Treasure Meat was an upgraded form of Mutant Beast meat, containing purer Blood Qi and offering tremendous benefits to Martial Artists after consumption.
It was the most refined piece of meat within a Mutant Beast's body.
The more powerful the Mutant Beast, the more Treasure Meat it possessed.
Yet Treasure Meat did not stand out. It looked identical to ordinary Mutant Beast meat and could only be detected with a certain tool.
Therefore, the Mutant Beasts hunted by the Hunting Team were all handed over first. Only after the hidden Treasure Meat had been removed would the rest be distributed.
In the Li Family's inner compound was a place resembling a slaughterhouse, where more than a dozen people processed Mutant Beast meat atop stone tables.
They first washed the meat, then handed it to an old man. Holding a white stone, the old man rubbed it back and forth against the meat.
If the stone showed no reaction, he tossed the piece of Mutant Beast meat in his hand aside.
Someone immediately took away the discarded meat for further processing.
Suddenly, the white stone in the old man's hand gave off a faint red glow.
The old man perked up. He carefully checked it back and forth with the stone, and after pinpointing the exact location, personally took up a butcher's knife and began cutting.
The chunk of meat he cut off was no larger than an adult's fist.
Yet he treated it like a treasure, carefully placing it into the Rosewood Box beside him.
A layer of ice had been laid inside the box to keep it fresh.
There were already several similar chunks of meat inside.
After the old man had inspected all the Mutant Beast meat, he looked at the Rosewood Box and could not help frowning.
"The amount of Treasure Meat is a little low."
"Didn't Tiangang say he killed a Wolf King too? Why is there only this much Treasure Meat? Could someone else have stolen it?"
"Impossible."
The moment that thought surfaced, the old man shook his head with a laugh.
"Without a Blood-Qi Stone, who could spot Treasure Meat with the naked eye?"
"Perhaps this batch of Mutant Beasts simply had very little Treasure Meat to begin with."
In the end, the old man came to that conclusion and did not investigate further. Carrying the box of Treasure Meat, he left.
On Chen Xun's side, after determining that what he had obtained was most likely Treasure Meat, he hurriedly cut off a thumb-sized piece. After simply pan-frying it, he put it into his mouth.
Not long after swallowing it, an extremely pure surge of energy rose within him.
Chen Xun assumed his stance. After rapidly digesting that energy, he condensed a large wave of Blood Qi.
All that Blood Qi was poured by Chen Xun into his third Blood Pool Acupoint.
That was right. Chen Xun had already opened his third Blood Pool Acupoint, seven days ago.
At that time, his [Mountain Lord Acupoint-Finding Secret Art] had just reached Major Accomplishment.
A quarter of an hour later, Chen Xun withdrew from his stance, astonishment on his face.
"It's truly unbelievable. Such a tiny piece of meat took me a whole quarter of an hour to digest."
One had to know that Chen Xun's [Primordial Unity Stance] had already reached Perfection, bringing his energy-refining efficiency to a new height.
This showed just how dense the meat's energy was, far surpassing ordinary Mutant Beast meat.
"It is Treasure Meat without a doubt."
Chen Xun could now be certain. This Mutant Beast meat was the legendary Treasure Meat.
"Since it's Treasure Meat, I can't just eat it directly. That would be far too wasteful."
Chen Xun planned to turn this Treasure Meat into Enhanced [Blood-Strength Pills].
Afterward, Chen Xun used his Major Accomplishment [Green Pouch Medical Art] and Minor Accomplishment [Green Satchel Alchemy].
Combining them with the energy gap between Treasure Meat and ordinary Mutant Beast meat that he had just discovered, he began modifying the original [Blood-Strength Pill] formula.
The main change was increasing the age of the other medicinal ingredients. The original ingredients were too young and their medicinal potency too weak to support Treasure Meat's immense energy at all.
Thus, he needed herbs with stronger medicinal properties.
For this, Chen Xun spent an entire day running between herbal shops.
By tasting the herbs himself, he experienced the differences in medicinal potency between herbs of various ages.
At last, he deduced a new [Blood-Strength Pill] formula.
Then he spent another three days experimenting bit by bit, finally succeeding in refining an enhanced version of the [Blood-Strength Pill].
After using up all the Treasure Meat he had obtained, Chen Xun had refined a total of nine Enhanced [Blood-Strength Pills].
That was mainly because too much Treasure Meat had been wasted during the experiments.
Otherwise, the number would have at least doubled.
Ordinary [Blood-Strength Pills] were bright red, while the Enhanced [Blood-Strength Pills] were so red that they had taken on a purplish tint.
Chen Xun picked up an Enhanced [Blood-Strength Pill] and swallowed it in one gulp.
Very quickly, an incomparably violent torrent of energy surged forth. Chen Xun hastily assumed his stance to digest it, while equipping the two items [Iron Garment Art Manual (Purple)] and [Painting Skill: Painting (Purple)].
He activated the two traits [Absorption Acceleration (Blue)] and [Calm Mind (Blue)].
With all three working together, the ferocious energy was immediately subdued. It began transforming into Blood Qi in an endless stream, pouring into the third Blood Pool Acupoint he had opened.
"This medicine is far too potent. If a Qi-Blood Second Transformation Martial Artist took it, they would probably waste a great deal of its medicinal power."
Chen Xun remarked before continuing to immerse himself in cultivation.
From day to night, an entire day passed.
At around nine in the evening, Chen Xun finally finished digesting this Enhanced [Blood-Strength Pill].
One had to know that Chen Xun now needed only five or six hours to fully absorb an ordinary [Blood-Strength Pill].
This Enhanced one had taken him an entire day, from eight in the morning until nine at night.
Of course, its effects were also immensely powerful.
Within Chen Xun's third Blood Pool Acupoint, nearly one-fifth of its capacity was now filled with Blood Qi.
Before today, this Blood Pool Acupoint had contained less than 15% of its Blood Qi capacity.
In other words, one Enhanced [Blood-Strength Pill] could provide Blood Qi equal to 5% of a Blood Pool Acupoint's capacity.
Meanwhile, after fully absorbing an ordinary [Blood-Strength Pill], it could only provide around 1% of that capacity.
A fivefold difference.
"This Treasure Meat truly is a treasure!"
Chen Xun sighed.
This was merely a method he had figured out on his own. He believed that a great family like the Li Family surely had better ways of using Treasure Meat.
Unfortunately, given his status, there was no way he could come into contact with them.
"With this batch of Enhanced Blood-Strength Pills, the third Blood Pool Acupoint will be full very soon."
"By then, my cultivation will also be close to the limit of the Qi-Blood Second Transformation."
Chen Xun could not help glancing at his cultivation panel.
[Cultivation: Qi-Blood Second Transformation (82%)]
At his current rate of cultivation progress, he could reach the Qi-Blood Second Transformation limit within half a month.
If this speed were spoken of, who knew how many people it would frighten senseless.
After all, from the time Chen Xun had just broken through to the Qi-Blood Second Transformation until now, less than three months had passed in total.
In such a short span, perhaps only top-grade geniuses, with resources piled to the brim, could surpass him in cultivation progress.
As for ordinary people, they could only trail behind Chen Xun and eat dust.
Take Luo Tao from the Hunting Team, for instance. He had broken through about a month later than Chen Xun.
According to what Luo Tao had told Chen Xun, his first Blood Pool Acupoint was still less than one-third full.
He had only begun condensing Essence Blood in the past few days.
If displayed as data, his progress in the Qi-Blood Second Transformation was probably no more than 3% to 4%.
As the amount of Essence Blood he condensed increased, his progress would rise before gradually stabilizing.
If he could stay alive in the Hunting Team, then at his current pace, it would take him at least two or three years to reach the Qi-Blood Second Transformation limit.
Martial Artists outside the Hunting Team would need even longer.
Thus, resources were truly important on the path of cultivation.
Without resources, what use was top-grade aptitude?
The next day, at the Dragon-Tiger Grounds, Chen Xun and the others received orders to gather there.
"Do you know what this is about? Why are we suddenly gathering? Didn't we just distribute the Mutant Beast meat two days ago?"
Chen Xun quietly asked Luo Tao.
Because Chen Xun had rendered meritorious service, the Mutant Beast meat allocated to him was second only to Yang Feng and Xie Xiong's shares, totaling a full thirty jin.
Beyond that, Chen Xun was publicly rewarded with twenty taels of silver.
Together, that came to fifty taels of silver, making many people's eyes burn red with envy.
The others had received only a dozen or so jin of Mutant Beast meat.
The lion's share had been taken by Li Tiangang, over two hundred jin in all.
Yet no one objected, because Li Tiangang had indeed contributed the most. Had he not killed the Wolf King, everyone might have been left dead there.
"I don't know either."
Luo Tao shook his head.
Before long, all fourteen members of the Hunting Team had gathered.
One of them was a newly added member, and he was also an old acquaintance of Chen Xun's.
"Chen Xun, didn't expect it, did you? I got in too."
Li Peng smugly raised his brows at Chen Xun.
Chen Xun did not get angry. Instead, he smiled. "Congratulations."
He truly had not expected the replacement to be Li Peng. He also did not know what benefits Yang Feng had received from Li Yuan.
To allow Li Peng, a Martial Artist who had only just broken through to the Qi-Blood Second Transformation, to join.
Chen Xun had heard that quite a few seasoned Qi-Blood Second Transformation Martial Artists had been fighting to get in.
This was no longer two months ago. That incident had long since faded away, and the Hunting Team's benefits had once again made many people covet the position.
When Li Peng failed to see the reaction he wanted, he could not help wanting to say more. Then he heard Yang Feng call out, "Fourth Master has arrived! Line up and keep quiet."
In an instant, everyone stopped speaking and took their usual positions in formation.
Li Peng was momentarily dumbfounded. In the end, Yang Feng gave him a hand and had him stand at the very back of the line.
Once everyone was in place, Li Tiangang entered the Dragon-Tiger Grounds.
"Do you know why I gathered you here today?"
Everyone shook their heads.
"A notorious Flower Thief has drifted into our Cloudflow County. To protect the madams and young ladies, we need people to guard them at all times."
"There is a guard unit within the residence, but once they leave it, that is another matter."
"It is winter now. Before long, heavy snow will seal the mountains, and the Hunting Team will no longer enter the mountains to hunt Mutant Beasts."
"You have all become idle as well, so the heavy responsibility of guarding the madams and young ladies falls upon you."
"Don't worry, you won't be working for nothing. Your monthly pay will double."