During the second week at the Spirit Beast Garden, Luo Yue's arrangements grew increasingly clear.
"That Spirit Eagle injured three disciples, so the sect has decided to execute it." Luo Yue stood on the stone platform in the Spirit Beast Garden and pointed to a cage in the distance, sealed off by a powerful formation. "It's a Foundation Establishment Early Stage spirit beast. The previous attempt to tame it failed. With your physical defense, you're the best person to deal with it."
Yan Kui watched the imprisoned Spirit Eagle. It was a full three meters long, and its outstretched wings could blot out the sun. Its sharp talons left scorched marks across the formation barrier around its cage—the traces of Mana burning through it. Madness gleamed in its eyes. It had clearly gone completely berserk.
"No problem," Yan Kui replied curtly.
This week's hunt was different from the previous one. Yan Kui had learned a new movement technique. When facing agile spirit beasts, he no longer stomped around clumsily. Now he could chase them down with uncanny footwork. It still wasn't perfect, but he was already capable of threatening their lives.
He cleared out the first batch of spirit beasts in a single day. A nimble Spirit Crane was fooled by Yan Kui's twisting dodge, then trampled into a pulp beneath his feet. A Spirit Badger with an incredibly tough defense was bound by Spirit Snake Silk Hand, its movements restricted, before Yan Kui slammed it violently into pieces.
[Killed Qi Cultivation spirit beasts ×3] [Origin Power: +3.0]
The next day, Yan Kui continued clearing out the rampaging spirit beasts. This time, Luo Yue didn't come to watch. He simply told the disciples guarding the formation to feed the beasts on schedule and prevent them from escaping. Still, Yan Kui could sense a faint gaze watching him from the shadows.
There were more spirit beasts in the Abandoned Zone than he'd expected. At least thirty of the rampaging beasts the sect had marked as "trash" had accumulated in this gloomy area. Most were at the Qi Cultivation stage, but a few were stronger.
A Spirit Fox was famed for its speed. It could leave several afterimages in the air, giving Yan Kui's Spirit Snake Steps its first real challenge. It took him twenty minutes of relentless pressure and pursuit to finally drive the foxlike beast into a corner. In the final collision, his body crushed the Spirit Fox's spine outright.
[Killed Qi Cultivation spirit beasts ×5] [Origin Power: +5.0]
By nightfall, Yan Kui had been staying in the Spirit Beast Garden for five days. The hunger signals from his body grew stronger and stronger—not a hunger for food, but a craving for energy as his Cultivation Technique advanced. His practice of Spirit Snake Steps had nearly reached its limits, and he could sense that deeper levels of the movement technique were waiting to be uncovered.
Inside the cave, Yan Kui made his decision. He would advance Spirit Snake Steps to the Minor Accomplishment stage.
"Integrate Spirit Snake Steps and advance to Minor Accomplishment. Origin Power consumed: -5.0"
Boom—
The Origin Power burned even more fiercely than last time. A wave of heat surged from his dantian and swept through his entire body along his meridians, but the sensation was different this time. It wasn't "adjustment." It was "metamorphosis."
Yan Kui's Muscle Fibers began to undergo a deeper reorganization. The muscles that had already gained some flexibility were now completely transformed by the Origin Power, losing nearly all their "heaviness." Under its impact, each muscle gained faster contraction and greater explosive power.
His reflexes accelerated at a tremendous rate as the Origin Power coursed through him. The coordination between his brain and limbs reached an entirely new level. When he tried moving, his body seemed able to change direction several times in an instant. He no longer had to rely on a clumsy turn; he could truly "drift and weave."
Every part of his body was burning, but it wasn't the agony of the Iron Cloth Shirt days. It was a kind of ecstatic metamorphosis. Yan Kui felt as though even his soul were dancing to the rhythm of the Origin Power.
Ten minutes later, the transformation was complete.
Yan Kui rose and moved rapidly around the cave. The sound of his footsteps vanished—not because they had grown lighter, but because the way his whole body moved had changed. When he charged toward the cave wall at top speed, three distinct afterimages trailed behind him.
[Spirit Snake Steps · Minor Accomplishment (movement speed +15%, erratic movements, can leave afterimages)]
He tried advancing Spirit Snake Silk Hand as well.
[Practice Spirit Snake Silk Hand and advance to Minor Accomplishment. Origin Power consumed: -3.0]
This time, the integration was even faster. The muscles in his arms began a complex reorganization, and each Muscle Fiber gained finer coordination. Origin Power gathered around his arms and torso. The serpentine energy patterns grew clearer, as though real spirit snakes were coiling around his limbs.
When Yan Kui swung his fists, his arms could twist in ways ordinary people couldn't even imagine. In the instant of entanglement, he could feel that he was capable of locking down any joint on an opponent of the same stage.
[Spirit Snake Silk Hand · Minor Accomplishment (entangling ability +25%, can restrain opponents of the same stage)]
Over the next three days, Yan Kui continued clearing out the rampaging spirit beasts. His breakthrough in movement transformed his fighting style, leaving the beasts even more vulnerable before him. A Spirit Snake once famed for its agility was run down by his high-speed Spirit Snake Steps, then bound by Spirit Snake Silk Hand and violently slammed to death.
[Killed Qi Cultivation spirit beasts ×4] [Origin Power: +4.0]
On the ninth day, Luo Yue gave him a new order.
"There's a Forbidden Area in the Spirit Beast Garden," Luo Yue said, his tone somewhat peculiar. "The Earth Fire Region. The temperature there is extreme. Ordinary cultivators would turn to ash the moment they entered. But your Crimson Extreme Golden Body resonates with the earth fire, so you don't need to worry. I've heard there are some ancient texts left behind in there. You can explore the place and check on the spirit beasts while you're at it."
The Earth Fire Region.
Yan Kui had heard other disciples talk about the place. It was a forbidden zone in the Spirit Beast Garden—not because it held any powerful spirit beasts, but because the environment itself was synonymous with death.
The moment he entered the Earth Fire Region, he felt the heat of the air itself. This wasn't ordinary warmth, but a scorching force imbued with Mana. An ordinary person would have blackened skin after three seconds here, and their internal organs would turn to ash after ten.
But to Yan Kui, the place felt more like home. The Crimson Extreme Golden Body already possessed the trait of maintaining a constant high temperature, so the earth fire here posed no threat to him. On the contrary, he could feel the earth-fire power within him stirring in this environment, seemingly eager to resonate with the earth fire around him.
The Earth Fire Region was a vast lake of lava. There was no vegetation or spirit beasts in this place, only churning lava and the occasional burst of flame.
But at the edge of the lava lake, Yan Kui discovered an ancient cave.
The cave looked to be over a thousand years old. A powerful formation protected its entrance, but the passage of time had damaged most of it. Yan Kui smashed through the final defenses with brute force and stepped into the mysterious space.
The temperature inside the cave was even more terrifying. Yet in that environment, Yan Kui saw an ancient text that had half-rotted away. Three large characters were carved into its cover in an ancient script: Earth Fire Body Tempering.
It was a complete Cultivation Technique, unlike the fragmentary texts he had found in the Spirit Snake's lair before. Though the paper had crumbled to dust over the years, its contents remained legible.
Yan Kui carried the ancient text back to the edge of the lava lake and sat cross-legged on a smooth slab of stone, melted by the raging fire.
He began practicing Earth Fire Body Tempering.
[Practice Earth Fire Body Tempering · Entry. Origin Power consumed: -4.0]
This integration was different from every previous one. As the Origin Power burned within him, it didn't spread outward. Instead, it contracted inward, burrowing deep into Yan Kui's internal organs, bones, and blood.
The earth-fire power flooded his five organs and six viscera. Yan Kui felt his liver burning and his lungs boiling. With every beat, his heart became more like an organ of metal. His bones began absorbing the earth-fire power, and the Origin Power rapidly increased their density.
His skin began to change color—not merely on the surface, but in a transformation that spread from within. Its original dark red deepened, as though an undying flame burned beneath it.
The process was more violent than practicing Spirit Snake Steps or Spirit Snake Silk Hand. Yan Kui's entire body seemed to be reforged in hell. But when it was over, he could feel that his constitution had undergone a qualitative improvement. His body could now withstand any ordinary flame—not merely endure it, but actively absorb it to strengthen himself.
[Earth Fire Body Tempering · Entry (constitution +0.5, body releases constant high heat +20%)]
Yan Kui opened his eyes from meditation. In the glow of the earth fire, his skin shimmered with an eerie light.
Just then, a voice interrupted his meditation.
"Brother Yan Kui."
A figure emerged from the edge of the Earth Fire Region. It was Qin Shan—the Outer Disciple specializing in Spirit Snakes, whom Yan Kui had met several times in the Spirit Snake Garden.
Qin Shan's expression was complicated. He looked at Yan Kui's current appearance—the slightly flushed muscles brought on by his cultivation and the eyes shining with an odd light—and felt a sense of unease rise within him.
"How long have you... been in here?" Qin Shan's voice trembled.
"Five days," Yan Kui replied briefly.
Qin Shan's face went white. Five days. In just five days, this physically powerful Outer Disciple had mastered Spirit Snake Steps to Minor Accomplishment, practiced Earth Fire Body Tempering, and developed an aura that pressed down on Qin Shan, as if it came from the very path of cultivation—a presence only true geniuses could give off.
"E-Elder Luo asked me to see how you were doing," Qin Shan stammered. "I heard you cleared out so many spirit beasts by yourself in the Spirit Beast Garden, and... and planned to cultivate on your own?"
Yan Kui looked at Qin Shan, his gaze calm. "Does Elder Luo have anything particular in mind?"
Qin Shan's eyes darted away. "N-no. It's just that your cultivation is very fast. A little unusual."
After Qin Shan left, Yan Kui remained where he was for a long time.
He remembered the times Luo Yue had occasionally appeared in the Spirit Beast Garden during the hunts. Those looks—greedy, calculating, filled with some twisted longing.
Luo Yue was watching him. Not just watching his combat ability, but watching some kind of "potential."
Yan Kui was now certain of it.
[Crimson Modifier] Host: Yan Kui Origin Power: 36.7 → 46.7 (+12.0 spirit beasts, -5.0 Spirit Snake Steps Minor Accomplishment, -3.0 Spirit Snake Silk Hand Minor Accomplishment, -4.0 Earth Fire Body Tempering Entry) Strength: 10.5 Agility: 3.3 → 4.0 ↑ Constitution: 12.0 → 12.5 ↑ Effects gained: Spirit Snake Absolute Shadow (movement speed +15%, can leave three afterimages), Spirit Snake Entanglement (entangling ability +25%, can restrain opponents of the same stage), Crimson Fire Burning Body (body releases constant scorching heat, +20%) Notice: The second week's hunt has been completed with great success.
Before you continue