"Damn, another unknown enemy appeared!"
But he did not pay it much mind. Too many debts did not weigh a man down anyway!
After looking inward, he found no foreign objects!
As for inner sight, he had come into this world with that ability already.
"Still not strong enough!"
"Have I been possessed by Conan? Why have I kept running into evil things these past two days?"
Zhang You sat limply on the ground, unable to stop himself from sighing.
Then he let out another sigh. "Looks like I need to stock up on more things that replenish blood!"
After resting briefly and cleaning up the traces from earlier, he went out, took down the teahouse's closed sign, and opened for business.
Before long, the teahouse began to fill with more people.
He remained busy for most of the day before finally finding a moment to rest.
Carpenter Wu also came by once. After greeting him, he headed into the backyard.
Today, people still talked most about the headless corpse case and the dried corpse case.
With nothing else to do and no news that interested him, Zhang You continued envisioning the white tiger, filling in its details.
"Done!"
Amid his stolen moments of leisure, he finally completed the white tiger's form.
At that moment, a clear image of a white tiger existed in his mind. With a single thought, it would appear—extremely convenient.
He was delighted, almost desperate to begin visualizing it immediately!
But clearly, this was not the right time.
He decided to keep refining the white tiger's details. During that time, Carpenter Wu came over to settle the payment for the job, then left.
By evening, Shopkeeper Li still had not returned.
As usual, he poured out the food prepared by Delicious Restaurant.
Zhang You thought it over and decided to go to Mass Grave Hill outside the city!
He was going there to grind experience!
Once night fell, Xiaolin City closed its gates and barred entry and exit.
But if someone wanted to get out, there were surely some backdoor routes!
Zhang You happened to know one such secret passage.
A few li east of the city lay a mass grave hill.
It was the place he had passed through while fleeing before.
He had heard that many refugees, as well as many people who had died under unclear circumstances, were buried there.
Mass Grave Hill.
The moon hung high and the wind blew black. Deathly silence blanketed the surroundings, broken only now and then by insects chirping and birds calling.
At that moment, a young man with two dark circles beneath his eyes stood at its edge, staring into Mass Grave Hill.
It was Zhang You!
He had come here to grind experience.
Before coming here, he had tried escaping again, but in the end, he had returned to the vicinity of Mass Grave Hill!
He could sense that there was probably some kind of formation at work.
And it was specifically targeting him!
So he gave up on the idea of fleeing!
At that moment, he stared without blinking at the dense clusters of grayish-white spirit bodies floating above the graves and throughout the area!
They were products formed from resentment, yin energy, and ghostfire, and looked exactly like lanterns.
They were called Ghostfire Lantern Monsters!
He had heard that Yin Souls would appear at Mass Grave Hill after midnight.
But from eight at night until midnight, these lantern monsters would appear here instead.
These lantern monsters possessed no self-awareness and merely wandered around Mass Grave Hill.
They posed almost no threat to ordinary living beings. At most, yin energy would enter the body and make someone sick for a few days.
Sometimes, mutated lantern monsters might be born by chance, and those would attack passing living beings.
That was why the Demon Suppression Division came to inspect the place every so often. Whenever they encountered mutated lantern monsters, they dealt with them directly.
The Demon Suppression Division had once organized people to clear out these lantern monsters, but after they wiped them all out one day, they would reappear the following night.
Since they caused no great harm, people gradually stopped bothering with them!
Zhang You looked around, saw no one, and strode straight into Mass Grave Hill!
A faintly red blood aura glowed over his palm as he chopped at the lantern monster before him with a hand blade!
"Psh!"
The lantern monster vanished, and a wisp of blue-white energy entered his body!
"Holy shit, I've struck it rich!"
If you can't find it by searching the book title, try searching the author instead! It may have simply been renamed!
Zhang You's face lit up with surprise. He hurriedly charged in, his hand rising and falling like a blade!
From afar, it looked as though someone were dancing at the graves.
If anyone passed by, they would definitely think they had run into a ghost!
Slash, slash, slash!
He swept through the lantern monsters as easily as chopping melons and vegetables.
Wisp after wisp of blue-white energy continuously poured into his body.
He could clearly feel the changes in his body as it gradually grew hot all over!
He had no idea how many lantern monsters he had cut down when, at a certain moment, the sensation of Great Body Tempering arrived!
Soon, he stood rooted in place, his skin flushed red as a heart-piercing, bone-gnawing pain surged from inside him.
"Crack, crack, crack!"
There was even the sound of bones grinding together!
"Fuck!"
The pain came even fiercer than last time. Blood had begun flowing from his seven orifices!
Blood also seeped from all over his body.
His muscles spasmed violently. He collapsed to the ground, curled into the shape of a shrimp!
"I have to endure this! I fucking want to live!"
The pain had rolled his eyes back, and even his consciousness began drifting.
There was not much grime on his skin this time.
"Pfft!"
Suddenly, someone let out a long fart.
In an instant, the stench became heaven-shaking. Some of the nearby moss lost its green entirely, and even many animals hibernating underground foamed at the mouth and never woke again!
Fortunately, there was a faint breeze around them. Otherwise, Zhang You might have nearly died beneath his own fart!
"Cough, cough, cough!"
After an unknown amount of time, Zhang You recovered his senses. He struggled to his feet while supporting himself against an unnamed gravestone, leaving a black handprint on it.
"Whew!"
He let out a long breath and moved his limbs a little. Though a trace of pain remained, he felt lighter than ever before.
Suddenly, he sensed something attacking from behind!
Zhang You frowned. A richer blood aura than before burst from his body. He reached out with one large hand and caught a lantern monster in his grip.
It was actually a mutated lantern monster!
Its entire body was black, its two eyes blood-red, and it had two rows of saw-like teeth. It tore at him madly, and it even had two feet and two hands.
Or perhaps they could not be called hands and feet, only short tentacles.
Of course, its struggles were futile.
"It's not even a spirit body!"
This thing had a tangible feel to it, sticky and slimy, like some kind of monster formed from sentient flesh and blood.
"Screech..."
Zhang You crushed it in one grip. A shrill sound rang out, then it quickly went still and turned into a puddle of liquid.
A wisp of blue-white energy flowed into his body.
"Ugh! Ew!"
In disgust, he wiped his hand several more times against the nearby gravestone, leaving several more conspicuous stains behind!
"Oh, oh, sorry! Sorry! Please don't blame me, don't blame me! It's all because that little thing was too disgusting!"
Zhang You suddenly seemed to remember something and hurriedly bent at the waist, bowing to the gravestone.
"If you're my brother, let me chop you once!"
Seeing that it was still early, he threw himself back into "eliminating demons and defending the righteous path."
During that time, he went through another Great Body Tempering. Naturally, it was no easier to endure.
It nearly took half his life, and he almost failed to catch his next breath, but he ultimately endured it!
He could already feel his strength increasing, especially his blood aura, which had grown even more vigorous!
"Perhaps this is the first realm mentioned in the Grand Martial Arts Compendium!"
The Grand Martial Arts Compendium roughly mentioned the realms of Martial Arts, from the first realm to the fourth realm.
His current state should be the first realm!
Since he had undergone Great Body Tempering four times, he called his realm the fourth stage of the first realm!
Looking at the empty expanse around him, Zhang You nodded in satisfaction. "I'll continue tomorrow night!"
"Whoosh!"
Something suddenly darted past nearby.
"Rumble, rumble!"
Then another sound followed. Zhang You became alert and wanted to climb a tree first to see what was happening.
But it was clearly already too late. A massive black shadow immediately entered his sight and charged straight at him.
Before you continue