68: Chapter 68 Qi Refining Level 5

The essence blood contained wisps of fire-attribute Yao Beast power. As it surged into his Meridians, it felt like a pot of boiling molten iron, pouring from his palm into his forearm, from his forearm into his shoulder, and from his shoulder into his chest.

A flush of crimson red instantly surfaced on the skin of his entire arm, spreading upwards along his veins, extending from the web between his thumb and index finger to his elbow, and then from his elbow to his shoulder.

The dark golden vortex in his Dantian jolted violently.

This jolt was far more intense than when he absorbed the Rock Boar—the Red Fire Fox was a Late Stage of Qi Refining Yao Beast, and the power of the blood essence combined with the fire-attribute Yao Beast power within it created an impact almost equivalent to swallowing a Tier 1 High Grade potent Medicinal Pill.

The vortex spun madly within his Dantian, stripping away, devouring, and converting the thick Yao Beast essence blood layer by layer.

The fire-attribute Yao Beast power collided with the cold spiritual power of the Bloodthirsty Demon Scripture at the center of the vortex, splashing out ripples of dark gold.

That barrier—under the impact of the Late Stage of Qi Refining essence blood—suddenly shattered.

It did not shatter with a boom. It was a silent penetration.

The moment the barrier shattered, the vortex expanded rapidly by a circle, then slowly stretched out.

Its color gradually changed from dark gold to a deeper dark gold, faintly emitting a very pale purple halo.

The rotation speed of the vortex was at least twenty percent faster than before the Breakthrough, and the total amount of spiritual power was climbing at a perceptible rate.

After his cultivation reached Qi Refining Stage 5, it continued to climb.

The amount of essence blood from the Red Fire Fox was too vast; the fire-attribute Yao Beast power contained within the essence blood was continuously stripped and converted by the vortex, piling up his spiritual power bit by bit.

Only when he reached the Middle Stage of Stage 5 did the vortex's expansion speed slowly stop, returning to a steady rotation.

He withdrew his hand and stood up.

The dark gold and purple vortex in his Dantian rotated steadily; his total spiritual power had increased by at least fifty percent compared to when he was at the Perfection of Stage 4.

The range of his Divine Sense perception had also increased to over seven zhang.

He looked down at the corpse of the Red Fire Fox.

This Late Stage of Qi Refining fire-attribute Yao Beast had left behind another precious Material besides its essence blood—its fur.

The Red Fire Fox primarily used fire-attribute Spells, and its fur had a natural affinity for fire spiritual power, making it an excellent Material for refining fire-attribute defensive gear and talisman paper.

That crimson red fur, although partially scorched by the Li Fire Killing Array, remained mostly intact over a large area.

He drew his Flying Sword and, starting from the lower jaw of the fox corpse, sliced downward along the midline of its abdomen.

The blade made a soft hissing sound as it cut into the fox hide, and the subcutaneous fat layer revealed a white cross-section as the blade passed.

His movements were fast and steady—he had done this skinning work many times in his past life, having skinned everything from Tier 1 Yao Beasts to Tier 3 Yao Beasts.

When the Flying Sword peeled under the fox hide, it moved almost flush against the muscle fascia, with every stroke perfectly slicing through the connective tissue between skin and flesh.

By the time he had finished skinning the fox and placed the hide into his Storage Pouch, it was completely dark.

The moon rose from the eastern ridge, and the moonlight shone onto the cliff, illuminating the old pine tree behind him—which had been more than half scorched—making it look deathly pale.

He crouched at the edge of the cliff and looked down.

The stream bed at the bottom of the cliff glimmered with a grayish-white light under the moonlight; the dry pebbles formed a winding gray ribbon that extended westward into a dense, dark forest.

He pulled the beast-hide map from his bosom and spread it out on his knees.

The direction of the Manghuang Mountains marked on the map was still just an outline, but based on his travel speed over the past ten days or so, he estimated that he had already entered the transition zone between the outer perimeter and the middle layer of the mountain range.

The further he went, the higher the density of Yao Beasts would be, and the higher their grade would be.

Late Stage of Qi Refining Yao Beasts like the Golden-Eyed Leopard would become increasingly common, and he might even encounter Yao Beasts at the Perfection of Qi Refining.

His finger tapped on the map; he then put the map away, found a rock crevice, set up the Li Fire Killing Array, and sat down cross-legged.

The night wind blew across the top of the cliff, making the pine forest rustle. A long, drawn-out wolf howl echoed from the deep mountains in the distance, followed by a few more, rising and falling in succession, before falling silent.

The twentieth day, afternoon.

Jiang Yan crouched behind a boulder as tall as two people on the edge of the valley, his back leaning against the rough stone surface.

The stone had been baked hot by the sun, and he could feel the heat even through his clothes.

He used his fingers to pull his hood forward, blocking the sunlight leaking in from the side.

Before stepping out of the dense forest, he had smelled moisture.

It was not the putrid humidity of a swamp, but clean moisture carrying the sweet, fishy scent of green grass, mixed with the unique, parched fragrance of soil after being baked through by the sun.

Staying in the dense forest for too long would dull one's nose, but as soon as this scent entered his nasal cavity, he knew there was an open body of water ahead.

Sure enough, as he pushed aside the last cluster of bushes, the view before him suddenly opened up.

This was a valley surrounded by mountains. It was dozens of miles long and wide, and the terrain was so flat it looked as if some giant object had flattened it with a single palm.

A stream meandered through the center of the valley, the water glistening like broken silver under the afternoon sun, dazzling enough to make one squint.

Both banks of the stream were covered in tender, half-person-high grass with thick, juicy blades. Whenever the wind blew, layers of green waves would ripple across, pushing from one end of the valley to the other, only stopping when they reached the foot of the mountains.

The air was filled with the sweet, fishy scent of green grass heated by the sun, feeling moist when inhaled into the lungs.

But Jiang Yan's gaze was not on the scenery.

Silver-Horned Rhino. There were Silver-Horned Rhinos everywhere.

The nearest one was just a hundred paces away.

It was over two zhang long, over a zhang high at the shoulder, and its four legs were thicker than palace pillars, with its hooves sinking half a foot deep into the soft mud by the stream.

Its body was covered in thick, blue-gray hide, with dried mud caked in the folds, cracked into chunks that fell off in flakes with its movements.

The most eye-catching feature was the silver-white horn above its nose bridge—the horn was nearly three chi long, as thick as a bowl at the base, and the tip was as sharp as a freshly sharpened awl, gleaming with a cold, metallic light under the sun.

The rhino was lowering its head to graze on the tender grass by the stream, its broad lips pushing forward along the ground like a shovel; wherever it passed, the turf was grazed neatly, as if harvested by a sickle.

It chewed the grass in its mouth, making a crunching sound, with green grass juice overflowing from the corners of its mouth and dripping onto the muddy ground down its chin.

Jiang Yan's gaze swept across the entire valley.

There were no fewer than a hundred adult Silver-Horned Rhinos.

They were scattered on both sides of the stream, some grazing, others rolling in shallow mud pits.

A large male rhino had just stood up from a mud pit, with mud sloshing down from the folds of its thick hide, forming a grayish-brown crust on its blue-gray skin.

Several cubs trotted behind a mother rhino; their not-yet-fully-grown silver horns were only a palm long, like silver-white bamboo shoots stuck on their noses, and they played by head-butting each other, making low, rumbling sounds.

The mother rhino would occasionally turn back to nudge the straying cubs with her horn, puffing out a breath of white air from her nostrils, blowing a chunk of mud off the cub's rump.

Silver-Horned Rhino, a Tier 1 Late Stage Yao Beast, herbivorous, gentle in temperament but gregarious.

This "gentle" was relative—they didn't eat meat, but if you blocked their path while they were grazing, hundreds of Late Stage of Qi Refining giant beasts charging at you would trample you into meat paste.