Monthly tickets are doubled! One vote becomes two, two votes become four — I'm begging on my knees for monthly tickets! We're at the end of the month, and Little Mo doesn't want to get overtaken. I'd at least like to hold a spot on the new book monthly ticket rankings!
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Not long after Qi Jianxing died, a blood bead condensed from his body — roughly the same size as the one left behind after that person from Ghost King Valley had died.
After all, they were both young warriors at the Zhenyuan Realm. The gap between their strength hadn't been that great.
Yang Kai caught his breath while collecting the blood bead, then searched Qi Jianxing's body. Before long, he found several more blood beads of varying sizes — spoils from Qi Jianxing's previous fights that he had never consumed.
In addition, there were some silver bills and a jade-green bottle.
That was the entirety of his haul.
He stuffed everything into his Universe Bag and quickly departed the scene.
Half a day later, inside a mountain hollow, Yang Kai sat cross-legged and swallowed a few healing pills. He also changed out of his blood-soaked clothes, doing his best to remove any trace of the scent of blood.
The cave he was hiding in was one he had dug himself. After learning that those from the Celestial Wolf Kingdom could enslave demon beasts to fight, Yang Kai knew he would need to be far more careful going forward. He carved out a cave, hid inside to recuperate, and sealed the entrance — this way he could avoid all manner of potential trouble.
The fight with Qi Jianxing had left him with injuries that were neither light nor heavy. Yang Kai's strength and physical recovery had both improved dramatically compared to before. It would take only a few days to heal fully, especially with the help of healing pills.
In just three days, the three blood holes in his body were no longer a serious concern. They hadn't fully healed, but they had stopped bleeding.
Over those three days, Yang Kai had been continuously replaying his fight with Qi Jianxing — dwelling on his opponent's arrogant blunder and his own careful prudence, searching for the other man's shortcomings so he could reflect on himself.
He had gained a great deal!
When he opened his eyes, his body felt wonderful everywhere. An all-out battle left a person feeling genuinely exhilarated.
The Yang Liquid in his dantian needed a bit of replenishing. Fortunately, his grandmaster Ling Taixu had left several bottles of yang-attribute pills in the Universe Bag, so Yang Kai didn't have to worry about that.
He swallowed an entire bottle. Only a dozen or so additional drops of Yang Liquid formed in his dantian.
Now that his Yuan Qi had been refined to a purer state, condensing a single drop of Yang Liquid required far more energy than before — which was a good thing.
After some thought, Yang Kai swallowed all the remaining bottles of yang-attribute pills as well, finally causing his supply of Yang Liquid to increase dramatically.
Rummaging through his Universe Bag, Yang Kai pulled out the jade-green bottle.
This bottle had been taken from Qi Jianxing's body. He had no idea what was inside.
The moment he uncorked it, a wave of searing heat washed over him. The sensation felt familiar and comforting, yet it also made him slightly wary.
He could clearly sense that the substance in the bottle contained energy of extreme purity and richness. Though it bore some resemblance to the energy in his own yang-attributed Yuan Qi, it was not quite the same.
Leaning in for a closer look, Yang Kai saw a liquid inside the bottle that resembled colored glaze, radiating the color of flame.
Not much — only four or five drops.
Qi Jianxing had had nothing else on him. Only this one bottle of liquid, which he had treasured as a priceless gem. Its value had to be enormous.
But what exactly was this stuff? Yang Kai inspected it from every angle, sniffed it over and over, and racked his mind — consumed by curiosity.
"Earth Demon!" Yang Kai called out.
"Yes, this old servant is here!" Earth Demon answered with fawning eagerness.
"Take a look at this. Do you recognize it?" Yang Kai asked.
Earth Demon let out several awkward, embarrassed coughs.
"Forget it..." Yang Kai saw right through it. He knew Earth Demon was being useless again.
The old demon's memory was a mess. Sometimes he could be enormously helpful, and other times he was absolutely worthless. Yang Kai had long since gotten used to it.
If Earth Demon actually recognized this substance, he would have jumped at the chance to show off his knowledge. There was no way he would have waited for Yang Kai to ask.
After sniffing at it for a while, Yang Kai concluded the substance was probably non-toxic. After discussing it briefly with Earth Demon, the old demon came to the same conclusion.
But Yang Kai still wasn't comfortable taking the risk. He rushed out from his place of secluded cultivation and searched for a long time before finding a lone fourth-stage demon beast. Without a second thought, he pummeled it into unconsciousness, then carried it back to the cave.
On the way back, he plucked a dried blade of grass. Carefully, Yang Kai used the grass to dab a tiny amount of the liquid from the bottle, then placed it into the demon beast's mouth.
He waited quietly, observing.
In just a short while, the demon beast let out a horrifying, anguished wail. It was as if it had been struck by some terrible poison — its entire body convulsed uncontrollably, white foam dripped from its mouth, and its body flickered erratically with bursts of light.
Yang Kai's expression turned grim. He silently marveled at how fortunate it was that he hadn't tried it on himself, or he might have died without ever knowing what killed him.
Just as he was thinking this, the fourth-stage demon beast suddenly erupted with a tremendous surge of energy. In the next instant, it broke free from Yang Kai's restraint with explosive vigor, vibrant and powerful, and began battling him ferociously inside the cave.
Whatever signs of poisoning there had been before — they were completely gone.
After a fierce battle that lasted a long while, Yang Kai slew it in a fury.
Staring at the demon beast's corpse, Yang Kai was lost in thought, somewhat puzzled.