Efficient Battle, Bloodline Evolution

It was the seventh day since A'Man joined Xiao Qing's team, on a hill thirty miles away from the tree hollow in the outer reaches of the Star Dou Forest.

A 630-year-old Iron-Armed Ape was sent flying by a single palm strike from A'Man, who was clad in Rock Armor, crashing heavily into a fruit-laden tree nearby.

Red, ripe fruits were shaken loose and fell to the ground with a thud, their juices mingling with the blood of the Iron-Armed Ape to release a rich, cloying scent of fruit and gore.

"What a waste, such fine Crimson Fruit."

Xiao Qing emerged from behind a tree twenty meters away, the Prism Ball in his hand glowing faintly—the notification that experience points had been credited.

Ever since capturing A'Man as his second pet, the experience points gained by Xiao Qing's team from battles had increased to one-ninth of the opponent's age!

However, the distribution of experience points was not the fifty-fifty split Xiao Qing had originally anticipated.

Instead, the soul beast that first rendered the opponent unable to fight received three-quarters of the experience, while the other received only the remaining quarter.

Even if they were the one who had dealt the most damage.

Furthermore, if the age of the soul beast far exceeded that of the opponent, the experience gained would be reduced by another tenth.

Although this distribution method was somewhat unfair, every cloud had a silver lining; Xiao Qing could use this rule to level up A'Man rapidly.

Consequently, over the past week, Xiao Qing had essentially cleared out all the soul beasts within a fifty-mile radius of the tree hollow that met his criteria.

The Iron-Armed Ape before him was one of the last few; once they were finished, if Xiao Qing wanted to continue gaining experience, he would either have to challenge thousand-year soul beasts or, as he did before A'Man joined, travel much further afield to find suitable targets.

"Defeating this Iron-Armed Ape, 986-year-old Xiao Feng gained one year of experience, while 724-year-old A'Man gained fifty-two years."

"Now Xiao Feng is only thirteen years away from becoming a thousand-year soul beast!"

Xiao Qing smiled as he put away the Prism Ball, checked the sky to ensure there was still time to reach the next location, and then stood on A'Man's shoulder to pick the Crimson Fruit.

Just past noon, the ground, usually shaded by the canopy, briefly welcomed the sunlight.

The Iron-Armed Ape was the third soul beast to fall today, each one over four hundred years old.

A week ago, Xiao Qing wouldn't have dared to dream of such a high frequency of combat. Back then, Xiao Feng faced beasts of only a few hundred years, and even with Xiao Qing's assistance, defeating or killing them required a heavy price.

But things were different now.

A'Man's defensive power was overwhelming; even when the Iron-Armed Ape struck his chest with a full-force punch, it only caused A'Man to pause for a moment.

Then, the Iron-Armed Ape would be knocked to the ground by a swing from A'Man, and the time it took to fall was enough for Xiao Feng to land his attack.

Through this period of tempering, the coordination between A'Man and Xiao Feng had become increasingly seamless. A'Man was responsible for taking hits head-on to create openings, while Xiao Feng roamed the perimeter, looking for the chance to strike a fatal blow.

As for Xiao Qing himself, he had retreated to the second line, using a slingshot to fire stones or poison darts for interference, and utilizing ropes and traps to limit the soul beasts' range of movement, turning the battlefield environment into a situation favorable to his side.

"Rest in place for a quarter of an hour."

Xiao Qing issued the command.

Xiao Feng immediately crouched low, ears pricked, scanning the surroundings vigilantly, while A'Man sat on the ground and pulled out a small leather pouch.

This pouch was sewn by Xiao Qing from tanned deerskin, filled with dried meat and fruit. A'Man grabbed a handful and stuffed it into his mouth, the chewing sound dull and powerful.

Xiao Qing leaned against an ancient tree and took a few sips from his waterskin. The bottleneck of level twenty-three had already loosened; at this rate, he would break through in at most two more battles. And Xiao Feng's thousand-year bottleneck was right before his eyes.

When that time came, perhaps he could attempt to challenge those powerful thousand-year soul beasts.

Xiao Qing opened his eyes, his gaze calm. Before he encountered soul masters looking to capture him for the bounty again, he had to possess the power to protect himself.

The quarter-hour was up.

Xiao Qing stood up, and Xiao Feng and A'Man stopped eating and watching simultaneously, their gazes falling upon him.

"Five miles to the northeast, there is a stream. Based on the tracks, there is at least a group of Bloodthirsty Tusk Boars active there," Xiao Qing said. "Bloodthirsty Tusk Boars are pack animals that excel at coordination. If the situation allows, we can try to take on two at once."

"A'Man, your task is to hold the front line and stall at least two of them. Xiao Feng, you and I will focus fire to take out the third one first, then turn back to provide support."

"Remember, the weak points of the Bloodthirsty Tusk Boars are their eyes and throats. Their skulls are very hard, so don't waste your strength."

Xiao Feng let out a low whine to show he understood, and A'Man patted his chest with his bear paw, producing a dull, thumping sound.

The operation began.

The battle by the stream ended within ten minutes.

It was faster than expected.

There were three Bloodthirsty Tusk Boars, each weighing four hundred pounds, with exposed tusks and fur as hard as iron needles. When they discovered the intruders, they immediately charged in a triangular formation, their movements as coordinated as if they were a single entity.

A'Man collided head-on with the two on the left. With a dull thud, the two Bloodthirsty Tusk Boars were blocked, while A'Man merely swayed, two white marks left on his chest by their tusks, though his skin remained unbroken.

In that gap, Xiao Qing pulled a short blade from his waist. He had found this knife on a deceased soul master; it was narrow and long, with a blood groove, and well-maintained.

Xiao Qing ducked to avoid the bite of a Bloodthirsty Tusk Boar, thrusting the blade upward into its throat. With a twist and a pull of his wrist, blood sprayed out. At the same time, Xiao Feng leaped up, his front claws violently slashing the eyes of the Bloodthirsty Tusk Boar.

The first Bloodthirsty Tusk Boar fell.

The remaining two let out angry howls, wanting to turn back to rescue their companion, but A'Man blocked them firmly in the middle. Although his bear paws were not fast, every strike was heavy and powerful; the Bloodthirsty Tusk Boars dared not take them head-on and could only retreat continuously.

With the addition of Xiao Qing and Xiao Feng, the throat of the second Bloodthirsty Tusk Boar was soon pierced by the short blade, and the third had its hind leg tendons bitten through by Xiao Feng before being finished off by a full-force blow to the skull from A'Man.

The battle ended, and the Prism Ball began to absorb the experience points. But this time, the Prism Ball was different; it was burning hot.

Xiao Qing frowned, lifting the Prism Ball to his eyes, and just as he was about to examine it closely, a message appeared in his mind.

"Detection complete: Xiao Feng has reached nine hundred and ninety-nine years of age, meeting the criteria for bloodline evolution."

"Evolution path: Wind Shadow Wolf → Storm Wolf King."

"Required materials for evolution:"

"First, a thousand-year wind-attribute spirit beast egg (the stronger the bloodline of the spirit beast egg, the better the evolution effect)."

"Second, three Storm Iris flowers (only bloom for one hour during a storm)."

"Third, the essence blood of a wolf king, which must be taken from a wolf-type spirit beast that offers it willingly (only a voluntary offering can help Xiao Feng survive the evolution)."

"Once the materials are gathered, the evolution ritual can be initiated. There is no penalty for failure, but it can only be attempted once. After evolving, Xiao Feng will gain a new innate ability."

After digesting this information, Xiao Qing stood rooted to the spot, silent for a long time.

Xiao Feng sensed his unusual behavior, walked over, and rubbed its head against his leg. A'Man also crowded in, lowering its massive bear head, its brown eyes filled with questions.

"It's nothing." Xiao Qing stroked Xiao Feng's head and patted A'Man's thick shoulder. "Good news. Incredible news."

After briefly explaining the situation to Xiao Feng and A'Man, Xiao Qing issued a new directive.

"From now on, we will temporarily stop our training battles and prioritize finding these materials."

The Storm Iris flowers and the corpse of a thousand-year wind-attribute spirit beast were manageable, but the third item was what gave Xiao Qing the biggest headache.

A voluntary offering!

This meant that Xiao Qing could not obtain it through hunting, and for a wolf-type spirit beast to be called a "king," it had to have at least a thousand years of cultivation and lead its own pack.