Chapter 48: Re-encountering the Black Donkey

  Pong pong qiang qiang, a burst of "chicken" flying and dog jumping. This black donkey originally had only 8 layers of physical refinement, but in just a few days, it suddenly soared to the peak of 9 layers of physical refinement, not inferior to Zhou Heng's 'color'.

  After fighting for almost half an hour, they both stopped and sat on the ground staring at each other, panting heavily.

  "What brings this worthless donkey here?"

  "How did this little stinker find your old donkey's lair?"

  One man and one donkey asked at the same time, but the black donkey immediately kicked over with one hoof: "It's Lord Donkey!"

  Zhou Heng sat down to the side to adjust his breath and recover his vitality, thinking that with this black donkey by his side, how could he possibly break through to the Blood Refining Realm? But this black donkey was extremely troublesome, wanting to drive it away was impossible, so should he leave himself?

  "You stinky little brat, what are you running here for with such a eager look on your face? Do you want to be my mount?" Black Donkey was uncomfortable if he didn't speak rudely, and his words could suffocate people.

  Zhou Heng burst out laughing and said: "Then why did you run over here?"

  The black donkey stared at Zhou Heng, and it didn't have the confidence to drive him away. As long as the other party made that sword intent come out, it would instinctively feel a sense of fear. It smacked its lips and lay down on the ground, propping up its massive donkey head with one hoof, saying: "I like the night view here!"

  "You've also discovered the strange shadow in the pond, you stupid donkey?" Zhou Heng was able to guess after hearing this.

  "Huh, that little brat also knows there's a strange shadow in this pool?" Hei Liu curled his lip, "Haha, your set of footwork must have been obtained from here! I was puzzled before, why the person's footsteps seemed familiar, it turns out to be so!"

  "You wretched donkey, haven't you gone down to take a look?" Zhou Heng urged.

  "It's Hei Lu Da Ren——" Hei Lu glared at Zhou Heng fiercely, and suddenly "Wang" pounced over, opening his mouth to bite.

  "You're not a dog, why do you always learn from dogs and bark!"

  "I'm delighted!"

  After another round of bickering, Zhou Heng waved his hand and said, "Let's make a deal. I won't call you a cheap donkey again if you promise not to call me a stinky little boy!"

  "Go on, you must address me as Lord Donkey!" The black donkey puffed out its chest and stuck out its belly.

  "Don't you have a more ordinary name?" Zhou Heng would rather die than call a donkey "sir".

  "I was born to be dazzling, how could I possibly have an ordinary name!" The black donkey struck a pose and began to show off.

  "It's still the black donkey!"

  "You stinky little brat, what's your name?"

  "Zhou Heng!"

  "Aw, this name is too hard to remember, let's just call him Stinky Kid!"

  One man and one donkey temporarily formed an alliance because they were both extremely interested in the figure under the cold pond.

  Zhou Heng was too lazy to bother with the donkey, which had supposedly been sleeping for hundreds or thousands of years. He walked under a big tree and closed his eyes to rest. The black donkey also got bored talking to itself, so it ran under the mountain wall to rest as well.

  Looking at a donkey sitting cross-legged like a human, Zhou Heng couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

  He calmed his mind and began to impact the Blood Refining Realm!

  Others need an absolutely quiet environment to break through the level, but Zhou Heng is different. Each time he breaks through, it only takes three or four hours, at most five or six hours, and even that black donkey would never guess that he dares to break through at this time!

  Seems to be risky, but it's absolutely safe.

  He had already reached the absolute peak of the 9th layer of Body Refining yesterday, and the True Yuan Force he cultivated could only be released outside his body, with no more space to store it.

  Blood Refining Realm, come on!

  The moon's shadow technique circulated, Zhou Heng guided the true yuan force in his body to surge towards the blood, wanting to break through this barrier.

  This is extremely dangerous, as the destructive power of the true yuan force increases with the improvement of the boundary, but the blood has never been nourished by the true yuan force and is still very thin, and slight carelessness may destroy the plasma!

  Excessive blood loss will cause a warrior to die immediately, just like excessive bleeding.

  Zhou Heng's divine intent unfolded, enveloping every blood vessel in his body under his gaze. Only his divine intent, which had been transformed by the Black Sword, could support such a terrifying consumption; otherwise, he would have collapsed from exhaustion and fainted within ten seconds.

  Boom!

  The true yuan force began to impact the blood layer, breaking through that invisible membrane.

  Cycles of constant change without surprise or joy, this is the true power of the turning wheel, constantly striking! Striking! Striking!

  Three hours later, he suddenly opened his eyes, a ray of "essence" light flashed by, and the breath in his body surged abruptly!

  Refining Body 10th Layer, Refining Blood Realm!

  Blood surges like quicksilver 'jade' fluid, vast and mighty with a thunderous sound!

  "Stinky brat, did you break through?" The black donkey suddenly jumped up, looking at Zhou Heng in shock, its mouth wide open as if it could swallow a person's head.

  "Heh heh!" Zhou Heng smiled slightly, but didn't get up. Instead, he continued to circulate the Moon Shadow Heart Technique. Although he had broken through, the amount of True Yuan energy hadn't increased, it had only opened up a path for him to continue advancing.

  "What a freak!" The black donkey lifted one hoof and scratched its neck, muttering to itself, "Did the Venerable have such high innate talent back then? Bah, this kid is not even worthy of being compared to the Venerable!"

  The sky turned dark, Zhou Heng built a fire and took out the dried meat that had been prepared earlier to roast, soon the aroma filled the air.

  "Sniff, sniff, sniff!" The black donkey twitched its nose and came over, taking advantage of Zhou Heng's inattention to open its mouth and take a bite of the 'meat' patty.

  Bang!

  Zhou Heng kicked out with one foot, stopping the black donkey's face and preventing it from stealing food: "Hey, hey, what's wrong with you? You're a donkey, not a dog, why are you eating 'meat'?"

  "This is great!" The black donkey suddenly charged forward, but was unable to break through Zhou Heng's defense. In a flash, it opened its big mouth and bit down on Zhou Heng's lips.

  "You're a stupid donkey, you've really gone mad!" Zhou Heng cried out in pain and stamped his feet repeatedly.

  "Ptoo, stinky! This little brat hasn't washed his feet for hundreds of years?" The black donkey spat out mouthfuls of water, looking regretful, then suddenly rushed out, grabbed the 'meat' jerky and ran off, disappearing into the distance with a rustling sound.

  "Delicious! Delicious!" This cheap donkey shouted loudly while eating even faster, and soon the 'meat' jerky was completely gone. "You stinky brat, roast another hundred or so pieces for me to snack on!"

  "Get out!"

  Zhou Heng re-roasted the "meat", this time he raised his vigilance and didn't let that cheap donkey succeed.

  "You stinky little brat, we're brothers through thick and thin, our bond is stronger than gold, our friendship deeper than the ocean. How can you be so unrighteous, enjoying everything by yourself?" Hei Liu scolded Zhou Heng sternly, but couldn't help drooling at the corner of his mouth.

  Zhou Heng deliberately ate very slowly, but didn't lift his eyes once.

  "He's killing me!" The black donkey trotted away with its tail between its legs, but before long it ran back, and to everyone's surprise, it had brought back a huge pile of grassy 'medicinal' fruits.

  Ginseng, cinnabar fruit and Poria cocos are all great tonics!

  Zhou Heng's eyes lit up involuntarily, and he quickly ate the dried meat in two or three bites, then walked towards the black donkey.

  Brush, frosty sword out of its scabbard, he swung his sword at the black donkey.

  "I curse your ancestors for eighteen generations!" - Hei Lu shouted loudly and quickly ran away.

  Zhou Heng burst out laughing, and upon closer inspection, he found that the objects on the ground were all spiritual medicine-grade treasures. He didn't care where they came from, and after washing them by the cold pool, he started eating them.

  He is now in the Blood Refining Realm, with vigorous blood energy and has initially acquired the power to defy extreme cold, no longer like last time when his whole body was about to freeze.

  "You little scoundrel, you're really cunning!" Hei Lu ran back, with a face full of resentment.

  "You too, you too! You also saved me a piece of 'meat' before!" Zhou Heng retorted.

  "Hmph, I'll eat your food just to give you face!" Hei Liu said shamelessly.

  "By the way, where did you get these spiritual fruits and herbs from?" Zhou Heng couldn't help but ask in surprise. He had just eaten a stalk of old mountain ginseng earlier, which was at least several hundred years old and would be absolutely priceless if taken outside!

  The black donkey raised its head and said: "This seat was born with a sensitive nose, any spiritual medicine can't escape this seat's nose!"

  "...just like a dog! I'm telling you, you cheap donkey, are you sure you're not a hybrid donkey?"

  "You stinky little brat, I'm going to bite you to death, Wang!"

  After another entanglement, the two made a pact under the city wall. Zhou Heng would be responsible for providing roasted meat to Hei Liu, and in return, Hei Liu would provide spiritual grass to Zhou Heng, benefiting each other mutually.

  It's only natural that Zhou Heng made a huge profit, as those spiritual herbs and rare fruits were worth thousands of gold coins. But for the black donkey, this was nothing but small change; after all, as long as it wanted to, the entire Pingtian Mountain Range was an open treasure trove for it!

  It's just that it can't possibly learn how to roast 'meat', no fingers!

  Zhou Heng finally understood how this donkey could cultivate and improve so quickly, it turned out that every day he was eating these spiritual fruit Lingguo Shan, such a great supplement, how could his realm not be rapidly improving?

  It was night, and the figure in the cold pool rose again. However, Zhou Heng and Hei Liu did not dive into the water. Hei Liu had not yet recovered to the Refining Blood Realm's strength, while Zhou Heng had just entered the tenth layer of Refining Body, his realm still unstable.

  He was no longer in a hurry, anyway he had an appointment with the black donkey, and within a short period of time, his cultivation could be rapidly improved, which would give him even more confidence.

  The black donkey also wanted to secretly learn the Flying Cloud Step, but ended up tripping itself and falling over repeatedly, causing Zhou Heng to burst out laughing. "What's the point of a donkey like you learning human martial arts?" he said, whereupon the black donkey opened its big mouth and chased after Zhou Heng's buttocks, biting them.

  One man and one donkey work together, one hunts and the other picks up the spiritual fruit.

  "You're a cheap donkey, if you weren't so cheap, you could barely be considered a good donkey!" Zhou Heng said with a mouthful of some unknown spirit fruit, teasing the black donkey.

  "Humph, I am the king of donkeys, and in the future, I will unify the universe and all ethnic groups under my donkey's mighty power!" The black donkey said with an arrogant face.

  "It's said that your cultivation progress is quite fast!" Zhou Hengzheng said with a straight face, but in just four or five days, this black donkey had already reached the tenth layer of Body Refining, and was not one bit weaker than him in terms of boundary.

  "I was originally the world's top master, but I've been suppressed for who knows how many years, and my cultivation has been completely drained. I can only start from scratch again; otherwise, with just a fart, I could blow you to pieces!"

  Zhou Heng sat on the trunk of a tree and said: "Then tell me, what is it that you cultivate in martial arts?"

  "You stinky brat has only cultivated his body for ten layers and already wants to know the true meaning of martial arts?"

  "So you don't know either!"

  "Hmph! How could I possibly not know?! Don't think that I don't know you're using the 'Extreme' method, considering our acquaintance, I'll tell you the secret of achieving divinity through flesh!"