Duke had no experience hunting in the wild, but that did not stop him from moving through the brushwood like a fish in water. The Rainfall Breathing Technique he kept circulating at all times was the best method of detection.
By resonating with the breathing of the surrounding plants, he could grasp every abnormality in the environment around him.
As he continued forward, the breathing technique's detection had already helped him avoid several large beasts in advance. It was not that he feared danger; he simply could not be bothered to shoot and kill those beasts.
He could not bring them back, and he would also have to conceal the bullet holes.
That was to prevent other hunters from discovering anything amiss.
Even if they did discover something, it might not necessarily expose anything, but reducing the possibility of exposure was still important. Only by keeping a low profile could one safely develop in the supernatural world.
"From here, we should be five kilometers from Snakehead Town, right?" Duke looked back, but his entire field of vision was blocked by the brushwood.
He was not worried about getting lost in the slightest. Xiao Yi had clearly recorded every place he had visited and every road he had traveled, and he could consult the records at any time.
Suddenly.
Xiao Yi reminded him, "Master, fifty meters ahead on the left, there's an unusual rhythm. It isn't caused by an animal... It resembles the rhythm of a Spiritual Plant in the records."
"A Spiritual Plant!"
Duke immediately headed toward the left front. When he was almost there, he suddenly stopped and cautiously observed his surroundings. "Most Spiritual Plants growing in the wild attract Spirit Beasts to settle nearby. Xiao Yi, activate auxiliary vision and help me check for anything I might have missed!"
"Yes, Master."
Step by step, Duke moved slowly and observed carefully.
Before long, surrounded by a cluster of bushes, he saw something giving off a different breathing rhythm: a small grass that looked somewhat like a chive, its long, thin leaves yellowed as though from malnutrition.
"The aura isn't strong. It should be an unadvanced 0-Ring Spirit Grass."
A 0-Ring Spiritual Plant had yet to become a true Spiritual Plant. It was a transitional existence between an ordinary plant and a Spiritual Plant, possessing some of the wonders unique to Spiritual Plants, but its effects were far inferior to those of a true 1-Ring Spiritual Plant.
"I can't sense any spiritual aura. This little grass can't even sort out spiritual energy..." Duke was pleasantly surprised, yet also slightly disappointed.
If a 0-Ring Spiritual Plant could not sort out spiritual energy and form a spiritual aura, its value would be greatly reduced. It could only exist as an economic resource, providing a small amount of edible and medicinal value.
However.
This little grass was still very small. Perhaps it simply had not grown up yet. Once it matured and bloomed, it might be able to sort out spiritual energy.
Just as Duke took a small shovel from his backpack and prepared to dig up the 0-Ring grass, Xiao Yi suddenly reminded him, "Master, there's a suspected Spirit Beast hiding in the thorny bushes on the right."
"A Spirit Beast?"
Duke picked up the Desert Eagle 1.0 and quickly aimed at the bushes on the right.
He saw nothing.
But Xiao Yi's judgment could not be wrong. This was an abnormality sensed through the breathing technique, and spiritual perception was far more accurate than the senses of the human body.
"Not coming out?" Duke narrowed his eyes.
His finger immediately pulled the Desert Eagle's trigger. Three faint shots rang out in rapid succession, and the Spirit Beast hidden in the bushes was startled, abruptly darting out to the side.
It was unmistakably a pitch-black snake.
"A suspected 0-Ring Spirit Beast, the Black Jade Snake. After reaching adulthood, it has a tiny chance of evolving into the 1-Ring Spirit Beast, the Black Jade King Snake." Through mental communication, Xiao Yi transmitted the black snake's information in an instant.
Duke did not care whether it was 0-Ring or 1-Ring.
He repeatedly fired at the Black Jade Snake's winding position. Nine bullets were emptied in a sweep.
He then pushed out the magazine and shoved it back in, completing the process of changing magazines—a completely unnecessary gesture for a pistol that had already become an Arcane Artifact.
But the Desert Eagle had ultimately mutated from a real gun, and it retained many of the real gun's modes.
Perhaps only after Xiao Yi continued researching and developing it in the future would the Desert Eagle completely break free from the influence of real guns and become a truly handy Arcane Artifact.
The Black Jade Snake had not been hit. It quickly disappeared from Duke's sight, but with Xiao Yi calling out its position, Duke knew very clearly that it had not gone far. It had found a place nearby and continued hiding.
Obviously.
The 0-Ring Spiritual Plant—the little grass—also held an enormous attraction for the Black Jade Snake.
"Xiao Yi, monitor its movements. I'm going fishing!" Duke took the small shovel from his backpack and began to shovel the soil halfheartedly, creating the impression that he was digging up the little grass.
He had only dug a few shovelfuls.
The Black Jade Snake could no longer endure it. Like an arrow, it shot out from a pile of dead leaves nearby.
Waiting for it was the prepared Duke. He raised his gun and fired a burst of nine bullets. Eight of them grazed past the Black Jade Snake, while only one struck its body.
Yet that single bullet nearly split the wrist-thick Black Jade Snake in two.
It lay on the ground, unable to spring up again, its body twisting incessantly.
"I'm a senior member of the Falcon Shooting Club, after all. I spent practically all the money I made from running the factory on guns. Shooting you is child's play!"
Duke grinned smugly.
He pushed the magazine out and back in, completing the reload, then aimed at the endlessly twisting Black Jade Snake on the ground. "This shot will take your life!"
Bang!
Another bullet hole appeared in the ground.
"Uh, a slip-up, a slip-up." Duke did not blush, simply treating it as target practice.
The battle aura within his body circulated, multiplying the strength in his wrist. The Desert Eagle 1.0, held in one hand, remained perfectly steady. Maintaining a stable posture, he followed the Black Jade Snake's struggles and made slight adjustments to the gun's muzzle and sight.
The instant the sight aligned with the snake's head,
his finger pulled the trigger almost by reflex.
Bang!
The Black Jade Snake's head exploded, and its body, already nearly severed in two, could no longer move.
"Whew."
Duke gently blew on the muzzle, then quickly crouched down. He picked up the Black Jade Snake's body, more than two meters long, curled it into a ball, and stuffed it into his backpack. It weighed a full fifteen pounds.
Only after confirming that there were no other unusual sounds nearby did he continue digging up the 0-Ring Spiritual Plant—the little grass.
He dug it up together with a large clump of soil around its roots, wrapped it in a cloth bag, and carefully stuffed it into his backpack, pressing it down beneath the Black Jade Snake's corpse.
After finishing everything, Duke did not linger. He swiftly retraced his route.
He had originally come here just to try his luck and practice his marksmanship. Now his luck had exploded: a 0-Ring Spirit Beast, the Black Jade Snake, and a 0-Ring Spiritual Plant, the little grass. His harvest was enormous.
On the way back, he also took the opportunity to practice his marksmanship.
He used battle aura to strengthen his body, then kept firing at the small birds he encountered along the road. For small birds perched on branches, he could basically hit one out of three shots within a hundred meters.
As for birds in flight, he could only rely on luck.
"Static targets are just average, but moving targets are rotten... Practice! I'll train hard when I get back! Once my marksmanship is good, it'll be far more powerful in combat than cultivating the Path of the Knight's battle-aura techniques!"
The martial techniques knights painstakingly cultivated for years might not possess the power of a single shot from the Desert Eagle.
Duke had opened his Blood Sea, but he did not plan to painstakingly cultivate the Path of the Knight. Nor did he have the energy or perseverance to bitterly train in battle-aura techniques. He was only doing it to strengthen his physique and leave himself without regrets.
The Sea of Qi was the same.
Only the Sea of Spirit would be his primary focus from now on. He could not put the cart before the horse.
Before you continue