Chapter 065: Black Line Python

  A few days later, Gu Chen felt his innate true energy filling every part of his body, and his entire body seemed to be expanding.

  The physical body is like a leather ball, the innate true energy fills up the ball and cannot hold any more. This is the expression of reaching the fourth layer peak of the Innate Realm. The path of cultivation seems to be blocked by a wall, cutting off the way forward.

  If you can't break through this barrier, no matter how hard you cultivate, your innate true energy will never increase by even a single bit.

  Only by breaking through the barriers and advancing one's cultivation level can one continue to move forward on the path of cultivation.

  To put it in a way, the physical body is like a container. The stronger the physical body, the more congenital true energy can be stored. The cultivation of the congenital realm is slightly different from that of the acquired realm. Every time you upgrade to a higher level, your physical body will take a step forward, and its capacity will increase, allowing it to hold more congenital true energy.

  When the congenital true energy reaches a critical point, the physical body must be elevated to another level, and then cultivate more congenital true energy.

  The cultivation of the Post-Heavenly Realm is merely a process of strengthening the physical body, while the cultivation of the Pre-Heavenly Realm involves the simultaneous refinement of both the physical body and the Pre-Heavenly True Qi. The focus of cultivation gradually shifts from the physical body to the inner breath.

  The operation of the innate true Qi is not a chaotic shuttle in the flesh, but has a running track. In the flesh, there are countless meridians that connect the five internal organs and six organs with any skin on the body surface.

  The innate true energy, constantly running in the meridians, can reach outside the body through the heavenly bridge. However, once the innate true energy reaches outside the body, it loses the constraint of the meridians and easily disperses. Therefore, the control method used by Innate Realm cultivators to wield artifacts is much weaker than directly grasping an artifact to attack.

  Moreover, the farther away from the body, the weaker the power. If it's too far away, the strength is so small that even flying swords can't be lifted. Therefore, beyond a certain range, Xiantian realm cultivators are unable to control their weapons for attack.

  The so-called barrier of the cultivation level is just an abstract term, describing the road of cultivation being blocked by obstacles. The path of cultivation is an intangible way, breaking through barriers and removing obstacles from the path of cultivation is just a figurative expression.

  In fact, what is called breaking through the barrier is to enhance the physical meridians and strengthen the five organs and six viscera. The stronger the meridians and five organs and six viscera of a practitioner are, the more they can naturally contain more congenital true energy.

  Gǔ Chén started practicing the Great Power Vajra Fist from the Back Heaven Realm, and his physical body was much stronger than that of cultivators in the same realm. Later, he also practiced the Heavenly Punishment Tempering Body Great Technique. Even without using the Heavenly Punishment Tempering Body Great Technique to enhance his physical body, Gǔ Chén's physical body was still far superior to that of cultivators in the same realm, and could even compare with those of cultivators in the next higher realm.

  Similarly, the congenital true energy that can be accommodated is also much higher than that of cultivators in the same realm. Now, Gu Chen only has a cultivation base of four layers in the congenital realm, but in fact, his congenital true energy is not much different from that of a five-layered cultivator in the congenital realm.

  Otherwise, even if he was physically strong, it would be impossible for him to defeat Liu Baisheng and Yunxuan so easily.

  The later the cultivation, the greater the difficulty. Breaking through the fourth layer of the Pre-Heavenly Boundary is much more difficult than breaking through the third layer.

  It can be seen from the city of Le Shui that many practitioners in the acquired realm are as numerous as cow hair, and even ordinary people can cultivate some martial arts to strengthen their bodies and reach the middle and late stages of the acquired realm.

  In ancient times, the Yun and Liu families each had a main line, a side line, and servants, totaling over a thousand people. Every member was a cultivator above the acquired stage, but even among the strongest of the Liu family, there were less than fifty innate stage cultivators. Dozens of acquired stage cultivators couldn't produce a single innate stage cultivator.

  It can be seen that the farther you go on the path of cultivation, the more difficult it becomes.

  For three consecutive nights, Gu Chen has been exerting his full strength to impact the fourth layer of Xiantian Realm's barrier wall, but there is no progress at all. It seems that without ten days or half a month of impact, it is unlikely to break through the barrier.

  During the day, Gu Chen continued to walk in the Eastern Wilderness, searching for demonic beasts to fight. When fighting, a cultivator's neural responses were much stronger than when they were meditating quietly. Similarly, their senses were also much stronger. Breakthroughs often occurred during battles, making it easier to break through realms.

  The sense of danger in battle can greatly stimulate the potential of monks, and the barriers that originally needed to be broken through for ten days or half a month may be broken through in just two or three days of fighting.

  Even a life-and-death struggle can break through instantly, and under the crisis of death, the reaction of the living is the strongest, often achieving unexpected effects in quiet meditation.

  He wasn't originally a talented genius, his cultivation in his past life was very slow, especially when it came to breaking through realms, each time taking an extremely long period of time. Later on, he discovered that fighting could accelerate breakthroughs, and Gu Chen had ample experience with this.

  However, during these three days, Gu Chen encountered a strange phenomenon. Within this nearly thousand-mile radius, after walking for three days, he didn't discover a single demonic beast.

  It was exactly when I wanted to find a demon beast to fight, but for three days, I didn't encounter a single one. Don't mention how depressed I felt, it's like a belly full of anger wanting to erupt, but there was no target to vent on; with a fierce punch, I hit a pile of cotton balls - emotions and strength, completely unable to be released.

  Of course, Gu Chen was more surprised in his heart. Since things were against the norm, they must be abnormal. Judging from his experience, this place must have a powerful demon beast that had designated a certain range as its territory. This demon beast was stronger than other demon beasts, so there were no other demon beasts appearing here.

  This is a place where fifth-level congenital realm demon beasts frequently appear, and the demon beasts that divide their territory have at least sixth-level congenital realm strength. Within a radius of thousands of miles, this demon beast's territory is absolutely not ordinary.

  A faint smile appeared on Gu Chen's face. When he reached the cultivation barrier, it was naturally better to fight stronger demon beasts. With the Swift Wing Cloak on him, as long as he didn't encounter a pre-heavenly realm late-stage demon bird, even if it were a pre-heavenly realm ninth-layer demon beast, Gu Chen could still escape with his speed.

  This place is just the habitat of the five-layered demon beasts in the Innate Realm, and it's unlikely to have late-stage Innate Realm demon beasts appear. This demon is at most a sixth-layer Innate Realm, which is exactly the best target for the current battle.

  Without using the Tianjue Tempering Body Technique, fighting against a sixth-layer demonic beast from the Innate Realm with my current cultivation would be an extremely arduous battle. If not for the timely arrival of the Swift Wing Cloak to turn the tide, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a battle of life and death.

  On the fourth day, Gu Chen continued to walk forward for over 200 miles and encountered a five-layer Pre-Heavenly Boundary demon beast, which he killed. After walking around 1,200 miles, he met another new demon beast, indicating that the territory of that demon beast was roughly a thousand miles in radius.

  Usually, the lair of a demonic beast is located in the central area of its territory. Gu Chen had determined his target and turned back to head towards the center of this demonic territory.

  This time, Gu Chen transformed into a sword and arrived at the center of the demon's territory after an hour. He unfolded a carpet-style search, covering an area of one hundred miles around the center, and looked over every mountain peak, but didn't see even half a cave.

  Gu Chen furrowed his brow, his sword standing upright in mid-air, slowly flying forward as he pondered. A moment later, his eyes lit up, and following his gaze, a lake came into view between two mountain peaks ahead.

  The lake is several hundred feet in circumference, with water that is a deep blue-green color, resembling the dark hair of a woman. It stretches out endlessly, its bottom invisible to the eye.

  This small lake immediately caught Gu Chen's attention, and he thought to himself: "Could it be that the demon beast is in this lake?"

  Gu Chen gazed at the lake for a while, and suddenly a fish jumped out of the water and landed on the shore. He carefully observed the lake's surface.

  The lake is shaped like a crescent, perfectly nestled between the two mountain peaks on either side. If there were no water here, it would be a huge valley. Only white mist can be seen floating in the lake from time to time. Gu Chen looked at the mountains on both sides and was taken aback, exclaiming: "Both mountains have dragon shapes, with their heads facing each other towards the lake. It's actually the spiritual vein of two dragons emerging from the water! Could it be that this lake has a young dragon living in it?"

  In an instant, Gu Chen threw out his flying sword and jumped up immediately. The dragon is a divine beast, and the young dragon was born with the cultivation of the Divine Sea Realm. If there is a true dragon living in this lake, Gu Chen can only escape for his life, he must be prepared.

  Gu Chen had just jumped onto the flying sword when the calm lake surface suddenly churned up and surged to both sides, as if a huge creature was about to burst out.

  Gu Chen flashed momentarily, then retreated dozens of feet away, staring intently at the lake surface. Although this was a spiritual vein where two dragons emerged from the water, it wasn't certain that the monster in the lake was a real dragon. Without getting a clear look at the creature, Gu Chen wouldn't make any rash guesses, only making preparations to escape early, and it was impossible for him to flee without even seeing the creature.

  Wow...

  A moment later, a black shadow shot out of the lake and into the clouds, letting out a long roar that shook heaven and earth. This monster was ten zhang in length, with a completely green body, a straight horn on its head, a horse-like head, a snake-like body, and four giant claws like an eagle's... On the back of this monster, there was a black line that ran from its head to its tail, extremely eye-catching.

  Gu Chen's eyes lit up, and it was actually a black-striped snake.

  Dragons have two horns and are forked, while Jiaos only have one horn, which is a straight horn. Xiangs do not have any horns. Dragons, Jiaos, and Xiangs all look similar, but the horns on their heads distinguish them from each other. Additionally, there are also differences in body size.

  Jiao and Xi are also descendants of the dragon, but they are hybrids born to dragons and other mythical creatures, without the pure bloodline of a true dragon. They are born with innate realm cultivation, whereas true dragons are born with divine sea realm cultivation.

  The dragon and the jiao can also cultivate, and there is a possibility of transforming into a dragon. The dragon cultivates for 500 years, grows one horn on its head, and has the possibility of transforming into a jiao. The jiao cultivates for 1,000 years, grows two horns on its head, and has the possibility of transforming into a dragon.

  Of course, not every dragon can transform into a jiao, and not every jiao can transform into a dragon. Some jiaos have reached the realm of the divine sea but do not necessarily transform into dragons. The transformation from dragon to jiao and from jiao to dragon is not absolute.

  Gu Chen saw the cultivation of this python at a glance, which was in the sixth layer of the pre-heavenly realm. The python had the bloodline of the divine beast dragon, and its strength was unparalleled. In the same realm, few demon beasts could compare with it. No wonder this python lived here, and there were no demon beasts appearing within a thousand miles around.

  Even congenital sixth-order demon beasts, in front of this demon, have to tuck their tails and behave, capable of flight, with strong strength, ordinary demon beasts can't be compared.

  Gu Chen was overjoyed, not because this python had reached the sixth layer of the Innate Realm, but in reality, a fifth-layer Innate Realm python would have been more than enough for Gu Chen without using the Heaven's Wrath Refining Body Technique to strengthen it, let alone this sixth-layer Innate Realm python.

  This snake is called black-striped snake, and its name comes from the obvious black stripe on its back.

  The black-striped snake has one thing that is very close to the dragon, with a very pure bloodline, which is its tendon. The black stripe on its back is actually a dragon tendon.

  Compared with all other pythons, the black-striped python's python muscle and dragon muscle are the most similar, and compared to real dragon muscles, they are not much different.

  "If you can extract the tendon of this python and refine it into a Soul Locking Rope, at least you can refine the Soul Locking Rope into a top-grade magic tool." Gu Chen was overjoyed in his heart.