Dozens of meters away, in the shadows behind a sand dune.
Ruan Meizhen concealed her alluring figure there and watched the entire scene unfold.
An icy smile now curled her lips as she murmured, "Someone who sacrificed his sect and slaughtered his fellow disciples for a chance at admission really is no ordinary man."
She had long since investigated how Zhao Changfeng had won Teng Kun's favor and knew he would be difficult to deal with.
Hong Xian and Lin Kexin were a notch below Zhao Changfeng in cultivation, but there were two of them, after all. With a prepared ambush against an unsuspecting target, even if they could not kill him, surely they should have dealt him a heavy blow?
Instead, Zhao Changfeng had killed them both without suffering a scratch, much to the surprise of his hidden observer.
"This is only the beginning. I'll take my time playing with you. Let's see how long you can endure!"
Malice filled Ruan Meizhen's long, narrow eyes.
"Two paupers. This is all they had between them."
Inspecting the spoils in the cloth bag, Zhao Changfeng shook his head in disappointment and muttered, "A first-tier dagger, thirty-six spirit stones, and a few bottles and jars of unidentified poison."
As fellow Named Disciples at the Yuanjing Stage, Hong Xian and Lin Kexin had owned only a little more than he did. It was a bitter disappointment.
Spirit stones were the basic currency of this world's cultivators. One could absorb their spiritual energy directly to cultivate or exchange them for all manner of cultivation supplies.
The first-tier dagger was merely a spiritual weapon of the lowest grade, worth three hundred spirit stones at most.
As for the bottles of poison carried by Lin Kexin, who practiced the Ten Thousand Poisons Art just like Ruan Meizhen, Zhao Changfeng doubted they were worth much either.
"It'll be dark soon. What... will I face next?"
Zhao Changfeng looked up at the steadily darkening sky.
On the first night, Ruan Meizhen had been beside him, catching a Dryland Sand Lizard for his cultivation and silently guarding him as his unpaid bodyguard.
On the second night, Ruan Meizhen had become the person he feared most.
"You want to make me your scapegoat, to take the surging flood of poison off your hands when your art backfires. No wonder you looked after me the whole way."
As Zhao Changfeng pondered, his fingers absently rubbed the Dryland Sand Lizard's rough, prickly hide. Focusing on his inner state, he discovered to his surprise that the murderous thoughts haunting him all day had silently vanished.
"Did killing Hong Xian and Lin Kexin give the bloodlust caused by this Demonic Cultivation Art an outlet? Is that why it's gone?"
Understanding dawned on Zhao Changfeng.
No wonder the demonic cultivators of this world slaughtered people at the slightest disagreement and committed atrocities that enraged gods and men alike. Indiscriminate killing without restraint really did have some effect.
Seeing that the evil within him had receded, Zhao Changfeng sat beside the Dryland Sand Lizard and activated the Essence-Devouring Demon Art once more.
Though he knew Ruan Meizhen harbored sinister intentions and wanted to use him as a sacrificial pawn after his advancement, he continued cultivating as he should, steadily building his strength at his own pace.
An hour later.
The blazing sun had given way to a cold moon. Darkness had fallen completely, and the desert temperature plummeted.
Zhao Changfeng stopped.
A trace of dark red appeared in the depths of his eyes. He forcibly suppressed the urge to keep refining the Dryland Sand Lizard's blood, breathing steadily to calm the murderous desire within him.
"If I keep going, the danger will skyrocket immediately. Better quit while I'm ahead."
Zhao Changfeng slowly stood and glanced at the two corpses nearby, his brows drawing together.
The Essence-Devouring Demon Art could refine the blood of any living creature, naturally including his fellow humans. Most people who practiced it, as he did, had no such squeamishness.
But Hong Xian and Lin Kexin were only at the Yuanjing stage. They had not opened the qi-blood sea in their middle dantian and thus could not use qi and blood to temper their flesh, sinews, and bones.
Their blood could certainly be refined, but it would do very little for his cultivation, far less even than those spirit stones.
For that very reason, all Yuanjing Stage cultivators who practiced the Essence-Devouring Demon Art sought insects and birds rich in qi and blood, aiming to reach the Yuanqi stage first.
Only after reaching the Yuanqi stage themselves could they hope to hunt others at the same stage and advance their cultivation with the blood of their own kind.
"Let's try cultivating with spirit stones."
Having completely abandoned the Lingxiao Qi-Controlling Art, he used the Essence-Devouring Demon Art to absorb spiritual energy from a spirit stone instead. He soon discovered that cultivating this way was far less effective than using the blood of a First-Rank Spirit Beast.
Over another hour, he consumed six spirit stones in total, yet the results were not even a tenth of what he achieved by cultivating with the Dryland Sand Lizard's blood.
"If I really cultivated with an orthodox art, I'd wait until the year of the monkey and the month of the horse for a Realm Breakthrough. No wonder orthodox sects like the Lingxiao Sect have been cast aside by the world today."
"Outside, there are Demon Spirits, evil entities, and Demonkind in the Unordered Zone. Within the demonic path, competition is just as cruel and bloody. If your strength or cultivation rises even a little too slowly, you die."
"In a cultivation world where time waits for no one, a slow cultivation speed really won't do."
Zhao Changfeng sighed with feeling.
Rustle, rustle!
More footsteps approached. Soon, an ugly middle-aged man with festering sores on his face appeared, seemingly having wandered into Zhao Changfeng's territory by accident.
"Young brother, uh... so you're an esteemed disciple of the Demon Sects."
The newcomer's expression shifted slightly, but he still approached with no fear of death. "I'm merely a rogue cultivator. I strayed here by accident. Please don't hold it against me, young brother."
Zhao Changfeng snatched up the poisoned dagger and sprang like a leopard, charging straight in for the kill without a word.
"Young brother! You-what are you..."
Seeing trouble coming, the middle-aged man turned and ran.
A few breaths later, he became the third corpse beside Zhao Changfeng, laid out in a row with Hong Xian and Lin Kexin.
After the killing, Zhao Changfeng suddenly sensed something and looked toward a distant sand dune. He thought he saw a figure reveal itself for an instant.
Can't stand seeing me idle for even a moment? Whenever I dare stop cultivating, you immediately find me something to do?
Zhao Changfeng cursed inwardly.
Strangely enough, after he killed the ugly middle-aged man who had suddenly appeared, the bloodlust rising within him miraculously subsided once again.
Zhao Changfeng resumed cultivating the Essence-Devouring Demon Art, forcibly driven onward by someone else.
This night was destined to be anything but peaceful. By the time dawn approached, another four corpses lay beside Zhao Changfeng.
Whenever he slackened his cultivation even slightly, strangers would suddenly intrude. Though all were at the same stage as him, their fighting strength grew progressively greater.
The last two came together and had thoroughly rehearsed their coordinated attacks, finally managing to leave a wound on his arm.
Only when the sky began to lighten did the instigator appear.
"Oh my! What happened? How did seven people die?"
Astonishment covered Ruan Meizhen's beautiful face.
She stared at Zhao Changfeng's left arm with exaggerated alarm, shrieked, and hurried over, reproaching herself. "You're hurt, too? Oh, you're breaking your big sister's heart! It's all my fault! I got held up and only came to find you now!"
Zhao Changfeng forced out a strained smile. Looking weak and exhausted, he sat amid the corpses and sighed. "I've never had such rotten luck. They came to kill me one wave after another, as though they'd arranged it beforehand."
Ruan Meizhen narrowed her eyes, a meaningful smile touching her scarlet lips. "Who can say how luck works?"
Zhao Changfeng smiled easily. "That's true enough! If nothing unexpected happens... give me one more Dryland Sand Lizard, and I can try breaking through to the Yuanqi stage."
His lower dantian now ached faintly. The spiritual power within had reached its absolute limit, giving him a swollen sensation, as though it were about to burst.
Dark red blood mist gathered continuously above his spirit sea, as though about to form a bridge to the far shore connecting heaven and earth, joining the spirit sea of his lower dantian to the firmament.
That so-called firmament was the qi-blood sea in his middle dantian. The moment the two dantians connected, he would reach the Yuanqi stage.
Only by advancing to the Yuanqi stage and uncovering the hidden mysteries of the human body could one become a true cultivator, wholly separated from ordinary people.
The Yuanjing stage merely laid the foundation. Drawing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into the dantian slightly strengthened one's mind and flesh.
Cultivators at this stage were stronger than mortals, but only to a limited degree. A large enough group of mortals could still join forces and kill them.
A Yuanqi-stage cultivator, however, could not possibly be killed by mortals. Though both were still nominally human, they were no longer fundamentally the same species.
Once the qi-blood sea opened, one could use the qi and blood in the middle dantian to temper all the Flesh, Bones, and Sinews in the body, wielding boundless power with every movement.
Only upon entering this stage could cultivators release the spiritual power and qi and blood they had refined within themselves, condensing them into thunder and lightning or refining them into Ice Blades and streaks of fire. Killing Yuanjing-stage cultivators and mortals would be as easy as crushing insects and flies underfoot.
To truly unleash the wondrous properties of a spiritual weapon, one likewise had to reach the Yuanqi stage before pouring one's own power into it.
Moreover, opening the qi-blood sea in the middle dantian instantly added a hundred years to one's lifespan!
With so many marvels offered by this stage, every cultivator trapped at the Yuanjing stage desperately pursued it, hoping to become a true cultivator at last.
"A first-tier spirit beast, is it? Your big sister will find you one!"
Hearing that Zhao Changfeng was approaching a breakthrough naturally put Ruan Meizhen in excellent spirits. All her recent running about and efforts to send people his way had finally paid off.
Just then, clusters of shadows quietly appeared on the sand beside them.
Hiss! Hiss, hiss!
Faint sounds suddenly came from overhead.
They looked up and saw vultures arriving in groups. They seemed to have their eyes on the corpses scattered around Zhao Changfeng and wanted to swoop down for a feast.
Ruan Meizhen gave a soft snort. Poison-laced energy suddenly seeped out of her body, taking the shapes of venomous snakes, toads, centipedes, and spiders. Frightened, the Corpse-Eating Vultures immediately abandoned the idea.
Zhao Changfeng asked curiously, "What about these?"
"Ungraded Corpse-Eating Vultures won't do much for your Demonic Cultivation Art. Killing them would only waste your strength," Ruan Meizhen explained casually, then added, "I'll go find you a First-Rank Spirit Beast."
Up in the sky.
The flock of Corpse-Eating Vultures still circled. Among them, a strange light suddenly appeared in one vulture's dark brown eyes.
The light was sinister and cold, flickering like two wisps of ghost fire.
Unlike the other Corpse-Eating Vultures coveting the corpses, its gaze remained fixed on Zhao Changfeng and Ruan Meizhen, as though it were more interested in the two living people.