Into the Great Wilderness Again: Slaughter Bone Rune!

Beneath the curtain of night shrouding the Great Wilderness, the roars of fierce beasts could still be heard through the boundless darkness. Torches had already been lit throughout the Qingyang Mountain Range.

Squads of Qingyang Tribe clansmen wore leather armor and carried iron spears. Their blood Qi was heavy, their eyes like lightning as they constantly patrolled to keep the mountain range safe.

More than half the night had passed, yet Qingyang Huan felt no weariness at all. Absorbing less than half the fierce beast's blood Qi essence in the earthenware jar had almost completely healed his injuries. Naturally, the blood spear had sucked up all the rest.

This was one of the prices he paid to keep the stone spear, but even so, excitement still shone in his eyes.

Absorbing the precious blood of a Divine Treasure Realm fierce beast had made the dormant stone spear glimmer with faint purple light once more.

"Your cultivation method is crude beyond belief. Most of the blood Qi essence you absorbed went to waste. As for that condensed Qiongqi Bone Rune inside you, that is a mistake piled upon a mistake."

The stiff words appeared in Qingyang Huan's mind again, but he took no offense whatsoever. Although the Qingyang Clan's legacy stretched back thousands of years, its strongest cultivators had only reached the Totem Realm, and the sky they had seen extended no farther than the Ancient Land of La Mountain.

Now an existence of unknown nature stood before him, explaining things to him. If this was not a fortuitous opportunity, what was?

Ignorance was not frightening. What was frightening was being utterly blind to one's ignorance, unwilling even to understand the truth. That was truly beyond saving!

"Bone runes are manifestations of the Great Dao of heaven and earth. In those ancient great clans, powerful cultivators enter the endless Great Wilderness to hunt true beasts and mutant species, taking the essence of their blood and bones for the children's Foundation Establishment. Their purpose is to let those children comprehend the Dao and its laws while they are still young!"

"A true bone rune should have no separation whatsoever from the body. When blood and bones move, the bone rune resonates with them, and even the Dao's laws manifest!"

"Fuse the bone rune into your body and truly perceive its power. Use the bone rune to command the Dao's laws of heaven and earth. Bringing a bone rune into the body can also temper that body on a deeper level!"

"Your bone rune has merely been imprinted into your blood and bones, yet you enshrine it like some treasure. Even if such a rune came from a true dragon's wind, rain, thunder, or lightning patterns, what use would it be if it could not serve you in battle?"

By the time the stone spear fell silent again, four hours had passed. Yet Qingyang Huan's eyes blazed.

Martial cultivation was difficult. Although most people could begin, achieving anything was harder than hard. The entire Qingyang Clan numbered around thirty thousand. Even its women had stepped onto the first stage of martial cultivation, the Body Casting Realm, though most remained at its very beginning, tempering their skin and flesh.

Fewer than a thousand had entered the Divine Treasure Realm. Even among them, the vast majority had broken through their shackles only through years of accumulation. Opening a single treasure had exhausted all their potential, and many had already entered old age, their blood Qi beginning to decline.

As for the Spirit Seizing Realm above Divine Repository, there was his father, Qingyang Jue, chief of the Qingyang Clan, as well as the mountain beast that protected the clan—a Qingyang Hou. Rumor had it that the beast had lived for several hundred years and witnessed the reigns of several generations of clan chiefs. It slept deep in the mountain and would not awaken unless the clan faced a crisis.

The stone spear's words had dealt a tremendous shock to his original understanding of martial cultivation. More and more, he felt that the Qingyang Clan, which ruled ten thousand li of land, was far too small!

At dawn, facing the rising sun, Qingyang Huan rode a Qilin-Horned Horse out of the Qingyang Mountain Range, stone spear in hand. Only after riding more than ten li beyond the range did he stop and look back at Qingyang Mountain, still wreathed in mist.

"Father said that Qingyang men should stand tall enough to hold up the heavens and support a world spanning ten thousand li. Fussing and dithering is for the women of the clan. A man should do a man's work—protect Qingyang's legacy and safeguard the peace of the Human Race within ten thousand li!"

"I've already seized this opportunity and fortune. I will never give it up. Clans struggle for survival, and warriors fight for their lives!" After one long look at his clan, Qingyang Huan plunged into the primeval forest.

The dense, primeval mountain forest was steeped in gloom. All manner of venomous insects, snakes, and ants lurked amid its rank, bloody stench. Two days had already passed since he obtained his opportunity from the stone spear.

This time, no Qingyang clan soldiers accompanied him. He had entered the wild, ancient forest alone. Having grown up beside this primeval forest, he naturally understood its terrors.

To break through to the Body Casting Extreme Realm within two years and seize the fortune that came next, he could only force his way through.

Although the clan could still provide for his cultivation, some tempering could not be replaced by resources. He needed to undergo Body Casting anew, and some aspects of killing could only be understood by experiencing them himself.

The Qiongqi Bone Rune inside him also needed to be reforged. Only by experiencing true life-and-death struggles and reforging the bone rune could he awaken the mysterious power of the Dao's laws contained within it, then comprehend the Great Dao of heaven and earth.

Moreover, to cultivate to the Body Casting Extreme Realm, he would have to discard all his previous cultivation and set foot on the path of Body Casting anew!

Towering mountains rose one after another, and ancient trees stretched without end. Vines as thick as arms coiled around the trees like pythons.

The cry of a fierce bird rang through the sky. A full three zhang in size, it swooped down and destroyed the ancient trees within a radius of more than ten zhang. Standing amid those trees, Qingyang Huan did not dodge at all.

This was his third day in the ancient forest. He had encountered twenty-seven fierce beasts in all, killing eleven and gravely wounding three. As for the rest, one look from afar had sent him running for his life.

"Screee!"

The Kite Dagger-Axe Bird's feet tore through the ancient forest like great dagger-axes, slashing toward him with explosive cracks through the air.

"Kill!"

Qingyang Huan roared. As he gripped the stone spear, a bone rune flashed, and the phantom of a mutant fierce beast sprang forth.

Clang!

The stone spear collided with the Kite Dagger-Axe Bird's dagger-axe-like talons, releasing a metallic tremor. A severed claw flew away immediately afterward, blood spraying wildly. In pain, the great bird let out a sky-shaking shriek.

"Again!"

Qingyang Huan swung the stone spear once more. A bone rune manifested as he smashed it down toward the Kite Dagger-Axe Bird's head.

Bolstered by the bone rune's power, the stone spear struck the Kite Dagger-Axe Bird's head and tore open a great bloody gash. Blood gushed out like a spring.

Without the slightest hesitation, he threw himself straight into the warm blood. It drenched his entire body, yet bloody light shimmered all over him, and every pore seemed to breathe.

Screee!

The Kite Dagger-Axe Bird was not quite dead. It let out an unwilling, furious cry. Qingyang Huan reached out and wrapped his arms around its neck. Bloody light flashed across his arms as he twisted its neck apart, and blood surged out even more violently.

Men of the Great Wilderness were stained with blood from birth, so he felt not the slightest fear at anything he had done.

"My blood Qi is almost completely exhausted. Severing my previous cultivation now will reduce the impact on my body to a minimum!"

At that moment, resolve and ruthlessness flashed in Qingyang Huan's eyes.

"Aah...!"

A beastlike howl rang out. Bloody light shimmered over his body as torrents of heat erupted inside him like a volcano, and streams of blood Qi burst from his pores.

The bloody light that had shimmered over his flesh spilled out of his body all at once like a surging flood. Although the past few days had already consumed most of his blood Qi, the pain still sent him collapsing onto the Kite Dagger-Axe Bird's plumage.

Without destruction, there could be no rebuilding!

Three years of Body Casting had already set his body into a rigid pattern. To reach the extreme realm, he had to begin anew!

More importantly, there was the bone rune born from the Qiongqi blood Qi. That was a treasure he could not bear to waste.

Beads of sweat the size of beans dripped down and mingled with the blood. Agonizing pain twisted his youthful face.

"Senior Stone Spear, help me comprehend the Qiongqi Bone Rune anew!" He clenched his teeth, the words almost ground out through the gaps.

Within the blood Qi forced out of his body, a mass of illusory light solidified into a strange beast resembling a tiger with wings. This was the great fiend Qiongqi. Even dispersed into blood Qi, a savage ferocity still lingered.

As Qingyang Huan's words fell, a flash of purple light flickered across the previously silent stone spear.

Pfft!

The Qiongqi phantom let out a furious roar, but the stone spear shattered it nonetheless, condensing it once more into a mass of dark light.

Qingyang Huan paid no attention to anything else and drew the dark light into his palm with one hand.

"Condense!"

In an instant, he felt a frenzy of slaughter charge into his body and begin ravaging him from head to toe. Heart-piercing, bone-stabbing agony spread through his limbs and bones, as though insects were biting deep within his flesh.

Even the Kite Dagger-Axe Bird's warm blood Qi could not bring him the slightest warmth.

Hum!

The stone spear trembled. Rich bloody light poured down from above his head like a small river and was absorbed into his body.

Rolling bloody light surged like a tide, enveloping Qingyang Huan until he became a figure of blood. The Qiongqi blood and bone essence, refined anew according to the method the stone spear had taught him, was merely a mass of illusory blood Qi in his eyes. It began transforming into a crescent-shaped pattern, radiating an intense sense of slaughter and frenzy.

Qiongqi was an evil beast by nature, born to slaughter capriciously and thirst fiercely for blood. Even in a Qiongqi beast possessing only a trace of its bloodline, that innate slaughter and savagery would never change.

He sat like this for three days and three nights. Fierce beasts kept following the scent of blood, but the stone spear killed them all around him, and Qingyang Huan absorbed the scalding blood Qi essence they released!

"The evil beast Qiongqi is born to slaughter all beneath heaven. Is this the Slaughter Bone Rune belonging to Qiongqi?"

Three days later, when Qingyang Huan opened his palm again, a blurry crescent manifested upon it, giving off a presence of savagery and slaughter that stirred an urge in him to kill to the utmost.

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