Martial Ascent to Divinity-Chapter 616 - 596: Demon Armor

Crack... Boom...

The Gates of Hell exploded open.

The Embroidered Fist advanced again, piercing through the glow of the Gao Tian Demon Armor.

The fist’s momentum landed on the body of the Four-Cornered Star for the first time.

With a peculiar muffled sound, the armor around the Four-Cornered Star caved in, multiple protective Demon Artifacts were shattered, and its entire demonic form was sent flying backward.

Mages, the magic within heaven and earth.

Martial Artists, embody heaven and earth.

When the enemy is near, victory is mine.

As the Four-Cornered Star was sent flying backward, it was horrified to see from the corner of its eye that Zhou Leng, as if taking a leisurely stroll after a meal, was always by its side.

Their eyes met.

Zhou Leng threw another punch, a grand painting unfurled, bursting through the picture, the embroidery enveloped him.

Boom!

The Four-Cornered Star was once again sent flying through the air.

It used every means possible, but under the terrifying suppression of the fists, its Spiritual Power was shaken, rendering it incapable of casting spells.

It could only rely on the prepared defenses to hold out.

"There must still be a chance..."

The third punch, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, the seventh...

Under the night, a demonic shadow was continuously sent flying, while a person always remained at the side of the shadow, and as soon as the shadow was about to hit the ground, a punch would be leveraged, sending it flying once more.

Finally, Zhou Leng smashed down with a punch from above.

The red Mountains and Rivers, smashed into the Demon.

The Four-Cornered Star crashed into the ground, creating a large crack with a diameter of over ten meters, its body buried three meters deep, almost completely covered by soil.

It let out a light sigh and closed its eyes.

What a pity, unable to send the message in time...

Crack, crack...

The Lower-Rank Grandmaster, the Four-sided Duke, shattered like crumbling stones.

The evening breeze drifted, fanning the flaming fists near Zhou Leng.

Looking around, the night sky was vast, the earth was silent.

Fifty thousand Blazing Fire, seven segments of the Embroidered Fist.

The first battle of the Grandmaster had concluded.

Then, Zhou Leng searched for the Magic Spirit Bag and collected the Demon Artifacts.

A full four Legend-level Demon Artifacts, none were damaged, only two had exhausted their power.

Zhou Leng gazed upon the Gao Tian Demon Armor.

An armor crafted entirely from dragon bones, towering at a full two meters.

This thing was far stronger than imagined.

The intended target of the Gao Tian Demon Armor’s protection was originally various spells, its capability to defend against physical attacks was relatively weak.

Against the East Wind Fist, it was useless.

This Demon Artifact was quite famous because it required no extra activation or wearing; it could be used as long as any mana-driven Magic Artifact was employed.

Zhou Leng had several Mana Hands at his disposal, specifically to drive Demon Spirit Artifacts.

He stored the other three Demon Artifacts and picked up the Gao Tian Demon Armor, placing it in the Magic Spirit Bag along with the High-Energy Crystal Stones to absorb power on its own.

When encountering a mage attack in the future, it can be released.

Zhou Leng glanced down, his clothes in tatters, the exposed skin a yellowish hue.

Thinking to himself, the Four-Cornered Star was indeed very strong; burning for three more days and nights, the skin would definitely not hold up.

Relying on a strong Martial Arts Will and the remnants of the fist’s momentum, Zhou Leng supported his body to gather the spoils, rushed into a dense forest, drove the Earth Chariot chaotically underground, and finally hid several hundred meters deep.

After swallowing a substantial amount of Radiant Juice, Ancient Tree Fossils, and other pills, he closed his eyes, gradually falling asleep.

In fact, the deductions of the Four-Cornered Star weren’t entirely wrong; Zhou Leng’s body had indeed reached its limit.

But the Martial Arts Will had not yet reached its limit.

Waking up, Zhou Leng felt a slight soreness all over.

This sensation was akin to a day of high-intensity training back in school.

Feeling animated.

In his mind, scenes of yesterday’s battle kept flashing, coupled with the continuous repetition of newfound insights.

These insights were invaluable, the kind that could never be obtained by merely training behind closed doors.

Zhou Leng constantly sorted his memories and then ascended to the surface, seeing no danger, he slowly practiced the East Wind Fist on the spot.

With precision and accuracy, the feeling was completely different than before.

This time, even without actual combat, an indistinct fist’s momentum emerged.

The East Wind Fist was formally mastered.

After cultivation, he continued to dig for Ancient Tree Fossils. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

He was now deep in the old fertile land, where the total amount of Ancient Tree Fossils was increasing.

Whenever a substantial amount was accumulated, he would consume a large quantity and cultivate the Star Phoenix Rejuvenation Technique.

Simultaneously, the starlight within his body continuously washed over him, and before long, he would complete a Star Form Transformation, equivalent to a Qi Transformation of the Whole Body.

By then, he would be able to advance to Lower-Rank Grandmaster.

However, Zhou Leng felt that the Star Form Transformation seemed to be a bit more abnormal than the Qi Transformation of the Whole Body, just a tiny bit.

As for the Demon invasion, with such a large scale, the Tree-men surely knew, so there was no need for him to worry.

But why would they attack the old fertile land?

"Could it be that the Celestial Calamity Envoy’s target is the Mother Tree?"

Zhou Leng knew he didn’t have the ability to fight a two-world war at the moment, so he concentrated on searching for Ancient Tree Fossils.

Three days later, he encountered another Grandmaster Army.

Zhou Leng, having tasted the sweetness of practicing punches on myriad demons, charged straight into the Demon Army without a word.

The army of over a hundred thousand demons was startled, but soon, the demons laughed and swarmed to encircle and slaughter.

After a while, they couldn’t laugh anymore.

What frustrated the demon mages most was that this damn Martial Artist had the Gao Tian Demon Armor hovering above him, specifically suppressing casters.

He fought from noon until deep into the night.

In the end, Zhou Leng killed three newly promoted Demon Grandmasters.

This army had no Lower-Rank Grandmasters.

In this battle, the Blazing Fire Fist couldn’t accumulate fifty thousand momentum, but it did accumulate thirty thousand, which was not bad.

Zhou Leng felt that his understanding of the Blazing Fire Fist hadn’t reached its peak and decided to continue his cultivation.

Once he fully mastered this move, he’d specialize in other techniques; after all, that’s how Saint Zhao taught him.

After mining for ores for two days, he encountered a new pure giant insect army.

Their numbers reached a staggering 300,000, far exceeding the previous encounter.

However, the majority were beneath Innate rank.

Additionally, there were two lower-rank grandmasters of giant insects.

Zhou Leng had grown over these past days, his eyes glowing as he charged into the giant insect army.

Unlike before, his Wind and Fire Ravages were now equivalent to Minor Achievement.

No need to accumulate kills; with a mere gesture, his fist exuded power, stars flickering into ascendancy.

After a day of slaughter, only a small portion of the giant insect army remained.

The two lower-rank grandmasters finally grew agitated and jointly attacked Zhou Leng.

Unlike Demons who mostly relied on spells, these two massive beetles were akin to land battleships, brimming with wild power, charging about fearlessly in battle.

Martial artists often found themselves helpless against them.

The giant insect’s exoskeleton was thick and hard, incomparable to Demons in durability.

With fists connecting viciously, after an hour, Zhou Leng felt it was enough and went all out, killing one of the lower-rank grandmasters.

Seeing the unfavorable situation, the other lower-rank grandmaster led the frightened insect army in a retreat.

Unpleased, Zhou Leng pursued them relentlessly.

A new giant insect army came to rescue, plunging him into an insect sea once more.

Fearless amidst danger, Zhou Leng fought a bloody battle.

Soon after, a third giant insect army emerged.

Zhou Leng remained standing proudly in the insect sea.

Fourth, fifth...

One giant insect army after another assembled successively.

Zhou Leng battled for two days and nights straight, slaughtering 600,000 to 700,000 giant insects, killing five grandmasters of giant insects, finally feeling his body reach its limit, he turned to retreat.

The giant insect army numbering a million contemplated intensely, not daring to pursue.

After a sleep to restore vitality, having mined some Ancient Tree Fossils, Zhou Leng staged a comeback, tracing the giant insect army’s trail back.

The second battle of a million giant insects began.

Unlike the Demon army which was lazy in rescuing each other, the giant insect army was more cooperative.

As soon as losses reached a certain level, nearby insects would come in reinforcement.

Endless, utterly endless.

This time, it hadn’t even been two days and nights when he sensed two middle-rank grandmasters of giant insects sneaking in.

Zhou Leng dashed away at full speed.

Before Star Physique Transformation was completed, not a single piece of star energy should be wasted.

Once Star Physique Transformation was done, and he elevated to lower-rank grandmaster, then... middle-rank grandmasters wouldn’t even be worth consuming star energy for.

Resting, mining, battling the Demon Alliance army began its repeated cycle.

Occasionally encountering beastman armies, Zhou Leng became even more thrilled, not allowing a single one to escape.

The Old Fertile Grounds turned into Zhou Leng’s happy garden.

Demons, giant insects, and beastman armies found it strange that even upper-ranking or grandmaster-level individuals considered capturing and assassinating that human martial artist, yet the Celestial Calamity Envoy forbade any demon exceeding middle-rank grandmaster from making a move.

The middle-rank grandmasters tried a few times, but couldn’t catch up to Zhou Leng at all.

He ran faster than even a rabbit.

Zhou Leng found amusement throughout the Tree-man World amusement park while the sixteen family grandmasters’ Life and Death Platform gradually brewed.

Although both sides were suppressing the news, many influential powers still got wind of it.

Several grandmasters and some Innate individuals began converging on Rucheng and Shuizhou Demon City.

The Life and Death Platform’s site was set near the Celestial Ladder’s joint exam venue from years past.

In a public cemetery.

Gao Tianfeng, dressed in black, arms in mourning bands.

Kneeling before the tombstone of her brother Gao Tianlong’s memorial grave without a corpse, she lowered her head three times.

"Brother, the matter with Zhao Cong has been taken care of. Next up, little sister can avenge you now."

"I don’t know who harmed you; there’s not a shred of evidence."

"But your vengeance cannot go unfulfilled."

"Then let’s kill everyone who offended and was offended by you this past year."

Gao Tianfeng’s eyes suddenly transformed into the Demon’s golden pupils, taking out a shriveled meat jerky, the size of a fist-shaped bean, from her Magic Spirit Bag, and cramming it into her mouth.

As she chewed, her round puffed up cheeks undulated slowly, seemingly containing a curled serpent.

A faint stench dispersed from her mouth.

Fruit of Magic Bag Flower, the Magic Bag Beans.

Her gaze was icy, recalling the scene at the mining site.

By the time she arrived, the building was in ashes.

Her brother’s remains had nothing left, not even the ashes.

Only some construction debris was scraped together into the urn.

Gao Tianfeng returned to Rucheng, leveraging Zhao Family and Demon Worship Sect’s resources to compile a list overnight.

Starting with forces not strong and those beneath grandmaster rank, totaling twenty-four families.

Then detailing out the three-generations of family members from these families.

Personally sorting it out, issued a pursuit order under Demon Worship Sect’s banner, with adequate bounty.

Afterwards, she reviewed those with substantial power or individual prowess.

She quickly frowned.

There seemed to be quite a few.

Many people, not only her, but even Zhao Cong wouldn’t dare to stir recklessly.

Upon consideration, she knew it was impossible to eradicate entire families; she’d have to settle for individuals.

Soon, her gaze fell on a name.

Zhou Leng.

This once renowned name now occasionally sparked local discussions.

On the internet, two factions persisted in entanglement till today.

One faction consisted of Demon Worship Sect and its followers, tirelessly disseminating rumors of Zhou Leng, casting dirt, mocking, and fabricating evidence.

The other faction consisted of Zhou Leng supporters, including joint exam students of eighteen schools, righteous netizens, and those previously deceived by media who rebelled in response.

Gao Tianfeng’s brows furrowed deeply.

Zhou Leng possessed no real authority, nor any martial arts prowess left, but his identity and status pressured the sixteen families to abandon vendetta.

Yet, suspiciously, Zhou Leng and the force backing him appeared the most suspect.