Chapter 1123: Brains Over Brawn
Jian Chen followed Zhou Chuyun with the Blue Sky Adventurers as they searched for the signs that had been left behind. Zhou Chuyun was very smart; he had left more than twenty signs that pointed to the location of the divine water, but all of the locations varied. It was impossible for other people to learn anything from them, leaving only Zhou Chuyun to read them.
Jian Chen and the others followed the signs by changing directions from time to time. They killed the few feral beasts that had come to bother them, traveling close to a hundred kilometers before stopping. They carefully hid before a large rock.
Five kilometers ahead, more than ten feral beasts stood in a circle. They did not move at all, as if they were petrified. A brutal presence radiated from them, and many weaker beasts dared not to get close to them.
All the beasts were like monsters. They ranged from ten meters tall and twenty to thirty meters long while the smallest ones were the size of tigers, only two meters long. Although their sizes varied dramatically, they all possessed extremely great strength. They were all at the 15th Star, and one of them was even at the 16th Star.
An azure, walnut-sized liquid hovered two meters above the ground in the center of them. It had been locked there by a powerful energy.
“Fantastic. The divine water really is here, and it hasn’t been devoured by those beasts. The Heavens must be smiling on me.” Zhou Chuyun became excited.
“The divine water is actually only the size of a walnut. That’s already quite a lot. Almost all of the divine water that has appeared before is thumb-sized.” Liu Jun sighed in surprise as his breathing became ragged.
“One, two, three, four, five… my god, there’s actually eighteen beasts. I remember there were only thirteen when we came here before. There’s five more now,” Zhou Lin counted the beasts quietly from afar.
Jian Chen stared fixedly at the unmoving beasts as his heart surged. This was because he could actually see some glimmers of intelligence in the eyes of the beasts, which really shocked him. All the beasts had actually gained weak intelligence. It was not much, but it was enough to flood Jian Chen with disbelief.
These beasts were far weaker than the violet serpent dragon at the top of the mountains. The serpent dragon did not possess any intelligence while they did despite their strength. It was clearly illogical.
“These beasts seem to be locked in a stalemate. They all want to devour the divine water, but they dare not to move recklessly,” Jian Chen said with a soft voice.
“That’s right. They’ve maintained this situation for quite some time already. They were already like this when I came here last time. I never thought the situation would remain the same other than the fact that five extra beasts came,” Zhou Chuyun softly replied.
“Why do I feel that these feral beasts have intelligence? Are the rumors true? The beasts of the divine realm will gain a little bit of intelligence after consuming the divine water. Have these beasts all consumed some of the water in the past?” Liu Jun wondered while full of doubt.
“That’s just far too wasteful. Such precious water has actually been devoured by a bunch of beasts,” a member of the Blue Sky Adventurers added.
Jian Chen was already prepared to move. He drew the Emperor Armament from his space ring and said to Zhou Chuyun, “I’ll go get the divine water. You all back off a little.”
“Esteemed warrior, you have to be careful. You will be fighting eighteen powerful beasts that have gained some intelligence after all,” Zhou Chuyun said in concern.
Roar! Roar!
Just as Jian Chen wanted to move, two great roars suddenly rang in the distance. The sound was extremely loud where sound waves rolled out thunderously. They caused the entire divine realm to tremble slightly.
Heavy footsteps rang out and a huge, hundred-meter-tall ape walked over carrying a forty-meter-long axe. With every step, the earth shook like there was an earthquake.
A smaller, two-meter-tall ape sat on its other shoulder. It was clearly its child, and behind the huge ape was a twenty-meter-tall one. The two of them made their way to the divine water as one followed the other.
Jian Chen’s expression immediately changed. The huge ape at the very front was actually at the Great Perfection of Saint King while the one behind it was at the Ninth Heavenly Layer. Such a powerful combination was virtually invincible in the divine realm.
Jian Chen suddenly glanced at the giant axe on the ape’s shoulder, and he was shocked yet again. It was actually an Emperor Armament.
“A huge ape at Great Perfection of Saint King with intelligence and an Emperor Armament. This…” Jian Chen’s mouth felt dry. The ape clearly was not something he could deal with. Even though he believed the ape could not use all the power of the Emperor Armament, it was already shocking enough.
The eighteen beasts around the water became restless. They could feel the strength of the ape and fear appeared in all their eyes. Some of them had even slowly backed off, wanting to give up on the water.
Roar! The huge ape at the front strode toward the eighteen beasts. It roared at the sky and firmly wielded the huge axe, chopping at the closest beast.
The beast produced a furious roar. It opened its mouth and spat out a ball of extremely powerful energy.
With a massive boom, the ball of energy crumpled before the axe. The axe then continued toward the beast without slowing, splitting its entire body and head in two.
A 15th Star feral beast had just been killed off by the huge ape with a single strike and without even being able to cry out.
The huge ape’s eyes were dyed a brutal red. It already possessed a certain amount of intelligence, but it was still a blood-thirsty feral beast. It did not plan on letting the other seventeen beasts go after killing one. It continued to swing its axe at the remaining beasts.
The other beasts seemed to sense the ape’s killing intent as well. They all growled furiously and several of them immediately lunged at the ape in unison. They all used their greatest abilities.
The huge ape did not show any fear against the beasts and instead excitedly let out a roar. It handed its child to the ape behind it before rushing into the beasts with its huge axe. It was extremely courageous.
The other ape was at the Ninth Heavenly Layer of Saint King, but it did not help out. Instead, it backed off and watched from afar.
Many of the beasts had now shifted their attention from the divine water of the world to the huge ape. One of them opened its mouth and lunged at the divine water, wanting to devour it during the messy situation.
But, at this moment, a huge axe descended from the sky like a bolt of lightning. It beheaded the feral beast and blood sprayed into the air.
The battle was extremely intense. The furious roars and deafening booms echoed very far away, alerting all the experts of the divine realm. Immediately, many of them hurried over from all directions. Of course, there were a few cowardly experts who instead fled in the opposite direction.
The giant ape fought against more than ten feral beasts all on its own with the Emperor Armament. Not only did it fight quickly and skillfully, it had gained the upper hand. It swung the Emperor Armament widely, becoming more and more drawn into the battle as it fought.
The huge ape could not use the power hidden within the Emperor Armament, but even with that being the case, the huge ape was still able to display its terrifying might by using its supreme strength and the toughness of the Emperor Armament. To the Ape, the Emperor Armament was like an indestructible metal pole. It could withstand its own power.
Jian Chen, Zhou Chuyun, and the others watched from afar. All of them were shocked, stunned by the supreme power of the giant ape.
“The giant ape’s clearly come for the divine water of the world. It probably wants to feed it to its child. It’ll be troublesome now. Looks like we can only watch the water go to waste now.” Zhou Chuyun’s face was filled with pity.
“Why don’t we retreat? Once the ape deals with all those beasts, it’ll probably charge at us. We don’t even have the ability to flee before this giant ape.” Deep worry shrouded Liu Jun’s face.
“Senior Yang Yutian, what are your plans?” Zhou Chuyun glanced at Jian Chen. He clearly wanted to go with Jian Chen’s decision.
Jian Chen stared fixedly at the two apes. He was extremely stern and said with a deep voice, “I have to obtain this divine water.” Jian Chen had already made up his mind regarding the water. Although he could not deal with such a powerful ape, there was still Rui Jin and the other two in the saint artifact. However, he did not want to rely on them unless he was truly without any other choice.
“Senior, that ape’s far too powerful, and there’s another one with similar strength behind. Can you deal with the two all by yourself?” Zhou Chuyun asked.
Pondering a little, Jian Chen said, “I’ll come up with a plan to lead the two apes away. Once I lead them far away, immediately retrieve the water as fast as you can, and then leave.”
Jian Chen pulled out the saint artifact after discussing the plan with Zhou Chuyun and the others. He then hid in the artifact and burrowed underground to approach the battlefield.
The battle lasted for a while, but in the end, all the beasts were killed by the giant ape. Blood dyed the ground red. The giant ape rested the Emperor Armament on its shoulder as it crouched down, staring at the walnut-sized liquid below. It slowly extended a thick finger toward the divine water.
The female ape behind it also stared unblinkingly at the water. Happiness crossed its face while the little ape on its shoulder was emotionless. It had still yet to develop intelligence.
At this moment, a golden light appeared. Jian Chen appeared silently behind the female ape. He grabbed the child with lightning speed before kicking off the ape’s shoulder and shooting off. He ran off into the distance without looking back as he left behind a chain of afterimages. He pushed the Illusory Flash to the utmost limit.
At the same time, a golden streak of light shot out of the ground. It quickly caught up to Jian Chen and disappeared into his forehead.
Roar! Roar!
The two apes immediately became utterly enraged now that their child had been taken. They no longer bothered with the divine water, immediately pursuing Jian Chen.