C5 The Competition of Demonic Cores

The dense forest covered the mountain walls, and the sun was high up in the sky. A gentle breeze blew past, and the shadows of the trees fluttered about, making it seem rather eerie.

"Found it!"

On a pile of rocks that was overgrown with weeds, Li Chen slowly moved forward with his body hunched over. Even in the daytime, his eyes under his hair seemed to flash.

He carefully scanned the surroundings and didn't let his guard down just because it was quiet. Although he was young and had never entered the Ancient Blue Mountain before, his grandfather had told him many stories.

Especially the matter of a warrior entering the Ancient Blue Mountain to search for treasure, losing his life because of carelessness.

Because he had an ugly birthmark and was unable to condense his inner breath,

He stared fixedly at the crack in the rock that appeared a few meters away. It was as thick as a chopstick and completely green. There were small, tender, yellow thorns all over his body and vines that were only a foot long.

On its tender green leaves, there were a few drops of dewdrops that trembled. Under the light shining from above, it seemed exceptionally pleasing.

"Green Spur Vine, top grade one elixir, top grade breath gathering pill!"

The information from the vines flashed through his mind, Li Chen had spent more than three years of his life as a medicine slave. He carefully swept through the soil and rocks within a meter of the vines, not missing a single one.

To be able to discover the location of the spiritual medicines before others was not due to one's cultivation level, but due to being a medicine slave for many years, and one's keen sense of smell of medicine.

Suddenly, his pupils constricted. The ring of demonic snakes looked no different from the surrounding dirt and rocks, but it was obvious that they were linked together. Their bodies were as thick as a baby's forearm and not more than two feet long, and they entered his line of sight.

"Earth Ring Snake, a mid-rank one demonic beast. Heavy defense, extreme poison, extremely powerful!"

Upon discovering the Earthen Ring Snake, it flicked its scarlet tongue and looked up at Li Chen.

Demonic beasts were innately bloodthirsty, and their spiritual senses were even more astute. Even though Li Chen had done the best according to Old Li's knowledge, he still lacked experience in the end.

Facing this mid-level Demon Beast, which even the warriors of the sixth floor feared, Li Chen retreated a little. However, before Old Li could teach him, the snake-type Demon Beast's attack speed at close range was extremely fast.

The first strike had the advantage, but the second strike had been a disaster!

"I can only kill him with force!"

Although his scalp was numb, he was still excited. Li Chen exerted strength in his calves, moving like a rabbit, and jumped up with a swoosh. His eyes shone with a terrifying light, and his inner Qi, which had reached the fifth layer of his meridians, suddenly poured into his right arm, throwing a heavy punch towards the snake's neck.

That was the Earth Ring Snake's fatal point. With Li Chen's confidence, a single punch had shattered the heart meridian in Liu Ming's body. No matter how strong his life force was, it was useless.

Hiss hiss!

It seemed to be shocked by Li Chen's actions, but in the end, it was a demonic beast that had grown up in a cruel environment.

"So fast!"

However, his fist had turned into a claw, the Tiger Roar Fist that was already mastered to the great perfection. The palm and the fist had become even more fluid, and what Li Chen had learned was a high-grade Mortal Realm art called 'Yang Melting Fist', it was extremely Yang, and its lethality was even better than Hu Pao's.

Under the power of his palm's muscles and breath, a faint wave of air swept across and caught the Earth Ringed Snake with a 'pah' sound.

It was as if a rough iron rod had been grabbed between the tentacles. The Earth Rings Snake was only two feet long, and was about as long as Li Chen's arm. When it was grabbed, it immediately bit towards Li Chen's shoulder.

"Die!"

Li Chen's entire arm was swung in a circle, and before he could even land a bite on it, it began to rapidly spin like a windmill, hitting the Earth Rings Snake time and time again, causing gravel to fly everywhere.

After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, he felt the tail of the Earth Ring Snake loosen its grip. He then twisted his body and ruthlessly stomped on the top of the snake's head.

With a soft whoosh and a cold flash, a silver dagger appeared in Li Chen's left hand. Enduring the faint pain from his arm, he pressed the Earth Ringed Snake to the ground and fiercely stabbed at the small cyan dot at the back of his neck.

Puff!

The blade stabbed into the flesh and splattered a trace of sweet, bloody air. The Earth Ringed Snake, which was hurt by the thorns, wriggled a few times and then stopped moving.

A demonic beast comparable to a sixth level Inner Breath Realm martial artist would be killed in two moves. Other than its low intelligence and lack of other advantages, such as poison and defense, the power technique that Li Chen practiced and his physique was also extremely strong. It was enough to prove that Li Chen's current strength was definitely stronger than an ordinary martial artist of the sixth level.

At this moment, he had already broken through to the fifth layer of the Juxi Pill he secretly consumed during the night.

However, with so many Juxi Pills, Li Chen had only managed to break through to the peak of the fifth layer during these past few months of tough training. This caused him to feel slightly discouraged.

After taking a deep breath, Li Chen did not have time to wipe the sweat off his forehead. He took out a jade bottle from his backpack, pulled out a stopper, and turned the snake corpse upside down.

A stream of dark red snake blood flowed into the small jade bottle. When the snake blood turned red, Li Chen put the snake corpse back into the backpack.

After doing all this, Li Chen peeled off the skin and extracted the venomous fangs from the snake. As for the snake meat, he chose to give up. The smell of blood was too strong, so it was hard to avoid others noticing.

If others were to know that a trash like him was actually able to kill a mid-tier one demonic beast, it would definitely bring about unnecessary trouble.

Having been humiliated for so many years, he still had the intention to endure.

It was a pity that he couldn't find the monster core after he pinched the snake's corpse a bit.

He carefully dug out the green thorny vine. Just as he was about to rest, he suddenly got up and ran into the forest.

Like a nimble monkey, its figure disappeared into the dense forest in the blink of an eye.

"… …"

Whoosh!

The piercing sound of the flute came from afar, one after another. If it wasn't for Li Chen's amazing hearing, it was very likely that he would have missed it or heard some kind of demon beast singing.

Sou sou sou!

Li Chen's underwear fluttered in the wind as he rushed towards the sound of the flute.

When it reappeared, it hid itself in the crack between the two giant rocks and looked into the distance.

There were seven or eight people holding weapons within the messy bushes. Looking at their clothes, they were all disciples of the Mysterious Cloud Sect. However, they were clearly divided into two groups.

In the middle was a prostrated, dark brown monster pig. It was at least two meters in size, and its entire body was covered in bloodstains.

"You people from the East Branch stole my Southern Academy's disciple's demon core. Aren't you afraid of the Academy Master's punishment?"

A youth held a sword in his hand, his face filled with surprise and anger.

Li Chen recognized him. He was an outer sect disciple named Zhang Futong. His cultivation was only at the fifth layer.

From Li Chen's point of view, she seemed to be trying to put on a brave front, but was actually trying to show weakness.

Behind him, Zhao Shanshan was supporting another boy who was lying on the ground. There was a pool of blood on his chest, and his chest was heaving up and down. He was heavily injured.

His name was Liu Ziqing, the strongest of the three. He was at the sixth level of the Inner Breath Realm, but he didn't want to hurt himself here.

Perhaps Li Chen was the closest to this place, and he had arrived here first.

"The words of this Junior Brother are not pleasant to listen to. This is the demon beast we are hunting anyway, so why would we forcefully snatch it?"

On the opposite side, a teenager with two short knives at his waist casually waved the dragon eye sized beast core in his hand. Clearly, the demon pig was a middle stage demon beast.

One mid-stage Demonic Core was comparable to several mid-grade Juxi Pills. To the outer sect disciples, it was priceless.

"You … "You put …"

Zhang Futong's face turned red from the other party's shameless words. His imposing manner was taken away, leaving him speechless for a moment.

"Hmph, Lu Hongyang, I think your skin is itchy. You dare to bully my junior brother?"

With a loud thump, a large fat figure jumped down from a distant boulder and swiftly rushed over.