Chapter 032: Earth-Shattering Revelations

Chapter 032: Earth-Shattering Blow

Zashi crouched beside the egg, both hands gently caressing its grey, bare surface, his face wreathed in smiles.

“Come, touch it!”

Lin Zhan stepped forward and reached out his hand, but before even making contact with the egg’s surface, he suddenly drew it back as if scalded.

“Huh, what’s wrong?” Zashi asked in confusion.

By all rights, Zashi’s curiosity about the beast egg was no less than his own, yet Lin Zhan’s reaction was beyond comprehension.

“I…” Lin Zhan recalled the spirit stone gate from his earlier talent assessment, the ice spirit flower whose essence he had “stolen” for ninety-nine years, and the spirit stone stalactites in the hero pool’s secret cave that had crumbled to dust at his touch.

If the nine-star diagram in his palm mistook the beast egg for another innocent source of spiritual power and began to draw it out, and if there truly was new life growing within, wouldn’t it be a disaster?

Zashi knew he had drained the essence from the ice spirit flower, but he didn’t know how Lin Zhan had done it. If he touched the beast egg and it ended up shattered on the ground because its spirit was sucked dry, there would be no way to explain it.

“I just think we’re running out of time; we’d best get it out quickly!” This wasn’t Lin Zhan feigning urgency—the situation was truly dire. The dark bats could return at any moment; who had the leisure to give the beast egg a gentle massage the way Zashi was doing?

“Let’s dig! Get the beast egg out of the glacier stone.” Zashi now held a pickaxe in his hand, clearly no ordinary tool.

The pickaxe struck the glacier stone, sending up sparks, but it was able to chip away small fragments bit by bit.

Lin Zhan kept a wary eye on the direction the dark bats had gone, constantly alert. The beast egg was as large as a millstone, and Zashi’s pace was a bit too slow.

Unable to bear it any longer, Lin Zhan signaled for Zashi to step aside and let him test the power of his Blazing Fist technique.

“Pah, overestimating yourself!” Zashi did indeed step away to rest, watching with a cold, amused look as though expecting to see a fool’s antics.

In his mind, not even he himself, let alone Lin Zhan, could muster the force required.

The beast egg was fused completely with the glacier stone, which formed the entire cave floor. Smashing it free with bare fists was unthinkable.

And yet, the result, though as expected, still left Zashi shaken: Lin Zhan’s fist didn’t shatter the glacier stone, but it did leave a fist-shaped imprint several inches deep in the ground!

“Wow, Lin Zhan, you’re a real monster!”

Lin Zhan had no time to acknowledge Zashi’s exclamation. He kept punching, targeting the glacier stone around the beast egg. Fist marks soon formed a neat circle around the egg.

He moved swiftly, steps light, raining down punch after punch as he circled the egg, each strike careful not to hit the egg itself.

The imprints grew deeper, gradually revealing the egg’s full shape. Now, it looked as though the beast egg rested atop a small, freestanding stone altar.

After more than a hundred punches, Lin Zhan’s spiritual reserves were nearly depleted.

Now, just a few more strikes would separate the beast egg from its stone pedestal.

Brother Yun—Zashi—watched in utter astonishment!

Time and again, Lin Zhan shattered his expectations. First, he’d proven indestructible, healing instantly from wounds. Then, his spiritual power had surged, inexplicably allowing him to reach the human rank and an unconventional foundation-building state—leaving Zashi with no choice but to admire him. The windlike, ethereal movement technique that followed had forced Zashi to truly reevaluate Lin Zhan’s progress. But this time, his explosive display of brute force, as overwhelming as a tidal wave, left Zashi completely at a loss.

Was this even human? In just a few days, he had grown so powerful.

“Snap out of it! Keep watch—don’t let the dark bats catch us unawares.” Just as Zashi was about to voice his amazement, Lin Zhan’s urgent reminder snapped him to attention, and he quickly steeled himself, focusing on vigilance.

The very next instant, the flapping of wings and the wailing of infants echoed from afar, rapidly drawing near.

Damn, the dark bats really were returning!

“Lin Zhan, hurry! If you can’t do it, leave the egg!” Zashi was frantic, hopping about and calling out, ready to retreat at a moment’s notice.

With a snarl, Lin Zhan unleashed another punch. At this critical moment, his strength surpassed anything he’d ever summoned.

Yet, the beast egg remained tightly fused to the glacier stone.

The bats’ commotion was now approaching the nearest passage. If they were surrounded, there would be no escape—death by drowning in their foaming saliva, with not even bones left behind.

Zashi broke out in a cold sweat, but he didn’t back down. After throwing over a hundred and sixty punches and draining his spiritual power, how could he resign himself to defeat now?

He thought of the two thousand contribution points, of the cultivation techniques he could finally claim, and gritted his teeth for one last effort.

“You go first—I’ll try one more time!”

For the first time, Lin Zhan showed real resolve and leadership in front of Zashi. Hearing his decisive words, Zashi didn’t argue, but quickly retreated to the safer exit on the opposite side, crouching there to watch Lin Zhan.

And so, he witnessed a scene he would never forget for as long as he lived.

The dark bats, like demons out of hell, swept in—a black tide filling the passage. Each gaping, fang-filled maw spewed suffocating jets of white liquid, and just a few yards ahead of this demonic horde, Lin Zhan threw his head back and roared, fist clenched, and brought it down with thunderous force as though channeling the fury of the heavens.

This punch left three afterimages!

It was as if the very stones of the earth had split—a force so fierce that even the onrushing bats seemed momentarily checked.

The segment of glacier stone binding the beast egg shattered with a deafening crash, and the intact egg tumbled clear.

Zashi, his own fists clenched, snapped back to his senses, shouting wildly, “Run! Run!”

Lin Zhan had no time to marvel at his feat. Instantly, he swept the beast egg into his storage ring, hunched down, and, with two desperate rolls, scrambled from the cave in the most undignified manner imaginable, tumbling and crawling as he fled, the monstrous, frothing jaws snapping at his heels.

Ahead lay the cave’s exit—a faint light now visible. Only when Lin Zhan and Zashi reached it did they finally stop, collapsing against the rock wall, grinning breathlessly at each other.

Only now did Lin Zhan fully recall that final punch.

With his spiritual power nearly exhausted, the dark bats closing in, and the frustration of nearly failing to claim the beast egg, the first star of the nine-star diagram in his body suddenly came alive. In that instant, all of its stored energy surged into his arm, swelling his fist, and unleashed a thunderous blow.

Lowering his gaze to his fist, Lin Zhan felt a deep sense of accomplishment. “So this is what true power feels like.”

Nine-Star Battle Sovereign: Official Reader Group ID 66862876