Chapter Fourteen: Advancing Like Flight

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  The desolate ancient forest is even more terrifying than the primitive jungle.

  A marsh full of fallen leaves yet unfathomably deep, black poisonous ants the size of a palm that weigh over 10 kilograms and have a strength of four jin, wolf spiders as big as human heads with web threads as strong as iron that can snap a thousand-kilogram boulder in one go, yellow wasps as large as millstones with stingers like arrows that never miss within a range of fifty zhang.

  Unlike the tranquility of the Bloodstone Tribe's back mountain, entering the ancient forest is like entering a natural graveyard. Lion-like long wolves, sword-toothed tigers with green scales, and three-meter-tall giant black bears - species more ancient than those known in the great technological era - they are majestic and ferocious, yet merely ordinary lower-ranking wild beasts. This is also a hunting ground, where the earth is always stained with blood, without right or wrong, only for survival, becoming stronger.

  Vast and ancient forest within a ten-mile boundary.

  A black wolf with sharp teeth like a sword, tearing at a lame one-horned deer, the air was filled with blood, the entire wolf's face was stained red, its scarlet eyes gleaming with madness, this was a delicious meal.

  Wow!

  Suddenly, a black shadow tore through the sky like an arrow, with a strong gust of wind and a low humming noise. The large black wolf had just reacted when half of its body was already caught in a huge mouth. A water bucket-sized, black-scaled body instantly wrapped around it.

  This was a black-scaled python, at least 70 or 80 feet long. The massive python's head was ferocious, covered in dark green spots, and its pale blue eyes gleamed with a faint cold light. In an instant, the python's body suddenly surged with power, its internal energy boiling like a raging river. With a loud crack, the large black wolf was instantly strangled at the waist, blood gushing out like a fountain. As it swallowed the wolf's blood, the massive python devoured the wolf in one swift motion, the wolf disappearing into its belly. The immense satisfaction caused the python to let out a low hum, its tense scales relaxing, and its snake-like pupils narrowing slightly.

  Wow!

  At this moment, a pale blue arrow pierced the air with a whirring sound. This was a blue long arrow that almost instantly stabbed into the left eye of the black-scaled giant python and penetrated out from its right eye, splashing red blood and white brain matter everywhere.

  Roar!

  The black-scaled giant python roared, shaking the air like thunder. Its massive body was like a huge black whip sweeping across, cutting down trees that were as thick as several people embracing each other. Even trees with trunks as wide as ten people embracing each other shook violently, their bodies splitting open to reveal wounds as large as millstones.

  It took half a cup of tea's worth of time for the black-scaled python to finally fall, leaving an area of over ten square meters in shambles. The earth and mud were overturned several layers deep, revealing clear spring water that was quickly stained red with fresh blood.

  After taking a deep breath, Xiao Yi slowly walked out of the dense forest, holding the Qingyun bow in his hand. His expression was calm and serene, facing the bloody scene before him. For half a month now, he had grown accustomed to such sights. This black-scaled giant python's blood energy was no less than that of an ordinary human warrior who had cultivated fifteen heavenly meridians, but under Xiao Yi's arrows, it still couldn't escape death. His archery skills had improved significantly over the past half month, and now he could hit his target with ease within a range of 150 zhangs.

  Without hesitation, Xiao Yi sat down beside the python's corpse, closed his eyes and began to concentrate on visualizing the Barbarian Elephant diagram. In an instant, a green-scaled elephant appeared in his mind, emitting an ancient and vast aura. The elephant let out a long roar, its four limbs moving like pillars of heaven, shaking the earth. In Xiao Yi's mind, it was as if he had heard the sound of the earth trembling, like the beating of heavenly drums, majestic and awe-inspiring.

  Beside him, the black-scaled giant python's body had blood energy like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, entering his body through every pore on his face and nose, and even before Xiao Yi could absorb and merge it, the stone mirror hummed at his chest, and the python's blood energy essence was completely swallowed up.

  In comparison to the average human's fifteen heavenly veins, this black-scaled giant python had the same power, but its massive body contained more than ten times the amount of blood energy as a human. After taking a few deep breaths, a thumb-sized strand of refined blood energy was spat out by the stone mirror, which did not absorb or merge with it. As Xiao Yi's mind stirred, this crystal-clear blood energy surged into a pigeon egg-sized ball of blood energy beside the stone mirror. In an instant, the ball of blood energy expanded in a circle, transforming into a chicken egg-sized, crystal-clear and pure mass of blood energy without any impurities. This was the culmination of Xiao Yi's accumulation over the past half month. Every day, he would hunt for enough blood food to sustain his tribe for a day, and then use the rest to temper and extract blood energy. Once he had accumulated enough, he would make a breakthrough in the next heavenly vein.

  Half a month passed, and Xiao Yi's blood energy ball in his chest had grown to the size of a fist. The crystal clear and majestic blood energy was pulsating. On this day, at the top of the mountain behind, Xiao Yi sat cross-legged. In one month, he had accumulated a total of three hundred heads of lower-ranked wild beasts, excluding the blood food needed by the tribe. The strongest among them even had a strength of twenty jin. However, under Xiao Yi's increasingly refined archery skills, not a single one escaped death.

  A month of slaughter, a month of battle-honed skills, Xiao Yi's body underwent a transformation that was not physical but spiritual. A month had passed, perhaps influenced by his future self, and he became even more calm and composed, like a sealed furnace, unmoving as a mountain despite the raging thunderstorms.

  His eyes slowly closed, and in an instant, a giant elephant appeared in his mind. A month had passed, and now Xiao Yi no longer needed to deliberately imagine it - the image of the elephant was deeply imprinted on his heart. The spirit of the elephant seemed to have merged with his physical body, and faintly, his marksmanship had become even more domineering than before. Even his basic shooting stance had a kind of grandeur to it.

  At this moment, Xiao Yi's whole body was surging with energy and blood, the 108 heavenly veins were trembling, as if they were a series of heavenly tracks connecting the limbs to the Baihui. Among them, two heavenly veins were particularly thick and large, like two heavenly vines connecting heaven and earth, emitting a soft blue crystal light. As soon as Xiao Yi's mind moved, pure fighting energy burst out from the two heavenly veins, suddenly enveloping that ball of blood energy.

  Ah!

  The wild elephant trumpeted, like a dragon's hum, like the roar of the sea. At this moment, Xiao Yi had an illusion that the shadow of the wild elephant in his mind seemed to solidify slightly, and a strange wave shook him, sweeping through his whole body instantly.

  Boom!

  Like a broken bamboo, the battle energy was like a rainbow, wrapping around the vast Qi and blood, suddenly breaking through the third layer of Tianmai's barrier. The rolling Qi and blood flowed rapidly, quickly transforming into battle energy. Every thread of battle energy was crystal clear, like pure water jade, and seemed to be flawless amber. It spread throughout the body, floating with a thin layer of pale blue light. The muscles and bones hummed in unison, and the stench of filth seeped out from the pores, only to be incinerated by the battle energy in an instant.

  Breakthrough!

  Xiao Yi's eyes sparkled, and it took him a whole month to comprehend the third Heavenly Pulse. The more one comprehends the Heavenly Pulses, the harder it becomes for humans to do so. In the Blood Stone Tribe, ordinary tribe members usually take fifteen days to comprehend the third Heavenly Pulse, while those with robust physiques like Shi Lei only need five or six days.

  "This is still my daily walk on the edge of life and death, constantly hunting and killing wild beasts. For ordinary members of the Bloodstone tribe to complete the fourth heavenly vein normally takes a month. If it were me, it would probably take two months or even longer to accumulate enough blood essence. Moreover, the amount of blood essence I accumulated, after being refined by the stone mirror, is enough for an ordinary member of the Bloodstone tribe to complete three or four heavenly veins in a row. However, if I only complete one heavenly vein, I can increase my strength by five jin, which is equivalent to them completing five heavenly veins. The Barbarian Elephant Great Strength Technique is a top-notch martial technique, even better than the Bloodstone Tribe's Town Guardian Martial Technique, Heaven Fire Burning Soldier. I really don't know what kind of power a real barbarian elephant possesses. Unfortunately, Shi Gong only occasionally obtained the Blood Refining Scroll."

  Standing up, Xiao Yi stood at the top of the mountain, overlooking the Bloodstone Tribe below. The earth was a vast expanse of gray, with distant mountains layered upon one another, and ancient forests shrouded in mystery. Amidst this, Xiao Yi had a sense of disorientation - was everything before his eyes truly real? Over the past two months, he had grown accustomed to life in the tribe, but his longing for family only intensified. This emotion showed no signs of fading, even as his cultivation realm continued to rise.

  After counting his breaths, Xiao Yi's gaze returned to calmness. He closed his eyes and carefully sensed the changes in his physical body. Apart from the increase in strength, every piece of flesh was filled with vigorous vitality, his mind became clearer, and his spirit and will seemed to have become even more resilient.

  "Three Heavenly Veins, my strength has reached fifteen jin, my archery skills have broken through the Wind Breaking Realm and achieved minor success. Within two hundred yards, I never miss a shot. Unfortunately, due to my limited strength, I am temporarily unable to reach the three-hundred-yard Great Success realm and break through the Wind Breaking Realm to advance to the Split Sound Realm. In addition to increasing my shooting range to five hundred yards, I also need to improve my combat skills to the 'Light as a Feather' realm. Over the past month, I have been diligently practicing my archery and spear techniques, making rapid progress, but my foundation is still too shallow, and I am unable to make a breakthrough. As for what it means to be 'Light as a Feather', I still don't have any leads. However, at present, my overall combat strength should barely allow me to rank in the middle among many warriors, perhaps even lower. But my archery skills are not weak, and I can rank among the top. Shi Gong once said that even some of the strongest warriors in the tribe have yet to enter the Split Sound Realm with their archery."

  Xiao Yi has a good grasp of his own combat strength, although he is still not satisfied. If the many warriors of the Bloodstone Tribe were to know about it, they would likely be shocked beyond measure. In just one short month, from being an ordinary person to possessing fifteen kilograms of force, and achieving a small success in archery that breaks through the wind, even the former tribal leader Shi Zhenxuan did not have such speed.

  Bloodstone Tribe

  The sunset is like a fire, the green smoke is swirling, the fragrance of meat food is floating in the tribe, the dark green mountain wall has been polished for hundreds or thousands of years, becoming smooth as a mirror, with black spots on it, which are dried bloodstains that have merged with the mountain wall.

  "Xiao Yi, you're back." A soldier guarding the gate said with a smile.

  Xiao Yi rises with the sun and returns at dusk, bringing back a large amount of blood food. After more than a month, he has also become somewhat familiar with these guarding warriors. As for Xiao Yi's diligence, several warriors have secretly nodded in approval. Although this person is from outside the clan, he is willing to suffer hardships and dare to risk his life, and the amount of blood food he brings back every day makes them all a little astonished.

  The Bloodstone Tribe's daily blood food, even ordinary warriors find it difficult to hunt in a day. In this month, they almost see Xiao Yi return with blood every day, the bloody smell is frightening.

  As he walked into the tribe, some elderly people smiled and greeted Xiao Yi, while the young children kept a distance from him because of the strong smell of blood. This was a change, Xiao Yi felt neither happy nor sad, his expression calm, everything today was something he had exchanged with his own two hands.