Chapter Twenty-Five: Aftermath

  The body of the Fire Rock King Snake returned to its original size, emitting a faint red glow all over, but it had completely lost any signs of life.

  "Gulu!"

  Those four people took a deep breath, seemingly still not waking up from the scene just now. A fourth-level demon beast, an existence that can dominate one side, actually died in the hands of a young man. If it weren't for their own eyes seeing it, they might have sneered at it, but facts are facts, and they couldn't help but doubt.

  Jiang Hao fell to the ground, feeling the power in his body disappear instantly. A wave of fatigue from deep within his bones surged up, and Jiang Hao knew that his master had withdrawn his spiritual power. He couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh at this situation, which was like a poor person suddenly becoming rich, only to fall back into poverty before they could even enjoy it. This kind of disparity left a bad taste in one's mouth. It seemed that only one's own strength was truly reliable; relying on others would never be a long-term solution.

  He drew out his dagger, Jiang Heng walked slowly towards the Fire Rock King Snake. The beast core of a four-stage magical beast was truly a good thing, priceless and highly sought after. It was said that in the past, there was once a four-stage beast core that appeared in the black market of Sun City, which was auctioned off by a mysterious person for tens of millions of gold coins, causing a huge stir at the time.

  Of course, the fourth-order demon beast is all treasure, not only can be exchanged for gold coins, but also can be used to forge spiritual treasures. These materials are priceless treasures for those forging masters. In addition, the essence of the fourth-order demon beast is a very rare medicinal material, especially this fire rock king snake with dragon blood, which is a rare and precious treasure that can't be sought after.

  Jiang Hao didn't care about the astonishment in the hearts of the others, and directly used his dagger to cut open the hard scales of the Fire Rock King Snake. The purple wind had given him a dagger that seemed simple but was actually extraordinary. The body of this fourth-stage magical beast was extremely tough, and attacks from anyone below the level of a War Master couldn't harm it. Even a War Master might not be able to break through its defenses. But the dagger given by Purple Wind easily cut open the Fire Rock King Snake's body, making Jiang Hao increasingly curious about the origins of this dagger.

  A sharp dagger accurately cut into the head of the Fire Rock King Snake, Jiang Hao held the dagger and fiddled with it for a while, feeling extremely unwilling in his heart. How could there be no beast core? That's tens of millions of gold coins! A fourth-tier magic beast couldn't possibly not have a beast core. At this moment, Jiang Hao felt dizzy and sat down on the ground, sighing. It seemed like he had been busy for nothing again.

  The current situation in Jiang Hao's body is extremely bad, the war gas in his dantian has been exhausted, and his meridians are in a state of semi-closure. His spirit is weak, and his soul power is also very weak. His whole body seems to be in a half-dormant state, unable to muster up any energy at all. The feeling of drowsiness fills his entire body. Jiang Hao let out a bitter laugh, it seems that he has overdrawn too much. Is this what they call aftereffects?

  Jiang Hao raised his eyelids and saw that the five black-clad men were staring at him in astonishment, and the black-clad woman who had escaped earlier had also returned.

  The first man coughed, breaking everyone's awkwardness and shock.

  "Little brother, it seems you're the real expert after all. I'm Song Yuan from under Jade Rooster Mountain. This time, I really had no choice but to drag you into this." The first man cupped his hands and smiled, his face full of apology.

  "These are all my junior brothers and sisters, originally came out to gain experience, did not expect to encounter such a thing, really embarrassing, I'm so sorry as the senior brother." Song Yue explained again seeing Jiang Huan not speaking.

  "Oh? So that means all the low-level magical beasts around here have been cleared out by you guys, right?" Jiang Hao responded with a sound and asked.

  "Ah!" Song Yuan rubbed his nose awkwardly, "Originally we were going to the Magic Beast Mountain Range, but since we encountered some low-level magic beasts here, I couldn't help but let my junior brothers and sisters practice their skills."

  "So have you guys encountered any bandits?" Jiang Hao suddenly thought of something and asked.

  "Bandit? What's a bandit?" The woman in black suddenly asked back, and as soon as she spoke, she felt it wasn't right, so she hastily lowered her head to look at her toes, her hands constantly rubbing the hem of her clothes.

  "Huh?" Jiang Huan was taken aback, looking at the woman in surprise, his heart involuntarily stirred. He hadn't noticed earlier, but now he saw her face clearly, and it was truly a beauty that could be devoured by the eyes.

  "Hehe, little brother, don't be surprised. This is my junior sister Luo Min. Since she has never left home since childhood and doesn't know the ways of the world, that's why she doesn't know what a bandit is. It's actually laughable. We've also encountered many bandits on our journey, but we've managed to get rid of them." Song Yue hastily explained.

  "Doesn't little brother know that going deep into the grasslands alone is dangerous? Is he heading to the Demon Beast Mountains?" Song Yue asked again.

  "Hmm, I've also come out to gain experience. Since the matter is settled, let's part ways here." Jiang Huan had been holding a grudge against this group of people who brought him trouble and didn't bother to pay attention to them, instead constantly fiddling with his dagger on the snake's head.

  Upon hearing this, Song Yuan's face stiffened and he let out a bitter laugh. He thought to himself that if he hadn't led the snakes here, they wouldn't have had the close call earlier, and it was almost true that Jiang Huan would have been dragged down with him. For a moment, neither retreating nor staying seemed like an option.

  "Damn it, no fourth-tier beast cores either, this is ridiculous." Jiang Huan cursed and took out some bottles to collect the Fire Rock King Snake's essence blood.

  "Hey, little brother, just now the Fire Rock King Snake's final blow should have been burning its own beast core, otherwise it wouldn't have been able to launch such a terrifying attack." Song Yuan said, and suddenly thought of when Jiang Huan neutralized the Fire Rock King Snake's final blow, his heart couldn't help but feel another wave of emotion.

  Jiang Hao stopped his actions, his face filled with shock. This Fire Rock King Snake had just been ready to go all out! The burning beast core, the black flames from earlier were truly terrifying. Although he had defended against them with his master's help, at that moment, he had clearly felt the scorching pain of his soul being burned.

  It seems that Song Yuan saw Jiang Hao's confusion and hastily explained: "That black flame should be the legendary Black Flame, which can burn all things in the world. It may not have been cultivated to its full potential, otherwise even if we join forces, it would probably still not be enough for it to burn."

  "Oh?" Jiang Hao suddenly thought of an ancient secret he had seen in the Jiang family's library, which indeed mentioned it.

  "Huh!" The dagger seemed to have hit something hard, right at the seven-inch spot of the giant snake.

  Jiang Hao cut open the surrounding skin, revealing a black crystal-like object about the size of a fist. Jiang Hao didn't think much and flipped his hand to store it in the spatial chain. He also collected some large snake bones and scales before putting away the dagger.

  "Heh heh, little brother, don't know your name yet?" Song Yue asked.

  "Jiang Hao." Jiang Hao replied, feeling the increasingly bad situation in his body, and couldn't care about anything else. He sat down on the ground, crossed his legs, and quickly entered a meditative state.

  Song Yuan saw Jiang Huan enter the cultivation and didn't say a word, beckoning his own junior brother to treat their wounds together. Earlier in the battle with Huoyan Wangshe, they had also suffered no small injuries. A casual strike from Huoyan Wangshe was not something that warriors could easily withstand. If it weren't for Jiang Huan's timely intervention, perhaps they would have already turned into flying ash.

  As Song Yuan and others, as well as Jiang Huan, all entered meditation, the grassland once again fell silent, with only a gentle breeze blowing and the scorching sun beating down. Luo Min, having avoided the earlier attack, was almost unscathed and naturally took on the responsibility of guarding, quietly standing watch at the periphery while her eyes occasionally darted towards Jiang Huan by her side.

  Jiang Hao was fiercely absorbing the battle qi, constantly warming up his meridians. The previous battle had almost caused his six major acupoints to burst, it seemed that his body was still not tough enough. Too much battle qi was simply unbearable, if it weren't for Master's protection, he might have become a cripple again. External powers were indeed strong, but they weren't something he could control. Jiang Hao frantically devoured the battle qi, and a whirlwind slowly formed around him, but he himself didn't even notice.

  At this moment, Jiang Hao didn't know that the black crystal pendant he was wearing had slowly melted into a pool of black liquid, which seemed to have a life of its own as it squirmed and slowly seeped out of the pendant, merging into Jiang Hao's body. All that remained was a round black mole on his chest, but Jiang Hao was completely unaware of this.

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