Tiger Roars Through the Mountains

After leaving the Sword Pavilion, Xia Wuji rode the breeze away at tremendous speed.

What he used was a top-grade Yellow-rank movement technique known as the Shadowless Wind Step.

Two days later, Xia Wuji had reached the edge of the Monster Suppression Mountain Range.

The Monster Suppression Mountain Range was immensely vast. Many spirit medicines grew here, but countless Fierce Beasts also lurked within.

Fierce Beasts were ranked as low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, and top-grade Fierce Beasts.

Above top-grade Fierce Beasts were Demon Beasts!

Many martial artists chose to travel in groups into the Monster Suppression Mountain Range, hunting Fierce Beasts and gathering precious spirit medicines. Even experts of the Sea of Qi Realm rarely came here alone.

That was because Fierce Beasts were extraordinarily savage and possessed an extremely strong sense of territory.

Xia Wuji looked at the boundless mountain forest stretching before him. Without the slightest hesitation, he entered it.

His figure was exceptionally nimble, swiftly weaving through the rugged forest and dense vegetation. Suddenly, a stream of dark green venom shot out from an area piled with jagged rocks!

The venom flew toward Xia Wuji like an arrow.

Xia Wuji merely shifted sideways with a single step and easily avoided it.

The dark green venom landed on the trunk of a massive tree, instantly corroding a hole clean through it!

"Hiss..."

"Hiss, hiss, hiss!"

A python with a triangular head, dark green scales, and a body as thick as an adult man's thigh raised the upper half of its body amid the rocks. Its forked tongue flicked continuously as its snake eyes fixed on Xia Wuji, gleaming with a cold and sinister light.

"Ink Jade Poison Python."

"A low-grade Fierce Beast."

Xia Wuji gave the python a glance and identified both its bloodline and strength.

A low-grade Fierce Beast was equivalent to a human martial artist at the Qi Gathering Realm.

If it had been any other fifth-level Qi Gathering Realm martial artist facing this Ink Jade Poison Python, they would naturally have fled as fast as their legs could carry them. Yet a faint smile appeared on Xia Wuji's face.

"The gallbladder of this Ink Jade Poison Python should be quite nourishing!"

Xia Wuji muttered to himself.

Low-grade Fierce Beasts already possessed a trace of intelligence. It had clearly understood Xia Wuji's words and was instantly enraged.

Not only was this feeble human not trembling before it, he actually had the audacity to set his sights on its gallbladder?

The enraged Ink Jade Poison Python suddenly whipped its tail. With a thunderous boom, a huge boulder was sent flying, smashing fiercely toward Xia Wuji.

Immediately afterward, the Ink Jade Poison Python's body shot forward as it pounced at Xia Wuji. Its bloody maw opened wide, and a thick, nauseating stench spread through the air.

At that very moment.

A crisp sword cry rang out!

The Jinghong Sword in Xia Wuji's hand instantly left its sheath!

Sword light poured forth like a surging flood!

With one strike, Xia Wuji split the incoming boulder in two. A wave of wind rippled beneath his feet as he shot straight toward the Ink Jade Poison Python.

After spending two days continuously using the Shadowless Wind Step to travel, Xia Wuji's body had become even more accustomed to the movement technique. It had already formed an instinctive physical memory.

"Whoosh!"

Xia Wuji slashed with his sword!

Sharp Sword Essence erupted!

The Ink Jade Poison Python simply could not understand how a human so weak in its perception could possess such terrifying speed.

Moreover, before this human's sword had even struck its body, the hard ink-jade scales covering it had already been torn apart by invisible sharpness!

When Xia Wuji's sword truly fell, the Ink Jade Poison Python's head was cleaved straight into two halves.

The Ink Jade Poison Python's corpse collapsed onto the ground. Xia Wuji used the tip of his sword to pick out its gallbladder and retrieve a Beast Core.

A Beast Core was the energy core of a Fierce Beast.

The most valuable part of a Fierce Beast was its Beast Core. It could be used for pill refinement, artifact forging, and formation arrays.

Xia Wuji placed the Beast Core into his bundle, then bit open the gallbladder in one bite.

At once, the gallbladder's fluid poured into Xia Wuji's mouth. It was bitter beyond measure, but Xia Wuji's expression did not change as he drank every last drop.

With the memories of a lifetime as a supreme being of the Heaven Realm, having weathered countless storms and waves, such a minor assault on his taste buds could not disturb him in the slightest.

The gallbladder fluid of the Ink Jade Poison Python contained abundant energy. Even True Essence Realm martial artists would not dare consume it all at once. Otherwise, if the immense energy rampaged through their bodies before it could be refined, their meridians and Dantian would both suffer damage.

Yet Xia Wuji possessed the Eternal Sword Canon, a peerless supreme art of the Heaven Realm. The moment he activated it, the endless stream of energy was swiftly refined and gathered within his Dantian, gradually forming a sixth vortex.

Breakthrough!

Sixth level of the Qi Gathering Realm!

At the same time, the Sword Seed trembled lightly, continuously releasing sharp and piercing edge. The vital energy within the sixth vortex rapidly transformed into Sword Essence!

A moment later.

Having thoroughly digested the energy from the Ink Jade Poison Python's gallbladder, Xia Wuji stopped circulating his cultivation art and entered the rocky area where the Ink Jade Poison Python had been hiding.

Generally speaking, wherever Fierce Beasts lived and nested, there would be some heavenly treasures.

Xia Wuji quickly discovered a small, verdant blade of grass growing from a crack between the rocks. At its tip grew an emerald fruit the size of a fingertip.

"It is actually a high-grade treasure medicine, a Jade Spirit Fruit."

Xia Wuji picked the Jade Spirit Fruit.

This fruit was unsuitable for direct consumption. It was best used for pill refinement.

Xia Wuji placed the Jade Spirit Fruit into his bundle as well, then muttered, "Since I have come to the Monster Suppression Mountain Range, I should first find some fire-attributed Fierce Beasts and seize their Beast Fire for temporary use."

"Once I have flames and gather another batch of spirit medicines, I can refine pills and accelerate the growth of my cultivation!"

In martial cultivation, wealth, companions, methods, and land were all indispensable.

Wealth referred to riches, including resources such as spirit artifacts and pills.

Companions referred to partners, elders, friends, and family.

Methods, as the name implied, referred to inheritances such as cultivation arts and martial techniques.

Land referred to the cultivation power backing one's path.

In his previous life in the Heaven Realm, Xia Wuji had carved out the name of a supreme being in merely a hundred years. Naturally, he had not relied solely on the Eternal Sword Canon. He was also highly accomplished in the art of pill refinement.

And pill refinement required flames.

In this mortal world, the finest flames were naturally Heaven and Earth Spirit Fire.

Yet Heaven and Earth Spirit Fire was rare, difficult to find, and incomparably precious. Across the entire Great Chu Dynasty, Xia Wuji had never heard of anyone possessing Heaven and Earth Spirit Fire.

Therefore, within the Great Chu Dynasty, Beast Fire was the mainstream choice for alchemists!

Of course, once one possessed flames, their uses were not limited to pill refinement and artifact forging. They could also enhance combat strength.

After making up his mind, Xia Wuji headed southwest.

Over the past few years, he had acted as the Sword Pavilion's deputy master, and the Sword Pavilion often sent people into the Monster Suppression Mountain Range to hunt Fierce Beasts and gather spirit medicines. Thus, he was fairly familiar with the situation in the mountain range.

The direction he was heading toward was the habitat of a group of Blazing Flame Tigers.

The Beast Fire possessed by these Blazing Flame Tigers was exceptionally violent and difficult to refine. But once refined, its effects were superb and it was extremely useful.

As for the Crimson Jade Blood Ginseng in the Monster Suppression Mountain Range that was about to mature, Xia Wuji only knew the approximate time and not its exact location.

Since he had already arrived here, he only needed to wait for the Crimson Jade Blood Ginseng to mature and trigger a dazzling phenomenon. Then he could rush over immediately.

First come, first served—like a terrace by the water catching the moonlight first!

But near the Crimson Jade Blood Ginseng, there would certainly be an exceptionally powerful top-grade Fierce Beast.

Although Xia Wuji possessed foreknowledge and all manner of ingenious methods, in his current state... successfully picking the Crimson Jade Blood Ginseng would be very difficult.

Level up first!

Half a day passed.

"Roar!"

A tiger's roar shook the mountain forest.

Raging flames ignited.

A massive Blazing Flame Tiger, a low-grade Fierce Beast at the peak of its rank, glared furiously at Xia Wuji!