The five chieftains on the mountain had their eyes gleam brightly. Before Straw Bag Strategist had even finished speaking, they had already pushed their movement techniques to the limit and dove down the mountain.
They looked exactly like five vicious dogs fighting over shit, terrified of being one step slower than the others.
In the blink of an eye, the five were already over a hundred meters away, leaving behind only five blurry silhouettes.
Then, a band of fierce bandits came rushing out of the woods behind Straw Bag Strategist with a rustle.
The mounted bandits exchanged glances, then let out excited howls and chased after the five chieftains in a mad dash down the mountain.
Of course, they were far slower than the five chieftains and remained a great distance behind them.
"Alas!"
Straw Bag Strategist watched the bandits scrambling to be first down the mountain and sighed, shaking his folding fan.
"If you do not heed this old man's words, you will suffer losses before your eyes!"
"Even if you brave fellows kill Ning Chuan on this trip, you will surely suffer heavy casualties. Most unwise, most unwise!"
Straw Bag Strategist wore a regretful expression.
He snapped his folding fan shut, tucked it back into his belt, and swiftly slipped into the woods behind him.
Only after running deep into the forest did he find a large boulder. He hid behind it, sticking out one eye to watch from afar.
He had seen Ning Chuan's hidden weapon techniques before. They were simply unfathomable as gods and ghosts, impossible to guard against, terrifying beyond measure.
"A gentleman does not stand beneath a crumbling wall. As a strategist, this old man specializes in planning victories from behind the command tent!"
Not only did Straw Bag Strategist feel no shame over retreating at the critical moment, the more he thought about it, the more pleased he became. He could not help stroking his beard with a smile.
Meanwhile, Ning Chuan had only chased Hei Meng several hundred meters when five figures suddenly sprang out from the mountainside and pounced fiercely downhill.
Judging solely by their speed, they were clearly no weaker than Hei Meng.
Then, behind those five figures, dozens more seemed to appear out of thin air and came diving down the mountain after them.
Ning Chuan's eyes blazed as he shouted,
"Attribute Points, they're all mine!"
He suddenly exerted force beneath his feet, swinging his legs into a rapidly spinning circle.
His feet clawed up dirt and sent it flying behind him. His speed surged sharply, and in an instant he closed the distance to Hei Meng by several yards.
Hei Meng sensed something wrong behind him. When he looked back in panic, his scalp instantly went numb.
Ning Chuan was rapidly closing in on him at a horrifying speed and would soon catch up.
Hei Meng gritted his teeth as though making some decision. He pulled out a blood-red pill and shoved it into his mouth.
This was an Exploding Qi Pill Hei Meng had treasured. Once consumed, it instantly ignited his internal energy and doubled his cultivation.
Of course, the side effect was that his dantian and meridians would be torn apart by the suddenly doubled true qi. His internal cultivation was likely beyond saving.
A miserable life was still better than a good death. Before his little life, what the hell was a lifetime of cultivation worth?
"Ah!"
"I won't accept this! I won't accept it!"
Hei Meng threw his head back and roared wildly, regretting that he had acted as the first bird to stick its head out!
The pill entered his stomach, and violent true qi rushed through his limbs and bones. Hei Meng's already enormous body instantly swelled by another round.
"Ah!"
His eyes turned blood-red. With a beastlike roar, his movement speed shot up, barely matching Ning Chuan's.
Up on the mountain, the mounted bandits dove down like dogs fighting over shit.
Down the mountain, Hei Meng fled for his life as though being chased by vicious dogs.
"Only by joining the other chieftains might I have a chance to escape alive!"
Hei Meng had already seen the delighted expressions on the other chieftains' faces, and his heart immediately relaxed.
I've finally been saved!
The instant this thought arose in Hei Meng's mind, he suddenly felt heaven and earth spinning at high speed before darkness swallowed his consciousness.
Ning Chuan fired an iron pellet. Meteor Chasing Moon flashed brilliantly, and Hei Meng's entire body blossomed into a firework.
The five chieftains who had just caught up had their hair stand on end. The savage grins on their faces instantly turned to panic.
"Fuck! Run!"
With strange cries, they traced elegant arcs through the air and shot off in five different directions.
In that instant, they unleashed all the cultivation of their lives, surpassing their usual limits severalfold. Their speed reached the utmost extreme.
With a leap like a rabbit and a swoop like a falcon, the five figures were about to dive into the forest.
A flash of martial starlight streaked through the air, and the five figures simultaneously burst into showers of blood.
"Run!"
The sixty bandits still in the distance were scared out of their wits and cried out in terror.
Like a flock of startled quails, they scattered all at once and rapidly burrowed into the forest.
"Fuck!"
Straw Bag Strategist dropped onto the ground on his ass, his heart leaping into his throat.
Like a startled rabbit, he crawled and rolled into the woods behind him, fleeing into the distance with every ounce of strength he had.
Ning Chuan was looking for Straw Bag Strategist and did not care much about these minor bandits.
He charged all the way up the mountainside, firing Meteor Chasing Moon repeatedly. The hidden weapons dragged long fiery tails as they blew bandits apart one after another.
In the forest, the slower bandits exploded one by one.
He casually harvested a wave of Attribute Points, though most of the bandits still escaped.
When Ning Chuan reached the mountainside, Straw Bag Strategist had long since vanished.
"That old bastard is slippery enough. He got away again!"
Ning Chuan hated trouble most of all. Straw Bag Strategist had repeatedly sent people to kill him, and Ning Chuan had already placed him on his death list.
Once he reached the county city and settled his younger brother and sister, he would kill that old bastard at the first opportunity.
Ning Chuan cursed under his breath. His younger brother and sister were still with the caravan, so he did not dare remain outside for long.
Otherwise, if something went wrong, it would be too late for regret.
Back with the caravan, Ning Chuan entered the carriage and hurriedly checked the system. After that slaughter, he had gained another 360 Attribute Points.
"System, add them all!"
"Ding! Constitution has reached 1000. Special constitution, Spirit Devouring Body, activated!"
"Huh? Raising constitution can activate a special constitution—the Spirit Devouring Body?"
As an old webnovel addict in his previous life, Ning Chuan had heard of all kinds of special constitutions.
Spirit Devouring Body—just hearing the name told him it was extraordinary.
At that moment, his mind rumbled as mysterious information flooded into his brain.
"The way of Heaven is to diminish excess and replenish deficiency. The Dao follows nature, seizing creation to strengthen oneself..."
Streams of warmth then appeared from nowhere within his body, continuously remaking his physical structure.
In a daze, every one of the countless cells in his body was transformed by the heat into countless vortices.
Within his consciousness space, Ning Chuan saw his body as a hive formed from countless vortices.
Once the vortices formed, they continuously devoured all external energy.
Ning Chuan faintly sensed that free-floating energy from every direction was gathering toward him.
A realization rose in his heart: as his constitution improved, the Spirit Devouring Body could continue evolving and grow even stronger.
Moreover, Ning Chuan had a feeling that even if he did not cultivate, even if he simply lay flat, he could still grow stronger.
The Spirit Devouring Body devoured all things with spirit.
"This constitution is insane. I like it!"
Ning Chuan rose to his full height. His bones crackled explosively, and he grew a little taller again.
Rolling up his sleeves, he saw that his skin was smooth and delicate, seemingly glimmering with a faint sheen.
Looking closer, those gleams seemed to consist of countless vortices, as though they could devour light itself.
Beneath his skin, muscles flowed in sleek lines, like great dragons lying dormant below the surface.
With the slightest movement, they could unleash earth-shaking power.
He touched his own face, and it was as smooth as silk.
He opened the system. His current attributes were:
Host: Ning Chuan Realm: Body Tempering Realm (111th level) Age: 16/1133 Constitution: 1117 (Spirit Devouring Body) Cultivation Technique: Iron Shirt (fifth level, peak Jade Marrow Realm), Thirteen Great Protectors' Horizontal Training (peak), Meteor Chasing the Moon (ninth level) Attribute Points: 0 Remaining Sign In attempts: 5
"Body Tempering Realm, level 111!"
"Monstrous geniuses can only cultivate the Body Tempering Realm to level ten, yet I can cultivate without limit!"
Ning Chuan was intoxicated by the immense thrill of his rapidly surging strength.
Meanwhile, Straw Bag Strategist fled in terror like a homeless dog, desperately running in the direction farthest from Ning Chuan.
After who knew how long, Straw Bag Strategist finally ran out of the forest.
He dropped onto the ground on his ass, panting like a bellows being pulled open with all its strength.
His scholar's robe had been snagged by branches into strips of cloth that hung from his body in tatters, barely covering his vital areas.
His hair was a messy bird's nest, covered in spiderwebs and rotten leaves. His face was smeared with dust, without the slightest trace of scholarly elegance.
Give him a broken bowl, and he would be an old beggar asking for alms by the roadside.
Before you continue