I Really Want to Eat Chicken
An Bulang no longer hesitated. He circulated his cultivation method and began absorbing the energy within the spirit stones.
Each spirit stone was a rectangular crystal one inch wide and tall, three inches long, small enough to fit easily in one's palm. Liquid spiritual energy lay within.
The spirit stone in An Bulang's palm erupted with dazzling green light, and pure spiritual power flowed through his palm and into his body.
His blood began to boil, his bones began to tremble, and even his meridians pulsed with excitement.
After he had "favored" the twelfth spirit stone, An Bulang broke through some kind of shackle with a crack. His aura changed completely as he successfully entered the Fourth Layer of the Profound Body!
An incomparably vast aura burst forth. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth around him even formed into a vortex, rushing toward An Bulang at its center.
An Bulang hurriedly circulated his cultivation art—the Seal God Art!
This was the core cultivation art he practiced. Its name was formidable, and its effect was even more formidable.
It had only one purpose: sealing his own power.
Heaven and earth could not contain someone as awesome as him, so he could only use this method to seal ninety-nine percent of his power somewhere within his consciousness, deceiving heaven and crossing the sea while honestly walking the path of cultivation anew.
That way, when he underwent tribulation to ascend, he could shatter stone and startle heaven. No matter how much heaven and earth could not tolerate him, he could undo that hidden seal and instantly unleash unimaginable power, forcibly carving out a path.
"Ah... Everyone else is desperately trying to increase their strength, while I have to desperately suppress mine..."
An Bulang shook his head, circulated the Seal God Art, and absorbed his own power. Only after stabilizing it at the level of an ordinary Fourth Layer Profound Body did he continue absorbing the energy of the remaining spirit stones.
Before long, he had absorbed all thirty-six spirit stones.
His cultivation had successfully risen to the Profound Body Fifth Layer.
After being squeezed dry, the thirty-six spirit stones that An Bulang had favored all night lay dim and lifeless beside the bed, miserable beyond measure.
An Bulang slapped the used spirit stones into powder, destroying the evidence.
After reaching the Profound Body Fifth Layer, the strength of his fleshly body, the fullness of his vital energy and blood, and the resilience of his meridians had all increased greatly. When facing Heaven Origin-level enemies, he finally had a little more confidence.
He pushed open the door and walked out of the room.
The faint starlight was about to fade, while the yellow-white morning glow in the east grew brighter and brighter.
Before he knew it, the whole night had passed...
"Cock-a-doodle..."
"Cock...!"
A rooster crowed from Prince De's Estate.
Its crow was deep and powerful, bold and resounding, leaving one refreshed and clear-headed.
An Bulang was somewhat surprised. He could hear something extraordinary in that crow.
After hesitating for a moment, An Bulang moved toward the direction of the crowing.
There was a small hill in the rear courtyard of Prince De's Estate, and the crowing came from there.
An Bulang passed through a small grove and made his way uphill through tangled grass. Before long, he saw a majestic, high-spirited rooster standing atop the hill, head held high and chest thrust out, its golden beak open wide. "Cock-a-doodle-doo, cock-a-doodle-doo!!"
He also saw someone unexpected. A figure in fluttering red sat properly on a boulder, facing the rising sun with her eyes closed as she breathed and cultivated. A faint golden sheen lay over her delicate, pretty face, flawless as white jade and bright with charm.
"Sister Hongxue, you're quite diligent," An Bulang greeted her first.
Ji Hongxue opened her eyes. Seeing who had come, delight appeared on her face. "I've been cultivating and breathing here all night. I wanted to call you over, but..." As she spoke, the young woman suddenly paused, a flush rising to her cheeks.
An Bulang secretly thought that it was fortunate she had not called him over. Otherwise, she definitely would have been frightened by the sight of him squeezing all those spirit stones dry.
"What, were you too embarrassed to call me?" An Bulang chuckled. "Do we need to worry about things like that with our relationship? We're people who've spent several wonderful nights together..."
Ji Hongxue, who had been somewhat embarrassed, instantly flew into a rage upon hearing that. "An! Bu! Lang! You're teasing this princess again!!"
An Bulang was not wrong. Over the past few nights, they had indeed cultivated together through meditation and breathing while traveling, but once such things came out of An Bulang's mouth, their flavor changed entirely...
As she spoke, the princess stopped cultivating, rose to her feet, and was about to hit him.
But her expression suddenly changed. "Y-you-you... You're already at the Profound Body Fifth Layer?!"
The princess was so shocked that she even began to stammer.
"Yes, I'm at the Profound Body Fifth Layer." An Bulang could not be bothered to hide it. It was not a big deal anyway.
Ji Hongxue's red lips parted slightly, her eyes widening as she stared at An Bulang without blinking, as though she were looking at some monstrous prodigy.
Fine, there was no way to continue this conversation.
Fortunately, An Bulang had always been a monstrous prodigy. Ji Hongxue eventually accepted the fact that he had risen two layers in a single night.
"By the way, why did you suddenly come here?" Ji Hongxue asked again.
An Bulang pointed at the proud rooster in the distance, which kept singing with its head held high. "I was drawn here by its wonderful song. I never expected Prince De's Estate to have such an interesting rooster."
Ji Hongxue felt that something about those words was off, but she did not think deeply about it. Instead, she shook her head and replied, "Prince De's Estate couldn't possibly afford to keep it. According to my brother, this rooster flew here from somewhere else. For some reason, it took a liking to this place and made its home here... My brother was seized by the hunter's urge when he saw it and wanted to capture it, but who would have thought he could not even beat a rooster..."
"Later, he summoned the cultivation experts in the estate to capture it together, but they were all beaten flat by this rooster as well..."
"Fortunately, the rooster bore them no ill will. It merely stood quietly on the hill and crowed, so my second brother let it be. Now, this big rooster is practically regarded as the guardian divine beast of Prince De's Estate."
As she spoke, even Ji Hongxue found it amusing. A rooster serving as a guardian divine beast was truly a rare sight.
An Bulang looked at the big rooster in the distance. It stood as tall as a person, its golden feathers gleaming beneath the morning sun. Its dark-blue tail feathers were like a deep ice waterfall flung upward before cascading down, while its comb was crimson as fire. Its appearance alone was extraordinarily remarkable.
The big rooster cast An Bulang a proud, disdainful glance, as though it were looking down upon some lowly creature, then continued singing atop the hill. "Cock-a-doodle-doo... cock-a-doodle-doo..."
Seeing the longing expression on An Bulang's face, Ji Hongxue asked, "Do you want to communicate with it?"
An Bulang swallowed. "No. I want to eat it."
Ji Hongxue: "???"
Big Rooster: "Cock?"