The Snake Demon had been at the fifth or sixth layer of the Object Manipulation Realm. Although Jiang Ming had nearly wiped out all her cultivation, the energy remaining in her body was still not to be underestimated.
To Li Ye at his current stage, it was downright terrifying.
That was how the Corpse Incineration Furnace had refined two wisps of Light Mist.
The cultivation contained in each wisp of Light Mist was astonishing.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
Thunderous booms rolled through Li Ye's body, mingling with the roar of flames surging inside the Corpse Incineration Furnace.
His aura grew at a terrifying speed. The faint Crimson Electric Arc covering his skin grew deeper, brighter, and denser.
In just a few breaths, Li Ye reached the peak of the tenth layer of Body Tempering.
The next moment, he broke through again.
Boom!
An aura powerful enough to be called formidable erupted from Li Ye's body. More Crimson Electric Arcs burst from him, flowing like water.
This time, Li Ye had broken through to... the eleventh layer of Body Tempering.
At that point, he had completely absorbed the Light Mist.
Was this for real? After the tenth layer came the eleventh?
Why hadn't he reached the Qi Gathering Stage?
Had something gone wrong?
A thousand question marks appeared over Li Ye's head. This was downright bizarre.
This was the Holy Son's body, and the Holy Son had never encountered anything like this while cultivating.
Have I gone astray and taken the wrong path?
"Maybe cultivating the Nine Heavens Crimson Thunder Art changed my physique and greatly increased my potential."
"Next time, I should be able to become a Great Expert of the Qi Gathering Stage."
Li Ye thought.
Then he sensed the strength he currently possessed.
Before, he had been able to lift 2,700 jin. Now, he should be able to lift 5,000.
With Swift Wind Leg, his strikes should pack the force of 10,000 jin.
He should be no weaker than someone in the Qi Gathering Stage.
So he could count as being in the Qi Gathering Stage now, too.
Li Ye thought to himself, feeling quite pleased.
The chimney went dark, and the door opened.
When the Black-Clad Academicians outside saw that Li Ye was safe and sound, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
Before leaving, their leader, Wu Qing, stepped forward and patted Li Ye on the shoulder, then went on his way.
Li Ye was left utterly baffled.
"Young man, here's your pay for today."
One of the Black-Clad Academicians handed Li Ye a handful of copper coins.
"Give him buns tomorrow. For three days straight."
"Damn it, those bastards said the Corpse Incinerators under me wouldn't live long. I'll show them! The Corpse Incinerators under me won't just live long—they'll live better than theirs, too."
Wu Qing cursed and grumbled as they headed back.
"Boss, then you'd better win the draw next time," one of the Black-Clad Academicians ventured.
What good would it do to feed the young fellow well? If you wanted him to live longer, it all depended on your luck in the draw.
"Of course. I definitely won't draw the winning lot next time."
Wu Qing said it with absolute certainty.
Once the Corpse Incineration Furnace had cooled, Li Ye shoveled out the Great Snake's ashes.
There were an awful lot of them. Carrying a bucket filled to the brim, Li Ye went to the Back Mountain, dug a hole, and buried them.
"Miss, thanks for your cultivation. Rest in peace."
Li Ye said.
To thank the Snake Demon's "gift," he even burned some spirit money for her.
After his cultivation had surged, Li Ye's senses had grown incredibly powerful. Just as he was about to return to his little courtyard, he suddenly heard two voices nearby:
"Why's this Divine Concealment Sect so creepy? I've had goose bumps the whole way here. Even the air feels uncomfortable."
"Maybe the Immortal Mountains of the Central Plains just have bad feng shui. Forget about that for now. Let's finish the task the Holy Son gave us... Hm? Someone's up there. They may have spotted us. Kill him."
Immortal Mountains of the Central Plains?
They were foreigners, not people from the Great Gan Dynasty?
So these two idiots had mistaken the Corpse Refining Courtyard for the Divine Concealment Sect, and had come to carry out some task assigned by their Holy Son.
Li Ye picked up on the hidden information in their conversation, and couldn't help feeling surprised.
But right after that, he heard the second man say he wanted to kill him. They must be climbing up toward him, and they were very close. A faint murderous aura had already surged his way.
They were both in the Qi Gathering Stage, probably around the first or second layer.
Li Ye's expression shifted, then he sneered. "You want to kill me? You're not even close."
Bzz!
His hands glowed, swelling with dense energy. The next moment, he vanished from where he stood.
Hand of Earth: Given enough time, you can dig through an entire planet.
"Huh? Where'd he go? Did I sense him wrong?"
One of the foreigners exclaimed in surprise.
The other foreigner had noticed it, too.
As the two men looked around in uncertainty, the hard rock in front of them split open, spilling golden light. Then two dazzling hands shot out, surging with Golden Glow as they thrust toward the foreigners' chests.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
Blood flashed, and Blood Swords flew in every direction. The two foreigners in the Qi Gathering Stage, caught completely off guard, tumbled down the cliff and ended up hanging from a tree one after the other.
In that brief instant, Li Ye's five fingers had stabbed their chests so many times that the two foreigners' bodies were riddled with more holes than anyone could count.
That was hardly surprising.
Li Ye's Hand of Earth could dig more than a hundred meters in a second and pulverize even solid rock.
Now he was using it against his enemies. Though the two foreigners were Great Experts of the Qi Gathering Stage, Li Ye had caught them off guard with a sudden attack. Even their sturdy Qi Gathering Stage bodies had been as fragile as paper before the Hand of Earth.
Boom!
Li Ye shot out of the cave entrance and used Swift Wind Leg. His body swayed, leaving a trail of afterimages, and he appeared before the two foreigners hanging from the tree, blood frothing from their mouths.
"Hey, you foreigners, where are you from?"
Li Ye asked with a grin, using the exaggerated Western accent from his previous life.
"Y-you... who are you?"
One of the foreigners pointed at Li Ye with a trembling finger and asked with difficulty.
His life was draining away fast; he wouldn't last much longer, and speaking was a struggle.
"I am your God. You are all my children."
Li Ye replied, still using the accent.
"You dare insult my Great Jin Kingdom... Pfft!"
The foreigner was so furious that he spat blood high into the air. His head lolled to one side, and he died.
Great Jin?
Li Ye looked surprised.
They were from the Great Jin Kingdom.
The Great Jin Kingdom lay south of the Great Gan Empire. It was powerful, with a formidable army and countless experts.
The country was warlike. In just a few decades, it had annexed more than a dozen small kingdoms and was eyeing the Great Gan Dynasty hungrily.
When King Liang rebelled some time ago, he'd relied on Great Jin's support.
The war still hadn't ended.
"What did you come to Great Gan for?"
Li Ye asked the second foreigner.
The man was breathing his last. "I'm almost dead. Why should I tell you?"
With that, he decisively kicked out his legs and passed on to the next world.
Li Ye froze for a moment.
Did you really mean to die?
Just like that?
But being mocked like that by a defeated foe on his deathbed left Li Ye feeling deeply annoyed.
"I'll find out myself."
Li Ye muttered to himself, then grew excited.
Two freshly dead Great Experts of the Qi Gathering Stage—he should be able to get quite a lot of cultivation from them.
Li Ye had deliberately avoided striking their dantian, so that the Spiritual Energy gathered there would disperse more slowly after he killed them.
That way, he could gain more cultivation.
Having done this once before, Li Ye merely focused his thoughts, and sure enough, a glowing red furnace appeared before him.
It was the Corpse Incineration Furnace.
Or, more accurately, its Artifact Spirit.
Without hesitation, Li Ye tossed the two bodies inside. They intertwined with the flames, and before long the bodies had merged with the firelight.
At that moment, Li Ye noticed two dazzling glimmers appear inside the Corpse Incineration Furnace. He cried out, "Magical Artifacts! Each of them had a Magical Artifact in his body!"
"Damn it, how did I not notice before?"
Li Ye was instantly stricken with regret.
Magical Artifacts were spiritual weapons used by cultivators after breaking through to the Qi Gathering Realm. They could slice through iron like mud and wielded immense power.
Magical Artifacts came in several grades: Low-Grade Magical Artifacts, Mid-Grade Magical Artifacts, High-Grade Magical Artifacts, and Top-Grade Magical Artifacts...
Even a low-grade Magical Artifact used by someone in the Qi Gathering Realm was beyond price.
But it was too late for Li Ye to regret it. He had glimpsed the two Magical Artifacts before the furnace's flames swallowed them: one was a sword, and the other looked like a cowhide pouch.
Now both had been consumed by the flames inside the Corpse Incineration Furnace.
The two foreigners' Life Imprints began to break down inside the Corpse Incineration Furnace, revealing scenes from their lives.
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