At the bottom of the pit.
Pangolin was dead beyond any doubt, his massive body sprawled among the rubble. Almost all his dark red scales had fallen away, exposing smooth, pale, tender flesh.
Shi Hou crouched beside him and poked him with his index finger.
The flesh felt firm, wrapped in an exceptionally thick layer of fat beneath the skin. His fingertip sank half an inch into it; when he let go, the flesh sprang right back without even retaining a fingerprint.
Shi Hou's breathing slowed for half a beat. A top-tier ingredient.
Red-braised or clear-stewed-either one could ascend to godhood.
Shi Hou reached up to take the Black Pot off his ear, ready to store the body.
His hand stopped halfway.
He remembered that Pangolin had a pair of Bone Scissors hidden inside him. They could cut through the protective runes of the Cave Heaven Realm and would be a great help to Shi Hao.
He couldn't let them go to waste.
Shi Hou hung the Black Pot back up, stepped forward twice, and grabbed Pangolin's smooth tail with both hands.
Twenty-five million jin of blood qi surged into his arms.
He swung.
The massive body, dozens of yards long, was hauled clean out of the pit, traced an arc through the air, and slammed viciously back into the ground.
Boom.
Another huge pit opened in the ground.
Shi Hou leaned over for a look. Nothing had fallen out.
Again.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Another round of kissing the earth.
Kang woke up on his shoulder, pig's trotters gripping Shi Hou's beast-hide collar, his beady eyes brimming with accusation.
Shi Hou ignored him.
In the distance.
Shi Shoushan was cleaning up the battlefield when he turned at the noise. Seeing his son crazily smashing Pangolin again, he scratched the back