Inner Qi Sixth Layer

A "crack" sound echoed from the dense bushes, and a giant lizard, over two meters long with bright red skin, revealed itself.

"A Red Rock Lizard. Judging by the aura fluctuations, it should be a level one early-stage Demonic Beast."

Thanks to Old Man Zhao's collection of books, Lu Ming quickly identified the species of Demonic Beast he encountered.

Generally speaking, a level one Demonic Beast is equivalent to a Martial Artist in the Inner Qi Realm, and a level two is equivalent to the True Qi Realm, and so on.

An early-stage level one is equivalent to layers one to three of the Inner Qi Realm.

"Excellent, I'll test my saber on you today."

Lu Ming's hand rested on his saber's hilt, feeling a thrill at encountering a suitable opponent. Though excited, he remained extremely cautious.

This was only the second time he had faced a living creature; the first was during that affair to settle a score.

Since that was an assassination, it didn't really showcase much.

But now, his opponent was a Demonic Beast, with tough skin and thick flesh, and lacking intelligence, it feared no death.

Therefore, it deserved serious attention.

As if sensing this, the Red Rock Lizard already saw him as prey. It bared its fangs and lunged at him first.

Its massive body, over two meters long, moved through the air. Before it even landed, a foul wind swept towards Lu Ming's face.

Lu Ming, unhurried, sidestepped and dodged the lunge.

Then, his long saber was drawn, and he thrust it towards the Red Rock Lizard's eye.

Attacking the weak point, he chose the most vulnerable part of the giant lizard.

Bang!

However, the saber strike did not succeed. The Red Rock Lizard had closed its eyes at the critical moment, its tough eyelids blocking the thrust.

"It really is gifted; even its eyelids are this tough!"

Failing the first attack, Lu Ming was not disappointed. He executed the Cloud Soaring Skill, leaping back.

Roar!

The Red Rock Lizard, however, was relentless. Seemingly enraged, it turned after landing and lunged again.

"Here we go again!"

Lu Ming, as before, easily dodged and then unleashed the first stance of the Heavenly Saber Saber Art, the Gale Style.

This stance focused purely on speed, capable of both slashing and thrusting, as swift as a gale.

This time, the Red Rock Lizard didn't even have time to blink before the long saber smoothly pierced its skull, passing straight through.

Swish!

Even after a successful strike, Lu Ming quickly created distance.

His aim was to prevent a suicidal counterattack from the Red Rock Lizard in its death throes; it was better to stay clear.

"As expected, practicing saber arts on a living creature is completely different from practicing on a wooden post."

After a while, the Red Rock Lizard finally stopped moving altogether.

This meant Lu Ming had dealt with his opponent, but he felt no great joy. The recent exchange had made him realize his shortcomings.

If he had used the Gale Style on his first strike, he would have instantly killed the opponent, without expending so much effort.

Of course, probing was also necessary; discerning the right balance required careful concentration.

After a moment of self-reflection, Lu Ming seemed to have found the direction for improvement in his saber techniques. He stopped thinking about it for the moment and walked over to the Red Rock Lizard's corpse.

This Red Rock Lizard must have weighed several hundred pounds; he couldn't possibly take it all with him.

Otherwise, he wouldn't need to go out for training anymore.

So, referencing the information in his mind, he began collecting valuable items from the Red Rock Lizard.

First, he cut open its belly in search of the Demonic Core.

Demonic Cores could be used for alchemy and artifact forging, with endless applications and considerable value.

However, they were not easy to obtain.

Generally, they could only be condensed within Demonic Beasts of level two or higher.

Of course, there were exceptions, so he decided to try his luck.

Unfortunately, his luck wasn't great, so he began collecting other materials.

The Red Rock Lizard didn't have many valuable parts; only its hide was worth a lot, which could be used to craft protective gear.

Lu Ming first took the hide, then some other items. After dealing with most of it, a large pile remained.

"If only I had a storage ring. I wonder when I'll be able to afford one."

Lu Ming was tired of being poor. Seeing the pile of things left on the ground pained him greatly.

This made him think of the storage rings he had read about.

But he didn't have one now, so he could only reluctantly abandon the rest.

Advancing again, Lu Ming soon encountered a second opponent, a mid-stage Rank 1 Demonic Wolf. It was incredibly fast, and combined with its small size, it would appear and disappear within the dense forest.

It was extremely difficult to deal with.

Fortunately, the Heavenly Saber Saber Art was a saber art that pursued speed, and its accompanying footwork and movement techniques were also extremely agile and varied, excelling at maneuvering within small spaces.

Therefore, the dense forest was not an obstacle.

With the addition of Heavenly Saber inner energy, Lu Ming's speed was even faster than the Demonic Wolf's.

Everywhere in the forest, afterimages and saber light could be seen.

Relying on his speed, Lu Ming calmly dealt with the Demonic Wolf's attacks. As time passed, his combat skills also improved steadily.

He learned to use his eyesight and speed to strike after the opponent, intercepting attacks and then counter-attacking.

After dozens of exchanges like this, the Demonic Wolf was cut in half by him.

"Continue!"

Without delay, after collecting the materials, Lu Ming continued deeper into the mountain range to find opponents.

As time passed, the sun began to set. Sensing the increasing darkness in the forest, Lu Ming finally stopped.

After more than half a day of fighting, he was not only starving but also his inner energy was almost depleted.

So, he decided to stop for the day and find a place to spend the night.

The jungle at night was even more dangerous, so he had to find a place with cover on all sides. While there was still some light, he quickly searched.

His luck was good, and he soon found a small stone cave a few square meters in size. After checking that no Demonic Beasts were hiding inside, he piled up a lot of firewood and started a fire.

The purpose was naturally to drive away small creatures like poisonous insects and snakes.

After some burning, Lu Ming felt safe enough to stay inside.

A moment later, he came out again and sprinkled insect and beast repellent powder. After finishing, he sat by the bonfire and ate his dry rations and roasted meat.

A quarter of an hour later.

After eating his fill, Lu Ming began to circulate his cultivation technique, recovering his inner energy while cultivating.

Thanks to the extraordinary nature of the Heavenly Saber Art, in just half an hour, his dantian was full again, and his inner energy had even increased compared to before.

"I didn't expect that after a series of battles, I would directly reach the peak of the fifth level of the Inner Qi Realm."

Finding the answer, Lu Ming was somewhat surprised. He had only broken through to the fifth level of Inner Qi a few days ago, and now he had advanced further.

This speed was like riding a rocket.

Without overthinking, he quickly continued to cultivate, hoping to break through to the sixth level of Inner Qi that night.

The night passed without incident, and soon it was the next morning.

Lu Ming woke up from his sleep. As expected, he had successfully broken through again last night, reaching the sixth level of Inner Qi Realm.

His inner energy naturally increased significantly again, allowing him to fight for longer.

So, without delay, after eating his dry rations, he picked up his saber and continued to search for Demonic Beasts to fight.

Another day passed like this. Lu Ming had been in the Shuofeng Mountain Range for almost three days. Seeing that the cloth bag was almost full, he reluctantly stopped.

During this period, he had killed more than twenty Demonic Beasts, including several late-stage Rank 1 Demonic Beasts equivalent to the eighth or ninth level of the Inner Qi Realm.

Although the hunts were difficult, and he even suffered some injuries, he had successfully killed them all in the end.

He had also encountered a Rank 2 Demonic Beast, but fortunately, he discovered it early and quickly used the Cloud Soaring Skill to escape, emerging unharmed.

In short, he had a very fruitful trip this time. Not to mention the materials that were almost overflowing, just his strength.

After days of tempering, he had mastered extremely profound practical combat skills.

First, his eyesight. He found his perception to be extremely sharp, often allowing him to anticipate the enemy's moves and strike first.

Therefore, his saber techniques became more concise and sharp, entering another level.

It could be said that his only weakness so far was the lack of hand-to-hand combat skills.

Since Martial Artists in the Inner Qi Realm could not project their Qi outwards, they naturally could not form Saber Qi. Therefore, after losing his long saber, his strength would be greatly reduced.

The injuries he had sustained now were a result of this. At that time, his long saber was stuck in a Demonic Beast. Fortunately, he decisively abandoned his saber and retreated.

Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

This highlighted the importance of hand-to-hand combat skills.

Without further thought, Lu Ming cleaved the attacking Green Vine Snake in half with a single strike. He decided to end this training session, as he couldn't possibly carry any more even if he found better items.

So, without further delay, he shouldered the cloth bag and started walking back.

However, at this moment, he was suddenly stopped by two people.