For the next month or so, Wu Tian continued eating qi without pause. Whenever the snow stopped, he went hunting with the Hunting Team.
Even when heavy snow sealed off the mountains, with the help of Spirit of Wind, he could still precisely locate prey in these great mountains.
No one in the stockade went hungry throughout the entire winter.
The appearance of the Qi Eater talent also made Wu Tian's physique grow stronger by the day. The refinement and nourishment provided by the essence of Heaven and Earth were beyond what ordinary skills could compare to.
This made his body increasingly lithe, and increasingly uncanny.
As time passed, he was able to devour more and more of the essence of Heaven and Earth, and sustain it for longer and longer periods.
With every breath in and out, creation took shape of its own accord, and essence entered his body.
Wu Tian could feel a power seemingly gestating within his body. Once his physique had been nourished to perfection by the essence of Heaven and Earth, with his qi overflowing once it was full, that power would be born.
"If I can continue refining my body like this, I might even be able to hammer-forge a body of Steel Bones and Iron Muscles."
"Unfortunately, I have no control over the essence of Heaven and Earth absorbed after eating qi. Its nourishment of my physique happens entirely on its own."
Through this period of eating qi, he had gradually realized that if cultivators existed in this world, they must be able to breathe in and out the essence of Heaven and Earth, using it to hammer-forge their bodies and nourish their Divine Souls.
"Using the essence of Heaven and Earth to nourish essence, qi, and spirit, thereby transcending the ordinary and entering sainthood!"
Wu Tian was no ignorant monster. He had lived through the information explosion of his previous life and had read Laozi and Zhuangzi. Through the Qi Eater talent, he had vaguely grasped the path of cultivation that lay ahead.
"The envoy from Skull Mountain should be arriving soon. I just don't know whether Skull Mountain is home to an immortal or a demon lord."
During this time, Wu Tian had also observed the sinister winds at night. He discovered that whenever the bright moon hung high, the souls of countless ferocious birds and beasts would ride the sinister winds, roaming between Heaven and Earth.
The sinister wind howled, beasts roared, and ghosts ran rampant. The sight was horrifying beyond words.
Even monsters would probably be devoured clean by the Hundred Beast Yin Souls if they encountered such a scene.
Wu Tian had always been puzzled. If the Amulet of Warding posted throughout the stockade and the Bronze Ancient Cauldron at its center possessed mysterious warding power, allowing the Hundred Beast Yin Souls to draw near at night—
then how did the spirits and ghosts in the mountain forests survive?
The Hundred Beast Yin Souls could probably sweep through the area in a single night and swallow those spirits and monsters until not even dregs remained...
Yet in reality, all those spirits and monsters were living perfectly well.
After observing for a long time, Wu Tian gradually reached a conclusion.
"Those Hundred Beast Yin Souls must have a master. Even the spirits and ghosts in the mountains are probably being kept in captivity by someone!"
This conclusion sent a chill through his heart. Herding the Hundred Beast Yin Souls and keeping the mountain spirits in captivity—such methods were terrifying.
"If all of this was done by Skull Mountain, then the people of Skull Mountain are truly frightening."
"I wonder what kind of changes the arrival of Skull Mountain's envoy will bring to the stockade this time?!"
Wu Tian felt somewhat expectant. He hoped to use Skull Mountain to accelerate his own growth and transformation, yet he also felt an indescribable fear.
The power of Skull Mountain was too great. The Hundred Beast Yin Souls and the spirits and ghosts in the mountains were forces he could never withstand, let alone the Skull Mountain that had brought all of this about.
Wu Tian held a reverence for power deep in his heart!
Day after day passed. Wu Tian's first talent had finally reached perfection through constantly devouring Poisonous Insects, snakes, and ants, and even borrowing the poisonous mist left behind after the Jade Centipede poisoned living creatures to death.
Ding, system notification: Your Devour Poison talent has reached perfection. Ding, system notification: Your Devour Poison talent has advanced. It is currently the Intermediate Talent Immunity to All Poisons. Immunity to All Poisons: Intermediate Talent. You can ignore the vast majority of ordinary poisons. Even deadly poisons of mortals cannot harm you. You possess weak resistance to poisonous miasma and Killing Intent bred from the essence of Heaven and Earth.
"Looks like once a talent reaches the intermediate level, it can already grant immunity to ordinary poisons. Only poisonous miasma and Killing Intent involving transcendent power can harm me."
"But the Immunity to All Poisons talent also possesses resistance to that poisonous miasma and Killing Intent. It's just still rather weak. If I continue upgrading it, it will become an extremely terrifying talent."
"The Jade Centipede's terrifying poison must involve transcendent power. It isn't an ordinary poison."
Looking at his Immunity to All Poisons talent, Wu Tian felt both delighted and faintly melancholy. After carefully sensing the panel, he discovered that upgrading an intermediate talent was far more difficult than upgrading a basic talent.
"To upgrade an intermediate talent, I'll probably need to repeatedly temper myself with poison as potent as that of the Jade Centipede, then rely on a long period of time to develop resistance. This won't be accomplished in a day or two."
"In other words, improving an intermediate talent requires more time and even more precious resources."
He had already realized that if he stayed in the stockade, the room for his progress would grow smaller and smaller.
"Immunity to All Poisons alone wouldn't matter much, since I still have the Jade Centipede. But after talents like Sharp Claws, Spirit of Wind, and Qi Eater advance, the resources they require will only increase. The stockade simply won't be able to provide them..."
Wu Tian began looking forward more and more to the arrival of Skull Mountain's envoy.
Day after day passed. The ice melted and the snow thawed, and spring returned to the land.
The Hunting Team resumed its former activities. They went hunting almost every day. In the spring jungle, all things revived, allowing them to obtain enough food.
Amid the hunts in the Savage Jungle, Wu Tian gradually raised his second talent, Sharp Claws, to perfection.
Ding, system notification: Your Sharp Claws talent has reached perfection. Ding, system notification: Your Sharp Claws talent has advanced. It is currently the Intermediate Talent Thousand Mile Divine Speed.
With the advancement of his talent, Wu Tian could feel his already swift speed surge once more. His body raced through the jungle like a streak of white lightning.
"With such terrifying speed, those ferocious birds and beasts that have yet to become spirits can no longer possibly be my match."
Wu Tian ran madly through the jungle, feeling the wild wind ravage his fur. A pleasure and freedom that came straight from his bones filled him.
"Immunity to All Poisons and Thousand Mile Divine Speed—these two talents are enough to make me a top-tier predator in the jungle. Even if I encounter those spirits and monsters, I can avoid them."
He ran through the jungle and charged straight at a python that was on the verge of becoming a spirit. In the past, he had still been somewhat wary of such creatures.
But now, with extreme speed, his body flashed, and before the python could react, his Sharp Claws tore through the seventh vertebra of its neck.
Wu Tian pounced and struck repeatedly around the giant python's body. Though the python rolled and hissed, it could not even touch a single strand of his fur.
In barely a quarter of an hour, the giant python that had been on the verge of becoming a spirit was directly killed in the jungle by relying on his extreme speed.
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
Wu Tian raised his head and roared at the sky. His strength was growing ever greater, and he was no longer that frail puppy.
Soon, Silver Frost arrived with the members of the Hunting Team. When they saw the giant python Wu Tian had killed, astonishment appeared on all their faces.
"White Dragon is getting more and more formidable!"
"That python was almost a spirit, wasn't it?"
"Even the legendary White Dog wasn't as powerful as White Dragon, was he?"
"Now even Silver Frost is inferior to White Dragon!"
"This is the auspicious sign of White Dog Stockade!"
The members of the Hunting Team were all incredibly excited, especially Guxiong Mu. He had once had the chance to eat a creature that was on the verge of becoming a spirit. To humanity, the blood and flesh of such creatures were a great tonic.
This enormous python was several zhang long, more than enough to feed everyone in the stockade for a long time.
"Let's work together and carry this python's corpse back!"
"Hahaha, good! This is a harvest sent by Heaven!"
"The children in the stockade will probably cry when they see such a huge python, right?"
"Hahaha!"
Everyone excitedly set to work together. Wu Tian watched from the side, breathing in and out the essence of Heaven and Earth to recover his strength.
"After some more time, once Spirit of Wind and Qi Eater advance, I should be able to become a true spirit."
"By then, I'll even be able to hunt those spirits in the mountains and forests!"
The existence of the System Panel made his growth speed far exceed that of his peers.
When they returned to the stockade, the enormous python naturally caused an uproar, and nearly everyone came to watch.
Even Chili Mu ran out excitedly.
"White Dragon, I've never seen such a huge python before."
"They all say you hunted it. Is that true?"
"White Dragon, you're not allowed to take risks in the future. Weren't you afraid that such a huge python would swallow you in one bite?"
The little girl scolded him while staring at the python, frightened yet excited. She really wanted to step forward and touch it.
At dusk, the Chieftain and the tribespeople dismembered the giant python together. Then they threw all its bones and flesh into the Bronze Ancient Cauldron and lit a fire beneath it.
"It's been a long time since the stockade last cooked prey that was on the verge of becoming a spirit. Back in the day, this ancient cauldron even cooked a spirit—a wild boar that had become a spirit."
Surrounded by everyone, the Chieftain began recounting the stockade's former glory.
Amid the lively atmosphere, a black wind suddenly swept across the horizon and descended straight toward the center of the stockade.
At this sight, the Chieftain and Guxiong Mu instantly turned solemn. They hurriedly rose to their feet and shouted, "All tribespeople, welcome the envoy with me!"
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