Fourth Layer of the Body Refining Technique

Monster beast materials could be traded at exchange fairs or sold to the Lineage. Though the price was lower, it saved trouble; everything could be dealt with at once, and Spirit Stones or other resources could then be exchanged from the Lineage.

Su Yu kept the flesh and blood and essence blood of that mid-Rank 1 Earth Rock Rat monster beast for himself, using them to cultivate the Body Refining Technique.

As for the beast hide and the Early Rank 1 Earth Rock Rat, along with its essence blood, he sold them to the Lineage for six Low-grade Spirit Stones.

Time slowly passed.

After coming to the Medicine Garden, the cultivation resources in Su Yu's hands had increased severalfold.

He also had forty-one drops of essence blood from that mid-Rank 1 Earth Rock Rat.

He could be called flush with wealth.

With the aid of Spirit Stones and Spirit Rice in his daily cultivation, the Wutong Greenwood Art now reached its limit with less than three hours of cultivation each day.

As for cultivating the Body Refining Technique, he could now consume and refine two drops of monster beast essence blood a day, causing his cultivation speed to make a qualitative leap.

As the stars shifted and the seasons turned.

A night passed.

The next day, Su Yu awoke from cultivation and focused on the lines of text before him on the Proficiency Panel.

Cultivation methods: Wutong Greenwood Art (second layer, proficiency 4.5%), Crocodile Demon's 108 Forms Body Refining Technique (third layer, proficiency 21.4%).

"One day raises the Wutong Greenwood Art's proficiency by 0.18%, while the Body Refining Technique rises by 0.82%." Su Yu pondered.

At this rate, the Wutong Greenwood Art would still need a year and a half to break through to the third layer.

The Body Refining Technique, meanwhile, would need just over two months to break through to the fourth layer.

By consuming two drops of mid-Rank 1 monster beast essence blood a day, the Body Refining Technique's improvement speed was more than twice as fast as it had been without resources.

Otherwise, it could not possibly have broken through so quickly.

Afterward, Su Yu tried using Low-grade Spirit Stones to assist his cultivation of the Wutong Greenwood Art. As expected, its cultivation speed greatly increased, gaining 0.28% proficiency a day.

If he used Spirit Stones for cultivation over the long term, he would need only around a year to break through to the third layer of the Qi Refining Realm.

"If I had Qi Refining Pills to assist me, my cultivation speed could be even faster. But a bottle of ten Qi Refining Pills costs ten Low-grade Spirit Stones—one Low-grade Spirit Stone per pill."

"And for someone in the early stages of the Qi Refining Realm, one Qi Refining Pill only lasts two or three hours. Compared to using Spirit Stones, cultivating with Spirit Stones is still more worthwhile."

Unfortunately.

Su Yu shook his head. Not only could he not afford pills now, he could only use a Spirit Stone every so often to assist his cultivation.

Any more than that, and he could not bear the expense.

After calculating the cultivation resources he had on hand, Su Yu followed a steady routine each day aside from tending the medicinal fields.

One night half a month later, Su Yu went out again and set five Beast Luring Powder traps. This time, he hunted three Earth Rock Rats, but they were all Early Rank 1 monster beasts.

Other than keeping the monster beast flesh to satisfy his cravings each day, as well as a little Early Rank 1 monster beast essence blood, Su Yu sold all the remaining materials to the Lineage, earning another nine Low-grade Spirit Stones.

Time slowly passed.

Su Yu had been at the Medicine Garden for two months.

Over these two months, the Earth Rock Rat infestation in the Medicine Garden grew increasingly severe. It had already begun threatening the Su Family's Medicine Garden, and many spirit herbs had been gnawed apart and ruined by Earth Rock Rats.

More than a dozen ordinary clansmen had even perished beneath the Earth Rock Rats' claws and fangs.

This enraged the Su Family's upper echelons.

They resolved to wipe out the Earth Rock Rat monster horde.

Not long afterward, Family Head Su Peng came to the Medicine Garden and announced a bounty mission. Anyone who hunted an Early Rank 1 Earth Rock Rat would receive an additional reward of five Low-grade Spirit Stones, on top of the value of its materials.

Hunting a mid-Rank 1 Earth Rock Rat would earn an additional twenty Low-grade Spirit Stones!

Hunting a late-Rank 1 Earth Rock Rat would earn an additional one hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones!

The Earth Rock Rat infestation in the Medicine Garden had reached the point where failing to clear it out would bring a catastrophic disaster.

If the Earth Rock Rat horde were allowed to grow, then even without the influence of a first-grade Spirit Vein, the Su Family's spirit herb business would be finished.

Whether for the Medicine Garden or the first-grade Spirit Vein, the Earth Rock Rat monster horde had to be cleared away.

Su Yu did not know how the Lineage's upper echelons viewed the possibility of a first-grade Spirit Vein appearing in the Medicine Garden, nor whether they had made any preparations behind the scenes.

But after Family Head Su Peng announced the bounty mission, Su Yu was delighted.

Over the past month or so, he had only acted twice, yet he had hunted five Early Rank 1 Earth Rock Rat monster beasts.

According to the Lineage's current bounty, even without selling the materials, he could earn a full twenty-five Low-grade Spirit Stones.

That was enough to scrape together the price of half a Low-grade Magical Artifact!

"I can hunt more from now on." Su Yu made up his mind. Even if the Lineage noticed how capable he was at hunting Earth Rock Rats, it did not matter.

This bounty from the Lineage was enough for him to take the risk and give it a try.

He looked over the savings he had set aside: ten Low-grade Spirit Stones.

He took them all out and bought a full fifty sets of Beast Luring Powder ingredients.

When night came.

Just as Su Yu was about to grind several portions of Beast Luring Powder and head out to hunt, his senior brothers called for him, intending to go together to lie in ambush in the medicinal fields and hunt Earth Rock Rats.

"Come with us, Junior Brother. After dinner, lots of people have already gone to the medicinal fields. Some are even planning to stay there," the eldest Senior Brother Su Minghuai warmly invited him. The other two senior brothers were equally eager.

The Lineage's bounty had made every cultivator in the medicinal fields see red. Su Yu was not the only one with his eyes on this piece of cake.

Listening to his senior brothers, Su Yu froze for a moment. He had nearly miscalculated.

If so many people went to ambush the Earth Rock Rats, then his chances of successfully luring and hunting them would be slim.

It was even highly possible that the existence of Beast Luring Powder would be exposed.

So for the time being, he could not hunt in the medicinal fields.

"No, I'd better cultivate here steadily. My strength isn't that great," Su Yu said after some thought. He decided to avoid this wave of fervor and wait first. The Earth Rock Rat monster horde was not so easy to deal with.

Thus, he politely declined the invitations of his three senior brothers.

Then he turned back and continued cultivating.

For some time afterward, the medicinal fields were lively every night. Countless cultivators lay hidden there, waiting for Earth Rock Rats to show themselves. The moment one poked its head out, it might suffer a beating from several—or even a dozen—cultivators.

This continued for more than a month. Nearly a hundred Earth Rock Rats from the monster horde had been hunted, and they no longer showed themselves often. Only then did the cultivators in the Medicine Garden settle down somewhat.

That night.

Inside the room.

Huff! Huff! Huff!

Su Yu radiated an incomparably scorching aura. Every breath he exhaled was blazing red and searing, like flames.

The blood and qi within him surged like great rivers, thunder rolling through them with a deafening roar.

At a certain moment, the aura of Su Yu's blood and qi reached its limit.

Boom!

Roar!

In an instant, bloodlight blazed throughout the room. Su Yu's entire body was enveloped in blood and qi, which transformed into a colossal crocodile above his head, like a sea of blood. It crouched there with fangs bared and claws brandished, layer upon layer of Blood-colored Markings taking the shape of scales as it appeared, savage and terrifying.

It threw back its head and roared, shaking Su Yu's Divine Sea and spirit platform. On that spirit platform, a hazy figure sat cross-legged, calmly watching the arrogant, domineering giant before it.

Blood-colored Markings resembling scales surfaced across Su Yu's body. In an instant, his body swelled noticeably.

He resembled a Humanoid Giant Crocodile, his aura violent and terrifying.

This time, Su Yu's body transformed for nearly half an hour before the Blood-colored Markings on his surface and the violent blood and qi around him slowly withdrew, returning his body to its original state.

When Su Yu opened his eyes and focused on the Proficiency Panel, the text upon it had changed.

Cultivation method: Crocodile Demon's 108 Forms Body Refining Technique (fourth layer, proficiency 0.01%).

At the fourth layer of the Body Refining Technique, his body and strength were no weaker than those of a mid-Rank 1 monster beast.