Chapter 68 - 68 65 Crazy Challenge

68: Chapter 65: Crazy Challenge 68: Chapter 65: Crazy Challenge “Multitasking, only a true Martial Arts Grandmaster could possibly master it. If anyone were here to witness this scene, they would surely be shocked. Ye Xuan, a mere Martial Artist, was using multitasking so smoothly, it was simply inconceivable.” Bang bang bang! At this moment, Ye Xuan, in a multitasking state, was also exerting his full strength. Otherwise, he really dared not predict whether he would be an opponent for this Demon Monkey. Monkeys are the most spiritually acute among demon beasts. Although Ye Xuan found it hard to believe, the fact was right in front of him. The Demon Monkey in front of him was mostly using a set of martial staff techniques, and the grade was not low, albeit rough in the beast’s hands. Clang clang clang! Among the cliffs, two figures continuously flashed, changing positions. A man and a monkey jumped from one vine to another. Ordinary people in this thousand-foot cliff would be scared stiff, but Ye Xuan and the Demon Monkey were constantly shuttling through these cliffs, fiercely battling. However, the conditions of the two fighters were starkly different. Ye Xuan was gradually drenched in sweat, his clothes torn in many places, and his breath somewhat chaotic. The Demon Monkey, on the other hand, seemed to grow stronger as the fight ensued, showing no signs of fatigue. Thud! A strike from the monkey’s staff sent Ye Xuan reeling back, the monkey leapt into the air and fiercely stabbed Ye Xuan’s chest with its staff, striking sparks. This stab was extraordinary; Ye Xuan completely lost his balance and nearly fell down the cliff, managing to grasp a vine just in time to prevent the fall. Even though the Secret Silver Armor absorbed some of the impact, the monstrous strength still made Ye Xuan feel uncomfortable, his throat filling with a sweet, bloody taste. “Goodness!” Ye Xuan’s heart trembled, and he thought to himself that this Demon Monkey was no ordinary foe. However, before he could catch his breath, the Demon Monkey screeched and swung its staff down on him, causing Ye Xuan’s complexion to drastically change. He quickly cut the vine in front of him, grabbed the severed vine, and swung back to the cliff from where he had come, bounding onto its top. “Demon Monkey, that’s enough for today. I’ll come find you again for a deciding battle.” Glancing back apprehensively at the black Demon Monkey, Ye Xuan then whistled, and a roar echoed through the air. The massive Two-headed Demon Tiger burst out from the dense forest. Mounting the tiger, man and beast swiftly descended the mountain. It was only after dashing hundreds of meters farther that Ye Xuan looked back and, seeing no sign of the Demon Monkey pursuing him, he finally relaxed. “This monkey must be a mutant; otherwise, it wouldn’t have such bizarre strength.” Ye Xuan silently pondered. The level of the Demon Monkey should have been in the later stages of Second Rank which, in theory, he should have been able to handle easily. Yet, the result was that he could only injure and flee in a sorry state. This Demon Monkey was indeed formidable. And the Demon Monkey obviously didn’t hold back at all. If he hadn’t escaped quickly, he would likely have been killed by it. However, this experience was good too; otherwise, he wouldn’t have tasted the thrill of a life-and-death battle. Instead, he should be thankful for this Demon Monkey. Through this battle, although he hadn’t fully advanced yet, Ye Xuan could feel that he was closer to taking that step; his strength had clearly improved. In a few days, once he recovered to his peak condition, he would battle the Demon Monkey again. Riding the Two-headed Demon Tiger down the mountain, Ye Xuan returned to the mining camp and rested for three days. During these three days, aside from healing with Pills, he also digested the insights from the battle with the Demon Monkey and refined his Palm Skill and techniques. Three days passed quickly. Ye Xuan once again ascended the mountain for another challenge. Atop the cliff, a man and a monkey stood facing each other, thirty paces apart. This time, Ye Xuan was quite confident. With his advancements, he would definitely not end up as embarrassingly as last time. After facing off for a moment, Ye Xuan suddenly tapped his foot and charged forward with his saber. Above the arc of his blade, lightning flickered, carrying a fierce edge, and collided mightily with the Demon Monkey’s staff. Puff puff puff! Fragments of saber light and stick force harshly struck the mountain wall, instantly blasting a boulder meters in size to dust, with countless shards flying everywhere. Crack! The saber light released by Ye Xuan missed, striking the cliff and leaving an astonishing dark crack. Buzz buzz buzz… The heavy wooden staff continuously brushed past Ye Xuan, powerful and forceful, narrowly and repeatedly missing Ye Xuan by a hair’s breadth. Thump! But inevitably, there was a slip-up. Out of the blue, Ye Xuan’s shoulder was struck by the staff, smashing a man-shaped hole in the cliff, and his entire body embedded into it. With fierce light shining in his eyes, the Demon Monkey agilely moved among the vines, swiftly sweeping toward Ye Xuan’s position and, without hesitation, thrust its staff mercilessly into the pit where Ye Xuan was. Boom! The pit suddenly exploded, the astonishing Qi force bursting forth, and Ye Xuan’s figure preemptively leaped up, stepping on the staff of the Demon Monkey and then, like a ghost, he snatched a broken vine and slashed at the Demon Monkey’s back. However, the Demon Monkey seemed to have eyes on its back, as just when Ye Xuan’s Star-cutting Saber seemed about to strike, the Monkey itself did not turn around, but its staff suddenly stretched out from under its armpit, almost doubling in length, and before Ye Xuan’s saber could land, it struck him in the chest. Thud! A dull sound echoed as Ye Xuan’s mouth trickled with strands of fresh blood. “Damn monkey, you’re ruthless!” Ye Xuan, clutching his chest, hadn’t expected to be slower than the Demon Monkey, was utterly frustrated, and immediately blew a whistle again to soar upwards, escaping in an embarrassed manner just like the last time. Sёarch* The NôvelFire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Three days later, Ye Xuan returned to face his third challenge, yet the result was still a defeat. But after the third failure, there was a fourth. The fifth… Until the sixth time came when Ye Xuan finally managed to hold his own against the Demon Monkey. Although he was still at a disadvantage, this was undeniably marked progress compared to when he had first arrived; at least now he could leave unscathed. By the time of the eighth confrontation, Ye Xuan finally fought the Demon Monkey to a draw, and more than a month had passed. During this time, Ye Xuan spent almost all of it repeatedly battling the Demon Monkey, from initially being overpowered to achieving a draw, there was evident progress. Initially, the Demon Monkey had tried to kill Ye Xuan, but later, it realized it no longer had the ability to. In the several confrontations that followed, despite exerting all its strength, it still couldn’t overcome Ye Xuan and ultimately gave up. Two months later, Ye Xuan undertook his ninth challenge. This time, Ye Xuan came prepared, spending seven days getting ready for the challenge. The battle began, and both competitors were evenly matched, but after thirty moves, the outcome started to become clear. Clang! After their weapons collided, both retreated, but while Ye Xuan took only ten steps back, the black Demon Monkey staggered back more than twenty. “Haha, exhilarating!” The suppressed emotions of over a month were released, and Ye Xuan laughed heartily. The beatings he had endured earlier were not in vain; in the day-to-day fight, Ye Xuan had surpassed the Demon Monkey, which was originally stronger than himself, pushing his strength to a new level. The hard battles of the past month were not in vain. After this battle, Ye Xuan also finally felt a breakthrough in his realm, and a rush of elation surged within him. Had the bottleneck that troubled him for so long finally started to loosen…? “Brother Monkey, you have worked hard these past days; I’ll come back to thank you next time.” Ye Xuan expressed his gratitude from afar to the black Demon Monkey. After all, it had served as his sparing partner for so long, a significant effort, though the Monkey hadn’t exactly intended it, but Ye Xuan had ultimately used it, and now it had helped him almost reach the Fifth Grade level. Instead of caring about how the Demon Monkey felt, Ye Xuan let out a hearty laugh and then turned and leaped onto the tiger’s back, speeding away like a bolt of lightning. Upon returning to the mining camp, Ye Xuan immediately went into seclusion to break through in his cultivation. That seclusion lasted for five days. “At last, I have advanced to become a Fifth Grade Martial Master.” In a building within the mining camp, Ye Xuan opened his eyes, a glint of sharp light flashing through; at this moment, within his Dantian, the True Qi Seed had also grown larger, resembling a small sun, radiating vast fluctuations. Now, Ye Xuan could easily unleash the power equivalent to seven hundred galloping horses. Normally, even a Seventh Grade Martial Master only possessed this level of strength, and yet Ye Xuan, now merely at the Fifth Grade tier, had strength comparable to a Seventh Grade Martial Master. Even if he encountered a genuine Seventh Grade Martial Master, Ye Xuan could confidently fight and even hold significant winning chances. However, breaking through the barrier had come at no small cost—a total of four Blood Essence Pills had been used already out of the five gourds he had; such a considerable consumption would surely astonish anyone who knew. Ye Xuan’s rapid progress since he started had come from never sparing resources. He had even consumed numerous heavenly treasures and rare Spirit Grasses, allowing him in just over half a year to rise from a mere Third Grade Martial Disciple to now a Fifth Grade Martial Master. The resources spent, to ordinary martial artists, were likely astronomical. In other areas one might be frugal, but in cultivation, stinginess was a big taboo. In Ye Xuan’s view, as long as the resources could be converted into strength, no expense was too great. But what Ye Xuan needed now was precisely this speed, with less than a month left until the Hundred Families Trial. With his previous strength, competing for the top three spots had been hopeless, but now, albeit the competitors were still formidable, he believed he now had the qualifications to compete with the top heirs of the Great Xia Kingdom. When the time came, he intended to see, once and for all, who was the strongest among the young generation in the Great Xia Kingdom.