"Roar!"
The demonic beast's savage roar rang out, but there was no cry from a girl.
Like an invisible hook, the sound tugged at Lin Chen's senses.
He hadn't wanted to get involved, but the girl's panicked cries and the beast's vicious growls were close at hand.
More importantly:
'A cliff... a girl...'
The scene seemed familiar!
The instant the thought crossed his mind, his eyes narrowed.
His figure blurred, and he soundlessly darted toward the cries like a phantom.
He passed through a patch of low shrubs, his foot coming down on something soft and sticky.
Lin Chen looked down. Two mercenaries' corpses lay there, their deaths horrific.
They had been almost gnawed beyond recognition. Their tattered clothes and equipment were scattered across the ground.
They had clearly died recently. Judging by the wounds, they had been killed by the fangs and claws of a large lizard-type demonic beast.
Lin Chen's expression didn't change, and he didn't slow down.
He swiftly crossed a dense patch of woodland. The view opened up before him.
A steep stretch of cliffs lay ahead.
At that moment, a heart-pounding scene was unfolding at the cliff's edge!
A girl in a plain white dress was stumbling toward the forest, trying to escape.
She looked to be about ten years old, with a slender figure and fair skin.
Even now, with blood smeared across her face and her hair in disarray, her natural radiance remained impossible to conceal.
It was none other than the young Xiao Yi Xian!
But she was in terrible shape.
A gaping wound more than ten centimeters long marred the left side of her abdomen, its flesh mangled and torn.
Blood had soaked a large part of her dress and was even running down the side of her leg,
leaving a broken trail of red behind her.
Her face was as pale as paper, and her breathing was shallow and ragged.
She had clearly lost too much blood and was running on nothing but the instinct to survive.
Not far behind her, a huge demonic beast resembling a giant lizard was limping after her.
Its body was covered in hard, gray-brown scales, and its fangs were bared.
Rank saliva dripped from its mouth, and its slit pupils gleamed with savagery and greed.
One of its forelegs seemed injured, slowing its movements.
Otherwise, it would have caught up with the gravely wounded girl long ago.
Judging by the energy it gave off, it was a third-tier demonic beast:
a Rock Armor Lizard!
Xiao Yi Xian's steps grew shakier, and her vision began to blur.
The foul wind at her back drew closer and closer. Despair surged over her like a freezing tide,
slowly swallowing her awareness.
Without a moment's hesitation, Lin Chen stomped the ground to pieces and shot forward:
"Boom!!!"
"Whoosh!"
A shrill whistle split the air!
A blurry black figure burst from the edge of the forest like a cannonball.
He was so fast that a faint, blood-red afterimage lingered where he had been!
The figure flashed past Xiao Yi Xian, the gust of wind lifting her disheveled hair:
"Boom!"
Surging blood-red Dou Qi erupted, coiling around his right leg!
His crimson leg swept through the air like a battle-axe, cleaving down with merciless force!
Xiao Yi Xian couldn't even make out what it was. She only heard a dull, heavy thud, like a blow against leather!
"Bang!!!"
"Boom!!!"
Then came a teeth-grinding series of cracks as bones shattered completely!
Xiao Yi Xian turned around instinctively.
The sight before her made her eyes fly wide open, her pale lips parting without a sound.
Her mind went blank. All her pain and despair were swept away by sheer shock!
The vicious Rock Armor Lizard that had pursued her until she'd had nowhere left to run—
its hideous head
had burst apart like a watermelon smashed by tremendous force!
Blood and brain matter sprayed everywhere!
The headless body lurched forward a few steps on momentum,
then slammed heavily into the ground. It twitched twice and fell still.
Beside the headless beast's corpse stood a black-clad boy who looked about her age.
He slowly lowered his right leg. It didn't look especially sturdy, yet it had held terrifying power.
His expression was calm and indifferent, as if he hadn't just kicked the head off a third-tier demonic beast,
but had casually crushed an ant.
Silence!
A deathly silence!
The demonic beast's savage roar was gone for good.
Xiao Yi Xian stared blankly at the black-clad boy, then at the headless Rock Armor Lizard on the ground.
Her heart pounded so wildly it felt ready to leap from her throat!
H-how was this possible?
A boy who looked about her age...
With one kick... he'd burst the head of a third-tier demonic beast, a Rock Armor Lizard?
That was a ferocious creature even many mercenary bands had to face with the utmost caution!
Who was he?
How could he possess such terrifying strength?
This completely overturned everything Xiao Yi Xian thought she knew!
When had the Jia Ma Empire produced such a monstrous talent?
Normally, a genius of this age, no matter how gifted, would only have reached the Dou Zhe level, right?
How could someone so young kill a third-tier demonic beast with a single blow?!
The immense shock crashed over her already weakened mind like a tsunami.
She parted her lips, wanting to thank him,
but her throat was so dry she couldn't make a sound.
She struggled to raise her hand and offer a salute,
but that movement was more than her body, already at the end of its strength, could bear.
A wave of dizziness, dark as the tide, swept away her consciousness.
Her vision went black, her body slackened, and she toppled straight backward.
Just as she was about to hit the ground, the black figure flashed beside her again like a phantom.
He was already at her side, one arm reaching out, steady and strong.
He caught her slender waist just in time, gently supporting her before she could fall.
Lin Chen looked down at the terrible wound on the girl's abdomen, still seeping blood.
His brows drew together slightly at her bloodless cheeks.
She'd lost far too much blood. If she wasn't treated immediately, she might...
He didn't hesitate. First, he gently laid Xiao Yi Xian on a patch of soft grass nearby.
Then he went to the headless Rock Armor Lizard and pressed his palm against its corpse.
The Blood Scripture began to circulate!
A vast stream of blood essence flowed through his palm and into his body.
But he didn't refine or absorb it. Instead, he forcibly suppressed it in his meridians,
then repeatedly tempered and purified it with the faint power of Karma Fire Red Lotus,
removing the beast's savage impurities and any toxins that might be present.
Only the purest life energy remained.
When he was done, he returned to Xiao Yi Xian, bent down, and carefully lifted her into his arms.
The girl's body was light, soft, and cold.
She carried the faint scent of blood and a strange, barely perceptible fragrance.
His sharp gaze swept across the cliffs as his powerful spiritual perception spread out like a flood.
He had already reached Dou Ling, his cultivation advancing at astonishing speed!
But compared to the progress of his soul power, it was still slow.
His cultivation was now at the Dou Ling level.
Yet his soul power had already reached Mortal Realm Peak!
He was only one step away from breaking through into Spirit Realm!
By the time he reached Dou Wang, he'd probably be there.
With his powerful spiritual perception,
he quickly located a cave halfway down the cliff, hidden behind vines.
Holding Xiao Yi Xian, Lin Chen reached the edge and leaped down without hesitation!
As he fell, he lightly tapped his toes against several jutting rocks, dissipating his downward momentum.
Like a falling leaf, he drifted into the concealed cave.
The cave was dark and damp. The moment he landed, a foul wind rushed at him!
A Striped Poison Python, thick as a barrel and lying in wait at the entrance, opened its gaping jaws and lunged at him!
Lin Chen didn't even look at it. He kept holding Xiao Yi Xian exactly as before.
He casually kicked out with one foot!
"Thud!" The blow was accompanied by the crack of breaking bones.
The Venom Python, roughly a second-tier beast, couldn't even manage a hiss.
Its head was kicked to pieces, and its huge body twisted as it slammed into the cave wall.
It slid limply to the ground, lifeless.
Just a roadside snake. One kick was all it took!
Holding Xiao Yi Xian, Lin Chen walked straight into the cave.
The farther in he went, the wider the passage became, and the air grew drier.
Before long, he reached the end of the cave.
The sight before him made him lift his brows slightly.
A pile of gold coins and jewels lay at the deepest part of the cave.
Though coated in dust, they still glimmered with wealth.
Nearby sat the skeleton of a human, cross-legged on the ground. It had long since weathered away,
and it was impossible to know how many years had passed since the person died. Three ancient boxes of different colors had been neatly arranged in front of the skeleton.
Clearly, this was a cave dwelling left behind by someone from the past.
Lin Chen had no time to examine these things just yet.
He carefully laid the still-unconscious Xiao Yi Xian on a relatively clean, flat stone platform.
Looking at the terrible wound on the girl's abdomen, which was still bleeding, he stopped hesitating.
He took a deep breath and extended his long fingers, moving with extraordinary gentleness.
He untied the plain white sash at her waist, now stained red with blood.
His movements were careful and focused, as if he were handling a fragile treasure.
His fingertips inevitably brushed against the girl's cool, slick skin from time to time.
But his mind remained clear and undistracted; his eyes held nothing but the earnest focus of someone trying to save a life.
He gently pulled aside her torn, sticky outer garment,
revealing the white underlayer, also soaked in blood, and the hideous wound beneath.
The wound was deep, its flesh torn open. He could even make out the faint outline of an internal organ.
The situation was worse than he'd imagined.
Lin Chen furrowed his brows.
He took clean water and strips of cloth from his Storage Ring.
As someone who spent years hunting in the wild, he always carried basic supplies.
Although he'd never had to use them before.
He carefully cleaned the blood and dirt around the wound,
moving as gently as possible to avoid causing further injury.
During the cleansing, the unconscious Xiao Yi Xian seemed to feel pain.
Her delicate brows knitted tightly, and she let out a faint, pained whimper.
Her long eyelashes trembled, but she did not wake.
Lin Chen's hands paused. He moved even more gently.
Using a clean strip of cloth as a bandage, he carefully wrapped her wound.
His technique was far from professional, but it was enough to stop the bleeding and prevent infection.
When he had finished, he gently straightened her clothes.
He covered the injured area, restoring a basic sense of neatness.
Then he took out a second-grade healing pill he had obtained from the Jialie Clan's storeroom.
Carefully, he placed it in Xiao Yi Xian's mouth and helped her swallow it.
Looking at the girl's still-pale face, Lin Chen pondered for a moment.
He sat cross-legged beside the stone platform and drew out a thin thread of the refined life energy from the Rock Armor Lizard that he had purified earlier.
Slowly, he guided it into Xiao Yi Xian's meridians.
This was an experiment.
The Blood Origin Dou Qi cultivated through the Blood Scripture and the life essence he had devoured were powerful tonics for him.
But he wasn't sure whether they would help someone else—or even harm them.
So he sent in only the faintest trace of energy, which had also been repeatedly purified by the Karma Fire Red Lotus.
He made sure it was gentle and harmless.
The pure life energy flowed like a warm stream, slowly merging with Xiao Yi Xian's depleted meridians and body.
The girl's pale face seemed to regain the faintest hint of color before his very eyes.
Her breathing also grew steadier and more even.
Amid the gratitude he felt in his soul, the hideous wound across her abdomen...
healed almost before his eyes!
It recovered rapidly!
It worked!
A glimmer of understanding passed through Lin Chen's eyes.
It seemed that this refined life essence could nourish and heal others, too!
Seeing that Xiao Yi Xian's condition had stabilized for now, Lin Chen finally stood.
He walked over to the three boxes and the Skeleton.
He opened the boxes one by one.
First box: Inside lay a multicolored scroll, giving off a faint, sickly-sweet scent.
Four ancient characters were written on it—Seven-Colored Poison Scripture.
Second box: Inside was a pair of small bones shaped like eagle wings.
Strange silver runes shimmered across them, accompanied by faint fluctuations of energy:
High Huang-tier Flying Dou Technique: Wings of the Eagle.
Third box: Inside lay an ordinary scroll.
High Huang-tier sonic Dou Technique:
Mad Lion Chant.
Not a bad haul. Lin Chen put the items away, then walked over to the Skeleton.
His gaze swept over it, and he noticed something caught between the bones of its arm.
It appeared to be an inconspicuous, pinkish-white fragment about the size of a fingernail.
His heart stirred. He carefully removed it.
The fragment felt warm and smooth to the touch, and looked ordinary.
But when his soul power swept over it, he sensed an extremely faint yet remarkably pure and boundless aura of flame!
Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame Fragment Map!
A flash of light passed through Lin Chen's eyes as he carefully put it away.
Then, out of basic respect for the dead,
he blasted a small pit into a corner of the cave with his Dou Qi and carefully moved the Skeleton of this unknown senior into it.
He buried it properly.
Once everything was done, Lin Chen returned to the center of the cave and sat cross-legged.
He intended to adjust his condition, then attempt to fuse with the Wings of the Eagle Flying Dou Technique.
Although, at the peak of six-star Dou Ling, he was already not far from the Dou Wang realm, where Dou Qi could form wings,
this Flying Dou Technique would not only let him fly ahead of time.
It would also greatly increase his speed and agility in the air, making it far from useless.
He did not immediately digest his insights into Boundless Blood Sea.
Now that he had grasped them, he would not lose them.
There was no need to rush. Even if he managed to gain some insight,
he would still have to wait until he broke through to Dou Wang before he could attempt to learn and cultivate it.
He calmed his mind.
However, just as he had closed his eyes and before his breathing had fully settled,
a faint, pained whimper came from the direction of the stone platform.
Lin Chen opened his eyes and looked over.
The long eyelashes of the white-clad girl lying on the stone platform trembled violently a few times.
Her tightly shut eyes slowly, painfully opened a narrow slit.
Her gaze was unfocused and bewildered, clouded by the grogginess and weakness of waking.
She instinctively looked up at the cave ceiling, then slowly shifted her gaze.
At last, it settled on the black-clad figure seated nearby—a slightly lean figure, yet one that seemed exceptionally steady.
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