Beside the corpses of the men in black.
Su Mo sat cross-legged, releasing his Devouring Martial Soul.
As he activated the Devouring Martial Soul, the blood essence and Martial Souls of the men in black immediately surged toward Su Mo.
The Martial Souls of these men in black, including that of the middle-aged man in black, were all Human Grade Third Tier Martial Souls, not particularly high-ranked.
Devouring the Martial Souls of these few people had an almost negligible effect on the advancement of Su Mo's Martial Soul.
However, all of them were at Qi Cultivation Level Seven, while the middle-aged man in black was even at Qi Cultivation Level Eight. The energy contained within their blood essence was immensely vast.
Su Mo had only devoured half their blood essence when the true qi within his body began to skyrocket madly, directly shattering through the barrier of his cultivation.
He broke through to the Sixth Tier of Qi Cultivation!
The blood essence continued to be devoured, and Su Mo's cultivation continued to soar.
Early Sixth Tier of Qi Cultivation!
Middle Sixth Tier of Qi Cultivation!
Late Sixth Tier of Qi Cultivation!
When Su Mo's cultivation was nearing the peak of the Sixth Tier of Qi Cultivation, all the blood essence had been completely devoured.
All the corpses had turned into dried husks.
Huff!
Su Mo opened his mouth and slowly exhaled a long breath of foul air.
When he turned to look at Xi'er, she was staring blankly at Su Mo, her little mouth slightly open, her face filled with disbelief.
"Xi'er, now you know what happened, right?"
Su Mo rose to his feet and walked over to Xi'er.
"Brother Su Mo, this..."
Xi'er was utterly shocked, her large eyes gazing at Su Mo in wonder.
"Hehe, it was because of my Martial Soul. This is the special ability of my Martial Soul."
Su Mo smiled faintly and explained it to Xi'er.
Not only was Xi'er shocked—even he himself had been incomparably astonished when it first happened.
A Martial Soul with the ability to refine essence into qi was truly unheard of and unseen.
More importantly, the Martial Soul's rank could even be raised.
"Oh!"
Xi'er nodded as though she understood, though not entirely.
"Let's go, Xi'er. We'll continue hunting demonic beasts!"
"Brother Su Mo, your wounds? They're still bleeding!" Xi'er said as she looked at the wounds on Su Mo's body.
"It's nothing, just minor injuries. Taking a medicinal pill will do!"
Su Mo waved his hand. After swallowing a healing pill and refining its medicinal power, he led Xi'er onward into the depths of the forest.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Su Mo was like a road roller, madly reaping the lives of demonic beasts as he walked and slaughtered his way forward.
No matter what kind of demonic beast it was, as long as it ran on the ground, he killed them all.
As for those that flew in the sky, he wanted to kill them too, but he simply could not reach them!
Before long, Su Mo had ventured more than thirty li deeper into the forest. Along the way, he had slaughtered over forty demonic beasts.
However, although he had killed more than forty demonic beasts and devoured their beast souls and blood essence, neither Su Mo's Martial Soul nor his cultivation had advanced.
Those forty-odd demonic beasts had only been Level 1 Tier 4 and Tier 5 demonic beasts. Level 1 Tier 4 and Tier 5 beast souls had extremely little effect on raising the rank of his Martial Soul.
The blood of those demonic beasts had only barely brought his cultivation to the peak of the Sixth Tier of Qi Cultivation.
The blood of over forty Level 1 Tier 4 and Tier 5 demonic beasts was not even equal to the blood essence of one Qi Cultivation Level Eight martial artist.
As they ventured deeper into the forest, the ranks of the demonic beasts grew higher and higher.
Roar!
A tremendous roar rang out, and an enormous demon bear appeared ahead.
The demon bear was black as ink from head to toe, nearly two zhang long and no less than three thousand jin in weight. It was enormous, and dense demonic qi emanated from its body.
It was clearly a Level 1 Tier 6 peak demonic beast.
"Haha!"
Su Mo was overjoyed and swiftly shot forward.
Roar!
The demon bear discovered that a human had intruded upon its territory and immediately flew into a rage. Its roar shook the forest.
Its massive body rumbled as it charged toward Su Mo, smashing through countless great trees along the way. Its millstone-sized bear paw, carrying howling gusts of wind, slapped toward Su Mo's head.
Although this demon bear was merely a Level 1 Tier 6 peak demonic beast, its body was huge and its strength incomparably great, comparable to a Level 1 Tier 7 demonic beast.
Whoosh!
Even so, the demon bear could not withstand a single strike from Su Mo. With one sword slash, a flash of light swept past and directly severed its giant paw along with half its head.
Blood splattered, and brain matter flew everywhere.
Boom!
The demon bear's enormous body then crashed to the ground.
Su Mo immediately devoured its beast soul and blood essence.
Once the demon bear's blood essence was devoured, it was immediately refined into true qi and merged into Su Mo's dantian.
Within Su Mo's dantian, the mist-like true qi had already accumulated to a critical point.
Su Mo tried to break through to Qi Cultivation Level Seven, but even after two attempts, he still failed to shatter the barrier of his realm.
"Still not enough. I'm still a little short!"
Su Mo took Xi'er and continued onward.
Walking, killing, devouring.
Finally, after Su Mo killed another eight Level 1 Tier 6 demonic beasts and two Level 1 Tier 7 demonic beasts, then devoured them.
His dantian swelled, his true qi surged once more, and an aura several times more powerful than the Sixth Tier of Qi Cultivation rose from his body.
A breakthrough—Qi Refining Realm Seventh Level!"
In just a few short hours, Su Mo had broken through from the peak of the Qi Refining Realm Fifth Level to the Qi Refining Realm Seventh Level.
If other martial artists learned of such a rapid cultivation speed, they would likely be scared half to death.
"This leveling up is a little too easy, isn't it?"
Su Mo was overjoyed, his heart filled with emotion.
Originally, by his estimation, he would have needed to kill in the Youfeng Mountain Range for at least two days before advancing to Qi Cultivation Level Seven.
Yet only half a day had passed, and he had already broken through to Qi Cultivation Level Seven.
The speed was simply too fast!
The speed at which devouring blood essence raised his cultivation had greatly exceeded his expectations.
Of course, those men in black today had also lent him a helping hand.
If I slaughter here for half a month, wouldn't my cultivation soar all the way to the Spirit Martial Realm?
Su Mo's heart burned with excitement as he secretly thrilled at the thought.
However, he quickly discarded the idea.
Raising his cultivation this way would inevitably make his true qi impure and leave his foundation unstable.
Moreover, he had killed those City Lord's Mansion guards and prevented Lin Xiao from succeeding. It was inevitable that the other party might send more people.
For Xi'er's safety, it was better to return home sooner.
Looking at the sky, Su Mo saw that it was still early, so he decided to hunt a few more demonic beasts before taking Xi'er back.
Afterward, Su Mo continued his slaughter. By the time dusk approached, he had killed another dozen or so Level 1 Tier 7 demonic beasts.
After devouring them, Su Mo's cultivation reached the late stage of Qi Cultivation Level Seven.
His cultivation was advancing by leaps and bounds.
However, while his cultivation progressed rapidly, his Martial Soul still showed no reaction.
Even after devouring so many beast souls, his Devouring Martial Soul had still not advanced.
Su Mo estimated that for his Martial Soul to rise to Human Grade Seventh Tier, he would need to devour at least several hundred Level 1 Tier 7 beast souls.
If he had to slowly hunt the demonic beasts one by one, the workload would still be quite enormous.
It would be more suitable to purchase them directly.
The sky had grown late. Su Mo no longer lingered, taking Xi'er as they swiftly left the Youfeng Mountain Range and returned to Linyang City.
Before you continue