Chapter 198: Jade Bone, Conclusion, Cultivation Dilemma

Bang...

The veins all over Xia Hong's body were still bulging high. He no longer knew how many punches he had thrown; he simply alternated his hands, constantly pinning the Snow Mane down so it could never get up.

Although the Snow Mane's massive body, over twenty meters long, looked terrifying, its strength was clearly a notch below Xia Hong's, causing it to be unable to shake him off no matter how it struggled.

Several times it nearly flipped over, but Xia Hong forcibly shoved it back down.

Bang... bang... crack...

After several more consecutive punches, a crisp sound of bone fracturing rang out.

Xia Hong looked at the Snow Mane's right arm joint, and his gaze instantly sharpened.

He had been striking the exact same spot; after so many consecutive punches, the area around the Snow Mane's right arm joint was already a bloody mess.

Beneath the mangled flesh, the jade-green bone was clearly visible.

He had kept a death grip on the Snow Mane the entire time because the creature's resistance and struggling strength had not diminished from start to finish, maintaining an extremely high intensity.

Xia Hong could be considered a veteran of a hundred battles when it came to dealing with Cold Beasts.

Since the opponent's struggling strength hadn't decreased, it meant his previous punches had only suppressed it without causing any actual damage.

But after that sound of bone fracturing, Xia Hong clearly felt the Snow Mane's struggling strength drop by about twenty percent.

"The bone is the vital point!"

A ruthless glint flashed in Xia Hong's eyes. Realizing the crux of the matter, he took advantage of a gap in the struggle to grab the broken blade he had been holding in his mouth.

"Roar..."

Realizing the strength in Xia Hong's grip had weakened, the Snow Mane, lying on the ground, flashed a fierce light in its eyes. Seizing the opportunity, it let out a roar and suddenly flipped over to stand up.

Having finally stood up, it didn't waste time. As it opened its mouth to spit out nine long tongues, its massive body, like a mountain range, came crashing down toward Xia Hong with overwhelming force.

Puchi...

The nine long tongues successfully wrapped around Xia Hong. The Snow Mane's massive face had just revealed a bloodthirsty smile when it instantly froze, accompanied by the sound of flesh being torn.

Xia Hong gripped the broken blade tightly, his body lunging forward like a cannonball, pulling the nine long tongues and pressing directly against its right shoulder.

The broken blade was fiercely driven into the pile of mangled flesh on its right forelimb.

"Roar..."

The Snow Mane clearly realized something. With a roar, the nine long tongues suddenly tangled and exerted force, like nine thick, long, icy pythons, almost completely wrapping around Xia Hong's body before pulling taut.

Chi...

"Oh no, the strength of those long tongues..."

"The Leader is in danger, go help!"

"Use bows to shoot its eyes, save the Leader!"

Yu Wentao, Hong Guang, Meng Yi, Watching Yue Feng, and the two hundred-plus people who had just fled the wooden house, seeing the long tongues completely envelop Xia Hong, revealed anxious expressions. They all roared and scrambled to charge toward the Snow Mane.

With the strength of this high-level Snow Mane, they naturally knew that their arrival was merely a drop in the bucket.

But Xia Hong was in danger!

They all charged over without a second thought.

"Don't come over!"

However, the next second, Xia Hong's roar erupted from within the nine long tongues. Everyone instantly stopped in their tracks, looking toward the Snow Mane with hope.

Crack...

"Roar!"

A crisp sound of bone breaking rang out. The Snow Mane let out a hysterical, violent roar, and the nine taut long tongues went limp as if they had lost all strength.

As the long tongues loosened, Xia Hong's body, soaked in blood, appeared.

In fact, half of his body was already embedded inside the flesh of the Snow Mane's shoulder, and the broken blade in his hand was stuck deep into the jade-green bone beneath the flesh.

Although they were over a hundred meters away, Yu Wentao and everyone else could see at a glance that there was a huge crack in the bone beneath the broken blade.

"The Leader let himself be wrapped up on purpose!"

"The target was the bone beneath the flesh on its shoulder."

"A hundred-forged blade couldn't even break its flesh, how could it break its bone? This..."

"The flesh on its shoulder had already been beaten to a pulp by the Leader. The bone underneath must have already had a crack, and the Leader's move just now was to find the bone seam and drive the broken blade into it."

Hearing Watching Yue Feng's explanation, Yu Wentao suddenly realized. He looked at Xia Hong, slightly clenched his fists, and his eyes were filled with admiration.

And Watching Yue Feng, having finished speaking, had two words pop into his mind:

Strength!

Xia Hong's grasp of timing and his extreme sense for hunting opportunities were certainly important, but the most crucial factor was strength.

He could use brute force to break the Snow Mane's flesh and bone, and his Skin-Membrane had enough defensive capability to fear no constriction from those nine long tongues.

This was the key to Xia Hong being able to achieve this.

If someone else came, even if their combat sense were stronger than Xia Hong's, they couldn't have done it without sufficient strength.

"Hah... ah..."

The crowd's astonishment was interrupted by Xia Hong's roar.

Everyone looked up, their gazes reaching the extreme of horror.

Xia Hong gripped the broken blade and fiercely pulled backward.

"Kacha..."

The Snow Mane was over twenty meters long, and its right forelimb was over ten meters off the ground.

It was no exaggeration to call it a pillar supporting the sky. Xia Hong's battle had been suspended high in the air, which was why everyone could see it so clearly.

The piece of broken blade in Xia Hong's hand was only seventy centimeters long; compared to the Snow Mane's body, it could be said to be completely insignificant.

Yet, this insignificant broken blade had actually forcibly severed the bone beneath the Snow Mane's right forelimb.

Chi...

A shocking scene appeared.

After the Snow Mane's bone was severed, rolling thick smoke emerged. But the smoke was neither white nor black; it was the same cyan color as the bone.

Xiu...

Once the bone was broken, the connection between the Snow Mane's right forelimb and its body was left with only half the flesh, hanging almost half-detached in front of its chest.

With only this bit of mangled flesh, how could it block Xia Hong's blade?

Xia Hong's gaze was fierce. He suddenly leaped up, falling from high in the air. The broken blade in his hand slashed out a thick blade-light, severing the surrounding circle of flesh along the position where the bone had just fractured.

Bang...

The Snow Mane's right forelimb crashed to the ground with a loud thud, the cyan smoke wavering. The Snow Mane's wail following the severed limb followed immediately after.

"Roar..."

This roar no longer had any of the arrogant aura from before.

The Snow Mane looked at Xia Hong, its pupils filled with fear and panic.

Its eyes began to flicker, and a clear intention to retreat emerged.

"Want to run? Not that easy!"

How could the intention to retreat in the Snow Mane's eyes be hidden from Xia Hong? Ignoring the broken blade already shattered in his hand, he fiercely charged toward the Snow Mane's left forelimb.

The intention to repeat the same trick was very clear!

This time, the Snow Mane didn't dare to be overconfident. It not only quickly retracted its nine long tongues, but its body also retreated frantically, not giving Xia Hong a single chance to get close.

Chi...

At the same time, a strange sound came from the Snow Mane's body. Its head, limbs, and torso began to shrink frantically.

In just three or four breaths, its massive body had returned to its original length of over a meter, though the severed right forelimb was still missing.

Xia Hong's attack missed. Seeing the Snow Mane return to its one-meter size, his pupils slightly constricted, and he turned to look at the severed limb on the ground.

Sure enough, that severed limb had also long since shrunk to a few dozen centimeters, just right for the Snow Mane's current size.

"The miniature form is its normal state; the expansion is the combat state!"

As this thought flashed through Xia Hong's mind, the Snow Mane had already turned into a black streak of light, running toward the Arrow Bamboo Forest to the south.

Xia Hong quickly got up to chase, but after only pursuing a hundred meters, he looked up and ahead, his expression instantly sharpening. After hesitating for a moment, he stopped.

The beast tide in the Arrow Bamboo Forest to the south, although it had subsided, still had sparse Cold Beasts passing through.

Just now, he had taken advantage of the sparse period of the beast tide to pass through the Arrow Bamboo Forest and reach the Border Valley. At that time, even in his peak state, he had felt a bit of trepidation. Going over there now, whether he would have such good luck again was uncertain.

"Leader!"

"Leader."

Seeing that the Snow Mane had already fled, Yu Wentao, Watching Yue Feng, and the others all gathered around. Looking at Xia Hong, who was covered in blood, their expressions were somewhat worried.

Crack...

Xia Hong turned his head, just about to speak, when the ceremonial blade in his hand, which only had a third of its length left, shattered directly, turning into fragments that fell to the ground, leaving only the handle in his grip.

"Hoo..."

Xia Hong threw away the handle, turned back to look at the crowd, and waved his hand slightly: "I'm fine. Gather up and count the wounded. Don't run around until the beast tide passes. I will stay here for the next few days."

After speaking, Xia Hong walked directly to the side of the wooden house, picked up a piece of the Snow Mane's severed limb, and leaped onto the roof.

Yu Wentao and the others looked at each other. Seeing Xia Hong jump onto the roof and apply Golden Sore Powder to himself, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"The Leader should be fine. Let's count the wounded. There should still be people who aren't dead; hurry and save them."

"I will take people to treat the wounded; I leave the counting of casualties to you, Deputy Si Zheng."

"Good."

Yu Wentao and Watching Yue Feng divided the work and performed their duties, each taking a group of people to begin the aftermath work.

"Not only is the strength as high as ten manes, but it can also expand and multiply its body. Whether it's the barbs on its back, the nine long tongues, or even its intelligence and combat talent, it is far more powerful than the intermediate and low-level ones. This is a high-level Snow Mane. No wonder, no wonder even He Yuanhun had to cooperate with others to have the qualifications to hunt one!"

Xia Hong on the roof lifted his clothes, looking at the wounds all over his body. His face revealed shock, and his eyes were filled with uncontrollable horror.

Although he had won this battle.

(No errors, no omissions, read the content at a glance!)

But the victory was not very glorious!

His current physical strength was already as high as twelve manes, surpassing this high-level Snow Mane. With the advantage in strength, he had suffered so many injuries and still hadn't been able to keep that Snow Mane.

Xia Hong had a certain amount of confidence in his combat talent.

Having lived two lives, the four routines of Long Fist had almost merged into his bones. Twelve manes was only the base strength; supplemented by force-exertion techniques, he knew very well that his instantaneous explosive power could exceed his physical limit by twenty percent.

In other words, in reality, he had been fighting this Snow Mane with the strength of fourteen manes.

With strength over forty percent higher than the Snow Mane, he had ended up like this.

This meant that if they had equal strength, he would likely not be able to beat this Snow Mane, and it was even possible he would be killed...

"That's not right either. Without a suitable weapon, this was my first time fighting a high-level Cold Beast, and I didn't understand its characteristics. These were also decisive factors. Moreover, its speed wasn't fast. If it hadn't fled toward the Arrow Bamboo Forest, and I had continued to chase it, the final result would be hard to say!"

After Xia Hong made this combat summary in his heart, his brows relaxed slightly.

Although he had added quite a few wounds to his body, they were basically external injuries. With his current physique, after applying Golden Sore Powder, it would likely only take ten days or so to fully recover.

At such a small cost, learning a part of the strength of a high-level Cold Beast was absolutely worth it. And the most important point was that Xia Hong had seen clearly where his limits lay.

Ever since breaking through to the Cold-Resisting Realm, except for the battle with He Yuanhun, Xia Hong had basically never had such a hearty battle.

This life-and-death struggle made him find again the feeling of hunting Cold Beasts in the wilderness when his strength was low.

This feeling made Xia Hong very obsessed, because he knew that every time this feeling appeared, his combat experience would rapidly improve.

In the final analysis, strength was a combination of cultivation realm and combat experience; both were indispensable. This was also the reason why Xia Hong was obsessed with this kind of struggle.

"Of course, there is one more biggest harvest..."

Xia Hong's gaze was slightly burning. He picked up the Snow Mane's severed limb and began to examine it.

Low-level Cold Beast meat is azure blue, but because the blood is dark green, the meat quality presents a subtle cyan color before being peeled.

Intermediate Cold Beast meat is also blue, but because the blood is red, the meat quality presents a subtle purple color before being peeled.

And the meat quality at the joint of this severed limb in front of him presented as black.

Xia Hong used a blade to cut open the flesh, seeing a small section of jade-green bone inside, and revealed a thoughtful expression.

High-level Cold Beast meat should still be blue, but due to the influence of the cyan bone and rose-red blood, multiple colors mixed together, turning it black.

Xia Hong tore off a piece of flesh and put it directly into his mouth. After chewing a few times, a flush of crimson rushed to his face, and his eyes instantly lit up.

"The difference between intermediate beast meat and low-level beast meat is only in the texture. This high-level beast meat, not only the texture, but the energy contained in the meat is also far beyond the previous two. This one bite is almost worth a hundred jin!"

That's right, the high-level Cold Beast's body became so small; if the meat quality were still the same as intermediate and low-level, it would clearly be unreasonable.

"However, this meat, ordinary Earth-Digging Realm probably can't eat it. At least the limit of the Earth-Digging Realm is needed to withstand such massive energy."

Xia Hong drew a dagger and cut off all the flesh on the severed limb, finally leaving only a jade-green bone section over sixty centimeters long.

"This... is it not even half a jin?"

Slightly weighing the unreasonable weight of the bone, Xia Hong's eyes were filled with astonishment, and he also revealed an inexplicable desire.

"This jade bone should be the key to cultivation in the Cold-Resisting Realm!"

Previously, when fighting the Snow Mane, the first time he saw the bone inside its body, Xia Hong had realized this point, only...

"How should it be used?"

Xia Hong looked at the jade bone, his eyes full of confusion.

Beast meat can be eaten directly, and beast blood can be applied to the body.

This bone, surely one can't chew it directly?

"Leader, the casualties have been counted."

Just as he was distressed, Yu Wentao and Watching Yue Feng both came up to the roof.

Xia Hong held the jade bone, turned back to look at the two, and asked: "How many died?"

Watching Yue Feng bowed heavily and said: "128 people died, 12 in the Earth-Digging Realm, the rest are all members of the Collection Department. There are 98 people left wounded, among whom more than a dozen seriously wounded have been settled. Currently, there is no way to send them back; we can only wait for the beast tide to subside."

The beast tide subsiding.

Xia Hong immediately turned to look at Yu Wentao.

"Usually, every beast tide lasts about seven days. Once seven days pass, a small number of Cold Beasts will return to Red Wood Ridge from the Arrow Bamboo Forest during the day. At night, as long as you are careful, passing through the Arrow Bamboo Forest is not a big problem."

Hearing Yu Wentao's answer, Xia Hong nodded first, then realized something. His expression suddenly startled, and he asked in a questioning tone: "A part?"

Xia Hong had just passed through the Arrow Bamboo Forest, taking advantage of the beast tide becoming sparse to come over. But just in that short while, he could basically judge that the scale of this beast tide was at least eight or nine thousand, or even ten thousand.

So many Cold Beasts migrated from Red Wood Ridge to the Arrow Bamboo Forest at the same time, and in the end, only a part returned. What does this mean?

Yu Wentao clearly also knew what this meant, and nodded with a solemn expression:

"It is indeed a part. We have lived in the Border Valley for many years and have experienced many beast tides, so we know very well that after every beast tide, at most only one-third of the beast tide can return to Red Wood Ridge in the end. So..."

Xia Hong suddenly turned his head to look at the Arrow Bamboo Forest to the south, his gaze instantly becoming solemn.

Every beast tide, ten thousand Cold Beasts go over, and only one-third return.

You have to know, this beast tide comes with the ripening period of the Ice-Shuo Tree.

Once every four months, three times a year.

That is to say, after three waves of beast tides a year, at least twenty or thirty thousand Cold Beasts have entered the Arrow Bamboo Forest. Accumulated over so many years, how many must there be?

Where did these Cold Beasts go?

Either there is a big secret inside the Arrow Bamboo Forest;

Or, behind the Arrow Bamboo Forest, it connects to an extremely vast space. Otherwise, just relying on the 140 square kilometers of the Arrow Bamboo Forest, it would be impossible to accommodate so many Cold Beasts.

Xia Hong reached these two conclusions in his mind, and looking at the Arrow Bamboo Forest again, his gaze instantly changed.

"Your strength is still a bit lacking for now. Stop the exploration of the Arrow Bamboo Forest first. Just take the current depth of exploration as the standard. From now on, operate within this range; don't let anyone go further in."

"Yes, Leader!"

Hearing this, Watching Yue Feng's expression was somewhat frustrated, but knowing that Xia Hong was thinking for the safety of himself and others, he could only nod in compliance.

Their strength was indeed too poor.

It could be seen from what just happened. When Xia Hong was fighting that Snow Mane, these people didn't even have the qualifications to intervene, let alone watch; they had to stay far away.

"Yu Wentao, do you know high-level Cold Beasts?"

Seeing Yu Wentao staring at the beast bone in his hand, and remembering that he had just reminded him of the Snow Mane's characteristics, Xia Hong's expression stirred, and he immediately asked.

Yu Wentao shook his head upon hearing this and said: "I haven't seen one. I was able to recognize that Snow Mane earlier because I remembered a sentence my father said: In the Frozen Abyss World, the smaller the species, the more careful you must be."

In the Frozen Abyss World, the smaller the species, the more careful you must be!

Xia Hong's body shook slightly upon hearing this sentence.

Don't even say it, this sentence can stand up to scrutiny.

Due to the extreme cold climate of the Frozen Abyss, trees, vegetation, Cold Beasts, and even the mountain terrain are unusually large. Even the human physique is clearly a size larger than humans in the normal world of the previous life.

This is also normal. The extreme cold environment means that more energy needs to be ingested to maintain the body shape. As a result, whether it is humans, plants, or animals, they will naturally evolve into larger body shapes.

Species that can maintain a relatively small body shape and survive in this environment, you don't even need to think to know that they are definitely not simple.

"Leader, may I have a look at that jade bone?"

Hearing Yu Wentao's words, Xia Hong threw the jade bone over directly.

Yu Wentao took the jade bone, examined it carefully for a while, and immediately looked up and said:

"It is this, Leader. I have seen He Yuanhun use this."

"Oh, how did he use it?"

Xia Hong's eyes immediately lit up, signaling Yu Wentao to continue.

Yu Wentao nodded and said: "Last year, He Yuanhun brought back a few sections of bone. We had never seen them before. Now that I think about it, they were this cyan-jade color. They should be high-level beast bones.

I remember he ordered us to get a lot of coal stone, then threw the bones and a few other things into a pot, boiled them for about five or six days, and finally it became a pot of soup. I led people to deliver that soup to him. The taste was very fragrant, so I have a particularly deep impression."

Boiling, but it needs to add a few other things...

Xia Hong looked at the jade bone in his hand. The hope that had just ignited in his eyes extinguished again. He shook his head and fell into thought.

Speaking of which, not only was he unclear about the cultivation method of the Cold-Resisting Realm.

Even the strength division of this Cold-Resisting Realm, he only knew a lower limit. Where the upper limit of the Cold-Resisting Realm was, and whether there were specific stage divisions within the same realm, he was completely unclear.

Except for hearing from Yu Wentao here that the next realm is called the Manifesting Yang Realm, he knew nothing about other situations.

This relates to his subsequent cultivation process, which is no small matter!

"Alright, you go busy yourselves first. I will stay here for these few days waiting for the beast tide to end, take good care of the wounded, and do the aftermath work well."

"Yes, Leader!"

Xia Hong's brows were tightly locked. After dismissing the two, he continued to ponder.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 199 =====