Originally, Longtian hadn’t had much confidence in defeating He Chao.
However, after discovering the heaven-defying effects of the Stone Stele, his confidence practically exploded.
“He Chao, you’re merely one of my stepping stones,” Longtian thought.
“I wonder what expressions the He Family will have half a month from now when they realize that not only can I defeat He Chao, but even He Tong is no match for me.
Heh, just thinking about it makes me look forward to it.
“I should stop fantasizing and focus on refining this wild boar’s blood into Essence Blood first.”
Placing his palm on the Sword Pig, he forced his Spiritual Energy into its body.
Instantly, fresh blood gushed from the wound on its belly like a fountain.
However, the blood didn’t spill onto the ground; instead, it was suspended in midair by his Spiritual Energy.
As Longtian used his Spiritual Energy to refine the ordinary blood, it began to evaporate and disappear at a visible rate.
Half an hour later, the Sword Pig had completely turned into a dried husk.
That massive volume of blood had been entirely refined into a rich, finger-sized blood bead.
Yet, the bead’s volume continued to shrink until, eventually, all the blood turned to ash and scattered away.
“Damn it!
With such a huge body, all that blood couldn’t even condense a single drop of Essence Blood,” he muttered.
“Essence Blood really is hard to come by.
Being a Beast Cultivator isn’t that easy.”
Refining blood was no easy task, as evidenced by Longtian’s deathly pale face.
It severely drained both mental and Spiritual Energy, which was exactly why he felt so frustrated.
Moreover, even if he managed to refine Essence Blood, there was only a minuscule chance of successfully fusing with the Beast Blood to become a Beast Cultivator.
“It’s pathetic that I possess Dragon Blood but can’t even use it.
Otherwise, why would I care about the blood of a mere Tier Three of Human Level wild boar?
I really don’t know when this Stone Stele will bestow the Dragon Blood upon me.”
Longtian had long been coveting the Dragon Blood within the Stone Stele, but he simply couldn’t obtain it.
He had no idea how the Stone Stele operated.
Logically, such a mysterious artifact should possess a certain degree of sentience.
If he couldn’t get it now, it only meant the time wasn’t right.
Shaking his head, he rested until his body recovered.
Pushing the matter of the Essence Blood to the back of his mind, Longtian focused entirely on finding a Human-level Fourth Rank beast and began his hunt.
One day later.
Longtian had slain five Tier Three of Human Level beasts and dozens of Tier One and Tier Two beasts, yet he hadn’t encountered a single Human-level Fourth Rank beast.
Instead, he had run into Fifth Rank of Human Level beasts on three separate occasions.
All three times, he had fled from a distance, though once he was nearly swallowed whole by that Fifth-tier Beast.
“What kind of luck is this?
Have all the Fourth-rank Beasts gone extinct?” he wondered.
Despite his complaints, Longtian wasn’t disheartened.
The Wilderness Forest was massive to begin with; it was only natural that he wouldn’t find a Fourth-rank Beast right away.
It wasn’t until dusk the following day that he finally encountered a Fourth-rank Beast.
This beast was covered entirely in armor lined with sharp spikes that resembled unsheathed swords.
Its head looked like a cross between a rat and a jackal.
It wasn’t particularly large, but it wasn’t small either.
“Damn, it’s actually a Sword-toothed Beast,” he thought in dismay.
“Although it’s a Fourth-rank Beast, with that Sword-tooth Armor, even a Fifth-tier Beast wouldn’t want to mess with it.
What a scam!
If I land a Stone-Splitting Fist on that armor, the only thing splitting apart will be my hand, not its shell.
“Forget it, forget it.
Even though I’m desperate for a Beast Pill, my life is more important.
Going up against this thing would be suicide.”
Shaking his head, Longtian decided to give up.
As the saying went, there were plenty of fish in the sea; there was no need to hang himself over one beast.
However, just as he was about to leave, another Sword-toothed Beast appeared in his line of sight.
This one was slightly smaller—likely a female.
Her eyes were fixed on the male Sword-toothed Beast with a suggestive gleam.
“Huh?
Are they going to mate in broad daylight?”
Longtian halted his steps.
“I’ll wait and see.
If there’s an opening, I’ll strike.
If not, I’ll just leave.”
Holding his breath and concentrating, Longtian lay motionless in the tall grass.
In his line of sight, the two Sword-toothed Beasts indeed approached each other.
The female let out a low growl at the male before rolling onto her back, her gaze carrying a surprisingly needy look.
As the female lay there, the male sauntered over and mounted her directly, their grunts and cries echoing through the air.
“Damn, they really are going at it in broad daylight.
Let’s see if an opportunity presents itself.”
The Sword-toothed Beasts’ “great battle” lasted for a full two hours, by which point the sky had completely darkened.
Yet, they showed no signs of stopping.
Longtian could clearly sense that both the male and the female were beginning to pant heavily, but they stubbornly refused to cease their combat.
“What a pair of insatiable beasts, still keeping at it.”
He waited patiently for another half an hour before a final, low roar erupted from the male’s throat.
Following that roar, the male Sword-toothed Beast was completely spent and collapsed beside the female.
“Now’s my chance.”
Having waited for two and a half hours, Longtian couldn’t let his efforts go to waste.
He decided to strike right then—it was the perfect opportunity!
The moment the male Sword-toothed Beast hit the ground, Longtian stepped into its line of sight.
However, he didn’t attack the male.
Because the male was lying on its stomach while the female was exposed on her back, his target was the female.
“Without your shell in the way, let’s see if you die or not!
Stone-Splitting Fist!
Vajra Palm!”
The two great Martial Skills were unleashed one after another.
The belly was one of the Sword-toothed Beast’s most vulnerable spots.
Before the female could even let out a miserable shriek, Longtian pierced straight through her heart.
Following that, he shattered her skull with a single punch.
Just as he reached in to extract the Beast Pill, he was stunned to discover that there was no Beast Pill inside her head at all.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!
There’s actually no Beast Pill!
Time to go!”
Cursing loudly, Longtian didn’t dare to linger.
After landing the strike, he immediately turned to flee.
But he was still too late.
The male Sword-toothed Beast swung its massive paw at him.
“Damn it!” Caught off guard, Longtian could only bite the bullet and brace for impact, not even having enough time to execute a Martial Skill.
“I’m done for.
This blow is definitely going to heavily injure me.”
Although Longtian could fight enemies above his level, his physical strength was only at the Third Stage of Mortal Realm.
However, when the attack landed, the agonizing image of a broken arm and severe injuries didn’t materialize.
The Sword-toothed Beast’s strike merely forced him a few steps back, leaving a dull ache in his chest.
“Why is it so weak?” he wondered.
“Could it be…
Haha, this beast had no self-control and actually exhausted itself this much!
Since that’s the case, you can just die!”
Longtian stopped retreating.
He knew this was the best opportunity to kill the Sword-toothed Beast; if he missed this chance, he wouldn’t get another.
Instead of meeting the beast head-on, Longtian suddenly seized its paw and viciously hurled it backward.
The beast’s three-hundred-pound body was flipped entirely upside down.
“Now!
Stone-Splitting Fist!
Vajra Palm!”
The two Martial Skills erupted in quick succession, slamming into the male Sword-toothed Beast’s lower abdomen.
The sheer force sent the male beast flying.
However, unlike its female counterpart, it didn’t die immediately.
Instead, it staggered to its feet and stumbled over to the female’s side, its eyes brimming with deep attachment.
After releasing a final, furious roar at Longtian, the male Sword-toothed Beast collapsed next to its mate.
Longtian suddenly felt a pang of emotion.
Still, empathy aside, he needed that Beast Pill.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured.
“You are beasts, and I am human.
To become stronger, I had to kill you.
I hope you have a Beast Pill so my efforts won’t be in vain.”
Blasting the male Sword-toothed Beast’s head open with a punch, a glowing Beast Pill finally appeared in his line of sight.
“There really is a Beast Pill!
Since that’s the case, I’ll bury the two of you together as a small apology to ease my guilt.”
Longtian dug a grave, buried the two Sword-toothed Beasts together, and then left the area.
“I need to find a secluded spot to absorb the Energy of this Beast Pill.
The Energy contained in a Fourth-stage Beast Pill is several times that of a Third-stage Beast.”
Soon, Longtian discovered a small cave at the base of a towering mountain.
It was narrow, only large enough to accommodate a single person.
After confirming there were no wild beasts inside, he entered and sealed the entrance with rocks to prevent any interruptions while absorbing the Beast Pill.
“Fourth Level of Mortal Realm, here I come!”
He swallowed the Beast Pill in one gulp, and a massive surge of Energy instantly flooded his body.
That immense Energy coursed through him like a raging river, permeating every inch of his being.
Just as the Energy threatened to overflow and escape his body, a faint golden light once again enveloped him entirely.
“As expected!
After the first time, the Stone Stele can help me imprison this Energy!
Absorb, absorb!
“The opening of the fourth Hidden Vein—break, break, break!”
Harnessing the colossal Energy, Longtian launched a direct assault on the opening of his fourth Hidden Vein.
CRASH!
The immense Energy crashed like ocean waves, one after another, relentlessly assaulting the fourth Hidden Vein.
The excruciating pain from the impacts forced Longtian to clench his jaw tightly.
“Break, break, break!
You have to break!”
The Beast Pill’s power was rapidly depleting, yet the fourth Hidden Vein remained unopened.
“What’s going on?
Could the Energy from this Beast Pill still be insufficient to help me break through the fourth Hidden Vein?
Is the Beast Pill of a Human-level Fourth Rank beast still not enough?
“No, I can’t give up.
Keep pushing!
Break for me, break!”
The Energy transformed into streaks of glowing dragons, continuously bombarding a single point.
But no matter how hard Longtian struck it, he simply couldn’t shatter that invisible membrane.
In the span of just a few breaths, the Beast Pill’s Energy was completely exhausted.
“I failed,” he sighed.
“A single Fourth-stage Beast Pill actually isn’t enough for me to push through to the Fourth Layer in one go.
As expected, every Third Layer acts as a major bottleneck.
It looks like I’ll have to hunt down another Fourth-rank Beast.”
Even though he had failed, Longtian didn’t feel discouraged.
He could sense that he was getting closer and closer to the Fourth Layer.
He figured that if he could just obtain one more Fourth-stage Beast Pill, he would be able to break through that invisible membrane.
“I’ll continue hunting Fourth-rank Beasts then.”
After restoring his body to its Peak, Longtian moved the rocks blocking the entrance and stepped out of the cave.
“Brat, so you were the one occupying my cave.
You’re courting death!”
The moment he emerged, a cold shout rang out from beside him.
Immediately after, a glowing fist rapidly magnified in his peripheral vision.
Longtian’s nerves instantly pulled taut; the threat of death was overwhelmingly intense!
Without the slightest hesitation, he channeled all his Spiritual Energy, spun around, and unleashed the Stone-Splitting Fist.
BOOM!
The two fists collided.
Longtian felt a sharp pain in the back of his hand as a tremendous force transmitted through his right arm into his body, causing his internal organs to churn violently.
Unable to hold it back, he spurted a mouthful of fresh blood.
So powerful!
The opponent’s strength was so overwhelming that he couldn’t resist it at all!