As golden light surged, two figures slowly appeared inside the crude cave abode: a person and a dog.
"You can open your eyes now. Remember, you're not allowed to bark whenever you feel like it without my permission, unless an enemy appears."
After speaking, Chen Beiwu lifted the blindfold, and Iron Egg scampered around the rocky cave, but never made a sound.
"Good. I'm going to cultivate now. You're in charge of keeping watch."
After reminding Iron Egg, Chen Beiwu took a jade-green snake gallbladder and a Black Gold Ginseng from his backpack.
Unsure whether boiling the gallbladder would greatly reduce its effects, Chen Beiwu played it safe. He used Magic Power to clean it a little, confirmed that no parasites remained, then opened his mouth and swallowed it whole.
In an instant, a rich, foul stench filled Chen Beiwu's mouth.
"Ugh!"
He felt nauseous and hurriedly cut off a slice of Black Gold Ginseng and put it in his mouth. Then he used the tip of his tongue to press the slice against the roof of his mouth and circulated his Magic Power to refine it.
As Chen Beiwu circulated the Ten Thousand Beasts Art through a Greater Celestial Circuit, the medicinal power of the snake gallbladder and ginseng slice began to release.
Streams of warm spiritual energy first rushed from his throat straight into his Dantian, then transformed into a surging, ceaseless torrent that swiftly merged with his flesh, bones, organs, and meridians.
"That snake gallbladder really packs a punch. No wonder the Jade-Scale Snakes went extinct."
Two hours later, Chen Beiwu exhaled a breath of stale air, spread his arms, and stretched his slightly numb body.
Just refining a single snake gallbladder and a slice of ginseng had not only filled his body with strength, but also made the Magic Power in his Dantian a full five percent purer than before.
Don't underestimate that five percent. Purifying Magic Power took time, and Chen Beiwu's Magic Power was already much purer than that of cultivators at the same level.
Without outside help, he would have needed to diligently cultivate the Ten Thousand Beasts Art for at least half a month to achieve this effect. Now, he had done it in just two hours. That was the power of heavenly treasures.
"No wonder the Cultivation Lineages in Far Sky County produce a genius in every generation. If I could keep a slice of ginseng in my mouth and swallow snake gallbladders every day, I could break through to the Eighth Layer of Qi Refining in a month or two without even contracting a Companion Beast." Chen Beiwu marveled inwardly.
The next second, a dog's head suddenly appeared in his field of vision.
Chen Beiwu asked curiously, "What, you want some too?"
Iron Egg nodded furiously, almost flinging drool all over Chen Beiwu.
"Easy. If you want to eat, you have to work. I'm not picking on you: if you can help me find this kind of snake, we'll split everything fifty-fifty. This is your down payment." Chen Beiwu placed the Jade-Scale Snake's corpse in front of Iron Egg.
At this, Iron Egg perked up.
First, it swallowed the Jade-Scale Snake's corpse as if it were chewing a spicy snack. Then it spat out a ball of pale golden flame, which turned into a crude star map.
Three large, sky-blue points of light stood out most prominently on the star map. The rest were Dense and Numerous green points of light.
Chen Beiwu took out a topographic map and saw that the three points of light were all territories of Second-Tier Spirit Beasts that he had previously been too afraid to explore closely.
"How about it? Can you find a Jade-Scale Snake?" he asked expectantly.
Iron Egg furrowed its brow for a while, then hurriedly ran out of the cave abode.
Seeing this, Chen Beiwu carefully put away the Black Gold Ginseng and followed Iron Egg.
They crossed rugged mountain paths and passed towering cliffs. As Iron Egg led him deeper into the mountain range, Chen Beiwu noticed the scenery around them growing ever more shadowy. From time to time, the cry of some unknown Spirit Beast rang out in the distance.
But Iron Egg didn't stop. It continued onward, heading purposefully deeper into the mountains.
An hour later, a thick fog draped over the land like white silk, completely obscuring the path ahead of Chen Beiwu.
"Are you sure we didn't take a wrong turn?" He looked down at Iron Egg, feeling that something was off.
Iron Egg shook its head, wrapped its tail around Chen Beiwu's calf, and cautiously stepped into the fog.
After wandering around in the fog, where he couldn't see a thing, Chen Beiwu suddenly emerged into the open.
A turquoise lake, like a gemstone set between two mountains, lay before him. The concentration of spiritual energy in the lake was astonishing.
Mist containing spiritual energy continually rose from the lake. It not only turned the lake into a hazy fairyland, but also drew the spiritual energy that escaped into the mist back toward the lake, leaving only layers of fog to serve as a Defensive Barrier.
There's actually a Spirit Lake hidden here.
Chen Beiwu stopped, on high alert.
It wasn't unusual for a lake to be hidden deep in the mountains, but this Spirit Lake before him was entirely different.
A lake that naturally contained a Spirit Vein wouldn't lock in its spiritual energy and keep it from escaping.
The spiritual mist over this lake gathered without dispersing. That meant a cultivator had set up a Spirit-Gathering Formation here.
Formation Masters varied greatly in strength. Anyone capable of setting up a formation to seal in the spiritual energy of an entire lake was at least a Second-Tier Formation Master, someone Chen Beiwu couldn't afford to provoke.
Could Iron Egg really be this unreliable? Chen Beiwu gathered his Magic Power, preparing to run.
Finding a lake where someone raised Spirit Fish while looking for snakes meant that, in a sense, Iron Egg was a genius at navigation.
The problem was that he was far too weak right now. Even if he found a Spirit Lake, he had no chance of claiming it. Instead, he might lose his life.
Iron Egg had no idea what Chen Beiwu was thinking. It shook its head excitedly, seemingly waiting for its master's praise.
Halfway through gathering the power of the Ten Directions Chaos Gate, Chen Beiwu suddenly realized something was wrong.
If this Spirit Lake were guarded, there was no way he and Iron Egg could have safely made it all the way to the core of the formation. The moment they touched the fog, the formation's owner would have discovered them.
After hesitating for a moment, Chen Beiwu plucked a twig and tossed it toward the lake.
"Crackle, crackle!"
The twig fell through the air and was instantly swallowed by the hazy mist. Then it dropped at a speed visible to the naked eye, drawing several Spirit Fish out of the water to leap up and snatch it.
Seeing this, Chen Beiwu was delighted rather than alarmed.
This really is unclaimed territory!
A grand formation set up by a Formation Master wasn't a perpetual-motion machine.
If it went without maintenance for a while, that was fine. The formation could automatically absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to keep running.
But if it went without maintenance for too long, shifts in the terrain of the mountain range would cause flaws in the grand formation. These would leak its presence, making it known to the outside world, and might even rob it of its defensive function.
At that moment, a streak of purple light suddenly flashed across the Central Island in the middle of the Spirit Lake opposite Chen Beiwu.
It was a giant beast with a head like a lion and tiger and a shoulder height of two zhang.
Just then, it lowered its head and pressed its spiraling horn against the lake water.
Crackle!
As violent lightning erupted, Spirit Fish after Spirit Fish floated weakly on the lake's surface, their eyes rolled back.
[Species]: Azure Thunder Tiger [Attribute]: Thunder [Bloodline]: Second Tier, Upper Grade (Spirit Beast) [Dao Practice]: Over fifty years, under four hundred and ninety-nine years (Lesser Demon) [Innate Talent]: Thunder Mastery (commands thunder), Thunder Wraith (can transform devoured enemies into Thunder Wraith Puppets)
Recalling the information about this kind of Spirit Beast, Chen Beiwu's pupils contracted, and an idea suddenly flashed through his mind.
The master of this Spirit Lake has never shown up. Could he have been killed by the Azure Thunder Tiger?
Good thing I was cautious and gathered the power of the Ten Directions Chaos Gate ahead of time!
As a barely perceptible golden light spilled out, Chen Beiwu and Iron Egg immediately vanished from the spot.
At the same time, the Azure Thunder Tiger's nose twitched. It suddenly looked toward the spot where Chen Beiwu had been, a trace of human-like confusion in its eyes.
Was that an illusion?
(The end of this chapter)
Before you continue