Nine Star Hegemon Body Arts

Chapter 5222 Stronger States

As soon as the disciples who hadn’t participated in the battle stepped out of the barrier, they collapsed. Even the residual pressure from the battlefield was something they couldn’t bear. After all, their wills were too weak, and the overwhelming terror magnified the pressure, making it unbearable for them.

This pressure wasn’t life-threatening and served as a trial to test their resolve. For those who had never experienced the brutality of true combat, this was a rare opportunity for growth.

Long Chen had only instructed these disciples to go out to clean the battlefield, but almost everyone else from the first branch academy walked out, including Lu Chengkong.

Although he was a Human Emperor, the oppressive aura of the battlefield made him cower, causing his soul to ache. He sighed inwardly, feeling like the weakest Human Emperor in the world. Despite his fear, he joined the others in cleaning the battlefield.

When the disciples saw Lu Chengkong, most of their anger faded away. Instead of complaining, they worked harder to stay standing under this pressure.

Lu Chengkong looked at them and said, “Children, don’t be resentful. Dean Long Chen has given you a huge opportunity. If you are unwilling to be a useless person, seize this chance. The academy may have wasted years of your life, but Dean Long Chen is giving you a chance to change your fate. This may be your only opportunity. Those who grasp it will become completely different people in the future!”

Though the disciples didn’t fully understand Lu Chengkong’s words, they gritted their teeth and continued to move under the crushing pressure.

The battlefield was strewn with broken limbs, and the overwhelming stench of blood caused many disciples to retch. Yet, they persevered. If this had been during Lu Chengkong’s era as dean, some might have used their family connections to shirk such work. But in front of Long Chen, those tricks were useless.

Despite the intense pain in their souls and the heaviness in their bodies, the disciples started to clear the battlefield. Just touching the corpses of powerful experts was enough to cause a reaction, sending their blood into turmoil, but they pressed on.

Within the barrier, Long Chen and the Dragonblood warriors were circulating their energy to heal. When Long Chen examined himself, he noticed his meridians were riddled with holes.

“When did my meridians get this damaged? How did I not notice?” he wondered.

Seeing the Earth Cauldron and Evilmoon remained silent, Long Chen directly asked the Earth Cauldron, “Senior, what happened?”

The Earth Cauldron replied, “You should ask Evilmoon.”

“Cough, well... truthfully... maybe...” Evilmoon started to stumble over its words.

“Just tell me the truth!” demanded Long Chen.

“Well, it’s my fault. I unsealed my first state, but we weren’t used to it so there was some friction that impacted your meridians. But it’s not all my fault! Using my power only caused a slight injury to your meridians! Your clash with the Sovereign jade was what resulted in your injury becoming so severe!” said Evilmoon.

“Of course, if your meridians hadn’t been shaken before that, the damage from clashing against the Sovereign jade wouldn’t have been so severe,” added the Earth Cauldron.

“You talk too much!” Evilmoon snapped.

Long Chen finally understood. Evilmoon’s power wasn’t so easy to use, especially not on the first try. Evilmoon had likely unleashed its technique without considering whether Long Chen’s meridians could handle it. The “slight injury” it mentioned was actually quite significant, which was exacerbated when Long Chen clashed against the Sovereign jade.

That was why both the Earth Cauldron and Evilmoon had urged him to stop when he prepared to attack the Brahma Divine Diagram. If he had unleashed that attack, the backlash from the Brahma Divine Diagram’s faith energy would have completely destroyed his meridians.

“Although I did suffer a slight injury, Evilmoon, your divine ability was really powerful. It was all thanks to you this time,” Long Chen said, knowing how to flatter Evilmoon.

“But of course. I’m not like some people who just eat and don’t do any work. They just get fed and grow fat off of other people’s labor while doing nothing when it counts,” Evilmoon responded smugly, throwing a jab at the Earth Cauldron.

The Earth Cauldron simply ignored Evilmoon’s taunts, showing steadier character than Evilmoon.

“Long Chen, let me tell you, Waning Moon Shakes Heaven and Earth is the first state I unlocked. There are even stronger states to come. This first state alone comes with many new techniques. The ones we used earlier were just the simplest moves. There are several more powerful ones that I’ve only just started to grasp, so I don’t dare let you use them yet,” said Evilmoon excitedly.

“There are stronger ones?!” Long Chen jumped in shock.

It was already astonishing that the two techniques Evilmoon unleashed had such power. If there were even stronger ones...

“Of course. Those two techniques only activated twenty to thirty percent of my power. Since we haven’t fully tested it, I only dared to use this much. Hurry up and recover, then we’ll test these new moves. When the time comes, hehe, we really will be able to kill even gods,” chuckled Evilmoon.

Long Chen’s excitement grew, and he quickly consumed medicinal pills while channeling the primal chaos space’s energy to heal.

Six hours later, Long Chen’s meridians had started healing. The holes in them had shrunk, and his condition was no longer so frightening. However, he found that he had exhausted the dense life energy within the primal chaos space.

If he continued to absorb, he would be extracting the energy of the Fusang Trees and the Moon Trees. The Fusang Trees were nourishing the Golden Crows, and extracting their energy would also be detrimental to the growth of the Golden Crows.

Long Chen stepped out of the barrier and was greeted by piles of corpses as large as mountains—dragons, blood devils, greater demons, and more.

Only races with naturally tough bodies had left behind corpses; weaker lifeforms had been obliterated. Delighted by the sight, Long Chen tossed these terrifying half-step Human Emperor corpses into the primal chaos space, where they practically buried the black soil.

As the black soil started to devour these corpses, life energy surged into the primal chaos space, instantly revitalizing Long Chen. He continued to heal.

After another six hours, his meridians were fully restored. Though he had not fully recovered, he could no longer wait.

“Show me your power, Evilmoon!”