Chapter Twenty-Two: Exchanging for the Demon Core

  The old monkey's toothless mouth was open wide, its lips flapping wildly as it moved in the dimly lit cave, making its hairy face look exceptionally terrifying.

  But a pair of brown eyes, however, flickered with a hint of astonishment, before quickly calming down and soothing the equally excited little golden monkey.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  The dull and obscure sound of a bubble bursting, continuously emerged from Licheng's body as he sat upright, it had been about an hour or so, the layer upon layer of water vapor on his body finally dispersed.

  Under the admiring gaze of two black iron-armed monkeys, he slowly opened his eyes, and a sharp aura burst out. He slowly got up, bowed to the old monkey: "Thank you, Old Monkey, for the gift of wine!"

  Even if he was dull-witted, at this moment he understood that the wine he had drunk must have been the legendary Monkey Wine.

  Although he only let him enter the inner breath of the sixth layer, to the peak of the sixth layer, without directly breaking through his cultivation, just drinking a mouthful had such an effect, not to mention that there was still a whole bamboo tube of monkey wine.

  The most important thing is not the increase in cultivation, but the strengthening of physical strength. The primordial energy in that mouthful of wine mostly entered the muscles and strengthened the bones.

  With a slight clench of his fist, a crisp cracking sound was heard, and he secretly estimated that he had become at least two levels stronger than before.

  Just smelling the aroma on his body and he understood that this Monkey Wine definitely had the effect of washing the marrow.

  Hehe!

  The old monkey waved its paws and then pointed at the bamboo tube, swinging it forward.

  "Goodbye!"

  Li Chen understood that the other party wanted to send him off, so he immediately bowed and took out all the spiritual pills from his backpack, put the bamboo tube into his backpack, and then strode out.

  Without lingering, under the leadership of two iron-armed monkeys, they climbed up the mountain peak along those vines.

  Standing on the mountain top and gazing out at Monkey Valley, Li Chen knew that he owed this monkey a debt of gratitude.

  "Ah, welcome, sir! What can I get for you?"

  In a small town on the outskirts of Gu Cang Mountain, a shop welcomed a guest wearing a cloak. The young shopkeeper had seen many adventurers dressed like this before and was not surprised.

  "Do you have a demon core?"

  A hoarse voice came from under the cloak, making it impossible to tell his age.

  "Monster core? This... objectively speaking, we have all sorts of elixirs here, but monster cores are nowhere to be found!"

  The shopkeeper looked embarrassed, the demon core was an extremely precious cultivation resource, and the yuanqi contained within it was more pure than any kind of dan medicine that a warrior could cultivate, making it easier to absorb.

  Of course, you need to use a special method to remove its internal evil energy first. Few warriors sell demon cores, so they are also scarce in general shops.

  The Cloak Man nodded and immediately turned around and left.

  "Sir, please wait a moment, our humble shop happens to have one such spirit core, but I'm not sure..."

  Suddenly, a sharp and fine voice came over, causing the hooded man to look over, only to see an old man with a pointed mouth and chin, smiling with his right hand stretching out three fingers back and forth.

  "What level?"

  The same hoarse and emotionless voice came out again.

  "It works!"

  The old man's eyes lit up and he hastily stepped aside, pulling open the door curtain. "Please come in, sir! Little Li will bring tea!"

  The Cloak Man didn't say much and walked into the side door with the old man.

  "A late-stage yao core; with my old and worn-out eyes, it must be from a top-notch, near-top-tier yao beast!"

  After the young waiter served tea and left, the old man calmly pushed his teacup and stared straight at the person in the cloak with a pair of small eyes.

  Unfortunately, the only gap in the cloak was also covered by scattered hair, making it impossible to see any facial features.

  "Green wisteria, night jasmine and purple iris; if any of them are not in full bloom, remove one stem!"

  The Cloak Man spoke briefly and to the point.

  "A First-Grade High-Level Spirit Medicine!"

  The old man's eyes lit up and he took a deep breath, "Wait a moment, sir!"

  He stood up and walked towards the back hall, and soon returned with a palm-sized black lacquer box in his hand. He first looked at the tea cup in front of the hooded man, which hadn't moved at all, and a hint of disappointment flashed across his eyes.

  With a click, the jade box was opened, and inside, a crystal nucleus about the size of a walnut, mottled and rough, but with a faint cyan glow, caught my eye.

  The Cloak Man slightly bowed his head, nodded, and reached into his bosom to rummage around for a while. He took out three jade boxes of varying lengths, opened them one by one, and suddenly a fragrance wafted out. Inside were indeed three spiritual medicines with different shapes and colors.

  "The branches and leaves are intact, the technique is skillful, this demon core belongs to you, sir!"

  The old man carefully examined it and gently pushed the jade box with his eyes, naturally seeing that these few spiritual herbs had been picked not long ago.

  The Cloak Man quietly put away his things and took out a few jade boxes: "Do you have any Rebirth Pills or Strengthening Powder?"

  Yes, yes!

  The old man's eyes sparkled with a hint of cleverness as he chuckled and retrieved four jade bottles from a nearby cabinet.

  These two medicinal pellets are only mid-grade products of the first tier. The Replenishing Blood Pellet, as its name suggests, is used to restore one's vital energy and blood, while the Strengthening Body Powder is used to increase one's strength, often carried by low-ranking warriors when they venture out to search for treasures.

  The man in the cloak picked up one of the bottles, pulled out the stopper and sniffed it under his nose, nodded and put it away, got up without saying much and left.

  "Veterans these days, why are adventurers so cunning?"

  At the entrance of the store, the old man made a sound and turned back into the house, pouring out the untouched cup of tea directly.

  The whole body wrapped in a cloak under the dawn, secretly thinking about what he had gained in the past month.

  Within less than half a month of leaving Monkey Valley, he had tempered himself on the outskirts of the mountain range and only then left the Valley of the Ancients, exchanging the spiritual medicine he obtained for what he needed.

  Although he had hunted and killed many demon beasts, the amount of demon cores he obtained was extremely small. Moreover, he had also broken through to the sixth layer peak, so mid-grade demon cores were basically unable to replenish much of his internal energy.

  Fortunately, this time I didn't return empty-handed and got a first-order late-stage demon core.

  But he didn't rush to swallow the demon core. Although it hadn't been long since he cultivated his inner energy, he knew that the way of martial arts was that if you wanted to make progress quickly, you wouldn't be able to achieve your goal.

  Now breaking through too quickly, without sufficient martial arts cultivation, will inevitably lead to an unstable foundation, and future gains will not be worth the losses.

  "Halt!"

  The domineering and arrogant drinking of wine startled Lei Chen who was deep in thought. As he looked up, he secretly thought "this is terrible".

  In front of him, there were seven or eight young warriors, sizing up the surrounding stalls. Among them was a pale-faced girl in green clothes, who didn't seem very enthusiastic, surrounded by a crowd of people like a moon surrounded by stars.

  It was not someone else, but rather Qián Huá, who was kidnapped and injured by Lí Chén from the cave half a month ago. Yáng Róng Fēng and several others were also present.

  At this time, she was blocking a warrior wearing a cloak with a gloomy face.

  It goes without saying that the other party must have been brooding over the events of that day and, upon seeing someone with a similar build, they would interrogate them.

  The warrior also knew his limits and when he saw that the other side had a large crowd, he immediately opened his cloak on the spot, revealing an ordinary face, and was finally let go by the crowd.

  Li Chen's figure slightly paused, and a plan flashed through his mind like lightning, but in the end, he was at a loss, so he had to pretend that nothing was wrong and continue walking forward. However, as he walked, he found himself on the other side of the street.

  As a warrior, it's possible to have one or two enemies, so warriors wearing cloaks and hiding their figures on the streets are not uncommon. Li Chen just hoped that the other party would pass by without noticing him.