Lin Mu stood up and spread his spirit sense, which had now grown to one and a half meters long. He had depleted nearly half of his spirit qi in increasing the range of his spirit sense.
'I'll have to be a little careful as I only have half of my spirit qi stores left.' Lin Mu thought.
Lin Mu focused on the sound and estimated the location of the spirit beast. He guessed that the beast shouldn't be much farther from his location. He was also wondering why the beast wandered this far out.
Lin Mu entered the forest and swiftly moved through the trees. With his legs strengthened by spirit qi, he could run faster and made little sounds. The wind was blowing through the trees, rustling the leaves and masking the sounds of Lin Mu's steps.
A few minutes later Lin Mu reached the location which he had estimated as the site from where the roar came from. The claw marks and damaged trees confirmed his assumption. Lin Mu, therefore, kept his sense alert for any sign of movement.
He went closer and examined the claw marks that were on the trees and the ground. The marks were thin but long, making him unable to identify the beast that could have caused it. Lin Mu was not much knowledgeable about spirit beasts, except for the more common ones that the elite hunters killed and brought to the town.
Lin Mu looked at the footprints on the ground and found them to be rather shallow. The distance between the footprints was also narrow, making him think that this was a small spirit beast. Still, the claw marks made him wary of the beast.
Lin Mu looked at a corner where most of the trees were damaged and found a small pool of blood along with another different set of footprints. This made him think that it was a fight between two beasts, but the other beast was probably weaker than the spirit beast.
Lin Mu searched for any more tracks but could not find them. Suddenly he heard the sound of rustling coming from the trees. He looked up at the trees but could not find anything. He then probed with his spirit sense and found the perpetrator camouflaged in the tree.
The beast was about the size of a dog and had thin and long limbs. Each of its limbs had two sharp claws that looked like hooks. The beast had no fur and the color of its skin was dark brown, this along with the darkness of the night made it easy for the beast to camouflage.
Lin Mu saw the bloodstains on the beast's claws and determined that it was probably this beast that attacked the other beast and also made the roaring sound. He was also able to sense the spirit qi hidden within the beast. He found out that the spirit qi was concentrated in one spot within the beast's torso.
'That should be its beast core.' Lin Mu thought.
Lin Mu braced himself and studied the beast's behavior. It seemed to be biding its time and waiting for the right moment to attack. Lin Mu guessed that while he had discovered the beast, it did not realize that.
Wanting to take advantage of the beast's unawareness, Lin Mu formulated a plan. He turned around and looked in the other direction while extending his spirit sense towards his back. He then waited for the beast to react. Seemingly his plan worked, and he did not have to wait long, as the beast could not resist attacking his unguarded back.
The beast pounced from the tree towards Lin Mu's back with great speed. Its claws were extended and were aimed at his neck, intending to end him in one stroke. But as soon as the beast entered the range of Lin Mu's spirit sense, he triggered the first skill Flicker.
Lin Mu's body turned blurry and the beast simply passed through it. The beast fell on the ground five meters away and looked a little disoriented, as it had not expected this to happen. Lin Mu grasped this opportunity and used the second skill blink, teleporting to the side of the beast.
He drew the short sword and strengthened it with his spirit qi before slashing at the spirit beast's head. In the next second, the head was decapitated and the spirit beast was dead.
~Huu~
Lin Mu let out a breath that he did not even know he was holding in. He did not realize, but he was actually very nervous, as it was the very first spirit beast he had killed. He did not know how this entire thing would progress, thus he was nervous. Though in the end his confidence won over his anxiety and he successfully hunted the spirit beast.
Lin Mu touched the beast and stored its corpse into the ring. He then turned around and returned the way he came from. A few minutes later he had left the forest and was currently at the edge of the small stream. He was cleaning and preparing the spirit beast he had just killed.
Tonight Lin Mu wanted to taste what spirit beast meat tasted like. Though the beast he had hunted did not have much flesh and was rather bony. He cut open its ribs and found a small fingernail-sized brown marble in the center. This was the core of the spirit beast.
While spirit beasts had the same cultivation levels such as humans, the one difference they had was that they had spirit cores instead of a dantian. The spirit cores were usually located near the heart of a spirit beast, though some beasts had them in other parts as well.
There were also some rare beasts who had more than one spirit core. Spirit beasts of this kind were usually very strong and had a high level of cultivation.
Spirit beast cores were very useful for a cultivator, as they could be used in several different things. They were used as ingredients for alchemical pills; they were used as a power source for formations, as well as a component; they were used in the forging of spirit weapons and also for refining spirit tools.
Though there was another use for a spirit beast core, a use that could potentially multiply the strength of a cultivator. Spirit beast cores could be used to refine something called as 'Bloodline Essence'. This Bloodline essence was unique to the beast it was made from.
Bloodline essence could be assimilated by cultivators to gain new abilities and skills. Depending on the type of beast, they would get abilities that were unique to the beast. Bloodline essence would also strengthen the physique of a cultivator.
While there were multiple ways to refine Bloodline essence, using a spirit core was the most common method. Still, most cultivators would not assimilate just any bloodline essence. They would usually wait and chose a Bloodline essence that was suitable for them and complimented their cultivation base.
It was not as if there was a hundred percent chance that a cultivator would be able to assimilate a Bloodline essence. A cultivator's body could also reject the bloodline essence because of many reasons such as the bloodline essence being incompatible with the cultivator, it being impure or unstable, it could also be because of the bloodline essence being too domineering and powerful. Also, if a cultivator was weak, he could also fail to absorb the bloodline essence.
Though overall, there was always a certain percent chance of failure when assimilating a Bloodline essence. Another reason why cultivators waited to get a suitable bloodline essence was that, once they assimilated it, it would be very difficult for them to improve that bloodline.
If a cultivator wanted to improve the bloodline they had assimilated, they would have to find a higher grade bloodline that was compatible. Just finding a compatible bloodline was also not enough, most of the time, as they still needed precious materials and rare herbs to help the process.
The disciples of the sects had an advantage in this matter. Most of the sects had a repertoire of different bloodline essence along with their records. This made it convenient for the disciple to choose a bloodline essence.
Lin Mu had soon finished preparing the spirit beast. He had separated the meat and the materials such as the skin and claws. He stored everything in the ring and started his journey back to the town. After fifteen minutes, Lin Mu was very close to the town. Ensuring that no one was seeing him, he withdrew a large sack and put the beast meat he had into it.
He had put enough meat to last him for two meals, namely the dinner for now and the breakfast for tomorrow. Having done this, Lin Mu walked to the Northwind inn. As it was nighttime, there weren't many people out, except for the areas where the restaurant and eateries were located at.
Lin Mu stepped into the inn and looked at the entry desk. There was a different clerk than morning sitting at the desk. He walked up to the clerk and showed him the small wooden plate. The clerk seemed to already know him, thus he responded with respect and asked him if he wanted any assistance.
Lin Mu just told him he wanted to use the kitchen, to which the clerk nodded and gestured him to follow him.