The Green Emperor was different from other cultivators.
Standing within the Bone-Corrosing Yin Wind, he actually wore an expression of comfort. Strangely enough, this Yin Wind could not penetrate his body. The Green Emperor had shed all his fur, and every single pore was tightly shut—he was essentially covered in a dogskin so sealed it was windproof. Even when the Yin Wind entered through his nose and mouth, it didn't cause him pain; on the contrary, it felt quite pleasant.
"What kind of damned dog is this, immune to the wind disaster?" From a distance, Hongye noticed the Green Emperor's relaxed demeanor and his face turned dark. He himself was struggling painfully in the Yin Wind, yet this mutt looked completely at ease. Did that mean... he wasn't even as good as a dog?
"How long will this wind disaster last? The Yin Wind corrodes true energy—I won't be able to hold on much longer!" someone roared angrily, their face red with strain.
In the black Yin Wind, all cultivators and their mounts were forced to halt. The wind blew from ahead, sweeping across the entire forest and enveloping the racetrack. There was no dodging it—this was a trial no one could escape.
This had nothing to do with luck anymore. It was a pure test of true strength.
This was the World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament, where there was no room for impostors. All previous purges were child's play compared to this. The Wind Disaster—this was the first true purge. No one without genuine strength would be allowed to stand atop the world.
"Damn, I can't hold on anymore!" A cultivator with insufficient strength couldn't even withstand the Yin Wind. Not even at the first level of the Divine Spring Realm, he couldn't project his true energy externally to form a protective qi barrier. The wind drilled into his pores and entered his flesh, corroding it, sapping away his vitality. His internal energy collapsed. With a final, unwilling roar, his body turned to light and vanished.
There were countless such cultivators.
Among the western warriors, a massive number vanished into white light.
Western Battle Qi could also be released externally, forming a black-iron aura around the body. In the Divine Sea Realm, this black-iron hue was characteristic. While different techniques might tint it with other colors, black-iron remained dominant. As such, Divine Sea warriors were often referred to as Black Iron-class Powerhouses.
Battle Qi, though fierce, lacked the endurance of true energy. Many weaker western warriors had their auras completely corroded by the Yin Wind and were eliminated en masse, vanishing into white light.
It was a harrowing sight.
Some cultivators, however, wielded rare treasures capable of keeping the Yin Wind at bay.
For instance, a knight riding a Sword Dragon and wielding a Golden Scale Shield released a golden radiance that enveloped both himself and his mount. The Yin Wind couldn't pierce the shield's defense.
Such treasures were not uncommon.
Even if one's own strength was lacking, possessing a powerful artifact allowed them to stand unshaken amidst the wind.
"What the hell—this wind is making me grow fur! More! Grow more!"The Green Emperor suddenly looked at his limbs with excitement.
Green fur began rapidly sprouting on his paws—especially the left front paw, where the growth was visible to the naked eye. The Bone-Corrosing Yin Wind was drilling into this leg, and the more it entered, the faster the fur grew.
Like spring weeds, it spread wildly.
Soon, the entire leg was covered in green fur. The other three limbs had a bit more fur too, but nowhere near as much.
The Green Emperor burst into a toothy grin, his eyes squinting with joy. This was great! He had longed for his fur to return. Even after devouring spirit stones, the growth was slow—nothing like this.
Even better, the Yin Wind seemed to be settling inside his leg, as if making a home there, growing more intense over time. The more wind, the more fur.
One entire leg had turned vibrant green, while the rest remained bald. It looked absurd, but the Green Emperor didn't care—he was drunk on power.
"Ha! I, the Green Emperor, am truly a born ruler! This is the great fortune humans talk about! I'm about to rise! That golden-furred bastard won't be able to run next time!"He narrowed his eyes in glee.
The green fur fluttered in the wind, radiating a potent energy. He could feel an enormous strength within the limb.
"The Green Emperor seems to have gained a huge benefit. One leg fully covered in green fur... His power of misfortune will likely grow even stronger."
Yi Tianxing had already noticed the change.
He had long suspected that the Green Emperor possessed an extraordinary force of misfortune, and the more fur he grew, the stronger this force became. That much was certain from observation.
Now, with a whole leg furred, the misfortune must have intensified.
"Could this Yin Wind actually be a blessing in disguise, containing some incredible opportunity?"
Yi Tianxing pondered. The danger of the Yin Wind was obvious—it was deadly. But the Green Emperor had clearly benefited.
"Try it. As the ancients said: fortune and misfortune are intertwined. Great danger always hides great opportunity. This Wind Disaster, terrifying as it is, might just be a path to advancement."
There were many powerful contestants in this tournament. Each was a genius in their own right. Especially Xiang Yu, with his innate Dual Pupils, was terrifying. If Yi Tianxing had a chance to grow stronger, he wouldn't let it slip away.
After a moment's contemplation, he made a decision.
"Wealth comes from risk."And in this secret realm, even death was not final. At worst, he would lose the opportunity; at best, he could obtain an unimaginable fortune.
But he didn't rush in blindly.
With a thought, he deactivated his armor, exposing his body directly to the Bone-Corrosing Yin Wind.
The moment the armor vanished, the Yin Wind struck his skin. A bone-chilling cold surged into his mind as it drilled into his pores, invading his flesh.
Then, with another thought, the armor reappeared and sealed him off from the outside. But the wind that had already entered remained.
"Such terrifying Yin Wind…"
Yi Tianxing could feel the wind coursing through his blood and flesh, sapping vitality. But unlike normal cultivators, he was also a Body Refiner. His body had undergone extreme tempering, his flesh was tough as stone.
His blood surged with vitality.
If others' bodies were mere soil, his was solid rock—even the Yin Wind couldn't shake it. Instead, it made his blood churn, loosening the tension in his muscles.
It even reached his bones and meridians, softening them unnaturally, trying to grind them down to powder.
But it lacked the strength to fully destroy them.
"So that's how it is…"
He moved his arm—it twisted and stretched like dough, adopting impossible shapes.
"The Yin Wind can't harm me—but it can expel the impurities from my body. This is the perfect body-tempering method! If I refine myself in this wind, my physical cultivation might soar immediately!"
Indeed, it was scraping out impurities from his flesh, bones, meridians, even his organs—things that regular training, even true energy and blood, couldn't completely cleanse.
This was a genuine rebirth, a true cleansing of muscles and marrow.
The opportunity was immense.
And the Yin Wind held boundless potential for body refiners.
"Let's try the Vajra Dragon Elephant Technique. It's a body-refining art, but requires vast amounts of natural energy or true energy. What if this Yin Wind could serve as a substitute?"
He could feel a massive vitality within the Yin Wind—it had been stolen from nature and cultivators alike. If he could harness it…
With a shout, he began the visualization.
What he visualized was a colossal Vajra Dragon Elephant.