I dragged my exhausted body toward the enormous corpse, staggering as I went. I'd dealt with the monster, and my HP and MP were nearly depleted. After putting in so much effort, I couldn't just leave empty-handed.
I'd already noticed that every time I absorbed a creature's Blood Energy, my physical strength increased a little. The growth was tiny, but even a mosquito was meat! The Demonic Beasts I'd absorbed before were all fairly ordinary. The Bone Armor Lion had been the only one worth mentioning, and its vital essence hadn't done much for me. But if it was a mighty Desolate Beast like this one...
Carefully, I placed my hand on its dark green hide. Thinking that the thick skin might interfere with the absorption, I gritted my teeth and shoved my hand into the wound on its claw. Rank, rotting flesh enveloped my fair hand, and the sensation was indescribably disgusting. This thing stank so badly—would absorbing it give me diarrhea?
No more thinking. Time to absorb!
A powerful suction burst from my palm, and surging Blood Energy flooded into my body. This feeling was on an entirely different level from those little fish and shrimp I'd absorbed before! The Desolate Beast's Blood Energy was mixed with the life force of all the things it had absorbed, so the effects went without saying. I'd been absorbing it for nearly a minute, yet that vast sea of Blood Energy showed no sign of running dry!
But then, I realized something was wrong. At first, my stamina had surged as I absorbed it, but before long, my recovery had slowed more and more, until it stopped completely. The Blood Energy I absorbed should have immediately spread through every limb and bone. If my stamina had stopped recovering, but the absorption was still going, where was the Blood Energy going?
Suddenly, I felt as if something had appeared inside me, in the space above my dantian and below my lungs. It seemed like there was a... kidney stone? No, more like a... Demonic Beast Core? While I was letting my imagination run wild, the Desolate Beast's Blood Energy had been completely drained. Its shriveled corpse looked like a rotten aloe plant, and the Blood Energy that hadn't merged with my flesh and blood seemed to have gone into that "core."
For now, I'd call this "core" a Blood Core. It seemed to have condensed from the Blood Energy I'd absorbed, but was it a blessing or a curse? What did it do? I had no way of knowing yet. I'd have to study it later.
My injuries hadn't healed, but my stamina had recovered to around seventy or eighty percent, and my arm wasn't hurting as much. It was time to head back. I turned to leave, then suddenly noticed a faint green glow coming from the Desolate Beast's split-open skull.
Curious, I walked closer. Through the crack, I could just make out a glowing green sphere about the size of three fists. Wisps of green energy drifted from its surface. Though it was only a ball, it gave off a sense of vibrant life.
"I've sensed her! Liu Ye is down there!"
"Liu Ye! Are you there—?"
Suddenly, Si Nanlong and Rui Xin's voices came from above the cave entrance. They'd come looking for me! I hurriedly shouted back, "I'm here! The Desolate Beast's been dealt with! Don't worry, come on down!"
"So amazing..."
When Rui Xin and the others saw the Desolate Beast's corpse, they all said the same thing, and I couldn't help feeling a little smug.
"Strange. Why has the Desolate Beast's corpse dried up?" Du Lin asked, puzzled.
My heart tightened. I'd actually forgotten about that! What if they got suspicious?
"You wouldn't know this, but I read about it in a book. A Desolate Beast's corpse starts to shrivel about three minutes after it dies. It's one of their defining traits." Rui Xin chimed in. She was in an excellent mood now that her brother had survived.
I let out a sigh of relief. So a Desolate Beast's corpse would turn out like this after death even if I hadn't absorbed it. What a relief... By the way, this group had been staring intently at my face ever since they came down, so I had to put my hood back on.
"That was incredible, Liu Ye! How did you do it? You took down a Desolate Beast all by yourself!" Rui Xin exclaimed.
"Actually, it's because my constitution is special. The Desolate Beast's ability to absorb life force didn't work on me, so I just got lucky."
"Even if it couldn't absorb life force, the Desolate Beast itself was still incredibly strong!"
"Let's leave that aside for now. Take a look at this."
I pointed at the green sphere inside the Desolate Beast's skull. Everyone gathered around to look, and for a moment, no one said a word.
At length, Li Cha spoke. "I mean... this should be..." "Yeah, it can't be anything else..." "Oh my god, this is my first time seeing one up close!" "We've struck gold! We're rich!"
"Look at all of you getting so excited. What is this?" Their reaction left me completely baffled.
"What else could it be? A Desolate Beast Core, of course!"
"A core? It's that big?"
"They say that half the life force and spiritual energy a Desolate Beast absorbs merges with its flesh and blood, while the other half goes into its core. That makes a Desolate Beast Core an incredibly powerful Spiritual Medicine! Especially now that Desolate Beasts are nearly extinct, they've been driven to sky-high prices, whether for medicine or collecting!"
"...Don't get too excited yet."
"Huh? Lin Bing, you're awake?"
It was Lin Bing who had spoken. Only then did I notice she'd come down too, though she still looked terribly weak. She was so frail herself, yet she'd forced herself to come see me. How could I not be touched?
Lin Bing ignored my lovestruck expression and continued in a voice so faint it was almost inaudible. "If you don't store a Desolate Beast Core in a special container, its life force will quickly dissipate. The core at my family's place is kept in a large transparent box..."
The commotion abruptly stopped. Lin Bing's words had slapped the excitement right out of everyone.
"Okay, okay. Since we can't take it back, and we're all badly depleted anyway, why don't we just use it here?" Seeing the mood turn sour, I quickly spoke up.
"Are you sure? This is your spoils of war!" Rui Xin asked, unable to believe it.
"I said it's fine, so why are you still fussing over it? Hurry up and bring your brother down. He's the most seriously injured," I said generously.
"Liu Ye, I... I don't know how to thank you. If it weren't for you, my brother would already have..."
"It was nothing. If you really want to show your gratitude, you can marry me~" I joked.
But to my surprise, she suddenly blushed! "If... if you really are into that, Liu Ye... I wouldn't be opposed to it..."
"Hey, hey, don't take me seriously! I was only joking!"
"I-I was joking too! I'm completely straight!"
That scared me to death. I'd somehow brought out Rui Xin's tsundere side, and it seemed I'd accidentally won over a girl... so why didn't I feel any sense of accomplishment?
Back on the surface, I spotted Mo Xiao Hong and Lu Xiong tending to Rui Feng from a distance. Rui Feng was wrapped in bandages, with expensive Spiritual Medicine spread over the skin beneath them. The medicine had restored some of Rui Feng's consciousness, but recovery was still slow. After briefly explaining the situation to the two of them, the four of us and one injured person started toward the cave. Si Nan Ying could easily have sent a message with sound waves, but she insisted on carrying her brother herself.