Inner Qi, Sixth Layer

A clattering sound came from the dense bushes, and a giant lizard more than two meters long, its skin a vivid red, emerged.

"Red Rock Lizard. Judging from the fluctuations of its aura, it should be a first-level early-stage demonic beast."

Thanks to Old Man Zhao's collection of books, Lu Ming quickly identified the species of the demonic beast he had encountered.

Generally speaking, a first-level demonic beast was equivalent to a human Martial Artist in the Nei Qi Realm, while a second-level beast was equivalent to the Zhen Qi Realm, and so on.

As for the early stage of the first level, it was equivalent to the first through third layers of the Nei Qi Realm.

"Excellent. I'll use you to test my saber today."

After encountering a suitable opponent, Lu Ming's hand rested on his saber hilt. Though somewhat excited, he still appeared extremely cautious.

This was because it was only the second time he had faced a living creature. The first had naturally been when he settled his grudge.

Since that had been an assassination, it had not demonstrated much.

But now, his opponent was a demonic beast—thick-skinned and heavily built, with no intelligence and no fear of death.

Thus, it deserved to be treated with utmost seriousness.

Sure enough, upon seeing Lu Ming, the Red Rock Lizard had already taken him for prey. It opened its fangs and actually pounced at him first.

The giant body, more than two meters long, was still only halfway through its leap when a foul wind rushed toward his face.

Lu Ming, however, remained unhurried. With a sidestep, he avoided the flying pounce.

Then his long saber slid from its sheath and stabbed toward the Red Rock Lizard's eyeball.

Strike at the enemy's weakness. Thus, he had chosen the giant lizard's most vulnerable part.

Bang!

Yet the stab failed to pierce through. At the critical moment, the Red Rock Lizard had actually closed its eye, allowing its hard eyelid to block the thrust.

"What an extraordinary natural gift. Even its eyelids are this hard!"

His strike had failed, but Lu Ming was not disappointed. He activated the [Soaring Cloud Skill] and retreated through the air.

Roar!

The Red Rock Lizard, however, refused to let him go. Apparently enraged, it turned around after landing and pounced at him again.

Again!

Lu Ming naturally used the same trick, easily dodging it before unleashing the first form of the Heavenly Saber Technique: Gale Style.

This style pursued speed above all else. It could slash or stab, swift as a gale.

Thus, before the Red Rock Lizard had time to blink, the long saber had already pierced through its skull.

Swish!

Even after succeeding with one strike, Lu Ming quickly widened the distance between them.

Naturally, this was to prevent the Red Rock Lizard from going berserk and launching a desperate counterattack before its death. It was better to keep out of reach first.

"Indeed, practicing saber techniques against living creatures is completely different from practicing against wooden stakes."

Only after a while did the Red Rock Lizard finally fall utterly still.

This meant Lu Ming had dealt with his opponent, but he was not particularly delighted. Their clash just now had made him realize his shortcomings.

If he had chosen to use Gale Style for his first strike, he would have killed his opponent instantly and would not have needed to expend so much effort.

Of course, testing the waters was also necessary. The balance between those choices required him to focus carefully and distinguish the circumstances.

After summarizing his experience, Lu Ming seemed to have found the direction in which his saber technique needed to improve. He temporarily stopped thinking about it and walked over to the Red Rock Lizard's corpse.

This Red Rock Lizard probably weighed several hundred pounds. It was impossible for him to carry the whole thing away.

Otherwise, he might as well not bother adventuring in the future.

Thus, consulting the information in his mind, he began collecting the valuable things from the Red Rock Lizard.

First, he cut open its belly to search for the demonic beast's Demonic Core.

A Demonic Core could be used to refine pills and forge artifacts, with countless ingenious applications. Naturally, it was extremely valuable.

But it was not easy to obtain.

Generally speaking, only demonic beasts of the second level or above could condense one inside their bodies.

There were exceptions, of course, so he planned to try his luck.

Unfortunately, his luck was not very good, and he could only begin collecting other materials.

There were not many valuable things on the Red Rock Lizard. The hide armor was somewhat more valuable and could be used to make protective equipment.

Lu Ming took the hide armor first, then collected a few other things. Once he had processed most of it, a large pile still remained.

"If only I had a Storage Ring. I just don't know when I'll be able to afford one."

Lu Ming had suffered from poverty for too long. Seeing the pile of things left on the ground, he felt an ache in his heart.

That was why he thought of the Storage Ring he had read about in the books.

But he did not have one now and could only painfully abandon the rest.

Continuing onward, he soon encountered a second opponent: a first-level mid-stage demonic wolf. Its speed was astonishing, and with its small build, it hid and attacked intermittently within the dense forest.

It was extremely difficult to deal with.

Fortunately, the Heavenly Saber Technique was a saber technique that pursued speed. Its accompanying footwork and movement techniques were also extraordinarily flexible and varied, excelling at shifting and dodging within a confined area.

Thus, the dense forest was not an obstacle.

With the support of Heavenly Saber Inner Qi, Lu Ming was even faster than that demonic wolf.

All throughout the forest, only afterimages and Saber Light could be seen.

Relying on his speed, Lu Ming handled the demonic wolf's attacks with ease. As time passed, his combat skills also steadily improved.

He learned to make use of his eyesight and speed, striking after the enemy but arriving first to intercept its attacks, then following through with a counterattack.

After several dozen exchanges, the demonic wolf was cut in half at the waist.

"Continue!"

Without delay, Lu Ming collected the materials and continued deeper into the mountain range in search of opponents.

As time passed, the sun sank toward the western hills. Only when he sensed the forest growing increasingly dark did Lu Ming stop.

After more than half a day of slaughter, he was not only ravenously hungry, but the Inner Qi within his body had also been nearly depleted.

Thus, he decided to call it a day and first find somewhere to spend the night.

The jungle was even more dangerous at night, so he had to find a place that could be sheltered on all sides. Taking advantage of the remaining light, he quickly began searching.

His luck was not bad either. He soon discovered a small stone cave only a few square meters in size. After making sure no demonic beast was hiding inside, he piled in a great deal of firewood and lit it.

The purpose was naturally to drive away small creatures such as venomous insects, snakes, and ants.

Only after burning the place thoroughly did Lu Ming feel at ease entering.

A short while later, he came back out and scattered medicinal powder that repelled insects and beasts. Once he had finished, he sat by the campfire and ate dry rations and roasted meat.

A quarter of an hour later.

After eating and drinking his fill, Lu Ming began circulating his cultivation technique. He cultivated while recovering his Inner Qi.

Relying on the extraordinary [Heavenly Saber Art], he replenished his dantian in less than half an hour. Moreover, compared with before, his Inner Qi had become even more abundant.

"I didn't expect a series of battles to take me straight to the peak of the fifth layer of the Nei Qi Realm."

After finding the answer, Lu Ming was somewhat pleasantly surprised. He had only broken through to the fifth layer of the Nei Qi Realm a few days ago, and now he had already advanced another step.

This speed was practically like riding a rocket.

Without thinking further, he hurriedly continued cultivating to see whether he could take advantage of the momentum and break through to the sixth layer of the Nei Qi Realm that night.

The night passed without incident, and in the blink of an eye, it was dawn the next day.

Lu Ming awoke from his sleep. As expected, he had broken through smoothly the night before, reaching the sixth layer of the Nei Qi Realm.

The Inner Qi in his body had naturally grown by a large margin as well, allowing him to fight for longer.

Thus, without delay, he ate some dry rations, took up his saber, and continued searching for demonic beasts to fight.

Another day passed like this. Lu Ming had been in the Shuofeng Mountain Range for nearly three days. Only when he saw that his cloth sack was almost too full to hold anything else did he reluctantly stop.

During this time, he had killed more than twenty demonic beasts, including several first-level late-stage beasts equivalent to the eighth or ninth layer of the Nei Qi Realm.

Although hunting them had been somewhat difficult, and he had even suffered some injuries in the process, he had ultimately slain them all.

He had also encountered a second-level demonic beast. Fortunately, he had discovered it early and swiftly used the [Soaring Cloud Skill] to flee, escaping danger without incident.

In short, this trip had yielded a bumper harvest. Setting aside the materials that nearly filled his sack, there was his strength alone.

After several days of tempering, he had already mastered extremely profound practical combat skills.

The first was his eyesight. He discovered that his senses were exceptionally sharp, often allowing him to anticipate the enemy's move and strike after them but arrive first.

As a result, his saber technique had become even simpler and more fierce, entering an entirely different level.

It could be said that, up to now, his only shortcoming was his lack of fist and foot techniques.

Because those in the Nei Qi Realm could not project their energy outward, they naturally could not transform it into saber qi. Thus, once he lost his long saber, his strength would be greatly reduced.

The injuries on his body had come about precisely this way. At the time, his long saber had become stuck inside a demonic beast, and fortunately, he had decisively abandoned the saber and retreated.

Otherwise, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

This was where fist and foot techniques revealed their importance.

Without thinking further, Lu Ming cleaved the Green Vine Snake that had lunged to bite him in half with a single saber strike. He decided to end this expedition; otherwise, no matter how many good things he obtained, he would have no room to carry them.

Thus, he stopped delaying, hoisted the cloth sack onto his shoulder, and started back.

However, at this moment, two people suddenly blocked his path.