Dark Night Drinks Blood

Swift Swallow was a low-star, first-rank magical beast found in the Monster Beast Mountain Range. Though it was only low-star, first-rank, it could be seen throughout the outer regions of the range. Even in areas where third- and fourth-rank magical beasts roamed, they could still survive.

Swift Swallows were not particularly strong. They were merely incredibly fast and happened to possess iron beaks. One peck could leave behind a bloody hole.

These magical beasts were not skilled hunters, so they liked to travel in groups and steal the prey of other magical beasts and mercenaries. Countless mercenaries hated these prey-stealing beasts to the bone, yet could do nothing about them. There was no other reason—they were simply too hard to kill. With that time, one might as well hunt another magical beast.

Ling Li had lived in the Monster Beast Mountain Range for a year and a half, so naturally, Swift Swallows had stolen his prey before. From then on, hunting Swift Swallows had been added to his daily training list.

Attracting these magical beasts was simple. All it took was placing a bloody magical beast corpse out in the open. Killing them, however, was extremely difficult. Swift Swallows perfectly possessed the talent of swallows—sensing objects through air currents. The moment an attack approached, they could sense the weapon beforehand and use the airflow caused by the attack to dodge with the momentum.

For an entire month, Ling Li spent every day figuring out how to kill these mosquito-like creatures that served no purpose whatsoever.

The way Swift Swallows dodged attacks had nothing to do with the speed of the attack itself. No matter how fast Ling Li's slashes were, he still swung one blade at a time. So long as there was an order to his strikes, creatures like Swift Swallows had a high chance of evading them.

In that case, what if several slashes were launched at the same time? If he could strike three times simultaneously, two slashes could seal off its retreat, while the final slash could kill it!

After figuring this out, the number of Swift Swallows in the Monster Beast Mountain Range began to plummet. And amid the day-after-day slaughter of Swift Swallows, Ling Li comprehended a famous technique from his previous life—Swallow Return!

This directly raised Ling Li's blade technique to mastery, and he considered it his greatest gain from the Monster Beast Mountain Range!

Naturally, Ling Li's current Swallow Return could not turn one strike into three. He could only imitate its form; in truth, only one of the strikes could land. Yet for magical beasts like Swift Swallows, whose strength was merely low-star, first-rank, it remained impossible to evade. The same was true for the Mo Ji before him.

The instant Ling Li drew his blade, half the Dou Qi in his body was drained away. A cold gleam emitted by Dark Night split into three, and three afterimages slashed toward Mo Ji from three different directions.

I can't dodge this! I can only take this strike head-on! Mo Ji's pupils shrank as alarm bells rang wildly in his heart. The blazing sun hung high in the sky, yet he felt as though he had fallen into an ice cellar, chilled to the bone.

That strike gave him a suffocating sense that his life was under threat. What made Mo Ji want even more to smash Ling Li's head in with his axe was that the three slashes were aimed at his little brother, his ass, and his lower back. He did not want any of those three places to serve as a target...

Advancing to the Great Fighting Master realm did allow one to condense Dou Qi Armor, but Dou Qi Armor could not be fully formed all at once. As one's strength rose, one would slowly gather the components of Dou Qi Armor until they eventually formed a complete set. Mo Ji was only a one-star Great Fighting Master, and he possessed only one armor component. To make up for his lack of speed, Mo Ji had chosen a pair of leg guards.

Condensing Dou Qi Armor should allow him to withstand one blow, but forcibly condensing armor over an area where an armor component had yet to form would consume a terrifying amount of Dou Qi.

However, for the happiness of his lower half, Mo Ji could no longer care about that. He let out a roar. "Condense!"

Following Mo Ji's explosive shout, the Dou Qi within him surged wildly like untamed horses, flooding into his waist. Solid, hexagonal, earth-yellow blocks of Dou Qi quickly took shape, joining together around his waist into an armor component resembling a battle skirt. Yet this component looked rather strange. The section around his little brother was especially prominent, followed by the rear, while the lower back was the thinnest and weakest area.

Clearly, Mo Ji had already ranked the importance of those three locations in his heart.

Naturally, Ling Li did not choose the most heavily protected little brother, but the weakest-defended lower back instead. He had already experienced the solidity of condensed Dou Qi. A head-on confrontation was definitely not a wise move.

The three cold gleams merged into one again. Gripping his blade with both hands, Ling Li poured all his strength into a slash at Mo Ji's waist.

Clang!

Dark Night collided with the Dou Qi Armor. After a brief stalemate, the Dou Qi Armor rapidly melted away like butter cut by a hot knife. Dark Night's blade drove straight in, advancing steadily, if not quickly, toward Mo Ji's kidney. In an instant, Dark Night's edge made intimate contact with Mo Ji's skin. A tiny wound allowed scalding blood to gush out in a rush.

Feeling a slight numbness at his waist, Mo Ji hurriedly increased the flow of Dou Qi to his lower back. Only then did Dark Night, which had been advancing without resistance, barely stop.

To be honest, among the three directions Ling Li had targeted, the lower back would have caused the greatest damage. After all, the spine was there. Once severed, the entire lower body would be crippled. The other two spots might not cause as much damage, but they were immensely humiliating.

Before Mo Ji could rejoice for more than a few seconds, his expression suddenly froze. Some of the color drained from his feverishly flushed cheeks as he stared in horror at Dark Night lodged in his waist.

This blade was actually sucking his blood!

Moreover, it was sucking blood incredibly fast—so fast that he could clearly feel as though there were a suction cup at his waist, continuously drawing the blood from his body outward.

"Get off me, you damn brat!" Mo Ji roared, swinging the double-bladed axe in his hand toward Ling Li.

Mo Ji noticed Dark Night's abnormality, and Ling Li naturally noticed it as well. Beyond that, Ling Li could sense the excitement coming from Dark Night. He had never felt such emotion from it, even when it drank the blood of magical beasts.

Could it be that Dark Night really could drink blood, but only absorbed blood of the same grade, or blood rich in energy? Starting from the Dou Zhe realm, Yellow Grade High Rank corresponded exactly to the Great Fighting Master realm. But why had Dark Night drunk the blood of first-rank magical beasts? In theory, first-rank magical beasts corresponded to Dou Zhes, so Dark Night should not have absorbed it. Could it be because of the magical cores? Even the blood of first-rank magical beasts contained enough energy to meet Dark Night's standards?

However, Ling Li had no time to think further. Seeing Mo Ji attack again, Ling Li released Dark Night with both hands and swiftly retreated, pulling away from Mo Ji.

Having forced Ling Li back, Mo Ji quickly reached his millstone-sized palm toward his waist. Enduring tearing pain, he ripped Dark Night out from his lower back.

Yes, ripped. Dark Night's blade had only slightly cut into Mo Ji's lower back, while the part of the blade with protruding crystals had not entered. Even so, because of the terrifying suction Dark Night emitted, Mo Ji tore off a chunk of flesh as he pulled out the blade.

The fresh flesh clinging to Dark Night did not last long. It dried up at an astonishing speed before finally turning into ash and scattering through the air.

Mo Ji's mouth twitched. If he had let this thing remain attached to his waist, even all the blood in his body probably would not have lasted long.

However, although Mo Ji's face had turned somewhat pale from the loss of so much blood, he still wore a hint of a smile. He looked provocatively at Ling Li and said, "Hehehe, brat, your blade is in my hands now. Let's see what else you can do. What a fine blade. It should feel pretty good cutting into your body, right?"

In Mo Ji's view, the reason Ling Li possessed such abnormal strength was entirely because of Dark Night. Now that Dark Night was in his hands, wasn't Ling Li merely fish on the chopping block?

"Sorry, but why would my blade listen to you?"