Chapter 564: Chapter 265: The Unshakable Number One, The Emperor Dragon Awakens (Seeking Monthly Votes)

As Jack Clark returned home, deep within the Cloud Mist Mountain Range of the Southern Variant Beast Battlefield.

Roar!

A Unique Beast, 24 meters in length, resembling a mix of a giant bear and a sloth, covered in gray scale armor, let out a ferocious roar.

The massive Unique Beast moved swift as the wind, its claws enveloped in gray radiance; with each strike, heavy as a mountain, the ground shattered, and stones exploded.

Its opponent was Howard Lambert, standing 3.5 meters tall, clad in ferocious battle armor.

At this moment, Howard’s body blurred with a mist of blood, behind which a ferocious blood-red phantom faintly materialized.

In his hands, he carried a 5-meter long, as thick as a woman’s waist, red iron column; each swing created a massive white wave, the sound of thunder, impressive and arresting.

In the two months since Jack had left, Howard had gone through nine near-death heavy injuries. Nine physical reconstitutions, along with official cultivation resources, had allowed him to break through to the mid-stage of Fifth Layer Heaven.

Moreover, as his cultivation soared, the strength of his Bull Devil Battle Body grew increasingly powerful; even achieving the threshold of Battle Intent after countless desperate battles on the brink of madness.

At this time, with the power of his king-level bloodline and Bull Devil Battle Body activated, Howard was matching a Unique Beast at the mid-stage of Sixth Heaven without falling behind.

Of course, this wasn’t a head-on confrontation.

Instead, he moved like a red demon shadow around the Unique Beast, continuously attacking its underbelly, limbs, and eyes – its weak points.

After all, he wasn’t the monster that Jack was; facing a Mutated Beast meant actually holding a War Halberd and striking head-on, blasting more massive, higher-level beasts with Unrivaled Domineering Power.

Now, with the attribute of annihilating Bull Demon True Strength, the external energy defense of the Mutated Beast kept collapsing, forcing it to depend on its tough physique to withstand the attacks.

And the Unique Beast’s attacks were also terrifying; an occasional strike on Howard would send him reeling from the horrifying power, shaking his True Strength and tearing his muscles.

However, the more Howard got injured, the more frenzied and fierce his aura became, and his strength grew even stronger.

The battle lasted about an hour, almost leveling half of the mountainside before the Unique Beast, unable to find an intact spot on its body, let out a mournful cry and collapsed with a thud.

Huff, huff, huff, huff!!

Howard leaned on the Steel Pillar, gasping for air, as a thick mist of blood-red blood enveloped him; his body and armor shrunk back down, slowly recovering to just over 2 meters.

It wasn’t until then that Jane Aiken, standing on a tree trunk with her long hair cascading over her shoulders and an aura of exceptionality, said indifferently, “At this rate, you’re bound to die on the road one day.”

Time and again, challenging stronger Mutated Creatures, leveraging battles of life and death to breakthrough limits for rapid growth.

It sounds cool and fierce, but it actually goes against the principle of moderation in cultivation, too rigid to sustain, and one might just die to a stronger Unique Beast one day.

“Without madness, how can one reach the summit?” Looking at the exceptional girl standing atop the tree, Howard’s eyes were resolute, yet tinged with madness.

One Jack Clark was enough, but this girl was incredibly abnormal as well.

Since her breakthrough into Fourth Layer Heaven, her cultivation had soared like a rocket, comprehending the Four Great Sword Intentions and breaking into the early stages of Sixth Heaven.

Under the epiphany state, as the Heavenly Energy gathered, her cultivation speed became ten or dozens of times faster than usual, almost reaching one Layer Heaven each month — truly monstrous.

Her combat strength was even more exaggerated: with the combined Four Sword Intentions, she annihilated everything, unmatched in offense.

The one previously second on the Achievement List, Jasper Forbes, who had just broken through into the early stages of Sixth Heaven, conceded after taking a single light injury from her strike, shocking the entire Southern Battlefield.

With this battle, Jane Aiken directly became the second on the Achievement List, only below the abnormal Jack.

Meanwhile, on another branch, Justin Welan wielded a battle shield, with True Strength emanating from his body, responding to the Extraordinary Battle Shield and forming a Mysterious Martial Phantom of a tortoise, 3 meters tall and 4 meters wide.

Surrounded by five Level 5 Alien Beasts and over a dozen Level 4 alien beasts, which continued to roar and launch frenzied attacks, the Mysterious Martial Phantom shook violently.

But these beasts’ onslaughts couldn’t shake Justin, who, embodying the Mysterious Martial and connected with the Earth’s Aura, was unyielding in defense.

And with the continuous attacks of these beasts, his Aura grew stronger, the Mysterious Martial Phantom became clearer, and its surface began forming a Third Layer of armor.

This was the cultivation path laid out for him: changing his physique with Mysterious Yellow Earth Essence, a second transformation in Fourth Layer Heaven, combined with Defense Cultivation Methods and exclusive resources – an invincible defense route.

The stronger the attacks he received, the greater the counterforce, the faster his cultivation speed.

This approach was somewhat similar to Howard’s Bull Devil Battle Body but more secure, with survival as the top priority.

During this period of absorbing various high-level resources and enduring continuous attacks in harsh cultivation, Justin had also broken through to the peak of Fourth Layer Heaven, gradually nearing Fifth Layer Heaven.

“Not enough, still not enough. I need to reach at least Fifth Layer Heaven to go there. Keep pushing!”

Roar! Following Justin’s furious roar, the Mysterious Martial Phantom, originally just for defense, burst with radiance, and several illusory black python heads roared mightily.

Boom, boom, boom!!

Three Level 4 alien beasts had their heads instantly blasted by the encircling serpents, and the intense stench of blood stirred the other beasts into greater frenzy.

Under the intangible pressure brought by the monstrous Jack, the atmosphere for cultivation at South Sky Martial Academy, and even through the entire Southern Battlefield, had gone mad.

However, as time passed, the gap between the top talents of South Sky Martial became ever wider.

Take Jane Aiken for instance, who from the beginning had left others in the dust. After finding her own “path” through Ilisa Zabel’s guidance, she showed off a crushing dominance.

And Howard, relying on his talent for Innate Divine Strength and absorbing king-level Essence Blood again and again, strengthening his Bull Devil Battle Body and making death-defying breakthroughs, was barely keeping up just behind her.