"Good answer!"
Lin Chen looked at the giant wolf and smiled faintly. "In that case, I'll give you a quick death!"
He unleashed the full power of his Blood Qi True Flame. A massive fist-shaped shadow came crashing down, and the giant wolf instantly turned to flying ash, without suffering the slightest pain!
After killing the giant wolf, Lin Chen checked the system panel.
"Origin:" "Martial arts available for enhancement: Phoenix Undying Body, Second Stage (0/9); Dragon Roar Iron Shirt, First Stage (9/9)."
Looking at the panel, Lin Chen couldn't help but ponder. He had enough Origin to enhance something just once. He could either advance Dragon Roar Iron Shirt or enhance Phoenix Undying Body.
Lin Chen's defense was already more than adequate. Though Dragon Roar Iron Shirt was only at the First Stage, combined with Phoenix Undying Body's recovery, he was confident he could stay alive even against an opponent far stronger than himself.
His offensive options, on the other hand, were lacking. Dragon Roar Iron Shirt did give them a boost, but the improvement wasn't all that great. After a moment's thought, Lin Chen chose to enhance Phoenix Undying Body.
"Origin:" "Martial arts available for enhancement: Phoenix Undying Body, Second Stage (1/9); Dragon Roar Iron Shirt, First Stage (9/9)."
Feeling the second Blood Qi True Flame in his dantian grow stronger, a smile touched Lin Chen's face. It wasn't just the second flame that had grown; the first one seemed to have become more solid as well.
Clearly, once Phoenix Undying Body reached the Second Stage, the enhancement no longer affected only the second Blood Qi True Flame. The first flame also improved, though the change wasn't as obvious.
"How many orders has my strength reached now?"
Lin Chen raised an eyebrow, curious. The strongest people he had encountered so far were only Fifth Order. He had never come into contact with anyone Sixth Order or higher.
So, at present, Lin Chen had no way of judging what level his strength and abilities had reached.
Lin Chen's expression turned serious. Looks like I need to find a chance to test my strength accurately!
"And..."
A glint flashed in Lin Chen's eyes. He had only enhanced Phoenix Undying Body to the Second Stage, yet his strength was already at least that of a Seventh Order Cultivator. Were Ninth Order Cultivators really the peak of the Cultivation World?
Through the Cultivator Forum, Lin Chen had learned that the peak of the Cultivation World was supposedly Ninth Order Cultivators. But the system panel clearly suggested otherwise.
That made Lin Chen suspect there were beings even more powerful than Ninth Order Cultivators. It was just that ordinary cultivators had no way of learning about such a level.
Looks like I need to take a deeper look into the Cultivation World! Lin Chen thought to himself.
"Ah!"
Just as Lin Chen was lost in thought, a scream suddenly rang out from the hill. His expression changed. The person who had screamed was Huang Qian, up on the hill.
"Weren't there no more mutated beasts?"
Lin Chen's expression darkened. He tapped the ground and hurried toward the hill. He believed the colorful tiger hadn't lied to him. Could another mutated beast have shown up?
A moment later, Lin Chen had leaped onto the hill. A sallow man stood beside the colorful tiger's corpse, cutting it apart.
When the sallow man saw Lin Chen, he stopped what he was doing, then looked over at him. "Friend, did you kill this Third-Order tiger?"
"That's right!"
Lin Chen nodded slightly. He could understand why Huang Qian had screamed. The sallow man's butchering of the tiger's corpse had been rather bloody.
After all, whenever Lin Chen killed an enemy, he often used his Blood Qi True Flame to turn the body straight to ash, so it wouldn't get too bloody—clean and hygienic.
"I'll buy the corpse. How about five million?" The sallow man looked at Lin Chen.
"Sure!"
Lin Chen nodded. After killing the colorful tiger, he would have turned it to ash with his Blood Qi True Flame if he hadn't been worried about alerting the mutated beasts in the nearby pond.
Now that he could make some money, Yang Qi naturally had no reason to refuse. Five million was no small sum; it was about as much as the reward for this Fire Forest Mountain investigation.
"Sorry. I was in a hurry to butcher the corpse, so I scared your friend." The sallow man glanced at Huang Qian, who was nearby.
"No worries," Lin Chen replied with a faint smile.
The sallow man was a cultivator, too. If he had posed any threat, Huang Qian wouldn't have been able to wait for Lin Chen to arrive. That meant the sallow man meant no harm.
And if Lin Chen wasn't mistaken, the sallow man was one of the other two cultivators who had taken the mission. Unfortunately, he'd arrived a step too late.
"Hello, I'm Tang Jiu, from the Tang Sect." The sallow man introduced himself to Lin Chen, added him as a friend, and transferred the money.
"Lin Chen, from Qingzhou University."
Lin Chen smiled faintly. He'd already been planning to learn more about the Cultivation World. Now that a cultivator from the Tang Sect had reached out to him, he wasn't about to turn away a friendly gesture.
"I have a question for you." Lin Chen suddenly recalled a meme from his previous life. He looked at Tang Jiu. "Your name's Tang Jiu. Does the Tang Sect have a cultivator called Tang San?"
"Tang San?"
Tang Jiu's expression shifted. He looked at Lin Chen and said, "That name is taboo in the Tang Sect. You're an outsider, so I'll let it pass, but it's strictly forbidden to mention it within the sect!"
A taboo?
Strictly forbidden to mention?
At Tang Jiu's words, Lin Chen's expression changed slightly. He had only been thinking of a meme he'd seen online in his previous life. He hadn't expected Tang San's name to be taboo in this world—in the Cultivation World!
Tang Jiu looked at Lin Chen and smiled. "If you come across any more mutated beast corpses, you can sell them to me, too. Third-Order Mutated Beasts usually go for three to five million. Fourth-Order corpses are around ten million, and Fifth-Order ones start at twenty million."
"That much?" Lin Chen's expression shifted. Did that mean the mutated beasts he'd just killed could've fetched forty or fifty million?
Tang Jiu smiled calmly. "Mutated beast remains, especially those of Third-Order Mutated Beasts and above, are rare. Naturally, they don't come cheap."
At this, Lin Chen's mouth twitched. He'd just killed five Third-Order Mutated Beasts and two Fourth-Order ones. Including the tiger right in front of him, that came to at least forty-five million!
Lin Chen wasn't short on money, but throwing away money he could've picked up for free still made him wince.
Looks like I can't use my Blood Qi True Flame when I run into mutated beasts. The loss would be too great! Lin Chen reminded himself.
"You took the Bounty Mission, right?" Lin Chen asked Tang Jiu.
"That's right!"
Lin Chen replied calmly, "Then you can head back. I've already completed the Bounty Mission, and the mutated beasts have been killed."
"Just this one?" Tang Jiu stared at Lin Chen in disbelief.
To be honest, he didn't care about the Bounty Mission's reward. The main thing was that mutated beasts meant corpses, and both he and the Tang Sect behind him needed them!
Whoosh!
Lin Chen urged his Blood Qi True Flame toward a clump of weeds nearby. In an instant, the weeds turned to flying ash.
"The other mutated beasts have already turned to ash!"
Before you continue