One person and one Yao Beast circled each other in the secret chamber, neither making the first move.
An Chen was confident he could deal with this tiger Yao Beast, but he still decided to play it safe.
After all, the Pagoda of Spiritual Connection had given him too many surprises; what if this tiger Yao Beast also had something special about it?
Eventually, the tiger Yao Beast lost its patience and suddenly attacked An Chen.
It leaped up, its massive claws striking down, but An Chen skillfully dodged, then spun around and delivered a saber strike.
The saber struck the tiger Yao Beast's arm; the tiger Yao Beast roared in pain but retreated a few steps, adopting a defensive stance.
"Such a coward."
An Chen muttered, shaking his saber.
Then, he infused Spiritual Qi into the saber and swung it horizontally towards the tiger Yao Beast, activating the Spiritual Qi to form a crescent-shaped "Saber Qi."
The tiger Yao Beast was clumsy, and the "Saber Qi" was extremely fast; when it landed on the tiger Yao Beast, the Spiritual Qi exploded, tearing open the tiger Yao Beast's flesh, sending blood and gore flying.
However, the tiger Yao Beast's body was too large, and it seemed to specialize in defense and thick skin, so this much damage was not fatal to it.
But it was clear that it had almost no power to retaliate against An Chen.
Yet, the tiger Yao Beast let out an unwilling roar and dragged its broken body to launch a fierce assault on An Chen.
An Chen raised an eyebrow and charged towards the tiger Yao Beast.
After a few moves, the tiger Yao Beast's body slammed heavily onto the ground, covered in saber wounds, blood continuously flowing from its body, while An Chen was completely unharmed.
Well, not entirely unharmed.
An Chen's clothes on his chest were torn by the tiger Yao Beast when he wasn't paying attention, leaving two red marks on his chest, but this injury was not even considered an injury for a Cultivator; it was almost like a kitten scratching his chest twice. With a Cultivator's recovery ability, it would heal in less than an hour.
The life force of the tiger Yao Beast on the ground was continuously fading, while An Chen began to sit cross-legged on the ground, slowly recovering the Spiritual Qi he had just consumed.
He didn't kill the tiger Yao Beast directly because if the tiger Yao Beast died, the Pagoda of Spiritual Connection would immediately deem the trial passed, grant rewards, and send him to the next level, which would leave him no time to rest and recover.
This was also a way to exploit a bug.
The Spiritual Qi within the Pagoda of Spiritual Connection was very abundant, not only comparable to the Spiritual Qi concentration within the Qingfeng Sect but also much higher. It seemed as if there was also a Gathering Spirit Array within the Pagoda, capable of gathering Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
The effect of Cultivation here was even faster than An Chen using his own Spirit Gathering Array.
Thinking of this, An Chen suddenly had a bold idea.
An Chen walked towards the dying tiger Yao Beast, checked its injuries, and then suddenly took out a few Spiritual Plants from his qiankun bag.
These were Spirit Medicine he had picked during his last trip to the mountains, one of the medicinal materials needed to refine Rejuvenation Pill, but because the quantity was relatively small, he did not exchange them for Spirit Stone but kept them for himself.
These Spirit Medicine could also heal injuries if eaten directly, but the effect was only average.
An Chen was reluctant to use a Qi Refinement Stage Heaven Grade Rejuvenation Pill on this tiger Yao Beast, and he wasn't sure if this materialized illusion could be healed with Medicinal Pill, so he used this instead.
He didn't know until he tried; after feeding the Spirit Medicine into the tiger Yao Beast's mouth, the tiger Yao Beast's condition actually improved a little.
An Chen immediately used Spiritual Qi to help stop the bleeding from the tiger Yao Beast's wounds; for some larger wounds, he released fire-attributed Spiritual Qi and then fused the wounds together by burning them, just to stop the bleeding and keep it alive.
Perceiving that the tiger Yao Beast's condition had stabilized, An Chen breathed a sigh of relief.
Yao Beasts generally have strong recovery abilities; those that don't die can usually recover to a decent state, so he stopped bothering with it and went aside to absorb Spiritual Qi and Cultivate.
......
Grand Elder Qin Chuan was a bit depressed.
He had been down the mountain for three days now.
But ever since An Chen entered the Tong Shen Hall, he hadn't come out.
Generally, a Cultivator challenging the Pagoda would emerge in about a day, and even if some Cultivator waited until their Realm was higher before entering the Pagoda of Spiritual Connection to challenge it, they would only challenge about twenty to thirty levels, which wouldn't take three days.
Higher-level challenges indeed made it easy to stay inside for a long time, but An Chen was challenging the Qi Refinement Stage levels! With An Chen's strength, reaching the fifteenth level would be about right. Even a Disciple with average ability within the Sect would be out in a day.
He wasn't worried that An Chen had found an opportunity to escape, after all, he had personally seen An Chen enter that teleportation array with his Divine Sense and leave through it to enter the Pagoda of Spiritual Connection.
There was no reason for the Tong Shen Hall to specifically trap and kill An Chen.
It was well-known that a Cultivator would not suffer fatal harm within the Pagoda of Spiritual Connection, so An Chen couldn't possibly die.
He had also left a soul lamp for An Chen within the Sect, and that lamp was still burning brightly.
So what exactly was An Chen doing? Could he be sleeping in the Pagoda of Spiritual Connection?
For the past few days, he wasn't in the Sect and could only entrust Sect affairs to other Elders and stewards. If this continued, he would really have to report to Zhao Qingfeng.
Now, An Chen's matter was the biggest concern in the Qingfeng Sect.
But what he didn't know was that An Chen was indeed sleeping in the Pagoda of Spiritual Connection.
An Chen napped for two hours, and his mind was like an alarm clock, waking him up directly.
He walked over and checked on the tiger Yao Beast. Over the past few days, this tiger Yao Beast was already on its last breath.
Each time the tiger Yao Beast recovered a bit, he would give it two saber strikes, let out some blood, and then use Spiritual Qi to help it stop bleeding and heal its wounds, keeping it in a weak but not dying state.
However, with such repeated injuries and recoveries, and no food, the tiger Yao Beast finally couldn't hold on anymore.
An Chen did want to feed it something, but when he took out the flatbread that had been in his qiankun bag for several days, the tiger Yao Beast didn't even move.
It probably wanted An Chen to put it out of its misery.
"Alas."
An Chen sighed and took out his saber to slit the tiger Yao Beast's throat.
The tiger Yao Beast probably wouldn't last much longer; it was better to kill it and proceed to the next level.
The Pagoda of Spiritual Connection quickly determined that he had cleared this level, only this time there was no stream of light like a wisp of silk emerging from the ground.
In the air, countless light points slowly emerged and gathered, eventually forming the shape of a long sword.
This was a Qi Refinement Stage High Grade Magical Artifact, and An Chen breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, it wasn't a hammer.
After the long sword solidified, it dropped down. An Chen reached out and caught the long sword in mid-air, examined it carefully, and then gladly put it into his qiankun bag.
He would also Cultivate Qingfeng Swordplay in the future, and he would need a sword sooner or later, so having one now was perfect.
In the market, a Qi Refinement Stage High Grade Magical Artifact could fetch over a thousand Spirit Stone if it was a good one.
… … …
A few words (●—●)
Someone asked Gouzi why there were suddenly six updates the day before yesterday.
This question is very subtle.
Because recently, the performance has been poor, and few people are reading it.
When I get sad, I write furiously, and when I finish, I publish it.
I've been a bit out of my mind from writing lately.
But please rest assured, dear readers, this book will not stop updating regardless of its performance.
Finally, I'm asking for good reviews and book recommendations again _(:з」∠)_