Seeing the Ancient Vine Mercenary Group's leader, who had just come through a bloody battle, Xiao Li said no more. He twirled the Thunder Scale Spear in his hand, and killing intent surged from him.
Gu Teng was startled. Students from Jia Nan Academy were far stronger than roughnecks like them. Over the years, he had taken too many odds and ends of pills, and it was only by relying on a high-grade Yellow Tier cultivation method that he had barely managed to become a Great Dou Shi.
The students from Jia Nan Academy, by contrast, had proper training methods, orthodox alchemists, and a complete system of Cultivation Methods and Combat Skills. Gu Teng, a self-taught roughneck, simply couldn't compare.
As for the mercenaries around him... after their recent clash with the mercenary group hunting the magical beast, they had little fight left in them. The fact that they hadn't run already counted as loyalty.
Gu Teng glanced hurriedly behind him and saw that his subordinates had all collapsed to the ground in terror. It seemed they weren't staying out of loyalty; they were exhausted, frightened, and too weak in the knees to run.
Watching Xiao Li close in, Gu Teng gritted his teeth. There were flying magical beasts from Jia Nan Academy overhead, so there was no way this boy was alone. As long as the green hills remained, there would be no shortage of firewood.
"This magical beast is yours. I, Gu Teng, admit defeat today!"
Gu Teng let out a furious shout. When he saw that Xiao Li's attack showed no sign of stopping, he struggled to fend it off as he retreated, completely on the defensive.
"All I know is that wild grass never burns away completely; when the spring breeze blows, it grows again!"
"Lightning Flash Strike!"
A streak of azure lightning flashed by, and an arm flew into the sky, its severed end charred to black.
Gu Teng's eyes bulged. He could no longer maintain his Dou Qi Armor, and the numbness around his wound left him dazed. "Hero, spare my life! I'm willing to give you everything I own!"
"If I kill you, it'll all be mine anyway."
The spear flashed. Gu Teng's body crumpled to the ground, while the old man from Jia Nan Academy watched in silence, only occasionally stepping in to kill someone who tried to sneak away.
Calmly, Xiao Li removed the Storage Ring from Gu Teng's hand, then went down the line and thrust his spear into each of the Ancient Vine Mercenary Group's mercenaries who had little fight left in them. Only after confirming there were no survivors did he walk over to the old man.
"Thank you for your help, Teacher."
The old man smiled faintly. "I didn't expect you to act so decisively. Even I was startled."
Then the old man glanced at the fallen flying magical beast and reminded him, "Take what you want before something unexpected happens. Since we've attacked the people here, that means others can attack us too."
With that, the old man gave it no further thought. This unwritten rule was pure nonsense. The weak wouldn't dare attack them even if they saw them break the rules, while the strong would still kill and plunder even if they saw them obeying them.
The only reason this rule existed now was that Jia Nan Academy hadn't fallen out with the factions of the Black-Corner Region. If they ever did, then they'd see whether the Black-Corner Region would attack Jia Nan Academy's recruitment team.
Rules were for the weak. What the strong chose to do depended entirely on a single thought.
Xiao Li nodded silently, took several second-grade medicinal ingredients from Gu Teng's Storage Ring and handed them to the old man, then walked toward the magical beast's corpse.
The old man accepted the ingredients without showing a trace of emotion and nodded to himself. Good. He knew how to behave.
The old man returned to the group in high spirits. He had killed a few nobodies and even gotten several second-grade medicinal ingredients out of it. What a good deal.
Xiao Li walked over to the magical beast's corpse and pretended to put it into his Storage Ring. In reality, he had placed it inside the Blood Furnace within his body.
The Blood Furnace, silent until then, suddenly blazed to life. Scarlet flames laced with lightning compressed and broke down the corpse bit by bit, until wisps of essence mixed with impurities condensed into a Blood Pill.
Siphon Technique!
Xiao Li had stumbled upon it by chance in the Magical Beast Mountain Range a year ago. It could cultivate a Blood Furnace that refined magical beast corpses into Blood Pills. Though they contained many impurities and required careful tempering, using it was still several times, or even dozens of times, faster than normal cultivation!
Refining this third-tier magical beast's corpse would probably take three days. Xiao Li licked his dry lips. Since picking up a third-grade Blood Pill when he obtained the Siphon Technique, he hadn't gotten another one.
There was no helping it. Magical beasts were generally stronger than humans of the same tier. Back then, Xiao Li had only been a Dou Master. How could he have hunted a third-tier magical beast? He could only cultivate by killing first- and second-tier beasts.
Feeling the vigorous essence of blood within the corpse, Xiao Li returned to his room, satisfied. Once he absorbed this Blood Pill, he could at least break through to the peak of Two-Star Great Dou Master. With normal cultivation, it would take him two or three months.
Seeing Xiao Li smiling even after killing people, Li Fei'er and the others shivered. They silently decided to keep even farther away from this monster. He was far too abnormal.
The old man looked at Su Fei, stroking his beard as he sighed. "Teacher Su, you've recruited quite the monster this time. It looks like a promotion to a Yellow Tier instructor is within reach."
Su Fei nodded. "It's just a pity that a monster like him will probably make it to the Inner Academy in a year. If he stayed two more years, I expect I'd climb another rung in the annual teacher rankings every year."
Watching Su Fei's smug smile, the old man shook his head helplessly. "I, Liu Yi, spent decades making slow progress before reaching Dou Ling and becoming an Earth Tier instructor. I'm truly ashamed."
Su Fei pressed her lips together and smiled in reply without answering.
The Blood Pill gradually grew larger and more solid, while the magical beast's corpse was completely incinerated by the Blood Furnace.
Xiao Li took the Blood Pill out of the Blood Furnace space within his body. His gaze darkened, and an extremely fine thread of blue lightning flickered in his eyes.
"This Blood Furnace space really is extraordinary. Not only is it vast, it can also extract the essence from magical beast corpses. It's a pity I can't use it as storage space."
He shook his head slightly, then a fervent light returned to his eyes. "I wonder what it would be like to cultivate the Siphon Technique to its highest level and merge the Blood Furnace into my body. It should gain even more functions."
The Siphon Technique had two stages: building the furnace and merging the furnace. Xiao Li was currently in the first stage. He had no idea what the second stage, the furnace-merging realm, could do.
Unfortunately, Xiao Li had never found a way into the furnace-merging stage and had no idea where to begin.
After a brief sigh, Xiao Li put the thought out of his mind. What mattered was what lay before him. Once he swallowed the Blood Pill, he would break through.
The Blood Pill entered his mouth and turned into a warm stream that flowed straight through his limbs and into his dantian.
The Dou Qi Vortex within Xiao Li's body began to spin wildly. His meridians pulsed, and streaks of blood-red patterns appeared across his skin, giving off the scent of pure, rich blood energy—both bloody and intoxicating.
After the energy circulated through several cycles, Xiao Li suddenly opened his mouth and exhaled a stream of foul air. His body felt lighter.
These were the impurities in the Blood Pill. Absorbing too many would affect his future path.
After being tempered by the lightning within Xiao Li's body, wisps of essence purer than the energy of heaven and earth were absorbed.
Xiao Li's aura grew stronger by the moment. In another room, Liu Yi opened his eyes, his astonishment deepening.
"What an incredible boy. He's about to break through again. Truly extraordinary."