by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
That filled Long Chen with excitement. This would greatly cut down on his time between advancements, saving him precious time.
After absorbing it all, he found a huge cave at the bottom of the stone mountain. That was naturally the old lair of the Silver Centipede. Now it had become Long Chen’s habitat.
He knew that a third rank Magical Beast’s territory would be extremely large. Most likely there would not be a single other Magical Beast within dozens of miles. He could definitely live here safely for now.
Luckily, this cave was rather clean without much excrement. It appeared that the Silver Centipede preferred a cleaner environment.
After walking into the cave, Long Chen first set up a tent. That was something he had taken from that person who had tried to rob him on his way to the monastery.
He had already thrown out all the mattresses and bedding he had had, but he had kept this luxurious tent.
After tidying up and resting for a bit, Long Chen looked up at the sky. It was currently noon. He set up a large pot outside.
He placed one of the Silver Centipede’s poison sacks into the iron pot. A corrosive smell immediately filled the air. Just smelling it caused him to feel like his respiratory tract was being corroded.
Tightly holding his nose, Long Chen lit a fire beneath the pot. He also placed over a hundred arrowheads into the poison before quickly backing away.
He only began breathing again once he was a mile away. The Silver Centipede’s poison really was too terrifying.
But he had already prepared enough wood under the pan to keep the fire burning for a long time. As the arrowheads simmered within the poison, they would easily begin to absorb that poison.
Now he didn’t need to do anything. He just patiently waited here. He currently didn’t dare go exploring further.
All the land bordering his little territory had to be controlled by at least a third rank Magical Beast. The current him wouldn’t even have a good chance of defeating an early third rank Magical Beast.
And if he ran into a mid third rank Magical Beast, then it wouldn’t be about his probability of beating it, but the probability of fleeing.
By the time the fire burned away all of its fuel four hours later, the poison had already all boiled away. A disgusting smell still lingered in the air. He had over a hundred poisonous arrowheads now that had been dyed black by the poison.
Long Chen had only just picked one up when suddenly the entire pot exploded, giving Long Chen a fright. He hastily jumped away. If he ended up pricked by one of these poison arrows, there really was a possibility he could die.
That Silver Centipede’s poison was just too powerful. That iron pot had been corroded to the point that it was now as weak as glass.
Long Chen excitedly stared at those pitch-black arrowheads. With these poison arrows, he would be much more confident in killing third rank Magical Beasts.
Seeing that the sky was already starting to darken, Long Chen returned to his tent to rest. He didn’t even feel like cultivating. He set up a couple of traps around with the poison arrows and then slept.
The next day, Long Chen collected his traps and carefully began traveling south. Having just flown over this area on top of the Hawk Eagle yesterday, he still remembered that there was a third rank Magical Beast here: the Shadow Devil Leopard.
The third rank Shadow Devil Leopard’s speed was incomparably fast, and it was exceptionally fierce. But unlike other Magical Beast leopards, it preferred to hunt during the day.
Magical Beasts weren’t like humans. They didn’t need to cultivate. They used flesh and blood to increase their own cultivation power.
As for the Shadow Devil Leopard, its most terrifying aspect was how it could almost completely camouflage itself. Although it was a furred Magical Beast, its fur could actually change color in accordance with its surroundings.
If it was hiding within some grass or against some rocks, it was practically impossible to see it. Sometimes, Magical Beasts would walk right past it without knowing that they had walked right in front of death.
After traveling over fifty miles, Long Chen slowed down. This was around where it had been.
Spreading out his divine sense, Long Chen noticed a lazy figure sunning on top of some rocks.
Resting on those stones, its color had become the exact same as that of the rocks. If Long Chen hadn’t noticed it yesterday jumping out of some rocks to roar at them in warning, he really wouldn’t have imagined that a Magical Beast would be able to camouflage itself so well.
“This distance should be about right.” Long Chen looked around. There was a natural pathway here. It was a perfect place to set up a trap.
Originally, Long Chen had been planning on digging some pitfalls, but thinking of how powerful the Shadow Devil Leopard’s body was, he decided against it. The odds of that working were too low, and it was also too much work to dig here.
He then considered making a trigger trap like the one he had used against Marquis Ying. But then he still shook his head.
That kind of trap would require him to lure the Shadow Devil Leopard there. If he was careless, he might trigger his own trap. Perhaps in his death, even the Shadow Devil Leopard would laugh at him.
After pondering over it for a long time, Long Chen took out six longbows, setting up six spots along the path from which he could shoot a poison arrow.
Fully nocking the bows, Long Chen placed a dagger on the bowstring to prevent it from shooting. As long as that dagger was moved even the slightest, the bow would immediately shoot out its poison arrow.
All of the six bows were set to the sides of the small path. They were all less than a couple of meters from each other. With its huge body that was over twenty meters long, the Shadow Devil Leopard would very likely be hit if it walked here and all six arrows were shot at once.
As long as one arrow hit, that would sharply decrease its power. Then, he could kill it much more easily.
Once more going over the six bows and confirming everything was perfect, Long Chen slowly crept over to the Shadow Devil Leopard.
When he was two miles from it, he stopped. If he got any closer, that would put it on guard.
After weighing an egg-sized stone for a bit, he then used his full strength to throw it at the Shadow Devil Leopard’s head.
Chapter 202 Absorbing Essence Blood
Long Chen’s arm strength was extremely great. That stone whistled through the air before it smashed into the Shadow Devil Leopard’s head.
It had just been leisurely soaking in the sun’s rays on that huge boulder and hadn’t been wary at all, causing it to be struck head-on.
The powerful force behind his throw caused it to tumble back, a large bump appearing on its head. The Shadow Devil Leopard immediately let out an earth-shattering roar and jumped up, looking around.
“Damn, what a hard head,” Long Chen exclaimed inside. A mid third rank Magical Beast really was too terrifying. His full strength strike had been completely useless.
Looking around, the Shadow Devil Leopard quickly noticed Long Chen. Within an area of several miles, the only other living being present was Long Chen, so it was easy to tell who the attacker was.
Letting out another roar, it quickly charged at Long Chen.
Its speed was so fast that it left behind many afterimages as it traveled, almost seeming like a phantom.
“Crap, I misjudged the distance.” Long Chen cursed inside when he saw how fast it was. With that kind of speed, he really was a bit too far from his trap.
Long Chen immediately scampered away at his full speed. He pushed his footwork to the max as he fled towards his trap.
But the Shadow Devil Leopard’s speed was just too fast. Long Chen was still a mile away from his trap when it caught up to him.
“Damnit, four legs really are better than two.” Long Chen cursed and flung out a blue-colored ball of Pill Flame at it.
The blue flame exploded loudly, giving the Shadow Devil Leopard
a fright, causing it to instinctively pause for a moment. That gave Long Chen a chance to breathe as he continued fleeing.
But then the Shadow Devil Leopard roared once more and chased after him, increasing its speed even further this time.
Long Chen knew most furred Magical Beasts feared fire. He was afraid if he used his blue flame, that would cause the Shadow Devil Leopard to go on guard.
That was why he had used his Pill Flame simply as an explosive. It was loud, but its power had been weak. It only had the effect of giving it a fright.
Seeing he was approaching his trap, Long Chen was relieved. Quickly rushing over, he pushed his Spiritual Strength to its max, focusing on those daggers.
An even larger ball of flame appeared in his hand at this time. When he stepped past the range of the trap, he threw out that large ball of flame.
A huge explosion rocked the world as the blue flame immediately exploded to become forty meters in diameter, waves of heat surging out of it.
The Shadow Devil Leopard instinctively slowed in front of this blue flame. It was precisely that moment that Long Chen used his Spiritual Strength to release those daggers from the bows.
Six arrows shot out like lightning, shooting right at the Shadow Devil Leopard. Its body was so huge that all six arrows hit.
Normally, such an ordinary arrow would have difficulty breaking through the defense of a third rank Magical Beast. But even third rank Magical Beasts had weak spots in their defense.
Its weak spot was its abdomen. Its defensive strength was relatively weaker there, so naturally Long Chen had set up his arrows to strike there.
But despite that being its weakest spot, the six arrows only lightly pierced the skin, not even sinking an inch in.
That kind of injury was basically nothing to a third rank Magical Beast. But it was already enough for Long Chen.
After those arrows pierced its body, Long Chen could see with his naked eye that its flesh was turning black. That was the effect of the intense poison’s corrosion.
Feeling the acute pain in its abdomen, the Shadow Devil Leopard angrily roared and charged at Long Chen.
Long Chen summoned his divine ring as well as his FengFu Battle Armor. A flame blade appeared in his hands, slashing down on it.
BOOM!
When the flame blade slashed onto the Shadow Devil Leopard, a terrifying energy sent all the surrounding rocks flying. All the withered grass hundreds of meters around them ignited.
Long Chen felt a berserk energy send him flying. He only stabilized himself dozens of meters away. A charred mark had been left on the Shadow Devil Leopard, but it clearly wasn’t a heavy injury.
“How powerful!” Long Chen was startled. Furred Magical Beasts were innately suppressed by fire, but his Flame Salamander’s blue flame was unable to cause it any harm.
That didn’t mean that the Flame Salamander’s blue flame was weak, but that his own cultivation base was just too low. His Pill Flame would get stronger in accordance with the quality of his spiritual qi.
In terms of capacity, Long Chen possessed just as much spiritual qi as a Tendon Transformation expert, perhaps even more. But before entering the Tendon Transformation realm, his spiritual qi’s quality would be far too lacking.
That was like trying to compare cotton thread to a steel wire. No matter how much thread you had, it wouldn’t be able to reach a steel wire’s strength.
And so Long Chen suffered greatly due to his realm. If Long Chen also stepped into the Tendon Transformation realm, his blue flame would definitely be able to heavily injure the Shadow Devil Leopard.
Buzz.
The Shadow Devil Leopard suddenly opened its mouth. A black ball slowly appeared and a terrifying pressure locked Long Chen in place.
“An inherited skill!”
Long Chen was shocked. That was just like Little Snow. He knew that these inherited skills were Battle Skills transmitted down from the bloodline and were extremely terrifying.
When that black ball first appeared, it had only been the size of a watermelon, but in just the blink of an eye, it grew several meters wider.
Terrifying pressure caused even the space around it to be crushed. Suddenly, space shook as that black ball shot straight at Long Chen.
“Split the Heavens!” Long Chen didn’t reserve anything, striking with his full force. The flame blade in his hands explosively grew and slashed down on that ball.
BOOM!!
Long Chen’s flame blade burst apart and he felt as if he had been smashed by a mountain. He was thrown into the air, vomiting blood.
Crashing into a huge mountain, Long Chen spat out more blood once again, sensing that many of his bones were about to break.
He was completely horrified. This Shadow Devil Leopard was too powerful. Who could possibly resist such power? It was no wonder this place was called the graveyard of the exiled.
At this moment, he finally understood why none of the many peak geniuses had managed to walk out of this place alive.
He really had underestimated this place. If a mid third rank Magical Beast was already so powerful, then just how strong was the late third rank? And even fourth rank Magical Beasts?
When the dust settled, the Shadow Devil Leopard once more roared. Its fur was completely charred black, and a deep cut had opened on its body from which Long Chen could even see bone.
Obviously, Long Chen’s attack just now had dealt a mortal blow to it. If Long Chen used Split the Heavens a few more times, he would definitely be able to kill it.
But he wasn’t even able to use it one more time. The consumption of his FengFu Battle Armor was too terrifying. Using one attack in that state was already his limit.
Looking at the infuriated eyes of the Shadow Devil Leopard, Long Chen fled without even thinking about it. Since he still had some energy, he really had to flee while he could.
The Shadow Devil Leopard angrily chased after him, but its current speed had sharply dropped.
Previously, it had been faster than Long Chen, but now its speed was the same as his.
Long Chen knew that its speed had dropped not only because of that injury he had caused it, but also because of the poison’s corrosion.
That was an excellent sign for him. As he fled, the Shadow Devil Leopard chased as fast as it could, but its speed was gradually becoming even slower.
Long Chen didn’t dare to be careless. Seeing its slow down, he also slowed down along with it, maintaining the same distance in order to let it think that it might catch him if it worked just a bit harder.
In that manner, Long Chen brought it running in a circle around its territory. He didn’t dare run out of the area of the Silver Centipede or its territory. If he attracted more Magical Beasts, that would definitely be a disaster.
In this manner, he fled for almost a whole hour. The Shadow Devil Leopard was finally reaching its end. It was already limping and staggering, but it still continued to chase.
Long Chen was already tired to death, feeling as if he was also almost out of energy. That previous attack had almost broken all his bones.
After this kind of run, he really was about to collapse. Pain radiated from all over his body, but he could only clench his teeth and continue to run.
Finally, the Shadow Devil Leopard collapsed to the ground. Seeing that, Long Chen also sat down. Consuming a qi recovery pill, he focused on recovering energy.
But he also didn’t forget to keep track of his surroundings. After all, in this kind of vicious wasteland, he might die at any moment. He didn’t dare to be careless.
If he hadn’t set up that trap and had those poison arrows hit, it really would have been a crazy dream for him to kill the Shadow Devil Leopard.
Long Chen felt even more grateful to that Elder. If it weren’t for him, it would have taken him forever just to kill a third rank Magical Beast.
The Elder’s help had allowed him to save a great deal of time. It had actually been a covert way of helping Long Chen cheat
in a way.
Long Chen noticed that its breath had already stopped two hours before, but in any case, he just let it lie there dead for a bit longer.
Long Chen waited for a full six hours. He had recovered to about seventy or eighty percent at this point. Only then did he carefully approach the Shadow Devil Leopard.
After using his blue flame to test a couple of sensitive places and seeing that there was no reaction, he was finally sure that it really was dead.
In front of this huge Shadow Devil Leopard, he felt extremely tiny. Jumping onto its head, he first cut out its crystal core.
He then took out a wooden cask and began to collect its essence blood. Its body was extremely large so there was a great deal of blood.
When all the blood had been collected, there were a total of three large barrels of essence blood.
However, all this blood was slightly black because of the poison. Long Chen took out a fist-sized crystal core and threw it into the barrel.
Less than an hour later, the blood had already become completely red again. Fishing out the crystal core, he saw that a couple of black spots had appeared on its previously completely bright surface.
“Hehe, using the Silver Centipede’s crystal core to extract its own poison really is effective.”
The Silver Centipede’s poison was actually very precious. That was because it was possible to kill prey with it and then reclaim the poison after.
And the tool to reclaim the poison was precisely its crystal core. By absorbing the poison from the prey back into the crystal core, then turning it back into poison, he would be able to recycle it over and over.
After purifying and extracting all the impurities from the essence blood, Long Chen threw the medicinal powder into the essence blood. Not long after, he had a whole barrel of Ten Thousand Beast Essence Blood.
“Time to reap my harvest.”
Long Chen put his hand into the barrel. The enormous amount of essence blood was crazily absorbed into his body.
Chapter 203 Slaughter You
As he absorbed the Magical Beast essence blood, his blood energy continuously grew.