Chapter - 17

The jackal glaring at him sniffed and slowly moved around him to ambush. Then, letting out a light growl, the jackal pounced at the place where Long Chen was standing.

Bang!

Long Chen immediately ran around the tree and climbed it as fast as possible. The jackal kept hitting the tree with its claws until the tree started to shake. Due to his climbing attempt and the tremors, he nearly lost his balance and held on to a big branch.

Looking around, he stretched out his hand and grabbed a long branch enough to fit his hand and started swinging it at the beast.

The jackal simply bellowed and erupted through the air towards him. Then, with one hand, he held on to the large branch and the other on this long branch, he thrust it at the face of the pouncing animal.

The branch nearly hit the jackal's eyes, and the sound of cry was heard. Although it didn't hurt the beast, the animal seems enraged after getting poked in its eye.

After finding a good position on the tree, he slowly moved over and stood with his back at the tree's stem to stabilise his body. As long as the beast neared him with its jump, he would immediately swing the branch.

Bang!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The jackal seemed adamant about preying on him and kept striking at the tree with all its strength. Long Chen heard splintering sounds and was sure that the tree would break anytime now, or he would fall due to this disturbance.

He held the branch in hand and recalled all the punching movements he had learned. Then, clenching his fists, he jumped off the tree at the same time the beast had jumped.

The jackal expected this and repelled his punch with its claw. Long Chen felt pain in his arms but held the branch with both hands and mauled at the incoming beast.

Long Chen slowly kept up with the motion of the beast and repeated the mauling action every time the jackal pounced at him.

As time went by, he suddenly released an arm from the branch and punched directly towards the stomach area of the beast. As the jackal fell on the ground due to this sudden action, he directly stabbed the tree branch at the neck area.

Blood oozed out.

Even after receiving such a fatal blow, the jackal swiftly stood up on its four limbs and lunged at him with open jaws. Then, bearing the tree branch again on both hands, he instantly sank the branch into its throat with a punch to its neck from the side.

The jackal crushed into a nearby tree and dropped in a flash. Life and death were unknown.

Long Chen stood there motionless and observed the beast see whether it made any sudden movements. Then, wiping the sweat off his forehead, he kicked the beast a few times to check.

He sat down on the ground and started taking large breaths. Then, taking a sip of water, he surveyed his surroundings.

This battle reflected on his mind. He was a little thankful to Huian for mimicking all the movements whenever they practised. This basically helped him during this fight and probably improved his reaction time.

He scrutinised his torso, And he didn't seem to find any injuries apart from a bit of tearing on his clothes.

'Thank you, Huian, for getting me this armour.'

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"Host, according to this system's experience, the hosts after killing their first creature either cry or stay amazingly calm as if killing is their second nature; why is it that you look so annoyed?"

"System, what kind of armour protects you from claws of beasts but not mosquito bites?"

Long Chen was currently battling his fifth jackal atop the base of another mountain. This jackal was slightly more robust than the first jackal. With elongated claws, several trees were already felled when it struck.

Baaanggg!

He finally punched the jackal's top of its head, and the beast immediately fainted.

'I have reduced the number of hits to fell the beast. Also, I seemed to have improved my dodging.' Long Chen thought.

Long Chen also sensed that the star in his Dantian seemed to be exactly as it is since he started.

"System, what's this?"

"Host, you need a Qi Refinement cultivation technique to move ahead in your stage. The star formed during your Qi refinement slowly melts into the lake. You could be said to have reached peak Qi refinement once the star completely melts."

"System, how exactly does this work?"

"Host, the star in your dantain is the accumulation of spirit energy. Therefore, as long as you have the subsequent cultivation technique, this spirit energy will be refined into Qi."

"System, then how do you define my realm?"

"Host, Early stages of Qi refinement."

"System, isn't there some kind of substages, say like one to nine or something like that?"

"Host, stop referring to novels."

Within the next few days, beasts of various colours and species slowly started the fainting period.

He didn't kill many beasts except those that seemed way too ferocious for him. But then, his fist technique started to get exquisite, and he began to feel some kind of bottleneck.

'Ding. Attention, host.'

'Mission: Obtain 5 beast cores. - COMPLETED'

'Reward: 3 Karma Points.'

'System honest comments: Took such a long time.'

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Long Chen returned to the small cave he had found some time ago. He then laid on the makeshift bed of dry leaves and reflected on the battle skills. Then, as he peeked at his ring devoid of any food, he started to plan his next day.

"System, well. This is a complete waste of my time."

"Host, you cannot grow stronger without many battles. This system thinks this is a good idea."

"System, no. I was thinking something else. Shouldn't there be some kind of plot armour in my story where I miraculously find some precious things or naked babes or some dead cultivator's cave?"

"Host, stop referring to novels."

BOOM !!!

Long Chen was woken up during the middle of the night as the ground shook. From a distance, a distinct sound of trees crashing could be heard. There were various sounds of metal clanging, howls and faint sounds of someone shouting.

Long Chen's expression changed. He was here for several days now, not a single presence of any powerful beasts or humans. What's this now?

A few minutes later, he sprinted in the sound direction and climbed a tall tree. Finally, he hid behind some thick branches and observed the fight from a vantage position.

As he looked down, Long Chen gasped. He saw a large feline creature fighting a young man from his position. The creature's body was covered in a soft layer of light. Wherever the beast slashed with the tip of its claws, the tree would splinter.

'Class three beast!!' Long Chen's pupils shrunk. So this is still the outer perimeter. He had been here for a few days now; where did this beast come from?

This feline creature seemed a bit stronger than regular class three beasts. Moreover, it seemed to have the ability to cover its claws with Qi, making it close to the foundation realm of humans. If Long Chen had dared to fight this beast, he would have long become its ration.

Long Chen had also noticed the glowing weapon on the hands of that young man. Covered with Qi, making it stronger than ordinary weapons. However, he thought that the sword in the hands of that young man must be above Spirit Grade. Is it Elite grade? Advanced patterns can be carved on elite grade weapons. For instance, this pattern seems to add some ability to slash with more force. But, of course, that's his assumption.

The beast seemed to be at the end of its life. It took on all the attacks with a roar, and its body started to tremble. Then, in an instant, its entire body exploded with parts thrown in all directions.

The blast was so powerful that the young man could not avoid the attack in time. He spat blood and was sent flying backwards due to the sudden wave. Hitting a tree, he immediately lost consciousness.

Long Chen decided to check whether the person was alive when he felt something sticking to his back. He grasped a small creature pried it off from his back.

"Mew."

The creature he held emitted a gentle and tender cry. He took a closer look and found that the creature he was holding was actually a tiger cub. Apart from a few stripes, it was covered with yellow fur from head to toe. Its round eyes sparkled, cutting a very tragic figure. Anyone who saw it could not bear to hurt it.

Isn't this a Spirit Devouring Tiger???

"You couldn't be the child of that dead beast, could you? Now, this is problematic," Long Chen felt pity while holding the tiger cub.

This cub was a newborn. That young man had probably taken it and aroused the ire of its parent, leading to this fight. The cub had probably escaped when the man was fighting its parent and climbed the same tree Long Chen was hiding in, grasping him.

When this cub grows up, it would obviously become a ferocious beast. So that young man from just now probably took the cub to either raise it himself or sell it off.

"Little kitty, you'd best stay here. I am sorry about your mother." Long Chen put down the cub and wanted to leave this area. But, only taking a few steps, he once again felt a weight on his back! The cub had once again jumped onto him.

Long Chen sighed as he took a look at the little beast.

"Mew!"

'Ding. Attention, host.'

'Mission: Luminous flower seed at the Noend Valley needs a protection beast.'

'Reward: 5 Karma points.'

'System's honest comments: Place the Spirit Devouring Tiger cub at the cave.'

'System additional comments: When Chen Hong will visit this valley to collect the Luminous Five Petal Flame, she will fight this beast.'

"System, this is still a little beast."

"Host, You needn't worry. The beast will absorb the spirit energy in that cave and grow faster."

The tiger cub softly mewed as it snuggled up to him as if trying to get on his good side.

"Young Master..."

Looking at the two pairs of eyes oozing with cuteness, Long Chen sighed again and said: "Huian. I am sorry. We can't keep the beast with us. I will find a good place for it."

As the three drew nearer to the place where he had seen the fight, all he saw was a bloody mess, a very disgusting sight to behold. Looking at the dead beast in this stage, he could not help but feel nauseous.

There was a sword lying beside the fainted young man. Picking it up, he calmly said, "I will keep it with me."

He heard a faint rustling sound as he was about to leave.

Whizzzzzzz !!!!

Out of the blue, a blast of wind shot out from nowhere, heading straight for the back of his head.

Long Chen jumped to the side, and he barely dodged the arrow aimed at him. He saw an arrow firmly lodged where he had stood before.

"System, is this the start of my very own plot armour?"

"Host, no. This is just a coincidence."