Page 23: Like a drug
[System notice: You have killed a middle grade Earth rank beast.]
'That's the fifth mid grade earth rank beast I have slayed today. It was tougher than I thought. Without the sword senior gave me, I might have been into trouble instead.'
Long Bai took out the orange shard inside the beast and stored it into the cosmic pouch. After gathering enough herbs on the list, he had been hunting and killing middle grade beast for almost two hours. There was still some time before ot gets dark so Bai decided to check on the things he got on a tree top.
Long Bai rested on a tall tree and took out the cosmic pouch. There were five orange shards on his palm glowing, emitting a much denser essence than the red shard. Outside the sect, he has only seen orange shard once or twice in his lifetime. Almost all of the commodities he's seen in the outer market were bought with a red shard. Now that he's a sect disciple, there won't be any problem when he tries to enter the central market of the city, however, this plan is for later.
Bai plans to absorb the essence to increase his cultivation and try hunting a high grade earth rank beast. Such opportunity is not to be wasted.
[System alert: You are about to absorb an essence shard. Choose a route of cultivation.
~Core development
~Body tempering ]
Since Long Bai needs strength, he opted the latter. With the system's assist, absorbing the essence from shards became efficient but if he wants to learn how to absorb essence from the surroundings, he must develop the core. Although absorbing the essence from the surrounding sounds better by cultivating, Long Bai doesn't know when would be the extent of his core be developed and in addition the number of resources he needs to complete it. For the mean time, sticking to shards is the best route and improve the other aspects when opportunity arrives.
[System notice: You absorbed the essence. Cultivation level has risen to the 6th layer.]
As Long Bai feel the changes happening in his body, the euphoric state of getting stronger was undeniably addicting. The absorption only took a few minutes that Long Bai felt a little disappointed with how quick it disappeared. But still, reaching the upper limit of the middle layers was satisfying. The orange shard was denser 3 times the red ones and it felt more comforting according to Bai's experience. Now he's ready for one last round.
From tree to tree, Long Bai can see more things clearly. This is what he learned from his previous endeavors, that having a bird's eyeview of things makes it safer and more efficient in hunting. Just a couple of minutes, he spotted his prey, it was a four legged beast with yellow spots, dark fur with a bushy tail. It was walking slowly along the slope but wasn't wary of its surroundings. This must be the confidence of a predator on top, the feeling of being the strongest giving oneself a false notion that no one can put you in any harm.
[Yellow-spotted Darkcloud
High grade, Earth rank
Skills: Swift claw, Rabid fang]
The system information flashed the beast's info the moment Bai came into a clear view of it. With the ghostly steps, the beast hasn't notice the looming killer above it. Just when Bai was in position, he immediately made a slashing motion from above.
Just before the sword cuts a great deal of damage, the beast was able to move quickly and manage to reduce the cut into a small incision. Small amount of blood trickled on the ground but it was not a big deal for the beast considering its size. It was a meter tall and at most two meters in length. It looked like a taller version of a Jaguar with yellow spots.
'Oh man! It was able to feel my presence just before the cut. Its a high grade beast indeed.'
Long Bai stood his ground as he watched the darkcloud beast getting enraged. Its roar reverberated throughout the area scaring off any other nearby beasts of lower grade. This beast was at its peak and maybe a few years, it might evolve into a sky rank beast. In its roar, there was a hint of essence in it which is only present in sky rank beast's attack.
While the beast was at its enraged state, Bai who was weaker needs to rely on his speed. Using all his might, he pushed his speed to the limit and went on for a strike. He aimed for the vulnerable parts of the head but the beast was also dextrous. Frontal attacks were easily dodged and only the the occasional follow up slices made through. It was not enough. Although the beast was riddled with cuts, it wasn't deep enough. Bai on the other hand started to feel being exhausted due to exertion of massive strength in every strike. Using the Sky martial sword's slashes was not efficient enough to kill the beast, since it was a skillbmeant for an opponent with a human anatomy. Instead, Bai changed the tactics by using the stab skills of the Sky martial sword.
With the slanted terrain, Long Bai took the higher ground and changed his form by crouching on the ground; his left hand down while the right arm was holding the sword leveled beside his head pointing at the beast. With the strength on the hind legs at full capacity, he made a speedy strike aimed at the beast.
The pointed sword entered the beast's wide open mouth as it retaliated with a pounce. The cold sword penetrated the soft flesh of the beast's palate and further moving to the interior of the skull. The death was instantaneous as the head was punctured and when Bai retracted the sword, blood sprayed out of the wound. A loud thud was heard as the heavy beast's corpse lastly fall on the ground.
Bai's exhaustion from the clash caused him to lay on the ground. For a few seconds, he was able to calm himself. Staying near a bloodied corpse was not a good idea so Bai immediately retrieved the yellow shard from the beast's belly and made his exit.
Since this is a forest, beasts would be able to smell the stench coming from the blood of the dead. With this, any sign of the battle will the destroyed once they will come and feast on the carcass. Unless one is a forensic anthropologist, they would be able to see the markers on the bone but this world doesn't offer such job so no traces would be left. Maybe in the future, if he's strong enough, these hiding and running won't be necessary anymore. If there is a safe route, he would definitely choose that unless there are some other things to consider that needs safety to be discarded.
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Zhang Li's worries
It was almost dark so she decided to return to the meeting place. She was just one herb away from completing the list when she heard a loud roar. She sensed a stir in the surrounding's essence and noticed that the roar was dangerous.
'No! That was a peak earth rank beast. Don't tell me that he's met with such beast. Didn't we agreed that he'll just stick to the outer areas? I must go and check it.'
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Long Bai's notes
In order to cultivate, a cultivation base technique is required. This allows the person to absorb:
~world essence (earth essence)
~elemental essence (fire, water, wood, etc)
~heaven and earth essence (no info)
~world law(no info)
Essence are stored in crystals(shards and cores) which enables a person to easily absorb the essence since he doesn't need to collect it from the environment.
Grades:
~low (red)
~mid (orange)
~high (yellow*)
*the author wants to change yellow from the previous stated green color.