“The Wild Bull Beast has a strong body, and its Defense is considered quite powerful among Fifth-tier Beasts.
Its only areas of formidable Attack Power are its Barbarian Bull Horns and thick hind hooves.
As long as I dodge attacks from those parts, my life won’t be in danger.
It’s my best trial beast right now.
I’ll lure it out first.”
There were one or two other Fifth-tier Beasts near the Wild Bull Beast.
Afraid that the commotion of battle would attract them, Longtian knew he had to lure his target to a secluded area.
Gripping a stone, he hurled it at the beast’s head.
Beasts did not have high intelligence; provoked by the strike, the Wild Bull Beast instantly charged after him.
“What a stupid bull.
Alright, this place shouldn’t attract any other beasts.
Come on, you dumb bull, let’s see if you can last three hundred rounds against your Grandpa Tian!”
Once he had led the beast to a safe location, Longtian stopped running.
With a loud shout, he turned around and engaged it in a bloody brawl.
“Seven Luminaries Fiery Fire Fist: One Star Stabbing Eye!”
Facing a Fifth-tier Beast, Longtian didn’t dare be careless.
He immediately executed his Human-level Medium Martial Technique.
As he punched, it was as if a bright sun had formed.
His right fist unleashed a dazzling flame that stabbed at the Wild Bull Beast’s eyes, forcing them shut.
However, due to Longtian’s lack of combat experience, his positioning was slightly off.
The punch only landed squarely in the center of the beast’s forehead.
BOOM!
With a muffled thud, the hair on the beast’s forehead was instantly scorched black, revealing charred skin and faint traces of seeping blood.
Yet, it was clear that the Wild Bull Beast had not sustained any serious injuries from the blow.
Seeing that his punch lacked the expected impact, Longtian hastily retreated.
He cursed his lack of combat experience; if he had been more seasoned, his footwork would have ensured the strike hit the beast’s vulnerable nose rather than its rock-hard forehead.
“Again!”
After falling back, Longtian charged at the beast once more.
The Wild Bull Beast boasted immense physical defense, and despite its bulky frame, it wasn’t lacking in agility.
Even if Longtian unleashed his second punch, it would only inflict minor injuries; he would need to land the third punch to heavily wound it.
However, his goal was to use this beast to hone his combat experience, so he naturally wouldn’t let it die so easily.
“Again!
Come again!”
“You actually tried a sneak attack with your tail, then followed up with a horn charge?
That was close!
If you had hit me, my chest would have been pierced right through.”
“Huh?
A sideways body tackle now…”
Before long, Longtian and the Wild Bull Beast had exchanged hundreds of blows.
The beast’s primal instincts nearly cost him his life on several occasions.
At one point, his thigh was pierced by a Barbarian Bull Horn.
If he hadn’t possessed the Dream Green Grass, he would have likely perished beneath its hooves.
“Alright, the trial ends here.
You can’t help me improve anymore.
Seven Luminaries Fiery Fire Fist: Three Luminaries Burning Eye.”
Dodging the beast’s attack, Longtian directly unleashed his third punch.
Three burning orbs of light manifested from the strike, radiating a blinding glare that seemed capable of scorching the eyes.
It possessed a destructive power.
“Die!”
The three fiery orbs crashed squarely into the beast’s head.
BOOM.
The massive Wild Bull Beast was crushed to the ground by the terrifying force, leaving a huge, charred wound on its forehead.
That single punch had heavily injured it.
Not wanting the beast to suffer, Longtian threw one final punch, ending its life.
Regrettably, there was no Beast Pill inside its head.
“Time to find the next target.”
Longtian’s hunting days commenced.
If he encountered a Fifth-tier Beast, he would spar with it for a while before going in for the kill.
The drop rate for Beast Pills from Fifth-tier Beasts was simply too low; he had killed four of them without finding a single pill.
In contrast, slaying twenty Fourth-rank Beasts had yielded five Fourth-stage Beast Pills.
Even though these lower-tier pills were of little use to him individually, he knew that accumulating a large quantity could eventually lead to a qualitative change.
This hunting spree lasted for three days.
There were now only four short days left until the half-month deadline.
Back in his cave, Longtian stared at the single Fifth-Order Beast Pill and twenty Fourth-stage Beast Pills in his hands, then glanced at the tiny remaining stub of his Dream Green Grass.
A bitter smile crept onto his face.
Three days of relentless hunting had only yielded a single Fifth-Order Beast Pill.
During this time, he had been severely injured thrice and nearly died.
The Dream Green Grass had dwindled to a tiny piece, enough for just one or two more uses.
Without it, he no longer dared to risk hunting Fifth-tier Beasts; after all, the Wilderness Forest was teeming with unpredictable dangers.
Of his three severe injuries, the first had occurred when he encountered a Sixth Rank Beast and failed to escape in time.
The latter two incidents happened when the commotion of his battles with Fifth-tier Beasts attracted nearby Fourth and Fifth-tier Beasts.
Since some of these creatures had a taste for human flesh, Longtian had very nearly become their next meal.
“Even with shortcuts, raising my Cultivation isn’t that simple,” Longtian noted to himself.
“My original plan to reach the Sixth Layer within half a month seems utterly laughable now.
Forget the Sixth Layer—whether I can even break through to the Fifth Layer is still up in the air.
The path of Cultivation is never without its obstacles.
Still, I shouldn’t complain.
My progress is already a hundred times faster than anyone else’s.
One Fifth-Order Beast Pill and twenty Fourth-stage Beast Pills…
Let’s give it a try and see if I can break through to the Fifth Layer.”
Longtian tossed the twenty Fourth-stage Beast Pills into his mouth one by one, followed by the single Fifth-Order Beast Pill.
To his surprise, the Energy contained within the Fifth-Order Beast Pill was several times greater than all twenty Fourth-stage Beast Pills combined.
He estimated that if he wanted to break into the Fifth Level of Mortal Realm using only Fourth-stage Beast Pills, he would need at least a hundred of them.
That meant hunting nearly a thousand Fourth-rank Beasts.
It was an astronomical figure; even if a thousand Fourth-rank Beasts lined up for him to slaughter, it would still take him days and nights of endless killing.
The moment the Beast Pills entered his stomach, they instantly converted into berserk Energy.
Longtian immediately guided this force to assault the bottleneck of the Fifth Level of Mortal Realm.
“Break, break, break!
Let a miracle happen!”
The violent Energy furiously battered against his fifth Hidden Vein.
The immense pressure caused cold sweat to pour profusely from his body.
“Hold on, I have to hold on!
I must break through to the Fifth Layer; otherwise, how can I be a match for He Chao?
“I can’t concede, and I can’t be defeated.
Only under my grandfather’s protection can I hold my head high in the He Family.
Only then can I investigate that wicked hag, Sun San Niang.
I will definitely find the murderer behind my brother’s death!
“I can’t give up!
Break, break, break!”
His entire body’s Spiritual Energy surged alongside the Beast Pills’ Energy, crashing like raging waves against a shore.
Deep, thunderous rumbles echoed from within him.
As time ticked by, the tidal wave of power eventually dissipated, and the glow of his four opened Hidden Veins grew slightly dim.
Both his Spiritual Energy and the Beast Pills’ Energy had been utterly exhausted, yet the barrier blocking the fifth Hidden Vein remained unbroken.
“I failed.
It seems breaking through to the Fifth Layer in one go was impossible after all,” Longtian muttered, feeling a tinge of disappointment but not despair.
“I still have four days to make another attempt.
The Wilderness Forest is a place brimming with fortuitous encounters.
For the remaining time, besides practicing my Martial Skills, I’ll go out and see if I can find an opportunity meant for me.”
He had been mentally prepared for the possibility of failing this breakthrough.
“It’s time to leave this cave.
I’ve been staying here for four or five days, and the White Fox hasn’t returned.
It seems it won’t be coming back.
“I should head out and search for my fortune.
The moment I entered the Wilderness Forest, I felt a calling from deep within my soul.
Perhaps I’ll stumble upon a serendipitous encounter that can create a miracle.
“Let’s move out!”
Pushing aside the boulder blocking the entrance, Longtian embarked on his journey once more.
Only this time, his goal wasn’t merely to hunt, but to forage for Spirit Herbs and Medicines while seeking out fortuitous encounters.
“Hm?
A Fifth-tier Beast.”
Not long after leaving the cave, he unexpectedly spotted a Fifth-tier Beast.
“Should I kill it?
If this beast drops a Beast Pill, I’d have a seventy percent chance of successfully breaking through to the Fifth Layer.”
He hesitated.
His recent hunts had taught him that Fifth-tier Beasts usually roamed in close proximity to one another.
To safely slay one, he first had to thoroughly scout the surrounding environment.
“Wait, something’s not right.
That’s not a beast.”
As he observed closely, Longtian realized the creature looked bizarrely incongruous.
It possessed incredibly thick and muscular bestial limbs, yet it stood upright on two feet just like a human.
Most eerie of all was its furry face—it lacked the features of a wild animal and instead bore a striking resemblance to a human visage.
This uncanny appearance made it look even more Bloodthirsty and powerful than a typical beast.
“That’s…
a Beast Cultivator!”
Longtian stifled a gasp.
He finally recognized what he was looking at.
This was no Fifth-tier Beast; it was a Half-Beastman.
It was a Beast Transformation!
Among the three major categories of Cultivators, Beast Cultivators were two to three times stronger than ordinary Cultivators.
Unless they encountered an Artifact Cultivator of the same rank, they were practically invincible within their tier.
The Beast Cultivator before him had clearly obtained the Essence Blood of the Fifth-tier Mad Rhinoceros Beast and successfully extracted its Beast Soul through his spiritual consciousness, thus becoming a true Beast Cultivator.
As Longtian watched in astonishment, the Beast Cultivator’s form began to shift.
The massive, berserk body shrank, and its thick fur melted away, reverting into a young man in white robes who appeared to be around twenty-three or twenty-four years old.
“It’s him!
He’s actually a Beast Cultivator.”
Upon getting a clear look at the young man’s face, Longtian trembled.
This was undeniably the Nameless youth who had previously tried to kill him.
Discovering that this person was secretly a Beast Cultivator truly shocked him.
“No wonder he was so incredibly arrogant.
I only accidentally occupied the cave he had carved out, yet he haughtily tried to end my life.
But wait, wasn’t he being hunted by his older brother?
Did he manage to escape again?
“I originally thought that as long as I raised my Cultivation to the Fourth Layer, I’d have a solid chance of killing him.
Now it seems that unless I master the fifth punch of the Seven Luminaries Fiery Fire Fist to Great Success and launch a sneak attack, I won’t have the slightest chance of winning.”
To an ordinary Cultivator, a Beast Cultivator was akin to nobility among commoners.
A noble held absolute power over a commoner’s life and death.
“I can’t let him spot me.”
Realizing he was no match for the youth, Longtian hurriedly concealed his aura and ducked behind a massive tree.
Thankfully, he had spotted the young man first; if it had been the other way around, he would likely already be a corpse.
Hiding behind the trunk, Longtian remained utterly motionless, scarcely daring to breathe.
He prayed for the youth to leave quickly, but the man just stood there, seemingly waiting for someone.
“Damn it, why isn’t he leaving?
Is he having a secret rendezvous with a lover here?”