energy that entered dantian.

Once Zi Chen completely refines the bear’s gall’s energy through the dantian, he thought he will certainly be able to restore to his previous level of the fourth Zhen Qi layer or even reach the peak of the fourth Zhen Qi layer. At this moment, more than half of the energy was absorbed by his body. However, after the energy was completely absorbed, Zi Chen was only at the peak of the Third Zhen Qi layer.

“The peak of the Third Zhen Qi layer, this is with the effort of only more than ten days.”

Regarding this achievement, Zi Chen was actually very satisfied. In addition to acquiring a formidable physique, Zi Chen transformed from a person with a crippled dantian to the Third Zhen Qi layer in just the short period of a little over ten days. This growth speed was simply frightening.

“There is still the other ice bear that I must look for. There is no need for me to kill the bear, but it can be used as a sparring partner, helping my physique become stronger again.”

A hint of antic.i.p.ation arose in Zi Chen’s eyes.