Chapter 206: Chapter 178 Arduous Cultivation
Looking at the little monkey's cuteness and affection towards him, Ye Chen couldn't help but want to pinch its chubby cheeks.
"Little monkey, drink the spirit spring water you've worked so hard to fetch yourself, don't give it to me," Ye Chen said with a smile as he shook his head at the little guy.
"Ee-ya!"
Seeing Ye Chen refuse to accept the water, the little monkey became anxious, its eyes shining like black jewels started to mist up.
If Ye Chen turned it down again, the little guy might start crying right there.
"Alright, alright, let's do this—we'll split it in half," Ye Chen said, giving in to the little monkey.
"Ee-ya!" At the sight of Ye Chen agreeing to take the water, the little monkey's tears turned to laughter, the mist in its eyes disappearing in an instant. With a light tap of its finger, more than half of the Fire Elemental Spring water in its tiny palm flew towards Ye Chen.
Clearly, the little guy still wanted Ye Chen to drink more of this marvelous water!
"Little monkey, thank you," Ye Chen said with a gentle smile, no longer refusing the little one's kindness.
As he opened his mouth and inhaled, the seven or eight drops of Fire Elemental Spring water flew into his mouth.
Despite being only seven or eight drops, as soon as the water entered Ye Chen's mouth, it transformed into countless warm streams that flowed to every part of his body.
With these threads of warm current moving throughout his body, every pore and cell in Ye Chen's body opened up comfortably, a feeling of toasty warmth instantly spreading throughout his body.
This sensation was as if he had swallowed the Immortal Bead Elixir!
His whole body brimmed with abundant vigor and spirit!
Even the weariness from his earlier battle with the Willow Demon dissipated under the nourishment of the spirit spring water!
More wondrous still, as this extremely comfortable sensation reached the Spirit Sea within Ye Chen, his Spirit Sea magically grew countless droplets of Gang Yuan True Qi Spirit Liquid—clearly transformed from the Fire Elemental Spring water.
Truly, the Fire Elemental Spring was a miraculous thing—not only revitalizing his vigor and spirit with a single gulp but also directly boosting his True Qi!
Ye Chen couldn't help but want to taste it again!
Seeing Ye Chen's thirst for more, the little monkey quickly drank the few remaining drops from its palm and with a "swoosh" disappeared again; when it reappeared, it was holding another dozen or so drops of the water, offering them to Ye Chen.
The little monkey had actually gone to fetch more Fire Elemental Spring water!
Looking at the little monkey gazing at him with wide eyes, encouraging him to continue drinking the wondrous Fire Elemental Spring water, and watching the Willow Demon's tens of thousands of branches wildly thrashing in fury after having its water stolen twice in quick succession by the little monkey, Ye Chen felt a warm current rising in his heart!
Even without Jiang Yao by his side, with the little monkey accompanying him, this tiny monkey, only a few months old, was as intimate and affectionate with him as Jiang Yao was!
This feeling of being cared for and cherished was really quite wonderful!
Ye Chen looked at the little monkey, then at the three Willow Demons, his eyes beaming with fighting spirit, "Little monkey, you don't have to keep fetching the water like this. Within this month, I will definitely break through the obstruction of these three Willow Demons and get the Fire Elemental Spring!"
"Then, we'll have our fill, how does that sound?"
"Ee-ya!"
Seeing Ye Chen exuding high-spirits, the little monkey excitedly nodded its little head.
It loved watching Ye Chen look so confident and strong.
The little guy had witnessed Ye Chen continuously strengthen himself outside the Ancient God Tower and had seen him defeat the genius girl guarding the eighteenth floor!
Of course, it believed Ye Chen would also defeat these three Willow Demons!
Ye Chen smiled gently at the excited little monkey.
"Time to cultivate!"
"Even though I can't improve my speed to the little monkey's extent in a short time, I still can enhance my Sword Formation Martial Skill and the power of my True Qi!"
"I will elevate my strength right here on the Fourth Sea Island!"
After sharing the second portion of the Fire Elemental Spring water with the little monkey, Ye Chen brought the little creature to a corner of the valley where the Heaven and Earth True Qi was rich, and they began to sit and cultivate.
Ye Chen began his arduous cultivation once again on the Fourth Sea Island.
His first session of cultivation in the valley lasted a full seven days. After the seven days, Ye Chen and the little monkey would leave the valley early each morning to find Great Demons in the nearby area for practical combat refinement post-meditation. As evening approached, they would return to the valley to resume their silent cultivation and post-battle reflections.
Once Ye Chen entered into a state of combining silent cultivation with actual combat, the Great Demons in the western territories of the Fourth Sea Island were completely doomed.
Wherever Ye Chen and the little monkey went, countless Great Demons were slain, and with the passage of time, Ye Chen's speed and efficiency in killing Great Demons became faster and higher.
Even on the eleventh day upon entering the Fourth Sea Island, a spiritual light suddenly emitted from the wooden token Ye Chen was holding, displaying the number "ten" within that light.
As Ye Chen's divine sense infiltrated the wooden token, he immediately came to a realization—this number represented that he had entered the top ten in terms of the number of great beasts he had killed throughout the Fourth Sea Island.
When they first entered the Fourth Sea Island, Ye Chen and the others had been informed through their wooden tokens that they only had one month of treasure hunting in the peripheral area of the Fourth Sea Island.
Once a month passed, those whose wooden tokens ranked in the top ten in terms of slain beasts would earn the opportunity to enter the central giant island and further explore more precious Rotating Pill-level relics.
The great beasts mentioned on the island referred to Great Demons and other fierce beasts of higher realms.
Ye Chen had been diligently practicing all along, yet he only started to hunt great beasts four days ago.
In just four days, he had successfully reached the top ten rankings of the thirty-two people in hunting great beasts on the entire Fourth Sea Island!
Originally, Ye Chen's strength on the Fourth Sea Island was already unparalleled. To deal with the Willow Demon, he had been training arduously, making remarkable progress daily. Hunting great beasts was merely his way of real combat practice after cultivation, and no one else could stop the rise of his ranking.
On the thirteenth day of Ye Chen entering the Fourth Sea Island, his ranking in hunting great beasts shot up to fifth place.
And by the fifteenth day on the Fourth Sea Island, the number on Ye Chen's wooden token suddenly flickered with a strange golden light—the rank of number one directly descended upon Ye Chen's token!
Ye Chen's count of slain great beasts had now surpassed everyone else on the Fourth Sea Island!
Over these days, Ye Chen's ranking improved daily, and all the Tomb Explorers who had broken into the top ten discovered that their rankings dropped a place every day.
When the Half-Step Rotating Pill from Cloud Sky Sect, who had been hunting treasures and great beasts in the eastern region of the Fourth Sea Island and had consistently held the number one rank, was squeezed to second place, he couldn't help but fly into the sky and scan the vast expanse of the Fourth Sea Island.
"Who?"
"Who has surpassed me?"
As images of various individuals flickered in this Half-Step Rotating Pill's mind, he seemed to come to a realization as if struck by inspiration, and suddenly thought of one person.
Ye Chen!
The astonishing youth who, right upon entering the Fourth Sea Island, had crippled a Half-Step Rotating Pill!
This Half-Step Rotating Pill from Cloud Sky Sect knew that of all the people on the island, the only one he couldn't see through was Ye Chen; only Ye Chen could possibly have surpassed him in the rankings of hunting great beasts!
Just as this Half-Step Rotating Pill had his revelation while gazing at the vast Fourth Sea Island which he couldn't completely see, his guess was correct—the one who had overtaken him was indeed Ye Chen.
At this moment, after fifteen days of arduous cultivation, Ye Chen's True Qi became even more profound than when he first arrived on the Fourth Sea Island. Even the early stage of the Spirit Sea realm that he had struck into before entering the ancient tomb became immensely stable.
While his True Qi greatly improved, Ye Chen also made a significant gain: he finally mastered two major techniques during these fifteen days of arduous cultivation.
The first major technique was none other than the "Heavenly Gang Sword Formation," which was of intermediate sword formation level, given to him by sister Yu when he left the Taixuan Sect!
Ye Chen finally mastered an intermediate-level sword formation, which immediately elevated his Sword Formation Martial Skills from four low-level formations to an intermediate-level!
The second major technique was that during the fifteen days of battling with Great Demons, as well as digesting the insights from his battle with the Willow Demon, Ye Chen finally touched upon the martial skill realm of the "Nine Transformation Fighting Body's" Fourth Transformation.
Although it was only a touch and Ye Chen had not fully cultivated the Nine Transformation Fighting Body's Fourth Transformation, not even to the basic level, this Fourth Transformation was equivalent to a Heavenly martial skill. Merely touching upon this Heavenly martial skill provided Ye Chen with endless benefits.
After fifteen days of arduous practice, Ye Chen finally felt that he regained the strength to fight the Willow Demon!
Boom!
On the sixteenth day after entering the Fourth Sea Island, early in the morning, Ye Chen did not go out to hunt Great Demons anymore. He flew directly into the void above the valley and once again set his sights on the three Willow Demons.
"Yiiya!"
At this time, the little monkey stood on Ye Chen's shoulder, calling out excitedly.
Because the little guy knew that after fifteen days of arduous practice, Ye Chen was finally going to challenge those three Willow Demons again!