81: Lava Cave

"Moo!"

The Zhendi Cow, its vision obstructed, felt fear and simultaneously quickened its charging pace.

However, the next instant, the blade of light from the Thunderbolt Slash struck the Zhendi Cow's hard horns.

The Zhendi Cow was known for its thick skin, tough flesh, and immense strength.

Moreover, its horns were its most prized weapon!

They were simply thick, hard, and incomparably sharp.

Unfortunately, the moment the lightning light fell,

it severed the Zhendi Cow's horns with the force of splitting bamboo!

The Zhendi Cow let out a heavy, mournful low roar.

Its eyes were instantly covered in crimson, and viewing Li Canglan as a mortal enemy, it ferociously charged at him.

A full-force strike from a Middle Stage Two-star Zhendi Cow.

Once impaled by its horns,

it would be absolutely fatal to any One-Star Warrior!

Li Canglan was not flustered in the slightest; the lightning-fast Thunderbolt Slash struck down once again.

The second horn snapped off in response.

At the same time, the Zhendi Cow rushed right in front of Li Canglan.

Borrowing the power of the wind, Li Canglan leaped up and jumped onto the Zhendi Cow's back.

He gripped the base of the Zhendi Cow's two horns tightly.

No matter how the panicked Zhendi Cow rampaged, it could not shake Li Canglan off.

And whenever Li Canglan found an opportunity, he would slash at the Zhendi Cow's back with his blade.

Every slash would carve away a large chunk of flesh!

In less than a minute, the Zhendi Cow fell to the ground unwillingly.

Li Canglan jumped down from its corpse.

From within its body, he dug out a crystal core.

Li Canglan set up a pot on the spot and began to roast the whole cow.

Incidentally, he also absorbed the energy of the crystal core right there.

"Hiss, this beef smells so good!"

The roasted, oily beef leg, the feeling of satisfaction from taking a bite...

made it feel as if his Soul had been sublimated.

After a hearty meal, Li Canglan continued to hunt Demonic Beasts.

When encountering relatively weaker Demonic Beasts, he even utilized the recently learned Iron Mountain Lean.

In about half an hour, his proficiency in Iron Mountain Lean skipped past the Initial Stage.

It reached the level of Minor Achievement!

"The effect of this Dragon and Phoenix Talent is just too strong for improvement!"

Li Canglan was very satisfied with this.

However, he also felt that he had mastered too few Martial Skills.

Excluding Stepping Wind Steps as a movement Martial Skill,

he only had three offensive Martial Skills: Wind Sweeps Ten Thousand Thunders, Thunderbolt Slash, and Iron Mountain Lean.

Although Martial Skills are about quality, not quantity,

even if there are few, high-proficiency Martial Skills can have an effect in battle that far exceeds a massive number of low-proficiency ones.

This is the principle of overcoming ten techniques with one force.

But Li Canglan was now a Dragon and Phoenix Talent.

He didn't need to worry about the issue of proficiency at all!

For him, the more Martial Skills he learned, the better!

"Sigh, buying Martial Skills is another huge expense."

Not long after, because he had been using Stepping Wind Steps,

the proficiency of Stepping Wind Steps soon reached Mastery!

After killing another Early Stage Two-star Demonic Beast, Li Canglan suddenly noticed several groups of Martial Artists not far away rushing excitedly in one direction.

"I heard a new Heaven And Earth Treasure has been born in the lava cave!"

"Why did I hear that a naturally nurtured Martial Skill Epiphany Stone has appeared?"

"Keep your voices down, damn it! So many people are already heading over; are you afraid there aren't enough competitors to snatch things from you?"

"Keep it down, my ass! With that big mouth Cheng Kaida, if the dogs in the city haven't heard the news, it's only because Cheng Kaida messed up!"

"While it's still early, let's hurry over. Maybe we can still snatch it."

The group of people discussed this, cursing as they traveled.

Li Canglan's heart stirred. A Martial Skill Epiphany Stone?

This was a good item that was hard to come by.

According to the Martial Artist forum, a Martial Skill Epiphany Stone allows a Martial Artist to gain an Epiphany for a brand-new skill based on the elemental power they excel at.

From S-rank skills down to E-rank skills, anything is possible!

Moreover, like Martial Skill scrolls, an Epiphany Stone guarantees that one will learn the skill.

Unlike personal instruction from a Martial Artist, where if the learner's talent is not high enough, they might fail to master it.

Once one masters an S-rank Martial Skill, they would be rich!

Li Canglan thought for a moment, changed his appearance again, and quietly followed them.

Because the Human Race is generally on the defensive in the wild,

Martial Artists can generally only operate in areas where One-Star Demonic Beasts gather.

This also leads to many places possessing many undeveloped resources.

It's just that these places are usually synonymous with danger.

Many Martial Artists who accidentally enter them have the life to go in, but not the life to enjoy them.

Although Li Canglan had survived in the wild for over ten days on this trip, and his beard hadn't been trimmed for a long time,

his understanding of the wild was truly not as good as these Martial Artists who spent years out there.

After a dozen minutes, the group entered a cave billowing with thick black smoke.

"Is this the Lava Cavern? It looks just like a volcano."

Entering the cave, the path was very wide.

There were even many lamps used for illumination along both sides of the road.

"Could it be that humans are living here?"

Li Canglan thought to himself.

Although Demonic Beasts in the High Martial Era are smarter than beasts of the past,

they still have a gap in intelligence compared to humans.

Li Canglan cautiously followed a short distance behind a Martial Artist squad.

He walked forward in the direction they had passed.

He was afraid that one wrong step would trigger potentially existing trap attacks.

The sound of footsteps in the darkness seemed incomparably clear.

Among this Martial Artist squad, there were also existences with decent strength who discovered Li Canglan's tracks.

"How much longer do you intend to tail us, Your Excellency?"

After all, Li Canglan had not mastered any stealth Martial Skills, so it was normal for him to be discovered.

Li Canglan feigned a timid appearance, trembling with fear,

"I got separated from my friends and stumbled into here by mistake..."

The members of the squad exchanged glances, and one of them rolled his eyes, a wicked smile flashing across his face.

He gave a sinister laugh and detached from the team.

He walked straight up to Li Canglan, grabbed his arm, and prepared to walk forward.

"Since that's the case, then you can join our team."

The man's malice was not disguised in the slightest.

While he said it was to join their team, in reality, it was just to make Li Canglan walk in front to trigger traps.

Li Canglan was expressionless.

He drew his blade.

The members of the Martial Artist squad only felt a cold flash before their eyes.

The sudden light in the dark environment made them subconsciously close their eyes.

When they opened their eyes, they saw the man's arm fly off into thin air and smash against the rock wall nearby.

Fresh blood flowed profusely from the base of his arm.

Seeing this scene, the remaining people were all shocked.

This speed was too fast!

The man's face was ferocious, and he roared,

"You animal!"

Before the words fell, a sharp arrow came piercing through the air.

Puchi!

The arrow pierced straight into the man's temple.

The man's limp body collapsed to the ground.