Jade Marrow Secured!

The entire street fell silent as Xiao Le suddenly erupted. Once people came to their senses, they hurried away from this troublesome place.

Hu Feng had long carried immense authority in town. Now that he had suddenly been provoked, he was bound to fly into a rage. They feared being dragged into the trouble.

Sure enough, before the dust could settle, a roar blasted it apart, and a fierce, powerful figure charged straight at Xiao Le.

When had Hu Feng ever suffered such humiliation? Even a mere Dou Practitioner dared provoke him. He wanted to tear Xiao Le apart, restore his prestige, and avenge Hu Wei.

Xiao Le clearly felt the force striking toward him. His instincts warned him that he could not block this attack. With no time to care about his dignity, he rolled across the ground to evade it.

He scrambled to his feet in a sorry state and called out to the Beast Venerable in his heart, yet received no response. Xiao Le cursed him for being disloyal!

Lightning wrapped around his body, and a pair of silver lightning eagle wings spread from his back. Xiao Le pushed his speed to its limit, desperately dodging Hu Feng's attacks.

Hu Feng's offensive was terrifying, but speed was his weakness. For a time, Xiao Le actually toyed with him.

Suddenly, Hu Feng switched targets and rushed toward Little Fairy Doctor, who stood at the edge of the battle.

Seeing this, Xiao Le cursed Hu Feng for being shameless. The Dou Qi around his body grew increasingly solid, and explosive cracks rang out beneath his feet.

Each step left behind a string of shallow, scorched footprints.

Xiao Le flashed toward the still-dazed Little Fairy Doctor at top speed. He barely made it in time, shoving her away with all his strength while using the force of the push to fall backward.

Unfortunately, Hu Feng's fierce attack had already arrived, and that sinister smile filled his vision.

A powerful force slammed into his left shoulder. Xiao Le's body spun through the air and crashed heavily onto the ground.

"Hahaha!"

Hu Wei steadied himself as vast Dou Qi slowly flowed into his right fist. The faint roar of a fierce tiger echoed from it.

Brown Dou Qi condensed into a tiger head the size of a fist, wrapping around his hand. Fierce and tyrannical, it carried the inviolable might of the king of beasts.

"The Tiger Fist Mercenary Group earned its name from my famed Dou Technique—the mid-tier Xuan-class Dou Technique: Mighty Tiger Shockwave Fist! To die beneath this fist today is your good fortune. Die!"

A trace of madness surfaced in the eyes hidden beneath him. A magical beast core concealed against his chest quietly began to burn. He could faintly feel the piercing pain of the fist wind striking from behind, yet Xiao Le seemed unconscious, showing no reaction at all.

Finally, when the tiger-wreathed fist was only half a meter away from Xiao Le, the body embedded in the ground suddenly erupted with an aura far stronger than before.

It faintly carried the presence of a Dou Master.

This sudden change made Hu Feng freeze. Seizing the opportunity, Xiao Le formed a solid, lifelike leopard shape. His right claw, long since dyed ash-black by Dou Qi, fiercely gripped that fist, while ash-black Heavenly Demon Evil Lightning wore away at the tiger phantom.

Xiao Le desperately twisted his body. As Hu Feng's powerful force erupted, Xiao Le was violently flung toward Little Fairy Doctor.

Lightning flashed. Xiao Le revealed bloodstained teeth and gave Hu Feng a chilling smile.

A streak of lightning swept past, and Little Fairy Doctor and Xiao Le instantly vanished from sight, turning into a blur that shot into the sky.

"I will certainly reclaim today's humiliation from Tiger Fist!"

The lingering words echoed on, and the resolve within them sent a chill through everyone present.

A silver bolt of lightning shot straight into the Magic Beast Mountain Range, quickly leaving the pursuing mercenaries behind.

"I refuse to believe they'll hide in the Magic Beast Mountain Range forever! Issue a wanted notice and offer a high reward! Dead or alive!"

Hu Feng's roar resounded through all of Qingshan Town. This was destined to be a sleepless night. A single figure appeared before every household, while all manner of bizarre rumors became tavern gossip and jokes.

Within the Magic Beast Mountain Range, Xiao Le descended with Little Fairy Doctor into a secluded, empty valley.

Xiao Le had discovered this valley by chance while searching for the Death-Defying Snake Cavern. Magical beasts rarely appeared here, and waterfalls sealed it off on all sides. Unless one flew in as Xiao Le had, it was impossible to discover the way into the valley.

A thatched cottage stood in the valley, long devoid of any signs of habitation.

"Pfft!"

The instant he landed, Xiao Le could no longer suppress the injuries in his chest and spat out a mouthful of blood. Yet despite being so badly wounded, he actually began to laugh.

Xiao Le opened his bloodstained palm, revealing a storage ring engraved with a fierce tiger pattern.

"The Tiger Fist Ring?" Little Fairy Doctor's attention was also drawn to the storage ring.

The renowned Tiger Fist Ring was known by everyone in Qingshan Town. It was a specially made storage ring of the Tiger Fist Mercenary Group, holding the group's usual assets, and it had always been worn on Hu Feng's hand.

Yet now, it was in Xiao Le's possession.

Ignoring his severe injuries, Xiao Le did not even need to call out. A strand of soul power emerged and easily erased the simple soul imprint Hu Feng had placed within the storage ring.

Beast Venerable, why didn't you help me? Xiao Le questioned inwardly.

The Beast Venerable did not mind Xiao Le's disrespectful tone and said calmly, "If you rely on me whenever you face danger, how will you ever grow?"

The words exploded in Xiao Le's heart like thunder, quickly bringing him to his senses. He said shamefully, "Thank you for the reminder, Beast Venerable. I have been too dependent on you!"

The Beast Venerable could not help sighing inwardly. As expected, what fine character! He calmly accepted Xiao Le's thanks before saying gently, "Unless your life is in danger, I will not intervene from now on!"

Xiao Le composed himself and immersed his awareness in the Tiger Fist Ring. After searching through it, delight finally appeared in his eyes.

A jade bottle the size of a palm appeared in his hand. As he gently removed the stopper, a fragrant scent spread through the air, and a hazy glow emerged at the bottle's mouth.

A pure, jade-fat-like liquid flowed endlessly within the bottle. This was Bright-Grease Jade Marrow. Although Xiao Le had long known that the Tiger Fist Mercenary Group possessed Bright-Grease Jade Marrow, he had never expected Hu Feng to carry it with him.

When he had faced Hu Feng earlier, the entries on the storage ring had already made Xiao Le determined to obtain the Tiger Fist Ring.

That was why he had forcibly received Hu Feng's punch, taking the Tiger Fist Ring in the process and using the force to flee—killing two birds with one stone.

Now, the first transformation of the Divine Silkworm Technique required only one main ingredient and several supplementary ingredients before it could be cultivated to completion.

Only after his excitement faded did Xiao Le feel the pain and the severity of his injuries. He forced out a thread of Dou Qi, scattering the prepared high-tier magical beast dung and Medicine Elder's specially made medicinal powder around the valley. Taking advantage of the Dou Master cultivation temporarily granted by the Heavenly Beast Spirit-Burning Art, he also drove away the magical beasts in the surrounding area.

Only after arranging everything did Xiao Le take a medicinal pill and begin recovering from his injuries. Although this time he had been seriously wounded, with Xiao Le's monstrous recovery ability, it would not take long for him to heal.

"The Tiger Fist Ring!"

Only when Hu Feng returned to the mercenary group's headquarters and prepared to rest did he discover that his storage ring was missing. Not long afterward, the backlash from the erased imprint made him spit out a mouthful of blood.

Bright-Grease Jade Marrow!