86: Chapter 86 All Rivers Flow into the Same Stream

"Bang!" The fist print struck the center of the Star Pattern Beast's chest, its seemingly tough fur instantly charred under the Tribulation Thunder.

The Star Pattern Beast felt the pain, let out a sharp hiss, flew backward, and crashed into a Meteorite Fragment, twitching a few times before it stopped breathing.

The other two Star Pattern Beasts saw this and pounced together.

Zhang Wen tapped his toes on the ground, his figure drifting like willow catkins.

Dodging the fangs attacking from the left, he simultaneously flicked his finger, and two strands of lightning precisely wrapped around the right Star Pattern Beast's hind leg.

Under the Subtle Realm's spiritual power control, the lightning strands tightened just right; they didn't explode immediately, but allowed the numbness to spread rapidly along the beast's bones.

"Crackle—"

Once the Star Pattern Beast stumbled to the ground, Zhang Wen closed in, pressed his palm onto its head, and surging Thunder Power suddenly erupted, directly shattering its spirit core.

The last Star Pattern Beast saw its companions killed one after another, a trace of fear flashed in its eyes, and it actually turned to flee.

How could Zhang Wen give it a chance? With a flash of his figure, he blocked its path, arcs of lightning surging at his fingertips: "Since you've come, you might as well stay."

A quarter of an hour later, beside the corpses of the three Star Pattern Beasts, Zhang Wen was squatting on the ground, studying a palm-sized Meteorite Fragment.

The fragment was ice-cold, and the patterns on its surface were identical to the dark markings on the Star Pattern Beast's fur. When brought closer, one could feel a gentle yet pure power slowly seeping into the skin.

"This power of the stars is even more mellow than imagined."

He stored the fragment into his Storage Pouch and checked the Star Pattern Beasts' corpses again.

These Vicious Beasts' sharp claws and fangs also contained thin traces of the power of the stars; although not as good as the Meteorite Fragments, they could still be used to refine some basic Spiritual Artifacts.

Continuing deeper into the Meteorite Valley, the Meteorite Fragments on the sandy ground became increasingly dense.

Occasionally, he could see gnawed beast bones; clearly, the competition here was far more intense than on the periphery.

Zhang Wen braced himself, spreading out his Divine Sense; the perception of the Subtle Realm allowed him to capture the slightest movement within a hundred zhang.

This was his greatest gain after his Breakthrough, and his horizons had expanded far more than when he had dealt with the Thunder Jade Ox previously.

Suddenly, his footsteps paused, and he looked at a sunken sand pit to his front left.

The starlight there was several times denser than elsewhere, and one could vaguely see a half-exposed Meteorite Fragment embedded at the bottom of the pit.

It was the size of a millstone, and the star patterns on its surface swirled with light that was almost tangible.

"Such a large piece?"

Zhang Wen's heart stirred, and just as he was about to walk over, he keenly sensed that the sand grains at the edge of the sand pit were trembling unnaturally.

He retreated two steps abruptly, and almost at the same time, a giant beast, three times the size of an ordinary Star Pattern Beast, burst out from under the sand, its shadow, obscuring the sky and sun, instantly enveloping him.

This giant beast had a spiral-shaped horn on its forehead, with a cluster of brilliant starlight gathering at the tip, and its aura had clearly reached the Late Stage of the Subtle Realm.

"Good fellow, hiding deep enough."

Zhang Wen clicked his tongue and clenched his fists.

"Then let me show you my second talent!"

As the words fell, the Nine Heavens Tribulation Thunder surging within his body suddenly withdrew, replaced by the dense and majestic power of the Ten Thousand Rivers Return to the Ocean, like a river flowing backward.

That was a talent purely based on the intent of water, and the water vapor around his body was gathering and dispersing, following hidden trajectories.

The giant beast raised its head and let out a deafening roar; opening its giant mouth, a brilliant beam of light condensed from the essence of the stars shot straight at him.

Zhang Wen's eyes suddenly narrowed, no longer in the state of awkwardly dodging as he had in the past.

He tapped his toes on the ground, and the water waves half a foot beside him suddenly surged; using the traction of the water flow to turn and spin, the water vapor lingering at his fingertips instantly condensed into a beam.

It was as if a hundred thin streams had gathered into a sharp edge at this moment, precisely cutting a gap from the edge of the beam, his figure like a carp sliding through water, brushing past the scorching light blade.

"It seems I have to bring out my real skills."

He reached into his Storage Pouch, took out a Mind-Condensing Powder, and swallowed it.

A sense of clarity instantly swept through his whole body, and his Mental Energy felt as if it had been purified even more by the water flow.

His understanding of the Profound Truth of "dividing to take form, combining to gather power" regarding water flow became increasingly clear.

Even the trajectories of the fusion between the surrounding power of the stars and the water vapor in the air became clearly distinguishable—this was the skill obtained from the System—the Thousand Streams Merging Art!

The Mental Energy of the Subtle Realm was enough to allow him to analyze more complex energy Meridians, especially the subtle methods of resonance between the intent of water and the Origin Qi of heaven and earth.

Taking a deep breath, as he urged the water elemental power within his body, a wonderful resonance arose with the water vapor and the power of the stars in heaven and earth.

The light blue water flow, between gathering and dispersing, sometimes turned into thousands of tiny beads, and sometimes condensed into a solid wall, its edges beginning to be wrapped in fine starlight, emitting a "rustling" sound.

This was no longer a collision of brute force, but the integration of the water flow's resilience and the power of aggregation, with every drop of water seemingly becoming a controllable sharp blade and shield.

The Star Pattern Beast leader pounced again, and as its giant claws swung out, it kicked up a sky full of sand and dust, the claw wind bringing star debris pressing straight down.

Zhang Wen's eyes flashed with brilliance; instead of retreating, he advanced, and the water vapor around him suddenly transformed into three water dragons.

The dragon bodies were woven from countless thin streams, both solid as steel and flexible as ribbons, and they actually charged head-on against the giant beast's sharp claws.

Deep in the Meteorite Valley, the water dragons and starlight collided fiercely; the water flow sometimes broke into pieces, bypassing the sharpness of the starlight;

Sometimes it gathered back into one, shaking the power of the giant claws, and the roar of it striking the rocks echoed layer by layer in the empty valley.

No one knew that in this A-rank Secret Realm, which according to the rules required a three-person team to challenge, a thrilling solo battle was taking place.

Only Zhang Wen himself knew, compared to the precarious situations of cross-Realm battles before.

At this moment, every circulation of the water elemental power carried absolute control over the gathering and dispersing of the water flow, and that composure of overcoming hardness with softness became increasingly proficient.

The Meteorite Fragments in his Storage Pouch were quietly accumulating, and the spiritual power within his body was also quietly climbing toward a higher Realm amidst the fusion of the water flow and the power of the stars.

The moment the water dragons collided with the giant claws, Zhang Wen only felt the water elemental power within his body suddenly boil.

Those water streams wrapped in starlight seemed to come alive, flowing upstream along the power of the stars leaking from the Star Pattern Beast's claws, actually stirring up an unprecedented surge in his Meridians.

"Hmm?" His brows twitched slightly, sensing that the boundary of his Mental Energy perception was quietly expanding.

The star trajectories that he had needed to concentrate to capture just now were now as clear as the lines on his palm;

Even the energy Meridians flowing under the Star Pattern Beast's fur could be vaguely glimpsed through the refraction of the water vapor.

This was no longer the precision of the Middle Stage of the Subtle Realm, but a transparency that was almost "pre-judgment"—the Late Stage of the Subtle Realm, it was done!

At the moment of the Breakthrough, his control over the water flow increased by three points.

The three water dragons suddenly flicked their tails, and before the giant claws fell, they suddenly separated, turning into a sky full of water curtains.

When the Star Pattern Beast's sharp claws pierced through the water curtain, most of the force had already been unloaded layer by layer.

Those seemingly weak water droplets re-aggregated the moment they touched the sharp claws, condensing into dozens of sharp water spikes, stabbing fiercely at the weak points between the giant beast's claws.

"Roar!" The Star Pattern Beast roared in pain, its offensive stalling.

Zhang Wen seized the opportunity to spin, his toes tapping on the rock wall, and the water flow beside him wrapped around the giant beast's forelimbs like maggots on a bone.

He did not fight head-on, but used the traction of the water flow to circle to the giant beast's flank, the water elemental power condensed at his fingertips suddenly erupting.

It was not a strong attack, but following the breath leaked when the giant beast breathed, he sent a stream of water condensed to the extreme inside.

With a "puff" sound, the water flow exploded inside the giant beast, shaking its huge body.

Zhang Wen landed on a Meteorite Fragment, feeling the increasingly rounded water elemental power in his body, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

The Mental Energy of the Late Stage of the Subtle Realm allowed him to play with the "gathering" and "dispersing" of the water flow to the extreme.

That move just now was to use the giant beast's own breath as a guide, allowing the water flow to complete an instantaneous gathering, dispersing, and explosive sound within its body.