Nie Tian stared silently at the corpse of the Lurker Lizard.
It was after a long time that he finally retracted his gaze and pulled the skewers of Lurker Lizard meat out of the sand.
This time, he didn’t rush to practice the Qi Refining Incantation and absorb the energy from the meat, but instead focused on simply devouring the meat.
Only after he ate several dozens of kilograms and couldn’t force down another bite, did he finally stop, close his eyes, and sense the warm current flowing out from within his abdomen.
A surge of energy, several times richer than before, dispersed from within his stomach. However, when he practiced the Qi Refining Incantation, he found that he could no longer channel all of the power to his spiritual sea.
Before long, his spiritual sea went from being eighty percent full to being completely full to the brim.
As he continued to channel spiritual power into his spiritual sea, he found that the power was actually once again causing his spiritual sea to experience growth.
“Second grade spirit beasts have seven times the power!” His face remained expressionless; however, inwardly he was filled with ecstasy.
Originally, he planned to use two months to break through into the eighth level of Qi Refining, with the help of the spirit beast meat.
However, after discovering the meat of the second grade Lurker Lizard could provide energy that was seven times richer, he suddenly found a new goal!
“If I can consume the Lurker Lizard all by myself, it would only take ten days to make a breakthrough to the eighth level of Qi Refining!”
Seized with ecstasy, he soon discovered that since his spiritual sea was already full, a large portion of the energy was starting to disperse into his flesh and bones.
The energy contained in the Lurker Lizard’s meat that he had just consumed was too much for him to quickly absorb and channel into his spiritual sea.
He suddenly felt like his body was like a giant sponge, greedily absorbing the dispersing energy.
Before he realized it, his body temperature had risen to the point where he was like a giant, human-shaped furnace.
Soon, he was soaked in sweat, and even his surroundings seemed to be affected, as the temperature around him also rose rapidly.
They were in the desert, a place which was already extremely hot. It was only natural for the trial takers to be sweating.
However, Nie Tian’s temperature wouldn’t stop rising, giving him a terrific headache as turning his skin bright red.
“This….”
It was only at this point that he recalled how he had been afflicted by a high fever for several days after his battle with Nie Hong.
“Please don’t let something like the last time happen!” he thought, starting to get worried.
At this very moment, Zheng Rui, who had been talking eloquently with the others, suddenly blurted, “Ughh! My stomach’s feeling a bit upset, I think I need to go relieve myself.”
With that, he rushed away, an embarrassed expression on his face.
Not long after he left, Pan Tao suddenly clutched his stomach, and then also left with an odd look on his face.
Just as An Ying was about to mock the two of them, she suddenly trembled.
Trying to act as casual as ever, she said, “Eh, well, you guys guard the people from the Cloudsoaring sect, in case the Blood sect disciples come back. I’ll go check the perimeter.” With that, she sprang to her feet and walked off.
In the blink of an eye, An Ying, Zheng Rui, and Pan Tao left successively, each of them sporting a weird expression.
Some time later, Zheng Rui returned, the first of the small group to do so. The moment he sat down and was about to say something, his expression flickered again.
“What’s wrong, Brother Zheng?” Guo Qi asked, looking concerned.
“The runs,” Zheng Rui replied, rushing away with a bitter look on his face.
Not long after he was gone, Pan Tao returned, only to rush away moments later, face twisted with an odd expression.
An Ying never returned. Apparently she’d left for a long-term scouting operation.
An hour later, the three of them finally returned, looking so exhausted that they appeared to be on the verge of collapse.
“You also had the runs?” Pan Tao asked.
“Yeah,” replied An Ying. “You too?”
“Really?!” Zheng Rui exclaimed, his face pale. “You guys also had the runs?”
“Elder sister An Ying, you guys… ate the Lurker Lizard meat,” Jiang Miao said, trying to refrain from laughing, “Everybody else said the Lurker Lizard meat was too bitter, so no one wanted it. Only the three of you said that second grade spirit beast meat was the most delicious, and insisted on eating.”
Pan Tao was stunned. “It was the Lurker Lizard’s meat?”
It seemed as if something suddenly occurred to him; struggling to his feet, he looked at the distant Nie Tian.
“That guy had the most!” An Ying apparently recalled the same thing..
All of a sudden, every trial taker’s gaze converged onto Nie Tian.
They discovered that Nie Tian’s skin was very red and his entire body was dripping sweat, as if he was being baked on the shelf in an oven.
“His.. his symptoms seems to be different from yours,” said Tong Hao.
“I’ll go check on him.” Eyes full of worry, Jiang Miao rose to her feet and walked towards Nie Tian.
Pan Tao followed right after her. “I’ll go with you.”
As they approached, Nie Tian finally finished cultivating and opened his eyes.
He could no long feel energy being generated in his belly, indicated that the Lurker Lizard meat had been fully digested.
He was still dripping sweat all over and experiencing dizziness from the high temperature.
However, he didn’t pass out this time.
To his surprise, he noticed that the sweat that had come out of his pores was murky, as if it was carrying his inner filth.
As his inner filth was expelled together with the sweat, his excruciatingly high temperature finally began to drop.
By the time Jiang Miao and Pan Tao arrived by his side, his skin, originally as red as a cooked shrimp, had already returned to its normal color.
THUMP! THUMP!
The sound of Jiang Miao and Pan Tao’s footsteps seemed much louder than they actually were.
When he looked up at Pan Tao, he was able to acutely detect even the fine hairs on the corners of his mouth with a single glance.
“My hearing and vision have been greatly enhanced!” he thought, shocked by his discoveries.
When he rose to his feet, he felt as light as a bird and completely refreshed, as if his body had just undergone a mysterious transformation.
“Are you okay, Nie Tian?” Pan Tao asked with a wry smile, as he subconsciously touched his belly. “Do you feel any discomfort?”
“I had a fever just now, but I’m fine now,” Nie Tian said.
Pan Tao continued asking, “You don’t feel any discomfort in your stomach? No urge to relieve yourself?”
Nie Tian shook his head, puzzled. “Why do you ask?”
Pan Tao forced a smile. “An Ying, Zheng Rui, and I. We all had the runs after eating the Lurker Lizard meat. I even had difficulty walking. It really took a lot out of us.”
“Shut up, Pan Tao!” An Ying said, cheek flushed.
After all, she was a girl. When this kind of thing happened to her, it was natural that she became embarrassed and didn’t want others to talk about it.
Pan Tao smiled and winked at Nie Tian. “You ate ten times as much Lurker Lizard meat as the rest of us combined. Don’t tell me you don’t feel anything!”
“You guys all had the runs?” Nie Tian was more happy than shocked. Looking very concerned, he asked, “Are you alright? You’re not like me. I’m strong enough to fully digest the Lurker Lizard’s meat. But you’re all noble and delicate. You’d better be more careful, and don’t harm yourselves by eating the wrong stuff.”
The moment he had discovered that the energy the Lurker Lizard meat could provide exceeded the first grade spirit beasts’ by seven times, he laid his eyes on the Lurker Lizard.
Just recently, he had also discovered that the dispersed energy that he hadn’t been able to refine into his spiritual sea flowed into his flesh and bones, also bringing him major benefits.
Therefore, he secretly made up his mind that even if he couldn’t do anything else in the next two days, he would eat as much Lurker Lizard meat as possible.
He originally planned to eat more of the second grade spirit beast meat than everyone else by relying on his incomparably large appetite, so as to improve his strength as fast as he could.
However, the fact that An Ying and the others actually had diarrhea after eating the Lurker Lizard meat went beyond his expectations.
He couldn’t help but exclaim in his heart, “Heaven is helping me!”
“I’m glad that you are fine.” Pan Tao looked at him out of the corner of his eye while thinking to himself, “This guy is a monster…”
The three of them only had about a kilogram of the Lurker Lizard meat before they couldn’t take it anymore, and were struck with terrible diarrhea.
However, the amount Nie Tian had was ten times more than the three of them combined. Although he looked a bit uncomfortable earlier, right now he seemed to be brimming with energy again.
Pan Tao had no choice but respect Nie Tian’s uniqueness.
As of this moment, Jiang Lingzhu had finally recovered her strength with the help of spirit stones, and woke up. She called out towards where An Ying and her group was, “Elder Sister An Ying, let’s talk about what to do next, shall we? Nie Tian, you come as well.”
“Come on. Let’s go,” Pan Tao said.
“No, I’m beat. I need more rest. You guys go ahead and talk.” Nie Tian shook his head, and smiled at Jiang Miao, who had concern written all over her face. “I’m okay now. Thanks for your concern.”
Jiang Miao hurriedly answered, “Um, it’s good that you’re fine.”
After rejecting the invitation, Nie Tian silently sat back down with his eyes closed.
No longer sweating, he now felt more energetic and powerful than ever. This made him suddenly want to try out the perception range of his spiritual awareness.
When he had calmed his heart and concentrated his mind, he gradually released his psychic power outwards in every direction.
After ten breaths of time, his eyes snapped open, glittering with the bright light of excitement.
“Seventy meters of coverage!”