The Demonic Art Shows Its Might: Absorb, Damn It!

After the Heaven-Shaking Art completely replaced the Savage Bull Skin-Toughening Method, a thought occurred to Xu Yuan.

The Heaven-Shaking Art could absorb the Divine Substance accumulated in human corpses. Could it also absorb Weird Beast corpses?

After all, Weird Beasts also gained their formidable strength by absorbing Divine Substance.

Xu Yuan had wanted to try before, but he could not find a Weird Beast corpse.

Humanity had yet to develop an effective way to use Weird Beast corpses, so after killing one, everything apart from its hide and the small amount of spirit meat in its body was destroyed outright.

His original plan had therefore been to try when the martial arts class went out to hunt Weird Beasts.

Yet, to his surprise, a Weird Beast had actually entered the city today!

Xu Yuan raced against the flow of people and soon reached the intersection where it had happened.

The giant boar's corpse lay on the ground, while Chen Rui and the others who had just fought sat cross-legged, regulating their breathing.

Meanwhile, Lin Yuan and the other three teachers were still acting as porters, carrying the nearby injured out to stretches of road free of traffic jams.

Sensing someone approaching, all four people sitting on the ground opened their eyes at once.

Seeing that it was Xu Yuan, the other three lowered their guard, apart from the commander surnamed Shen.

"He's that martial arts prodigy from No. 3 Middle School this year," Chen Rui mentioned.

Commander Shen lowered his guard upon hearing this. Seeing Xu Yuan staring at the giant boar's corpse, he smiled. "A Green-Pupil Level Weird Beast. Never seen one before, kid?"

"No."

Xu Yuan shook his head, looking "awestruck." "Did you kill it? You could actually kill something this enormous. That's incredible!"

All four laughed at his words.

"You're not bad yourself, kid. You've actually got the guts to come closer after seeing something like this," Commander Shen said with a smile.

This was no empty flattery. As a commander in the Divine Guard Army, he had seen far too many recruits whose legs went weak with fright at the sight of Weird Beast corpses.

Although Xu Yuan looked awestruck, he showed not the slightest trace of fear.

And judging by the look in the kid's eyes, he even seemed to want to go up and touch it.

That was rare indeed!

"Xu Yuan, what brought you here?"

Liu Yun spoke up then, her voice a little more delicate than its usual gentleness.

With blood at the corner of her mouth and some strands slipping loose from her pinned-up hair, she looked so fragile that the sight stirred pity.

"I was taking the bus to the base, but it got stuck over there, so I came to see what happened."

Xu Yuan looked perfectly earnest. "Teacher, can I touch this Weird Beast?"

Huh?

All four froze.

The kid really wanted to touch it. How interesting!

Commander Shen's interest was piqued. "Touch it if you like. This brute is dead as dead can be, but some of its rank pressure still remains. You might not even be able to get within two meters of it."

"Is that so? I'll give it a try, then."

As long as they'll let me touch it. He had only been worried that they would not let him. That would have been such a shame.

With that thought, Xu Yuan stepped forward, slowly approaching the enormous corpse.

The moment he came within ten meters of it, his heart suddenly clenched with dread!

It was as though some danger were about to descend, leaving him restless and uneasy.

This was the so-called rank pressure!

Without showing anything, Xu Yuan kept moving and soon came within five meters.

The dread grew even stronger, as though one more step would mean death!

Yet Xu Yuan did not shrink back. He simply repeated silently, It's a corpse. It's a corpse...

Then he continued forward.

Behind him, the four watched and could not help nodding slightly.

"He has an excellent temperament. Unfortunately, his Divine Talent is too poor. His achievements will be limited in the end," Chen Rui said regretfully.

"Not necessarily. You have no idea how good this little fellow is at making money. I think he'll definitely be able to build himself up with resources in the future. Surpassing us, at least, should be no problem."

Liu Yun smiled, clearly holding Xu Yuan in very high regard.

At first, she had even advised Xu Yuan to focus on cultivating rather than spending his time making money.

Later, when she discovered that Xu Yuan was making money to build himself up with resources, she realized that the little fellow had long since decided to use resources to break the shackles of talent!

An ordinary person could not take this path, because it consumed far too much money, but Liu Yun felt Xu Yuan might succeed.

As they spoke, Xu Yuan had already come within two meters of the corpse.

At this point, Xu Yuan discovered that repeating It's a corpse no longer worked.

So he began repeating, It's experience... It's experience...

With that change in thinking, Xu Yuan's eyes began to shine!

That's right, this is one giant fucking experience pill. What the hell is there to fear?!

Taking two strides, Xu Yuan instantly crossed the last two meters and stood before the corpse.

Behind him, surprise appeared on all four faces.

"The last two meters are the hardest. Why did the kid barely seem to make any effort instead?"

"How strange. Could he have an innate resistance to rank pressure?" Chen Rui guessed.

Commander Shen nodded. "He just might. Those two steps were far too easy."

But how could they have known that those two steps came purely from Xu Yuan's hunger to level up!

Standing before the corpse, Xu Yuan drew a deep breath and slowly reached out his right hand, pressing it against the body.

Something hard met his touch. This Weird Beast's bristles really were like steel needles.

Only after pressing down with a little force did he touch the Weird Beast's still-warm body.

At that very instant, the Heaven-Shaking Art, which had been lying quiet and dormant, suddenly stirred as though intensely stimulated by something. It was actually about to circulate on its own!

It really works!

Xu Yuan was ecstatic. His heartbeat abruptly quickened, its drumlike pounding ringing out from his chest!

But he did not immediately circulate the art. Instead, pretending to examine the corpse, he casually circled around to the other side, out of sight of Chen Rui and the others.

Boom!!!

At that moment, Xu Yuan stopped suppressing it, and the Heaven-Shaking Art suddenly began circulating!

An invisible vortex seemed to form in his palm, unleashing a terrifying suction!

Inside the enormous corpse, a terrifying torrent of gathered Divine Substance surged toward Xu Yuan's palm like a heavenly river pouring down!

In an instant, agonizing pain swept through his entire body, as though he were being sliced by a thousand blades!

Ignoring the agony he had long since grown accustomed to, Xu Yuan called out in feigned panic, "Did this corpse just move? Teacher, did you notice anything unusual?"

He wanted to test whether they could sense the change in the Divine Substance inside the corpse. If they noticed anything, he would immediately stop absorbing it!

His idea had already been verified anyway. If he wanted to absorb more, he could simply hunt Weird Beasts himself!

"Hahaha... I thought you weren't scared at all, kid! That's an illusion caused by the rank pressure. Don't panic. This corpse hasn't moved in the slightest!"

Commander Shen's hearty voice reached him, and Xu Yuan was instantly reassured.

In that case, I won't stand on ceremony!

Absorb, damn it!

The vortex in his palm spun madly, and his cultivation realm began soaring at breakneck speed!

If his previous cultivation by drinking body-tempering liquid had been like filling a water vat one ladleful at a time, then now, it was like opening a gigantic faucet and forcibly flooding the vat!

Even the "mud" inside the vat was blasted apart by the powerful water pressure!

In the time it took to exchange two sentences, his cultivation progress at Skin Grinding Third Stage had rocketed from 5% to 70%!

Then...

80%-90%-100%!

Crack!

A faint, almost imperceptible sound rang out, audible only to Xu Yuan himself.

A breakthrough-Skin Tempering Fourth Stage!

PS: You're here, bro!