Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN)

To conceal the presence of the black ape, Long Chen didn’t just feed it an aura-concealing pill but also rubbed medicinal powders on it to mask its scent.

The reason Long Chen did this was to sneak attack the other devil beasts. After all, this place was filled with them. If he had to go around every time he encountered one, it would significantly delay his progress in leaving the region.

Thankfully, the black ape had powerful senses, and the surrounding devil beasts routinely marked the boundaries of their territories with excrement and aura as a warning to others. Thus, the black ape would immediately alert Long Chen once it sensed that they were on the border of another devil beast’s land.

Although Long Chen couldn’t directly communicate with it, based on the black ape’s spiritual fluctuations, he could judge the strength of the devil beast in a territory.

If the devil beast was stronger than the black ape, the latter would become nervous upon nearing its territory, and if the devil beast was much stronger, the black ape would be afraid. At this point, the black ape was simply cautious, which meant that the devil beast was on par with it.

If it was just on par with the black ape, Long Chen didn’t feel afraid. The black ape led the way, while Long Chen stayed behind it. If a devil beast attacked them, Long Chen would call out Huo Linger and Lei Linger, and the three of them would surround and slay the devil beast.

At the same time, Long Chen thought of the Earth energy and the rune he had just condensed. If he had a chance, he would test out its power.

However, when Long Chen tried to condense the rune again, he found that he had completely forgotten that feeling.

“Senior, did you erase my memories?” asked Long Chen.

“No.”

The Earth Cauldron’s answer was simple and direct, as if it already knew that Long Chen would ask.

“But… How did I forget how to use it? Can I only use it with your help?”

“No.”

“Then what’s going on?”

This time, the Earth Cauldron didn’t reply. Long Chen waited for a long time, but it seemed like the Earth Cauldron had fallen asleep.

“How can this be? What is going on?” wondered Long Chen.

The Earth Cauldron had taught him how to harness the Earth energy, and condensing that rune had felt so simple under its guidance

However, Long Chen was completely at a loss now. This feeling of bewilderment was something he had never experienced before.

“Senior, senior…!” Long Chen persistently called it although he knew that the Earth Cauldron didn’t want to disclose it. However, he truly couldn’t accept this, so he kept asking.

“That was the Earth rune, and it can only be condensed in a state of supreme Yang. That’s all that I can say,” replied the Earth Cauldron before falling silent once more. No matter how Long Chen called out afterward, the Earth Cauldron remained unresponsive.

Long Chen couldn’t help but wonder. How could this suddenly happen? Did it not imply that he had recently been in a state of supreme Yang? Yet, only a short while had passed since then.

At this moment, a waft of a bloody scent reached his nose. Long Chen hastily paused and stopped his questioning, realizing the gravity of the situation.

“The aura of a Saint’s essence blood… Was there a battle here?” Long Chen was startled as he didn’t see any signs of a battle around.

Long Chen ordered the black ape to retreat cautiously as he stealthily approached the source of the scent. Soon, he discovered a stone wasteland.

In the heart of this rocky terrain lay a cluster of fractured stones, and amidst them, Long Chen spotted a peculiar sight. A wolf with fur resembling that of a hedgehog lay motionless, measuring about thirty meters in length—slightly larger than the black ape. Despite its formidable Saint pressure, its spiritual aura was gone.

“Is it dead?”

Long Chen was taken aback but didn’t dare to make any rash moves. Instead, he opted to wait patiently, extending his senses to observe the surroundings. Detecting no imminent threat, he then cautiously emerged from his hiding spot, but he had the black ape follow close behind him, ready to fight at any time.

When Long Chen arrived at the wolf’s side, he saw a gruesome scene. The creature’s head had been cut open, its crystal core removed, and its essence blood extracted.

The evidence was clear—this was the result of a human attack, not the work of another devil beast.

Most shocking of all, The wolf had been dispatched in a single, stealthy strike. There were no signs of struggle or any indication that it had sensed the impending danger.

“Ying Tian!”

After Long Chen saw how clean the wound was, Ying Tian’s ugly face appeared in his mind.

Long Chen carefully examined the wound. The cut was remarkably thin, cleanly slicing through bone with a precision that left the surface as smooth as a mirror—clearly done by an incomparably sharp sword. Long Chen instantly thought of the thin and long sword that was like a viper’s tongue.

Long Chen’s expression was grave. He hadn’t expected Ying Tian to be in the vicinity. As an assassin with unparalleled skill in concealing himself, Ying Tian was like a tiger with wings here. He could even kill Saint-level devil beasts in one blow if they gave him the chance.

On the other hand, Long Chen was like a firefly in the darkness, so he couldn’t do such a thing. Even if he used medicinal pills to conceal his aura, the devil beasts would still be able to sense him if he got too close.

Long Chen felt a cold chill on his back. The fortunate thing was that he had noticed this corpse first; otherwise, it would have been trouble.

Long Chen then looked around. There was a cave behind this crushed stone, so he carefully crept over and saw a set of footprints walking in and walking out. Seeing that, he relaxed slightly. For Ying Tian to have left footprints meant that he had relaxed his vigilance after killing the wolf. In other words, he didn’t know that Long Chen was nearby.

Venturing into the cave, Long Chen directed his gaze toward the wall. Seven egg-shaped hollows were embedded in the rocky surface, surrounded by lingering earth qi.

It was apparent that the hollows once cradled earth element treasures. However, Ying Tian had taken them all.

Long Chen then retreated from the cave and took the corpse of the wolf. Although the precious crystal core and essence blood had been extracted, this corpse was still a treasure to Long Chen.

“Ying Tian should still be nearby. Based on the bloodstains, this happened around four hours ago. If he notices the black ape’s land, I’ll be in trouble, so I should think of a way to con him while he still hasn’t noticed me!” A sinister smile suddenly appeared on Long Chen’s face, and he silently slipped out along with the black ape.