Chapter 70: Lacquer Shadow Dharma Robe

"Awoo!"

The mountains are high and the forests dense; a leopard's roar echoes.

Within the dense branches where sunlight cannot penetrate, several shadows flash suddenly from the gloom.

They are four Forest Shadow Leopards, similar in size, all at the mid-stage of the First Rank, their mouths more or less clamped around bloody chunks of meat and severed limbs torn off not long ago.

Judging by the scraps of clothing still clinging to them, it is clear that the victims were all from the very bottom of the social ladder in the border town.

A mother leopard, small in stature with somewhat dull fur, steps out from the damp tree hollow where she had been hiding; her eyes are pale green.

The leopard roar from just moments ago was emitted by her, intended to guide her cubs.

Du En thought for a moment and said, "Although I don't know the specific situation, are you perhaps stuck in a rut?"

Du En was very satisfied with this.

Watching him leave, Du En showed no reaction; he simply retrieved the cooked clay pot and began to eat this portion of spirit meal.

"Impossible!"

In this way, not only would he no longer have to fear getting stained with various filth or odors, but he could even save the time usually spent bathing and washing clothes.

As for the most critical functions—spirit gathering, subduing, and spirit warming—the performance Du En required was all present, capable of increasing his basic cultivation efficiency by ten percent, comparable to a breakthrough in his cultivation art.

"This scene doesn't quite look like the work of an evil cultivator, yet it seems to deliberately imitate Du En's signature move of killing beasts. This... could it be that this is actually aimed at me?!"

At the same time, he needed to seize the time to gain insights, appearing as if he were racing against the clock.

Fragrant! It's so fragrant!

Whether it was the corpse-buriers or the corpse-transporters who arrived later to deliver normal corpses, even though they knew the occasion was inappropriate, they still couldn't help but feel envious and salivate.

Their envy actually manifested differently; the corpse-buriers knew some of the truth, while the corpse-transporters felt this was a reward from Ren Li.

"Awoo~"

They had thought there would be some left for them to eat, but unexpectedly, there was nothing at all.

The mother leopard shook her head and turned to look at her cubs, only to see them still holding the meat in their mouths, unsure whether to drop it or carry it with them.

She immediately became alert, growling in a low voice and scanning her surroundings with unease.

"It's nothing," Du En replied calmly, then shifted the topic to ask about something he cared about, "By the way, have you received any news about the mother leopard recently?"

"So, has it been named?"

His pressure was gradually increasing, his mood becoming restless; he couldn't help but mutter to himself and began pacing back and forth.

His cultivation speed naturally rose significantly!

Moreover, there was an additional bonus.

The name was chosen quite casually, but Du En didn't mind; it was mainly for the sake of convenience in remembering it.

Once the division of labor was determined, he could devote more time to his grinding and practice.

But no matter what, it was easy to manage four full-hearted cultivation sessions every day.

Ren Li seemed stimulated, waving his arms and dancing about, "This is absolutely impossible! Your comprehension is terrible, what could you possibly understand?!"

"Sigh~"

The other leopard cubs finally realized something was wrong and ominous; their tails couldn't help but lash about, and they squeezed various cries from their throats.

Du En paid no attention to this; after finishing his meal, as the meal-power began to slowly surge, he chose to sit cross-legged in the shade of a tree outside the wasteland and began to cultivate.

The mother leopard didn't pay too much attention either; after sharpening her claws, she wanted to eat, but at this moment, she discovered that one cub had still not returned.

Ren Li was stunned for a moment, then shook his head directly: "Not yet, I had forgotten. Hmm... seeing that you are wearing black, let's take the corresponding character, 'Qi' (Lacquer/Black), and since it is primarily made from the hide of a Forest Shadow Leopard, let's take the character 'Ying' (Shadow). Put them together and call it the Lacquer Shadow Dharma Robe."

The roar became stern, and only then did they release their mouths and follow the mother leopard, speeding toward the mountain forest in the south.

"Roar!"

Ren Li couldn't help but lose focus again, shaking his head and sighing, gazing at the wasteland before him with a complex expression, "Where exactly did I go wrong? I clearly felt I had grasped the key, just a sliver away, just a sliver! But, I haven't made the slightest progress in several days, and I can't see any possibility of breaking through..."

Therefore, such suspicions now naturally arose!

Thinking of this, a sense of urgency suddenly arose in Ren Li's heart; he had originally wanted to mooch a meal, but now he didn't even want that. He closed the pot lid, put it back, turned around, and left, intending to strike while the iron was hot from yesterday's momentum and achieve his goal in one go.

It was time to leave.

If not for the newborn cubs needing a hearty meal to compensate for the needs of rapid growth, and if not for her own injuries being too severe and needing time to recover, she likely would have already left with her cubs yesterday.

The mother leopard, having lived for over a hundred years, realized at this moment that her last cub must have met with an accident, most likely killed by someone during the hunt.

It would be possible to add one more cultivation session, bringing the total to twenty-three.

In this way, the number of daily cultivation sessions could reach twenty-two.

Because of Du En's perfect alibi, Ren Li, who no longer suspected him, couldn't help but frown at this moment.

But he quickly regained his composure, his expression somewhat stiff, and seeing Du En's calm and indifferent face, he breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to belittle you."

However, at this moment, looking at her cubs—none of whom had brought back the liver she loved to eat, all having consumed it themselves—she couldn't help but grind her claws against the moss-covered tree roots, easily tearing them into shreds.

Although there was plenty of easy prey here, there were also many natural predators and competitors; as an experienced beast, she naturally knew that she was no longer capable of surviving here.

"Heh heh."

She let out a low growl, a look of hatred flashing in her eyes, and then, bracing her heavily injured body, she turned around restlessly and darted out.

First-rank demonic beasts do not yet have complete intelligence; they are only smarter than ordinary wild beasts and find it easier to learn and accumulate experience.

Seeing this, the four leopard cubs couldn't help but shrink their heads, looking toward their other siblings, unable to stop baring their teeth.

Three days later, Ren Li handed a Dharma treasure to Du En.

Moreover, Ren Li had also conveniently added a function for self-cleaning and purification.

At the corpse-burial wasteland.

He hadn't expected that just one day of difference would lead to an accident.

In this state of mind, it was spoken completely on impulse.

After Du En finished sensing it, he asked this question.

Things were actually not calm on his side either; otherwise, he would not have needed to commission Du En to find the Corpse Yin Grass earlier and could have gone himself.

Of course, considering that he had to practice spells and also take the opportunity to begin comprehending the mysteries of the wasteland, this extra time still appeared dense and crowded.

That was a black robe of high-grade first-tier quality, using the hide of a Forest Shadow Leopard as the main material and various spiritual ores as supplements, with rows of tough, resilient patterns engraved on the inside; it could be described as soft on the outside and tough on the inside, and it also possessed a certain degree of defensive power.

"You certainly know how to seize an opportunity."

Ren Li muttered, and wanting to shift his attention, he temporarily stopped thinking about comprehending the wasteland, pondered how to organize his words, and began to speak of what he knew.

(End of this chapter)