Corpses lay piled in the cave, every last trace of vitality drained from them.
Under the influence of Shi Yan's mysterious Martial Spirit, the corpses had not only shriveled all over, but the blood on them had clotted in an incredibly short time.
With the blood congealed, the stench inside the cave was no longer so pungent.
But Shi Yan still wasn't at ease.
After thinking it over, he hurriedly took a packet of powder from his pack and scattered it across the cave without hesitation.
The powder was called Purification Powder. It had an extremely strong absorptive power and could draw impurities out of the air, including toxins, the thick stench of blood, and poisonous smoke.
The packet of Purification Powder dispersed through the cave, and sure enough, the stench of blood vanished as if by magic.
The powder floated in the air, absorbing the bloody fumes until it turned into tiny, bright-red granules, like drops of blood shrunk to one-tenth their size.
"I'll find something else to cover the entrance."
Seeing that the stench inside the cave was under control, Shi Yan still didn't dare let his guard down. He quietly went back to the entrance and slowly pulled the leaves and branches from the bushes on either side toward the opening.
Though the six men had forcibly taken over the cave, they knew the entrance needed to be concealed, so they hadn't damaged the bushes and branches outside.
But Star Thunder's blast had shredded the bushes around the entrance. Fortunately, the ones on either side had escaped the impact.
Shi Yan's task was to draw the bushes on either side over the middle of the entrance.
Breathing evenly, Shi Yan held his breath and focused, carefully tugging the leaves toward the opening inch by inch, afraid the demonic beasts outside might notice anything out of place.
The roars of demonic beasts grew closer and more frequent. No one knew how many had gathered in the valley outside.
Shi Yan's face was grave, his expression solemn. Sweat beaded faintly on his forehead, and even his back was soaked.
By the time he pulled the last large patch of leaves over the entrance, his arms were trembling slightly, as if the task had taken all his strength.
"What's wrong?" Di Ya Lan asked softly.
"Nothing. I'm just a little tired."
Shi Yan shook his head. His face was somewhat pale. After a moment's thought, he said, "Be careful in a moment. If the demonic beasts find us, you must hold the entrance!"
Di Ya Lan nodded, concern in her voice. "I understand... but what's wrong with you? I just saw you take a direct hit from a Human Position Realm expert. Why are you now..."
"It's because I took that hit that I'm so weak." Shi Yan sat cross-legged where he was, but offered no further explanation.
At such a critical moment, he closed his eyes and began to rest.
The side effects of Berserk were taking hold...
Every time he used Berserk, his body endured tremendous strain.
The Martial Skill Berserk forced all kinds of negative energy out of his acupoints. That power was a double-edged sword: it could give him strength beyond his cultivation realm for a short time, but afterward it left him utterly exhausted.
After all, those negative energies were far too evil and bizarre...
As those forces spilled from his acupoints, they also damaged his body. Once his Berserk state ended, exhaustion surged over him like a tide, rapidly weakening him.
Sitting there, Shi Yan's hands and feet were powerless, and every acupoint in his body throbbed with pain.
The vitality from all six fresh corpses had poured into his acupoints, filling them with surging energy. As his acupoints rapidly purified it, all kinds of negative forces also seized the opportunity to flare up, slowly eroding his mind.
At that moment, he couldn't bring his full strength to bear, and his acupoints were still purifying the vitality. If he kept his nerves taut as well, his body would never recover properly.
So he wisely chose to ignore everything and focus on recovering where he sat.
Seeing him close his eyes to recover, Di Ya Lan and Mu Yu Die grew solemn as well and began watching the activity outside with rapt attention.
Demonic beasts prowled through the valley. Some were even near their cave entrance, seemingly searching for something.
Mu Yu Die and Di Ya Lan stood guard at the entrance, hearts in their throats, not daring to relax for an instant.
Di Ya Lan gripped her short sword tightly. Through the gaps in the leaves, she warily watched the area ahead, afraid a demonic beast might suddenly creep up on them.
They both knew how keen the beasts' sense of smell was. Worried that they might follow the scent of blood, they understood that if even one beast found the cave, they would have to defend the entrance at once.
Clop! Clop!
A Three-headed Dog swayed its three enormous heads, as if it had caught a scent, and ambled toward them. Its six eyes swept the area, as though it had noticed something...
This was bad!
Di Ya Lan's expression changed dramatically. She tightened her grip on her short sword, sweat beading in her palm, her bright eyes fixed on the Three-headed Dog without a moment's pause.
Di Ya Lan was tense, ready to fight at any moment.
The Three-headed Dog was a third-level demonic beast, equivalent to a human expert in the Human Position Realm.
It had an exceptionally keen sense of smell. The stench of blood in the cave might escape the notice of other beasts, but there was no guarantee it could fool a Three-headed Dog.
Her nerves stretched taut, Di Ya Lan felt as if every pore on her body had risen. The hand holding her short sword trembled faintly—a sign that her elemental force was racing through her meridians.
"Awwooo!"
Just then, the Thunder Wing Silver Wolf howled from not far away. Its cry rang through the entire valley, drowning out every other beast's roar.
"I'm Gan Xiao of Medicine King Valley. I came to the Gloomy Forest only to gather herbs. I never entered your lair! Thunder Wing Silver Wolf, I know you're powerful, but I, Gan Xiao, am not afraid of you either. If you dare keep slaughtering my people, don't blame me for fighting back!" A chilling voice suddenly rang out from far away.
"Awwooo!"
The Thunder Wing Silver Wolf howled again.
The Three-headed Dog, which had been about to reach the cave where Shi Yan and the others were hiding, suddenly stopped.
It paused for a moment, then abruptly turned around and raced toward the source of the Thunder Wing Silver Wolf's howl.
One by one, the demonic beasts gathered in the valley also began to leave at the wolf's howl, all converging on its location.
The Thunder Wing Silver Wolf and Gan Xiao must have started fighting...
Di Ya Lan's legs gave way, and she sank to the ground, drenched in cold sweat.
If that Three-headed Dog had taken just a few dozen more meters, the cave would certainly have been exposed. Once it discovered the cave, the other beasts in the valley would surely have poured in after it.
If it really came to that, the three of them would never escape the beasts' ravenous jaws!
"Lan-jie, are you all right?" Mu Yu Die used a bloodstained handkerchief to wipe the sweat from her forehead, then leaned against the rock wall and sat down too.
"I'm fine." Di Ya Lan gave a faint smile and sighed. "We're incredibly lucky. If the Thunder Wing Silver Wolf hadn't set its sights on Medicine King Gan Xiao and suddenly summoned all the beasts, we really might have been doomed."
"Mm, I was scared half to death too." Mu Yu Die's pretty face was pale as she murmured, "I was already prepared to kill myself."
"Don't think like that until the very last moment."
Shi Yan snorted and suddenly opened his eyes, frowning. "Since you have nothing else to do, search the packs on those six men. See what they stole from the Thunder Wing Silver Wolf's lair."
Di Ya Lan's eyes lit up, and her spirits suddenly lifted. She exclaimed, "That's right! The Thunder Wing Silver Wolf is a seventh-level demonic beast, one of the strongest creatures in the Gloomy Forest! They say it's highly intelligent and has killed many powerful Martial Artists in the forest, collecting their treasures in its lair. Whatever they stole from there must be extraordinary!"
"I heard it might be the cultivation method for a Spirit Grade Martial Skill..." Shi Yan said lightly.
"Heh!" Di Ya Lan beamed, her beautiful eyes sparkling. "Spirit Grade Martial Skills are incredibly rare. Even the royal family of our Blazing Fire Empire has only five. The cultivation method for a single Spirit Grade Martial Skill is worth a fortune. It might even drive great Lineages to fight over it."
"Search them carefully." Shi Yan nodded, then thoughtfully closed his eyes again.
Of course, he knew how precious Spirit Grade Martial Skills were.
Across the Blazing Fire Empire, the Divine Grace Empire, and the Merchant Alliance, there were roughly a hundred Martial Artists who had reached the Earth Position or Nirvana Realm. Yet only a quarter of them possessed Spirit Grade Martial Skills!
And even among that quarter, some practiced the same Spirit Grade Martial Skill.
It was said that throughout the Blazing Fire Empire, the Divine Grace Empire, and the Merchant Alliance, only eighteen Spirit Grade Martial Skills had been revealed so far!
Every one of those Spirit Grade Martial Skills was in the hands of a powerful faction or a peerless expert who ruled over a region.
...The Shi Family, for example.
The Shi Family had plenty of Mortal Grade and Mysterious Grade Martial Skills, but only one Spirit Grade Martial Skill. Shi Jian, the head of the Shi Family, treasured it above all else. Even the direct descendants of the Shi Family had no idea where he had hidden it.
"We've struck unbelievable fortune!"
Di Ya Lan's eyes brimmed with delight. Excitedly, she found the pack on the big brother who had led the group and flung it open.
A dazzling silver light suddenly burst from the pack, and the dim cave lit up as bright as day!
"Huh!"
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