Lin Hai left Wutan City and did not linger long within the Gama Empire.
The Magical Beast Mountain Range here was still a little too low-level for the high-tier Magic Cores he needed.
A Peak Sixth Tier beast like the Amethyst Winged Lion King was already a rare find.
He took a single step, and space warped. His figure appeared a thousand miles away, entering a vast mountain range far more ancient and primeval, known as one of the continent's perilous lands—the Hengduan Mountain Range.
The Magical Beasts here far surpassed those of the Magical Beast Mountain Range in number, quality, and ferocity.
Sixth-Rank Magical Beasts could be called rulers of their domains; Seventh-Rank Magical Beasts were seen from time to time. There were even legends that, in the range's deepest reaches, lived peerless Eighth-Rank beasts as powerful as a Dou Zun!
Yet to Lin Hai, it made no difference.
Like an emotionless reaper, he descended upon this land, where the law of the jungle had held sway since ancient times.
He made no effort to search. He simply unfurled his vast, star-sea-like spiritual sense, precisely locking onto one powerful Magical Beast aura after another.
The next instant, he appeared above his target like a phantom.
A Sixth-Rank Azure Water Rhino King was drinking by a pool, its hide thick and its water-attribute Magic Core brimming with energy. It sensed not the slightest danger. It only noticed the light above its head dim, then an irresistible, terrifying force instantly immobilized its massive body and shattered its skull with pinpoint precision. A fist-sized Magic Core, blue as the sea, was drawn out by an unseen force, and the corpse crashed to the ground.
Deep in a valley where lava boiled, an Earth Fire Flame Lizard Emperor on the verge of breaking through to the Seventh Rank warily raised its head. Its blood-red pupils reflected the sudden appearance of a human figure.
It roared in fury, spewing flames that surged skyward, hot enough to melt metal and stone.
Yet those flames, powerful enough to burn mountains and boil seas, silently died out three feet from the figure.
Lin Hai merely flicked a finger. A tiny spatial rift flashed, slicing through the Flame Lizard Emperor's hard scales and skull like tofu. A dark red Magic Core, scorching hot and faintly marked with a dragon pattern, flew into Lin Hai's hand.
In a poison-miasma-shrouded swamp, a sly Sixth-Rank Shadow Poison Python lay in wait...
Atop a peak perpetually wreathed in thunderclouds, a ferocious Sixth-Rank Thunder Wing Eagle King made its lair...
Even in the depths of an icy cavern, a sleeping early Seventh-Rank Frost Giant Ape was roused. Roaring, it swung a colossal fist capable of smashing peaks, bringing a freezing blizzard down upon the intruder.
Lin Hai merely gave it a calm glance. At that glance, the ape's very soul seemed to freeze, and its movements locked in place.
He casually waved a hand, and the ape's massive heart, along with the ice-blue Magic Core inside its chest, was ripped out whole. Its enormous body turned into an ice sculpture and shattered with a thunderous crash.
There was no battle, only a one-sided harvest.
In his hands, spatial power was the most delicate of scalpels, precisely separating each Magic Core.
The might of a Spiritual Saint was enough to keep many famously ferocious Magical Beasts from even daring to resist. They perished in boundless terror.
Wherever he went, high-tier Magical Beasts that usually ruled their territories and shook the mountains with their roars fell in swathes, as if reaped by an invisible scythe of death.
Their powerful auras vanished in quick succession, leaving corpses scattered across the ground and the air thick with the stench of blood. Countless low-tier Magical Beasts fled in a frenzy, only to be killed by the still more powerful shockwaves.
In less than a few hours, the high-tier Magical Beasts in the core region of the Hengduan Mountain Range had been nearly wiped out!
It was a hunt on a truly catastrophic scale.
After flickering across the skies above the range a few times, Lin Hai returned to the outskirts of Wutan City. His Storage Ring now held a pile of radiant Magic Cores, each brimming with astonishing energy.
Two Seventh-Rank Magic Cores—one ice-attribute, one earth-attribute—shone like twin suns, radiating a heart-quaking pressure.
Six Sixth-tier Magic Cores—water, fire, thunder, wind, wood, and poison—brimmed with energy and shone in a dazzling array of colors.
Fifteen Fifth-Tier Magic Cores, each with a different attribute, glittered brilliantly.
Thirty-six Fourth-Tier Magic Cores lay piled together, their interwoven energy fluctuations dazzling to behold.
This pile of Magic Cores was valuable enough to buy half the Gama Empire!
If word of it got out, the whole Northwest Continent would erupt into a frenzy of competition and bloodshed.
And at that moment, dawn had only just begun to break.
As if he had done something utterly insignificant, Lin Hai slipped into the shadows once more and returned to Xiao Yan's courtyard without a sound.
Inside the room, Yao Chen had already absorbed some of the Seven Illusion Clear Spirit Saliva's medicinal power. His soul form had grown much more solid, no longer seeming on the verge of vanishing at any moment, and his complexion had improved considerably.
He was carefully sorting the mountain of rare medicinal herbs Lin Hai had left behind.
Xiao Yan had also finished cultivating.
Just then, Lin Hai's figure appeared again without a sound.
He glanced at Yao Chen's condition and gave a slight nod. "Your recovery seems to be going smoothly."
Then, amid Xiao Yan and Yao Chen's puzzled gazes, he casually waved a hand.
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