The blackblood lion was an extremely swift creature with a burst attack of over 500 kilograms, rendering normal ninth-stage Basic Realm practitioners completely unable to deal with it. Demonic beasts mainly relied on their strong physical bodies to fight, something humans were unable to do. Stretching his concentration to the very max, Xiang Shaoyun kept his eyes on the blackblood lion and didn’t move an inch.
Xiang Shaoyun watched as the lion rushed right in front of him, its bloodied mouth hanging wide open, heading straight for his head. A normal person would have been scared to the point of wetting himself. In a moment of extreme peril, he lifted his uninjured arm, pointing a finger straight at the charging lion as energy flowed through his meridians into his arm.
Star Destroying Finger!
Sching!
The light from the attack was several times stronger than what Xiang Shaoyun had ever put forth before. Containing an extremely tyrannical burst of energy, it shot straight into the open mouth of the lion.
“Roar!”
The blackblood lion immediately let out a pained roar, its body charging straight for Xiang Shaoyun’s back. Gritting his teeth, Xiang Shaoyun endured the pain coursing through his body and dodged to the side.
Failing to hit Xiang Shaoyun, the blackblood lion landed heavily on its side, its body shaking in pain as it continuously vomited blood. From the looks of things, its innards had been completely decimated by Xiang Shaoyun’s attack.
“Die!” Drawing the Heavy Cleave Saber, Xiang Shaoyun condensed all the energy he could muster into its blade before sending the blackblood lion’s head flying with one slash. After he sent out that one slash, blood began flowing out of his previously closed wounds, and his face distorted with pain.
“Tonight, I shall feast on barbecued lion meat to replenish my blood!” Xiang Shaoyun faintly laughed. The blackblood lion had the thickest blood qi among the smaller demonic beasts, the perfect supplement for his current condition. After swiftly cleaning the body of the lion, he started up a fire and began slow-roasting it.
Wafts of fragrance floated through the air, causing the cub to drool endlessly as it waited in anticipation of a scrumptious meal. Very quickly, the lion was thoroughly cooked. The cub had been looking forward to this moment, and it rushed forward to take a huge bite.
“Meow!”
The freshly cooked meat was still hot from the roast, causing the cub to yelp out in pain. Xiang Shaoyun was amused by this comical scene. “Haha, this is what you get for being a greedy pig!”
Once he had finished laughing, he thought for a while before saying, “Right now, since you’re following me, you can’t go without a name. Since your fur is mostly white, you might actually have the blood of the white tiger! In that case, I’ll call you Little White! Together with my big brother Blackie, you’ll be the unstoppable duo of white and black! Hahaha!”
The tiger cub unhappily meowed in protest for a moment before going back to stuffing itself. Likewise, Xiang Shaoyun also began to unceremoniously eat to his heart’s content. After stuffing more than 5 kilograms of meat down into his belly, Xiang Shaoyun felt like there was a fire inside his own stomach. A wave of vitality was seemingly flooding his body, subsequently causing his own essence qi to become increasingly vigorous.
After Xiang Shaoyun ate his fill, he began meditating once again, focusing fully on healing his injuries. Just like that, two days went by. Over those two days, numerous small demonic beasts had come and gone. Unfortunately for the majority of them, most had been captured by Xiang Shaoyun and turned into meals for both him and Little White.
By now, Xiang Shaoyun had recovered by about 70 to 80 percent and was planning to continue his journey. Leaping onto his shoulder, the duo of Xiang Shaoyun and Little White set out. Changing direction, they journeyed for a while before reaching a neighbouring mountain. At the very base of the mountain, they caught sight of a carving that read Mount Tuo.
At first, Xiang Shaoyun paid no heed to it and continued strolling along the path. However, barely two steps after he crossed the tablet, his eyes lit up, and he laughed, “Mount Tuo? Then we’re on the right track to the Earth Star Spring!”
Once Xiang Shaoyun recalled that Mount Tuo was situated on their way to the Earth Star Spring, his mood brightened substantially. Through the past few days in the Hundred Beast Mountain Range, he had bumped into numerous dangers. Hence, he looked forward to any opportunity to raise his combat ability. If he was able to reach the Earth Star Spring, he would be able to raise his cultivation and increase his ability to protect himself by a rather large margin.
“I wonder if seniors Mo Buhui and Mei Lianhua have reached the Earth Star Spring?” Xiang Shaoyun pondered to himself before stepping onto the path of Mount Tuo. Back when the two of them had retreated without any ounce of loyalty, Xiang Shaoyun had developed a displeasure of them in his heart. Since the situation had become as such, he would no longer feel guilty about taking the Earth Star Spring for himself.
Recalling the map Mo Buhui had showed to the group of them, he followed the specified path and avoided the large demonic beasts in the area. Although this was the case, he would still frequently come across Minor Demons, and at times, Intermediate Demons. If not for his rapid improvement in his strength, along with the Overlord’s Nine Nether Steps, he would’ve long become food in the stomachs of the Intermediate Demons.
Just like that, Xiang Shaoyun journeyed for three days straight before reaching the outskirts of the Hundred Beast Mountain Range.
During this time, Xiang Shaoyun reaped quite a few benefits from the place, mostly thanks to Little White. With its keen nose, even the most well-hidden old medicines could not escape his clutches. This cub was rather special indeed. Over the past few days, it had been constantly consuming roasted meat, along with a few old medicines, yet it had showed no signs of growing at all.
One must note that it was easiest for living creatures to grow at a young age. The more one ate, the faster one would grow. However, the cub had not changed at all despite how much it had eaten, leaving Xiang Shaoyun slightly depressed. He had wished that the small cub would quickly grow up, giving him a mount as well as a helping hand.
“According to the map, after crossing two more mountains, we should be more or less there. We should reach it in another one and a half days,” Xiang Shaoyun muttered to himself as he sat down to rest.
Xiang Shaoyun had consolidated his eighth-stage Basic Realm foundation over the past few days. Furthermore, he could release his energy in a radius of one meter from himself, giving him the capacity to challenge first-stage Astral Realm opponents.
This also meant that if he were to meet with a tier-1 Intermediate Demon, he would be able to contend against it. Furthermore, he had also managed to cultivate the tier-2 sword technique left in the bag of the dead man, the Golden Wolf Sword Technique.
The Golden Wolf Sword Technique was a tier-2 sword technique. At great completion, one would be able to condense a large, golden wolf spirit to aid in attacks, unleashing large amounts of destructive power.
Usually, one would need to be at the Astral Realm to unleash the full prowess of a tier-2 technique. However, since Xiang Shaoyun could already send Astral Energy out of his body, he could make full use of the skill. After he had practiced for about three days, he had a bit of success with the skill and could use his Astral Energy to empower his attacks.
As Xiang Shaoyun continued his journey, he heard a cry for help.
“Eiyaahhhh! Save me! Save me!”
“Hehehe, you can cry all you want! Nobody’s gonna help you!”
Slowing his breath, Xiang Shaoyun examined the path ahead. Sure enough, he found Mei Lianhua pinned down by several men with lecherous gleams in their eyes. Without a second thought, Xiang Shaoyun stealthily made his way behind the men, a fierce glint in his eyes. The moment he drew close to them, he erupted.
“Scum!” he furiously bellowed. Holding nothing back, he slashed out fiercely with his sword, causing a golden wolf to roar as it charged at the men.
Swish! Whoosh!
While the men were all enjoying the sight of Mei Lianhua’s fruitless struggle, Xiang Shaoyun’s attack directly pierced two of them to death.
“Who goes there?” Quickly splitting up, the men glanced around furtively.