Swallowing Beast Crystals Whole

"Mm~~ These Beast Crystals are nice and crunchy, but they don't taste like anything." Su Wuming muttered to himself as he swallowed the Beast Crystal in his mouth.

Since the Rubber Constitution could rapidly digest the essence of food to restore him, Beast Crystals counted as food too.

His cultivation speed now surpassed that of Spirit Martial Practitioners with Grade-A Aptitude, but he had fallen too far behind. If he wanted to rapidly increase his cultivation within five short days, absorbing Beast Crystals was his only option.

Normally, this was a privilege enjoyed only by the wealthy heirs of great families. Ordinary households could hardly afford to buy Beast Crystals in bulk.

As for the twenty-five Black Iron Rank Beast Crystals currently in Su Wuming's possession, the Monster Hunters' Office would buy them for one thousand yuan each.

But after the Monster Hunters' Office's specialists purified the Beast Crystals and resold them, the price increased fivefold, reaching as much as five thousand yuan per crystal.

And that was only for cultivation materials used by Black Iron Rank Spirit Martial Practitioners.

There was a well-known truth among Dragon Nation's Spirit Martial Practitioners: Beast Crystals that had not been purified could not be absorbed. Forcibly absorbing them would do more harm than good to one's cultivation.

Yet Su Wuming was doing exactly that.

What he relied on was his unique and absurdly powerful physique.

Su Wuming admitted that there was an element of gambling in this.

But wasn't life itself one huge gamble?

Win, and soar straight to the heavens. Lose, and start over from scratch. Besides, the system had explained that all injuries and exhaustion suffered by the Rubber Constitution could be replenished and restored through food.

At that moment, as soon as the Beast Crystal entered his stomach, Su Wuming quickly felt a reaction in his abdomen.

First came a burning sensation. Then a tearing pain spread through his abdomen, as if countless blades were tumbling inside him.

The pain made cold sweat stream down Su Wuming's face. He gritted his teeth and endured it while circulating the Dao Guidance Method.

Fortunately, the agony did not last long. Two minutes later, a stream of energy belonging to the Beast Crystal's essence circulated through a full cycle under the Dao Guidance Method's guidance before entering his dantian, where it was converted into Armament Haki. His cultivation rose by a sliver as well.

It worked!!!

This was far more efficient than the methods used by Spirit Martial Practitioners who absorbed purified Beast Crystals.

He had asked around about this. Under normal circumstances, it took a Spirit Martial Practitioner two hours to absorb a single Beast Crystal.

And during the process, the Beast Crystal's energy would leak away, making perfect absorption impossible.

But Su Wuming was different. As long as it entered his stomach, he could absorb every last bit of it.

As for the harmful substances in unpurified Beast Crystals, Su Wuming no longer worried about them. He burped, and they were discharged directly.

The injuries inside his abdomen were even easier to deal with. He only needed to eat something to recover.

However, Su Wuming felt that he could still endure it, so he was in no hurry to eat the Qi-Blood Sausages Pangpang had prepared for him.

Over the following period, Su Wuming repeated the process and absorbed all twenty-four remaining Beast Crystals.

He consumed two Qi-Blood Sausages during that time to restore the injuries in his abdomen.

His cultivation subsequently rose to three-star Black Iron, increasing by two full stars.

Every three stars was a minor dividing line for Spirit Martial Practitioners.

Su Wuming roughly calculated that it currently took ten Beast Crystals to raise one star. From four-star to six-star, he would need fifteen Beast Crystals per star, and from seven-star to nine-star, he would likely need even more.

It seemed the saying, "wealth, companions, methods, and grounds," truly did not lie when it came to cultivation.

Wealth stood at the very top.

By his calculations, those families with Beast Crystals would need at least seventy-five Beast Crystals just to cultivate to six-star Black Iron.

At the price of purified crystals, that would cost three hundred and seventy-five thousand yuan. And that did not even account for the resources consumed along the way. The entire Black Iron stage would likely require at least a million yuan.

It might not sound like much, but one had to remember that this was only the lowest Black Iron stage. Beast Crystals would only grow more expensive afterward, and tens of millions would be a small sum.

Sure enough, even in this high-martial world of awakened ones, people still worried about money. The world had changed, but the rules had not. Su Wuming was still among the lowest class of society.

After settling his emotions, Su Wuming rose to his feet and headed straight for the Dark Forest.

It was already the latter half of the night. It was time to hunt Beast Crystals from demon beasts.

In this life, he firmly believed that diligence could make up for lack of talent. If wealth was insufficient, then martial strength would make up the difference.

When he returned here once more, he chose the same route as yesterday, following the stream straight toward the stone forest where the conflict had erupted.

The realization in his heart allowed him, at this moment, to understand the martial path he longed for.

---Youth is the arrow, the summit the target. Once the bow is drawn, there is no turning back.

The moment he stepped into the dense forest again, the gears of fate began to turn, and the arrow left the bow.

Burn, youth!!!

---Might Guy

On the way, Su Wuming encountered a lone demon beast, a Devil Horse, heading toward the stone forest. The moment they met, Su Wuming chose to face it head-on with his fists.

After all, men should fight barehanded. It definitely was not because strength-type Spirit Martial Practitioners could not wield spirit weapons.

Thus, Su Wuming used only one move: Rubber Pistol. The blow struck the Devil Horse's vital point—its heart. His suddenly increased cultivation, combined with the fully unlocked Rubber Constitution, had also enhanced his strength.

With a single punch, the Devil Horse died on the spot without even a trace of struggle.

The main reason was that the Devil Horse could not understand Su Wuming's suddenly lengthened arm. It had never seen anything like it before, and with the speed granted by Su Wuming's increased strength, the attack was fast, precise, and ruthless.

The current Su Wuming could no longer muster any interest in an ordinary Black Iron Rank demon beast.

After a barely adequate warm-up, he quickened his pace and arrived at the stone forest.

When he was still about a hundred meters from the stone forest, Su Wuming caught a pungent smell of blood.

But one thing was certain: the battle over there had already ended.

As he slowly approached, he could hear demon beasts chewing. From atop a large tree, using the moonlight to see, he found dozens of demon beast corpses scattered across the area. There were Devil Horses and Copperback Hyenas alike, the two most common demon beasts in the outskirts.

Seven Copperback Hyenas were feeding on those corpses. Judging by their condition, they were in excellent shape and perfectly suited for a fight.

Taking a deep breath, Su Wuming patted his chest to steady himself. Then, enduring the stench of blood, he launched the attack first.

Naturally, the first strike was a sneak attack, aimed at the hyena's waist and abdomen, which was also its weak point.

Like wolves, they had copper heads, iron brains, and tofu waists.

This was destined to be a bone-rattling, gut-wrenching battle.

In the darkness of night, the sounds of Su Wuming's rubber body snapping back intertwined with the howls of the Copperback Hyenas.

Su Wuming skillfully used the terrain and retreated into a dead corner. Several places on his body were already stained with blood, but he did not care. Instead, he grew increasingly excited.

The saying that real men bled but did not cry was fully embodied in him.

He appeared trapped in a desperate situation, but in truth, he was seeking life through death. At the same time, he was giving the Copperback Hyenas an opportunity to face him head-on.

The remaining four Copperback Hyenas quickly surrounded him and charged together.

Seeing this, Su Wuming bared his teeth in a grin, then unleashed his favorite move:

Rubber Gatling!!!