Chapter 140: This Young Master's Sloth Advances

Chapter 140: This Young Master's Sloth Advances

Li Mou didnt have time to react before Chen Haoran crushed his skull. It was the only mercy he was given. Following his final breath came a flood of burning orange qi. Li Mous body was vaporized to ashes as his liquid qi became out of control. For a Liquid Meridian, death was their most dangerous moment. Chen Haoran had plenty of experience in that regard both from observation and personally killing a Liquid Meridian himself. As a Qi Realm, Chen Haoran had to rely on others help to escape the range of the Liquid Meridian Realms death throes. Now facing a Final Flood yet again, he calmly reached out with a hand wreathed in liquid qi and smothered the escaping qi with a dragons roar, grabbing Li Mous storage bag before it could be burned to ashes. He smoothly retreated after securing the bag to avoid the worst of the flood.

Li Mous last gasp crashed against the stones of the pyramid and fell down its slopes in a wave. The Yellow Dragon growled, and a shield of yellow qi flowed in front of Chen Haoran that deftly swept the orange qi to either side of him. After a few seconds, the last of Li Mous qi dissipated into the air, and the shield of yellow qi fell back into his body. Chen Haoran stood there unscathed and curiously observed the pyramid. While their fight may have been brief, it was no less intense for it. Yet despite their battle and Li Mous Final Flood, not a single mark was to be seen on the pyramid. The pillar of silver light shuddered and collapsed in on itself, falling back down and disappearing into the building atop the pyramid.

Phelps squealed and came floating over, cradling Li Mous cast of sword. Chen Haoran smiled. Thank you, Phelps. Chen Haoran reached out to pat his head but paused when he saw his bloody hand. A brief flash of qi scoured the blood from his hand, but he still swapped to his other to pat Phelpss head.

He wouldnt lie. Killing Li Mou had been cathartic, and it wasnt even because he was an ass. After having his body puppeted by that Crystal Transformation Realm, he felt like a fighting bull seeing the red uniforms of the Garrison. His anger had uselessly paced inside his chest like a caged animal, but there was nothing he could do to the shaman. His subordinates, on the other hand.

Zhang Yong, huh?

It was wrong, admittedly. Just because they were part of the same force didnt make the Garrison soldiers responsible for their leaders actions. Chen Haoran wanting to hurt them was just him trying to find a weaker scapegoat he could take his anger out on. It was a thought worthy of giving him pause. Was that what was going on in this world? People couldnt do anything when they were bullied by cultivators stronger than them, so they took their anger on those below them instead. Well, the idea sounded a bit simplistic, but it was something to keep in mind. Perhaps it was just another reason of various ones that he was only now just discovering firsthand for himself.

That was neither here nor there, however. The state of the world wasnt really important to the situation at hand. Assuming Li Mou wasnt lying, then the Garrison was as caught off guard by the random teleport as Chen Haoran was. That was worrisome. When it came to the ignorant, they were never wrong about just one thing. If the Garrison was wrong about how to enter the trial ground, then they might be wrong about other aspects of it, too, like that danger.

.no. The real issue wasnt what else the Garrison was wrong about. It was why. The Garrison had sent nearly six hundred Liquid Meridian Realms to these ruins, including talented and powerful individuals like Pan Gong. How many cultivators like that did they have in Reservoir Town? Surely not enough to let them deploy so many into a situation of unknown danger and potentially high loss. Pan Gong had caved in Li Mous chest for damaging a wall just because it might have contained something useful for their researchers. That didnt sound like an organization that would go into a situation half-cocked. The Garrison was confident about the ruins. That much was clear. Yet despite this confidence and the professionals they had studying the ruins, they were wrong. Why?

This is gonna suck, Chen Haoran mumbled to himself. He took Li Mous sword from Phelps and let the sloth clamber on his back. Come on, bud. Lets see what this reward is all about.

Chen Haoran entered the top of the pyramid, wreathed in a protective covering of liquid qi. The inside was a carbon copy of the pyramid outside, just smaller in scale. There was even another circle of silver runes though this time it was on the floor surrounding what looked to be a stone altar. The runes flashed in succession before light flashed on the altar, and a transparent, glass-like fruit appeared on the altar. It was perfectly round, unnaturally so, only broken up by a stem surrounded by five leaves on its top and seemed to be filled with water. Chen Haoran was still not versed enough in this worlds supernatural fruits and plants to identify the majority of them on sight. This particular one, however, was extensively detailed to him by Xie Jin on their way here, given its importance.

Liquid Core Fruit.

Chen Haoran cautiously approached the altar, stopping just a few paces away from it. He mentally prodded the Yellow Dragon, who grumbled at being disturbed for something it considered beneath it, but nevertheless complied with his request. A thin tendril of liquid qi stretched out and delicately wrapped around the Liquid Core Fruit before pulling it away from the altar and bringing it to Chen Haorans waiting hands. The silver light dimmed, and the rune circle disappeared. After a few tense seconds of waiting, there was no further reaction, and Chen Haoran finally relaxed.

Chen Haoran looked incredulously at his pet. He knew beasts cultivated differently compared to humans, but sleeping while advancing was a bit ridiculous. Still, ridiculous or not, as he switched back to the shared vision, he couldnt deny the facts in front of him. Phelpss qi gathered around the drop of liquid qi in his core and easily merged with it. The droplet grew larger, far larger than what Chen Haoran condensed during his own advancement, until there was no more qi left. Slowly, inexorably, it fell from Phelpss core and into his meridian. From there, it drifted along the natural qi cycle through his body. Around the droplet, gaseous qi drawn from the outside began to gather. As the droplet grew, it attracted more and more qi. It was a slow, steady accumulation. After what felt like half an hour, however, there was a shift in the air.

The droplet had become a flowing stream of liquid qi and now reached critical mass. The air began to distort as a large amount of ambient qi suddenly moved all at once. The liquid qi within Phelps expanded exponentially, rushing throughout his body until both ends finally met and created a continuous whole. Phelpss eyes flew open, and he rose with a shriek. His body bulged, and he grew nearly twice in size while his aura spiked. That wasnt the end of it. Phelps flexed his qi once, twice, before finally releasing a flood of blue liquid qi.

Chen Haoran laughed as the Yellow Dragon directed his liquid qi to block Phelpss sudden flood. To his surprise, his qi began to float out of control as soon as it collided with Phelpss. Even the Yellow Dragon was briefly startled before narrowing its eyes and letting loose a roar that saw his qi return back to his control. Phelps, in the meantime, seemed to realize what he had done and squealed. His liquid qi halted its flood. Phelps grunted, and the deluge of qi was slowly drawn back to his body, ebbing and flowing like ocean waves before he finally reabsorbed it all and shrunk back down to his original size.

Chen Haoran sighed in relief, both for Phelpss successful advancement and that his size increase was a temporary thing. He didnt know how he would lug a 5-foot sloth around. The fact Phelps learned to release liquid qi directly after becoming a Liquid Meridian Realm was a surprise. He remembered Song Yuelin saying it wasnt something they instinctively knew how to do the way humans did. It just proved more that Phelps was a genius. The smartest sloth in the world, if Chen Haoran said so himself.

Good job, Phelps. I knew you could do it. Chen Haoran opened his arms for a hug, and Phelps squealed in joy upon seeing it. Unfortunately, Chen Haoran only realized something was wrong too late when Phelps shot like a cannonball through the air and tackled into his chest. Before he could react, he was swept off his feet, and man and sloth when tumbling down the long flight of stairs together. They were halfway down when Chen Haoran finally had the sense to cancel his momentum with a wave of liquid qi. He lay splayed across the steps, Phelps in his arms, while he waited for the world to stop spinning.

Chen Haoran laughed. Damn, if I shouldnt have expected that.

Phelps squealed and started licking his face, leaving Chen Haoran covered in slobber.

Enough. Enough I said!

Chen Haoran pushed Phelpss head away and laughed again. Phelps finally settled down and seemed content to just lay on his chest. They spent of a brief moment like that. Chen Haoran staring at the skyless sky of the secret realm while Phelps softly crooned.

He sighed and stretched out a qi-covered hand.

I guess I should eat my fruit too.

A rich, dense peach smell filled the area, even through the isolating cover of his liquid qi. Sitting in his hand and shining like a bright sun to his sense was a full and ripe golden peach.

He wondered what kind of face Xi Wangmu would make if she knew she effectively handed him an 80-thousand-year-old Banquet Peach.