Seclusion

Lin Yi flipped through the five or six thick volumes of the Savage Beast Compendium from beginning to end without so much as a stumble.

With the Super Brain enhancing him, everything his gaze swept over was etched into his mind.

In less than the time it took for an incense stick to burn, he had closed the corner of the last beast-hide scroll and memorized the common savage beast species, habits, weaknesses, and value in the fringes of the Great Wilderness.

"Alright, Great Wilderness Savage Beast Compendium, got it."

He stacked the beast-hide scrolls aside, rolled his neck, and took the nine Blood Essence Fruits from his robes.

The round, plump red fruits glowed with a gentle sheen in his palm, their fragrance assailing his nostrils.

Lin Yi picked out the largest one, wiped it on his clothes, studied it for two seconds, and stuffed it straight into his mouth.

Crunch.

The instant he bit through the skin, sweet, clear juice burst across his tongue. The flesh was delicate and soft, sweeter than any fruit he had eaten in the modern world by a good measure.

"Whoa, it's pretty sweet."

Lin Yi chewed a few times and swallowed. Less than three breaths after the fruit entered his stomach, a warm current abruptly rose from within, as though someone had lit a flame inside him. The heat swiftly spread through his limbs and bones, warmly wrapping every inch of flesh and blood.

"Comfortable..."

Lin Yi narrowed his eyes, every pore suffused with contentment. But he did not indulge in that comfort for long. With a thought, the Savage Bull Art immediately began circulating. The Savage Bull patterns inscribed within his body glimmered under the impetus of his blood-qi, forming a complete cycle that gradually gathered, guided, refined, and channeled the spreading heat into his blood-qi.

He could clearly sense his blood-qi rising at a visible pace.

One surge after another. The feeling of constant replenishment and consolidation welled up from the depths of his dantian, making Lin Yi clench his fists.

He swiftly calculated in his head. Based on the increase in blood-qi from refining one Blood Essence Fruit, refining all seven would be enough to push him directly from the Mountain-Sinking Realm to the threshold of the Dragonlike Realm.

Converted into time, at his refining speed, two days—two days at most.

"Then there's no need to hesitate."

Two days of seclusion, a breakthrough into the Dragonlike Realm—he would have far more confidence when attending the tribal gathering.

He rose, tied up the beast compendium scrolls one by one, held them in his arms, pushed open the door of his stone house, and headed toward the chief's residence.

When he pushed open the chief's stone-house door, the old man was squatting before the stone stove with his back to the entrance, cooking something. The pot bubbled away, carrying the scent of meat mixed with herbs.

"Chief, I've finished reading the Savage Beast Compendium. I'll leave it here."

As familiar with the place as if it were his own home, Lin Yi stacked the beast-hide scrolls on the low stone table in the corner, his tone casual.

The chief glanced back. His gaze lingered on the pile of beast hides for a moment before he casually turned back to stir the soup in the pot.

"Alright, leave them there."

He did not ask further. He had long grown accustomed to Lin Yi's high comprehension. The first time, he had been so shocked his mouth had hung open for ages; now, he could keep a straight face.

Lin Yi leaned toward the stove to inspect the pot. It was a soup base stewed from brown bear meat, with several herb leaves he could not name floating on top. The aroma was tempting. He sniffed and decided not to leave just yet.

"Oh, right, Chief. There's something else."

"Go on."

"I'm planning to enter seclusion for two days."

The chief's spoon paused.

"About two days," Lin Yi said casually, as though discussing what to eat that evening. "Once I refine those Blood Essence Fruits, I should be able to break through to the Dragonlike Blood-Qi realm."

Clang.

The spoon in the chief's hand dropped straight back into the pot, splashing a few droplets of broth onto the stove. The old man turned around, his entire face reading, Say that again.

"...If I remember correctly, you broke through to the Mountain-Sinking Realm only two days ago, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"Two days?" the chief repeated, his brows knotting together. "You're breaking through so quickly—can your body handle it? Won't it leave any hidden injuries?"

Lin Yi patted his chest and replied with a grin, "Don't worry, Chief. My body's strong as an ox. If you don't believe me, feel it. These muscles, this blood-qi—steady as can be."

He extended his arm, but the chief swatted his hand away irritably.

"Quit fooling around."

Yet the old man still examined him seriously for several moments. With his eyesight, he could tell that Lin Yi's blood-qi was indeed condensed and stable, without the slightest sign of being hollow or loose.

The chief fell silent for several breaths before finally relenting. "Fine, since you know what you're doing. I won't let anyone disturb you these next two days. Focus on breaking through in your stone house."

"Mm!"

"But..." The chief turned, picked up a wooden bowl from beside the stove, ladled two scoops of steaming meat soup into it, and handed it over. "Eat here tonight before you go back. You need to be full to have the strength to break through."

Lin Yi accepted the bowl with a broad grin. "You got it."

That night, he stayed at the chief's place and mooched a hearty dinner.

The brown bear meat had been stewed until tender, and the several herbs in the soup all nourished blood-qi. After eating, his whole body felt warm. Only after night had fully fallen, the bonfire at the village entrance had been lit and gradually dimmed, did Lin Yi stroll back to his own stone house.

The stone house was silent. He shut the wooden door, sat cross-legged at the center of the stone bed, took a deep breath, and pulled all eight remaining Blood Essence Fruits from his robes.

But by his estimate, he needed only seven to break through to the Dragonlike Realm. Lin Yi considered it, then simply lined up six of them before him, storing the final two separately as backups.

He stared at the six bright-red fruits before him for two seconds, then suddenly laughed.

"Even ancient emperors popping elixirs probably didn't put on this much of a show."

Without another word, he stuffed the seven Blood Essence Fruits into his mouth one after another, chewing them to pulp and swallowing the juice and flesh together.

Boom—

The heat currents exploded within him almost simultaneously. Vast, warm energy poured into his body like boiling water into an icy lake, rushing madly through his limbs and bones. Lin Yi burned from the inside out, and even his skin took on a faint flush.

Lin Yi did not move an inch. He formed seals with both hands, driving the Savage Bull Art at full force.

The Savage Bull patterns inside his body all lit with blood-gold light, like an enormous, intricate furnace, gathering, tempering, transforming, and settling every stream of incoming heat into his own blood-qi.

Lin Yi slowly closed his eyes.

The dying embers of the bonfire flickered on and off. The entire Bluestone Tribe had fallen asleep, faint snores drifting from stone houses everywhere. Only insect chirps and the wind occasionally swept across the night sky.

But no one noticed.

Atop the stone house on the eastern side of the tribe, a crimson figure stood silently beneath the moonlight.

Little Flame.

The Insight Spirit Fox, crimson all over with a silver-white tail tip, had somehow leaped onto the roof of Xiao Hu's stone house.

It stood there, its amber-gold eyes slowly sweeping over the entire tribe before shifting to the pitch-black Great Wilderness Forest in the distance.

A trace of the lightest, faintest reluctance appeared in those eyes.

A layer of faint light suddenly surfaced over Little Flame's crimson fur. Looking closely, one could see intricate and exquisite Divine Markings emerge in succession from its limbs, spine, and the base of its tail. Their light flickered in the night as if echoing something unseen in the distance.

The patterns of those Divine Markings were utterly different from those of any savage beast Lin Yi had seen, carrying an ancient, profound aura.

Little Flame stared fixedly toward some direction deep in the Great Wilderness, the light in its amber-gold eyes flickering.

After a moment, it seemed to make a decision.

It forcibly suppressed the flickering Divine Markings, and the faint light floating over its fur slowly withdrew back into its body.

Little Flame lightly flicked its tail, cast one final glance back at the tribe, then silently leaped from the roof and slipped through the crack in the door back to Xiao Hu's bedside.

Xiao Hu was fast asleep, a little drool hanging from the corner of his mouth as he mumbled something indistinctly in his dreams.

Little Flame curled itself into a fluffy ball beside Xiao Hu's pillow.