Frenzied Harvest, Eighth-Grade Exotic Beasts

Within Nanyang Town, a Green Ninth-Grade Great Serpent was slowly slithering along.

In its vision, a thermal silhouette was strolling through the town as if no one else existed.

Meanwhile, it lurked in the darkness at a street corner, poised to strike.

Whoosh!

All of a sudden, it moved, lunging to kill that human.

Its fangs contained deadly venom. Even an Eighth-grade Martial Artist bitten by it would lose their fighting strength for a short time.

The next instant, the figure in its sight vanished. Then, a saber nailed it directly to the ground.

"Only the twenty-third Ninth-Grade exotic beast. Nanyang Town isn't small, yet there are so few exotic beasts."

Jiang Li casually removed the Beast Core and muttered in dissatisfaction.

He had originally planned to harvest even more, only to discover that the twelve Tusk Dogs he had encountered outside the town had already counted as a windfall.

There were quite a few Ninth-Grade exotic beast corpses here. Clearly, hunting teams or people from the Military Department often came through to clear them out.

Most of those left behind were fish that had slipped through the net.

He finally understood why the hunting squads were all made up of Eighth-grade Martial Artists.

Faint roars of exotic beasts drifted from afar. A sharp gleam flashed through Jiang Li's eyes as he followed the source of the roars through the town's ruins.

At the center of the town, a massive wolf nearly as tall as a man, its black fur mixed with silver hairs, was gnawing on an exotic beast's corpse.

Jiang Li stood amid a pile of ruined rubble, watching the exotic beast feast heartily in the distance.

"Eighth Grade, Silver-Haired Wolf!"

He had once killed a Black-Haired Wolf in the Beast Fighting Arena, and the Silver-Haired Wolf was the evolved form of the Black-Haired Wolf.

But wolves lived in packs. This Silver-Haired Wolf had actually appeared here alone.

"A lone wolf cast out by its pack?"

Jiang Li was thinking when some gravel beneath his feet rolled down, making a faint sound.

The Silver-Haired Wolf suddenly raised its head, its pair of incomparably vicious eyes fixing on Jiang Li.

The moment it spotted Jiang Li, the Silver-Haired Wolf bent its four legs sharply, then turned into a black shadow and charged at him.

They were over a hundred meters apart, yet the Silver-Haired Wolf's speed was terrifying. In just three seconds, it had reached Jiang Li.

Its sharp claws lashed toward Jiang Li. The claws of an Eighth-Grade exotic beast could easily tear through iron plating; a human body of flesh and blood was like tofu before them, easily sliced apart.

Jiang Li smiled faintly, then unleashed the Phantom Shadow Maze Steps.

The pair of wolf claws instantly missed. The Silver-Haired Wolf instinctively tried to twist its body around, only for the world to spin around it.

Before a Seventh Grade weapon, the head of an Eighth-Grade exotic beast was just as fragile as papier-mâché.

With the Swift Wind Thunderous Charge Saber at the mastery stage, its speed was far beyond what an ordinary Eighth-Grade exotic beast could react to.

"Looks like Eighth-Grade exotic beasts are nothing special either."

As Jiang Li removed the Beast Core, he also collected the wolf's fangs and claws.

The corpse of an Eighth-Grade exotic beast was still worth money, but it was too cumbersome for him to carry away.

Besides, he did not plan to stop here, so there was no need to lose the big picture for a small gain.

Compared to exotic beasts, which became rarer with every kill, a single corpse was not worth much.

Jiang Li continued onward, searching for exotic beasts to hunt.

Behind Jiang Li, however, the four extremely cautious members of Chu Dongyang's group were all filled with confusion.

"This route is far too peaceful. It looks like there are hunting teams besides us," said the scar-faced woman.

"Looks like it was only one person. But where did that Jiang Li go? Don't tell me he found somewhere to hide?" The man holding a spear laughed. "Or maybe he got lucky and followed behind someone else's hunting team, so he didn't encounter any exotic beasts along the way and went straight into Nanhe Town."

"Zhao Feng, don't concern yourself with irrelevant people. Be careful. This person isn't weak; every kill was a one-hit kill. He might be a high-level Eighth-grade Martial Artist," Chu Dongyang said gravely.

"Don't worry. So what if one person is strong?" Zhao Feng said confidently. "They're all just trash exotic beasts. I can do that too."

Chu Dongyang shook his head slightly. He felt things were not that simple.

One-hit kills were easy enough, but the Tusk Dogs outside the town seemed to have been killed all twelve at once.

Even for an Eighth-grade Martial Artist, that required extremely profound martial skill.

[Slain exotic beast, gained 23 years of lifespan]

[Slain exotic beast, gained 25 years of lifespan]

Jiang Li killed another two Eighth-Grade exotic beasts. By then, he had already left Nanhe Town.

He opened the map. Nanyang Town was considered a low-level area, while south of Nanhe Town lay the wilderness between Nanhe Town and Tianhe Town.

The wilderness between the two towns was already a mid-level area. It contained exotic beasts ranging from Subordinate Ninth Rank to Seventh Grade, and there were even rumors that Sixth Grade exotic beasts had once appeared there.

This was true wilderness. There had once been highways, national roads, and farmland here, but all of it had been abandoned for decades.

The roads were no longer passable, and the farmland was overgrown with weeds. Many of those weeds stood over a meter, even two meters tall.

Exotic beasts could lurk within them, difficult to spot even for Martial Artists. It was a paradise for exotic beast hunting.

Even hunting squads generally did not wish to set foot here.

Seeing the wildly growing weeds and hearing the faint beast roars, Jiang Li could not help becoming more cautious.

Cities were humanity's domain, while the wilderness was a paradise for beasts.

His strength was considerable, but that did not mean he was immortal.

If he truly had the misfortune of encountering a Sixth Grade exotic beast, his chances of surviving would be slim.

With that in mind, Jiang Li followed the road that was still barely visible while activating his innate ability.

A Command Flag appeared in his palm. In an instant, everything within a hundred meters entered his mind.

Just as expected, Jiang Li's heart suddenly tightened. Ahead of him, he actually "saw" three exotic beasts.

Eighth-Grade exotic beasts!

A Blood Claw Cunning Jackal, a Scaled Leopard, and a Red Line Python.

He had not spotted the three exotic beasts, yet they had already locked onto him firmly.

Even Jiang Li could not help cursing, "Fuck."

If he had carelessly walked in there, he would have suffered badly too.

But...

Jiang Li steadied himself, looked at the Command Flag before him, and smiled.

"Who said D-Class abilities are useless? Good thing I upgraded it before leaving the city. Otherwise, this really would have been troublesome."

"Perfect. Three Eighth-Grade exotic beasts can earn me quite a bit more lifespan."

A cold glint bloomed in Jiang Li's eyes. In an instant, he turned into a black shadow and vanished.

Amid the weeds, great swaths of grass were severed. Jiang Li drove his saber through the Blood Claw Cunning Jackal's eye.

Then he moved again, evading the Scaled Leopard as it pounced at him with nearly the same speed.

With a flick of his wrist, he slashed at the Scaled Leopard's hard scales.

If it had been an Eighth Grade weapon, it might not have been able to severely injure it. But the Black Horizontal Saber in Jiang Li's hand was incomparably sharp.

At the same time, he circulated the Heavenly River Crimson Blood Art, and his skin faintly flushed red.

Pfft!

He exerted force through his arm again, and his strength surged. The Black Horizontal Saber fiercely cleaved into the Scaled Leopard's neck, forcibly severing its head.

Just as he was about to kill the Red Line Python, he suddenly froze. The Red Line Python had actually fled, disappearing from sight.

"Hm?"

Jiang Li looked toward the direction in which the Red Line Python had vanished and voiced his confusion.

"You're both Eighth Grade. Why are you running?"

Jiang Li did not know whether to laugh or cry. Left with no choice, he continued extracting Beast Cores and rare materials.

At the same time, he opened the Yellow Book again.

[Cultivatable Lifespan]: 901

Jiang Li revealed a satisfied smile. Returning his lifespan to a thousand was just around the corner.