“Watch out!” Cang Wuji shouted in alarm.

Yu Chen activated his movement technique, dashing out of the way of the sudden attack. The dark beetle flew by, missing him, and instead rammed into one of the towering insect mounds that covered the rocky terrain, sending up a cloud of dust and shattered soil.

Tiny termites flew out of the broken mound, buzzing angrily around Yu Chen’s head. He didn’t pay them any mind, hastily dodging to the side as another Obsidian Horn Beetle dug itself out of the earth.

“I could use some help!” He called out towards Cang Wuji.

“I'm a little busy myself!” The other boy called back, whirling his unusual staff through a tight rotation before bringing it down, cracking against the carapace of another beetle that was attacking him.

Yu Chen cursed under his breath, warily eyeing the two large insects that had flanked him. They were nearly his height, standing on their hind legs like a man and covered in a gleaming black carapace that formed a chitinous fortress around them.

The namesake horn, tipped in a sharp crescent edge, thrust out of their heads like a jagged shard of obsidian. Two more sets of limbs stretched out from their shell, each tipped with vicious pincer-like appendages.

Yu Chen kept a cautious eye on that horn, as it gave off a dangerous aura. It seemed more than capable of rending through armor, let alone any protective energies a cultivator might muster.

He clenched his fist in frustration, as he considered what to do. They’d been following a dense source of spiritual energy located somewhere in this area when they’d been set upon by these large insects.

Yu Chen let out a low breath, before tensing his muscles and dashing towards the beetle on his left. It reared back, lifting its four front limbs as he approached, as if welcoming him into its embrace. Yu Chen was prepared however, and used his movement technique to sharply accelerate, dodging to the side.

He capitalized on the opening, slamming a fist into the insect’s unguarded shell.

The punch didn’t cause a dent, ringing against the hard carapace like a bell. A deep thrumming sound arose and he struck again, before having to hastily retreat as the second beetle closed in on him.

“Attack their chest, the armor there is much weaker!” Cang Wuji called out.

Yu Chen spared the time to toss him a glance, watching as the boy twisted his staff through dizzying movements, striking through a beetle’s guard and punching deep into its chest.

“Thanks!” Yu Chen called back sarcastically.

Did the other boy have to make it look so easy?

All Yu Chen had to do was avoid the deadly horn, dodge the four pincer-tipped limbs, cose in near enough to the beetle for it to bite him, and strike a deadly blow to its chest. He wouldn’t admit it, but perhaps there were some advantages to carrying a long stick around with you.

Yu Chen breathed out, releasing his frustrations as he settled his stance, a determined look crossing his face. He dashed in close to the nearest one, ducking under the limbs that flew towards him. Dropping low, he twisted, generating enough force that when he kicked his foot up it drove into the beetle’s chest. To his surprise his foot had smashed right through the soft carapace.

Green fluids poured out, covering the ground.

The insect fell back with a chittering sound of dismay. Before Yu Chen could celebrate his victory, he had to leap back, avoiding the counter attack of the other beetle as it flew towards him in rage.

A groan escaped his lips as he saw two more beetles dig themselves out of the ground. Clicking angrily, they joined in the attack.

The clash began anew, and Yu Chen no longer had time to think. The fight ebbed and flowed, the waves of battle drawing him and Cang Wuji close together, fighting back to back, before driving them apart as the tides shifted.

Yu Chen couldn’t help but admire Cang Wuji’s sharp battle instincts, noticing how the boy seized every opportunity to strike with precision. Adapting his approach, Yu Chen began changing his attacks to exploit Cang Wuji’s reach. He crafted openings, attacking in ways that would send his opponents off balance, and Cang Wuji would flow in, striking with his staff to capitalize on the subtle gaps Yu Chen had engineered.

It wasn’t a quick victory, but slowly, they managed to grind out their tough opponents.

Yu Chen was breathing heavily by the time the fight was over. There were close to ten of the large insects scattered across the clearing, leaking from their broken carapaces.

Cang Wuji stood nearby, panting as he leaned on his strange staff. It was an unusual piece. At first glance the staff gleamed the dark gray of iron, but Yu Chen had now seen the other boy put it through its motions, and knew it was no simple weapon.

Light had danced across its surface when Cang Wuji spun it around, illuminating subtle hues that reflected from deep within the staff itself. Hints of deep mahogany appeared, flashes of bright violet, and a trace of green the color of old forest growth.

Yu Chen didn’t know what metal it was made from, but the staff was undoubtedly a spiritual weapon of some sort. Strangely, he couldn’t sense any aura arising from the weapon. It was as though it didn’t possess any spirituality at all, although Yu Chen thought that an obvious lie.

Once they’d recovered somewhat the two boys began harvesting the spirit beast cores from the dead beetles before examining the area, searching for the source of the spiritual energy that covered the land. Usually, it was fairly easy to find the source of energy, one only had to find the point where it was densest.

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However, the spiritual energy throughout the surrounding area was quite uniform, only appearing a bit denser near the opening of the termite mounds. Yu Chen frowned, examining one. Could the source of the energy somehow be related to them?

“Over here!” Cang Wuji called.

Yu Chen left the mound alone for now, making his way over to the other boy. Cang Wuji was standing in a small clearing near the middle of the hives. He noticed the other boy had been digging, and the spiritual energy around the small hole was slightly thicker than elsewhere.

“It’s below the earth then?” Yu Chen said, immediately realizing what was going on.

“I believe so.” Cang Wuji confirmed. “The energy was too uniform, and there was no obvious source, so I imagined it must be leaking out of the ground. I started digging, and the energy in the air increased.”

Yu Chen nodded and hurried to join him. It didn’t take long before they’d dug a sizable hole into the earth.

The scent of rich spiritual energy grew stronger the deeper they went, until finally, they struck something with a metallic thunk. Both boys began working in excitement, flinging dirt out of the hole as they enlarged it, uncovering whatever it was that lay beneath the earth.

Yu Chen's movements came to a sudden halt, as a low hiss escaped through his teeth.

“Is that?” He asked, and his eyes contained a hint of fear as he looked towards Cang Wuji.

“I think it is.” The other boy said slowly, drawing out his words.

The two boys stood in silence before Yu Chen knelt, using his trembling fingers to dig out the smallest piece he could find. He was surprised to realize that he had to strain a bit to lift it, the object surprisingly hefty despite its size.

He felt a sense of awe as he looked at it, turning it over in his hand. Cang Wuji came closer, standing beside him as they stared at it together.

It was a fossilized piece of bone, emitting a shocking amount of spiritual energy.

Yu Chen carefully set it to the side for now, as the two boys returned to finish uncovering the skeleton. Once the entire thing was revealed, they just stood there, looking at it in trepidation. The spiritual energy emitted by the thing was obscene, many times greater than the energy well back in Yu Chen’s cavern.

The two had essentially uncovered a portable energy well, and a powerful one at that.

Realistically, that was probably the lowest benefit this skeleton offered. When it came to the bodies of powerful creatures there were innumerable benefits to be gained.

Yu Chen wasn’t knowledgeable enough to say what sort of spirit beast this had been, other than that it was a small four legged beast, roughly the size of a human.

Regardless, to emit this much energy in death it must have been quite fearsome alive, and Yu Chen looked around, a hint of worry in his eyes at the thought that another of the long dead creatures might be lurking somewhere nearby.

“Do you think this came from a stage three beast?” Cang Wuji asked hesitantly. “Or..”

The other boy didn’t want to say it and Yu Chen didn’t want to think about it.

Cultivation was a path that brought one closer towards the heavens, and the higher one climbed the starker the contrasts became. Even the differences between the small levels in a realm were astonishing. Yu Chen had personally experienced that when training with Jin Hua.

How much greater was the gap between full realms, such as Qi Condensation to Formation Establishment?

A stage three beast would be a calamity to the two boys, something greater was unthinkable.

Yu Chen had only managed to escape the stage two beast because it had been unwilling to leave its territory, determining that whatever secret it protected was more important than the revenge it sought.

A stage three?

Yu Chen let out a hopeless chuckle at the thought. A stage three spirit beast would be stronger than an elder of his sect, let alone….

Yu Chen banished the thought, refusing to entertain it.

The bones were a true spiritual treasure. Just the ambient energy they emitted had been enough to draw a group of stage one beasts to nest here. They were something even the elders in his sect would covet.

They could be crafted into a great weapon or armor, or even ground down and used for cultivation materials. If he wished to, he could just toss them in a pile on the floor and use them to ease his meditation along.

He suddenly didn’t feel safe with the amount of spiritual energy that was beginning to rise up around them. He urged Cang Wuji to hurry up and help him divide the spoils, before quickly fleeing the area.

Two days passed.

Scenes like this repeated themselves as the boys rampaged throughout the surrounding area, trampling over any spirit beasts they found and stealing their good fortune.

Yu Chen plundered the land without hesitation. The sect head had informed them that time flows differently here, and abundant resources were always available. Yu Chen realized how true that was. Despite taking everything he saw, he continued stumbling across new treasures as they went on their way.

The two boys also grew closer as they traveled.

Yu Chen saved Cang Wuji when he was nearly beheaded by a Crystalline Mantis, but that was a small price to pay for the Scarlet Bloom Lotuses they’d looted from the small pond it was guarding.

Yu Chen, on the other hand, had taken a solid hit from the tail of a Mireclaw, a large monitor lizard they’d encountered near the outskirts of the marsh, and only the quick intervention of Cang Wuji had saved him. They’d received some Moonroot Crystals in exchange.

Yu Chen became more appreciative of Cang Wuji’s martial arts as they fought, and he couldn’t help but think the other boy’s techniques were of a higher quality than his own.

The Condensing Fist was a good technique, with solid principles, and the Diamond Forms were on an even higher level. But Cang Wuji’s techniques possessed a spark of inspiration that his own lacked.

Not only that, he possessed two separate Martial Forms, a fist art and a staff art, and the two were complementary, and obviously designed to work together. Yu Chen had to admit, whoever the Tempest Sage was, the man possessed some good skills.

Yu Chen knew however, that no technique was as important as the man using it, and focused on improving his own skills. The countless skirmishes had a honing effect, and with someone at his back he could fight a bit more recklessly than he did when alone. That sort of fighting style was the one that fit him best after all.

Eventually, their third day in the secret realm came to a close as the two sought out a place to rest for the night.