Purple Beast

"The assassination target is Wu Ye, leader of the Black Bandits in Twilight City and an outer disciple deacon of the Blood Sect. He cultivates the Blood Transformation Art, is cruel by nature, enjoys drinking human blood and eating human hearts, possesses the strength of a two-star Dou Spirit, and excels at wielding a blood saber..."

"The Blood Sect's cultivation method raises one's cultivation by consuming blood. It has something in common with my Devour Skill, but its flaws are far too severe, easily causing one's aura to become unstable. A two-star Dou Spirit should not be much stronger than my one-star Dou Spirit. Yet the life of a Dou Spirit is worth only 120,000 Gold Coins. Tsk, tsk, tsk..." Ling Li analyzed as he looked over the information in his hands.

Ling Li's Devour Skill was far more powerful than that Blood Transformation Art. As long as it contained energy, he could devour it—magic cores, medicinal herbs, flesh and blood, all of it. It was only because Ling Li found consuming raw blood disgusting that he had never done so. More importantly, the strength gained through the Devour Skill did not seem to suffer from instability. Even though he had directly advanced by an entire major realm in the Ancient Ruins last time, the amount of Dou Qi within Ling Li's body remained remarkably solid.

"The Spirit Devour Skill is quite good. It allows Dark Night to grow by devouring soul fragments. In the future, I won't have to worry about Dark Night falling behind my strength anymore. Hehehe." Ling Li chuckled.

Dark Night was indeed exceptionally sharp, but as Ling Li's strength increased, if Dark Night could not improve itself, it would eventually be discarded.

"As for saber techniques..." Ling Li looked at Dark Night in his hand. When he had killed that burly man during the day, he had used Swallow Return once. It had only been an attempt, but unexpectedly, it had added one point of saber technique experience. Yet when he had used Swallow Return on this third-tier magical beast just now, he had gained no experience.

Compared to energy, proficiency experience for saber techniques was much harder to obtain. Even though Ling Li had never stopped practicing his saber techniques, it took at least ten days to gain a single point of Experience Points.

Could I be doing it wrong? Ling Li was deeply puzzled.

They were clearly the same move, so why was there such a huge difference?

Ling Li stood up and placed Dark Night at his waist. His legs bent slightly as he slowly lowered his body. Under the covering of Dou Qi, black mist gradually spread across Dark Night's blade.

"Whoosh!"

Dark Night slashed through the air, and three dark-black Blade Qi shot toward the trees ahead almost simultaneously, accompanied by piercing sounds of air splitting.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

The massive trunks were cut cleanly in two the instant they came into contact with the Blade Qi. The thunderous crashes of the falling trees startled the birds in the surrounding area into flight.

After that slash, Ling Li frowned. He did not stop, instead swinging several more times. The dark-black Blade Qi resembled slender willow leaves as they sped into the surroundings.

"Boom boom boom boom..."

The sounds of collapsing trees rose and fell one after another. The originally dense forest had been forcibly carved by Ling Li into a sizable patch of flat ground.

"Still no experience. What exactly is the problem?" Ling Li returned to sit beside the campfire, utterly confused.

He greatly envied Xiao Yan. High-grade pills, cultivation methods, and Dou Techniques came to him with a mere reach of his hand, and whenever he encountered problems in cultivation, Yao Chen was there to explain them at his side. Ling Li, however, could only explore on his own.

"Forget it. I'll think after I'm full." After pondering for a while without results, Ling Li simply put the matter aside and turned his attention back to the magical beast sizzling as fat dripped from it.

He had never considered himself a genius. Even Swallow Return had taken him a long time to slowly work out. He had never expected, nor dared to expect, something like sudden enlightenment.

The seasonings for roasted magical beast meat had taken Ling Li and Little Doctor Fairy quite some time to prepare, using various medicinal herbs and plants that the people of this world considered weeds.

The roasted magical beast meat sprinkled with seasoning was very fragrant, giving him the feeling of barbecue skewers from his previous life. Together with a mouthful of fruit wine brewed from spirit fruits, the spiciness of the grilled meat and the rich fragrance of the fruit wine burst across his tongue. The sensation of energy washing through his meridians was incomparably refreshing.

Ling Li had a tremendous appetite. Saying he could eat an entire cow in one meal would be an insult to him. More than half of the five-meter-long third-tier magical beast had been eaten until only one thigh remained in just over ten minutes, and even that had not filled him halfway.

Although Ling Li no longer needed to replenish his energy by eating, he never suppressed his desires. If he was going to eat, then he would eat his fill and eat well. Being less than half full clearly could not satisfy Ling Li.

As Ling Li gnawed on the beast leg in his hand, he released his Soul Power and sensed the movements of magical beasts within a hundred-meter radius. After advancing to the Dou Spirit realm, because he needed to form Dou Qi weapons and a Soul Body, both Ling Li's Dou Qi reserves and Soul Power had undergone a qualitative increase. Combined with the fact that his Soul Power had always been exceptional, he could now easily detect even the slightest movement within a hundred meters.

The moment his considerable Soul Power spread out, Ling Li abruptly looked toward one spot in the dense forest. Behind a giant tree hid a purple beast. Had Ling Li not released his Soul Power just now, he would never have noticed the existence of this magical beast at all!

The Purple Beast stood around two meters tall, with a long snout, sharp fangs, vertical pupils, and two slight protrusions on its forehead. Its neck was somewhat short, and its small claws were extremely sharp. Purple scales covering its entire body formed tough scale armor. As the firelight shone upon it, reflected light made it appear incomparably noble.

Yet such a sizable magical beast was hiding behind a tree, staring intently at him. The saliva dripping from its fangs had already formed a small puddle on the ground.

"Awoo~"

After Ling Li noticed the Purple Beast, it bared its snow-white fangs and roared at him. Its voice carried an oddly milky quality, yet cold sweat began to seep down Ling Li's back.

"This is troublesome. How could a magical beast like this exist in a place like this..." Ling Li swallowed. He did not know why he suddenly thought that this little beast looked pretty, cute, and like an adorable loli, but he could not sense the Purple Beast's aura at all!

That meant this magical beast was far stronger than Ling Li, perhaps already at the fifth tier. And judging from its appearance, it had come with ill intent...

Why did everyone else's growth journey go so smoothly, while he always encountered all sorts of strange powerful beings?

Ling Li stared fixedly at the Purple Beast, swallowed the magical beast meat in his mouth, and placed the remaining half of the beast leg on the ground. His right hand tightened around Dark Night as he crouched slightly, beginning to gather strength.

Throughout the entire process, Ling Li made his movements as light and slow as possible, while his mind rapidly considered how he could feint and then escape.

Against a magical beast whose cultivation he could not even see through, being able to escape would already mean he had burned enough incense in his previous life.

"Boom!"

The Purple Beast stomped heavily on the ground. Perhaps it was an illusion, but Ling Li felt that its step had actually crushed the space beneath it.

It's coming!

Ling Li held his breath and shot out like a compressed spring.

Under the firelight, the figures of man and beast turned respectively into a black streak and a purple streak as they brushed past one another.