Bone Tempering Golden Marrow

At these words. Xia Xuan and the others had no choice but to steel themselves and head downstairs. As one of the few people who had met Jiang Ran several times and even spoken with him, Xia Xuan naturally walked at the front. He stepped forward, intending to say something, but Jiang Ran simply raised a hand and pointed toward the street behind him. Calmly, he said, "Take whichever corpses you like." There were plenty of monster corpses there—ones Jiang Ran had killed along the way. With that, Jiang Ran stopped paying them any attention. Dragging Zhi's corpse, he headed toward the street behind him. In fact, Jiang Ran had noticed Xia Xuan and the others halfway through the battle. He had profiled Xia Xuan before using Psychological Profiling and understood his character. Cautious, principled, and someone who knew his limits. So he had left them alone. When the three saw Jiang Ran walk away as soon as he had spoken, they couldn't help but stare in surprise... Zhao Feng hurried up behind them. Having switched to calling him Captain Xia, he asked quietly, "Captain Xia, you know him!?" Xia Xuan came back to his senses. Forcing himself to stay calm, he nodded and said softly, "Yeah. We've met a few times. Come on, let's take a few corpses back. We shouldn't stay here long." With that, Xia Xuan and Zou Yue immediately followed Jiang Ran, while Zhao Feng hurried after them a moment later. The three walked along the wreck-strewn street. Looking at the monster corpses scattered on either side, they finally realized that the man in black had already fought a major battle before facing that Zhi. Xia Xuan chose a relatively intact Bone-Spike Cat Monster, while Zhao Feng and Zou Yue each dragged one of their own. They didn't dare take too many. They simply tied up the corpses and prepared to bring them back to the Safe Zone. Before leaving, Xia Xuan looked back. Jiang Ran had already walked a hundred meters away. He dragged Zhi's enormous, hill-like body with one hand. The silhouette of his black hoodie nearly blended into the deepest darkness before dawn. Zou Yue followed his gaze and said softly, "Captain Xia, we should go." "Yeah." Xia Xuan looked away and turned around. "Let's head back." Meanwhile, in the office building overlooking the battlefield, the drone silently returned to the window. The man who had launched it—a young programmer in black-rimmed glasses and a plaid shirt— immediately cut the power as the drone flew through the window, then let out a long breath, as if he had only just dared to breathe. His back was drenched in cold sweat, and his fingers were still trembling slightly. That footage just now... had been terrifying. He removed the memory card from the camera beneath the drone, inserted it into the laptop beside him, and began slowly uploading the video he had just recorded. After refreshing the forum, he created a new post. He hesitated over the title for a few seconds, then finally typed: [This has to be the strongest Transcendent so far, right!?] In the body of the post, he wrote just one sentence: "Caught this in Feng City's business district just now: one man killed an ancient Exotic Beast single-handedly. The video's a little shaky, so please bear with me." Then he attached the twenty-minute video. He clicked Post. The upload progress bar began to creep forward. The man slumped into his chair, repeatedly watching the black-clad figure punch the giant beast into the air. He murmured to himself, "This world... really is about to change." Jiang Ran, on the street, hadn't noticed the drone. It was the middle of the night, and some of the streetlights had been destroyed. Anything high above was extremely difficult to spot under cover of darkness. At that moment, Jiang Ran was simply cleaning up the aftermath in silence. Only when he finally calmed down and took stock did he realize... he had driven his sports car at full speed for twenty or thirty kilometers, clearing far more monsters along the way than he'd expected. Monster corpses were resources in the early stages, so Jiang Ran naturally wasn't about to waste them. Fortunately, he had the Heavenly Net Pouch. Storing them wasn't difficult, just a little time-consuming. Jiang Ran walked from one end of the street to the other. It took him nearly two hours to collect all the monster corpses. It was already five in the morning, yet the sky was still pitch-black. Jiang Ran stood at the end of the street and took one last look around. The night's battle had been worth it. There were over a hundred ordinary monster corpses, plus that Zhi. Even if Jiang Ran did nothing else from here on, what he'd gained on this trip would be more than enough. But for now, he needed to find somewhere safe. He wanted to see what was inside the Zhi's head. Jiang Ran turned and slipped into a nearby alley. Eight-Step Cicada Chase sprang into action, and he quickly left. After Jiang Ran had gone, several people slowly emerged from a few of the nearby buildings that were still intact. They clearly weren't together. Each kept a safe distance from the others, watching them warily. But all their attention was fixed on the wreckage along the street. After a long silence, a middle-aged man in a tracksuit, clutching a steel rebar as a weapon, finally spoke in a low voice. "It's all over... What was the point of coming out now?" There was a trace of self-mockery in his voice. Beside him, a yellow-haired youth who looked to be in his early twenties gave a snort and asked scornfully, "Then why didn't you come out earlier?" At that, everyone fell silent. Go out and face that being head-on? How was that any different from asking for death... No one had dared to be the first. When the yellow-haired youth saw that no one was answering, he lost interest too. Clicking his tongue, he turned and hurried off in the opposite direction. He carried a small cloth bag that clinked as he walked. Apparently, he'd managed to snag a few odds and ends during the chaos. Seeing him leave, the others dispersed as well. No one wanted to linger in an area that had just witnessed a battle between godlike beings. Half an hour later, Jiang Ran had already moved well away from the battlefield and reached a relatively quiet, old residential district. The buildings here were low, the streets narrow, and there were clearly far fewer monsters around. Jiang Ran chose an old six-story apartment building. After watching it from outside for a moment and confirming there were no signs of recent activity, he easily picked the lock on a first-floor apartment and slipped inside. He locked the door and drew the curtains. Only then did Jiang Ran finally feel his nerves ease a little. While collecting the corpses, he'd known that several people were watching him from the shadows. With his sharp senses, he had clearly felt their eyes on him. That was why he had never let down his guard, not from the end of the battle until he left. Now, he was finally safe. Jiang Ran sat down on the living-room sofa. The exhaustion hit him belatedly. His battle with Zhi hadn't lasted long, but it had been an intense, high-output fight from beginning to end. It had pushed his qi and blood, mental energy, and stamina almost to their limits. It was especially bad after the Buddha's Wrathful Vajra state ended. Now that he had relaxed, Jiang Ran nearly fell asleep on the spot. But he still hadn't dealt with his spoils. He couldn't sleep yet. Jiang Ran stood and walked to the relatively open space in the middle of the living room. A thought stirred in his mind. Whoosh... Zhi's enormous corpse appeared out of thin air, filling nearly half the living room. Fortunately, it was dead. If it had been standing, the ceiling wouldn't have been high enough to hold it. Even so, its body sprawled across the floor, taking up nearly the entire living room. Jiang Ran took out his tactical knife, crouched down, and began by dissecting Zhi's head. The blade slid along a seam in the skull. The bone was far tougher than he'd expected. Even after death, the Exotic Beast's hide was much harder than that of ordinary monsters. It took some effort, but Jiang Ran finally lifted the skullcap. Unfortunately, there was no colored orb inside. Jiang Ran furrowed his brow. But the next moment, his gaze was drawn to a few faint blue gleams deep within the brain tissue. He carefully used the tip of his knife to part the shrunken membranes. Seven or eight blue crystals, each about the size of a pigeon's egg and with what looked like nebulae swirling inside, rolled out. "Blue Spirit Crystals..." Jiang Ran picked one up. It felt warm and smooth. These must be higher-grade Spirit Crystals. He put them all into the Heavenly Net Pouch. Then he turned his attention back to Zhi's corpse. He'd gone through so much trouble to kill an Exotic Beast from the Classic of Mountains and Seas. If this was all he got, Jiang Ran would be a little disappointed... So he took his knife and moved to Zhi's back. The hardest thing about fighting Zhi, aside from its size and strength, had been the bone spikes on its back. They'd shot out at incredible speed, had powerful penetration, and could be fired in volleys. Without the Golden Bell Shield and the Buddha's Wrathful Vajra state, Jiang Ran wouldn't have dared take them head-on. Once he'd realized his opponent had that ability, the first step in Jiang Ran's battle plan had been to wear down its bone spikes before closing in for hand-to-hand combat. As it turned out, the plan had worked perfectly. That didn't change the fact that the bone spikes had caused Jiang Ran plenty of trouble. So there had to be something in its back, right? Otherwise, how could it produce an almost unlimited number of bone spikes!? With that in mind, Jiang Ran began dissecting its back. His tactical knife cut through the hide along the middle of the spine, revealing pale golden bones beneath. There were also bone spikes that hadn't finished growing. After seeing how powerful they were, Jiang Ran knew these were valuable. He carefully cut off the unfinished spikes and put them away. Only then did he continue cutting deeper. The tip of his knife worked its way into the gap between bone and muscle. Suddenly... "Clink." A faint, crisp sound. The tip of his knife seemed to have struck something incredibly hard. Jiang Ran froze. He pressed harder, but the blade wouldn't go any farther. So he reached in, hooked his fingers around the edge of the hard object, and pulled. Rip! A fist-sized, dark-golden stone covered in naturally formed spiral patterns came out from deep within Zhi's spine. The stone felt heavy and warm in Jiang Ran's hand. On closer inspection, the spiral patterns seemed to flow slowly, and threads of golden light flickered faintly inside. Before Jiang Ran could figure out what it was... a Pale Blue Panel suddenly appeared before his eyes.

[Congratulations! You have obtained a Profession Fusion material: Bone Tempering Golden Marrow]

[Bone Tempering Golden Marrow: The essence of the ancient Exotic Beast Zhi's bone marrow, transformed through the tempering of qi and blood. It contains an extreme sharp-metal aura.]

[Transcendent Profession detected: Martial Monk]

[Would you like to fuse the Profession?]