One must not harbor ill intentions towards others, but one must also be wary of them. This was especially true when Di Yi Ye had lost his combat ability. Therefore, he did not stand up to thank Nangong Bingyu and Tong Wei, but instead, he kept their kindness in his heart.
After Nangong Bingyu and the other left, and all the Fire Mane Rats were killed, Di Yi Ye finally breathed a sigh of relief. He continued to circulate his cultivation method, drawing in cosmic energy to nourish his body. His previously scorched body slowly peeled away, revealing tender skin that was faintly visible, much like a newly emerged insect from its cocoon.
Di Yi Ye's injuries were severe. Even with his special physique that allowed for astonishing recovery, and even though his body was as firm as a rock under the nourishment of pure Qi Flow, it would still take a long time to fully heal. At this moment, he could only pray that no powerful exotic beasts would charge in during this period, or at least not so soon. The longer the time, the more likely Di Yi Ye was to recover. Even if he couldn't fully recover, he wouldn't be completely defenseless.
"If only I could break through to the Soul Condensation Stage. Then, even if I were unconscious, my Crystal Soul could automatically circulate and absorb heaven and earth energy. At the same time, it could automatically nourish my body, and my speed of absorbing energy would be even faster upon waking, naturally leading to a quicker recovery from my injuries."
Di Yi Ye murmured to himself, then he sighed, "It's a pity that I've been stuck in the Initial Awakening Realm for nearly ten years, with no signs of breaking through. I don't know when I'll be able to advance."
Thinking of this, Di Yi Ye once again envied Nangong Bingyu. She had reached Initial Awakening much later than him, yet she had reached Soul Condensation much earlier. Now, she was a master in the Late Condensation Soul Stage, her strength far surpassing his. This naturally made him envious.
However, Di Yi Ye also had his own advantages. Because he couldn't break through for such a long time, he could use Qi to nourish his body in advance, thereby achieving Body Tempering. This was equivalent to a cultivator's Body Refining, which was the third Major Realm for cultivators, and its strength was far greater than that of cultivators in the Soul Condensation Stage.
Of course, because he hadn't reached Soul Condensation, the Qi that Di Yi Ye absorbed and refined from heaven and earth energy was only purer among those in the same tier. Compared to cultivators in the Soul Condensation Stage, there was a huge gap, and it was even further from the Qi in the Body Refining Realm. Therefore, the effect of tempering his body was much worse. At this moment, his physique was only slightly stronger than that of an ordinary cultivator in the Soul Condensation Stage, and there was still a considerable Gap compared to cultivators in the Body Refining Realm. It could only be considered preliminary Body Refining.
Although it was only preliminary Body Refining, it made his strength much greater than that of cultivators in the Initial Awakening Realm. Considering his recovery speed, his current strength was between Initial Awakening and Body Refining, slightly stronger than ordinary cultivators in the Soul Condensation Stage. Especially since he had cultivated powerful offensive and defensive methods like the Golden Light Spell and Righteous Sword Qi, this was the confidence he had to face six or seven Fire Mane Rats simultaneously, particularly when one of them was a Second-tier Fire Mane Rat.
Of course, Di Yi Ye's current strength still had a considerable Gap compared to the Elites among cultivators in the Soul Condensation Realm, such as Tong Wei, and was far inferior to Nangong Bingyu.
It was precisely because he felt the power of Nangong Bingyu and the other that he was more eager to break through to the Soul Condensation Stage. Especially since he found that his current strength was already somewhat insufficient, and he could barely maintain his basic living needs.
Shaking his head, he cast these thoughts aside and focused on absorbing heaven and earth energy to heal his injuries. Time slowly passed as he recovered.
Soon, an hour passed, and the heavy rain finally stopped. He let out a deep breath and struggled to stand up from the muddy water. He circulated his energy to shake off the mud and layers of burnt skin. He looked at the distant, faint roars of exotic beasts and felt immense relief. Naturally, he was relieved that no other exotic beasts had charged in during this period, nor had any other hunters appeared, otherwise, he would have been in grave danger.
Looking at the corpses of the Fire Mane Rats scattered on the ground, Di Yi Ye became excited, completely forgetting the near-death experience he had just endured. For him, so many Fire Mane Rats were an extremely rare harvest. The thought of claiming all these Fire Mane Rat corpses as his own arose in his heart.
Shaking his head, he suppressed this thought and began to collect the Fire Mane Rat corpses. He first picked up the body of a First-Order Exotic Beast near him, exerting himself to lift the corpse and place it towards his wrist.
Upon closer inspection, there was a black bracelet on Di Yi Ye's wrist. Although it was about two fingers thick, its color blended with his black leather clothing, making it easily overlooked.
As the corpse was placed on the bracelet, it instantly disappeared. It was clear that this was a Storage Bracelet.
With the advancement of technology and a deeper understanding of this new world, it had become possible to create a space on certain peculiar materials using technological means. However, the space created was not very large, and it could not store living things. But the Fire Mane Rat corpses were naturally not alive, so storing them was feasible.
Even though it was possible to create space on special materials, storage-type items were still extremely rare in this era. Even geniuses like Tong Wei and Nangong Bingyu might not possess them. It wasn't that they couldn't afford them, but without the corresponding Realm or Ability methods, they couldn't activate the storage space at all. Carrying them would be nothing more than decoration, and in this era, decorations were the cheapest, with few people willing to spend vast resources on them.
As for Di Yi Ye, he naturally couldn't afford or support the expensive Storage Bracelet. This bracelet was given to him by Di San Liu Yun. As for how the latter obtained such a bracelet, Di Yi Ye wasn't surprised at all, because Di San Liu Yun had been very mysterious since he and Di Er Meng found him. Possessing a Storage Bracelet was not unusual.
The reason Di Yi Ye accepted Di San Liu Yun's gift was not solely due to their deep brotherhood. More importantly, although Di San Liu Yun had reached the Soul Condensation Stage, he couldn't activate the Storage Bracelet at all. However, Di Yi Ye's special physique could activate it, so naturally, the bracelet fell into his possession.
Thinking that he could activate the Storage Bracelet, Di Yi Ye felt a little less dissatisfied with his "useless" physique. At the very least, in his heart, he had something that others couldn't do.
The space in the Storage Bracelet was not large, only about twenty cubic meters. It was enough to store all the Fire Mane Rats, but Di Yi Ye didn't do that. He only collected the Fire Mane Rats he had killed, leaving the others in place. The reason for this was naturally that the other Fire Mane Rats were not killed by him, as per the rules. Moreover, Nangong Bingyu and Tong Wei had saved his life, so he naturally felt embarrassed to take all the 'spoils of war'.
If he hadn't known that Nangong Bingyu disdained Fire Mane Rat corpses, he might have left most of the Fire Mane Rats he killed. As for Tong Wei, he automatically ignored him because that person gave him an instinctive feeling of ferocity and brutality. He didn't have a good impression of such a person, even though Tong Wei had indirectly saved him. In his heart, he still leaned towards Nangong Bingyu saving him.
Furthermore, Tong Wei had already dug out the Crystal Souls of all the Fire Mane Rats, including those Di Yi Ye had killed. This could be considered a preliminary repayment, so there was no need to leave all the Fire Mane Rats behind.
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