8: Vitality enhancement

The Bone-Winged Dragon King's proud head slowly lowered, its icy eyes sweeping over the Ice Spirit Cat.

The Ice Spirit Cat's fur bristled, then smoothed down. It felt as if it was being stared at by the abyss, its entire body chilling.

Seeing this, the thousands-of-meters-long Dragon King glanced at Chen Qing in front of him, his eyes devoid of any emotion.

The next moment, its massive form instantly transformed into countless snowflakes, vanishing into the sky!

The Barren Snowfield returned to silence.

Chen Qing watched this scene, his heart filled with an overwhelming shock. He could sense that his current strength was perhaps too weak, and he hadn't truly gained the recognition of this ancient Dragon.

It must have come with the System, and like this space, it is temporarily under my control.

Strength!

I need powerful strength!

One day, I will make this overbearing Dragon King willingly submit to me.

Chen Qing firmed his goal, his eyes resolute.

Next, he must quickly go to the Martial Arts University. Entering earlier would mean earlier exposure to the Martial Dao.

On the path of Martial Dao, every moment counts!

Having made up his mind, Chen Qing looked down at the Ice Spirit Cat still prostrate before him. The Spirit Cat was still trembling, even though the fierce giant Dragon had disappeared, its lingering Aura remained.

Its Spineback Dragon form had long since withdrawn.

It looked at the human before it, its gaze no longer fierce, but somewhat evasive, and its fur was very submissive, completely lacking the Aura it had just moments ago.

"Oh, now you're quite obedient. I almost don't have the heart to kill you."

Chen Qing bent down and reached out to stroke the Spirit Cat's back.

It felt quite comfortable, no different from a real cat, even better to the touch.

The Spirit Cat remained still, allowing Chen Qing to pet it.

"Since you're so submissive, do you think I should still kill you? After all, you killed me countless times tonight."

A pitiful expression instantly appeared in the Spirit Cat's eyes. It seemed to understand Chen Qing's meaning, shaking its head vigorously and pressing its front paws together in a pleading gesture.

Chen Qing chuckled, "Oh? You're quite intelligent."

Through tonight's battles, he had roughly familiarized himself with some combat techniques and learned the Spirit Cat's Martial Skill. However, he felt that this space should have more uses than just that.

He acquired the Spirit Cat's Martial Skill after being killed by the Spirit Cat using its Martial Skill. So what if he killed the Spirit Cat?

He was tempted to try killing a creature here to see the effect.

Seeing Chen Qing pondering in place, the Spirit Cat's eyes darted around. It suddenly pointed a paw in one direction, emitting "meow meow meow" sounds.

Chen Qing was puzzled, looking in the direction it pointed.

Seeing that its attention was drawn, the Spirit Cat quickly went ahead to lead the way.

Chen Qing followed suit.

------

Soon, one person and one cat arrived before an ice and snow cellar.

The Spirit Cat stopped, turned back, and made a "three" gesture with its paw. Chen Qing guessed it might mean "OK."

The next moment, the Spirit Cat suddenly burrowed into the cellar ahead and disappeared.

Chen Qing was stunned. Just as he thought the cat was going to run away, the Spirit Cat flashed out again, reappearing in front of Chen Qing, holding a plump, white-furred Snow Rat in its mouth!

That's right, it was indeed a Snow Rat, looking almost identical to a real-life rat, except its fur was white, somewhat like a hamster.

The Snow Rat, held in its mouth, was still squeaking "squeak squeak squeak," its four small paws constantly flailing.

However, Chen Qing could clearly see two rows of sharp, terrifying teeth in its mouth.

The Spirit Cat put the Snow Rat down, pressing it with one front paw to prevent it from escaping.

It looked at Chen Qing, let out a "meow," and then looked down at the Snow Rat.

The meaning was obvious; even if Chen Qing didn't understand cat language, he knew what it meant.

"You want me to kill it, not you?"

The Spirit Cat immediately nodded, looking at Chen Qing.

"Alright, seeing as I learned a B-grade Martial Skill from you, I won't kill you."

Chen Qing nodded and condensed an Ice Cone. He had practiced condensing ice balls, ice cones, and ice shards too many times tonight. While he hadn't delved deeply into this Dao, it was at least sufficient.

With a single strike, the Ice Cone pierced the Snow Rat's neck, splattering blood.

[You killed a Snow Rat. Life Force increased by 0.01]

[Current Life Force: 0.69]

It can directly increase Life Force?

Is it a coincidence or something else?

Chen Qing's heart stirred, and he decided to try again. He looked at the Spirit Cat: "Are there more?"

Seeing this, the Spirit Cat quickly nodded and burrowed underground again.

Soon, it stood before Chen Qing again, holding another large white Snow Rat in its mouth.

Chen Qing repeated the same method, killing the Snow Rat with one blow.

[You killed a Snow Rat. Life Force increased by 0.01]

[Current Life Force: 0.7]

It increased again!

Holy cow! This is too Heaven-Defying, isn't it?

Even though he had never entered a Space Battlefield to fight monsters, he knew very well that killing those monsters couldn't directly yield such Life Force.

Life Force is closely related to a Martial Artist's Realm. A Martial Artist's Cultivation is essentially Cultivating life!

The stronger the Life Force, the stronger the Martial Artist will be.

However, there are currently only two known ways to Cultivate Life Force: Cultivation Technique practice and taking medicine!

Does he now have his own unique third method?

Chen Qing's emotions surged; this space had given him too many surprises!

He was embarking on a broad and prosperous path of Martial Dao!

He couldn't help but look at the Spirit Cat.

The Spirit Cat didn't even need him to speak further; it immediately understood the meaning in his eyes.

Soon, it caught several more Snow Rats.

So, in the limited time remaining, Chen Qing and the Spirit Cat embarked on a journey to find Snow Rats.

------

The next day.

Chen Qing woke up from his dream, his eyes heavy with sleep.

Although he found that entering the Ice God Tower Space did not affect his sleep, he was killed and revived multiple times in the Ice God Tower Space throughout the night, forcing him to restart his sleep.

This back and forth resulted in very poor sleep quality and a less-than-ideal mental state for him tonight.

However, his heart was quite excited.

After a night of hard work, his Life Force had reached 0.9, with only the last 0.1 remaining until he Breakthrough to 1 point as a Martial Artist.

In the latter half of the night, the Ice Spirit Cat led him to several hidden Snow Rat caves. This Spirit Cat seemed to have been eyeing these Snow Rats for a long time, finding them every time.

These Snow Rats were truly unlucky to encounter their human-and-cat duo.

He also tried to let the Snow Rats kill him later, but those Snow Rats seemed to have no skills at all, so he didn't gain any new Martial Skills from them.

However, Chen Qing also discovered that ever since his Life Force reached 0.89, after he continuously killed more than a dozen Snow Rats, his Life Force remained unchanged, with no increase at all.

It seemed like 0.89 was the limit.

Just as he was about to give up, with the death of an unknown number of Snow Rats, his Life Force finally changed again, increasing by 0.1, officially breaking through the 0.9 mark.