28: Chapter 28 The Ten Great Monsters?

After Ye Qingxuan finished Soul-searching and obtained partial information about this world from the memory of the large lizard, the exploration task was completed accordingly.

"Ding, exploration task completed. Rewards: National Destiny increased by 10%, physical fitness of the entire population increased by 10%, and various resources increased by 10%..."

"End the task to claim rewards, do you wish to continue?"

"Continue." It was not easy to come to a world that could be completely explored, so it would be a pity to end it now.

"Survival task, continue. The task can be completed after surviving for seven days. Rewards will be distributed uniformly. If the Chosen Ones die, the task fails, and there are no rewards."

'Yet the exploration task was completed after obtaining only partial information? Surviving for seven days? I always feel like this National Destiny Space is brewing something big for me, could it be the so-called deities of this world?'

Casually putting away the Demonic Beast core of the Lizard Dragon and inspecting it, Ye Qingxuan found that the energy within the core was extremely violent and could not be directly absorbed, but it could be used for Alchemy and Artifact Refining.

Immediately afterward, without any hesitation, he executed a unique set of techniques on this huge Lizard Dragon—the "Flood Dragon Snake Set Menu". Ye Qingxuan skillfully extracted all the blood from the Lizard Dragon's body; next, with a light slash of incomparably sharp Sword Qi, the iron-hard dragon skin was completely peeled off; finally, with exquisite craftsmanship, he disassembled its limbs one by one.

After completing this series of actions, Ye Qingxuan mobilized the surging True Essence within his body to transform into roaring true fire, beginning to meticulously refine these precious Materials. After a long period of quenching and refining, several tons of bright red and scorching dragon blood finally condensed into a pile of blood qi pills exuding a rich aura.

However, facing that wide, thick, and exceptionally tough beast skin, Ye Qingxuan could not think of any specific use for it for the time being, but he still casually stored it into his Storage Ring, intending to keep it in Maoshan's Treasure Pavilion after returning to Maoshan. After all, who knew if someone would suddenly discover unexpected value in this piece of beast skin in the future?

As for the Soul of the Lizard Dragon, which had become foolish and dull, Ye Qingxuan naturally would not let it go to waste. With a thought in his mind, a mysterious light appeared in his hand, and the human emperor banner emerged, instantly devouring the Soul.

...

"This time the rewards are distributed uniformly after completing the task. I thought they would give a wave first directly."

"Hey, that doesn't matter. Anyway, I blindly believe in Daoist Ye."

"Agreed with the top floor, but Daoist Ye really provides a whole-dragon service here, this technique is so practiced."

"It's the spoils of war anyway, this is the non-wasting gene deep in the bones of the Huaguo people."

"Slaying a dragon and dismembering its corpse, skinning it and extracting its Soul—truly a one-stop-shop service."

Putting aside the banter of the Huaguo netizens, people from various other countries felt a chill in their hearts as they watched Daoist Ye's practiced techniques in the live broadcast room.

"They say giant dragons love collecting treasures, Daoist Ye shouldn't let them go either."

"Look quickly, Daoist Ye has found the dragon's lair."

Maoshan

Qingyun, Qingling, and Qingmo were all watching the live broadcast of the National Destiny Game.

"As expected, Junior Brother guessed right, the National Destiny Space is restricting him. According to the first National Destiny Game, the rewards should have been distributed directly." Qingling said in a deep voice while looking at the screen.

"But this time is fine too; it's a complete world, and it hasn't restricted his range of activities." Qingyun had a different view.

"The world of Douqi and magic—if it's really like what is written in novels, that world has deities, and they should have strength above the Soul Transformation Stage." Qingmo said with some worry.

"Trust Junior Brother. Haven't we also never seen him use his full strength? Perhaps he has some trump cards. Have you ever seen Junior Brother do anything he wasn't sure of?" Senior Brother Qingyun's words were full of confidence in Ye Qingxuan.

"That's true. Instead of worrying about Junior Brother here, we might as well go into closed-door cultivation." Remembering various things from the past, Qingling relaxed her mind.

"I just don't know if Senior Brother has encountered that devil pill Disciple of his." Qingyun said gleefully.

"Second Senior Brother, please act like a human." Qingling rolled her eyes.

Senior Brother Qingmo did not participate in the topic of the devil pill and silently went back to enter closed-door cultivation.

Qingyun and Qingling were not surprised and successively went into closed-door cultivation.

————

Following that, Ye Qingxuan cast his gaze toward the huge cave hidden deep within the jungle—that was the location of the legendary Lizard Dragon lair!

Since ancient times, a saying had been passed down: the Dragon Clan all had a special fondness for treasures, enthusiastically collecting rare and exotic treasures of the world and hiding them within their own territories.

At this moment, a trace of anticipation and curiosity could not help welling up in Ye Qingxuan's heart—what kind of breathtaking treasure would this huge Lizard Dragon before him actually possess?

With a shift of his figure, Ye Qingxuan turned into the wind and entered the Lizard Dragon's lair. As soon as he entered the cave, a dazzling brilliance instantly rushed toward him, and the intense light made it almost impossible for him to open his eyes.

Looking closely, he saw that the ground was covered with dazzlingly glowing gems, gold and silver, and other precious and rare items. They were piled layer upon layer, as spectacular and dazzling as a mountain of gold and silver. Looking at the huge lizard-shaped depression on top, it should be the place where the Lizard Dragon slept.

In addition, there were many unknown Ores exuding strange and magnificent lusters, as brilliant and charming as the brightest stars in the night sky.

Facing so much wealth, Ye Qingxuan could not help pondering inwardly: "I didn't expect this lizard to be so obsessed with collecting these treasures! But today, all these treasures belong to this poor Daoist!"

Having said that, he stepped forward, preparing to search carefully to see if he could discover more unexpected surprises from them. Spreading out his Divine Sense, he searched carefully.

Right at this moment, Ye Qingxuan saw him staring at a corner not far ahead. It turned out that beneath the mountain of gems, a slightly aged scroll could be vaguely seen.

He circulated his magic power and raised his hand with a suction force, and the scroll that had been deeply buried flew out from those crystal-clear gems.

Ye Qingxuan looked at the scroll in his hand and saw a series of unfathomable ancient runes engraved on its cover. Gently opening the scroll, through the translation of the National Destiny Space, it turned into the Huaguo language he was familiar with, which unexpectedly turned out to be a unique Douqi Cultivation Technique of this world.

"A human Cultivation Technique, it seems this is also the spoils of war of that lizard."

With a wave of his hand, the giant dragon's collection in the cave was put into the ring by Ye Qingxuan. However, Ye Qingxuan did not stop there. He continued to explore deeper into the cave, and new harvests caught his eye all along the way. Before long, he successively found several peculiarly shaped Storage Bracelets, except that the refining craftsmanship of these bracelets appeared quite crude, obviously left behind by people killed by this Lizard Dragon.

————

"Murder and arson bring golden belts; the ancients truly did not deceive me."

"Daoist Ye's harvest is simply too huge."

"What I'm more curious about is that Douqi Cultivation Technique; it should be simpler than cultivating immortality, right?"

"Let's see what Daoist Ye has to say."

————

Ye Qingxuan pondered in place for a moment, raised his head, and said

"Master, I know you are watching here. This world is a world of magic and Douqi."

In the live broadcast room, watching Ye Qingxuan communicating with them, Master Yuanxin, Celestial Master Zhang, and Master Kongming all turned solemn. After all, the previous probing was only small-scale perception, and information about that world was not as detailed as Ye Qingxuan's Soul-searching.

"Daoist Yuanxin, do you need help contacting the leaders?" Xiao Sa reacted very quickly and hurriedly said.

"No rush, let's take a look first." Master Yuanxin waved his hand.

——

"Daoist Ye is communicating with us? This is the first time, right?"

"To the person above, he is communicating with Daoist Yuanxin and the others, not nobodies like us."

"Did I need your reminder? This is Daoist Ye's first communication with the outside world, can't I be excited for a bit?"

"Let's see what Daoist Ye wants to say."

——

"Cultivating immortality requires Aptitude and is not suitable for everyone. The cultivation system of this world is quite interesting—magic and Douqi. From the memory of that lizard, the highest is the Divine Rank, which is roughly equivalent to the Nascent Soul Stage. What I just obtained is a fire-attribute Douqi Cultivation Technique, which can reach around the Golden Core at most, and there are no others."

"Master, you ask them, if they want it, I will go and snatch some Cultivation Techniques and resources; if they don't need it, forget it. Once I punch through this world, I will end the task and go back."

"I'll go collect some resources now. Contact me after you guys have discussed it."

Having said that, Ye Qingxuan turned around and strode toward that mysterious Monster Forest.

————

"Fellow Daoist Yuanxin, what do you say?" Celestial Master Zhang asked.

"Abbot Kongming, what do you think? The cultivation system of that world?" Master Yuanxin asked Abbot Kongming in return.

"Amitabha, it's better to leave these matters to professional people to decide." Master Kongming directly passed the buck.

"The highest is only around the Nascent Soul Stage, and further up the path ahead is unknown. Oh well, let those leaders have headaches over it." Master Yuanxin rubbed his brow and stopped thinking about it.

Sister Qing and Xiao Sa also exchanged glances. Douqi and magic? This was not something they could discuss; they might as well just be melon-eating onlookers.

...The netizens were also discussing

"Daoist Ye found a new path for us—magic and Douqi? Like those other-world novels?"

"The highest only reaches Nascent Soul? In this era of universal cultivation, being able to have extraordinary power is still much better than being an ordinary person for a lifetime, right?"

"I agree with this. Universal cultivation is something you won't encounter in eight lifetimes. If I can't seize this opportunity, I'll regret it for the rest of my life."

Zijin Mountain Office

"You all know what Daoist Ye said, right? What do you say? Express your opinions." Seeing that everyone had arrived, Number One spoke up.

"I agree with Daoist Ye's proposal. The proportion of people with Aptitude for cultivating immortality is close to five thousand to one. Having an extra path of transcendence right now is better than a mediocre life." said the Second Elder.

"I've also learned about those other-world novels recently. The cultivation restrictions of magic and Douqi are too great. Isn't there also Martial Dao?" The Third Elder expressed a different opinion.

"Celestial Master Zhang and Daoist Yuanxin have told me about this matter of Martial Dao cultivation, but the timing is not right yet." Number One replied.

"Our Huaguo currently takes cultivation as auxiliary and technology as primary, but the enhancement of technology takes too long. Being able to have an extra path of cultivation is good after all. One day, both paths can be emphasized equally without distinguishing primary and secondary, and by then, our Huaguo will truly take off."

"Now I agree with Daoist Ye's proposal. Let's vote by a show of hands; the minority submits to the majority," Number One concluded.

Ultimately, it passed unanimously, agreeing that Huaguo would Cultivate magic and battle qi.

To branch the story into two directions, let us look back at Daoist Ye's side.

After entering the Monster Forest, Ye Qingxuan immediately unleashed his powerful Divine Sense, directly covering a radius of over a thousand miles.

He moved like a gust of wind, shuttling through the dense forest and swiftly searching for all kinds of precious resources. Whether it was rare herbs, ancient Ore, or Materials from powerful Demonic Beasts, none could escape his sight.

Along the way, Ye Qingxuan continuously reaped pleasant surprises. He discovered many exotic flowers and rare plants he had never seen before; these plants exuded a peculiar fragrance that refreshed whoever smelled it.

There were also some rare Ore, such as the Essence Gold Iron Core used for Artifact Refining of Spiritual Artifacts, Gold of Living Beings, and Crimson Flame Iron Essence, all of which were rare and hard-to-find treasures.

Of course, the most important ones were those powerful Demonic Beasts. Their magic cores contained magic power, which could be used to refine Advanced Medicinal Pills or forge peerless weapons.

From that lizard's memories, he learned that there were ten Saint-tier Demonic Beasts in this forest, ruling over the entire Monster Forest. The Demonic Beasts were divided into wind, thunder, water, fire, earth, light, dark, life, death, and other attributes, as well as the rare time, space, and Mental Energy attributes. That lizard was a fire-attribute Saint-tier Demonic Beast.

Ye Qingxuan's goal was the other nine. Killing all ten of these so-called Demonic Beasts meant that Ye Qingxuan would occupy the entire Monster Forest, and the resources within would be materialized tenfold. Other than the first world, there would never be such a good opportunity again.

As time passed, Ye Qingxuan's harvest grew more and more bountiful, and he encountered quite a few unusual Demonic Beasts. However, the strongest among them were only at the intensity of just entering the Golden Core, and could be killed with a wave of his hand. His Storage Ring was almost full, and fortunately, he also brought quite a few Storage Pouches; otherwise, it would really have been hard to carry everything.

"Jingle jingle." This was the sound of external contact. After Ye Qingxuan connected, Number One's gentle voice came through.

"Daoist Ye Qingxuan, I am Number One. After our discussion, it passed unanimously. Huaguo agrees to Cultivate battle qi and magic. The Cultivation Technique of that world will be left to you. Whatever thoughts you have, go ahead and do it. Also, your safety is above everything else. If things become impossible, abandon the mission, and we will support you unconditionally."

"In that case, this poor Daoist understands. Also, this National Destiny Game is not simple, and this can be considered a bit of benevolent intent from this poor Daoist. Tell the leaders of those countries that if their Chosen Ones die in this mission, do not resurrect them. As for whether they listen or not, it has nothing to do with this poor Daoist."

Ye Qingxuan thought about it and still spoke these words, merely acting on a whim. As for whether others could listen and take it in, that had nothing to do with him.

"Is that so? I understand, Daoist Ye. Having you in Huaguo is Huaguo's fortune," Number One said, and the communication disconnected.

"You all heard it. Do as Daoist Ye said. As for whether they listen or not, it has nothing to do with us," Number One turned and said to the Secretary-General.

"Understood, Leader. I will go make arrangements right away," the Secretary-General turned and left.

"This is merely a bit of Daoist Ye's benevolent intent; I actually hope none of you listen," Number One muttered to himself.

...

"What did Daoist Ye say? Why is there no sound or picture?"

"I don't know. This is our first time using a communication opportunity; who knows what restrictions there are?"

"When communicating between the National Destiny Space and the outside world, it is encrypted the entire time," Xiao Sa explained while looking at questions in the bullet curtain.

"I see."

"Did our side agree to this?"

"It should be agreed. Let's just wait."

...

"In that case, let's go deal with the ten Demonic Beasts first," Ye Qingxuan looked into the distance, then, following the direction in the Lizard Dragon's memories, transformed into sword light and flew toward where another Saint-tier Demonic Beast was located.

The ten Demonic Beasts were actually just ten Peak Golden Cores. Although their reputation sounded loud, in reality, they were just some powerful Yao Beasts.

They might possess some special abilities and talents, but to Ye Qingxuan now, they were nothing more than slightly stronger ants that could be obliterated with a flick of his hand.

Ye Qingxuan's sword-flying speed could be described as covering a thousand miles in an instant. Before long, his Divine Sense discovered that Saint-tier Demonic Beast—a cyan giant eagle with a wingspan of nearly a hundred meters.

"The closest one is wind-attribute. Judging by the strength of its aura, it must be this eagle."

"Screech! Human, how dare you trespass into this king's territory!"

Ye Qingxuan did not hide his aura. Facing a group of ants, there was no need to conceal anything; his Late Stage Golden Core aura was released without any reservation. He was also toying with that lizard's magic core in his hand, looking at this giant eagle with a half-smile.

"Just you alone as a Saint-tier dare to penetrate deep into the forest? Huh? What is that?! You killed that old dragon?!"

The giant eagle's tone was shocked and angry. That old dragon's strength was much greater than its own; if someone could kill the old dragon, they could definitely kill it too.

"It seems all Saint-tier Demonic Beasts can speak human language, but their brains are lacking. However, that doesn't matter; next is your turn."

Ye Qingxuan's magic power surged, and Sword Qi danced around his body, condensed as if it were real.

The giant eagle felt an unprecedented sense of oppression from Ye Qingxuan's aura, and the dancing Sword Qi made it smell the scent of death, so the giant eagle struck first.

The giant eagle gathered all its strength, and its opening move was its ultimate technique. Countless wind elements surrounded the giant eagle, forming a massive tornado that blotted out the sky. Gale winds howled, and a radius of dozens of miles was blown into complete disarray by the wind.

"Bang! Bang! Swish!" Then the tornado shattered, and countless huge wind blades appeared, slashing toward Ye Qingxuan.

After unleashing its ultimate move, the giant eagle turned, spread its wings, and ran. Its beastly intuition told it that if it kept fighting, the one to die would definitely be itself. Unfortunately, it was already too late.

"Interesting," Ye Qingxuan watched the oncoming wind blades, flicked his sleeves, and a massive Sword Qi swept out, directly shattering the wind blades.

Immediately after, with Ye Qingxuan as the center, the world within a hundred miles turned black and white. The giant eagle was frozen in midair with its wings spread, looking like a painting, while Ye Qingxuan became the only color in this painting.

This was precisely the Spell that Ye Qingxuan had developed back then—Heaven and Earth Lose Color.

The giant eagle only felt a flash before its eyes, and that human was now standing on a headless giant bird. Then it felt that headless giant bird looked somewhat familiar, and next it felt the world start to spin as its consciousness plunged into darkness.

Turns out, that was its own body; it had already been decapitated by him in a passing flash.

"So weak. Possessing full strength yet unable to display even twenty percent of it," Ye Qingxuan used magic power manifestation to grab the giant eagle's head, waved his hand to split it open, and took out the magic core.

Then came the familiar one-stop service: the Soul was fed to the human emperor banner, and the flesh wasn't wasted either, packed away to bring back for his Senior Brothers and Junior Brothers to taste.

...

"What just happened? Why did it suddenly turn black and white? How did that eagle's head fall off?"

"Same here. I thought my TV broke just now. Looking at it with Mental Energy, it's also black and white. It must be Daoist Ye's Spell."

"What a handsome Spell! The whole world turned into an ink-wash painting, and only he is the sole color."

"Giant Eagle: Handsome, right? Bought with my life!"

"Indeed, this Spell is so handsome that I even want to learn it. It's the first time I've seen Daoist Ye use this Spell."

"Little brother Qingxuan's Spell? I've never seen him use it before, but why does it look a bit like the Demonic Aura field of our Heavenly Demon Palace?"

Yun Huan, the busy bee, finally had a chance to watch the live stream. Previously, she was either in seclusion or teaching people, and she finally had some time. As soon as she entered the live stream room, she was startled by Ye Qingxuan.

"Vixen of the Heavenly Demon Palace, what are you talking about? My Junior Brother is a proper and orthodox Daoist sect Disciple! This is a secret technique he created himself by comprehending Dao scriptures—Heaven and Earth Lose Color. It is not some Heavenly Demon aura field. If you have the guts, come to Maoshan and see how I deal with you!"

Sister Qingling's jealousy arrived fashionably late as always. Lin Yao was somewhat better, but whenever she saw Yun Huan, she couldn't help wanting to retort and spar with her.

"Oho, does that mean you know this move too?" Her tone was full of banter.

"If you have the guts, come over here ###" This was said through gritted teeth.

"The two grandams upstairs are so terrifying."

"Same feeling."

————

"Fellow Daoist Yuanxin, what is this? This poor Daoist doesn't remember Shangqing having this Spell." Celestial Master Zhang looked at the Heaven and Earth Lose Color cast by Ye Qingxuan, shocked to the point of speechlessness.

"Fellow Daoist Yuanxin, you hide things deep." Abbot Kongming stopped chanting the Rebirth Sutra, looking at Master Yuanxin with a face full of confusion and shock. "You and that old Taoist priest, how much did you hide when fighting this old monk before?"

"Ahem, these are all secret techniques of our Shangqing," Master Yuanxin explained with a proud face.

"Huh? Fellow Daoist, do you think I have the words 'easy to fool' written on my face?" Celestial Master Zhang's tone was unkind. Abbot Kongming silently stared at Master Yuanxin without speaking.

The two melon-eating hosts nearby also perked up their ears; after all, this secret technique was too handsome!!

"That secret technique was randomly figured out by my little Disciple when he was young, and it was placed in the scripture repository of my Maoshan. Any Shangqing Disciple can Cultivate it." But whether they could successfully Cultivate it was unknown.

Master Yuanxin thought of when Ye Qingxuan used to teach people how to Cultivate—how infuriating it was, fearing that the young Qingxuan of back then would be angered to death.

"..." Celestial Master Zhang and Abbot Kongming.

So sour, truly so sour.

"Being able to create a secret technique when he was young, this is truly the gap between people."

"We can't even figure out plain-speaking Cultivation Techniques, yet Daoist Ye could comprehend Dao scriptures and create secret techniques when he was a child?"

"What else can we do now besides worship?"

"Worship the big shot."

...

Spending half a day, Ye Qingxuan followed suit and circled the Monster Forest, completely annihilating all ten so-called Demonic Beasts. Actually, Ye Qingxuan had originally planned to adopt one, but unfortunately, those ten Demonic Beasts were uglier than the last, and that eagle could be considered the Peak of their appearance.

"Ding. The ten Demonic Beasts have been annihilated, and the Monster Forest has been occupied. Resources are being integrated, and will be materialized tenfold after the mission ends."

Along with the head of the last Demonic Beast hitting the ground, the prompt tone of the National Destiny Space also sounded.

"It's distributed only after the mission ends again. It seems I must be a bit more careful," Ye Qingxuan thought to himself secretly.