Chapter Thirty-Seven: Unexpected Harvest

  Xia Chen's face turned pale, a resolute glint flashed in his eyes, and he patted his abdomen, already retrieving four Exploding Yuan Qi Pellets from his storage space!

  Even Lian Lei and Feng Yin could barely withstand a single blow from Lie Zhi Xiong, let alone the combined force of two Lie Zhi Xiongs. Apart from using the Exploding Yuan Qi Dan to perish together, Xia Chen had no other way out.

  Suddenly, the leading cleft-lipped bear let out a roar.

  The two giant paws of the split-toothed bear froze in mid-air, hesitated for a moment, and then withdrew.

  The leading saber-toothed bear walked over, its bloodthirsty eyes fixed on Xia Chen. After a few low growls, it pointed in the direction of the previous location and made a wild tearing motion with its massive claws.

  The meaning is very clear, if Xia Chen doesn't want to die, then continue following it.

  Xia Chen gritted his teeth, he was confident that he could kill two of the rift bears with explosives, but judging from the speed they had shown earlier, if all four were to attack at once, even with the explosive yuanqi dan, he would only end up being torn apart.

  Blast Spirit Pellet is not omnipotent, not only is it quite slow to replicate, but as time passes, the spirit of Blast Spirit Pellet will also flow away, after a few days, Blast Spirit Pellet will become a waste pellet!

  The corner of his eye twitched, and Xia Chen silently followed the lead bear's footsteps. He wouldn't choose to go down together unless absolutely necessary; as long as there wasn't absolute danger, he could look for opportunities to escape on the way.

  Four bears walked silently, moving at a considerable speed. After the time it took to burn several incense sticks, they had already passed over the mountain peak where Xia Chen had been cultivating earlier and arrived in an even more secluded and quiet valley.

  Xia Chen's face turned pale, and all the way, he never found any opportunity. The four split-toothed bears were always divided into four corners, surrounding him in the middle. As long as there was a slight movement, they would let out a menacing roar.

  After entering the valley, the leading fissured bear stopped in front of a huge cave that was several meters high and wide, then gestured for Xia Chen to go inside.

  Xia Chen looked at the pitch-black cave, took a deep breath, and his hand had four more explosive Yuanqi Dan. He thought to himself, "If all else fails, I'll just blow this cave up today. If I die, you few beasts won't survive either."

  As soon as Xia Chen walked into the cave, the four split-toothed bears' eyes revealed a bloodthirsty and excited gaze, and they also followed him in.

  After walking about a dozen or so zhang, Xia Chen's eyes lit up, and in front of him was the end. The interior of this cave is roughly a dozen or so zhang square, with a fire burning in the center.

  Suddenly, Xia Chen's pupils contracted violently!

  By the bonfire, a gigantic saber-toothed bear lay, its body emitting a ferocious aura. Its green eyes shot out a cold gaze, staring at Xia Chen, and an intense sense of oppression surged in instantly.

  Adult Crack-toothed Bear! Xia Chen sucked in a breath of cool air and involuntarily took two steps back.

  Waaah! Waaah!

  Several young cleft-lipped bears let out excited roars, dashing past Xia Chen's back to the side of the adult bear, rubbing affectionately against its massive body.

  The leading cleft-lipped bear pointed at Xia Chen, seemingly talking to the adult cleft-lipped bear, and let out a series of roars.

  An adult giant panda pats the heads of several young giant pandas with its massive paws, nods its head as if wanting to get up, but its huge body moves slightly and then heavily falls back onto the ground, also revealing a painful expression in its eyes.

  It no longer tried to get up, but instead looked at Xia Chen, slowly opening its bloody mouth, and a fierce gust of wind suddenly burst out.

  Xia Chen finally understood, it seemed that the adult crested bear was seriously injured and couldn't move. The reason why these young crested bears didn't kill him but instead drove him here was to let the adult crested bear eat him alive.

  These damn beasts actually think they're blood food! Xia Chen was furious and clutched the Exploding Yuan Qi Pill tightly.

  Behind him was the direction of the cave entrance, and those few young saber-toothed tigers did not surround him again, but instead ran to the side of the adult saber-toothed beast, which was the best opportunity to make a move.

  In fact, these few demon beasts had also let their guard down. In their eyes, Xia Chen was just a small and insignificant mortal cultivator who wasn't even worth attacking. As long as he was in the cave, there was no way for him to escape.

  Xia Chen quickly retreated backwards, although he had the Exploding Yuan Qi Pill, a fully grown Lacerated Bear's strength was in no way inferior to that of a Divine Spirit Master. Even if it were heavily injured, its desperate counterattack would likely be enough to finish him off as well.

  A few split-toothed bears gaze at their prey with a playful glint in their eyes, watching them make futile attempts to escape until they are desperate, which fills the bears with great excitement.

  At this time, the adult split-toothed bear had opened its mouth to the maximum extent and took a strong suction towards Xia Chen.

  A massive suction force came over, and Xia Chen immediately felt himself being drawn uncontrollably towards the adult Lizard Bear.

  He was shocked and threw out all the explosive Yuan Qi Dan in his hand without thinking, then he turned around and ran wildly towards the entrance of the cave with all his might.

  Eight explosive yuanqi dan shot into the mouth of a grown crack-toothed bear at once.

  Boom!

  A dark green light flashed, emitting a deafening explosion sound, and a powerful air wave like a tsunami, Xia Chen was shot out of the cave like a stone shot from a slingshot.

  Bang!

  Xia Chen slapped heavily on the ground, a strong and invisible air wave burst out of the cave entrance, the entire cave shook violently for a moment, countless rubble and tiles fell down, almost collapsing.

  Xia Chen couldn't care less about the pain, and scrambled to his feet in one swift motion. With a wave of his hand, another yellow talisman appeared, which was precisely the Blazing Talisman that the mysterious woman had given him to save his life.

  The duplication of Huǒyào Fúlóng is extremely slow. In half a month, Jíbǎo Pén only duplicated two copies.

  Xia Chen couldn't care about the pain, hearing the miserable roar of the Lichee Bear inside the mountain cave, apparently not yet dead. Now that his life was at stake, he activated the true energy in his hand and threw the fierce fire talisman into the mountain cave.

  The fierce fire talisman suddenly turned into a huge fireball that was as dazzling as a small sun, and it rushed towards the end of the mountain cave with a loud whoosh.

  With a loud crash, the massive fireball slammed into the depths of the cave, instantly forming a sea of flames that roared and burned fiercely. The heat was so intense that even outside the cave, it felt terrifyingly hot.

  After Xia Chen retreated far away, he stared at the cave that had become a fire pit with his eyes wide open. This was his first time using the fierce fire talisman, and its power was truly astonishing. Even if it were a cultivator above the seventh heaven of later days, facing the fierce fire talisman would only leave them with the option to flee for their lives.

  After a long time, the fierce flames finally gradually weakened, and the mountain cave returned to calmness. Only the pungent smell of burnt offerings came out from the cave.

  Xia Chen cautiously guarded himself, waited for a while, and then walked into the cave. Earlier, he vaguely heard the cracking bear's miserable cry in the firelight, but it suddenly disappeared without a sound, and even after half a day, there was no sign of the cracking bear rushing out. It is estimated that even if it didn't die, it must have been seriously injured.

  At the end of the cave, there were still residual sparks burning, illuminating the tragic scene inside.

  Four underage cubs were burned to a crisp, their fur and flesh charred black, struggling in various postures on the ground, emitting wisps of smoke, already dead beyond death.

  The adult Split-Toothed Bear was even more miserable, its massive body almost shattered by the Exploding Yuan Qi Pill and then incinerated by the Flame Talisman, making it barely recognizable.

  However, eight explosive yuanqi dan were still unable to blow the adult fissured bear into smithereens, which was enough to show how formidable its physical body was.

  Xia Chen let out a breath of relief, and couldn't help but feel shocked and delighted. Although he had lost one Fire Symbol Paper and almost all of his Exploding Yuan Qi Pills, he had managed to kill an adult Split-Toothed Bear and four young ones. This was equivalent to the power of a top-notch Spiritual Master and four Late-Stage Seventh-Order Cultivators!

  He crouched down, pulled out a dagger from the storage space, slashed open the adult bear's head, and then pulled out a blood-stained round ball.

  The sphere was the size of an egg, and after wiping away the blood and flesh fragments, it immediately became crystal clear, like a gemstone. Xia Chen's face lit up with joy, this sphere was actually the inner elixir of the Crack-toothed Bear!

  The inner elixir of a demon beast is a very precious heavenly material and earthly treasure, which can be used for refining elixirs, refining equipment, or other uses. The stronger the demon beast, the more valuable its inner elixir.

  The inner elixir of a mature Yao beast would make even a divine cultivator's heart move with desire.

  Xia Chen's heart stirred, his recent cultivation of the Thunderbolt Seal had made significant progress, but the Great Golden Body was only superficially practiced. This wasn't because the Great Golden Body was more difficult to cultivate, but rather it required stringent external conditions, ideally the refinement of demon beast blood or the tempering of the inner elixir, in order to achieve the best results.

  With the inner elixir of the cracked-toothed bear, he can now cultivate the Great Golden Body. Xia Chen thought to himself that if cultivating the Great Golden Body could be as swift as the Thunderbolt Imprint, even a sixth-grade mortal might have a chance to contend with it.

  Apart from the Inner Elixir, the Split-Toothed Bear's skin, claws and sharp teeth are also excellent materials that can be used to forge armor or weapons with defensive and attacking capabilities far surpassing the ordinary.

  Xia Chen used his dagger to cut off the cracked bear skin, claws and sharp teeth, and put them together with the inner dan in the storage space. Unfortunately, this adult cracked bear was blown up and only half of its body remained, otherwise Xia Chen's harvest would have been twice as much.

  As for the few underage cleft-lipped bears, Xia Chen didn't take them seriously. With adult cleft-lipped bears around, these young ones were insignificant.

  Suddenly, a round and swollen thing rolled out from the carcass of the adult split-toothed bear and bumped against Xia Chen's foot.

  "What's this?" Xia Chen was taken aback.

  With a soft whooshing sound, this round thing suddenly burst open, as if opening a package.

  Inside was a palm-sized bag and a black short sword about one foot long.

  Xia Chen was taken aback, picked up the bag and short sword. The bag was made of unknown materials, extremely tough, without an opening, but on the top of the bag, a faint glow flashed, as if it were sealed.

  Storage bag? Xia Chen was shocked.

  As for the black short sword, there was no scabbard. The sword emitted a cold aura, and from time to time, a flash of light would pass through it. In the flashes of light, dense floral patterns could be faintly seen.

  This is... a treasure! Xia Chen was even more shocked, although he had never used any treasures before, but having not eaten pork, at least he had seen pigs run, and could guess.

  Xia Chen hastily picked up the package-like object, and after wiping off the blood and flesh fragments on its surface, a square-shaped map of several feet in length and width appeared before his eyes.