Chapter 5: The Strife of the Demon Cores

  The dense forest concealed the mountain wall, with the sun hanging high and a gentle breeze blowing by, casting dappled shadows that seemed somewhat ominous.

  "Found it!"

  In a thicket of weeds and rocks, Li Chen crouched down, moving slowly forward, the eyes under his hair seemed to have a flash of light even in the daytime.

  He carefully scanned the surroundings, not relaxing because of the quietness here. Although he was young and had never been to Gu Cang Mountain before, his grandfather Old Li had told him many stories.

  Especially when it comes to warriors entering ancient Cangshan to search for treasure and losing their lives due to carelessness.

  Since childhood, due to ugly birthmarks and inability to condense internal energy,

  Staring intently at a distance of several feet, in a rock crevice, extended a chopstick-thick, all-green, tender yellow thorn-covered vine, only about ten inches long.

  On its tender green leaves, there are a few dew drops trembling, and under the shining light above, it looks exceptionally delightful.

  "Green Thorn Vine, a top-grade spiritual medicine, main ingredient of the Top-Grade Gathering Spirit Pill!"

  The information flashed through his mind like a vine, and Li Chen's more than three years as a medicine slave were not in vain. He carefully scanned the soil and rocks within a radius of about 10 meters around the vine, without missing a single detail.

  Being able to find the divine medicine before others is not due to cultivation, but rather years of being a medicine slave, which has honed his keen sense of smell for medicinal flavors.

  Suddenly, the pupils contracted abruptly, a circle that seemed to be no different from the surrounding soil and rocks, but was obviously connected in a piece, a strange and weird snake with a body as thick as an infant's arm and only two feet long appeared before one's eyes.

  "Earth Ring Snake, a mid-tier demonic beast, heavily defensive, extremely poisonous, and incredibly powerful!"

  At the moment of discovering the earth ring snake, it suddenly spat out a scarlet snake letter, looking up at the dawn.

  The demon beast is born with a penchant for killing, and the spiritual awareness is even more sensitive. Even if Li Chen follows the knowledge taught by Lao Li Tou to the best of his abilities, he still lacks experience.

  Facing this mid-level demon beast that even a sixth-layer warrior would find daunting, Li Chen felt like retreating. However, he remembered Old Man Li's teachings: snake-type demon beasts have extremely fast close-range attack speeds. If he showed any signs of retreat, he would definitely suffer the Thunderbite of the Earth Ring Snake.

  He who strikes first wins; he who strikes last loses!

  "Only hard-won!"

  Although his scalp was numb, there was another surge of excitement in his heart. Li Chen's legs exerted force, and he suddenly sprang up like a rabbit, his eyes shooting out an intimidating gleam. The inner breath in his meridians, which had reached the fifth level, suddenly surged and poured into his right arm, and with a fierce punch, he struck the snake's neck.

  There is a python that harms the earth, Li Chen and Xin Xin, one punch shattered its internal meridians, even if the vitality is strong again, it's useless.

  Hiss!

  It seemed to have been startled by Li Chen's movement, but after all, it was a demon beast that grew up in a cruel environment. The earth ring snake opened its mouth and let out a shrill cry, its entire body straightened and popped up, and it actually bypassed the fist peak, flashing towards the throat with lightning speed.

  "So fast!"

  Li Chen's pupils suddenly contracted, his fist didn't change, but it changed from a fist to a claw. The already mature and perfect Tiger Roar Fist, the changes in his fists and palms were smooth and natural. Moreover, what he had learned was the high-level human-stage technique "Rong Yang Jue", extremely strong and fierce, with even greater killing power.

  The muscles on his fingertips, under the support of internal energy, had a faint wave of air passing through, and with a "pa" sound, he grabbed the suddenly pouncing earth ring snake.

  The fingers seemed to grasp a rough iron rod, the earth ring snake was only two feet long, barely longer than Li Chen's arm, and was caught in the middle and lower parts, instantly biting towards his shoulder.

  "Die!"

  Li Chen's entire arm swung in a circle, not waiting for it to bite, and swiftly rotated like a windmill, smashing the earth ring snake with a loud crash, sending shattered stones flying and making a crackling sound.

  After a while, I felt the earth ring snake's tail wrapped around my wrist relax its grip. With a swift movement, I stomped my foot heavily on its head.

  With a soft whoosh, the cold light flashed by, and in Lei Chen's left hand, a silver dagger suddenly appeared, suppressing the numb pain spreading through his arm, pinning the Tuhuan snake to the ground, and fiercely stabbing at the pale blue spot on its neck.

  Pfft!

  The blade cut into the flesh, splashing up a thread of sweet and fishy blood. The earth ring snake that was stabbed to death twisted twice before it stopped moving.

  Comparable to a six-layered martial artist's demonic beast, it was killed in just two moves. Apart from its low spiritual intelligence, it had no other strengths apart from its toxicity and defense. Coupled with Li Chen's cultivation method, which made his physical body extremely strong, it was enough to prove Li Chen's current strength, absolutely surpassing that of an average six-layered martial artist.

  At this time, his cultivation had broken through to the fifth layer due to the accumulation of the Accumulation Pill he secretly took at night.

  It was just that much of a boost, but it allowed Li Chen to break through to the fifth layer peak in these few months of bitter training, which made him feel a little discouraged.

  Panting heavily, without even wiping the fine sweat on his forehead, Li Chen took out a jade bottle from his backpack, pulled out the stopper, and directly turned the snake corpse upside down.

  A dark red snake blood flowed out, emitting heat and pouring into a small jade bottle, until the snake blood turned red. Only then did Li Chen put down the snake corpse and put it back in his Taoist backpack.

  After doing all this, Li Chen peeled off the snake skin, pulled out the venomous fangs, and as for the snake meat, he finally chose to give up, the bloody smell was too great, and it would be difficult to avoid being detected.

  If others were to find out, a 'good-for-nothing' like him was actually able to hunt and kill a mid-tier demon beast, it would definitely bring about unnecessary trouble.

  Having been humiliated for many years, there is still some hidden resentment in my heart.

  Unfortunately, after pinching the snake corpse, no demon core was found.

  Carefully dug out that green thorn vine, just about to rest for a while, suddenly got up and rushed towards the mountain forest.

  Like a spirit monkey, it vanished in an instant into the dense forest.

  Whoosh!

  A shrill flute sound came from afar, rising and falling in waves. If it weren't for the keen hearing of dawn, one might easily miss it, or mistake it for the cry of some strange beast.

  Whoosh!

  In the dense forest, clothes fluttering, Li Chen rushes towards the sound of the flute.

  When it reappeared, it hid in the gap between two huge rocks and looked far away.

  All that can be seen is a chaotic thicket, where seven or eight people holding swords are standing opposite each other. From their clothing and attire, they all appear to be disciples of the Xuan Yun Sect, but they are clearly divided into two groups.

  In the middle was a black-brown yao pig that had fallen to the ground, about two meters in size, with dense bloodstains all over its body.

  "You people from the East Wing, forcibly taking away the demon core of a disciple from our South Wing, aren't you afraid of being punished by the Sect Master?"

  A young man held a long sword, his face full of surprise and anger.

  Li Chen recognized him as Zhang Futong, an outer sect disciple whose cultivation was only at the fifth level.

  In Lichun's view, however, it was somewhat superficial and lacking in substance.

  Behind her, Zhao Shan Shan was supporting another young man who had fallen to the ground and couldn't get up. A shocking bloodstain covered his chest, which was rising and falling slightly, indicating severe injuries.

  His name was Liu Ziqing, and he was the strongest of the three in terms of cultivation. He had reached the sixth layer of internal energy, but didn't want to get hurt here.

  It was actually Li Chen who arrived at this place most recently, and he was the first to arrive here.

  "This junior brother's words are unpleasant to hear. This was originally a demon beast that we were hunting, what reason is there for you to rob us?"

  A youth with two short knives at his waist, casually tossed the dragon eye-sized demon core in his hand, apparently that demon pig was a mid-term demon beast.

  A mid-grade You nucleus is enough to surpass several mid-grade Jixi Dan in efficacy, and for an outer sect disciple, it's the most precious thing.

  Zhang Futong was provoked by the opponent's shameless words and his face turned red with rage, and at the same time, he lost his momentum and was speechless for a moment.

  "Hum, Lu Hongyang, I think you're itching for a fight, daring to bully my junior brother?"

  A loud crash, a stout figure jumped down from a distant giant stone and flew quickly towards this place.