Condensing Blood Qi, the Inkstone Mountain Tribe!

Compared to the copper vein, Qingyang Huan naturally valued his life more. He was only in his teens, and although the Inkstone Mountain Tribe's slaughter had somewhat horrified him, it had not surprised him.

Speaking of such things, it was not as though the Qingyang Clan had never done them. The two clans had been neighbors for two thousand years. In the Great Wilderness, everything had to be fought for; it would have been a joke if there had been no friction at all.

Although other races appeared from time to time, the Qingyang Clan's territory already counted as the Human Race's heartland, where powerful members of other races could not easily enter. Under these circumstances, the many tribes focused more on their own propagation and development.

Without stopping at all, he sprinted over a hundred li in one go, carved out a cave in a secluded corner of an ancient mountain, and sealed it from within.

It was not that he did not want to keep running. Rather, the continuous fighting, coupled with his heightened mental state, had consumed too much of his strength. Now he had no choice but to stop and rest.

Sitting cross-legged in the cave, his back against the cold rock, Qingyang Huan panted heavily as he recalled his fight with the Inkstone Mountain Tribe's soldiers.

He had lost count of the fierce beasts that had died at his hands over the past few years, but this had been his first time killing people. His vicious, wolfish nature seemed to have faltered somewhat. This felt entirely different from hunting fierce beasts, and he had killed more than a dozen Yanshan Clan soldiers at once.

"Senior Stone Spear, since you knew the Yanshan Clan soldiers weren't unconscious, why didn't you warn me?"

After calming himself, he recalled the whole sequence of events once more. He might not have known whether anyone was unconscious, but the Stone Spear could not possibly have been unaware.

He had thought the Stone Spear would remain silent, but unexpectedly, the moment he finished speaking, its voice rang out in his mind.

"If you'd died, this seat would have had no need to give you any method for opening your hidden reserves."

The stiff reply extinguished what little anger he had felt. Asking the Stone Spear that question had truly been a waste of breath.

"The law of survival in the Great Wilderness is simple: either you die, or he dies. Even a heaven's chosen who suppresses an entire age will be nothing but a handful of yellow earth if he falls halfway along the road. Those who remain are the victors."

To his surprise, however, the Stone Spear spoke again this time.

Qingyang Huan naturally understood this very well. He did not want to die. Once he died, everything would end.

Holding the Stone Spear, he noticed that a faint trace of slaughter still lingered upon it. Earlier, when the burly, black-robed man of the Inkstone Mountain Tribe had drawn his bow to shoot him, the pressure of that desperate moment had made him feel the Slaughter Bone Rune within him tremble violently, and a presence of slaughter had wreathed the Stone Spear.

It was precisely because of this that he had shattered the bone arrow and then pierced the black-robed soldier's chest. Even his subsequent killing of the other two had been under the influence of that presence of slaughter, and he had killed the remaining Yanshan Clan soldiers in the cave as well.

Now, it was not only on the Stone Spear; there was also a dull pain within his body. Clearly, the Slaughter Bone Rune was stirring restlessly inside him again. This put Qingyang Huan in a difficult position. The Slaughter Bone Rune's rampage within him naturally helped temper his body, but now he had no refined Blood Qi to replenish it.

As for going out to hunt, he had only fled a hundred li and did not know whether the Inkstone Mountain Tribe's experts had pursued him. Besides, he was utterly exhausted. If he happened to encounter a slightly stronger fierce beast, even escaping would not be easy.

At last, his gaze fell on the Stone Spear. He remembered that it did not merely absorb Blood Qi; it also stored Blood Qi essence.

"Well, Senior Stone Spear, I didn't die and let you leave, so I'm sorry to trouble you again."

Bang!

But in the next instant, violet light flashed over the Stone Spear, and it struck him. Although his back was against the rock wall, a tremor still passed through his body.

He gave a muffled grunt but did not mind. Because of the matter with the ore vein, he was still more than a dozen beasts short of fulfilling his earlier promise to hunt a hundred fierce beasts for the Stone Spear.

Reckoning it that way, although the Stone Spear had dealt him quite a few blows since they met, he had actually come out ahead.

Sitting cross-legged in the cave, he began circulating the Blood Refining Art. He had returned to the Blood Refining level in a short time, but he was already incomparable to his former self. He had to admit that opportunities were things one could not afford to let slip.

Of course, he had only just returned to this level. Blood Qi essence surged into his blood vessels, but completing the tempering would still take some time.

I was careless this time. I didn't even notice someone was pretending to be unconscious.

I've only just entered the Blood Refining realm, yet my strength already exceeds ten thousand jin, on par with an ordinary cultivator at the Peak of Body Forging. But those I fought earlier were all ordinary tribal soldiers. Although most of their strength had not reached ten thousand jin, their experience roaming the Great Wilderness offset my advantage. It looks like I still need to hone my combat techniques.

He recalled the Blood Refining Art that the Stone Spear had revised. Although the Stone Spear remained silent, pure Blood Qi flowed down from it, covering Qingyang Huan's body and being absorbed by him, replenishing what the earlier battle had consumed.

A hundred li away.

"The blood smoke should have drifted up somewhere around here!"

A young man wearing green leather armor emerged from the ancient forest, an enormous dark ox-horn bow on his back and a bronze spear in his hand. Blood that had yet to dry still stained the spear; clearly, he had just been through a fight.

His gaze continually swept the ancient forest before finally settling on an ancient tree with a hollow carved into it. Then he spotted the scattered bloodstains on the ground.

Soon, before an ancient mountain not far away, he found bloodstained white bones. The bronze spear in his hand immediately hummed, flew straight from his grasp, and pinned a Black-Winged One-Horned Wolf to the ground.

It had to be said that Qingyang Huan had been lucky. Although he had left in haste, fierce beasts had followed the scent of blood and helped cover his tracks.

The young man then entered the cave. The remains of the Yanshan Clan soldiers inside had likewise not been spared. A murderous gleam appeared in his eyes, and he pinned down both fierce beasts nearby before they could escape.

Then he reached out with his large hand, and like a whale drawing in water, he drew all the Blood Qi essence within the fierce beasts into his body in an instant.

"Copper ore."

He held a bloodstained hide pouch in his hand and poured out five fist-sized pieces of copper ore.

A keen light flashed in his eyes. A moment later, he gathered the soldiers' broken bones outside into the cave. Then he brought his large hand down, blocking the cave entrance, and headed off to search the surrounding area.

Soon, the young man stood before the copper vein. After a moment's thought, he struck out with his large hand again, sending loose rocks tumbling down to seal the entrance. Then he left the mountain hollow and headed north without stopping.

Meanwhile, Qingyang Huan, huddled inside his cave, did not know that the mortal danger he had expected had not come.