Hunting

Xiao Peng looked at Xiao Yi Xian and said, "Let me take care of the problem with your body while I'm at it."

As he spoke, he reached out and placed a hand on Xiao Yi Xian's shoulder.

A gentle yet immensely penetrating force flowed from Xiao Peng's palm into her body, like a pair of invisible hands precisely sorting through the Poison Dou Qi within Xiao Yi Xian.

The Poison Dou Qi, once wild and unruly, now gathered toward her dantian under an unseen pull like tamed wild horses, gradually condensing into a violet-black vortex.

Throughout the process, Xiao Yi Xian felt numbness and swelling in her dantian, as if countless tiny needles were pricking her. Yet strangely, there was no pain. Instead, she felt the clarity of a blockage that had accumulated for years finally being cleared.

She bit her lip tightly as fine beads of sweat formed on her forehead. Her gaze remained fixed on Xiao Peng's focused profile, and a faint blush crept onto her face.

After an unknown amount of time, Xiao Peng withdrew his hand, his fingertips already stained with a faint violet-black hue.

With a casual wave, the strange color vanished without a trace. Inside Xiao Yi Xian's dantian, a violet-black pellet the size of a fingernail slowly rotated, glimmering with a dim light and giving off a steady aura.

Xiao Peng said to Xiao Yi Xian, "I helped you condense a Poison Pill inside your body and left a strand of power on it to prevent any accidents."

People in this world also knew the method of Poison Pills, but his Poison Pill differed somewhat from theirs. It would be extremely difficult for the Calamity Poison Body to erupt, and if anything truly went wrong, the power he had left behind could help Xiao Yi Xian suppress it.

Xiao Yi Xian sensed the steady aura radiating from the Poison Pill in her dantian. The once-rampaging Poison Dou Qi seemed to have found a home, flowing meekly around the pellet. Even her limbs and bones felt more unblocked than ever before.

She raised a hand to her lower abdomen and could clearly feel the presence of that power. It was unfamiliar, yet reassuring.

"Th-this is a Poison Pill?" Xiao Yi Xian asked softly, her voice filled with incredulous delight.

There had once been a time when the Calamity Poison Body had plagued her day and night, when she feared that one day she would completely become a creature of poison. Yet now, she could condense the Poison Dou Qi within her into a pill and hold it firmly under her control.

Xiao Peng nodded. "Ordinary Poison Pills can only store poison power. This Poison Pill of mine is more like a container. It can lock down the Calamity Poison Body, and as your cultivation rises, it can gradually refine its poison power for your own use."

He paused, then added, "Don't use the power I left behind unless absolutely necessary. It is more like an insurance measure, something that can catch you if the Poison Pill becomes unstable."

Xiao Yi Xian nodded firmly. Her fingertips lightly rubbed the Storage Ring in her palm, then she glanced at the spot on her shoulder Xiao Peng had touched. The blush on her cheeks had yet to fade.

Taking a deep breath, Xiao Yi Xian bowed deeply to Xiao Peng. "Xiao Peng, I don't know how to thank you. If it weren't for you, I'm afraid I..."

Xiao Peng joked, "It was nothing. If you feel like you owe me something, just help me collect Heavenly Treasures."

He felt that by the time Xiao Yi Xian could gather Heavenly Treasures, he probably would not need her things anyway.

Xiao Yi Xian froze for a moment, then burst into laughter. The blush on her cheeks reached her brows, and the gratitude in her eyes softened considerably. "Sure, why would that be difficult? From now on, I'll travel through mountains and rivers gathering herbs. Whenever I find any rare Heavenly Treasures, I'll definitely save them for you."

At the same time, she secretly thought that she also had to help Xiao Peng gather a great deal of money.

She felt that Xiao Peng seemed especially short of money.

Xiao Yi Xian tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "But don't expect me to be slow about it. Once I've fully refined the Poison Pill, I'll come find you. I'll bring you a whole load of treasures in exchange for a cup of tea. That won't be a loss for you, will it?"

Seeing the light return to Xiao Yi Xian's eyes, Xiao Peng curled his lips into a smile. "It's a deal. When the time comes, forget one cup of tea—I'll have an entire pot ready for you."

Xiao Yi Xian nodded forcefully, engraving that promise deep into her heart.

The next day, somewhere within the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

A streak of azure light tore through the morning mist of the Magical Beast Mountain Range like lightning. The Qingping Sword hummed as it swept past, and wherever its Sword Qi reached, several Ironclad Beasts fell with a crash, neat sword marks splitting their tough shells.

Xiao Peng tapped off a boulder with the tip of his foot without slowing down. The Qingping Sword traced a chilling arc, cleaving the Poison Wolf lunging at him from behind into two.

Warm blood splashed across his robes, only to be blasted away by the airflow stirred up by the sword wind, leaving behind nothing but a faint stench of blood.

Xiao Peng used the Absorbing Palm to draw all the Magical Beast corpses together, then converted them into Flesh and Blood Essence.

He had obtained this Conversion Method only after asking his teacher about it.

This Conversion Method could turn corpses into highly useful Flesh and Blood Essence.

This Flesh and Blood Essence was extremely beneficial for cultivating the Nine Revolutions Profound Technique.

The person who had created this technique had lacked resources, so he devised this Conversion Method to transform demonic beasts into Flesh and Blood Essence and strengthen himself.

"Not nearly enough."

Xiao Peng looked at the Flesh and Blood Essence in his hand and muttered to himself.

The Flesh and Blood Essence in his hand was currently only the size of a marble.

There were only four Magic Cores as well, far too few for Xiao Peng.

Xiao Peng placed the marble-sized Flesh and Blood Essence into a Jade Bottle, then stored both the Jade Bottle and the Magic Cores in his Storage Ring.

"Looks like I'll have to go deeper." Xiao Peng glanced toward the depths.

The Flesh and Blood Essence of low-rank Magical Beasts was far too thin. Only the immense life force contained within high-rank Magical Beasts could be refined into sufficiently pure energy.

With a tap of his foot, Xiao Peng leaped into the air. In that instant, the Qingping Sword was already hovering beneath his feet.

Azure light flowed across the blade as it carried him like an arrow loosed from a bow, speeding toward the deeper regions of the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

The wind howled past his ears, while the dense forest below rapidly receded.

Whenever a Magical Beast sensed the disturbance and sprang from the undergrowth in an attempt to intercept him, the Qingping Sword would automatically release a fierce strand of Sword Qi, slashing or piercing through it and killing it in an instant.

In just a short while, more than ten low-rank Magical Beasts had already died beneath the sword. Their corpses fell into the forest and were soon devoured by scavengers that arrived afterward.

"Still too slow." Xiao Peng frowned slightly.

Flying was fast, but if he had to kill Magical Beasts one by one to refine their essence, the efficiency would ultimately remain limited.

His gaze swept across an open valley ahead. Dense beast roars faintly echoed from within, clearly indicating that many Magical Beasts had gathered there.

With a thought, the Qingping Sword suddenly expanded several zhang in length, its azure light pouring down like a waterfall.

Xiao Peng formed a sword gesture and pointed. The massive sword carved a huge arc through the air, and Sword Qi surged forth like a tide.

Trees snapped and boulders shattered wherever it passed. The dozens of Magical Beasts fighting within the valley were instantly severed at the waist, their blood dyeing the entire valley red.

He dove down and landed in the center of the valley, forming hand seals as the Conversion Method operated at full force.

Countless streams of blood-colored energy gathered like swimming fish, condensing in Xiao Peng's palm into a fist-sized mass of Flesh and Blood Essence. It radiated scorching heat, and its pure life force was almost overflowing.