Stepping into Blood Refining, an Ore Vein in the Ancient Forest!
The dense ancient forest was full of poisonous miasma and putrid fumes, which had grown ever thicker over the years. A ghostly chill seeped from its depths, along with the low growls of ferocious beasts.
Although he was only at the second step of Body Casting, Qingyang Huan's immense strength rivaled that of an ordinary warrior at the peak of Body Casting, qualifying him to venture a little deeper into the ancient forest.
Growing up in the tribe, he had seen and heard much, including many tribal warriors returning from hunts with severed arms and mutilated limbs, or even as cold corpses. Even now that his strength had advanced, he did not harbor the slightest contempt for this wild ancient forest!
Whoosh!
At that moment, a stone spear suffused with bloody light pierced through the ancient forest, whistling as it plunged straight into a Golden-Scaled One-Horned Rhinoceros.
Just as the golden-scaled rhinoceros tried to resist, bloody light flashed on the stone spear. Within a few breaths, the golden-horned rhinoceros, fully twenty feet in size, was reduced to skeletal remains.
Whoosh!
Qingyang Huan appeared from deeper in the forest right afterward and pulled the stone spear from the skeletal remains, his expression utterly unchanged.
"Seventy-nine!"
A thick bloody stench clung to his entire body. This was already the eighth day. For eight days, he had pursued through the ancient forest and fled through it as well. The beast-hide robe over his shoulder was torn, and faint traces of an injury had yet to fade.
The ferocious beast that had left him this injury was none other than the purple sable that had previously driven numerous ferocious beasts into the swamp. Over the past few days, he had chased this purple sable for hundreds of li through the ancient forest.
By coincidence, he had encountered this purple sable again nearly two hundred li from the original swamp. What surprised him most was that the moment it came face-to-face with him, it pounced at him, snarling.
Of course, the purple sable that had clawed his shoulder had also been wounded by his blood spear. He had already confirmed that this purple sable was a variant beast, which was why he pursued it relentlessly.
These eight days of slaughter had also tempered him once more. When he deliberately stirred his blood Qi, he could even make a faint, blood-colored radiance rise within half a foot of his body. He had finally fully consolidated the strength stored in his flesh, wielding it as naturally as his own limbs. With each swing, his ten thousand jin of immense strength had not the slightest hollowness to it; a full ten thousand jin struck out.
After condensing his strength deep into his flesh, even his previous tempering of his bloodline had advanced as well. His total physical strength had likewise exceeded ten thousand jin and was beginning to grow toward eleven thousand jin. He had fully entered Blood Refining, the third step of Body Casting.
This was also the realm he had reached before beginning his cultivation anew, yet his present state could not be mentioned in the same breath as his former one. It could even be called a heaven-and-earth transformation. The cause of it all was the stone spear in his hand. A single fortunate encounter was an opportunity to stir the winds and clouds.
Not only he, but the entire Qingyang Tribe had also gained fortune and opportunity along with him. Now, however, he felt a trace of relief. Though he could not fathom the stone spear's temper, at least it had not killed him back then. The ancestors of Qingyang truly must have manifested their blessings.
Then again, as a youth who had only just stepped out of the tribe, he had thoroughly inherited his father's knack for refusing to let go even in death. In those circumstances, his actions had been completely involuntary, without any consideration of the consequences. Only now, looking back, did he feel belated fear!
Whoosh!
Just then, a streak of purple light shot from the depths of the wild forest, hurtling straight toward him.
"You're just what I've been waiting for!" Without the slightest panic, Qingyang Huan swung his stone spear, turned halfway around, and struck straight at the purple light.
Bang!
With the sound of a collision, the purple streak flew backward along its original path, smashing through ancient trees one after another. He likewise retreated, each step sinking into the earth.
Immediately afterward, he pulled his feet free of the soil and charged at the purple sable. This little creature held a vicious grudge. Although he had been hunting it these past days, it had also been launching constant sneak attacks, seemingly intent on killing him as well!
In an instant, a faint, elusive killing intent curled around the stone spear. The slaughter bone rune manifested, a faint bloody light shimmering over it. With a few leaps, he struck toward the spot where the purple sable had landed.
Roar!
With a low roar, all the purple sable's purple-shimmering fur bristled. A sinister gleam flashed in its eyes as it sprang from the ground, its two little claws glinting sharply as they raked toward Qingyang Huan.
Bang!
The stone spear collided with the purple sable's little claws, actually producing a metallic clang. Immediately afterward, the purple sable was sent flying once again.
"Little thing, let's see where you run this time!"
Yet the next moment, a dense purple light suddenly rose from the little creature's body, forming a foot-long bolt of lightning that struck straight at him!
Whoosh!
The purple lightning was dangerous. Qingyang Huan leaped bodily into the air, dodging to one side.
Crack!
The purple bolt struck an ancient tree as thick as a bucket, but the violent lightning engulfed an area a hundred feet across, blasting every ancient tree within it to ashes.
Qingyang Huan was caught in it as well. Spiderweb-like arcs blasted him away, and he staggered into an ancient tree.
Bang!
At that moment, the purple sable turned into a streak of light and attacked again. Qingyang Huan swept the stone spear down and blocked it. But he also noticed that after releasing that purple lightning, the sable's fur had dimmed, and it seemed somewhat listless.
After being knocked away again, the little creature did not linger in the fight at all. It actually plunged straight into the depths of the wild forest and fled!
With such a little creature nursing a grudge against him, how could Qingyang Huan feel at ease? Naturally, he darted after it. The chase took him a hundred li through the ancient forest, and the purple sable even nearly lured him into a dangerous place.
The vast ancient mountains stretched on without end. Qingyang Huan followed the purple sable into the ancient forest, not forgetting to hunt ferocious beasts for the stone spear along the way.
After pursuing it all this way, he had also grown cautious. The roars of ferocious beasts grew ever more frequent in the depths of the ancient forest, forcing him to watch his surroundings. Besides, that purple sable possessed the ability to drive ferocious beasts.
"There's movement!"
Just then, he heard sounds a thousand feet away. Without bothering with anything else, he immediately dropped flat and concealed himself in a heap of dead wood and rotting leaves.
"Hurry!"
Soon, two tall men came striding quickly over, each carrying a tusked boar on his shoulder. Every step seemed heavy.
The Inkstone Mountain Tribe!
Pressed down among the rotting fallen leaves, Qingyang Huan's eyes held surprise. The wooden tokens at the waists of the two burly men before him clearly bore the mark of the Inkstone Mountain Tribe.
The Inkstone Mountain Tribe was a tribe of roughly the same size as Qingyang, ruling over the vast lands north of Qingyang. In fact, the two tribes were only a thousand li apart, so friction between them was frequent.
Likewise, to avoid unnecessary casualties, the Qingyang and Inkstone Mountain tribes had long ago marked out a hundred-li area along their border as a buffer zone. Thus, although disputes between the two tribes had continued all this time, they had never reached the point of erupting into deadly combat!
"Brother Mu Bu, this is the buffer zone between our Inkstone Mountain Tribe and Qingyang. If there really is a copper deposit here, the Qingyang Clan won't let the matter rest!"
The burly man holding a bone saber spoke.
"As long as we seize this ore vein first, what can Qingyang do even if they object? They called it a buffer zone, but back then, they never specified exactly how large it was. I could just as well say this land belongs to our Inkstone Mountain Tribe. In the Great Wilderness, things belong to whoever has the strength to claim them. Isn't that right?"
"A copper deposit!"
Watching the two tribal soldiers of the Inkstone Mountain Tribe pass with tusked boars on their backs, Qingyang Huan's eyes flashed with a keen light, like a young wolf that had encountered prey!